[Hidden-tech] 'SEO Marketing sales pitches': scams or what?
Robert Heller
heller at deepsoft.com
Mon Aug 25 15:46:06 EDT 2014
Arg... Why do people post pure-HTML messages to an E-Mail list? It is really,
really hard to read. (I *don't* use a HTML capable E-Mail client, and no I
have no intention of 'upgrading' to a HTML capable E-Mail client.)
Anyway, I wanted to respond to at least one mistake in "B. Kimo Lee" message:
"This means that sites on shared servers would now need a dedicated IP address
and would have to purchase/renew an SSL Certificate each year."
No, a dedicated IP address is NOT needed for a HTTPS site. The SSL
Certificate is by domain name, not IP address and it is entirely possible to
have multiple HTTPS site on a shared server all with the same IP address.
This trivially supported by Apache and I suspect with most (all?) web server
software.
About using HTTPS for a informational site:
It is an excessively costly requirement for a *purely* informational site.
Using SSL just adds cost, when NONE of the information being sent or received
is in any sense 'private'. In some ways, Google's 'HTTPS Everywhere' could in
fact be harmful: all it would take would be a non-SSL site somewhere spoofing
a HTTPS site and asking for things like CC#s or (banking) passwords, or the
like. When 'every' site is HTTPS, people might expect *ALL* sites to be HTTPS
and not bother to check to see if a site that *should* be HTTPS, is in fact
not HTTPS.
At Mon, 25 Aug 2014 13:14:13 -0400 "B. Kimo Lee" <bklee at azurelink.com> wrote:
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> <html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi Robert,<div><br></div><div>Some good replies on this topic. I just wanted to add that if you haven't already heard, the latest SEO-related thing is that Google has now said that their search engine is ranking sites secured with SSL Certificates higher. It's part of their "HTTPS Everywhere" initiative, and probably a good thing overall to keep the pipe between user and server secure all the time. If this was already mentioned on HT recently, I apologize for double posting.</div><div><br></div><div>This means that sites on shared servers would now need a dedicated IP address and would have to purchase/renew an SSL Certificate each year.</div><div><br></div><div>Here's a link to Google's blogspot post entitled "HTTPS as a ranking signal":</div><div><a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html">http://googleweb!
mastercentral.blogspot.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>If you think about it, ensuring the authenticity of the server, protecting the integrity of the data sent from modification in-transit, and protecting that data from eavesdropping by encrypting it, makes so much sense.</div><div><br></div><div>As for the topic, I agree that in most cases these firms are offering black hat solutions and which may get your site punished. </div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Kimo Lee</div><div><br><div>
> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: !
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> <br><div><div>On Aug 23, 2014, at 10:43 AM, Robert Heller wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div> ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.<br> ** If you did, we all thank you.<br><br><br>I've been getting sales pitches from SEO Marketing companies, both via<br>telephone (Robot calls mostly) and via E-Mail (and via my contact page on my<br>website). All with more or less the same basic pitch: "We can place you the<br>first page of Google searches..." or some variation on that theme.<br><br>These companies charge something like $300-$500 / month (which is way outside <br>what I could afford).<br><br>What *exactly* are these companies really doing (other than looking to pocket<br>a pile of *my* cash)? Some claim to be using a propriatory system -- whatever<br>that means.<br><br>Note if I do a search for "Linux Administration North Quabbin" *my* website<br>shows up as the firs!
t and second results (at least with duckduckgo), so my<br>website can't be that bad as it is. I do get some business, maybe not vast<br>amounts, but I am not sure I could handle vast amounts of work anyway -- I am <br>a one-man operation and there are only so many hours in the day. I would need <br>to get more work than I could handle to cover the $300-$500 / month anyway -- <br>that is I would end up becoming a cash cow *for the SEO Marketing company* and <br>my net income would not be much more than it currently is! What would be the <br>point of that?<br><br>Most of the pitches say that my website is not findable, but somehow these SEO<br>Marketing companies have found my website (is it a chicken or an egg?). What<br>are they doing: doing a search and then working backwards from the *last* page<br>of results? Or are they really finding my site easily enough and thinking<br>'this might be an easy mark', since I might not be at the top of all of the <br>search !
results (or the search results for the searches they are doing!
).  
;I <br>wonder: maybe my website is really good in that it looks like a bigger company <br>than I really am?<br><br>Is this some sort of scam or what? It has all of the look and feel of a scam, <br>much like the credit card robot calls, which start with "This is your final <br>wanring about your credit card..." (and I *don't* have a credit card!).<br><br>-- <br>Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933<br>Deepwoods Software -- Custom Software Services<br><a href="http://www.deepsoft.com/">http://www.deepsoft.com/</a> -- Linux Administration Services<br><a href="mailto:heller at deepsoft.com">heller at deepsoft.com</a> -- Webhosting Services<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: <a href="http://www.hidden-tech.net">http://www.hidden-tech.net</a><br><a href="mailto:Hidden-disc!
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>
--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com -- Webhosting Services
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