This topic is locked
Background (sorry):
Any of you who know me at all, know I DO NOT SPAM. I work for legit individuals and companies who are in this for the long haul - I work hard for them and protect their sites from anything that could ever cause a problem.
The client who got the call is one of our best clents who has been with us for close to 3 years. We designed the site and do everything for the site (continual updates -which are required for their market-, copywriting, maintenance, hosting, CMS, etc.) because they prefer it that way. This site has been coming up #1 for oodles of awesome keyword phrases consistently in all the major SE's for 2 years. It even comes up #2 for their CITY! Not because we spam or scheme, but because we consistently work at making the site WORTHY of top rankings.
The story goes:
I got a call from the above mentioned client today. She wanted to let me know that "this gentelman" named Denis ___ called and told her: "Your website is about to be banned from Google!" She didn't pay much attention to him at first, but being the sweet soul she is, she just let him talk.
Then this Denis started explaining to her all about GOOGLE. Then moved on to how Google is cracking down on spam. He told her that her site is "on the list" to be banned because it is involved in LINK FARMING - at which time he was kind enough to email her a page from some icky site that has a link to her - and told her that was getting her banned, unless it was addressed right away.
She (bless her heart!) asked him, "Now, you work for Google and you're just warning us, is that right?" Denis replies with a "Well, noooooo. I work for blankblankblank, BUT...the point is that this needs to be fixed fast, because Google is going to ban your site and I really really don't want that to happen to you".
She said he really started sounding soooooooo sincere that she started to believe that he was honestly concerned! So she responded with, "This sounds serious! Could you talk to our website people so they can fix it? I'll give you their number, I know they will want to know this!" Denis replies, "Oh no, they are the ones doing this to you, they know what they are doing. They don't have your best interest at heart, they sure don't want to hear from ME!" Thank goodness his response threw up a HUGE RED FLAG for her!
She then asked, "Well, if you won't talk to the ones who can fix it, what is the purpose of your call? Are you wanting to fix this yourself? Is that why you called?"
Denis replies, "Well, Yes! That is what I need to talk to the head of the company about". That did it for her. She nicely told him that she would consider what he had said and get back to him if she felt they required his services.
He ended the conversation by saying he was "definitely putting upi on my 'call back list' because of the seriousness of this situation."
Before she hung up, she asked for all his contact info and website address, which she emailed to me right away. Then she called me so I would "Be Aware of this gentleman's intentions" (she is so sweet and proper!).
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I checked out his site and found that this "company" (if that's what you want to call it) are the type that know just enough SEO lingo for lay people to think they know what they are talking about; but they sound and look like PLAIN FOOLS to anyone who REALLY knows the business.
His site shows things like this:
"Website Advertising Services":
"Search Engine Submissions"
"Free Search Engine Submissions"
"Website Traffic"
Through out the site he says things like:
"Search engines rank websites using a technology - called algorithm."
"...manually submit your site or use a software."
"Search engines will also sort in the order of relevance - called search results."
He had some pages that I would love to look at, as I have never heard of such: "Search Submission Commandments" and "Effective Body Description". I would tell you what that stuff means, except the pages are 404's. =)
Best of all, if you give him all your info (everything except your blood type) and provide him with your 5 KEYWORDS, you can get this:
"PRICE QUOTE & Free Professional Website Analysis
Submit and optimize your website for:"
Check the boxes that apply-
AltaVista
AOL
Alltheweb
Netscape
About
Wisenut
Dogpile
Metacrawler
Sympatico
Iwon
Yahoo
MSN
Excite
Ask Jeeves
Lycos
CNN
Teoma
Mamma
Kanoodle
Hot Bot
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This stuff just makes me sick. Beware of these guys - they are the worst kind: dumb as stumps; but gutsy enough to cold call with the slick talk that puts fear into people.
Leann
[Moderator Note: Leann has requested that people not pm or email her about this incident anymore as she's already fielded hundreds of requests and she's had enough. - Jill]
Edited by Jill, 23 March 2006 - 10:23 PM.
