Thursday, April 19, 2007
Die, Scum-Sucking Scammer, Die!
Forgive the venting, but I'm worked up.
I declined a link exchange request the other day. Now, I don't do link exchanges any more. They're dead. They provide no traffic from potential buyers and nowhere near as much value from an SEO perspective as they used to.
But even if I still did link exchanges, there's no way in the world I would ever link to that site.
I have nothing against the business owner who sent the request. I'm sure he's a great guy, excited at the prospect of taking control of his own financial destiny on the Web.
The reason I declined his link exchange offer is that the site was a business-in-a-box type site. And it was a particularly insideous type that represents the worst kind of exploitation that I see being done to prospective business owners on the web.
The scum-sucking scammer (SSS for short) who sells these "no-effort, profit-generating websites" to people like this link requestor makes a fortune selling the same website to unsuspecting new business owners hundreds or even thousands of times.
The problem with business-in-a-box websites—duplicate content
Oh, sure, you can customize your site a little bit, but it's still essentially the same site in the eyes of the search engines. And, sure, maybe SSS originally got good rankings for his site. But is Google really going to rank all 10,000 versions of that same site in the top 10 of the keywords SSS originally ranked for? No way.
The problem with business-in-a-box websites—designed to fail
I'll grant you this, these cookie-cutter sites are somewhat attractive and professional looking. I can see why it would look like a dream come true to someone who wanted to start their own business. But to a typical website visitor, the site is a disaster!
The top of the cookie-cutter home page gives a brief warning against the many scams that people who want to start online businesses might encounter. It warns the visitor that the only business offers they should trust are the ones on the site. The site has that half-right. True, there are plenty of scams to avoid, but I would count SSS's business as one of them.
Most of the rest of the visible part of the home page encourages visitors, in one way or another, to sign up for their own profit-generating site just like the one they are on. So, after warning people to be on guard against scams, the pre-written text of the site encourages them buy SSS's worthless business-in-a-box.
If you scroll down the page, you find a hodgepodge of banner ads and text links. It seems designed to overwhelm the eye and send them back up to the top of the page where nothing but SSS's business-in-a-box is sold.
Sure, the site has plenty of pages. It gives the impression of being a big site. But, in reality, it's set up to overwhelm visitors visually and discourage them from moving beyond anything but SSS's own business offer.
Why this business model works—but just for SSS
The business-in-a-box business model works well—for the person who sells it to unsuspecting new business owners. It works very poorly, though, for the buyers.
It's first claim is this: "The site is ready made. You don't have to do a lick of work to get it running." The problem is: just having a site is not enough to ensure a profit. And if your site is NEARLY IDENTICAL to 20,000 sites that are all competing for the same search engine rankings, inbound links, etc., competition for traffic will be fierce.
The other claim is: "the original site made a lot of money, therefore yours will make money, too." Once again, though, you don't have the field all to yourself, like the original site did. You will have to work even HARDER to generate traffic to your site than the original site owner did.
The reality of this kind of business is this:
It sickens me to see this people like SSS exploiting prospective business owners. I hate to see SSS and his ilk churn through them and spit them out when he's wrung every last penny he can get from them.
Is Internet success impossible? Not at all! But it takes more than a cookie-cutter site to succeed. It takes a willingness to find specific problems that people have and to provide unique solutions to them.
That takes effort and it takes commitment. But it provides far more than just monetary rewards. It also provides the feeling of purpose and accomplishment that no cookie-cutter shortcut ever could.
Jeff
P.S. OK, I've vented at SSS and other baddies out there. I don't want to leave it at that, though. I know of reputable companies that help you to build a UNIQUE, niche business based on your own strengths and interests instead of on whatever products some business-in-a-box creator gets PAID to talk you into promoting.
If you want to uncover the business that lies hidden within you instead of settling for what worked for someone else many years ago, check on these:
I've found both of them to be outstanding at giving new business owners everything they need to build successful businesses.
Forgive the venting, but I'm worked up.
I declined a link exchange request the other day. Now, I don't do link exchanges any more. They're dead. They provide no traffic from potential buyers and nowhere near as much value from an SEO perspective as they used to.
But even if I still did link exchanges, there's no way in the world I would ever link to that site.
I have nothing against the business owner who sent the request. I'm sure he's a great guy, excited at the prospect of taking control of his own financial destiny on the Web.
The reason I declined his link exchange offer is that the site was a business-in-a-box type site. And it was a particularly insideous type that represents the worst kind of exploitation that I see being done to prospective business owners on the web.
The scum-sucking scammer (SSS for short) who sells these "no-effort, profit-generating websites" to people like this link requestor makes a fortune selling the same website to unsuspecting new business owners hundreds or even thousands of times.
The problem with business-in-a-box websites—duplicate content
Oh, sure, you can customize your site a little bit, but it's still essentially the same site in the eyes of the search engines. And, sure, maybe SSS originally got good rankings for his site. But is Google really going to rank all 10,000 versions of that same site in the top 10 of the keywords SSS originally ranked for? No way.
The problem with business-in-a-box websites—designed to fail
I'll grant you this, these cookie-cutter sites are somewhat attractive and professional looking. I can see why it would look like a dream come true to someone who wanted to start their own business. But to a typical website visitor, the site is a disaster!
The top of the cookie-cutter home page gives a brief warning against the many scams that people who want to start online businesses might encounter. It warns the visitor that the only business offers they should trust are the ones on the site. The site has that half-right. True, there are plenty of scams to avoid, but I would count SSS's business as one of them.
Most of the rest of the visible part of the home page encourages visitors, in one way or another, to sign up for their own profit-generating site just like the one they are on. So, after warning people to be on guard against scams, the pre-written text of the site encourages them buy SSS's worthless business-in-a-box.
If you scroll down the page, you find a hodgepodge of banner ads and text links. It seems designed to overwhelm the eye and send them back up to the top of the page where nothing but SSS's business-in-a-box is sold.
Sure, the site has plenty of pages. It gives the impression of being a big site. But, in reality, it's set up to overwhelm visitors visually and discourage them from moving beyond anything but SSS's own business offer.
Why this business model works—but just for SSS
The business-in-a-box business model works well—for the person who sells it to unsuspecting new business owners. It works very poorly, though, for the buyers.
It's first claim is this: "The site is ready made. You don't have to do a lick of work to get it running." The problem is: just having a site is not enough to ensure a profit. And if your site is NEARLY IDENTICAL to 20,000 sites that are all competing for the same search engine rankings, inbound links, etc., competition for traffic will be fierce.
The other claim is: "the original site made a lot of money, therefore yours will make money, too." Once again, though, you don't have the field all to yourself, like the original site did. You will have to work even HARDER to generate traffic to your site than the original site owner did.
The reality of this kind of business is this:
- New business owner gets swept up in the hype and buys a site.
- New business owner tells friends and family to check out his or her new business.
- Maybe new business owner encourages friends and family to sign up for their own Internet goldmine like his or hers.
- A few of them do and new business owner makes a little commission off the sales.
- Maybe new business owner gets lucky and makes a couple of sales from people who somehow wander into the site.
- Eventually, both traffic and sales dry up.
- New business owner gives up.
- SSS keeps getting money from the few sales that trickle in from each of the other 20,000 sites.
It sickens me to see this people like SSS exploiting prospective business owners. I hate to see SSS and his ilk churn through them and spit them out when he's wrung every last penny he can get from them.
Is Internet success impossible? Not at all! But it takes more than a cookie-cutter site to succeed. It takes a willingness to find specific problems that people have and to provide unique solutions to them.
That takes effort and it takes commitment. But it provides far more than just monetary rewards. It also provides the feeling of purpose and accomplishment that no cookie-cutter shortcut ever could.
Jeff
P.S. OK, I've vented at SSS and other baddies out there. I don't want to leave it at that, though. I know of reputable companies that help you to build a UNIQUE, niche business based on your own strengths and interests instead of on whatever products some business-in-a-box creator gets PAID to talk you into promoting.
If you want to uncover the business that lies hidden within you instead of settling for what worked for someone else many years ago, check on these:
I've found both of them to be outstanding at giving new business owners everything they need to build successful businesses.
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