Earlier I commented to Kim that the number of hate e-mails I have received has gone way down while the number of nice e-mails has gone up. I was actually a bit concerned about this odd trend until I checked the website’s e-mail account and noticed a new message entitled, “Linwood Pizza” with GMail showing a blurb as “I would like to give you the opportunity to take down the post about Linwood Pizza.” My heart immediately jumped into my throat. Was this one of my famous “takedown notifications” mailed by angry owners and those that represent them?
Unfortunately it wasn’t anything nearly that exciting. Instead it was what amounted to little more than a marketing e-mail from a Minneapolis based business looking to get local blog authors to write content for their advertisement filled website by making you feel threatened for talking poorly about their paying customers…nice.
I would like to give you the opportunity to take down the post about Linwood Pizza. Businesses need the support of Bloggers like you to keep business coming. I would ask that you take the posting down – in trade I will give your Blog a feature posting on [URL removed] under articles and you may post anything you like for one year!
While I agree that in many cases businesses need support of the local blogosphere to enjoy an uptick in business, I don’t agree that every single business deserves this treatment without doing anything to earn it. Thankfully I now have the option of removing my own website’s content and the opportunity to go and work, free of charge, for another website and make them money! It would appear that Linwood Pizza is a “Featured Listing” and “Editors Choice” and I would assume that this company is trying to reduce my Google Ranking to attempt and make the owner of Linwood Pizza happy with his decision to spend ~$600 to “advertise” with this particular website. This is a scary marketing campaign that I hope no one else in our area falls into — either on the blog or business side. Honestly, you’re better off contacting a blogger and asking them to support your business and hope that you make their visit an enjoyable one, rather than throwing $600 out the window and into the arms of what I believe to be a sleazy marketing website.
Aside from the implications of attempting to get local blogs to remove their content and write for this site instead, I have to discuss the terrible web design and content that already exists on this site:
1. The blog section of this spam site has 1 Google Reader user currently subscribing. Just for reference, Aaron Landry’s website has 154 users subscribed, LazyLightning has 61, and MNspeak recently exceeded 1000 to end up at 1001 as of this writing (BTW, you can track that information out yourself with this handy little GreaseMonkey script for Firefox). I’m not sure why they feel that anyone in their right mind would want to give up writing content at their own site to write for their’s (or to even be listed) when they seem to reach such a limited audience.
2. The Business Listings are categorized poorly and obviously only to attract Google search traffic. Instead of having a hierarchy which makes sense, this website breaks content down into such useful areas as “Pizza” and then “Pizza & Burgers” or “Real Estate” and “Real Estate Closing”. Awesome.
3. In my opinion, by putting the same listings under multiple categories this website can up their listing count and confuse potential advertisers and unsuspecting Google searchers. Take for example Linwood Pizza in Apple Valley. They are listed under at least six different categories including pizza, pizza & burgers, restaurants, entertainment, and family fun.
4. Their coupon search reveals no results within 100 miles of 55101. Why bother to include an empty part of your site — oh, that’s right, to drive up search hits… My mistake, I forgot the obvious intent of this site.
Overall, if you see an e-mail from this website show up in your inbox just mark it as the spam I believe it to be and move along. It’s really unfortunate that this company is attempting to convince the authors of the blogosphere to remove their content and put it up on their website instead.
What do you think of this scheme? Do you agree that it’s wrong for a marketing company to ask bloggers to remove content to drive up their own revenue or do you think I’m off my rocker? Either way, comment on, I’d love to hear what you have to say.
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November 6th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
You are not off your rocker! That’s total BS.
Hell, I got irritated when a *paying* advertiser asked me to change the header of my column from “sponsors” to “friends” or “check this out!” because he didn’t want to appear to be an advertiser. Too bad he didn’t consider the fact that “Phillies memorabilia” was going to look wildly out of place labeled as FRIENDS on the personal blog of someone in Minnesota that talks about youtube, drinking and politics, but never sports.
This is a classic example of internet marketing and advertising folks that don’t fucking understand the internet, their target demographic, or their clients. I hope you told that guy to stick his request up his hoohaw.
November 6th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
That’s a lot less sinister than I was expecting. And a lot dumber.
“Do you agree that it’s wrong for a marketing company to ask bloggers to remove content to drive up their own revenue or do you think I’m off my rocker?”
I think it’s wrong because it’s clearly disingenuous. I’ve been rather shocked to attend events like, say, Podcamp and encounter someone who is only seeing dollar signs in a project and not at all thinking about customer service or community engagement. But people do it all the time and other people fall for it all the time.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Bill,
If anyone actually reads my blog, I’m amazed, much less asks me to remove content, so I’ll have to say it’s at least nice to be sought after, for whatever the reason (because even your mention of this drives traffic of course)
To the point, yah, kind of crappy. I can see if this company offered you a space, and they were driving in hits hand over fist, and you would benefit somehow, monetarily, but why give up your hits and AdSense cha-ching to someone else?
November 6th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Here’s a concept: Put all this energy into making a good restaurant, complete with good food.
Or, am I just waaaaay out there with that crazy idea?
November 7th, 2008 at 9:16 am
If that guy had half a brain regarding online reputation marketing he’d just go create youtube, flickr, delicious, facebook, yelp accounts using the keyword that you show up for; then push links at those till those results pushed your site off the serps.
Instead he went this route and it backfired, lucky for him; soon this post will show for his term as well.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I hope it’s just my browser, but that “Twin City Business” site is some jacked-up looking shit. Please tell me I am not loading the CSS correctly! If not, wow, that’s just sad.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:19 am
[...] you are a blogger, please read this article from Lazy Lighting. There are people out their trying to alter the contents of local blogs. Let’s keep them [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Just wondering if you are going to the Naming promblems with the Senior Center tonite at AV Commiuty Center at 6:30pm. The 4.5 million dollar Senior Center.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Pat, no, I’m not. I don’t think it’s a big deal. Just so you know you can read more about the Senior Center here: http://www.lazylightning.org/new-apple-valley-senior-center-green-or-not