31 thoughts on “Guest Posting Scams”

1. Wow. What an experience that must have been. Thanks for sharing it. There was also this one site that I wrote like two articles for and I expected that I would be paid for those, but it turns out I had to undergo a “one month evaluation” before they start paying me. Now I think my articles are the most traffic-attracting ones they have because they keep on moving it on the homepage.
   I regret that I didn’t clarify things. Any suggestions?

   1. Unfortunately no Glori, because you didn’t ask enough questions up front. I will say this; unless you know the people you never give them everything without getting at least a piece of the payment unless you have a contract. After the fact it’s hard to prove anything. This is why we have to be ever vigilant in looking out for scams.

2. There are some really shady people when it comes to marketing especially for guest posts. When they ask for a guest post, I normally like to see their work and check their page to see if they have some good readers if it’s a freebie. If they pay, I’ll ask them upfront to pay me just to know they are serious. A lot of times people don’t think about the integrity and the long term benefit that could arise from a mutual exchange.

   1. I’m not so tough John. I can review a post to see if I think it’s quality or not without asking to see something they’ve previously written. Sometimes I find these folks use multiple names, so that would never do. And I don’t ask for pay up front, but I do ask for it within 24 hours after it goes live, otherwise I just pull the links, since if I wrote the article I know it’ll still work well for the blog.

      And of course I just might “out” them here. lol

3. Sure sounds like a scam to me. It also sounds like a bot replying to some key words. I’ve had a couple of weird ones recently and when I’ve replied asking how the info they want to share on my site is relevant to Australia it’s all gone quiet. It’s always good to share these scams Mitch. thanks

   1. Thanks for your perspective Sue. I often have to deal with articles that come through that have nothing to do with the U.S., which is clearly in my guest posting rules, and then I have to tell people I can’t use it. Lots of Australian and British companies write articles and pay for advertising on the site; one of these years I might figure out why. lol

4. Nice one Mitch, thanks for posting this infomation. I also experienced some similar things for several of my blogs. And on few it is mentioned that I am accepting guest posts, however it seems that the first email is always automatic and sender have never visit my blog. Few times I receive the same article to different blogs.

   1. Same here Carl, and I find myself ignoring many of them because it’s obvious they haven’t read the guest posting policy. But this thing here… smarmy looking.

      1. Few blogs of mine are open for contributor sign up, may sounds a bit crazy, but I don’t really know how they bypass all security sign up plugins.

5. Nice information Mitch, I also suffered from similar things. Guest bloggers usually post the same article to different blogs and it sounds like a scam.

   1. Thanks Sarah; we definitely have to keep our eyes open, that’s for sure.

6. Wow!! Initially it was looking so simple earn money and get good content for your blog. But later it comes out pure scam. You really took careful actions before believing on their claims.

   1. Thanks Aasma. My mind has an automatic “scam” filter that pops up when things don’t quite seem to fit or make sense, and in those cases I’m not above asking a lot of questions.

7. I usually don’t accept offers like that from people I’ve never heard or met before. Sticking with adsense and well-known affiliate programs, I think, is the safest bet. Of course, as you develop as an internet marketer, you’ll hopefully gain relationships with people that maybe you’ll be able to profit from. The blogosphere is community driven where everyone can benefit. Receiving a message like that always raises the alarm for me.

   1. Lance, I get those types of requests often, and it is a site that’s supposed to help me make money so I’ll at least look at them all. Still, as it went on things just seemed dodgy, so I’m glad I kept at it.

8. From the other side, everyone knows, that guest posting is the most efficient method for link building and generating traffic to a site. After the Penguin update, the old-school link building techniques like commenting and bookmarking don’t work anymore, the only way is guest posting and social media for the search engine optimizers. They try and try, but without a relevant content, there’s nothing to do with them.

   1. Tatjana, there’s nothing wrong with accepting guest posts, and nothing wrong with people asking to guest post. What’s wrong is someone misrepresenting themselves and what they do. Just a few minutes ago, for example, I got an email from someone saying she wanted to write a guest post for my blog. Then in her last paragraph she wrote that if I was fine with it then she’d have her team of writers start working on the post. In my mind, you can’t call yourself a freelance writer when it’s obvious that you might not be writing the post you’re looking to submit. That’s just a lie, and I hate liars, especially when they’re that blatant.

      In this case these people were dodgy, plain and simple.

9. Man that was a very interesting exchange! I think there is some sort of script or procedure they have with regards to how much info they reveal at first.

   This is strange because it reminds me of an exchange I had with a company last year trying to place a banner ad on my site for a year. Turns out they were out of the UK (had to pull teeth to get that).

   Then they would never reveal what the ad was, only to assure me it was not porn or get rich quick scheme. It’s like they wanted me to approve and agree to place the ad before they would tell me what it was. Always reminding me that the ad MUST stay up for the entire year.

   After several days of exchanges I was doubting myself. I looked back over my previous emails and wondered was I just not being clear? Why couldn’t I get basic information out of these people? They contacted ME for Pete’s sake.

   Turns out (finally) the ad was for some kind of new medical drug that had no place being advertised on my site at all. When I told them this, and then asked if they minded telling me why they had thought my site would be a match for them, they went silent and I never heard from them again.

   You definitely did the right thing. If you have to fight this hard to get honest answers then it seems like something is wrong, to me. This is a dirty game out here, Mitch. I don’t want none o’ that dirt on me.

   1. Smart thinking John. I had that same thing last year, a female hair products company asking to advertise on this blog and I couldn’t figure out why. Now, truthfully, if they’d offered $1,000 to do it I’d have taken it, but otherwise… lol

      Still, the process of accepting a guest post, paid or not, shouldn’t go longer than a couple of emails at best. Right now I’m going through a conversation with someone else that’s reached 8 emails and is quite frustrating because of language issues; why do so many folks need to try to jazz up their language when it means they have no idea how to communicate with you?

10. Wow… never occurred to me that even guest posting has been penetrated by scams already. Thanks for sharing this

    1. Grace, nothing’s safe these days.

11. I feel your pain Mitch. I have gotten many e-mail scams over the years (though not about blogging). Thank you for sharing. Just a note, I’ve confirmed the validity of scams I’ve rec’d by checking the persons IP address in the e-mail header. One person a couple weeks back e-mailed me about working with them, however the e-mail sounded suspicious, as they were not answering certain questions I asked about the possible work. They started they were for a company that is based in NY. I verified the company was a valid company. Then I entered the originating IP address at: http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/index.htm, and found the IP or computer that this message came from was in Nigeria. I wrote a rather stern e-mail back advising them I was on to their scam and asked that they NEVER contact me again. I was so frustrated so much of my time was wasted.

    1. Neat site Christina. I looked it up and it comes from London, which is one of the locations of the company. I’m still not overly convinced, but it is what it is at this point.

12. You did the right thing Mitch. I’ve knocked back offers for almost the same reasons. The way I look at it once the post is live you’ve done your bit and they should do theirs by paying up.

    I get a few requests for paid links or posts but not all of them pan out because some of these guys expect to get something for nothing. Sorry, I don’t work that way.

    1. I’m with you there. I had an offer from a representative of one of the big boys to provide free posts, and I said it would be advertising for them & they’d have to pay for it. They thought they were doing me a favor, and I could see how they’d think that, but I knew they’d be getting more benefit out of it than I would and I wanted to be paid. Heck, they could easily afford it.

       1. I assume their post had links in them and they thought they were doing you a favor 😀

       2. Yeah, that’s what it was. lol

13. Guest posts can work when the guest poster has knowledgeable of your subject area and it fits in with the theme of the blog. Unfortunately that is often not the case. It’s also a good idea to use copyscape to make sure the article is unique and has not been published elsewhere.

    1. Simon, Copyscape charges don’t they? That’s why my method of checking works pretty well; at least I am checking things.

       1. Yes copyscape charges a small fee for every article you check but I think it is well worth the fee.

       2. It might be Simon, but I’m not too lazy to check lines from guest posts on my own.

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