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03-21-2006, 02:13 PM
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Administrator
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Wisconsin
USDA Zone 4
Posts: 7,551
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Be skeptical when consider unsolicited email offers
I received an email a few minutes ago that looked interesting - right in my wheelhouse (maybe yours, too). The title read "How a Local Lawncare Company got Sales Leads from Google."
"Cool!" I thought. I know how they're doing it, but I wanted to see what this emailer had to say on the subject.
The email shows a nice picture of what looks like a pretty clean website, with a contact form on the first page. Good - make the distance between A and B as short as you can. So far I like 'em.
Later in the email they claim to be able to rank your site highly in the search engines, and that will bring you lots of targeted traffic (and truthfully, ranking highly can do just that). But that opens the door to the big test. The test that any company claiming to offer high rankings in search engines must provide to be legit. And that is, ranking high in the search engines. Rarely in another field can a company's ability so quickly and easily be assessed.
So I search for the company name in question and can't find their site on page 1 of Google. Or on page 2. Or 3. Or 4. Hmmm.... How good can you be if you can't even get a site ranked for the company's own name? So I reread the testimonial and do a little more digging...
As it turns out, the company does exist, and it's located only a few miles from the web company purported to have built their wildly successful site. The lawncare company is listed in the Internet Yellow Pages, too. But I can't find a website anywhere. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the company owner doesn't even know he's being used for a "testimonial"!
I dig a bit more - turns out the company selling their web services only registered their URL a few weeks ago - so I'm pretty sure the testimonial, talking about the time it took to meet, build the site, get traffic, etc, is bogus - you can't do all that in three weeks.
As always, the proof is in the pudding, and buyer beware.
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03-21-2006, 03:00 PM
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Seedling
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Long Island, NY
USDA Zone 6
Posts: 97
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That's nothing!
I have just been contacted by a Nigerian attorney who tells me that for ten thousand dollars, I can file a legal claim to the 12 million dollar estate of a dead relative of mine that I didn't even know existed!
How's THAT for luck, huh?
Man, I can't wait to get my hands on THAT mad bank!!
-JP
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__________________
Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right,
or doing it better.
- John Updike
Last edited by John Palasek : 03-21-2006 at 03:02 PM.
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03-21-2006, 07:43 PM
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B&B Tree
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: LaGrangeville, N.Y.
USDA Zone 5
Posts: 876
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A fine piece of detective work Jeff!! 
You have much more patience than I for that sort of thing though, that big red X at the top of the screen gets used more often than I care to admit!  |
03-21-2006, 08:18 PM
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Gold Oak Member
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Long Island, NY
USDA Zone 6
Posts: 1,322
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It's amazing how many emails I delete without giving it a thought.
If an email is not from someone I know or from someone I am expected.......or done business with, where I make the initial contact................they all get deleted.
Some days the entire days emails get deleted.
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03-21-2006, 09:52 PM
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Gold Oak Member
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Join Date: Apr 2005
USDA
Posts: 637
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It's amazing the amount of junk emails we get on the website.
We have a very effective filtering system in place or we would
be going nuts.
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03-23-2006, 08:04 AM
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Sapling
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
USDA Zone 5
Posts: 186
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sorry john, i beat you to it; that nigerian attorney contacted me two months ago and i sent him by bank info so that the transfer can be made soon.
i haven't heard back, but i'm sure he's busy.
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03-23-2006, 11:43 AM
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Whip
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Join Date: Feb 2004
USDA
Posts: 302
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Dangit, I thought I was getting the $12 million.
Is that how much it was? My red X got used before I even got that far in the e-mail.
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03-23-2006, 03:36 PM
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Administrator
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Wisconsin
USDA Zone 4
Posts: 7,551
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Y'know, I truthfully never thought they were an outright scam, but I guess it could be. Seemed well put-together, and there weren't some of the trappings you'd find in the normal International Lottery or other email scam.
I was thinking it was more along the lines of a group who is probably able to do web work, just that they were grossly overstating what they could (and did) do.
But if the end result is steering clear of them, then it's all good.
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03-23-2006, 08:53 PM
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Gold Oak Member
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Monroe, NC
USDA Zone 10
Posts: 678
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Oh , the nigerian thing! Got about 3 of those last year and e-mailed him back saying that I needed his money for my new invention - a Salad Tree! It actually produces tomatoes, lettuce, onions, olives, croutons, bacon bits, salad dressing & a fork.
I wonder why he never replied back?
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03-23-2006, 11:43 PM
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Administrator
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Wisconsin
USDA Zone 4
Posts: 7,551
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lol - You only got 3 last year? I got 3 of those today! Are you guys putting me on these lists?  |
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