Running this blog requires daily attention to moderate comments. Moderation is a must as I don’t want any valid comment to go astray and neither do I want useless junk comments to appear.

Unfortunately some marketers think it is a good idea to post comments on this blog in order to try and advertise their products and services.

And this is despite the warning on the About BizOppsBlog.com page that tells would-be comment spammers that their comments will never appear.

This morning I logged into the admin area to find a wonderfully useful comment by “jereWevonge” who wanted to let everyone on the Global Pension Plan post know about Shaune Clarke’s copywriting website.

The message said:

“[URL was here]
Shaune Clarke has the gift to double the response of existing big guru campaigns is why copy writing celebrities like Brian Keith Voiles – Terry Dean – and Mark Joyner praise his work.
He’s a former Canadian Television host, whose No-Hype, special style keeps him booked solid 8 months in advance for copy services and consulting.“

First question:

What is the first sentence supposed to mean? Read it again, it doesn’t make sense. And remember that this is an advertisement for copy-writing services!

Second question:

If Shaune is booked solid for 8 months, why does his website (that I am purposely not going to link to) say:

“OK, Why Not Try Me Out — No CHARGE!
FREE 30 Minute One-On-One Coaching Session” ?

If I was booked solid for 8 months I wouldn’t be touting for business by offering free 30 minute sessions to any Tom, Dick or Harry on the web.

Maybe Shaune Clarke has been hit hard by the downturn in the economy and is finding that he can’t quite get enough business at the moment, hence the blog spamming.

1/10 for effort Shaune but you really need to check where you are placing your adverts in future.

Seems to me you should know better; after all, you are a “Genius” according to “copywriting legend” Brian Keith Voiles…

This blog attracts a lot of comment spam, possibly because it ranks quite highly for some good business-related keywords.

Also, I suspect, because lots of idiot blog spammers just randomly target ANY WordPress blog they can find.

Last month I came across one comment which had been held for moderation and had been left under a post on the subject of Mike Filsaime.

It said:

“Discover The Most Viral Replicating Website
Online That Literally Blows Away Instant Buzz,
Banner Exchanges, Traffic Exchanges, And
Even Pay Per Click! Submit Your Link For Proof!

Guaranteed Viral Visitors!
==> [URL was here but has been removed]“

Now, the person who left this comment didn’t hide either his name or his email address – he obviously WANTED to be recognised, perhaps he is trying to brand his name.

I’m not going to mention who it was as I don’t want to give him any credit or lead anyone to go looking for his products.

I’ve said before many times, this is not a free advertising blog and it gets on my nerves that people like this think that they can come and leave adverts on my blog.

Worse still, the advert is not even related to the content of the post he was commenting on.

It was irrelevant junk.

Still a bit mad and annoyed, I fired off an email to him:

“I’m not particularly happy that you consider my blog a dumping ground for adverts for your site.

I received this junk on my blog last night:

[I repeated the advert here]

It didn’t appear on the blog and this morning it was deleted from the moderation list.

I have now added your name, email address and URL to the blacklist on my blog.

Although you claim to be a “master marketer”, advertising via blog comment spam suggests you are desperate for sales.

This is pretty pathetic, certainly not the way to make friends.

I’m disappointed.”

Happy and sufficiently calmed from venting my spleen, I went about my day.

About an hour later I got a reply from Mr Comment Spammer:

“You have a comment section on your blog. I placed a comment you are not particularly happy about, fine. The stuff you call junk is what every million dollar earner online uses to create traffic and affiliate sales.

Desperate for sales?

The answer to that is no way.

Do you even know who I am?

Every successful marketer utilizes every tool at his or her disposal and that is why they’re successful beyond measure.

Whether it be black hat or white hat methods it’s all about one thing… Money.

That’s what markering is all about and a GOOD marketer, a MASTER marketer knows this.

He doesn’t give a damn about what others think or what the guru crowd does, or what is permissible or not. He only does one thing… makes money.

How long have you been in this game?

Do you even know who I am?

Been here for 6 yrs marketing online successfully and have done joint ventures with Mark Joyner, Mike Filsaime, Mike Chen, Gary Ambrose, etc… I can go on and on…

Dissapointed? why?

You should be more dissapointed that you’re using a blog.

How many millionaires online utilize blogs?

I’ll tell you… None that I know of.

I know a lot of traffic secrets and marketing secrets and the viral visitors script is one of them. I never pay for traffic, never had to for all the 6 yrs online.

So if you want to call that junk, I think you’re wrong.

[Name Removed]“

Now, I found this reply quite fascinating for a couple of reasons…

Number 1: He says “Whether it be black hat or white hat methods it’s all about one thing… Money”

I’ve always suspected that there were a lot of people who don’t care who they step on or what they do online, as long as they manage to get people to take their credit card out.

Mr Comment Spammer here is obviously one of them, and he is even happy to boast that he uses black-hat techniques.

Number 2: He asks a very strange question “How many millionaires online utilize blogs?” then answers “I’ll tell you… None that I know of”

The problem is, a couple of paragraphs above that he is telling me that he is a great online marketer who JVs with a whole host of successful and well known internet marketers. And, forgive me if I am wrong but, don’t they all use blogs?

He’s attacking me for using a blog but he seems to forget that all his “best mates” use blogs too.

I don’t understand his point there… and don’t think he does either!

So, what can you take from this?

Well, the main message is, Mr Comment Spammer is a “Master Marketer” which means that he “doesn’t give a damn about what others think… He only does one thing… makes money”

Yep, sod morals, he’s only interested in cold, hard cash. And he’ll use you in any way possible to line his own pockets.

Sadly, this person isn’t the first internet marketer to think like this and he won’t be the last. There are some real low-lifes out there…

I’m certainly starting to feel a little jaded by some of the goings-on in the internet marketing world. Certain black-hat marketers giving everyone else a bad name.

Which is why I have been looking into alternative investments such as the domain name market. Check out the Domain Profit Guide for more on this fascinating subject…

I love WordPress blogs because they are so simple to use.

You just login, write a short message, click ‘Publish’ and it is up on the web.

An added bonus is that people can add comments to your posts to discuss what you have written.

Of course, as with anything good on the web, spammers and scumbags have to try and take advantage of it.

WordPress blogs, unfortunately, attract idiot comment spammers. These people run automated programs which visit your blog and leave comments about all kinds of unwanted subjects – porn, drugs, get rich quick schemes etc.

If you don’t moderate comments, your blog could pretty quickly get filled up with crap.

After almost a year of running this particular blog, I think I have pretty much stopped the spammers now. I get the occassional junk comment but now it is just one, rather than the 50 or so I was getting daily.

What I did was ensure that every comment had to be moderated before it could appear on the blog, EXCEPT for comments by people who had been approved before.

So, if you’ve written a comment on here which has been approved in the past and you write a new one, it should appear immediately – no moderation required.

As I was deleting all of the spam, I kept track of all the stupid words that the spammers were using.

Every time I got a new comment about a certain drug I would add that drug’s name to the Blacklist.

This means that any comments written that mention “cialis” for example, are deleted immediately so I don’t even see them.

Soon I also noticed that the spammers were using similar domain names everytime so I would add part of the domain name into the Blacklist.

Almost all spammers on this blog were using dot info domain names.

I was tempted to add “.info” to the Blacklist but I decided not to just in case someone genuine was using this kind of web address.

So far there are about 250 terms that trigger deletion of comments on this particular blog and they seem to be keeping it clear of any crap.

And good thing too.

I’ve seen blogs that are left to rot and it isn’t pretty once the comment spammers take hold so if you value your own blog, please make sure to keep your Blacklist up to date!

Thanks for reading,

Ben

P.S. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out The How To Lay Off Your Boss Home Study Course – surprisingly good!

P.P.S. By all means leave a comment on this post but please don’t use any dodgy words…