by Structured Settlement Watchdog
A website called Florida website marketing.com claims it can turn your website into a money maker. What they do is nothing new. You, the business owner, pay this company, or any one just like it a certain sum of money and they have writers to create stories, that appear to be true (but may not be) and toss them up on their blog network with links back to your website.
This is how they game the search engines, making it even harder for consumers to find legitimate information on a subject. How legitimate can the information be for $10 paid per post? In some cases it may be at the expense of a competitor who has actually written their own content.
This kind of strategy is how we ended up with the "Organic Lab Rat" from Ipoh, Malaysia, enthusiastically promoting Stone Street Capital and spinning a tale about her "friend with a structured settlement" who conveniently turned to a factoring company for quick cash
Florida Website Marketing proudly boasts about its "success story," where it claims to have written 10 stories (possibly fictional?) for a grand total of $100—yes, that's $10 per post—for Bonita Springs personal injury attorney David Hughes Harris. Quite the bargain for creativity!.
These pay-per-post "fairy tales" always feature a writer with a conveniently tragic uncle or friend who stumbled into the "linked to" business after some melodramatic accident. Meanwhile, David Hughes Harris supposedly catapulted his Google ranking for "Bonita Springs injury attorney" from 44th to 2nd faster than a caffeine-fueled cheetah. Download SEO2.-David Hughes Harris PA!
At time of publishing, David Hughes Harris appeared to be just one of MANY people who patronize vendors who attempt to game the search engines in this way. But is it ethical? In my opinion it is not. Don't we have truth in advertising laws? Would David Hughes Harris sink his claws into a product manufacturer who advertised that a product could do something based on "made up" testimonials or stories that his clients relied on in their purchase decision? In the insurance and securities industries there are specific rules concerning testimonials.
- In my opinion those that game the search engines with made up stories deserve to be exposed for what they are doing.
- In my opinion those who knowingly patronize those who game the search engines deserve to be exposed for what they are doing.
The irony of all of this is that David Hughes Harris' SEO company is soliciting people with the message that:
"There is too much "fluff" in search engine optimization work. We have decided to apply the "Sams Club" no frills, no nonsense approach to SEO".
Some of David Hughes Harris' Bonita Springs injury attorney competitors who should be raising an eye brow since their Google rankings are affected by the strategy employed by the folks hired by David Hughes Harris.
- Parker Waichman Alonso
- James L. O'Leary Law Office
- Wood Atter and Wolf PA
- Carol Vlachos
Further reading
FTC Set To Tighten Rules on Paid Testimonials on The Internet June 21, 2009
FTC To Clamp Down On Dubious Product Statements in Social Media April 3, 2009
"Organic Lab Rat" from Malaysia Now Shilling For Stone Street Capital March 28, 2008
Stone Street Capital Shill Jason J. Noble's Got More Than One Creation "Out of Tune" May 6, 2008
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