Twinisms started just over a year ago. I would have had a big blog-o-versary party and post, but it fell on my week off. I’m no expert on blogging. I don’t make any money. I don’t even really understand how other bloggers make money. I also try not to blog about blogging, because it is so boring it makes me want to bludgeon myself with a hammer.
However, once in a while I get hit up by companies who want to use my site to advertise their products or services. I’m not against it. Who doesn’t need a lifetime supply of photo books in exchange for a rambling blog post extolling the virtues of photo books?
“It’s a book. And it’s filled with photos! Of my dumb family acting like we like each other!”
Easy.
Along with the occasional legitimate request come several not-so-legitimate requests.
This week I got a friendly email from “Noah” with an infographic about Military Spouses that I could “feel free” to put on my blog. Sure thing, buddy.
I immediately forwarded it to theGlamB0t and wrote, “Seems legit. Not.”
I wrote that for two reasons, the first because it was obviously a ploy to get me to post a link to a home security company. The second is that I’m still 17 and living in 1992.
I anxiously awaited a response from theGlamB0t…
Instead I got this:
Bridget -
To help me better understand, can you explain what about the infographic is not legit? We spent a lot of time researching those stats, and even spoke to some military wives and moms to get a good perspective and try to make a really awesome piece of content.
Thanks,
Noah
Oops. Did I hit reply instead of forward?
I forwarded the whole conversation to theGlamB0t. This was her reply.
Noah,
The infographic is fine and your support of military families is appreciated. The problem, is that it is NOT legit. This is an SEO practice that you’re doing to most likely raise the PR of yourlocalsecurity.com by exploiting military blogs. Your signature says “yourlocalsecurity.com” yet your email is from drivenetwork.com which is an SEO company in Drums, PA.
This is a blog by an Army wife about motherhood, not security. Your interest is appreciated, however we are not interested in linking up at this, or any other time to help raise some random security companies page rank.
Please don’t contact us regarding this, or any other offer. Thanks.
Best,
Heather
Web Admin
Twinisms.com
The problem with these random infographics (and some awards) is that unless you know of them or can Google the with positive results, they are 99.9% a ploy to get you to link back to a web site. That isn’t entirely terrible, however their intention isn’t to draw an audience to your site, but to bring an audience to theirs.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of raising the web sites Page Rank a number determined by Google. The higher the web sites Page Rank, the higher it will be listed within the search results for a particular keyword search on Google.
(This is where it gets confusing, so put the kids on mute for a minute.)
Site owners can pay an SEO company to raise their page rank. Many SEO companies offer these awards or graphics to blogs relevant to their clients site topic. But, they will also bait-and-switch these pages. If you return to the award site later, the content will have changed entirely. SEO companies will also buy up domain names in niche topics themselves, create the content for them and reach out to you, leading you to believe you’re talking to another blog or company. When they link to many sites on the topic their page rank rises and the SEO company will then sell it for a profit.
It’s bogus. If you ever get something random, don’t hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter @theGlamB0t. It takes me five minutes to figure out if they’re legit. Remember, if you choose to share your life with the world, they should at least respect your time and effort.
