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Leah Chamberlin, I’ll give you $100 if you are a real person

If you’re hiring a company to write blog posts for you and have them published as guest posts on blogs, you’re probably getting ripped off. (There are legit content marketing services out there, but many are scams.)

Check out the email below. It’s the standard formula that the fake-blog-post industry uses. Fake name, no company, and no blog or LinkedIn page — which is always a credibility-buster for a supposedly professional blogger. A 702 area code from scam-filled Las Vegas is another clue. Bloggers like me get emails like this almost every day.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Company hires a service to get them attention and traffic from blogs.
  2. The agency promises the client that they have deep connections in the blog world that will rapidly elevate the brand’s social media presence.
  3. Agency spams hundreds of bloggers. Sometimes they offer to pay the bloggers.
  4. A few low-quality bloggers might accept a guest post — but never any blog you’d want to advertise on. (What kind of blog is so desperate for content that they sell posts? A blog that no one is reading.)
  5. Company gets no results (except for losing their money).

The pitch:

From: Leah Chamberlin <[generic Gmail address]>
To: Andy Sernovitz

Hey there,

I recently came across INSERT BLOG NAME and I think it’s pretty awesome! I would love to contribute to your blog and was wondering if you accepted guest posts?  However, before starting I would like to discuss some topics with you that you may be interested in having me cover. What are your thoughts?

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Thanks for your time and consideration!

Leah Chamberlin
Personal site coming soon!
702-721-9413

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