hoyaguru
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
# Posts: 15
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Posted: 06/09/2004 07:22 pm
I agree, Curious_Mark, that in a court of law a client of Traffic-Power MIGHT win some sort of legal action. But, as a (very) small company, going against a big company like Traffic-Power, there are no guarantees. The excerpt you quoted does do one thing for Traffic-Power though: It makes it so the credit card companies will not help you to get your money back from them, as Traffic-Power will just wave the signed contract at them. I speak from experience.
But, on the lighter side, it costs less than $9.00 a year to get a website and tell the world what a rip-off Traffic-Power is. 
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hoyaguru
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
# Posts: 15
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Posted: 06/10/2004 05:59 am
Update: Traffic-Power changed the plaigerized page I found already. Nice to know they are paying attention. Next one I find, I will be contacting all of their clients on the page before posting it.
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trafficpowerissatan
Joined: Jun 10, 2004
# Posts: 4
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Posted: 06/10/2004 11:03 am
I was a salesman for a Traffic-Power affiliate. I knew NOTHING about SEO when I applied for the job - I had never even heard of it. The way it was presented to me, it sounded GREAT. I BELIEVED in the product...I saw some GREAT results. I even 'googled' Traffic power... and at that time, there were no negative things to be found. Since I knew NOTHING about SEO - I believed eveything they told me...and I repeated it to clients. Once I found out about clients getting blacklisted and found this forum, I quit. I even called my clients and directed them to this message board (against my confidentiallity agreement). Just so you know...some of you LUCKED OUT. I actually sold one guy for...are you ready for this...a 6 MONTH contract for $10,000. No s**t. Now, I belived it was worth it because he was in high-end real estate and just ONE extra sale in those 6 months would have way more than made his money back. Don't know if he has though, and trust me I feel like s**t. Just had to get this off my chest. Sorry.
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Curious_Mark
Joined: Dec 02, 2001
# Posts: 2142
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Posted: 06/10/2004 06:59 pm
At least you had the character to realise what was going on and get out. You should be commended for that in my view.
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trafficpowerissatan
Joined: Jun 10, 2004
# Posts: 4
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Posted: 06/20/2004 11:54 pm
Don't know if people are still checking this board out, but I still feel bad for selling people a crap srevice (Although Unknowingly). Here are some of TP's "individually created HTML advertising pages" that "conform to search engine algorithms" (That's what I was told they were and what they do. Here ya go:
http://www.president-limo.com/portland_limo_q.html
http://www.angelbodywear.com/fine_lingerie_b.html
***If the "mouseover" page re-directs you to the main site - just hit your 'BACK' button and it'll usually stick on the mouse-over page*** edit: to see the lingerie page, click the 'BACK' button once you get re-directed, then DON'T move you mouse...scroll down using your arrows.
***Here is an example of the "link reciprocity program" make sure you scroll down:
http://www.therepconnection.net/index4.htm
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swapx
Joined: Jun 21, 2004
# Posts: 10
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Posted: 06/21/2004 09:42 pm
I am not sure if I should believe any of what you guys are saying here about Traffic Power. Show me some real proof other than a web site dedicated to bashing it. Some instances of web sites that are black listed would do, and it has to be verifiable. I can not just accept it becasue you say so. For all I know, a few of the posters here could be the same guy who started the web site "trafficpowersucks.com" and could be just a disgruntled employee.
Don't get me wrong. I have paid Traffic Power recently for our web site optimization and I would really like to find the truth, but words are not enough.
I looked at the couple of examples posted here. One is for Angelbodywear.com supposedly optimized by the TP guys. Well, I search for any kinf of lingerie rlated words on Google and angelbodywear.com is right there on the first page, usually in the top 3. Is that such a bad thing?
I am usualy very skeptic and I look at Traffic Power with an skeptics eye. But, in the same time, I have to doubt everything written on this forum until I see some real proof. Enlighten me!!!
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OAC
Staff
Joined: Jan 25, 2001
# Posts: 6794
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Posted: 06/21/2004 10:54 pm
"Show me some real proof"
Perhaps some posters became a little too strong in their posting but I can say that some of the observations made in this thread very closely match my experience.
Use of aggressive SEO strategies, such as those observed in the posts by dpeddle, clearly work well. For a time. Such practices are almost mandatory in certain areas eg adult, otherwise your site pages are buried. However, the Search Engines eventually wake up to the practice and then penalizes the sites using them. For some businesses eg adult, moving the operations to a new domain numerous times per year, is not a problem. But, for most businesses, this is not acceptable and a penalty could severly affect sales and profitability.
This thread contains posts from people who say their sites have been penalized and posts outlining clearly aggressive optimization strategies yet this is not enough "proof" for you.
Perhaps you could provide "proof" that the "advertising" pages that this company creates are acceptable to search engines because every indication I have experienced or seen from representatives of the major engines is that they hate such pages, regarding them as spam junk.
As you are a current customer of Traffic Power you are in a good position to prove or disprove, so why don't you show us some real proof that what has been observed in this thread is not correct? I will be most interested to see it. Particularly that those posters who stated that their sites had been penalized weren't in fact penalized or weren't penalized due to Traffic Power optimization but for some other reason.
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msprozac
Joined: Eons Ago
# Posts: 27
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Posted: 06/22/2004 01:48 am
These guys remind me of trafficlogic.com I've had experience with trafficlogic and am so embittered by it that I won't say any more.
And keep in mind BBB ratings don't necessarily mean much. There are some businesses here where I live that the BBB does nothing about complaints about, yet
investigative reporters seem to get more done than filing a complaint with the BBB.
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jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 06/22/2004 05:24 am
swapx: Trafficpower.com itself is banned from the search engines!! If that doesn't convice you go through the referral list they gave and see if the sites are banned from google. I am almost certain you will come across at least one banned site.
I don't know what more proof you want - I guess once your site is banned from the search engines you will see what we are taking about. Facts are: I am a business owner who wanted higher rankings. I have nothing to do with trafficpowersucks.com or the SEO industry. I hired traffic power. My site was banned. Sales plummeted. I posted on this board. Since then I have heard from over 25 other business owners who have had sites banned after hiring traffic power.
I was skeptical like you. I asked Traffic Power: "has anyone ever had their site banned from the techniques you use?" I was told "never". So I hired them! Stupid stupid me. You have no idea how much I wish I would have run across this board or one like it before hiring them.
You can either learn from my mistake (and others who have shared their stories) OR you can take your chances. Tough decision - whatever you decide I hope it works out for you.
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bigsteve
Joined: Jun 23, 2004
# Posts: 4
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Posted: 06/23/2004 01:01 pm
swapx - I registered here just to answer you although I have lurked here for quite a while.
I run a service business and am highly ranked on Google. I have a aquaintance in the same line of business who gives me work. He had TP put together his site with over 400 doorway pages optimized for different keywords with those pages linked from hidden text on the main page - the usual MO for TP. The doorway pages then redirected to the main page. Today, I looked and his site is no longer listed on Google.
I don't mean that his ranking has dropped. If you do an allinurl: search for his domain, not one page is listed in Google's database. It has been removed.
If you email me I will give you the url of his business, just to prove i'm not making this up. widescreensteve at yahoo dot com.
I would stay away from Traffic Power.
Steve
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daystartech
Joined: Jun 23, 2004
# Posts: 1
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Posted: 06/23/2004 01:35 pm
Well, here is one for anyone looking or thinking about T-P. We signed up. Paid a good bit of money, and went right to the top in days. We had a pretty good ranking before.. but not in the top 10. Now Google has completely dropped us. I had no idea about the Google rules, and traffic-power responds to me with a simple 'sorry for the inconvenience...'.
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pwink
Joined: Jun 23, 2004
# Posts: 2
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Posted: 06/23/2004 01:55 pm
Same Here.....
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discountlaptops
Joined: Jun 24, 2004
# Posts: 6
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Posted: 06/24/2004 12:23 am
I am horrified to find out my site may have been black-listed today.
I used traffic-power about 6 months ago, the results were great, but now I dont have a single listing on Google.
I decided to do some looking around and found this website. Once I read this thread, I about died. I am extremely p****d right now.
Can someone please tell me who I beg and plead to at Google to get relisted? Who can I contact? I was not aware that hat traffic-power was doing is against Googles rules.
I have a business that is 9 years old on the web. Wehave employees with families who need this income, and now I fear traffic-power may have ruined all that has been so hard to build.
Any help would be great.
Is there a site to go to see if I am truly blacklisted?
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jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 06/24/2004 05:22 am
To all of you who have privately emailed me on this board because your site has been banned PLEASE send me your actual email address so I can send you information on a possible class action lawsuit. Thanks.
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bhartzer
Staff
Joined: Jun 08, 2000
# Posts: 7036
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Posted: 06/24/2004 09:31 am
DiscountLaptops, it looks like you're banned in Google.
I suggest that you remove everything that Traffic Power did to your website and contact google with a reinclusion request. Send an email to wembaster@google.com with the subject of 'reinclusion request' and hopefully the might be able to do something. It might take a few months, though.
In the meantime, it might actually be quicker and more effective to get a new domain name and start over from scratch. You'll need to get all of your links back, too. I would also put a 301 Permanent Redirect from your banned site to the new domain name.
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hoyaguru
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
# Posts: 15
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Posted: 06/24/2004 10:00 am
To anyone who wants proof that Traffic Power is a bad company: First off, how many legitimate companies have so many complaints about them? Do a search for "Traffic Power" (use the quotation marks) on Google, count how many pages you find with complaints about them. Check with the lawyers involved with the class action suit, these guys don't get paid for what they do unless they win, so they don't take cases they don't think they can win, and the last time I talked to them, they think they can win. Check out the thousands of plagiarized pages Traffic Power has listed on Google. If you've signed up with Traffic Power, I can almost guarantee you your website is listed on some of these pages, and I'd be happy to show you how to find them, just email me at webmaster@trafficpowersucks.com.
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trafficpowerissatan
Joined: Jun 10, 2004
# Posts: 4
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Posted: 06/24/2004 10:11 am
Christ.
We were told to use DiscountLaptops.com as a reference. I would have people type in laptops into google AND yahoo and they came up in the top 3. Then I would show the lingerie results. They were not my personal clients...when I was interviewed for the job they showed me these results and I thought "wow. I'm going to be able to sell this no problem." I have already contacted all my PERSONAL clients and told them about TP's tactics (it is against the non-disclosure agreement I signed) I'm now wondering if I should contact all of the "programed" clients of TP's. I'm seriously asking advice. Should I? I'm leaning towards yes - I just don't want my AS5 to be sued.
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jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 06/24/2004 12:10 pm
Check out this page on traffic power's website, scroll down to #22 - #25, they actually talk about this forum.
http://www.traffic-power.com/sep-faq.html#22
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urbangrafix
Joined: Jun 24, 2004
# Posts: 1
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Posted: 06/24/2004 02:22 pm
I was knocked outta Google after being in the top 5 (pr5/10) because of traffic power. my site is www.toywiz.com
is anyone taking action on this?
does anyone know any google new that will tell something about this issue?
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rominosj
Joined: Mar 09, 2004
# Posts: 17
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Posted: 06/24/2004 04:44 pm
Again, same problem here with that company. I read something similar in another forum...
If you think, it is not a good deal don't hire them...If they will get you in trouble, why use them...
If they use cloaking or doorway pages to get you top listings, you can do that yourself, you can learn to cloak to your advantage. Most companies use it irresponsably, and could get you in trouble, but if you do it yourself, you will do it carefully...
I, myself, use cloaking with SEC (http://www.searchenginecloaker.com), and I recommend you all to try it instead of hiring those guys who brag about being SEO experts.
SEO techniques are simple only you have to be patient and wait for results, and workd a lot continously otherwise your hard work will be fruitless.
Clokaing with SEC allows you to get high rankings fast, I use their static pages feature which allows me to hide my SEO code so that my competition does not use it in their own sites plus you can also use their templates feature which allow you to creat 100 dynamic pages in no time...this script is really easy to use, so try it instead of wasting your money with those who call themselves experts.
Romino
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