Seth Godin Jumps the Shark
From permission marketing fame to cyber greenmail shame, Seth Godin has finally jumped the shark. Spinning it as SEO reputation management is a kind way of describing this scam. What Godin has done is launched Brands in Public. Sounds innocent enough? Hardly.
Godin has put together hundreds of Squidoo pages for companies with major brands. A complimentary service? Done with permission? No. The aggregated content on these pages are determined by Godin/Squidoo…unless your company is willing to pay $400 per month in “greenmail” to control the content and spin it.
“If your brand wants to be in charge of developing this page, it will cost you $400 a month.” – Seth Godin
Because Squidoo pages rank high in the search engines, Godin is essentially telling these companies to fork over the money or have their online reputation interfered with by him because he’s using their keywords/brands to drive a lot of traffic to Squidoo.
From an ethical standpoint, there’s little separating what Godin is doing from cybersquatters who sit on domain names filled with the companies’ brands demanding unreasonable sums. Morally, it is similar to competitors using the companies’ brands as keywords in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to drive traffic elsewhere. The main difference is the dollar amounts involved. Let’s say that 500 companies give in to Godin’s demands and fork over $4800 a year. That’s an additional $2.4 million in revenues generated simply using the “pay me or else” method of marketing.
Is this legal? I’m sure a few of the companies will be discussing the matter with their Internet and trademark attorneys.
Is it ethical? No.
I’m disappointed in Seth Godin.
You should be too.
Recommended Reading: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking
London Internet Scams Falling Down
Just got this stupid e-mail from an Internet spammer who apparently didn’t read my August newsletter warning about the scam (or has a sick sense of humor and sent the e-mail because of the article).
From: Mary Stone [mailto:gabsgrami@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 6:50 AM
To: gabsgrami@yahoo.com
Subject: Sad News!!!Hello
I am in a hurry writing this mail to you, I had travelled to the UK to visit a new researchers complex in Wolverhampton (Imperial College, Gallery Section, UK) and unfortunately for me the hotel i lodged got razed by fire. I am so confused right now, I don’t know what to do or where to go. I didnt bring my phones here and the hotel telephone lines were disconnected during the incident. So I have access to only emails.Please can you lend me £960 today so I can return home. As soon as I get home I would refund it immediately.all you have to do is to transfer through Western Union Money Transfer to my name.below is the details you require.
NAME-MARY STONE
ADDRESS-FOX HOTELS(118 SCHOOL STREET)HARBOUR VIEW RD.
CITY-WOLVERHAMPTON
COUNTRY-UK
ZIPCODE-WV30NROnce again i want to assure you that your money will be refunded as soon as i get back home.immediately you have the money transfered,please help me scan or write out the MTCN Number given to you at the western union outlet.i will be waiting anxiously for your positive response.
Please I need you to get back to me as soon as possible.I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks and Regards,M.E. Stone
Note that this scam is now being used on Twitter and Facebook. Accounts on social networking sites are being hacked and same type of requests are being made to online friends. If you get a request for money, double or triple check ID before sending anything. Chances are you’ll discover your friend is nowhere near the location where the ‘tragedy’ occurred and that it is just a con artist trying to steal from you.
Speaking of con artists, just waiting for the day when this crime gets tweaked with a hidden continuity program. And if one pays the initial amount will there will be an additional upsell soliciting more funds.
