Health care referral web sites & their link scams
Marketing issues/
02.04.24
Updated July 2009. At the foot of this article I have added the URLs of those who have added links to my web site without asking. Also, those sites that are clearly marketing companies dredging up any old links and adding them to their customers web sites. I recommend avoiding those who have a 'Health Directory' including numerous links. You can bet most of those businesses have not been assessed for quality or honesty. They are just targeted at making money from link clicks. These marketing companies only care about making money, and NOT providing a valuable health referral service.
Avoid dealing with sites that refer you to diet pills. Avoid sites that direct you to Penis enlargement sites. Avoid those sites selling or linking to herbal products making outrageous medicinal claims. All these terms and more indicate a link marketing companies involvement.
Particularly beware of the paid links that Google put on some web sites. These are paid for per hit by the web site concerned. Some UK aromatherapy suppliers are making illegal claims on these sites as well as giving dangerous and incorrect advice on the use of the oils. Such sites that ignore the laws of their country, and on the properties of their goods, suggest a business out to make money at any cost - including posing a danger to their customers health. This paid-for link system is deliberately set up by unscrupulous businesses as a quick way to get themselves to the top of search engines. In turn that leads many to assume they are established businesses. I know several aromatherapy suppliers who have used that scam.
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For those that may be new to the Internet and even to some old hands.
There has been an enormous growth in web sites that provide links to health products, health advice and similar kinds of web sites. Many of these link sites seem to be offering the public a useful service. However, beware most of them are a scam aimed at listing as many links as they can in order to make money from advertisers. I get an average of 3 requests a week from link sites wanting me to link to them, and in return them to me. When I have checked them I have been horrified by some of the web sites they direct you to. They rarely check the site they are referring people to, and some of these are among the biggest scam artists on the Internet.
These links sites may add a link in their pages just by obtaining the URL of an appropriate sounding web site using search bots. They then tell you they have "added your URL" and request a link back to them. This can all be done automatically and on the cheap; some of these sites are almost certainly run out of teenagers bedrooms! They make their money from advertisers based on the number of hits they get and on the number of referring links they provide. Quiet a stack of money can be made this way without moving from someone's office or bedroom.
Some consumer advice organisations and medical web sites are using this method to raise their profile. Most are not attempting any kind of checking of the sites they refer you to. I have queried the ability of some of these organisations to police their referrals. The only answer most can give is "we send a questionnaire to the respective site owners and rely on their honesty" - what a joke!
Please bear in mind anyone can register themselves as a www.something.org (myself included). This suffix does not provide automatic credibility to who is operating the web site. Therefore, please be very careful in what you believe on any health care sites that seem to have lots of links on them. The chances are high that it is a site run simply to make money and is not a reputable source of information, also there may be no organisation involved at all as the title may suggest.
On my own website I once had a link to what seemed a good Complementary Medicine links site. A year or so after they commenced I had to remove them. They were adding links to Young Living distributors, and when I questioned their wisdom of doing this, there was no answer.
The reason you need to beware is because so many people are assuming that web sites they come across using these link sites are above board and honest. This is critically important when dealing with matters of peoples health. Yet many of these sites just want to sell you quack medicines and mind condition people with their convincing sales hype. The number of sites selling herbs and essential oils now is staggering; often the owners have no training of any kind and will just regurgitate incorrect information gleaned from other sites and popular books. Some even dispense health advice without having any experience or training in anything to do with complementary medicine. So do be careful when visiting such sites with what you believe, and be even more careful when buying health care products from them.
Beware also of those sites that seem to be genuine, but which have a column of links to various advertisers. Those site links are probably dumping a load of spyware into your temporary Internet folders and into the cookies file. You would be well advised to use a cleaning program after you leave any web sites, to clear their cookies and other security infringing files. I use 'BleachBit' and 'CCleaner' to clear the privacy intruding trash dumped on you.
After taking a look at some of the many unrequested links to my old site many were links administered by marketing companies who do not care or bother to check what they link their customers to. The whole objective is to fool bots into thinking a particular site gets lots of hits and makes more money that way.
Source and copyright: http://www.aromamedical.org
Avoid dealing with sites that refer you to diet pills. Avoid sites that direct you to Penis enlargement sites. Avoid those sites selling or linking to herbal products making outrageous medicinal claims. All these terms and more indicate a link marketing companies involvement.
Particularly beware of the paid links that Google put on some web sites. These are paid for per hit by the web site concerned. Some UK aromatherapy suppliers are making illegal claims on these sites as well as giving dangerous and incorrect advice on the use of the oils. Such sites that ignore the laws of their country, and on the properties of their goods, suggest a business out to make money at any cost - including posing a danger to their customers health. This paid-for link system is deliberately set up by unscrupulous businesses as a quick way to get themselves to the top of search engines. In turn that leads many to assume they are established businesses. I know several aromatherapy suppliers who have used that scam.
--------------------------
For those that may be new to the Internet and even to some old hands.
There has been an enormous growth in web sites that provide links to health products, health advice and similar kinds of web sites. Many of these link sites seem to be offering the public a useful service. However, beware most of them are a scam aimed at listing as many links as they can in order to make money from advertisers. I get an average of 3 requests a week from link sites wanting me to link to them, and in return them to me. When I have checked them I have been horrified by some of the web sites they direct you to. They rarely check the site they are referring people to, and some of these are among the biggest scam artists on the Internet.
These links sites may add a link in their pages just by obtaining the URL of an appropriate sounding web site using search bots. They then tell you they have "added your URL" and request a link back to them. This can all be done automatically and on the cheap; some of these sites are almost certainly run out of teenagers bedrooms! They make their money from advertisers based on the number of hits they get and on the number of referring links they provide. Quiet a stack of money can be made this way without moving from someone's office or bedroom.
Some consumer advice organisations and medical web sites are using this method to raise their profile. Most are not attempting any kind of checking of the sites they refer you to. I have queried the ability of some of these organisations to police their referrals. The only answer most can give is "we send a questionnaire to the respective site owners and rely on their honesty" - what a joke!
Please bear in mind anyone can register themselves as a www.something.org (myself included). This suffix does not provide automatic credibility to who is operating the web site. Therefore, please be very careful in what you believe on any health care sites that seem to have lots of links on them. The chances are high that it is a site run simply to make money and is not a reputable source of information, also there may be no organisation involved at all as the title may suggest.
On my own website I once had a link to what seemed a good Complementary Medicine links site. A year or so after they commenced I had to remove them. They were adding links to Young Living distributors, and when I questioned their wisdom of doing this, there was no answer.
The reason you need to beware is because so many people are assuming that web sites they come across using these link sites are above board and honest. This is critically important when dealing with matters of peoples health. Yet many of these sites just want to sell you quack medicines and mind condition people with their convincing sales hype. The number of sites selling herbs and essential oils now is staggering; often the owners have no training of any kind and will just regurgitate incorrect information gleaned from other sites and popular books. Some even dispense health advice without having any experience or training in anything to do with complementary medicine. So do be careful when visiting such sites with what you believe, and be even more careful when buying health care products from them.
Beware also of those sites that seem to be genuine, but which have a column of links to various advertisers. Those site links are probably dumping a load of spyware into your temporary Internet folders and into the cookies file. You would be well advised to use a cleaning program after you leave any web sites, to clear their cookies and other security infringing files. I use 'BleachBit' and 'CCleaner' to clear the privacy intruding trash dumped on you.
After taking a look at some of the many unrequested links to my old site many were links administered by marketing companies who do not care or bother to check what they link their customers to. The whole objective is to fool bots into thinking a particular site gets lots of hits and makes more money that way.
Source and copyright: http://www.aromamedical.org
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