A little story of how they came to be and how they will fail.

Bidding Directories = auction style pay for placement so called directories.

You've either seen them, own one or more yourself, or are probably on the fence considering whether you should submit your site(s) or start one yourself and cash in on the craze.

Am I right? If you’re in the link farming business, you bet your ass I'm right! Who wouldn't want to cash in on the biggest cash cows or should I say biggest fraudulent extortionist marketing schemes to hit the search/directory industry.

Contributing factors and the timeline to the growth of these paid for placement link farms:

- Very little if no script cost to get into the "business"

- Link Farm leaders whom have such an idolistic following on DP and around the web have created yet another false promise to their followers. So what do I mean by this? Let me explain for those of you that are so simple minded and brain washed by the "chosen few" whom you call authority or industry leaders....Pay close attention as this will definitely be hard for most of you to comprehend let alone agree with and realize you've been played for a sucker. I'll refrain from using site names/links/screen names and use pseudonyms in place.

Super-Mega-Link Farm site owner "John" just happens to have a little more cash in his pocket than the average wannabe Link Farmer. John gets into the Link Farming biz a year to year and a half ago.....long before the Link Farming biz really took hold and before the Link Farm Messiah (Google) started catching on that the Link Farmers had learned to take advantage of the "chosen" search engine and BS page ranking tool mechanisms. So "John" spends plenty of cash buying links here and there and eventually grows his Super-Mega-Link Farm to a so called "authority" site. All the wannabe Link Farmers see this and are amazed at this fairy tale rags to riches story of "John" and think..."gosh..."John" must really be an expert and know what he's doing." "John" also paid me for a link on my Link Farm...so "John" is a cool guy and I trust him.

So "John" continues to "buy" links on all the wannabe Link Farms and continues to grow his own backlinks. The wannabe Link Farmers see "John's" site doing so well and gaining PR because Messiah Google hasn't figured out..just yet...that "John" is manipulating the hell out of their tool. The wannabe Link Farmers figure they should not only repay the favor to "John" by buying/paying an over inflated price on John's Super-Mega-Link Farm plus they want the coveted and perceived Link Juice from this Super-Mega-Link Farm. Checking his PayPal each day, "John" laughs his ass off knowing that he has ripped the sucker wannabe Link Farmers!

"John" will periodically post a blurb on a forum about something that is nothing more than common sense to a half witted person...but to the wannabe Link Farmers, you would think that God Almighty has spoken. All the ewwws/ahhh's/and other ass licking that goes on is just pathetic afterwards. So as "John" plows the Link Farm fields spreading joy and wealth, he is also devising yet another way to rip the wannabe's off some more.

Alas, he comes up with the Bidding Concept. He colludes with a few of the other inner clan "authority" Super-Mega-Link Farmers and they hash out the concept, create the bidding directories and secretly inflate the bids. But oh no....no one would ever even speculate that "John"...Super-Mega-Link farmer would ever do such a thing....no, not our "authority" leader and master of all Link Farmers and Messiah Google’s "authority" Link Farm. How naive the wannabe's can be!

So the plan goes from concept to reality and what do we have......Super Mega-Link-Bidding Farm. Grand entry price for front page placement...OVER $1000. What a crock of shit! The wannabe's see this and think...my goodness...$1000. Holy cow...how will I ever be able to afford that. But wait...."john" starts promoting this Super-Mega-Link-Bidding Farm on all the wannabe's Link Farms. They see other Link Farmers starting to repay "John" by listing their own Link Farms on "Johns" Super-Mega-Link-Bidding Farm. So the whole concept that was outline above on the normal Link Farms comes full circle but only now with Link Farm Bidding sites.

All the wannabe Link Farmers start creating their own Link-Bid farms as they see how much $$ "John" making by ripping off other Link Farmers..once again! The wannabes also see that Messiah Google has still yet to catch on that the Super-Mega-Link-Bidding Farm is manipulating the PR machine. So Super-Mega-Link-Bidding Farm achieves Super-Mega PR just as did Super-Mega-Link Farm.

So now you know the past the present and soon you will know the very sad future of both the Super-Mega-Link-Bidding Farm and Super-Mega-Link Farm along with all the manipulators whom model their own Link Farms after "John". Egos, pocket books, and PR are all soon to be deflated.

The saddest part of this whole life cycle of "john", the wannabes and everyone in between caught in this manipulative falsehood is that there may be high transaction rates amongst all these sites, yet sit back and take a look...the transactions are amongst themselves. Very few transactions come from outside the Link Farm circle.

Food for though if you were able to keep up and comprehend this little tale. Just remember....next time you see "john" posting his golden words...instead of heeding his demands or further worshipping his bullshit, flip him the middle finger and walk the other way.

Do yourself a favor - If your thinking of spending $$ or even $$$ on "John's" Super-Mega-Link Bidding Farm...DON'T. Instead, spend the money more wisely and donate to a worthwhile charity of your choice.

Good day, good night and happy Link Farming!
tom

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why didnt you just use real names. I know who John was and so does everyone.

I also dont think anyone manipulates the bids. As for the fact that john is buying links to manipulate PR, thats his own business. I think these $1000+ bids are people bidding to get a nice share of his traffic, not his PR. I expect google nulls the PR juice given from his homepage.

Hi mikey..."john" could be one of a handful of people. As the cliche' goes.."if the shoe fits, then wear it".

You are correct...if "john" is buying links to manipulate PR that is "his" business and he will suffer the consequence. I'm not telling anyone how to run their business or otherwise. I will however call a spade when I see it.

The point to be made is that those individuals whom have opt'd to place bids or listings on "John's" site(s) will also pay indirectly when the site(s) eventually crumble by way of de-index/loss of PR etc.....and they will.

I don't doubt for a minute that some folks do place bids for the sheer traffic and not always after PR. However...the two go hand in hand in most cases due to the manipulation of Googles mechanisms. This will change too...as already being seen.

I have no sympathy/empathy or regret for those that continue down this track. This track will ultimately end in a very bad derailment.

Just because the "John's" say it won't.....doesn't mean you/me or anyone else for that matter should listen to them and abide by their every breath or command. Remember, the "John's" will always be positive and never mention reality to anyone...as the "John's" themselves have the most to lose!

tom

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i think john buys links to boost his SE rankings. Thats why the high PR links only come from webmaster sites.

It's called 'if the cap fits wear it', but shoe's good as well. Awesome read, me I would have named them and shamed the shits because the people who ooh and aah are so stupid that they still wont' get it until you do.

Great stuff.

-MGS-

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Thanks MGS. Nah, no need to call names or point fingers. I think most will figure out who is who and I'm definitely not referring to just one single person as "John"...there are a few that fit the identity and they know whom they are.

I wouldn't necessarily call the "followers" stupid...at least not all of them...but rather naive/ignorant. And before someone flames me for accusing someone of being ignorant...the term "ignorant" is not meant as a put down but rather a adjective to describe. As an example..I can say that I am "ignorant" in the field of biochemistry. That doesn't mean I'm stupid or a dumbass...it simply means I don't know or I am un-educated in the particular subject.

Either way makes no difference to me what people do with their own site and money. I just hate seeing people being taken advantage of and not realize what is happening to them. Ultimately, there are going to be a lot of folks lose a lot of money if this trend of ignorance continues.

As much as I hate to say this...people that are dropping $$$$ on "John's" sites would be better off paying Google for sponsored Adword campaignes. If what people are saying is true (which I HIGHLY doubt)...they are after "traffic" and not PR. I still say that's bullshit. It's all about PR. Otherwise, if they wanted traffic, a good ad campaigne on either Yahoo or Google could result in much more targeted traffic for the same or less cost than giving boat loads of money to the "John's".

tom

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Directory Owners Forum - Don't waste your time, money or effort on a worthless directory or directory script!

This post needs to be commended, you've stood up and said what most of us think. I'm not afraid to name names and my blog to come out soon is going to do that.

People act like lemmings on Digital Point, (they can't do nothing to me I'm already banned for doing nothing). It's these people on DP (or rather a select group) that quite frankly rip people off without a hint of a conscience. You dare stand up to them and you get banned, or jumped on by a bunch of kiddies who fanatically support the offenders.

It all goes on in a shroud of mystery via p.m's and they actively plan on how best next to squeeze that last cent out of the unsuspecting victims.

You don't have to name people to see who are behind it. Hint: Go look at the bidding directories and check out who are invariably at the top of each list. Do people seriously believe site A can afford to pay XXX amount of dollars to be on top of every list? No, the hard fact is they probably don't pay anything but make it out that they do just to encourage the unsuspecting or uneducated to part with their money.

If I'm wrong then I challenge these 'highest bidders' to prove it.

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@Kev
Why does anyone have to prove anything, maybe site A has financial backing or is making a lot of money from their ventures that they can afford to invest and advertise heavily.

Also where do you get the "hard fact" from? If you have it then spill it, if not why make a baseless statement, portray it as fact, without backing it up?

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Isn't it a bit contradictory when you say 'Why does anyone have to prove anything' but then you ask Kev to, only using the words 'backing it up'? Also if its a baseless statement so is this entire thread wouldn't you agree as it just echoes what Tom's said.

We all know linkbidding is a load of BS, but if you think otherwise your entitled to your opinion, as is everyone else. Problem as I see it is people like us would never be able to prove it because its all such a closed book with these people, I'd put a couple of dollars on something not being quite right no matter what you say in defence.

Hasn't he said he's going to name people in his blog? Maybe wait and see.

-MGS-

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C'mon Billy, how hard would it be for two people, working together to prove something was paid for when it wasn't?

I could pay you $300 for a link. We both take screen captures of our PayPal or even use the automated emails. Then you either buy something of mine or refund the money. No money really changed hands, yet we both still have "proof" it did.

Sheesh, I can't believe how gullible so many are when it comes to how this all works.

There are several Johns in this industry. I have to admire the clever scam (not quite the right word, but close enough) they have created. The more they promote the industry the more sales they get for themselves. Sure they are buying featured links on many new directories, but then the owners of those same directories are told to succeed they need to buy much more expensive links on the Johns' sites.

Hey, who wouldn't pay $1-15 dollars for a link where the newbie site owner is virtually guaranteed to come to my site and buy a $40, 50, or more link. What a great return on investment!

The biggest problem I see with all of this is that the Johns have forced Google to do something to combat this and unfortunately many innocents are going to get whacked. The one's who have jumped on the bandwagon and played the game according to the Johns are going to find themselves with a lot of time and money invested in a site that no longer has value. And then there's those of us who have created directories that are real resources who are unfortunately going to get tainted by the fallout that is so long overdue.

While I can admire the method and it's obvious profitability; I have been continually amazed at how many people are continuing to fall for it.

With the apparent delisting, temporary or otherwise, of many of the sites owned by the Johns; it's going to be an interesting time to see what impact it will have on everyone else.

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