Easy Way Stop Smoking Video

I Just uploaded a a short 30 second video to Youtube, titled Easy Way to Stop Smoking … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx2_bd7WtS0

Citizen BL1230-52A Men’s Perpetual Calendar Sleek Eco-Drive Watch

I just uploaded a video to youtube promoting the Citizen BL1230-52A

Citizen BL1230-52A Men\’s Perpetual Calendar Sleek Eco-Drive Watch Buy Online 

If you are looking for a beautiful quality watch that never requires a battery, with a 5 year limited manufacturers warranty, then the BL1230-52A is a marvelous watch, and you can get it at the lowest price on the internet (Guaranteed) from http://inet-user.com/bl1230-52a . Free 2 day shipping to anywhere in the USA, with a 90 day money back guarantee. 100% guaranteed new and authentic…no cheap imitations.

Blog Commenting: Is It Really Unethical Spam?

I just finished reading a blogger’s post discussing legitimate blog commenting vs spam comments and whether spam comments are ethical or not, and I have to say that my blood is boiling and I really feel the need to vent right now.

The post I’m referring to was made by someone in the field of SEO and marketing (see the link below) and was basically another typical rant complaining about spam comments…even similar to a post about spam comments I made right here a short while ago. While I do sympathize with bloggers somewhat on the subject, but only when it comes to automatic comments posted by bots is concerned, I am by no means outraged at the thought of spam comments as the vast majority of internet users seem to be.  It’s just not that big of a deal to get your panties in a bunch about as far as I’m concerned.

I have absolutely no issue with spam comments made manually by a live person trying to do what circumstances dictate they must do if they want their message to be heard. If you try the "build it and they will come" approach of the movie  Field of Dreams, you could be waiting till hell freezes over to get a single backlink to your site, the so-called natural way. If you have an online business that you want people to find, you have to take a very proactive approach to getting noticed. And if you are a small time, work from home, marketer on a very strict budget, there are only a few ways to get your message out there…one of them being blog comments. And I tip my hat to you if you have the motivation and gumption to get your ass to work and make something of yourself by spending hours and hours of your precious time finding blogs to leave a comment on.

What I don’t have a lot of use for are whiners, or lazy people who just want everything handed to them…which does include a whole lot of internet marketers who can’t be bothered with the whole "manual-do-it-your-self-find-a-blog-and-post-a-comment" thing. Those are the lazy people who instead, just get themselves an automated piece of software to do it all for them.  If that’s the kind of spam that makes your blood boil, then I hear you loud and clear and completely concur.

However, that’s not the kind of spam this guy was talking about, that made me decide to vent a bit.

I tried to respond to this bloggers post with what I believed to be a very reasonable comment, albeit a spam comment I admit, since it’s principle design would proabably be considered by the blog owner to be an univited comment for the specific purpose of gaining a backlink to my own web site. However, it was really more than that. It was actually an attempt to make an argument for spam comments by adding some value to the discussion. Even more so, it was an act of executing my right to free speech, which we Americans, and particularly those on the left, love to tout as one of our most fundamental rights of democracy.

Unfortunately, the comment was disallowed, so I’ll have to place my response here instead, and hope the author I’m responding to will somehow find his way here where I’ll be happy to allow his dissenting comments to be heard.

Here’s an excerpt from his post, which is the main point I wished to make comment on, about my disagreement with him on why I think blog commenting is absolutely not unethical.

"Link Spam is Digital Graffiti

Imagine for a second if companies condoned this practice outside of the Web — what if McDonalds or Nike paid for their logos to be spray painted on other’s property?  To make matters worse what if after receiving numerous complaints they held a press conference and said "soap and water removes the paint" or "just hire some guards and the problem will go away."? I think it’s safe to assume that practice would not be received so kindly (h/t Matt Braun on the graffiti analogy)! Fortunately a link is not as hard to remove as paint but the concept is similar."

How about that? I even gave him a free backlink…something he would not do for me. How sweet am I?

Now, let me make a case for spam commenters and tell you exactly why I think it’s very ethical to leave tiny advertisements known as spam when actually done manually by live marketers.

First, I’ll make a distinction between manual comments vs automated comments. While I still don’t find automated comments unethical in any way, I do believe they are a problem that need a few simple laws in place to control them much the same as we need laws against speeding.

I doubt anyone considers speeding as unethical behavior. Unlawful?  Yes. But unethical? Not likely.

While I do agree that spam comments are annoying and time consuming, I disagree 100% that they are unethical, and here’s why…

1st, the blog I’ve referenced compared spam commenting to McDonald’s or Nike hiring others to spray paint their logos on other people’s property. However, there really is no comparison to that analogy. Spam comments are only able to be placed on pages actually inviting a comment. They can’t get there any other way. Whereas, for it to be an apples to apples comparison, the properties that McDonald’s or Nike would be spray painting their logos on would also have to be properties inviting graffiti tagging.  Now that would be a valid comparison…incidentally, I actually know of two buildings in Longmont, CO that actively invite tagging. Strange, but true.

But I digress.

2nd, McDonald’s, Nike and thousands of other big corporations REALLY ARE guilty of hiring others to spray paint their logos on other people’s property. What do you think Television, radio, magazine and newspaper ads are? They are spam just as bad as any spam comment on my blog, or your blog or anyone else’s blog. Is there anything unethical about those ads intruding into our lives…and just as unwanted by most of us as spam blog comments are? Nope.

But I dare say, while I may purchase a magazine or watch the television, I’m subjected to unwanted spam advertising multiple times a day and I deal with it, just like most people do. I ignore it. I don’t whine and complain to the government or anyone else to please, please, please with a pile of sugar on it would you stop all these unwanted, ridiculous ads from invading my life?

Furthermore, how about this little bit of spam for you?  How many times a day do complete strangers walk past you and insinuate their little spam "good mornings" into your already way too busy day to deal with that kind of unwanted crap? Bet that must really grind your granola, huh? The nerve of them. Makes you want to grab an extra dose of valium, right?  Seriously, that’s how utterly ridiculous this whole spam business really is.

But there’s a difference you say…

Really? Is there a difference between an unwanted blog comment and an unwanted paid advertisement? Maybe, but only in the sense that someone is paying for an ad and someone isn’t. However, the paid ad can’t force it’s way into your life if you don’t let it by either watching, listening or reading it. The fact that you choose to watch television, or read a newspaper or magazine, or listen to the radio means you accept the fact you’ll be bombarded with an overdose of spam advertising, and in a sense you are inviting said spam ads. Otherwise, you would not watch, read or listen to any medium that had advertising. Ads can only exist where they are invited and allowed, just like blog comments.

If you don’t want them on your blog, you have several options, just like you do with your televison, radio, newspapers and magazines. You can let your spam filters do their job and stop whining. You can sort through those spam comments that aren’t obviously posted by bots, which is very easy to do and approve them while deleting those that are truly bot spam. You can make them nofollow links and gain a benefit of increased traffic from the search engines as a result of the increased interaction on your blog without leaking any of your precious link juice to them. And believe it or not, there are lot’s of bloggers now accepting comments. Even comments allowing keywords in the user name. Because they’ve noticed there’s a definite benefit to having lot’s of comments on their sites.

I can’t help but think that we’ve all become a little bit too pampered and overly sensitive when it comes to what we feel are unwanted intrusions into our daily lives, or what seems like an inconvenience. Hell, life is inconvenient. It’s inconvenient to wait in grocery lines. Stop lights are a major inconvenience. Following behind slow walking people is inconvenient.  It’s inconvenient to sit in a Doctor’s examination room 45 minutes after your scheduled appointment while you hear him laughing and joking with the nurse in the other room. But you know what? It isn’t the end of the world. And in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t worth getting all emotional over. Those things are all annoying and frustrating to deal with, but none of them are unethical. Neither is an unwanted blog comment.

As long as gaining backlinks is the principle driving force behind getting ranked in the search engines (and yes, on-page SEO, domain age, and lot’s of unique and valuable content are important), internet  marketers with a bit of ambition and motivation will do whatever it takes to get enough links to move their money pages up in the rankings. Just like McDonald’s and Nike will do whatever it takes to get their message in front of you to fatten their bank accounts. I find nothing unethical in that behavior by either internet marketers or off line corporations like McDonald’s or Nike. Once again, I may find it irritating, often rude, and very time consuming to deal with it, but I see nothing unethical about it. It’s just part of doing business, and it’s part of life.

On the flip side, I do find it particularly bothersome to deal with spammers from unrelated niches spamming my sites, and from bots posting meaningless drivel without anyone making any physical effort to get that backlink. It’s annoying as hell, but it isn’t unethical. Rather than whining about it though, I’ve decided to think outside the box and do something creative about it. So, I’ve decided to turn the tables on them, which, I’ll admit, is a lot  more unethical than the spam comments I’m receiving, but as they say…"all’s fair in love and war."

I’m not going to announce what I’m doing to turn those spam comments by bots into gold for me, but let’s just say I now welcome spam comments with open arms.

I’m running a little test to determine how many spam comments are coming from bots vs live marketers, and have come up with a method to see which is which and actually reward live spammers if they follow the rules I’ve laid out here on my test site, you’ll find it here in case you want to try a similar experiment Backlinks And Spam Comments Part 2. 

Backlinks and Spam Comments Part 2

Okay, it’s time for a little test since I occassionally like to waste some time, but there’s also a bit of method to my madness in this test (which I’ll divulge some time in the future once this little test is completed).

So here is my experiment in rewarding hard working entrepeneurs with backlinks and punishing the lazy ones who leave spam comments with their comments being deleted and their time having been wasted.

I’ve been deleting tons of  comment spam posted by bots lately, but since I’m like every other internet marketer wanting to get my money sites moved up in the rankings, I’m willing to reward any enterprising go-getter willing to play by the rules with an easy backlink as long as they are smart enough to follow the rules of backlinking on my site…

Rule #1: when commenting on my site your comment must contain the phrase "Hallelujah! A free backlink! I hate spam too!"

Rule #2: your comment may contain only one anchor text link below that phrase and nothing more.

Rule #3: You Are Not Allowed To Post Using A BOT…but then again, if you post according to rule #1 and rule #2 it will be obvious you aren’t a bot.

Okay, so that’s the deal on backlinks and spam comments.

So go ahead and get your backlink by leaving your approved comment below  

And while you’re at it, you might want to Click Here—> to learn how to get some really powerful backlinks.

Backlinks and Comment Spam Part 1

Keep spamming and I’ll keep reporting.

Art Howard Online

You have reached the general contact page for arthowardonline.com I apologize that there is nothing here for you to see yet.  This site will be going live very soon, and will contain affiliate links to various top level make money online materials. However, since I don’t want you to have wasted your time by coming here for nothing, if you’re interested in making money online then here’s a link to a free eye opening E-Book that will help you steer clear of the hundreds of scam schemes being promoted on the internet Marketing With Morality, No Guru BS Allowed! For questions or comments send and email with your details, including name, email address and nature of business to : art@arthowardonline.com