E-business Blog - Tips, tricks and answers.
E-business tips, Tricks and gotchas.. Getting your business on the web, search engine optimisation, web site marketing, social media and much more...
Top 5 Facebook scams
It seems sometimes that facebook is mostly made up of spam. I thought I would write up something on this in the hope that it might help reduce it a little.
I am talking about posts on facebook that do nothing other than attract likes, comments and shares for unscrupulous individuals. There are people out there that come up with this stuff to get you to like, comment or share to give themselves more status on facebook.
Why do people do this? The answer is that not all facebook users are equal. The more likes and shares you get the more people will see what you put on facebook. This is worth money and high ranking profiles and pages can change hands for a lot of money. Be careful of doing anything on facebook where you need to like an app, fill in a survey or give an app access to your details. This is how many of these these apps have a viral effect.
Here are the top 5 examples:
Fake features or apps
There is no way to "See who looked at my profile". "dislike button" "colour changer", profile blocker" are other fake apps. Don't be fooled.
Legal notice of copyright to your content
Facebook already has terms add conditions in place, these are not changing. Your posting or sharing of a "legal coryright notice" would have no effect on this anyway.
Enter a comment to see what happens
You know the one - you see a picture and you see written beside this "enter 1 to see what happens". Well nothing happens! Adding a comment to a facebook post simply does that. Nothing else will happen and you are merely lending weight to the scam as your friends will now see the post.
OGM, Shocking video
These usually start with - "Shocking - I can't believe she did this in front of all those people" There is no video, don't click on it. Please don't agree to "update your video player if you are asked to. This could install any kind of malware on your pc.
Like this nasty picture to stop child abuse or similar good cause.
You have to really question the motives of people who put these pictures up. Of course these are good causes but I mean how exactly will liking the picture stop child abuse?
Free stuff
Free vouchers, gift cards, apple products etc. Of course there are legitimate facebook promotions and competitions where you can win things but also a lot of fake ones. If it seems to good to be true then it probably is. In any case don't send any of these to all of your friends unless you are sure it is valid.
Guaranteed SEO results!
It is important for every business to have a web presence:
- 85% of people research products and services on the Internet before they purchase.
More and more business is being done online every year or at least if it is not being done online then customers are researching online and then doing business with those they find there.
Search results matter:
Appearing near the top of the first page of search results is very important:
- 80% of business on the Internet goes to top 3 listings returned by search on page one.
- Research shows that potential customers value the top natural results of search much higher than paid results or sponsored links.
This means that there is a lot of business to be done by those ranking at the top on Google and other search engines.
Dishonest SEO companies:
The value to businesses of high placement on search engines has lead to many unscrupulous companies taking advantage. I have heard of small businesses handing over large sums of money every month for "SEO services". Often here is little or nothing being done by the company taking the money. If you do not know what an SEO services company is doing or they do not show you how their work is benefitting your business then I suggest you dispense with their services. Some SEO companies even "guarantee" certain results. This brings me to the title of this article.
Guaranteed SEO results!
You should be deeply dubious about anyone who gives an SEO guarantee with regards to specific results. There is simply no way to guarantee a specific result. Google themselves have said "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."
What IS possible?
With the right expertise it is often possible to improve your rankings on Google and other search engines. This can be done by making some changes on and off your site. I can often improve search ranking for business web sites. Check the ranking here for my customer Trinkets jewellery and here for my own website IT Pragmatix
If you would like to work with me. I can advise you on what needs to be done to improve your search ranking. If you like I can do these things for you. I will explain what I am doing and show how it has improved things for your business. I will only charge you for my time spent on your work (no perpetual monthly fees). Call me now on 087 2333427 to discuss your company's future on the web. Use the Quick contact form on this page if you have any questions.
What happens when the power goes where a website is hosted?
I was asked this question today:
"What happens if the power goes where my website is hosted?"
Updated web site - what happens to the old links?
If you have an old website that has been around a while and then upgrade it in order to update your business' online presence. The old website will have some links to it on the web (on social media and other websites). Now what happens to those links when you get the new site built?
Webstores - What can I have and how much will it cost?
The answer is that you can have whatever you want and it's free. All of the examples mentioned below are free software. You can download and install them yourself for no charge. Of course there are a few catches!