Entries Tagged as 'Internet'

Flakelet.com reply about duplicate content

It seems I was wrong and the marketing monkeys at Flakelet.com did reply – and with an explanation on how duplicate content works and that I have nothing to worry about! I can go on my merry way copying their articles and pasting them on my site, and Google won’t care a jot – at least according to Ms. Weng Lopez. Here is what she said:

Hi Darren,

Thanks for replying. For details, you can browse the database of our articles at www.flakelet.com, where you can also learn more about how we work.

For concerns about duplicate content here are two reasons:

1. Duplicate content is an issue only when present on your own site (and that kind of duplicate content could cause some serious trouble for you). But, Google won’t punish you for reprinting other peoples’ content and they routinely index duplicate content pages, without a problem. You can easily check this by Googling a random article title from an article directory, such as EzineArticles.com. More often than not, you will find that multiple copies of the same article exist in Google’s index.

Why yes, if you search for a specific article title then you will find the sites where that article has been used. Naturally – if Google didn’t show you the sites where it had been used, it wouldn’t be of much use as a search engine. However, if I searched for phrases relating to that article I would NOT find each of those pages, all being duplicates of each other.

Google won’t punish you for copying content? I happen to think that’s about as inaccurate as you can get. Good luck with that Ms. Weng Lopez.

She continued:

2. We don’t require you to republish our articles “as is.” In fact, you can change them as much (or as little) as you wish and you will own the copyright. In our experience, it’s enough for Google to consider a page unique, if it has a unique title and a meta description. By adding a short 1-2 sentence introduction at the beginning, you should be more than covered.

“In our experience, it’s enough for Google to consider a page unique, if it has a unique title and a meta description.” …erm… no. A world of no, and once again, just in case I’ve not made myself perfectly clear, no.

Btw, we will be covering the issue of duplicate content in detail in our community, which is another good reason for joining. If you are interested, just follow this link http://flakelet.com/wp-register.php and register with the following invitation code: w4507l .

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me again.

Best regards,

Ms. Weng Lopez
weng.lopez@mikino.com
www.flakelet.com

Now I have to admit, I am curious as to what they’re going to say about duplicate content – merely because I need a good laugh and don’t often get chuckles on an SEO front – since I stopped visiting the forums at SEOchat at least.

However, I think I’ll leave this be for now… although I can feel the urge to reply coming on.

Tags: Google, Internet, SEO by MrDaz
1 Comment »

Flakelet.com

I’ve been running various websites online now for, well, forever really. I think it goes back to 1998 somewhere, my memory fails me. The point is that I’m fairly web savvy and I know when a website looks suspect.

Due to running so many websites I’ve also had numerous emails over the years from affiliate networks, potential sponsors and various companies who have wanted me to sign up or advertise their products.

Many of which are genuine affiliate networks, many of which are not.

Again, I feel I’m pretty good at telling which are the genuine ones, and which are the spam emails destined for the deleted items folder. Yesterday however I had one email that I just couldn’t bring myself to delete, so blasé was it about its ‘free’ service to me.

Have a read of this:

From: Weng Lopez
Subject: Re: CSA Hell: Re: your site, www.CSAhell.com

Hi,

I just want you to know that your site meets our criteria and we would like to sponsor it. The membership is free but only the top-notch sites are allowed.

What’s in it for you:

- Placement in an exclusive “Best of Content-Oriented Web sites” directory.
- Free content for your site, written around your topics by our in-house writers.
- Promotion of your site across our networks of 2,000+ of blogs.
- Marketing tools developed exclusively for our members to help you drive more traffic.
- Expert advice on search engine optimization (SEO), content development, monetization, conversions, etc. to make the most of what you’ve got.
- Participation in our community support forums.
- …and more.

Note that none of these benefits are available to non-members, it is an invitation-only community for webmasters. So, if any of the above appeals to you and if you’d like an invitation, please let me know. I will send you more details.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Best regards,

Weng Lopez
weng.lopez@mikino.com
www.flakelet.com

I so nearly deleted it… but instead felt a compelling urge to reply, especially after I had a quick look at their website and saw what a dodgy Facebook knockoff it was.

Here is what I wrote:

So, if I understand this correctly – you want to place content on my site, with links to your sponsors, without paying me for it and have advertised this as being a free service to me?

I can see what you get out of it – websites willing to post your content promoting your sponsors, but I don’t seem to get anything out of it all. Your website seems to be using the same design as Facebook (I’m sure that’s a coincidence) and has no PR, meaning it’s fairly new or has been penalised.

In addition, should I place your content on my website I would be penalised by Google for duplicate content AND for selling links, even though I wouldn’t actually have received any money for them.

Perhaps I’ve missed something? Do let me know if I have.

Regards
Darren

I doubt I’ll get a reply back – but seriously, if anyone gets an email from these jokers, the ‘free’ membership that allows you to promote their clients without any charge to yourself isn’t the best deal you’ll find online.

Tags: CSA, Internet, SEO by MrDaz
1 Comment »

Looking for a pedestal desk

Those who know me will know that I can be fairly superficial, but I choose to look upon that as having good taste. For example, I’ve wanted to own a decent desk from which to work for years, as I’ve always made do with cheaper, flat-pack rubbish (usually from Argos). There’s nothing worse than your entire desk shaking when the printer is running, knowing that the screws are working themselves loose with every pass of the printer cartridge.

I have looked for a decent pedestal desk a few times, trying new furniture shops mainly, but haven’t found anything that I like. It has to be old, preferably Victorian, and come with a suitably regal captain’s chair – although I know from trying them out that captains’ chairs aren’t that comfortable.

I’m going to start looking again soon, so that I can get rid of my latest flat-pack job from Argos, and will be starting with eBay and antique dealers around my local area, such as Manchester and Lancashire.

Hopefully, thanks to the power of the Internet, I won’t have to look for long before I find the perfect antique desk in Lancashire, close enough to have one delivered and cheap enough that it doesn’t break the bank. Quality is important, but as I’ve seen them online for well over £4,000 I may yet end up disappointed.

This is the type of antique desk that I’m looking for, so hopefully I’ll find one within budget. I can just see myself sat at this, sipping wine while annoying people online in a professional capacity.

Tags: General, Internet by MrDaz
2 Comments »

Student Property Shop protest

You might remember the posts I made a while back about Tariq Zaman and his Student Property Company in Leeds. It seems that students in Leeds are still upset over the practises of Tariq Zaman and his company, and there is a protest planned for this weekend on Saturday January 30th, between 1pm and 3pm. The protest takes place outside the Student Property Shop, and details can be found on Facebook.

The Facebook page reads:

Finally we have some progress in the fight against Tariq Zaman and his cronies…

According to BBC Watchdog:

‘Tariq Zaman has been named as a HMO licence holder for 18 properties owned by his family. Due to the prosecutions, the council has taken the view that he is no longer a fit and proper person and we are now taking steps to remove his licence completely.

Now is the time to step up and the pressure to tell Mr Zaman to return the thousands of pounds students have reported he’s stolen from them and to alert other students before they sign with either him. Mr Zaman had links with Providence Properties which closed down last year, and the shop front was taken over by the Student Property Shop.

SO COME MAKE SOME NOISE OUTSIDE THE STUDENT PROPERTY SHOP ON SATURDAY AND SHOW THAT THE STUDENTS OF LEEDS HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE FIGHT AGAINST TARIQ ZAMAN.

And of course, invite all your friends!!!

Tags: Internet, Rants by MrDaz
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HDNL employee to customers: You are all morons

Since my post just over two years ago about how a HDNL driver threw a parcel over  a gate, into a puddle, the post has received over 250 comments from angry HDNL customers, and arrogant, racist drivers who work for Home Delivery Network and insist on insulting their customers. The latest comment is by no means the worst, but the abrupt way that the imbecile chose to call all HDNL customers morons in his opening tirade is indicative of the attitude of the company towards its customers.

I particularly like the badly written line that reads: “Get off you fat arses and walk to the fucking shops”

The comment can be read below, and here, and you can read the original post (with the 250+ comments) here.

HDNL Employee
hdnl.co.uk
a@b.com
86.159.220.35
Submitted on 2010/01/23 at 1:39am

You are all morons. Do not use a 7am-7pm delivery company if you are going to be at work. I got an idea for you… Get off you fat arses and walk to the fucking shops…? Makes sense. If you order something be in for delivery! Hell its not hard people. What are you gaining bitching on this website? Why not just pick up a Thompson Local and ring the depot if you have a problem?? HDNL has a 99% delivery sucess rate, and with customers like Amazon moving more parcels through our network than in the past due to failures by other companies its hard to believe we’re as bad as you lot make out.

Tags: Internet, Rants by MrDaz
10 Comments »

Carphone Warehouse employee lies

I’m pretty sure I’ve explained reputation management on this website before. It’s quite simple, it’s about making sure that your business or personal name features positive results in the search engines when someone searches for you.

That’s the basic idea at least. Yet most people don’t understand how this works, and they think that by visiting websites and forums that feature negative comments, and ‘pretending’ to be someone impartial who is posting a positive comment, they’ll redress the balance.

This is of course idiotic. The public aren’t that stupid and anyone who tries this will be found out for the moron that they are.

Take this comment by a ‘Carphone Warehouse customer’ for instance. The post itself ranks on the first page of Google for ‘Carphone Warehouse Complaints’, and has obviously been spotted by Carphone Warehouse themselves, who hoped to convince the 70+ people who had commented on the blog that Carphone Warehouse were in fact a good company, by pretending to be a customer.

Here is the comment in full:

Just thought I’d add, I’ve been a carphone warehouse customer for over 10 years now and have never had a bad experience with them. I have had to put 2 phones in for repair due to faults, I paid my deposit for “loan phone” and within a couple of weeks recieved my phone back working fine and had my deposit refunded within a reasonable time.

Happy customers don’t seem to get so passionate about their experience as unhappy buyers…

Surely we should be getting upset with the manufacturers issuing substandard goods onto the market, then washing their hands of said products, leaving the retailer to pick up the tab.

Sounds a little fishy doesn’t it?

The first line for example, “I’ve been a carphone warehouse customer for over 10 years now and have never had a bad experience with them” – that set the alarm bells ringing straight away. Anyone who claims to have been with Carphone Warehouse for 10 years and has never had a problem with them is clearly delusional, or not to be trusted.

The use of wording too seems a little odd, almost as though it came from a handbook “had my deposit refunded within a reasonable time”. What’s a reasonable time? Couldn’t they commit to a time?

The final paragraph that sided with the retailers clearly shows that this person works for a retailer. Nobody speaks like that otherwise.

Of course all of this is conjecture. I may be reading too much into this and this person may indeed be a genuine customer of Carphone Warehouse with 10 years of nothing but good experiences with them.

Then again, as this idiot used their REAL email address to post the comment, robinsc02@cpwplc.com, perhaps their comment should be taken with a HUGE pinch of salt.

C Robins of Carphone Warehouse; when you attempt to play reputation management online, pretending to be a customer of your own company, at least have the intelligence to NOT use your own business email address!

Muppet.

Tags: Complaints, Humour, Internet, SEO by MrDaz
18 Comments »

Spam comments on your blog

When you run your own blog, especially one hosted on Wordpress, you’ll eventually start to attract some spam comments from people trying to build links for their websites (or rather for their clients’ websites).

Unethical SEO companies employ cheap foreign workers to scour the Internet adding bogus comments to blogs, usually with the same sort of comment, and attaching links to their clients’ website. You can spot them a mile off because the comments are often nothing to do with the actual blog post, or it’s something generic such as ‘great blog, I will come back often’.

They’re also easy to spot because instead of being attributed to an actual person, the author name is always a keyword or key phrase. Very spammy.

I had two bogus comments recently, one for a dog training website and one for an ‘earn money from home’ website, neither of which were approved, naturally.

What is especially funny about this one is that whoever paid to have the ‘work from home job’ link must be really annoyed with their SEO company because the idiots even forgot to add the client link!

At least whoever has been employed by stopdogfrombarking.info had the good sense to attach a link. That site is just a portal for the website www.kingdomofpets.com, so that they don’t get caught by Google spamming the crap out of other websites.

spam-comments

Tags: Internet, SEO by MrDaz
No Comments »

BBC Pays Google for Search Rankings

No, I’m not about to write an expose on the BBC and how they have aligned themselves with the criminal underworld at Google to ‘pay’ for top listings, but if you read the Mail on Sunday this past weekend, you might think that had happened. The Mail on Sunday responsibily reported how the evil BBC was in cahoots with Google to pay money it had taken from the license payers to gain top listings in its SERPs.

What utter crap.

As ever, the headline grabbing Mail on Sunday (part of the Daily Mail) had worked the story to fit its headline and wasn’t about to let the facts stand in the way of a good story. Far from the horror of the BBC illicitly paying off Google for top rankings, what had actually happened was that the BBC had run some PPC on Google Adwords.

The bastards!

The BBC using sponsored links? Whatever next? Advertising their programs on Radio One? Where will it end? Running their own weekly magazine with TV listings?

In fairness, I don’t think the reporter for the Mail on Sunday had intentionally misled the astute readers of the publication into thinking that the Beeb was paying for Google listings… no, I think he was just an idiot and had no idea what Adwords is and how it works. He’d heard that the BBC had paid Google for Adwords and without stopping to check any facts ran with the story, making himself out to be the moron he is.

However, you would have thought that others who reported the story would have checked the facts first! Bigmouthmedia has a news item on their website reporting from the same angle as the Mail on Sunday, and they’ve already attracted the attention of one blogger who’s seen through their mistake.

Perhaps the bigmouth guys are generating link bait through accusing the BBC of paying for Google rankings, as it’s certainly worked, even if it’s not exactly true!

Tags: Internet, SEO by MrDaz
1 Comment »

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