Is it Link Building or Spamming?
Written by Rosalind Gardner on August 20, 2007 · Comments (5)
Filed Under Marketing ·
I received the following question about link-building practices from Richard, an NPT reader:
“I am new at this and I have put much time and effort into research and learning. I have bought several books and programs including NetProfitsToday (the Super Affiliate Handbook). I’ve also signed up for your newsletter and am enrolled as an Affiliate.
I recently read a strategy put forth by a “guru” (ugh!), one that I had become to consider one of the more reputable, better respected “professionals” in the business (I think you have even referred to him several times).
One of his suggestions for getting traffic to your site was to join forums and blogs whose topics were related you your sites subject matter and to post even generic responses to a previous post.
He put forth that if you didn’t have substantial knowledge to post a meaningful response, you would post something like “You have made a very good point” or “Thanks for the information, I didn’t know that was the case” etc.
Obviously if you do have knowledge of the subject matter you would make a more meaningful response.) Of course you would do this with links(s) to your website(s) in your signature.
Is this considered “spam”?
Please check out today’s article for my response to Richard on this topic.
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Comments
5 Responses to “Is it Link Building or Spamming?”
John on August 20th, 2007 21:19 pm
I think there are two sides to whether or not this is spam. If you’re just posting these kind of useless comments, with no other posts of value, then yes it is spam.
If you’re a part of the forum community and contribute valuable posts as well, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with these types of posts if they occur in the course of a thread.
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Imanuel on August 20th, 2007 22:13 pm
Link Building is tedious but very effective. I use link building and link purchasing methods to increase PR of my weblogs. And grab top ranking for any keywords with low competitions.
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Roy Carter on August 21st, 2007 4:12 am
Hi Ros,
I can’t believe any self-respecting marketer would put out advice like that. It can surely only damage his/her credibility.
The essence of a good forum is one that people can go to to both gain new knowledge and share the knowledge and experience they already have with others.
Helping others is the best way to help yourself in the long run.
regards
Roy Carter
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CatherineL on August 21st, 2007 16:48 pm
Great questions. And I’m glad you asked Rosalind’s opinion instead of taking the word of the “guru”.
Please take Rosalind’s advice. There is nothing worse than deleting scores of comments from your blogs first thing in the morning. Even if they go into your spam folder, you’ve still got to get rid of them.
And visiting forums just to spam wastes yours and everyones time. Visit forums you like, where you can learn and also help others.
I’ve never had a forum myself, but I used to moderate on Pete Werner’s DIS forums years ago. I agreed to do it because I had received a lot of help there when I was going through a bad time, and I wanted to give something back. But eventually, I got sick and tired of deleting spam, and locking the posts of bickering people. Not to mention deleting comments from his competitors who were trying to put his travel business down to get visitors to book through them instead.
So it isn’t wise to spam at all. And remember this - if you make a nuisance of yourself in one forum, the same visitors are likely to frequent the other forums too - and they’ll remember you for the wrong reasons.
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genuine internet marketing online affiliate program on August 25th, 2007 4:41 am
Hello,
This is a smart question from a newbie like me. If done well and with good intention it cannot be considered as spamming at all. I mean, on either blog or forum, firstly understand the rules there and abide by it.
Always strive to share solid, helpful comments and ask questions that will help others not with the SOLE intention to get backlinks. Your links will naturally come in as you do the right thing. I hope this helps a little?
Cheers!
Actually, with a name like “genuine internet marketing online affiliate program” I thought this comment looked quite spammy, so I removed the link. Cheers, Ros
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