fatinfo.com

Has your directory been getting a lot of herbal products site submissions? Chances are that it is a Joe Bucks affiliate spamming your site. The sites look pretty good, but it doesn’t help the directory to get 10 sites of the same content with different URL’s. Do I just delete them according to my directory guidelines on how to handle affiliates with no address information listed? Part of the answer is yes to instant ban, the other part is more ingenious.

If it is actually helpful in filling up a particular health category, then I just rename the actual URL to point to the original Joe Bucks product content site. This means the affiliates do all the marketing work and get no credit for the affiliate URL. At this rate, FatInfo will probably catalog all the JoeBucks sites with well written descriptions (200 chars+ requirement) without doing any work since the affiliates spend at least 2-3 minutes on per submission. This will most likely dishearten the submitter, but what can you do when well packaged spam is still spam. I do thank them for doing the hard work at helping the directory grow though with an automatic email confirmation.

As a directory admin, you should be aware of which sites are Joe Bucks copies and treat them accordingly. Just because the site looks legit, it doesn’t mean that it is original or add any value to your directory. Google the product that site is marketing and the original site will usually come up first. Also the company Ultra Herbal in the about us page will give off signals that the site is part of the Joe Bucks network. Renaming the URL is fair game when taking a tough stand on Joe Bucks affiliate spam.

Obviously one directory not allowing such spam is not going to change the way Joe Bucks affiliates go about marketing their sites. Joe Bucks corporate needs to address these issues by having their affiliates comply to some marketing guidelines that directory spamming is not to be frowned upon.