You know, it probably seems like I’m totally against guest posting lately. I’m not, even if I did write a post about guest posting lies. I just tell it like it is, and then I show you what I mean.
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In this case, I’m going to share what I believe turns out to be a guest posting scam by someone representing themselves as working at a company called Greenlight Digital. It turns out this is a legitimate company; how legitimate the person who wrote me is makes me curious. My issues were thus:
1. She seemed to not know what she was doing. She kept having problems understanding me, as I did her.
2. She parceled out information one bit at a time.
3. She tried to get me to sign up for something where I could “get” articles to put on my finance blog that they were going to pay for, but she sent me the first one.
4. She tried to tell me that I wouldn’t get paid for two weeks, but I had to run the article with their links during that time.
Those are just the highlights. It’s better to share our correspondence here, and you tell me your thoughts on the matter. Hers will be italicized, and mine will be in blue; I know you like that. 🙂 Here we go:
Hi,
We are currently running a campaign in combination with one of our major UK clients, and were wondering if you would be interested in hosting content on http://www.topfinanceblog.com/
One of our major clients is currently focusing on increasing the visibility of their pages on the web, and it would be great if you could play a part.
I have several flexible possibilities in mind including bespoke guest posts and articles.
Our writers are flexible and are willing to write the articles based on your focus (also being happy to take topic suggestions should you have any particular topics in mind). The content is bespoke and based on your site so will certainly be in regards to your site’s subject – once it is written you are, of course, free to review the content before placing it on your site and any changes you wish can be made for you to ensure you are comfortable with the content.
In exchange we would offer you payment dependent on the visibility of the content.
If you would like further information or if this has sparked your enthusiasm then please feel free to contact me via email Ve***************@gr***************.com .
I look forward to hearing from you!
Kind Regards,
Veronika Kustrova
Web Relations Executive | Greenlight
Greetings,
This is the advertising policy of Top Finance Blog: (not sharing advertising policy here, but it’s my standard policy for that blog)
Hi Mitch,
Thank you for your reply.
We are currently running a campaign for our finance clients such as XXX and XXX (not going to “out” her clients, in case they’re not her clients) and were wondering if you would be interested in this advertising opportunity. I have briefly outlined below exactly what we do and what we are looking for from you.
All we are looking for up to 3 article/blog posts. Our writers are flexible and are willing to write the articles based on your focus (also being happy to take topic suggestions should you have any particular topics in mind). The content is bespoke and based on your site so will certainly be in regards to your site’s subject – once it is written you are, of course, free to review the content before placing it on your site and any changes you wish can be made for you to ensure you are comfortable with the content.
The content can remain live for as long as you like unless the specification of the client changes, in which case we would ask you to remove the content. We do ask that there be a homepage link (internal) to the content so that your users can read it. Each post must meet CAP regulations, we provide details on this alongside the content.
You can see some examples of our articles at XXX & XXX. Please note these are examples, do not place this on your site and that your articles will be based on the focus of your site and so will be different from these examples
For the posts we offer a one-off payment per article of ÂŁ75.
Do you have price for one-off payment per article?
The reason for offering this price is that I expect that the review will be posted in the form of a blog post, which would be top news while it is still fresh (a month or so), to be replaced with newer content as time wears on.
Our partnerships are built on maximum flexibility as we recognise that circumstances can change, for example you may wish to redevelop or refresh your site and may no longer wish to have our items on the site. If the case arises where circumstances do change you need only inform us and we can either renegotiate or end the partnership, and vice versa.
What are your thoughts on this?
Regards,
Veronika
Hi Veronika,
We’re going to have to clear up some terminology because I’m not sure what you’re saying.
One, I have no idea what CAP regulations are. Two, I have no idea what “one-off” means. I can’t respond to this without that knowledge. At least I knew what “bespoke” meant; not a term used here in the U.S. I want to make clear that this site is in the United States, and all content on the blog must be geared towards an American audience. As long as it’s on a finance topic and not something we’ve had on the blog within the last month, all should be fine.
I will answer what I do know. Each article gets to have a link in it going back to the site in question, but the link can’t be a blatant ad, and the link has to have relevance to the word it’s linking to. For instance, if the article says “credit card” and the link goes to a credit card company, or a finance company of some kind, it’s a good link. If the article says “credit score” but links back to “Bob’s Young Horses”, that wouldn’t work at all. I’m sure you know this, but I’m just making sure.
Hi Mitch,
Thank you for your reply.
One-off payment means paid just once and CAP regulations mean that the article content and publishing needs to follow correct SEO rules.
As I mentioned in the previous article the content is unique and it is relevant.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Kind regards,
Veronika
Greetings Veronika,
Just to clarify this part first, you’re saying you’d pay $XX to place each article? Second, I do SEO as one of my businesses, but even a paid post follows the rules of this blog, although I don’t often turn down what’s requested unless it goes against the format of the blog. I still need to see the websites being linked to ahead of time, and need to mention that anything regarding payday loans, either in an article or the website being linked to, won’t be accepted.
If I’m clear in what you’re saying then we can go forward and I will gladly take a look at the posts you have.
Hi Mitch,
Yes that is correct we would pay $XX/ÂŁXX per article.
I have already sent you a few examples of our articles for Santander.
I am also happy to take any suggestion of the topic for the article to make sure it will fit your audience.
If you are interested please send me your full contact details for our records (Payee Name, Payment Method (Paypal) Phone Number, & Address) and I shall get the content commissioned for you; you should have it within a few weeks.
Kind regards,
Veronika
Hi Veronika,
I’d be interested, but the two articles you sent me had blatant advertising in them, and that wouldn’t be allowed, even for a paid post. I just want to be clear on that up front. As long as the articles pertain to something that would interest an American audience, we can take a shot at it. I’d like to see an article to review before I send my payment information, and please remember that every article must have a one line bio with a person’s name that will be responsible for responding to any comments the article receives on the blog.
Hi Mitch,
Please see the article in the attachment.
Kind regards,
Veronika
Greetings Veronika,
I have to modify a couple of lines but otherwise the article works, and your link will still show. If you don’t have a problem with that then I’ll go ahead and schedule it and let you know when it’ll be going live.
Hi Mitch,
Yes that is fine the article can be modify by yourself.
Please can you add the attached text image “advertorial promotion” to the bottom of the article. Just save file on your pc – please ensure image remains GIF format. Please rename the image to any number, e.g. “23”.gif.
When the article will be publish send us the link and we just check if it meets the CAP regulations.
Please send me your full contact details for our records (Payee Name, Payment Method (Paypal) Phone Number, & Address).
Kind regards,
Veronika
Hi Veronika,
If I add that image I’m going to have to charge you an extra $XX for it, since that’s obvious advertising. This means the cost of the article is $XXX. If you agree I’ll add the image; otherwise, it’ll still be $XX for the article itself.
My pay information is thus:
Hi Mitch,
Unfortunately we have to use this image according the CAP regulations that is beneficial for both sites.
I understand your point. Please can we try to negotiate for $XXX/ÂŁXX per article? The price would include also the PayPal fees.
Thanks,
Veronika
Before I had time to respond to the earlier email, I received another email from someone that said the same exact thing as Veronika’s original email. I wrote her back mentioning Veronika, and she wrote back saying to just work with Veronika. Then I got this:
Hi Mitch,
We contacted you recently about hosting content on your site for some of our clients, and you’ll be pleased to know we may have some content for you.
We’re doing some work for XXX, and wanted to know if you’d consider the following proposal.
Proposal details (this lead to a link that wasn’t on their site, and, because I have Mailwasher, would have led to one of those strange links that would have altered the link on my site, something I warned about Gera Agency)
As soon as you’ve accepted, one of our editors will prepare the content for you, and get it over for you to approve.
Also…please note that if you haven’t accepted or declined within 7 days we may automatically assume you’ve declined, and this opportunity will expire, so please be sure to let us know either way.
If you have any questions about this request, or email, please don’t hesitate to contact us, either directly on the number below.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Veronika Kustrova
I had actually scheduled the article for publication and sent a date telling her when it would go live; then the email above showed up and irked me to no end, to whit:
Veronika,
No, I’m not doing that, and I’m not clicking on that link. If that’s the only way for me to participate then I don’t want any part of it. If that’s how this works and the only way it works, then I’ll just delete the article I already have ready to go next week and we’ll part ways now.
Hi Mitch,
I am afraid I have to do this. Otherwise I am not allowed to raise the payment for you.
Kind regards,
Veronika
Then I’m sorry we can’t work together. I will remove the article so you can place it elsewhere. Maybe another time.
Hi Mitch,
After talking with my manager. I can approve it.
Please let me know when the content is life.
Thanks,
Veronika
Hi Veronika,
As I previously mentioned, the article will go live on XXX by 10AM EST. I won’t be around, so you’ll have to check based on time conversion. Hopefully payment will be made within 24 hours of its going live. Thanks.
Hi Mitch,
Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately the payment takes approximately 1-2 weeks to transfer. I will try my best to proceed the payment as soon as possible.
Cheers,
Veronika
Hi Veronika,
Your company seems to have a lot of rules I’ve never had to deal with before with anyone else. I’ll wait 24 hours and then I’ll remove the links until I’m paid; that is, if you still wish to go through with this project. I’m not feeling like a valued partner, and thus I will not feel like being taken advantage of for one or two weeks of links to your client’s sites without payment.
Hi Mitch,
Apologies I cannot proceed further.
Best,
Veronika
And that was that. Now, I mentioned the 4 issues I had with what went on; was I sensitive, overly protective, or spot on in my assessment of the situation?
Here’s the thing. I’ve talked before about how we get offered certain amounts of money and it can help to make us kind of stupid sometimes. If you’ll do anything to make money, you set yourself up to be taken and scammed. There was just too many strange things that occurred here for my comfort level. If I was making the contact, I’d have put it all up front so there wouldn’t be any questions. I should have known earlier that they’d want to add a banner ad, that they’d think I would want to sign up at some kind of link go to get articles (which makes no sense) and that they hoped not to pay me for two weeks. I wouldn’t have gone for it, but at least it would have been honest.
That’s why I share this stuff. It just feels like a scam, and it leaves me wondering if it’s legitimate or not. The link make me suspect. Always take care of yourself, because it’s your blog or website. Don’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of for pursuit of the almighty dollar.
