Spam Psychology and Traffic Generating Shennagins

EVIL spam comments on a site. I get quite a bit of comment spam from CMS sites and Blogs I run, designed or am affiliated with. For the most part they just want some link building (sadly, it doesn’t really work that well). Others want some traffic  (some of it is to malicious destinations).  This one falls in the latter camp with a psychologically motivating twist.  Basically, the following comment shows up in your pending list or is sent to the site admin: “Hi I knew I had seen this website before… This guy made a exact copy of your site!”

Of course, if you go to the link provided it is just a spam page about their Get Rich eBook / Amazing Financial Opportunity.

The first thought might be “Do they really think this will get them sales/registrations?” but after digging a bit into the poster’s information, you find an interesting fact. These are actually from companies specializing in generating traffic for site owners. You know the sort. They promise to increase traffic to your site by X amount.  Well, this is one way they do it. Short term, irrelevant traffic that won’t stick and sure as heck won’t convert.

Might want to think about this  next time you’re approached by “SEO Specialists” promising dramatic improvements using techniques they can’t or won’t explain.