Research Potential SEO Companies

My Morning Spam

April 23rd, 2008

Below is from a predatory email I received this morning – I actually get them often. Not sure what search engines the fellow is talking about – over the last 30 days the top three search engines has generated well over 100,000 page views of Navy CS.

Dear website owner,

I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in many of the major search engines and directories. If our company can increase your traffic up to 500% by getting you top ranking results on the search engines such as Google would you be interested? We specialize in link building content writing and programming. We have proprietary techniques that work better and are less expensive than any other SEO firm.

Please let me send you a proposal and show you how we can make your website profitable.

____________________________________________________
Sincerely,

Cron

2060 AVENIDA DE LOS ARBOLES, STE D
THOUSAND OAKS,
CA 91362-1361 – USA

Before you select a search engine optimization (SEO) company ensure you do some research! For starters the address in this email is a UPS store and the email came from a gmail account – doesn’t this company have its own web site? Why all the smoke and mirrors?

BTW, Who names their kid “Cron”? Is the name used as an inside joke because “cron job” is a linux module for running tasks automatically at predetermined times like sending a spam email? Is he an alien? Well, he should remain one to you.

An SEO company should at least have their own web site, telephone number, real names of real people and most importantly references you can and do follow up with. Just think about it for a second, you should not have a hard time finding the SEO professional on the internet – if you do find it difficult it should be an indicator! In today’s world a majority, if not all, of the reputable SEOs will have contributed in some way to professional information sharing sites like Sphinn and Gooruze. Most will have a blog dedicated to the business or at the very least participate in forums dedicated to SEO – all this information, screen names they use and sites they frequent should be freely given to you when you ask.

Doing your research will save you time, money and tons of frustration.

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Read Comments (15)

15 Comments »

  • If you have any enemies with websites, you may want to refer them to this company. :D

    Comment by earlpearl — April 24, 2008 @ 12:17 pm

  • Laughed when I read yours note on who names their kids what, more on why at the end…

    This ad has gotten “better” and mine today was from a superhero name: Daren Daley (who still lives with Aunt May at 2060 AVENIDA DE LOS ARBOLES, STE D THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91362-1361 – USA) but as you noted, delivered via spammy-looking Gmail account, no address or phone. and no web site. Easily spotted but I am sure someone has fallen for this, or they’d stop the spam scam.

    “They” (no name) mention “they” frequently appear in top-10 Google rankings for “SEO Company” and asked why, wouldn’t I like for my [preschool sons' personal restricted-access baby learning site] to rank as high as “they” do? Um no. Though I bet ranking for “daddy can you make me some really lame colored shapes that move around in Flash” – maybe top ten! ;p

    Thought I would add to the note in hopes others can search and identifty this rip-off before it costs a real person real money (and gives the SEO community yet another black eye).

    Take care…

    - Chiron (thanks Mom & Dad)

    Comment by CHIRON (1 comments.) — August 21, 2008 @ 6:56 pm

  • The spammer is nationalpositions.com

    National Positions USA (Headquarters)
    5012 Chesebro Road
    Suite 200
    Agoura Hills, California, 91301
    USA

    Phone
    866 669 8789

    Fax
    1-805-498-9036

    Comment by Michael Brand — August 30, 2008 @ 1:01 am

  • This is the email I received today, thank you for this post it made my life much simpler today.
    Please ba aware of the legal mumbo-jumbo at the bottom.
    ___________________________________________________________________

    Dear Business Owner,

    75% of POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS searching the Internet will never find your web site unless you’re on the first page of Google, Yahoo, or MSN. If I could get as much as 4 times more INTERNET traffic to your website by promoting you to the top of the search engines would you be interested?

    Our company is consistently on the first page when you search on Google for our primary search term “SEO Company.” We would like to do the same for your Company’s website so you can rank for your main keyword terms as well? All of our techniques use the most ethical “white hat” Search Engine Optimization methods that will not get your website banned or penalized.

    This search engine optimization program includes:
    • No upfront fees
    • A month to month program (no long term contracts)
    • Guaranteed increase in traffic

    Simply reply to this email and I would be delighted to send you a custom proposal
    _________________________________________________________

    Warm Regards,
    Don H.Ritz

    2060 AVENIDA DE LOS ARBOLES, STE D
    THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91362-1361 – USA
    _________________________________________________________

    P.S. This is an advertisement and a promotional mail strictly on the guidelines of CAN-SPAM act of 2007 . We have clearly mentioned the source mail-id of this mail, also clearly mentioned the subject lines and they are in no way misleading in any form. We have found your mail address through our own efforts on the web search and not through any illegal way. If you find this mail unsolicited, please reply with “Remove” in the subject line and we will take care that you do not receive any further promotional mail.

    Comment by Kristina (1 comments.) — September 7, 2008 @ 1:14 pm

  • I got another email from them today:

    Dear Business Owner,

    I just reviewed your website and I feel certain that I can increase the traffic to your site at a fifth of what you are paying right now.

    We are the number 1 SEO company on Google. Our pricing is extremely competitive and our results are phenomenal.

    Please let me know if I can send you further information to help you increase the traffic and profitability of your web business.

    What we’ve done for others – recent results include:

    Increased Online Revenue by 411% in 7 months.
    Increased Monthly Website Traffic from 3,293 visitors to 21,545 visitors.
    Generated $28,274.00 in Revenue with only $2400 investment in our services
    Generated 16 Sales and $398,381.00 in Business with after just 2 months
    ________________________________________________________
    Warm Regards,
    Lawrence Branson

    2060 AVENIDA DE LOS ARBOLES, STE D
    THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91362-1361 – USA

    Comment by Ouch — October 23, 2008 @ 4:04 pm

  • Hi – I got a kick out of your post. Apparently, Cron’s brother Travis is also touting “white hat” SEO practices. Here is a copy of the message I received today (total rip off):

    Dear Business Owner,

    75% of POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS searching the Internet will never find your web site unless you’re on the first page of Google, Yahoo, or MSN. If I could get as much as 4 times more INTERNET traffic to your website by promoting you to the top of the search engines would you be interested?

    Our company is consistently on the first page when you search on Google for our primary search term “SEO Company.” We would like to do the same for your Company’s website so you can rank for your main keyword terms as well? All of our techniques use the most ethical “white hat” Search Engine Optimization methods that will not get your website banned or penalized.

    This search engine optimization program includes:
    • No upfront fees
    • A month to month program (no long term contracts)
    • Guaranteed increase in traffic

    Simply reply to this email and I would be delighted to send you a custom proposal
    _________________________________________________________

    Warm Regards,
    Travis

    2060 AVENIDA DE LOS ARBOLES, STE D
    THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91362-1361 – USA

    Comment by T. Castillo (1 comments.) — November 18, 2008 @ 11:20 pm

  • I just got one of these emails. For what it’s worth, I reported them to Google, for using a Gmail account for SPAM. Here is the link:

    http://mail.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=abuse_phishing

    Comment by Dingo — November 18, 2008 @ 11:55 pm

  • I received that email today, and as a former resident of Southern California and a retired bill collector, the address struck me right away as a mail drop. That told me every thing I needed to know.

    Comment by Rick Levy (1 comments.) — November 23, 2008 @ 8:38 pm

  • I found this blog today, because I got one of the Spam-vertisements from this actor. Here is Cron’s brother Ken. As a security consulting company, one that also does Web Hosting, all of the comments from above apply here:

    1. Googlemail account
    2. No business name
    3. No valid domain name for business representing
    ……
    When in doubt check out the better business bureau, we are members and it helps to have a company back up your reputation for you.

    Here’s the original spam:

    Dear Business Owner,

    I just reviewed your website and I feel certain that I can increase the traffic to your site at a fifth of what you are paying right now.

    We are the number 1 SEO company on Google. Our pricing is extremely competitive and our results are phenomenal.

    Please let me know if I can send you further information to help you increase the traffic and profitability of your web business.

    What we’ve done for others – recent results include:

    Increased Online Revenue by 411% in 7 months.
    Increased Monthly Website Traffic from 3,293 visitors to 21,545 visitors.
    Generated $28,274.00 in Revenue with only $2400 investment in our services
    Generated 16 Sales and $398,381.00 in Business with after just 2 months
    ________________________________________________________
    Warm Regards,
    Ken

    2060 AVENIDA DE LOS ARBOLES, STE D
    THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91362-1361 – USA
    _________________________________________________________

    Unsubscribe : You can unsubscribe or opt out from mailing list by replying to this email.

    Comment by Albert Whale (1 comments.) — November 26, 2008 @ 9:17 pm

  • Thank you so much for the awareness. When I received the following email today, I decided to check what type of services they provide but when I started my research and found out from your website that it is a fraud, I left the idea. – Thanks again:
    Dear Website Owner,

    65% of people searching the Internet will never find your website unless you’re found on first page of Google, Yahoo, or MSN. If I could obtain as much as 7 times more RELEVANT traffic to your online business by getting you to the first page of the search results would you be interested?

    Our company is consistently on the first page when you search on Google for our main search term “SEO Company.” We would like to do the same for your web site so you can rank for your main keyword terms as well? All of our processes use the most ethical “white hat” SEO techniques that will not get your web site banned or penalized.

    This special SEO program includes:
    • No upfront fees
    • Cancel at any time
    • Guaranteed increase in traffic

    Simply reply to this email message and I will be happy to provide you a custom proposal.
    _________________________________________________________
    Warm Regards,
    Lawrence Branson

    2060 AVENIDA DE LOS ARBOLES, STE D
    THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91362-1361 – USA

    Comment by Sarwan Singh Randhawa (1 comments.) — December 2, 2008 @ 12:57 pm

  • These folks started spamming us about two weeks ago using various gmail accounts, with assorted names that sounded like a Guru or a Pimp. To date we have collected approximately 150 emails that all contain the same info from different senders. We spoke with a Mr. Kafka at nationalpositions.com who assured us the spamming would stop. Well it hasn’t. Mr. Kafka indicated to us that the problem seemed to be with the employees of the “India call center”.

    Maybe these folks could start a new reality show called “Pimp My Website”.

    Sorry, but they are really annoying and I just had to comment.

    Comment by Karen Hutchinson — April 21, 2009 @ 12:21 am

  • Got another one worth highlighting – the address is to a Mail Boxes Etc…

    Dear Website Owner,

    65% of people searching the Internet will never find your web site unless you’re ranked on first page of Google, MSN, or Yahoo. If I help you obtain as much as 4 times more WEB traffic to your online business by promoting you to the first page of the search engines would you be interested?

    Our company is on the first page when you search on Google for our primary search term “SEO Company.” We would like to do the same for your web site so you can come up for your main keywords as well? All of our processes use the most ethical “white hat” Search Engine Optimization techniques that will not get your website banned or penalized.

    This special SEO program includes:
    • No upfront fees
    • A month-to-month program
    • More traffic guaranteed

    Please reply to my email and I would be happy to send you a proposal.
    ______________________________________________________________________
    Sincerely,
    rnikita jaksh

    567 WEST CHANNEL ISLANDS BLVD
    PORT HUENEME, CA 93041 – USA
    ______________________________________________________________________
    Simply reply with opt out if not interested to hear from us.

    Comment by Ouch — June 20, 2009 @ 4:53 pm

  • I’ve been getting 1 a day for the last week with the address of:

    567 WEST CHANNEL ISLANDS BLVD
    PORT HUENEME, CA 93041 – USA

    I did a search for that address and found this blog.
    Thanks for the heads-up on this. I’m not interested in SEO services, but the sudden attack of spam got my curiosity up. Every message is identical except for the name and gmail account it was sent from.

    Some of the names used seem somewhat amusing… (skimmed from spam not yet trashed)
    Fidelia Coffee
    Dion Atchley
    Bal
    rajesh
    DK Raen

    And some of them are using this address:
    501 VERDUGO WAY
    WESTLAKE VILLAGE , CA
    91362 – USA

    Is is true that responding to a spam message with “REMOVE” request will actually generate more spam? I heard that it just verifies the fact that someone actually opened the message, and to a spammer, that’s a hot contact! These messages all ask for a response of “opt out” to be sent. I’m not going to do that because it’ll just prove to the sender that I read every word of the message!!!

    Comment by Matt Hasty (1 comments.) — July 1, 2009 @ 9:18 am

  • I did the reply to have them stop… I still get the spam.

    Comment by Ouch — July 1, 2009 @ 12:35 pm

  • these guys are spamming my reservation forms on my site too…im getting 3-5 a day…driving me nutz

    Eugene Stickland
    ContactNo: 000-000-0000
    EmailAdd: eugene2301@gmail.com
    ArrivalDate: 11/02/09
    DepartureDate:
    No.OfPersons: 01
    More_than_6:
    Tourinfo_no:
    tourinfo_yes: tourinfo_yes
    NoOfStandardRoom: 00
    NoOfDormitoryRoom: 00
    B1: Submit
    Date: 08/29/2009

    Address:

    224 Lawrence Road

    Message:

    Increase traffic to your website

    We would like to get your website on first page of Google.

    All of our processes use the most ethical “white hat” Search Engine Optimization techniques that Will
    not get your website banned or penalized.

    Please reply and I would be happy to send you a proposal.

    In order for us to respond to your request for information, please include your company’s website address (mandatory) and or phone number. info@nationalpositions.com

    Comment by Dawn Marie (1 comments.) — August 29, 2009 @ 3:23 pm

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