Jul 29 2008
SEO Scams on DP
As you all know by my former posts, I am a member of Digital Point Forums. I have watched many threads offering SEO services and some are legit. However, there are times that you as a webmaster need to use your common sense when something sounds too good to be true.
DP is not unlike any webmaster forum. There are always people willing to take money from unsuspecting victims. Scammers use every rouse to convince others to send them money to achieve miracles in SEO. There is no SEO company that can guarantee a certain place on Google. They can do all the right stuff to get you there but they can not promise that you will make the top position.
I have always warned people to know who they are dealing with. Check out the person and look for good reputable people. However, when dealing with strangers on the Internet, that is not even enough. Many members of DP have learned the hard way when longtime DP member Cheap SEO Services started a thread a while back for great promises of SEO miracles. Now a few months later, they are trying to get there money back and his partner has been banned and he is claiming it was the other guy and he was just a pawn.
This is a clear warning to members of DP and all members of webmaster forums, be careful of dealing with anyone and do not let longtime members have full trust. For some reason, this member still is a full active member of the forum even though he basically admitted that he helped defraud a lot of members.
If you are interested in the whole story, here is the DP thread to read for yourself. It is sad to see that something that involved large sums of money is ignored by the administrators of the forum.
This is a perfect example of why you should do most of your own SEO unless you know what you are paying for and you are sure that the methods are true and honest. It is ok to hire someone if you have no experience in SEO but beware of false promises and know that SEO takes hard work and nobody is that good that they can hit a home run every time they promote a site.
If you have something to add or wish to comment on the saga over at DP, please feel free to leave a comment.
As a designer, I do include SEO services for any website I create. I never tell the client that they’re going to be a PR10 within a month though, that’s their department. I just make sure the code is clean enough and keywords are in the proper places to get the client started. Just getting yourself linked on a PR7 website isn’t enough. I honestly can’t stand to see “SEO” companies throwing money into sponsored blogging just so their client thinks the money is going no where. Sure, they may see their hits increase but if 2,000 incoming links show up in one day, Google will know something is up and not even make the effort to increase the page rank.
If keywords are in the right place, and you have a good flow of unique hits that aren’t based on blog articles written by high school kids then you should have no problem showing up on Google - and it doesn’t cost a dime!
Excellent article, please don’t mind my two cents.
Thanks for the great response. I not only do not mind your two cents, I encourage it. Input my readers not only help others, it helps me learn more.
DP sucks anymore, its full of scammers and people who have no actual clue about SEO or how it works.