Archives for November 2005

Sketchy testimonials

This is kinda fun. In our last post, we saw software that was being sold without even modifying an HTML template. Let’s play with that some more. Do an exact search for [“then delete this pink text”]. You can find lots of software packages where no one has bothered to update a template:

Someone is spitting out all sorts of software. Here’s one to teach you how to blog and ping:

Learn to blog and ping!

But my favorite has to be all those testimonials. Are they real? Here’s one with testimonials “for example purposes only”:

Supply your own testimonials!

These testimonials are for “example purposes only,” but are they real? I have no idea. But here’s a web page where the same people wax enthusiastic about a different product:

Your stuff is the bomb!

Humph. David Crow apparently thinks everything is a killer ap [sic]. He probably looks at faucets and goes “Amazing! I turn this thing, and water flows out! This is an absolute, killer ap!” Weird, wild stuff. Okay, now let’s take a completely different example. Here’s one where the testimonial is left blank except for a default of “Monterey, CA”:

Empty testimonial

Now let’s find that software package template on other sites. Hey, there’s a couple! Testimonial #1:

Testimonial #1

And now here’s testimonial #2:

Testimonial #2

Wow, what a coincidence that the empty template has a default of Monterey, CA, and both Ryan Smith and Ross Obrian also live in Monterey, CA! Did Ryan really double his money in 48 hours, and just happen to live in Monterey? Maybe, but I’m skeptical.

My point is that you should always use your critical thinking skills, whether you’re evaluating an e-book, a magazine article, an informercial, or what some random person is saying in a blog post. Librarians have been thinking about this stuff for a good long time; here’s a page with advice about evaluating web pages.

SEO Mistakes: software mistakes

When you’re starting out at SEO, think carefully when you’re deciding whether to buy a software package (or service) that promises SEO results. Why? First, when you’re making pages yourself, there’s a limited amount of pages that you can make a mistake on; when you’re using software, any damage can be amplified a thousand-fold. Second, you should really know what exactly the software is doing. If you buy a piece of software that makes many doorway pages that do sneaky JavaScript redirects, that can raise a red flag to search engines. “I bought this thing and didn’t know what it would do” is not a great explanation for a reinclusion request, because you’re ultimately responsible for the pages that you make on your domain. A third reason is that if you decide to buy a particular piece of SEO software, other people might be trying it too, and lots of people all using the same software package can lead to your site attracting more scrutiny.

A final reason is that many SEO software packages are not very (at all?) effective. I recently saw software for sale to generate blog links. Personally, I get a little suspicious when you also get an offer to sell the software yourself. Before you know it, everyone’s trying to sell the same piece of software–even producing templates where you only have to change your name or a few other pieces of info. Check out this screenshot of an auction I saw:

Template that hasn't been modified

Notice the pink text? That’s where someone was supposed to fill in their own name or other details. For the auction that I checked on, the seller didn’t even bother to personalize the stock template! Instead, they’re taking something that they bought and trying to sell it to you without customizing it with even their name. Now at the point where people are buying SEO software and turning right around and trying to sell it again without modifying even a template HTML page, what’s your opinion of that software? Also, did you notice the misspelling in the template about “quite that day job”? I usually get skeptical about typos when I’m about to buy something.

Maybe this is a useful piece of software. I could buy the software for $4.89 and check it out, but instead I’ll just stick to some high-level advice: for all the reasons I’ve mentioned, carefully consider any piece of SEO software before buying it.

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