Question

[leezard]

I know this is a scam of some sort, just wondering if anyone knows how this actually works. I know AOL uses keywords for sites and sites can purchase keywords so that when you enter that keyword you only go to that site. How would this work on the "regular" internet.

 

Your website http://www.x-trememodz.com/ meta tag keywords are available from our service. We are targeting your industry today! You are guaranteed to be in the number one position for a full year using our patented internet display advertising system. To learn more, click here or Call us at 800-xxx-xxxx

 

When your keyword or phrase is entered your page will automatically open up and your competitors site will not. This new system doesn't allow anyone to "outbid" you. You own your keyword(s) or phrase(s) for a full year.

 

You can choose which search engines they operate on like Google, MSN, AOL, Yahoo and more, plus you can even choose regions within the search engines.

 

This new service costs only a fraction of the price that you would pay a normal pay per click advertising or search engine optimization!!! You don't have to wait weeks or months to get this position, just hours.

 

Get in on the ground floor and have the best season you have ever had! Take control of your business! To learn more, click here or Call us at 800-xxx-xxxx

 

Remember, when a word or phase is sold it will not be available for another year, and only if the buyer chooses not to renew it, so act now!

Edited August 1, 2003 by Rickvz

[surefire]

I guess they're going to pay for ads on Google and Yahoo and re-sell the ad space to you and others. I suppose the link could be to their site, but some scripting would pull out the search phrases that the user typed into the search engine. Then, depending on what the terms were, the user would be redirected to your site or another site.

 

I wouldn't buy into it... but interesting concept.

 

By the way, you left their phone number in the second time.

 

(and at first I thought you were drafting a sales letter... not copying someone else's... I had to read it a few types to 'get it'.)

[leezard]

yeah, i meant to say that was an e-mail i recieved today, the redirect thing sounds like thats probably what they do.

[Deverill]

They may also gimick it by saying something like this:

"Thanks for joining us and bidding on the keyword extreme. All you have to do to start getting a billion hits per day is add these meta words to your site "XYZZY-EXTREME" and anyone looking for XYZZY-EXTREME will find you. Of course, the billions of folks just putting in "EXTREME" will never find your site, but we already have your money, so hey, what's the big deal!"

 

You never can tell from these scammers... if they would put their creativity to good use they'd probably cure cancer, reseal the hole in the ozone, find Saddam and Bin Laden and rid us of bad drivers in Florida all within a week!

[SEO]

I smell scam... and I have a noise like my chocolate lab.

 

When your keyword or phrase is entered your page will automatically open up and your competitors site will not. This new system doesn't allow anyone to "outbid" you. You own your keyword(s) or phrase(s) for a full year.

You can choose which search engines they operate on like Google, MSN, AOL, Yahoo and more, plus you can even choose regions within the search engines.

Show me one example of a 'page automatically opening up' when clicking on a search phrase using 'Google, MSN, AOL or Yahoo'? Does not happen.

[Deverill]

I wonder if it is a program that runs on people's computers that intercepts the search engine clicks. You could probably do that kind of thing with a virus if you wanted to.