The new spam is buying multiple domain names with nothing but keywords as the URL. Ive seen this in many industries and for the Dallas area, there are a few companies who take this to the extreme. You know who you are!
If you find a company you are about to hire has 3 or more domain properties, you have to ask yourself, why do they need 3 or more domains? Branding your company across multiple 3rd party platforms is an acceptable practice, for example, a Facebook page, Twitter account, third party blog platforms. But buying up multiple domain names with nothing but keywords. This is not an acceptable practice in web world. This is SPAM!
A legitimate company builds a brand.
Having random domains that don’t reference your company is SPAM! You are deceiving your customer, cloaking your websites and ultimately blasting the same content across different perceived companies. If I were checking on prices for a product or service and calling around to get a feel for the market (comparing prices), and I happen to call a different number and the same person answered that I just talked to 2 phone calls ago, I am going to feel deceived. It is no different in the web world. If I click on a link that has a different domain name and it is the exact same company I clicked above it, I am being tricked into clicking.
These “SPAM” companies can call it whatever they want, Content Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, whatever term they use doesn’t matter in the end it is SPAM. And if they are a so called “search engine marketing company” don’t let them talk you into using this tactic for driving traffic and sales. You know in the back of your mind that this isn’t the “right” thing or an “ethical” thing to do. In the long run it kills your brand. Ultimately you will pay a price of giving your company a bad reputation.
There are lots of scammers out there on the internet, so a little research and trusting your gut for weird or unusually tactics of promoting your website should help you steer clear of companies that are killing your brand.
I have several topics for spotting scammers, and how to inform yourself about companies you are about to hire for you web design, or seo needs. Browse around my blog for more informative articles about building a brand and the right and wrong ways of internet marketing.