BlogPower
By Trina L.C. Schiller
Last week I wrote an article about
Armand Morin and BlogPower. Boy did that create a stir. It seems that rather than focusing on the point I was trying to make regarding the software, most people zeroed in on the name Armand Morin. I had stated that Armand was the creator of this piece of spamware. I was wrong. He did not create BlogPower, but rather he and Stephen Pierce got exclusive promotional rights to the software.
I wrote what I did, based on the box full of email I received from Armand Morin about the release of this great new product for spamming search engines. I visited the web site that was linked in the emails, and Armand's picture was right there, at the top of the page, with an audio button next to him.
I admit, I read the copy but only listened to the first 5 minutes of the audio. Based on the information I read and heard, I was totally under the impression that he was the creator of the product.
Regardless of who the creators really are, Armand and Stephen are the promoters of this product, and they must share in the responsibility of its distribution and use. They are the ones telling people to buy it. (Perhaps not anymore...) 'Nuff said there.
The problem with this program, and the others out there like it, is that they are cheats to search engine ranking that will eventually get people banned for using them. BlogPower generated pages have already been banned from Blogharbour and rumor has it, Google as well. So, obviously there is a problem with it.
I must say that I was very surprised to see how many people that read my article supported this type of cheat. At least 50% of everyone that pointed out my error, in who created it, also thought that the program was an awesome piece of work. It seems that everyone hates being the receiver of spam, but many have no problem with being the source of it. As you might imagine, I am disappointed with this discovery.
There is a new program being promoted that claims to be able to put your classified ad on thousands of blog pages. An auto submitter of sorts... I've had a look at the site, and read through it, clicked links, and this is what I see...
It appears that all the blog pages that these ads are submitted to are all within the same network of blogs, owned by the same domains. This actually makes sense because you cannot auto submit advertisements to blog pages unless the blog owners are part of an existing system set up for auto submissions. That is to say, that you could not join this program and have your ad posted to my blog because I am not part of the network involved. No one can post anything to my blog except for comments, but me. Auto-posting advertisements in the comments section of a blog is spam. Therefore, paying for a membership to this program to advertise is as useless as mailing to safe lists. Your advertisements are only being shown to sellers, not buyers. Your money is wasted.
If this program is submitting ads to other blogs using the comments feature, they are spamming, and will ultimately be shut down. If they are only sending your ads to blogs within their own network, they've basically turned a group of blogs into safe lists. Why is the concept of safelist blogs a waste of time and money? Let me ask you this... Would you, as a buyer, subscribe to a safe list just to read the ads? I didn't think so. Safe list subscribers are sellers, not buyers. Buyers hang out in the search engines. So, so what if your ad is listed on a blog page? The search engines are looking for content, not sidebar advertisements. Google will send someone to the blog to read the information they're looking for, not your ad. If your ad is read by accident, bully for you, but the fact remains that if someone looking for information is taken to a safe list blog page, containing ads and not information, they'll click away, because that's not what they're looking for. Furthermore, search engines will learn to recognize these blog pages for what they are, and ban them too.
It is my humble opinion that the creators of these new marketing programs and blog bombing software packages, are trying to take advantage of John Q. Public's lack of experience with RSS and blogging, to make a quick fortune. Everyone knows now that RSS and blogging are powerful mechanisms for communication, but most people don't yet understand how it really works. I do understand how it really works, and I am telling you that your lack of knowledge is being used against you. Again, it is my opinion that now that most of you know that RSS can be a massive asset to your business, but you still haven't had much, if any experience with it, you are being capitalized upon by those who understand more.
Copyright © 2005
The Trii-Zine Ezine
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Trina L.C. Schiller
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine
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