Shady Tactics, Round 2

Ian Landsman • November 15, 2016

After my post yesterday about shady tactics in Bootstrapper circles people have been sending me other stuff they've seen that irks them.

In the other post I didn't call out specific people because I've seen these same tactics so many times that who it was that I saw most recently isn't even relevant.

This time though, I want to share one that's just so horrible I can't feel bad about sharing it. This is the kind of thing we must fight against. It's simply not acceptable and as I mentioned in the other article it may even be illegal.

Below is a video of what happens on the Quicksprout site when you provide them a URL to your website. In theory, it should analyze your site and tell you what's wrong with it. This isn't a new idea and while it's always a lead gen tool, other tools ACTUALLY DO ANALYZE YOUR SITE. See Website Grader by Hubspot for an example.

You know where this is going, but see for yourself. Oh, and stay until the end for some fake urgency as well.

These tactics hurt those of us trying to run real small businesses. They hurt the reputation hard earned by those of us grinding away on our businesses for the last decade. All of these people are smart enough to play the game straight and still win. They're better than this.