I was very excited to receive a message from my website contact form today that told me I was doing everything wrong. You can imagine how worried I've been and how nice it was to get a random email from someone I've never met before telling me that I could be doing so much better.
I was told three distinct things. The first was that I am not getting the traffic I should because I'm not found in the search engines for the terms I should be. The second is that my company is not doing well in most social media websites. And, third, my website is not user friendly on mobile devices.
If you've received a message like this from your website, pay attention here. You should understand that you are likely being scammed.
Let me clear up a few things about my website. First, I'm content with my traffic and being found in the search engines is not a direct generator of traffic. Second, my website is not a company website and I bet I'm doing better in social media that this yahoo is doing. Third, the only way you'd think my website doesn't work on mobile devices is if you haven't looked at my website on a mobile device.
Here's where the email really got interesting. After his signature line, there was a fancy postscript:
PS I: I am not spamming. I have studied your website and believe I can help with your business promotion. If you still want us to not contact you, you can ignore this email or ask to remove and I will not contact again.
I'll just say:
- Yes, you are spamming
- No, you have demonstrated that you didn't study my website
- No, you can't help me with my business promotion
Then, the post postscript:
PS II: I found your site using Google search and after having a look over your website I recommend you to implement future technologies such as HTML5 and Responsive Design to make your site more accessible in mobile phone, tablets, desktop etc.
From me:
- If you found me on a Google search, then I can't be doing all that bad
- If you think my site isn't responsive then you should look again
When you get an email indicating you need to do better, consider the source. If they were as good as they say they are then they wouldn't devolve to petty tactics to try to win your business.
Oh, if the email is riddled with spelling and grammar errors (as you can even see from just the postscripts) then you should use that as another clue that you aren't dealing with someone legitimate.
