Or so the many endorsement e-mails are trying to convince me… Yes, they all seem to support the blog comment spam software I talked about a few days ago.

One of the “selling points”…

on the sales page & endorsement e-mails is a search for a particular keyword phrase on Yahoo.com that returns a site still “Under Construction” ranked at the #1 spot.

The claim is… thanks to this super neat blog spam software, even a “blank” site was able to secure a #1 ranking on Yahoo for this competitive keyword phrase. And if it can do this for an empty site, imagine what it can do for your content-rich page!

Previous Occupants…

Sure the site is ‘blank’ at the moment… but they forgot to mention that from as far back as March 2004, this site was a fully functional discount cat furniture store with some serious reciprocal link exchange marketing!

So this isn’t exactly a brand new website, still under construction, and never promoted on the Internet… it was actually a full-blown online store with extensive, content-relevant, link exchanges already in place.

The blog spam sales site even gives you a link to check out some of their backlinks, and you’ll find about 381 backlinks coming from blogger.com blogs.

This particular backlink search specifically looks for links coming from blogspot.com websites only, because this spam software will post only to blogger.com blogs (see here).

But… if you remove the blogspot.com filter from that backlink search, you’ll see that the site has a total of over 880 backlinks.

That’s 500+ extra backlinks…

from non-blogger.com websites. So, where are they coming from? Why, reciprocal link exchanges with pet-related sites and other link exchange directories, of course! Obviously, the blog spam software was not responsible for these reciprocal link exchanges.

Does it still look like this blog spam software brought this ‘blank’ site to #1?

Personally, it looks more to me like they used Brad Callen’s SEO Elite Software to simplify finding & exchanging a massive number of reciprocal links to get to #1… but that’s just my opinion. (And yes, that’s an affiliate link.)

Some people *want* to be spammed?

It’s so incredibly annoying how those promoting this software keep insisting that if blogger.com account holders *did not* want to receive comment spam, they would enable the word-verification option, as well as all other preventative measures, when accepting comments. And if they fail to “lock and guard all their doors” it could only mean they welcome automated comments with open arms.

That’s like saying if you really don’t want to receive e-mail spam, you’ll take advantage of every spam filtering method and tool available today… and if you don’t, what you’re really saying is you actually enjoy receiving the spam that slips through the filters.

Your family is falling apart? Great! You’ll love my horse breeding site!

As I was researching some of the generic comments posted by this software, I came across a blog post by a young man talking about how depressed he was that his parents have decided to get a divorce. “Nothing matters to me anymore…” “I might have to get back on antidepressants…”

And the first three (3) comments…

“Great topic! I’ll definitely bookmark your site! I’ve got a *horse breeding* site. It’s mostly on horse breeding. Check it out if you’re not too busy!”

“Great blog! I’m definitely going to bookmark you! I have an *affiliate marketing* site covering everything related to affiliate marketing! Come visit when you get a chance!”

Equivalent to article marketing & forum posting?

I’ve seen some well respected marketers compare blog comment spamming to article marketing and forum posting.

Articles are voluntarily added to a website by the webmaster, giving the article author a backlink. Win-win: Webmaster gets free content and author gets free publicity.

Forums usually don’t allow blatant advertising, but (usually) allow a short sig file at the end of your post. Win-win: Forum owner gets traffic and active discussions while forum member gets to network and receive a free backlink.

We’re doing the bloggers a favor by keeping their blogs active…

Blog comment spamming on the other hand benefits only the spammer. Majority of bloggers want REAL people to come visit their site and read their posts. However, since comment posting is automated with this software, the blogger doesn’t get a *live* visit to their blog, nor are their posts read. But at least the spammers gets hundreds of backlinks, right? So, who’s doing who a favor?

It’s The New “Free For All Links” Blasting…

Remember those FFA pages where you went to post your link with a one-line description of your site? As new links were added to the FFA links page, the older links were dropped… webmaster received lots of traffic from people posting and reposting their links… and link posters got some free exposure.

Remember when FFA Link blasters became popular? Link posters no longer needed to visit these individual FFA pages anymore… they only had to fill in their URL and a short description into their blaster once, and their information was posted to hundreds of FFA link pages without having to visit them.

Webmasters stopped getting visits… but at least the spammers got hundreds of backlinks, right? So, who’s doing who a favor?

Wow… deja vu!

If you insist on using this piece of software…

get 50 of your friends together and each of you agree to maintain 5 blogger.com blogs where you’ll post an article every few days. Enter the URLs of only those 250 blogs into the software, and spam each other! This will truly be a win-win x 50… and you can be certain you won’t be annoying anyone with your random and generic garbage.

Final thoughts:

Blogs are just that… web logs, online diaries, and journals. It’s a form of communication and that itself must be respected. Maintaining a blog solely to link back to your website or post articles for SEO purposes does not give you permission to disrespect the majority of blogs that exist specifically to deliver a personal or corporate message.

With Outlook being a flamin’ red target for viruses… and the horror stories I’ve heard of all the grief it has caused, I’ve never ever considered using this e-mail program. Are you nuts?! I cry over burnt brownies… how would I ever recover from a virus attack?

But curiosity finally got the best of me, especially after seeing how well it works with other Office applications, and its ability to integrate the Stamps.com software for easy postage printing.

Okay, so I’m hooked. But I am taking proper precautions to avoid making a big ole yucky mess all over my pretty computer.

Now, although Outlook has powerful message filters, it only uses black and white lists, so the junk mail filters cannot be trained. Fortunately, I found a FREE solution to this weakness in SpamBayes. This is a FREE plugin for Outlook that you can train to classify incoming messages as spam, unsure, or non-spam. The messages are then automatically filed away in the appropriate folder.

To keep those slimy viruses and other disgusting stuff away, I’ve selected to send all mail in plain text, as well as receive and display all mail in plain text without downloading remote images in e-mails from unknown senders.

Sure, HTML messages are pretty, but I’ll stick with Millie Vanilla plain text if it’ll keep me from catching anything.

Use these tips, and you too can be on your way to a safer, more secure e-mail experience!

Paul Myers posted the sender agreement found on the Spam Arrest sender verification page to the Warriors forum… seems he has a little problem with it. Take a look:

SpamArrest.com

SENDER AGREEMENT – By clicking the “VERIFY” button above, and in consideration for Spam Arrest, LLC forwarding your e-mail (and any e-mails you may send in the future) to the intended recipient (the “Recipient”), you agree to be bound by the following Sender Agreement:

You represent and warrant to Spam Arrest and the Recipient that any e-mail you desire to send to the Recipient is not “unsolicited commercial e-mail” i.e., the e-mail does not primarily contain an advertisement or promotion of a commercial product, service or Web site; unless the Recipient expressly consented to receive the message, either in response to a clear and conspicuous request for such consent or at the Recipient’s own initiative. Further, you represent and warrant that your transmission of any e-mail does not violate any local, state or federal law governing the transmission of unsolicited commercial e-mail, including, but not limited to, RCW § 19.190.020 or the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. You understand and acknowledge that it is fair and reasonable that you agree to abide by the restrictions set forth in this agreement. You acknowledge and agree that this agreement is central to Spam Arrest’s decision to forward your e-mails to the Recipient. Accordingly, if you violate this agreement, Spam Arrest and the Recipient shall be entitled to (1) temporary and/or permanent injunctive relief to restrain any further breaches or violations of this agreement; and (2) damages in the amount of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) for each violation of this agreement. You acknowledge that such remedies are appropriate and reasonable in light of the costs and expenses Spam Arrest incurs as a result of eradicating and filtering unsolicited commercial e-mail. You acknowledge that the $2000.00 remedy is a reasonable estimate of Spam Arrest’s and the Recipient’s actual damages. This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Washington and the exclusive venue for any action related to this agreement shall be held in the state and federal courts located in Washington. You hereby waive any right to object to venue or jurisdiction based on inconvenient forum, lack of personal jurisdiction or for any other reason.

If you are a SpamArrest user and subscribe to a mailing list/ezine/newsletter whatever… be sure to whitelist the list’s mailing address. (Go into your ‘unverified’ folder and authorize any subscription confirmation messages yourself.)

I agree with Paul. List owners who verify are basically setting themselves up to get shot in the butt by people who use this service, while making it a habit to cry “Spam!” just to cause trouble… or don’t know how to unsubscribe from lists they’ve subscribed to.

I’m a satisfied SpamArrest user, but no way am I gonna verify myself for those who have subscribed to my ezine. If you’re going to subscribe to a list, learn to use the whitelist!

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This is not even funny.

I used to receive hundreds of e-mails each and every day. Granted, most of them were spam, but, it made me feel popular.

Since I’ve started using Spam Arrest, I’m only receiving a maximum of 30 pieces of e-mail per day. No spam authorized so far, and legitimate senders seem to authorize themselves pretty quickly.

But the number is still the same.

Thirty.

I no longer feel like a Homecoming Queen.

I wasn’t aware that a “do-not-spam-list” bill was passed into Michigan law in June. Well, a bill that would create a national “Do-Not-Email” registry has also been introduced. Would this really work?

Read the full article here.

It wasn’t too long ago when “list-cleaning” services were all over the place, remember? You submit your entire list, and they e-mail it back to you – minus the “do not mail” addresses.

But, I wonder… what makes anyone think that spammers will actually use a service like that? Even if the list was protected, encrypted, etc. so that the “avoid” list cannot be abused, spammers go all out using the sleaziest tricks to sell the nastiest stuff – and it’s almost impossible to stop the “professional” spammers who operate from overseas – why would they bother to clean their lists?