Leann Pass

It sure is costing me!

While writing my last entry about email spammers, I started realizing the time and money email spams costs me on a daily basis. I really think these spammers owe me (and you) some money! No, I’m not joking, I’m dead serious - just think about it!

When I sat and figured the time it takes me to wade through and delete spam from my Spam Folder every day AND the time it takes me to  delete the “unfiltered” spam from my Inbox every single day- I couldn’t believe it.  Now, mind you, I have 3 email accounts to deal with (which you may not), but I figured on average I waste about 20 minutes per day just dealing with this junk. Unreal!

Now 20 minutes a day may not seem like much, but when you consider that 20 minutes a day equals about 122 hours per year - WOW!  I personally can’t afford to lose 122 hours a year on spam! 

It really gets much worse when I think about this company wide, because when I add in the time Mike spends on fighting/deleting spam (more than me)  and the time our small but effective number of employees spend deleting spam (somewhat less than me)  - we’re looking at approximately 400 hours per year!

I’m sorry (really no, I am not sorry) but I am truly offended and sickened that 400 hours of valuable time (AND MONEY) is wasted on this  - simply because email spammers keep getting away with what they do! 

————–Related Entries:

Spam - What do you think of?
Email Spammers - Who’s feeding this breed?

Email spam is illegal activity which seems to annoy everyone. Eventough email spam  has actually landed people in jail, the practice continues to thrive. Why is that?  And more importantly, who’s responsible for feeding this breed?

Now, honestly, I’ve never heard anyone claim that they’ve made purchases via unsolicited spam emails. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone admit to even clicking on their emails-  But someone must be feeding this spamming breed or they would be dying,  not thriving!

I receive SPAM emails literally every few minutes. Most of them are caught in my Spam filter where I go daily to simply delete it.  When I went in to perform my “daily deleting of email bogging spam” today, this is what I found….

257 emails in my spam folder in less than 48 hours! YUK.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t see a thing there that would make me want to click!

Recently I forgot to delete these scuzzy items for a few days and I wound up with a whopping 5000 emails in there! Now, that is ALOT of spam! I wish I had gotten a snapshot of that before I reved up my delete finger, but I was just too ticked off to think of that at the time.

Of course, sometimes the spam filter doesn’t recognize spam as spam (so who’s perfect?).  So, each morning I am graced with presence of  spam in my InBox as well,  which I must wade through and ‘trash’ before I can get to the good/important stuff.  This is what my unpurged email trash looks like at this time…

Honestly, do you see anything there that you would click on? Surely NOT!

———

I never click on this junk, Mike never clicks on this junk, we’ve taught our employees and our kids to NEVER click on this junk. So, if it’s not us, and it’s not you (surely it’s not you!) - then who is this breed of email spammers feeding off of?

PLEASE, Before you click on any unsolicited email - please consider that by doing so you really are feeding this annoying and unseemly breed of spammers. My advice is rev up that delete finger and just trash that spam!

———–Related Entries:

Spam - What do you think of?
Is Email Spam Costing You?  

  

As an SEO, when I hear the word Spam I automatically think of Search Engine Spam. The funny thing is when I say the word spam in the company of anyone other than SEO or SEO knowledgable people, they NEVER think of search engine spam, in fact they don’t know what I’m talking about!

As unreal as it seems to me, when hearing the word Spam, the general population seems to think first of the canned variety,  second of the email variety, and generally have never heard of the search engine spam at all.

Despite the apparent popularity, or lack of, I find it too risky to eat or pratice  any form of spam, so I steer clear, but I think discussing each is okay.

1) Canned Spam is a canned shaped meat made by Hormel, that apparently many people actually eat - and like.

Now, Hormel obviously feels that history of spam is of great significance, so much so that in Sept. 2001, they opened a  SPAM Museum!  If you are a spam fan, you can visit them at 1937 SPAM Boulevard Austin, Minnesota.  Unreal, honestly.

(I do not eat spam, and after reading the ingredients, I do not recommend it.)

2) Email Spam is all that unsolicited “junk mail” that graces your email Inbox or Spambox everyday.

I would think everyone would be completely annoyed by this junk (it certainly annoys everyone I know), but apparently some people like it.

I get these every few minutes and for the life of me I can’t imagine why anyone would open these emails, but apparently some people do. I mean if NOBODY fed into this spam,  their breed would eventually die out, wouldn’t it? So, who is feeding this breed?

(I do not feed or participate in email spam, and I do not recommended it especially sense the latter can land you to jail.)

3) Search Engine Spam, commonly known as Black Hat SEO, is the practice of “tricking” the search engines for the purpose of falsely inflating a website’s rankings. 

These tricks include things like: hidden text, hidden links,  doorway pages, sneaky redirects, cloaking (showing different pages to the search engines than to your visitor), keyword stuffing, and mirror domains. There are more, but that pretty much covers the basics.

This deliberate skewing of the SERPS (search engine results pages) to favor undeserving sites really erks the search engines and puts the ‘offending’ sites in a position where it may be penalized or banned. Google in particular is on an all out anti-spam campaign.

There is a whole breed of SEOs, commonly known as Black Hats,  who practice this form of spamming. They are, of course, well aware of the risk involved and most (if not all) have had their own sites and/or their clients sites hammered at one time or another.

So why do they do it? The purpose, of course, is forcing a site up in the rankings sooner or higher than it might have gone without the spam techniques. Some SEOs spam for the thrill of it, some spam for the money involved in being able to quickly get top rankings  for extremely competitive markets. Does it work - yep, a lot of times it does (blame the search engines for that!). It is important to remember though, any time you spam your site or allow anyone else to do so, your site is at very serious risk of being  banned or penalized. It just isn’t worth it in my book, especially for any legit business.

(I do not practice search engine spam, nor do I recommend it to anyone who thinks long term.)

So does being a spammer make one a scammer? Well, that depends.

 

The kittens are getting soooooo cute! They are still really tiny, but their eyes are open and their turning into cute little fur balls! One of them is a good bit bigger and stronger than the other 2, she gets up on all fours and crawls around. Anyway, here are the pictures from the latest Kitten Photo Shoot!

Maggie just loves the kittens! She tries to get really close - Diva usually has no problem with that at all.

Michael did a great job with the picture taking!

We’ll put more photos out soon! I can’t wait till they can play!

“Your website will be banned and you will not be able to be found on Google not even with your company name”   “You want to be saved PAY ME !!!!  6-8 weeks”

I hope so, because this effects all of us. We all know that some SEO con-artists (or any con-artists for that matter) will go to great lengths for the almighty dollar - but attempting BLACKMAIL / EXTORTION? NO WAY! I think the line has to be drawn here and now.

Yesterday one of my best clients (we’ll call MC -for ‘my client’- from here out) who’s been with us for about 3 years, called me about a Cold Call  she received from a “gentleman” claiming to be  Denis Glascon of Paramount Webmasters -about her website.

Now, keep in mind, we built MC’s site from the ground up, we actually run it  and have made it into an site that consistently ranks at the top in all the major search engines. At Increase Ranking, WE DO NOT SPAM and WE DO NOT LINK FARM - nothing funny going on here! Just a lot of hard work (and smart work, we like to think!)

Turns out that Dennis is a slick talking BSer that wanted to warn MC that “Your site is going to be banned by Google”.  MC is such a sweetie, INSTEAD OF HANGING UP like she should have, she just let him ramble for a bit.

Denis continued with lots of info about Google and informed her that her site is involved in Link Farming (of course it’s NOT!) and then was kind enough to email her some yuck page that contained a link to her site - explaining that for this reason she was “on the list” to be banned.

MC told me that “he started to sound very sincere - which caught my attention”. She even believed he was a Google rep!

Now, to anyone who KNOWS SEO, this guy is obviously a scammer. However, to those who do not know (most of the population) Slick Talkin’ Denis, who preys on emotion and fear, is apparently believable — at least to a point.

 At this point, MC says ”This sounds serious! Could you talk to our website people so they can fix it? I’ll give you their number, I know they will want to know this!” 

 Denis Glascon explains to MC, that WE (us - Increase Ranking !) are the ones doing this to her, and we wouldn’t want to hear from HIM because we KNOW what we are doing! Fortunately, Denis’s stupid response threw up a BIG RED FLAG and clued MC in that Dennis was not actually concerned about HER site at all (imagine that!). She soon learned that Denis’s intention was to have her pay him to “fix” this problem - (you know, this problem which does NOT EXIST). 

Now, that wouldn’t seem much different than most Scamming Cold Callers except that when Denis is turned down, he resorts to attempting BLACKMAIL / EXTORTION!

This is the email that Denis sent shortly after hanging up with MC. He is trying to SHOW HER how Google does indeed ban sites.

—–Original Message—–
From: ParamountWebMasters- Denis [mailto:(removed).com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 12:11 PM
To: (my client removed)
Subject: BMW Banned

Here are 2 different articles about Google banning BMW for cheating.
This one is a Blog from Google users to post click here
This one is the NY Times click here
Also here is a link with some basic Google spamming rules and how to report someone for cheating. Click Here

Denis Glascon
Web Advertising Consultant
USA/Canada Toll free (removed)
UK Toll Free (removed)
Local (removed)
Cell (removed)
www.ParamountWebMasters.com

———————————————

---

MC responded to his email - Nice of her, huh?        

—–Original Message—–
From: (my client removed) [mailto:(removed)]
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 1:55 PM
To: ParamountWebMasters - Denis
Subject: RE: BMW Banned

Thanks for your information but we will pass on the service you are offering.

———————————————

---

Denis shows his TRUE colors with this BLACKmail threat!       

—–Original Message—–
From: ParamountWebMasters- Denis [mailto:(removed).com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 2:05 PM
To: (my client removed)
Subject: RE: BMW Banned

I make sure to report you to Google for link farming. I’m sorry. Your website will be banned and you will not be able to be found on Google not even with your company name
Denis Glascon
Web Advertising Consultant
USA/Canada Toll free (removed)
UK Toll Free (removed)
Local (removed)
Cell (removed)
www.ParamountWebMasters.com

————————————-

---

Now MC decides to quiz him a little based on the conversation she had with me earlier in the day.        

—–Original Message—–
From: (my client removed) [mailto:(removed)]
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 4:14 PM
To: ParamountWebMasters - Denis
Subject: RE: BMW Banned

Questions for you…

What is your job in this company? Do you actually optimize sites yourself? Are you saying that just because that page has a link to us, we are in a link farm and we are getting banned? Can you tell me what a link farm is? Can you tell me what day we are scheduled for banning? Can you tell me how you would prevent the BAN?

I would like answers to these questions please.

Thanks again.

————————————–

---

Blackmail / Extortion! Denis is a true scumbag!!        

—–Original Message—–
From: ParamountWebMasters- Denis [mailto:(removed).com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:00 PM
To: (my client removed)
Subject: RE: BMW Banned

Your not interested in our services then I’m not interest in answering your questions. Were the best there is that why we are #1 without cheating. You want to be saved PAY ME !!!! 6-8 weeks

Denis Glascon
Web Advertising Consultant
USA/Canada Toll free (removed)
UK Toll Free (removed)
Local (removed)
Cell (removed)
www.ParamountWebMasters.com

——————— 

---

I originally posted about it yesterday at HR Forum here: Slick Talkin’ Cold Callin’ (lots of discussion)

David Wallace of SearchRank had a good take on it in his blog:  SEO and Blackmail

Chip Johns also blogged including HIS OWN EXPERIENCES with this SCUM COMPANY here: ChipJohns.com

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**Comments are now cut off due to exessive amounts of blog spammers that I am tired of moderating and deleting.    

Stevie Wonder Night! Watching Stevie work with them and hearing his take on them (knowing he can’t see them) was great!

—————-

01- Ace

I thought he did well. Yay!

Randy - “auight”

Paula - “fantastic, you entertained everyone!”

Simon - “this audience is easily pleased - A bit manic”

———————

02 - Kellie Pickler

Sang- Blame it on the Sun

No - for me. She tried but I felt NO soul at all. And what’s up with the overly DUMB comments she makes like I have terranchilas on my eyes???????? I JUST DON’T LIKE HER!

Randy - “Like it didn’t even happen.”

Paula - “Outside your comfort zone”

Simon - “Everything went wrong. Your worst so far” 

—————————

03 - Elliot

Good Job! I thought he did great!

Randy - “Not your best performance, but at the end - Yeah!”

Paula - “I look forward to 7 more weeks.”

Simon - “Best so far, but no WOW factor.”

——————————-

04 - Mandisa (with no shoes!)

Sang - Don’t you Worry Bout a Thing

Loved it! Awesome!!

Randy - “The best so far”

Paula - “You can sing anything”

Simon - “Now we have a competition”

———————————

05 - Buckey Covington

Sang - Supersticious

I was surprised, because I really do not like him - but he was really good! He rocked!! Hated the poofy hair.

Randy - “I enjoyed it. You gave it your all”

Paula - “I enjoyed it too. Very different, really good.”

Simon - “One of your best performances. Get rid of the Jessica Simpson hair style, not my deal!”

——————-

06 - Melissa

Sang - Lately

 I thought it was just HORRIBLE! She can’t even remember the words!

Bye Melissa (I keep saying that!)

Okay, I know Randy, Paula and Simon seemed to think it was her best yet - but I don’t have their quotes.

——————————

007- Lisa

Sang- Signed Sealed Delivered

I LIKE her. I didn’t think this was her best, but I thought it was great!

Randy - “The last part was the best for me, man.”

Paula - “When you go outside yourself, I love it.”

Simon - “The best tonight. I saw you take control of the stage. It was great, I loved it.”

———————————

008 - Kevin

Sang - Part Time Lover (why??)

Bye Kevin (I keep saying that!!)

Randy - “This is funny. Interesting. Enjoyable.”

Paula - “You were in time - way to go”

Simon - “Apalling”

————————————-

009 - Katherine McPhee

AWESOME! Great tonight for sure. This girl has soul!

Randy - “The bomb”

Paula - “Best ever”

Simon - “Katherine, you’re good”

————————————-

10 - Taylor Hicks

Sang - Just Enough for the City

Oh My God! I LOVE this guy! FANTASTIC!

Randy - “Hot performance”

Paula - “Such a performer! You have soo much passion”

Simon - “You CAN sing!!”

———————————–

11 - Paris

I like her BUT, sorry after Taylor she didn’t sound so great to me! She’s good.

My big problem was her OVERKILL when it was over. Why did she have to sing her responses to Ryan? YUK. Even the judges who just told her how good she did were shaking their heads.

Randy - “Hot!”

Paula - “only 17, could teach alot of performers how to do it”

Simon - “So confident. A performing little doll.”

————————————–

12 - Chris Daughtry

Okay - Chris is my #1 favorite. He is soooooooooooooo good. He really should win this thing!

Randy - “You worked it out!!”

Paula - “I never worry!”

Simon - “Only real world performance. Best tonight by a mile.”

———————————————-

My 2 favorite guys are Chris and Taylor.

My 2 favorite girls are Katherine and Lisa.

So who should go home tonight?

I think it should be Kevin or Melissa!

 

 

 

 

 

Well, our power went out and stayed out for a while, so me and Mike and Cheryl and Buddy went to Pablos to watch it. We got the table right in front of the big screen so it was fun!

———The Vote Off———-

Guys:

Will - no surprise.

Gedeon - I didn’t think he deserved it at all, even when he sang last night he was REALLY good.

Girls:

Kinnick - no surprise.

Ayla- no surprise.

——————

Still 12 Left!

 

01- Gedeon McKinney.  “When a Man Loves a Woman”

I really like him! Now, that could be because I just love the song he chose anyway - all in all, I say - Great job.  (a bit of a weird creative - who knew?)

 

02- Chris  Daughtry.  He has been my favorite guy - but not tonight =(

He starts shakey - and doesn’t get much better. I think he chose the wrong song. Just not as good as he has been! Will he make it? Yep, but not because of tonight. (dang I agreed with Simon AGAIN!)

 

03- Kevin Covais. “Starry Night”

 Bye Kevin. Can’t think of much else to say.

 

04- Buckey Covington.

Bye Buckey. It just does not work FOR ME. PERIOD.  It’s a mix of appearance and performance. Just not good. (who would have suspected he has an identical twin? - hmmm.)

 

05- Will Makar. “How Sweet It Is”

Love the song, love James Taylor, just didn’t like Will doing it. Will just reminds me of “Bobby” on “The Brady Bunch” waaaay too much. I can’t help it - I just can’t take him seriously! When Simon said (more than once) that he appeals to 11 year old girls - I had to agree. UGH. Now, tonight when he said that he may have gotten the “middle-aged vote”, well I seriously disagree!

 

06- Taylor Hicks. Doobie Brothers! “Taking it to the Streets”.

GO TAYLOR! Man, I love this guy!! THE BEST! I say win, win, win!! He just gets better every week.

07-  Elliot Yamen. “Heaven” Bryan Adams.

Not my fav. Too nasaly. I just didn’t like it.  I always liked Elliot a lot, but not tonight.

 

08- Ace Young. Michael Jackson.

If he wasn’t a sexy thing - I wouldn’t understand his appeal at all.  Now, I just have to say I totally just didn’t like this performance. The high notes stunk.

The Vote OFF -

I think the vote-off is between Kevin, Will, and Buckey.

 

 

Well, Diva had her babies! It took around 2 hours, of course we were there with camera in hand. She did great - took care of them very well throughout. She had 4 but lost 1 =(. But, that leaves us 3 itty bitty kittens and a very happy Mama Kitty that is purring up a storm.

I have tons of photos from the birth - but they are sooooo graphic that I refrained from putting them out here (you’re welcome).

In these pictures, the kittens are about 12 HOURS old. Really they aren’t very cute when they are this young. They look like little mice! I am eagar to see how they change and turn into little cutie pies over the next few weeks =)

Diva and her babies:

She’s a good Mama Cat, and very tired.

Hungry little kittens:

(above) Nursing baby kitten.

(above) Baby kitten nursing Up-Side down.

———— 

Mike held up each kitten so I could get pictures.  Diva didn’t like it at all. She got really ansy so I tried to be quick, which is why I only got one shot of 1 of them. Maggie didn’t like it either - she is very protective, too funny.

They are about 14 HOURS old here:

Kitten # 1 :

Kitten # 2 :

Kitten # 3 :

 Mike and Maggie checking in:

 

———–

I’ll be posting updated pictures over the next few weeks - FUN!
We’re thinking of names for them. Hmmmm, nothing good yet. If you have any ideas, post them!  I know I’ll at least see something from Gin, Chris and David, right?

 

 

 

Looks like our little Diva is ready to explode with her litter of kittens. She is showing all the tell-tale signs of “maybe tonight” so we are keeping the camera close by. Exciting!

Now, it’s not that we need a litter of kittens - surely we do not. This is her first and will definitely be the last - but seeing new life is just soooo exciting, and I can’t wait!