10 replies to this topic

[send2paul]

I got this in the mail today:

Hi,

I work for XXXX; a UK based Digital Marketing Consultancy.

We represent clients interested in social media marketing on smaller sites with little or no existing advertising and we're currently looking for advertising partners.

We pay a fixed upfront annual fee which we will agree on with you. Once the ad is in place, payment is made within approximately 48 hours.

Would you be interested in placing a small text-based ad on (MY BLOG URL)?

Kind regards,
ABC XYZ
ABC.XYZ@XXXX.com

What do you think?

[cre8pc]

I get these and delete them :cower:

They don't say what type of ads...adult? drugs? etc.

Why small sites? The advantage of that would be....

and other questions.

[send2paul]

I know, you're right Kim.

But.... I've emailed them back to see what they are about.

The UK company does seem like quite a genuine and well established one which is why I've written back to them to see what they have to offer etc.

[Dr.Marie]

I would be mucho surprised if this was something that would benefit to you. I got one of these once and it was a gambling website. They wanted to pay a small amount each month but I turned them down because I don't want to be linking out to gambling sites.

[jonbey]

I had something that sounded like that and googled it. Quite often the money does not come or bounces. Although some people did say that they had good relations with the company.

I did reply too, cannot remember where it was left ..... I guess I asked a question that they did not want to answer. Oh, that's it. They were registered in the UK, had a UK company and address, and I asked if they would pay direct to my business account rather than going through Paypal to avoid fees and they never replied.

I looked up their addresses and could not see much in the way of a business so assume it was just a forwarding address. So I reckon, dodgy.

[send2paul]

As they say on "Question Of Sport", ( a little UK TV joke coming! ) - let's see "What Happens Next"

.....and on the same day I had someone requesting to do some "guest blogging" on my blog... so I asked about that as well.... and it appears that the articles would be advertising a website where this person "writes for".... but I think they are an affiliate writer and getting paid for any affiliate links they can get in articles where folks click back through to the website?

Interesting technique I thought! Become a "link dropping affiliate" and then see if you can blag your way onto people's blogs under the ruse of writing posts as a "guest blogger"

.... I may try this myself!

[jonbey]

Following hushed whispers with Paul behind the bike shed I can confirm that these are the same people that contacted me and many other people. Research revealed that their company seems rather "fake", although legal and registered etc. Also many other people have received the exact same email. Some never got paid after placing a link on their site.

[send2paul]

A "virtual bike shed".... Steve Jobs never thought of taking Apple in that direction, eh? :emo6:

[send2paul]

So..... I played along wanting to find out some more. And I asked if it was okay for me to use a no follow tag in the link. The reply was:

I appreciate your concern about "no follow" tag. However, this usually flagged as error in the system. Also, we strictly follow our clients terms so we have to insert the exact URL provided by our clients.

Ah..........

[tam]

I've had a few people approach on sorta similar lines. Media companies working on behalf of clients. I ask about the client, the ad and the amount and then decide. I've agreed (and been paid for) two, both were for companies I was already aware of before the approach and are biggish names in the specific niche. They didn't seem to mind giving the companies name before I agreed.

You have to watch because there are also people that seems to be some sort of third (or fourth) party affiliate scheme promoters. Which just seems dodgy.

[send2paul]

Tam - hi!

Good advice. Thanks.

And the final link(s) - were you allowed, or did you use "no follow" links?

Curious of Essex