Congress needs to hear from you, or these dangerous bills will pass – they have tremendous lobbying dollars behind them, from large corporations reportedly hoping to prop up outdated, anti-consumer business models at the expense of the very fabric of the Internet — recklessly unleashing a tsunami of take-down notices and litigation, and a Pandora’s jar of “chilling effects” and other unintended (or perhaps intended?) consequences.

Please let your Members of Congress know you OPPOSE H.R. 3621 “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) and S. 968 “Protect IP Act” (PIPA):

• Phone, yes phone your Member of Congress! (House) (Senate)
• EFF Congressional Emailer – Oppose Internet Blacklisting (SOPA & PIPA)
• OpenCongress Congressional Emailer – Oppose SOPA
• Generic Congressional Emailer (You’ll need your Zip+4)

Learn more about SOPA, Protect IP (PIPA), and Internet Blacklisting:

• Growing Chorus of Opposition to SOPA
• Open Letter against SOPA from 83 Prominent Internet Engineers
• Why SOPA and Protect IP (PIPA) are Bad, Bad Ideas (Techdirt)
• SOPA News (Google News)
• SOPA Wikipedia entry
• SOPA FAQ (CNET)

Internet Giants Consider Blackout Against SOPA!

Where does your Member of Congress stand on SOPA? (Project SOPA Opera)

Opponents of SOPA: Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay, AOL, Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr, Etsy, Zynga, EFF, ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX)

Supporters of SOPA: RIAA, MPAA, News Corporation, VISA, Mastercard, Pfizer, Comcast, Time Warner, ABC, Nike, Walmart, Dow Chemical, Tiffany, Chanel, Rolex, Monster Cable, Teamsters, Lamar Smith (R-TX), John Conyers (D-MI)

Read The Full Story: http://www.seofriendly.com/hacking-ripoff-report-reputation-management-style/ 

Up until a few weeks ago there was another way to remove ripoff reports from search engines completely, that is until RipoffReport.com and it’s owner Ed Magedson discovered a glitch in there own website that was allowing extremely internet savvy computer geeks and “black hat” reputation management firms to insert a small string of html code in the name and title fields of the website when creating an account. This code was not visible to ripoff report and the code was a simple “noindex” code that told search engines like Google not to allow the page with this code on it to appear on search engines at all.

 Read It Here: http://www.seofriendly.com/hacking-ripoff-report-reputation-management-style/

Hacking RipOffReport.com

For over the past few years there have been thousands of business and individuals trying to figure out a way to make ripoffreport.com links about them not rank high on Google and other search engines. Reputation management was and still is the most common solution for having these nasty links rank lower. Reputation management firms like Reputation.com (Reputation Defender) and ReputationArmor.com (Reputation Armor) use social media, profiles, blog posts, domain names, press releases, fresh content and search engine optimization to basically bury (hide) the negative links deeper within search engine result pages.

Up until a few weeks ago there was another way to remove ripoff reports from search engines completely, that is until RipoffReport.com and it’s owner Ed Magedson discovered a glitch in there own website that was allowing extremely internet savvy computer geeks and “black hat” reputation management firms to insert a small string of html code in the name and title fields of the website when creating an account. This code was not visible to ripoff report and the code was a simple “noindex” code that told search engines like Google not to allow the page with this code on it to appear on search engines at all.

Here is an example of the code:
meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”

In order for this code to work you had to make an account at ripoff report and go to your account profile where you manage your name and location. You could simply copy & paste that code behind your display name field. After this, the last step was to make a comment on the ripoff report you wanted to disappear. Within a few days (up to 30), when Google “Re-Crawled” that page, they would see the code telling them not to index it and presto the ripoff report was off the search engine.

Reputation management firms and SEO firms were offering a service that claims to “Remove RipOff Reports” completely from search engines within 30 days or less. Businesses pay thousands of dollars to have these links removed and buried and normally thousands of dollars is warranted because it takes a lot of content, work, and money to actually bury a bad link as strong as RipOff Report. However, the “code injection method” only took a few minutes to implement and was very easy to do. Firms offering this service were making a killing! The service fees were basically 100% profit.

Now all of the people that signed up for this type of service involving the “magic fix” are back in line waiting for anther way to remove the ripoff links about them, thanks to the bug being fixed by Ed Magedson and his team of Consumer Advocate Crusaders. 

Not only are all the ripoff reports about people that used the “code injection” back, they are ranking stronger than ever!

Looks like it is back to good old reputation management techniques for firms like Reputation Armor and Reputation.com!

ReputationArmor.com commented to us about the code and said they were unaware of such a code and have never used it, also saying that had they known about it they would have been tempted to use it on behalf off their clients. Reputation Armor says they use good quality content and search engine optimization methods to out rank negative links for clients and such “quick fixes” are in most cases short-term anyway.

A Reputation.com (Reputation Defender) representative from the sales dept. named “KC” or “Casey”, stated he was not aware of such a code and went on to say: “We use a Blunt force approach, where we use positive content, there is no technology to make ripoff reports disappear like that, that I am aware of.”

Although this sales representative was unaware of such tactics, we were unable to reach anyone in the department to answer that question. We called at 9:30 AM EST and that was too early for the West Coast reputation firm to have someone more qualified for us to talk with.

We discover this bug from an email sent to us from a client of a Reputation Firm that used the tactic and is now looking for a similar solution. There seem to be a lot of these firms’ clients looking for answers. In no way are we stating that Reputation Armor or Reputation.com used this code or even knew about it, we cite them because of their strong presence in the Reputation Management industry.

If you have any information on the “Bug” or if you represent RipOff Report we would love to hear more about this. Please leave a comment and tell us the scoop!

Since online review sites are not held liable for content a user posts to their site (per the Communications Decency Act Sec. 230), it is nearly impossible to force websites to remove bad content that a user posts. The best option for anyone facing bad reviews online that rank high is to bury the offending web links deeper within search engine results. To do this one must launch a reverse search engine optimization campaign (Online Reputation Management).

By creating new content (web pages) and promoting existing content about the company or individual, and using SEO tactics like link building, you will be able to manipulate Google and other search engine results, making the Good links go above the Bad links.

Link Building is one of the most important ingredients to a successful Reputation Management and SEO campaign.  Link building is the process in which you go and obtain back links to your web pages and websites. Back links are incoming links to a website or web page. In the search engine optimization (SEO) world, the number of back links is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page.

It is important to use proper anchor text when building links. Anchor Text is the word or phrase linked to your URL, or web page. This text defines the page that it links to, both for human eyes and for search engines. Ideally you will use the phrase you most want that web page to rank well for in the major search engines, and also a phrase that compels real people to click through and read the page.

As an example, this is Anchor Text: Blog Posting Service. That phrase tells Google that the page is all about Blog Posting Services. Using this phrase as the Anchor Text makes this page more likely to rank for that phrase.

There are many ways to obtain back links for the purpose of link building. One of the most popular ways is to use a link building service. A link building service will help you obtain quality back links that will help you boost your websites popularity and strength. For more information on link building check out some link building tips blogs online.

ReputationFriendly.com has a new image. ReptationFriendly an online reputation management service just emailed us and asked if we would review their new website design. Version 1.o of reputationfriendly.com skipped right to 2.0 literally overnight.

The new design is clean crisp and very easy to navigate. Since the site sponsors some of our site I figured I would give them the courtesy of a quick post.

ReputationFriendly.com offers flat rate monthly reputation management services for only $99 per month to businesses and individuals.

ReputationFriendly.com is an all inclusive reputation management company that offers an inexpensive way to grow and revamp online reputations. The majority of Reputation Management Firms involve large upfront fees and recurring fees that end up costing thousands of dollars over the life of an online reputation management project.

ReputationFriendly’s costs are minimal and they offer the same intensity of service that other “Online Reputation” companies charge thousands of dollars for.

The ReputationFriendly.com team is consists of search engine optimization specialists, technical writers, content creation technicians, and administrative staff. ReputationFriendly currently has 8 in-house employees and 6 telecommuters on their team.

To learn more about ReputationFriendly and to view their new website, visit them online at ReputationFriendly.com

SEO Company Of The Month: DotShot – DotShot.com

DotShot.com is a smaller yet very affordable SEO Service that offers SEO Packages starting at $99 per month and also has packages that cost $299-$499 per month. For larger clients with more competitive keywords they have custom pricing.

The DotShot SEO Service was founded in 2003 by a small group of search engine marketing professionals with over 10 years of experience in online marketing and search engine optimization.

The name DotShot is a spin off of “Hot Shot” and the name DotShot is referring to making your company an internet hot shot or maybe the SEO Firm is saying they are SEO Hot Shots? Either way DotShot shared some of there client success stories with us and they have delivered some impressive results for their clients.

They have delivered top 10 results for hundreds of keywords and hundreds of clients. The DotShot team manages dozens of high profile clients and hundreds of small businesses Monthly SEO Campaigns.

Their SEO Packages are very attractive and affordable. Their “Grow” package is the most poplar and purportedly most effective. At $299 per month with a recommended 12 month term the “Grow” package is designed to deliver top ranking for 1-3 keywords and help brand your business on social networks. Each package includes link building campaigns that will generate quality backlinks for your site at a pace that is acceptable by Google.

Other packages include the popular $99 per month SEO package that packs a punch for smaller companies and local search results.

To learn more about the DotShot SEO Company and the SEO Service they offer visit them online:

www.DotShot.com
Phone: 1-800-989-1172

In fact, Google is giving some company keywords a whole lot of first page real estate. A search for “apple” pops up 6 pages from the apple.com site.

This change will help brands and reputation management firms control what is shown on the first page of Google results.

Andy Beal Told Me: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2010/08/google-reputation-management-just-got-easier.html 

With so many people jumping in the SEO industry it can be hard to find prospects that are ready to sign up for your SEO services. A new company called SEOBuyers.com has a solution, SEO Leads!

SEOBuyers.com combs the internet in search of fresh SEO prospects that are shopping for SEO Services and drives them to landing pages to funnel leads to their clients.

An SEO Lead is basically the contact details of a business that is looking for an SEO company to sign-up with. SEOBuyers.com generates hundreds of leads per week of businesses that are actively looking for SEO services.

Buying SEO leads can save you money and make you money. Finding SEO customers can be quite expensive in today’s aggressive and highly competitive SEO industry. On average an SEO firm can spend $5,000-$25,000 per month on Google PPC ads and maybe turn a sale. The average cost per click for the keyword SEO on Google PPC is $15.00! 100 Visitors to your website would cost $1500.00 on Google PPC and you still have to convert that cold visitor in to a sale or just a lead that will contact you.

I have seen many SEO companies that were great go out of business due to lack of advertising funds and poor performing PPC ads. You must get them on the phone to sell them real SEO services. The average cost to get a client on the Phone for SEO is $150.00 if you are running paid ads.

With SEO leads you can buy new clients! Why spend thousands on Ads to hopefully get new clients on the phone to sign-up , when you an spend a few hundred on SEO leads that are guaranteed to talk to you and are actively looking for a service that your provide..

SEO Leads are hot right now and hundreds of SEO firms buy leads from SEOBuyers.com currently. For more details on SEO Leads, Visit SEOBuyers.com online and see what they have to offer.

Social Wall Of Fame – PeepWall.com

An interesting new website has popped up online this week called PeepWall.com “The Social Wall Of Fame”. The website allows individuals to purchase 1 or more of 625 total blocks on the homepage where you can upload an image and link it to your social profile site (Like Twitter), blog, or website. Each spot is only $10.00 and will become a permanent fixture on the website and archived in internet history. The website itself has no other purpose other than featuring those that are listed on the home page.

The site gives “advertisers” an affordable opportunity to gain some internet fame by being 1 of only 625 people allowed on the website. The site has the feel of the famous MillionDollarHomePage that was created and launched in 2005 by Alex Tew a student that wanted to earn money to pay his way through school. The MillionDollarHomePage received worldwide attention and actually sold $1,000,000.00 worth of ad space over a short period of time.

The MillionDollarHomePage was geared toward businesses to promote their company. PeepWall is geared toward individuals to promote themselves and their social presence. Businesses can still buy a block but must upload an image of an individual if possible.

PeepWall.com does not stand to make 1 Million Dollars, but hopes that the project will offer a little fun and PR for social media addicts and a small profit at the same time. The sites revenue is limited to $6,250.00 which is a far cry from 1 million. The creators of PeepWall, 2 Roanoke VA based web promoters and entrepreneurs say that all they want to take home from this project is the fun and sense of accomplishment.

A portion of the money earned will be donated to a local charity to be announced later. They are thinking of donating some of the funds to a local homeless shelter or support agency for the homeless. “We see our fair share of homeless and less fortunate people since our office is downtown” says Nick one of the creators. He wanted to make it clear that only a portion of the revenue will go a charity and the rest will be saved to cover costs associated with building, hosting, maintaining, and promoting the website. Advertising on the site is not tax deductible and the site is not a non-profit agency.

Purchasing a “block” on the website is easy. Simply click on the space (block) you wish to purchase and follow the payment process. After your image and link attached are approved your “Block” will go live for the world to see!

For more information on PeepWall.com visit them online.