This new application created to launch from a Google toolbar is not to be confused with a social bookmark. No, this beast actually reveals it’s head directly on your site creating a large comments column down the left side of your browser and taking up nearly a third of your virtual real estate and  stealing your web. Anyone and his brother with a Gmail account can post comments using the sidewiki, which will stay on your site unless Google or the original poster decides to edit them out. Google has been gracious enough to allow web masters to post the top comment to appear in the sidewiki, but other than that it’s a wild west land grab for anyone to make their mark.

While this sounds all fun and innocent, there are nefarious characters about the web (this former scam victim is well aware of this) who will no doubt find ways to abuse this new technology to no end. As a website owner, you have no control over which comments are left and who leaves them. In addition, other media can be left behind such as web video. Links directing YOUR VISITORS can whisk them away to another domain whose intentions for the end user may not be so kind. If you have a dispute with a neighbor let’s say,  there is no stopping them from airing out the laundry on your business for the world to see. While you could just post a whole lot of text on your own sidewiki in an effort to bury the bad stuff under the rug, this will not prevent comments from happening to show in the search engine results.

On Your Site

Sidewiki uses something resembling an iframe where the window is available on your site and on every page. Webmasters with hundreds or even thousands of pages will find it near impossible to check what is being said on and about their sites as they would need to explore every page of the site.

A newly discovered loophole could provide some relief, but if you are managing tens of sites this could become a burden of additional maintenance to put out the fires.

You may be thinking, “So what, people can leave lousy comments about you on facebook or other forums already so what is the big deal?” The big deal is that instead of these things appearing on an external site which you don’t control, these kinds of happenings will display directly on your web pages associating them more firmly with you and your business. One of the primary reasons for purchase of your own hosting and domain is so you control exactly what is seen on the page.

Let’s talk about advertising. There is speculation that the direction of the sidewiki will lead to Google adding their ads into the Pandoras box sitting on your site. If you are someone who relies on making money by running adsense on your site and G has ads appearing in the side, you could be at great risk of seeing your ad revenue drop. Already spotted are suggestions on the sidewiki for others to get the toolbar. While the toolbar is free, this is already advertising by Google that can draw your readers away from your site.

Current Bandaids

Some Grassroots efforts are currently in discussion, but the best solution to date is the addition of a sidewiki blocker to your sites. It is a bit of code that will dump comments left into a sandbox where they will not appear to other visitors coming to your site. It can not avoid comments from indexing in the SERPS or actually delete the comments, but it can keep visitors on your site more focused on what you are offering as opposed to what others may be spamming on the side.

Petition

If you would like to voice your opinions on the matter, a petition has been started at Kill Sidewiki Before it Kills You .

Yes, sounds dramatic but honestly none of us know just how far this thing can go. If there were perhaps a way for webmasters to bow out of the sidewiki participation it could be enough to rest our already weary heads.

        

URGENT – Sidewiki Can KILL Your Business

The war has started and it’s going to be an ugly one. I can see the lawsuits a mile away. I am writing this, knowing full well that it may not even get published at any article directories for fear of repercussions from Google, to warn you that your site, your business, is at SERIOUS risk. I am talking about the new Sidewiki toolbar which has already been responsible for vicious attacks on several sites.

If you’re not familiar with Sidewiki, it is essentially a simple application. The web surfer downloads the Sidewiki toolbar. After they do, any site they visit, the toolbar will appear on the left hand side of the site itself in the same window. On this toolbar, visitors to your site can post their comments. Then, anybody who goes to visit your site can see those comments posted.

On the surface, this would seem innocuous enough. But in the wrong hands, this could become a deadly tool, as I have already witnessed. There is nothing from stopping a competitor from viewing your site and leaving a comment such as, “This person is a scam artist. Do not buy anything from them.” Then, any visitor who has the toolbar installed will see that comment. This can potentially destroy a person’s business if a mass attack is coordinated.

The problem I have with this whole application is that it is essentially giving Google the right to display adds and opinions DIRECTLY on your site WITHOUT your approval. It’s one thing if somebody goes to a forum or discussion group and makes a comment about your site. It’s another one for somebody to come to YOUR site and see such comments.

This should NOT be tolerated. I am thereby asking every Internet marketer and home business owner to write to Google and tell them that you are against Sidewiki. Contact some of the major online companies, such as Amazon and explain to them what kind of damage this toolbar can do to THEIR business. With enough muscle behind us, we can put a stop to Sidewiki.

Please do not take this lightly. This is as serious as it gets. It is no different from somebody coming to your restaurant and spraying graffiti all over your walls telling people not to eat there.

In my signature, you will find a link where you can contact Google about Sidewiki.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
Don’t want to see your business destroyed? Go to http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/request.py?contact_type=feedback and tell Google what you think of Sidewiki and that you want it taken down.

I have to agree whole heartedly. Sidewiki is a pandoras box that Google has just opened.

Please visit this PETITION TO KILL SIDEWIKI as well.

This blog has installed a Sidewiki Blocker.

To learn more, please join in on the discussion at The Warrior Forum.

        

I was balancing my accounts yesterday, and noticed Google trying to bill me several thousand dollars into an account that has (or I should say had) roughly 20 bucks in it.

I saw that the charge didn’t go through at first.  Well, how can it with a whopping 20 dollars.  But it looked at first like a mistake that had taken care of it, with the exception of the returned check fee hitting my bank.

I looked a bit closer.

I went into my Google adwords account.  Immediate shock hit me when I realized my account had been compromized.  Someone had an adwords party on August 5th to the tune of over $6.00 a click.

The clean up is going to be ugly today.

I wrote 3 letters to Google as I was in complete panic mode.  I found some others on a forum who appear to be having the same issue this past week – but for about half of what I got charged.

Hackers are an increasingly big problem.  I’m not exactly sure how this happened.  I am grateful today for the roof currently over my head, and I’m trying to move on with working through this.  I am anxious to see how the big G will treat the situation, and myself included.

I changed my password, cleared cookies, and just don’t know what else to do.  What really sucks is seeing this type of thing on a Sunday.  Banks are closed and it is like looking at the train wreck happening yet there is an invisible wall between you and the train.  You are looking at it happening in disbelief, yet you can’t even go over to help the clean up get started because it is SUNDAY!!!!   Grrrrrr.

I am diving full steam into projects today.  Going to try to keep really busy between calls to the bank and my awaited emails from G.  This really ticked me off too – I wanted to call some customer service or something yesterday.  There is no number to call for Google.  Or is there?  They gotta have a phone somewhere in that big building with segways rolling around.  When it comes to my finances I need someone on the horn when this stuff starts going down.

Ugh.  7:32am and I have to wait.  I just want to get in touch with the bank.

        

I had another silly little campaign that was well under $100, non Kimkins related, so this actual figure may be a bit lower for google. But I more than made up for it with MSN, Yahoo, and even an ebay ad I had going.

Was Kimkins worth $2,676.32? I thought so at the time. That’s a lot of money to invest toward the promotion of a product. That ad spend was the only way I knew to get on the front page of the google search. Boy, have I paid for it. This whole trauma has cost me much more in the long run.

What is the new “Kimmer Experiment?” I will make it to the front page of the google search for the keyword “Kimkins” and there will be no ad spend this time. My interest in doing this is not financial motivation. My interest is purely to get the word out about how dangerous Heidi Diaz is.

When someone does a google search for “Kimkins” the Kimkins.com website comes to the top of the search engine results. I don’t think this is the most important site. I think the sites that tell the real story of Heidi Diaz, the Russian brides, the LIES and the SCAM are what people really need to see.

Comments, and links to this blog are appreciated. I need the help of other affiliate marketers. Here is one small thing you can do. Share my story in your own promotion. Help spread the warning of how one little diet scam affects so many other things on the internet.

I will be sharing my full story of my experience with the Kimkins campaign in an ebook called The Rookie’s Report. I like the term Rookie better than Newbie. I need more stories for this book, and I would love to hear from anyone who would like to get in on it. You can get a little more information on the project at therookiesreport.info .

Please ignore the submission date ( that is getting fixed.) I thought of doing this sooner, and realized this story isn’t done yet. I’m praying that things will wrap themselves up by summer.

        

With all of the controversy surrounding the Kimkins diet, the buzz will cause a lot of people to look up the product name. So, how does pay per click work?

When someone does a search on their favorite browser, they are putting in keywords that help the search engines narrow down to the most popular websites that feature or discuss that topic. When a website is new, it hasn’t had enough time to get the traffic to bump up it’s search engine ranking. In order to give the “little guys” a chance, places like Yahoo, MSN and Google offer a pay per click advertising. The little guys make an ad with a few lines that tells what their new website is all about. They can take their little ad, submit it to the search engine advertisers, and they only pay when someone is drawn to the ad and clicks on it.

If I decided to promote another diet right now, I could run an ad with just one keyword and be seen at the top of the search results. Here’s an example of an ad that would work:

Kimkins is a Scam

We’ll show you why

See safe healthy plans for less

This ad with the word scam in it is not only true, but is a great way to catch the consumers attention. If I’m looking up a product I’m not familiar with, and at the top of my search I see the word scam, I will be sure to find out all I can.

There are so many references and websites documenting the scam at this time, that finding the materials to make an informative website would be a snap! Not to mention, the amount of other safe healthy plans one could promote. Just be sure you know what you’re promoting.

The keyword Kimkins is much cheaper than the keyword diet. Unfortunately for the consumer, the name Kimkins has been associated with the word diet, so there is a good chance they will google it. But, fortunately for you as an affiliate of a healthy diet plan, you can run with the cheap word and legally take future profits from the Kimkins site. Because you actually pay to be seen, your site can be at the top of the list.

I won’t be promoting any diets this holiday season. So feel free to run with the above ad should you have a good plan to promote.