FAQ: What is Search Engine Optimization?

Who is Rachel Evans of ExtraHit?

Have you ever received an email from Rachel Evans of ExtraHit? If you have a website and an email address you probably have (or will soon). We started receiving the emails is September 2003 and found some interesting similarities to previous spam emails we've received from TrafficMagnet and SeekCenter. Hopefully this puts the issue to rest for our clients and anyone else who stumbles across this page.

The email we've received so far look like this:

The Powered by ExtraHit(tm) box switches back and forth with screen shots of the web site they're spamming.

What do we know about Rachel Evans & Extrahit.com??

1. There is no Rachel Evans. The site is hosted by a company called PDHost which now claims to be incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
2. Extrahit appears to be the latest in a growing line of companies managed by PDHOST.com including SeekerCenter and TrafficMagnet. They have a habit of harvesting email addresses online.
3. The service claims to be free, but is it really? If time is money, they've already cost you by filling your inbox with unsolicited emails. Now they want you to give them a username and password?
4. ExtraHit is clearly spamming website owners. Here is a link to over 400 mentions of Extrahit from other websites who've been spammed by this company. That's impressive considering they only set up the domain name two months ago. You'll also find complaints about their business on Google groups under:
   news.admin.net-abuse.sightings
5. Never trust a company that doesn't place a physical address or phone number on their web site.

We hope this clarifies the value of that service.

Ed Kohler is the president and founder of Haystack In A Needle - a full service web marketing and search engine positioning firm based in Minneapolis, MN. Ed has a rule set up in his email program to filter trafficmagnet emails directly to the trash.

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