To snitch or not to snitch, that is the question.
Should we report our competition or sites we come across for Web SPAM, or is it Taboo? Does it make you a snitch or a rat? Is it OK to publicly point it out but not in a private report?
I think everyone would have a somewhat different opinion of what the Utopian Web would be like. Ask 100 people the question, “What is Web SPAM?” and see how many answers you get. Some will tell you it’s the ocean of scraper sites that steal data for content so they can run ads. Others say it’s the numerous sites that come up top 10 for unrelated content or that come up top ten but have little or no content, just a big funnel towards AdSense. Just like we won’t all agree on that question we also don’t agree on how to police the web and whose job it is.
What are SPAM reports?
Matt Cutts recently asked for SPAM reports but what are they? Are they reports that show people buying links? Is Web SPAM really sites that buy or sell links? Maybe indirectly, because people buying links can, in many cases, have their sites rank higher than those that don’t. I’m sure by now you have heard some stories about what kind of links you can buy for the price of a MacBook Air 
SPAM is not just those buying links and in many cases a purchased link should not be considered a bad thing, in my opinion. I’m sure there are a lot of people who paid to be in Best of the Web that don’t actually use the site or expect others to, they just wanted the link.
Should content scraping and 100% pure funnel to AdSense type SPAM sites be included and addressed in SPAM reports too? Is Google’s AdSense partly responsible for creating the Web SPAM they claim they want to get rid of?
Can the community police itself?
If Microsoft’s Bing Team and Google’s Web SPAM team listen then I think so. When the MacBook issue hit TechCrunch the pages that may have benefited were pulled down (as far as I know), and I think this can be credited to the web community and peer pressure, partly. Score one for the community. Now there is a ton of talk about Mahalo and SPAM. Some claim that something is being done, others say no. I like to think that Google has acted as Big Daddy and contacted Mahalo and we are in a holding pattern, just waiting to see the response. This is speculation on my part and many will argue that this isn’t fair because their little $500 per month MFA site would just get burned down without warning if they violated the terms of service. Let’s not be naive, you aren’t Mahalo, you don’t count and the big boys always play by different rules. That said, we do expect after numerous warnings have not been addressed that action will be taken. If not, the community will not be capable of policing itself. Bing and Google must listen and take action for that to work. If they don’t, the top 10 search positions for all but the smallest niche markets will eventually be filled with corporate built, Made-For-Adsense or advertising websites. Don’t get me wrong, not all MFA sites are SPAM. There are some bright people building useful sites and their original intention was to make money from AdSense or other ads; they chose to do it by providing “real” content.
Let me know, should we snitch publicly, privately, or not at all? Tell me what you consider to be the worst type of Web SPAM or at least what your definition is.
Microsoft AdCenter (Good): A warm body answered within 30 seconds and was able to answer a question about linking accounts without transferring the call.
What is inbound marketing? Is it hype? On Monday, I got a phone call from a merchant service company and the girl went straight into a pitch about “when is the last time you had your rates compared…” I told her I didn’t know what she was rambling about, but if she didn’t have a service contract I couldn’t help her, click. Yesterday, a two man team of door-to-door salesmen came in to our office. They wanted to inspect our fire extinguisher. Stop laughing, it’s a job. Right after demanding to speak to “the boss” and just before they could finish the opening sales pitch, they were being told that we weren’t interested in their service and to have a nice day. It might sound a little rude, but the truth is that cold-calling is rude. You expect the client to be available when “you” decide to show up or call. Both uninvited calls were made while I was in my office with a client. How many times has your credit card company or DirecTV called while you are eating supper? If you still use cold calling as your primary or only sales force then you are a dinosaur; your model is becoming extinct.
Inbound Marketing to the rescue. If you make your company available 24/7 via Internet or phone service, then you are available when the customer is looking for your product or service. When you make your services available through your website and you optimize your website so your target client or customer can find you, then you are 1/2 way to the goal. You never hear the words “no, I’m not interested”. The customer is already interested in your service or product. It’s like dangling a chicken in front of an alligator (yes, that works, but don’t use your hand). Actually, I like that analogy because the customer is ready to snap the service right out of your hand rather than bite your head off.
Does the fight for Twitter feeds mean we will see #1 and #2 results dominated by inane comments from Twitter in the future? Let’s hope not.