Not exactly!
Okay pals and gals, we have already gone into the entire click-farm phenomenon, but the pay to play model goes much further and operates on a far more entrenched level of chicanery and skullduggery.
Rapidly approaching the half-century mark, I have come to realize (and reluctantly accept) that I am now firmly in the category of people that occasionally need to be introduced to new ideas. One such idea was to try submit Tempus Fugit to what appeared to be a ranking service that (on the service) stated that they were an unbiased source where "normal" people could come to subscribe to various watch blogs and outlets. I will not name them here, because the point of this post is not to shame anyone or to hurt someone's business. But interesting to relate, a business is exactly what it turns out to be ; )
Upon submitting the details for Tempus Fugit, I was then first asked, then required to subscribe to another watch blog's feed. Odd as that seemed (why would I subscribe to a competitor's feed?), I went ahead and did so, being informed by the site ranking administrator that Tempus Fugit would be reviewed and added.
Well, not exactly...
What followed was a full-court press from a sales agent from the site ranker informing me that:
Tempus Fugit is really interesting and the content is great! Subscribe to our service (i.e. PAY US) and we will place you in the top 100 rank! To which I replied,
"how will people visiting your page know what a legitimate rank really is when, in fact, the only requirement for being listed is to pay you?"
Silence, then another pitch.
And then another pitch.
And then another pitch.
And then another pitch.
And then another pitch.
I finally responded that I was not interested.
I might add that I saw several big name watch blogs listed, and several that I had never heard of, and when I visited realized that they had not been updated for months, and in some instances, years.
So it seems that their check cleared long ago...
It is getting to a point where there is next to no legitimate way other than people physically showing their actual tracking numbers to REALLY know what the legitimate traffic numbers are, as opposed to the click farmed, paid follower, paid booster traffic that PR and marketing offices keep writing big checks for. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to get nice big checks too. But then again, I don't want to pay a dubious organization to hoodwink not only the marketing offices of watch brands, but also bamboozle the people interested in reading about watches. There is plenty of deception in the watch business without my adding to it.
Here at Tempus Fugit, we're going to keep our traffic organic.
Okay pals and gals, we have already gone into the entire click-farm phenomenon, but the pay to play model goes much further and operates on a far more entrenched level of chicanery and skullduggery.
Rapidly approaching the half-century mark, I have come to realize (and reluctantly accept) that I am now firmly in the category of people that occasionally need to be introduced to new ideas. One such idea was to try submit Tempus Fugit to what appeared to be a ranking service that (on the service) stated that they were an unbiased source where "normal" people could come to subscribe to various watch blogs and outlets. I will not name them here, because the point of this post is not to shame anyone or to hurt someone's business. But interesting to relate, a business is exactly what it turns out to be ; )
Upon submitting the details for Tempus Fugit, I was then first asked, then required to subscribe to another watch blog's feed. Odd as that seemed (why would I subscribe to a competitor's feed?), I went ahead and did so, being informed by the site ranking administrator that Tempus Fugit would be reviewed and added.
Well, not exactly...
What followed was a full-court press from a sales agent from the site ranker informing me that:
Tempus Fugit is really interesting and the content is great! Subscribe to our service (i.e. PAY US) and we will place you in the top 100 rank! To which I replied,
"how will people visiting your page know what a legitimate rank really is when, in fact, the only requirement for being listed is to pay you?"
Silence, then another pitch.
And then another pitch.
And then another pitch.
And then another pitch.
And then another pitch.
I finally responded that I was not interested.
I might add that I saw several big name watch blogs listed, and several that I had never heard of, and when I visited realized that they had not been updated for months, and in some instances, years.
So it seems that their check cleared long ago...
It is getting to a point where there is next to no legitimate way other than people physically showing their actual tracking numbers to REALLY know what the legitimate traffic numbers are, as opposed to the click farmed, paid follower, paid booster traffic that PR and marketing offices keep writing big checks for. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to get nice big checks too. But then again, I don't want to pay a dubious organization to hoodwink not only the marketing offices of watch brands, but also bamboozle the people interested in reading about watches. There is plenty of deception in the watch business without my adding to it.
Here at Tempus Fugit, we're going to keep our traffic organic.
I agree 100%. I am the admin at the watchlords forum and I receive countless emails about SEO and google rankings and how to improve them. Of course there are those pesky costs and access to your site involved as well. I posted this article at the forum just to let them know what an honest blog was about.
ReplyDelete