Freelance Content Writer. WTH scam is this?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I got the exact same sort of responses from Seogearinc.com. “WhoIs” information that gives an address in Spain with a guy named Jose as proprietor.

Then when asked via Skype chat about their location, its the Sawyer address in Chicago with a 773 area code. Then when you go to seogearinc.com, the ‘about’ link doesn’t work and clicking on the “eTrust” link takes you to their ‘contact’ page.

Did everything you guys did. My last conversation went something like this, complete with their spelling errors.

Me: Hv read your info, but can’t find any satisfied people who work for you.

Hrseogearinc4: Because you can’t, they don’t know each orther.
Hrseogearinc4: for what perpose?
Hrseogearinc4: They just write - it is a good second job
Hrseogearinc4: If You think, that is “Scammers”, It is your oppininon

Me: Well u shld hv a page with posts from happy employees so u don’t look like scam artists. People don’t hv to know each other to write good things about a company.

Me: And so far two bloggers hv listed seogearinc.com as a scam.

Hrseogearinc4: We have been working from 2009
Hrseogearinc4: And from this date - we don’t have problems with salary

Me: Thanks but, no thanks

Hrseogearinc4: About bloggers - please believe them?
Hrseogearinc4: if You want
Hrseogearinc4: It is your choice
Hrseogearinc4: Bye
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If they are a credible business just starting out they need to work on their CREDIBILITY…there are too many unverifiable variables.

I also said that I’d have a problem signing a contract for a month of work without any pay. When asked about their pay schedule, I didn’t get any response. That’s when the fish really started to stink.

I’d rather be safe than sorry.

22

I really wish I had found this thread a few days ago…I was so excited to be able to earn some extra money by writing articles. I did their so called “test” and they accepted it and gave me my first assignment. The original email stated that I would only have to write 3 articles a day, but then they gave me 12 key phrases to write about as my first assignment and wanted them done in two days…all having to do with the lottery. I wrote the first 6 articles and got an email from them saying that the articles were great, and that they are waiting on the other 6. I quickly finished the other 6 and sent them in along with questions as to when I would receive my next assignments so I could better plan. As I said…I was originally told 3 articles a day at 500-700 words. I’m not saying that 6 is unrealistic, but if they have to be relevant and quality articles, then it does take a little bit of time (research and such). I also asked about payment. I was told that I would be getting the $2500 a month. They said that they would give me $625 a week. I started getting a little sketched out when I didn’t get any assignments coming in. This worried me. And the lack of response to my emails worried me as well. I have now sent them 4 emails in the last two days, asking about my next assignment. All have gone unanswered. And now I have stumbled upon this forum. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and generally trust people. This is absolutely devastating to me if this is a scam …believe me when I say that I will apply every internet marketing skill I have acquired to let everyone know about it. I just wanted to join this forum to add my two cent with my experience.

23

It’s your lack of paragraphs. And the ellipses.

24

So now that I am on the forum…I was wondering, are there any offers that compare to the one from SEOGear that are legitimate?

25

Well, as I said I have something similar. And there are jobs that pop up at http://jobs.problogger.net/ from time to time. But it’s really more than a hobby job.

Also, there’s a freelance marketplace at mediabistro.com. Good luck!

26

Thanks a lot…I will definitely check them out. I am looking for more than a hobby so maybe these will work for me.

27

Well, it could happen. But remember, there’s a lot of competition out there. And, in this market, speed and accuracy are the top things. The want people they don’t have to babysit.

28

Any legitimate business will provide you with a cash advance. Try for six months for starters.

29

I did very well with content/SEO writing for years, but as Jonathan Chance says - there are a lot of scams out there, and the legitimate gigs are few and far between with some stiff competition. Also, I think it is not as easy to find lucrative gigs as it once was. It does help if you understand AP style, and also if you have a blog or some other platform.

There are many, many excellent newsletters, websites, message boards and other online resources for finding well-paying gigs, but you have to winnow through an awful lot of crap. You just need to put in the legwork to find what works for you (I’m not sharing my resources: see “competitive.”) :slight_smile:

As to the OP - yeah, it seems like they were doing a great job of stringing people along; I would have been sucked in too. Thanks to you, ltylgrl and ctuttle for the heads up!

30

Yea…I tend to be too trusting and think the best of people. I’d like to think of it as a good thing and not a flaw…but oh well. I was honestly crushed when I found this out. I do have a few blogs and I plan on using all my skills as an internet marketer to get the word out about this scam and warn others. Not to get back at them or bad mouth them in any way…I just don’t want other people to fall for the same thing.

I find it hard to believe that anything they could possibly gain out of 13 free articles about the lottery could possibly be worth crushing a part of someone’s dreams (not to be dramatic…I was just really excited about this)…but I hope they are happy with the free content I provided them.

Off to blog and send warnings to my list!

31

Just FIY, and not knowing anything about this particular company and what or where they publish.

But I got some backdoor information one time on what successful content articles were making for a client of mine who was paying $15-25 per 400-word article to the writer and it was mindboggling - in the hundreds, sometimes thousands, per month. Month after month, for years.

Another perspective point: I was paid $15/per article, 13 (coincidence) articles, for an outfit in the late-ish 1990s, plus I got to keep the rights, PLUS I got monthly ad revenue which was not insubstantial. After almost six years, they offered me a pay-off amount for those 13 articles so they could get all the rights and revenue. The amount was enough to pay cash for a late-model vehicle, and I took it. :slight_smile: But they were making BIG money on those cheesy little things.

Moral of the story: there is BIG money in content writing, especially if you do it right and keep all the profits for yourself. Which isn’t easy - I haven’t done it - but nobody in the content writing biz is looking out for your interests; and you can take that to the bank!

If you are smarter than me you’d figure out how to make serious money with your own blog or website.

32

I wrote this post real quick to share my story and hopefully help prevent this from happening to anyone else…

Take a second and share it…

http://craigtuttle.com/seogearinc-scam