Why Auto-Posting is a Bad Marketing Idea
Auto-Posting consists of getting a software program that automatically posts regular comments, along with your URL, to guestbooks, blogs, forums, or other places online where you can post feedback and a URL. Sounds easy, right? It might be, but it is not all it sounds like it is.
First of all, most people who maintain a place where feedback is welcome, will check in regularly and delete offensive posts. Any post that does not have to do with the topic of the site will get deleted. IP banning is sometimes used.
And automatic posts are always recognizable. They don't have to do with the content of the site, so the site owner deletes them.
Auto-Posting software can often disguise the IP address, so you get get around the ban. Eventually, if you keep using this, someone WILL track you down, because the IP address that you really posted from is still trackable, just hidden deeper. And there are enough techies out there who will go on the warpath against spammers, that you will be reported.
Legalities and semantics aside, why would you want to play this game? It seems to me to lack intelligence to try to find ways to scam people instead of just taking the time to do it right. Because when you spend all your time trying to trick someone into displaying your URL, you are wasting an awful lot of time.
Suppose you set up your software to auto-post every two hours to all the sites you list in it. Once your posts are discovered, they are instantly removed. The site owner will feel like they are under attack, and will take measures to stop it. Most commonly, they will switch to a moderated mode, where your posts now are seen by nobody. They are deleted before they ever get seen by person or search engine. Pretty much a waste of time having done it in the first place.
Best case? You'll get a link on some site that has been abandoned, that gets very little traffic, and which is rarely spidered by the search engines. The page fills up with nothing but your link. Search engines are smart enough to weed out such links, and discredit them. What did you gain? Nothing.
Auto-spamming is a tactic which is almost always used by people who are trying to push illegal or immoral stuff on people who are not even looking for it anyway. Most search engines disallow such content, so they spend all their time trying to trick one into accidentally indexing them. If you are operating a legitimate business, using tactics such as auto-posting will get you lumped in with unethical site owners. Why would you want that? It will spell doom to your business before it even gets off the ground.
Your time can better be spent seeking out legitimate free methods of marketing. Even if you choose to post your URL to forums and guestbooks, you should only do so if you are a regular participant, and your comments should give something back of value to the viewers. Get legitimate links in niche directories. They will take you no more time to find than the addresses to auto-post, but one link post will get you a permanent, high value link which will benefit your site in many ways, instead of just for the hour or two that someone might overlook it.
Keep it clean and honest. It not only makes your business look better, it will help it grow faster.
Written by Laura Wheeler
Owner of Skinny Shoestring http://www.skinnyshoestring.com/ – Laura writes instructional materials, produces infosites, and builds affordable websites for her business startup clients. Her varied experience allows her to give exceptional service, and to produce instructions on a surprising range of topics. Laura is a busy mom of eight, homeschooler, and home business owner.
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