SEO For The Common Webmaster

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.

If you have been around a while as a webmaster, I am sure that you have heard about Digital Point Forums. It is the largest known webmaster forum. It was once one of the best market places for webmasters. Is it losing its appeal?

In the past few months many changes have been made. Some are good and some are causing problems with doing any business on the forums. There have been many new moderators added and some are so young that they lack the maturity to run a forum of that size. The forum is running over with spammers and scammers and the sad part is that some of the scammers are long time members who seem to be protected by the forum leaders. Threads started about this member are closed and many people have been scammed.

The rules have been updated to include a 7 day ban for bumping threads. Of course, the general chat forum has tons of threads that have nothing to do with webmaster related topics and they can be bumped over and over. They say it is to clean up the market place but the market place is beyond repair. If you post an offer, it is quickly buried or overrun by people willing to work so cheap that a member from an Industrialized nation would starve with those rates.

The freebie section is a joke because it includes anything from free up to $5 deals. This is not free, it is a joke. Every time this is brought up, the thread is quickly closed with responds like “It ain’t going to happen” or “Only Shawn can change it.”

Shawn is the owner of the forum and he only pops in now and then and seems to have no interest in members’ concerns. That is sad to see since DP was once the greatest webmaster forum on the Internet.

The rules seem to change all the time and there can be stickies found all over the forum but not consolidated in one convenient place. We are told to report violations of the rules. However, it depends on which moderator you get rather it will be dealt with. Shannon (Smyrl on the forum) is the only moderator that can be relied on to handle issues the same all the time.

I am not trying to trash the forum because there are some great members on there. I have done a lot of business on DP since I joined in the spring of 2006. I am just expressing my concerns and the concerns of many members on the forum. I have tried to express those concerns on the forum and the threads are shut down quickly. I would love to see DP restored to a webmaster forum of high quality. It is sad to see General Chat garbage threads getting hundreds of replies while honest webmaster related topics may not get any. Is DP still a webmaster forum?

The problems have drawn me to ask the question to both myself and other members, has Digital Point Forums lost its appeal for webmasters?

There are many sites on the Internet geared towards helping the everyday webmaster. From SEO to designing your very first website, there are many sites that can help you. If you are serious about really becoming involved in building blogs and websites, I highly recommend that you join a webmaster forum.

The number one forum on the internet for webmaster related topics is Digital Point Forums. They have a variety of members from all over the world. The forum is extremely active and you can find answers to just about of your questions.

I have been an active member for about 2 years and I have learned a lot over those two years. Be warned that there are many rules and they are enforced. If you break a rule, you will get an infraction. Most infractions do expire at some point but if you get 10, you will be banned.

Please only join if you wish to be part of a webmaster community. There is a lot of recent members who have no purpose on there except to annoy other members. If you join, participate where you can and offer advice on topics you know about.

The forums offer many categories including an active marketplace to sell links, websites, writing services and more. If it is legal to sell and does not break the rules of any company, you can normally sell it there. They also have categories on Search Engine Optimization, Google Adwords and Adsense, Yahoo, many affiliate programs, and more. There are too many to list here but it is well worth joining the forums.

Like I stated, there are many resources for webmasters, however, this is an all in one package. It is a great place to learn, a great place to earn, and a great place to make new friends.

For free to check them out and if you do join, leave a comment here and let me know so I can look for you.