Contact Form Spam
OK, am I the only one getting these? Or is this the newest approach for spammers?
I’m talking about companies that are using contact forms to spam their products and services. Mind you, this is not your run of the mill spam, where they collect your email address by scraping the web. No sireee Bob. They actually have one of their warm blooded staff members, or someone they have outsourced the task to, send a spammy email via company website contact forms.
Is this really working? Do the spammers (yes, it is spam, it’s unsolicited SALES efforts boys and girls) really want to believe that this new “cold calling” (I hear that’s what they are calling this technique) works in regard to creating new business?
What makes it even worse is that many of these cold calling form spammers are costing you more than just some time. They are costing you money. Because of how they might find your website. These cold caller spam writers are lazy, using PAID links from Google Adwords campaigns to get to your site.
Why? Simple. Because they are looking for companies that have a budget. They figure that if your company has an advertising budget, you also have money you can allocate to other things. Mainly their products and their services. Wannabe SEO companies and advertising firms are the top culprits in this new escapade.
So how do we stop them? Dunno, to tell the truth. The first thing you can do at the corporate level is contact your Ad rep at Google. If you don’t have one, send them a general email complaining. They might get enough complaints that they start blocking these companies that use this technique. They might not. But if enough companies complain, they’ll have to do something.
Understand, this hurts your bottom line. It costs you money both in man hours and your advertising dollars.
So don’t buy any of these spam offers! If you receive spam that you know came via your contact form, send it to Google and let them know you are not happy about it. And if no one buys these services, the spammers might get the clue that this is not Kosher.
But of course, we’ll have to stand by for their next slimy technique…
Tags: Advertising Dollars, Contact Form Spam, Corporate Ads, Google Adwords, Spam
October 15th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Sorry for the rant, but I am not sorry for my opinion on this marketing method. It’s wrong for one company to use another company’s resources as an avenue for unsolicited sales efforts.
Permission marketing my friends. If you don’t have permission, it’s spam. Plain and simple.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
It is spam, without a doubt, and that’s why web developers should continue to use ways that block form bots from filling out web forms.
Sure, there are some businesses that are using REAL PEOPLE to use these forms, but most businesses just hire a company that uses illegal robots to crawl the web and submit the forms.
It’s awful, but developers can find ways to make the process a little more “painful” for people who are doing it.