The Rise and Fall of the Narconon Internet Marketing Empire Series

[Mary_McConnell]

Narconon Reviews presents:

The Rise and Fall of the Narconon Internet Marketing Empire (Part 1)

Written by SEOlogy on November 18, 2013 

    This is the beginning of a 10-part series on Narconon’s Internet Marketing. Join “SEOlogy” as we explore the history of Narconon’s internet marketing and use of referral sites, how they’ve been affected by factors beyond Narconon’s control, and how those methods compare to those used by traditional rehab centers. Find out how sales and marketing for the Narconon program may change in the future.
(read on for more)
http://narcononreviews.net/narconon/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-narconon-internet-marketing-empire-part-1/

[mefree]

Oh......this is going to be good! 

[source]

Ironically, Narconon’s philosophy somewhat protected their reputation. In other words, if clients are recommended to avoid traditional 12-step meetings, therapists, and psychiatrists, then these peer groups and/or professionals would never hear about the oddities that occurred at a Narconon.

I can just imagine hundreds of Narconon students walking into an AA meeting or a therapy session and talking about how they had to yell at ashtrays to stay sober.

[ethercat]

I can just imagine hundreds of Narconon students walking into an AA meeting or a therapy session and talking about how they had to yell at ashtrays to stay sober.

 

The more people that find out about that, the better!

[Mary_McConnell]

I like this historical report!
This series is really interesting for me, as I have always been curious how Narconon and Per Wickstrom and his unbranded Narconon programs were managing in the past to manipulate and take advantage of Google search engine formulas when it came to their use of listing other facility names in their websites. Also, with  using of keywords to get their many many fake referral websites on the first page as well. I know that the Google algorithms have changed, although I could never get a full grasp of what they all were as they appeared, nor did I keep up with the subject. I only concentrated on finding their sites and alerting the public here to the sites so as to avoid them.

I suspect that what worked in the past with SEO tips, especially for marketeers like Narconon, are no longer is effective. I know that complaints, media and posts on the internet have done much damage to their reputation. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series so I can get educated on this important subject and see how bad things have gotten for Narconon because of changes in SEO marketing.

[ethercat]

Google has always been secretive about their algorithms currently in use, now and in the past.  People only find out what they were after the fact, once the algorithm is changed, but large numbers of people speculate about what they are.  There are forums where the "black hats" gather and try to figure out how to beat the system - I bet Per has accounts on all of them.

Matt Cutts, the head of Google's Webspam team, drops a few hints here and there about what won't work (anymore), but is very closed mouthed about what will work.  He has, however, stressed that good honest content is what works.  And we know Narconon isn't good, honest content.  Never has been, never will be.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/type/googleseo/

There's a form now for reporting webspam to Google:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rhRenrd16MDSgAOwnMVx9KQbp--0JoY9vKiJdIcMe44/viewform

[source]

The Rise and Fall of the Narconon Internet Marketing Empire (Part 2)

http://narcononreviews.net/narconon/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-narconon-internet-marketing-empire-part-2/

Narconon is a unique entity in terms of internet marketing because they focused so much energy on the internet in the early days and were very successful at it. They really beat most other rehab facilities to the punch. A primary reason for this is because the local marketing…

[Mary_McConnell]

The Rise and Fall of the Narconon Internet Marketing Empire (Part 2)

http://narcononreviews.net/narconon/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-narconon-internet-marketing-empire-part-2/

Narconon is a unique entity in terms of internet marketing because they focused so much energy on the internet in the early days and were very successful at it. They really beat most other rehab facilities to the punch. A primary reason for this is because the local marketing…

Thanks. I thought I posted it here. Got it everywhere else. This series is getting very good responses!

[Sunshine]

This is great, I have seen the large scale directory site thanks for explaining how it works.

[ethercat]

Thanks. I thought I posted it here. Got it everywhere else. This series is getting very good responses!

Yes, it is.  Lotsa views yesterday and today.   

[source]

If you missed the earlier segments of this series, see Part 1 or Part 2. In 2003, Google changed it’s search algorithm with an update code-named “Florida”. Essentially, it would no longer consider “keyword stuffing” to be an accurate determination of rank. In many cases, websites simply sank in ranking. In other cases, Google sent out letters notifying website owners […]

http://narcononreviews.net/narconon/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-narconon-internet-marketing-empire-part-3/

Looks like they're posting a new part each day.

[AnonLover]

This series is excellent! Kudos to the author, it really adds a nice layer to information being presented on the website that shows just how deep the deception runs.

[ethercat]

I agree, AnonLover!  After seeing all the sites, and discussing them on all the forums, it's really good to get some insider knowledge about what was going on in the background.  I'll relay your kudos to the author, "SEOlogy".

Part 4 is coming up tomorrow at 8am.   

[source]

http://narcononreviews.net/narconon/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-narconon-internet-marketing-empire-part-4/

If you missed the earlier segments of this series, see Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3. Running a Sales Floor in the Treatment Industry So far we’ve focused a bit on generating leads into a treatment center, especially Narconon.  But, before we continue into paid internet search advertising, it’s important to understand that simply getting phone calls isn’t enough. […]

I just cannot believe that there are 10 of these coming out.  There's a lot of information within so far that I'd like to comment on but I don't know where to start.

[mefree]

Perhaps Narconon has a good understanding of most of the closing ratio concepts, but they seem to be having a bit of trouble with the following:

Reputation:
    What is your reputation? If someone were to ask around about your program, what response would they get?

Detox and/or medical care:
    This is important to many clients, especially those withdrawing from opiates.

[source]

Those look like standards for regular rehabs.  I don't think a legitimate rehab puts "lying about their program and posting a false success rate to lure families" as a consideration for increasing closing ratio.

I guess it's like car sales.  There are the standard sales techniques and then the guys who always sell you a lemon for double the price.

Narconon is like the used car lot.

[Mary_McConnell]

Getting some good comments over here:
http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?33965-The-Rise-and-Fall-of-the-Narconon-Internet-Marketing-Empire-Series

And here on OCMB: http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=295481
and on various posts on facebook.

[ethercat]

I just cannot believe that there are 10 of these coming out.  There's a lot of information within so far that I'd like to comment on but I don't know where to start.

Feel free to start wherever you feel like, copy and paste any parts here, and make your comments - we'll try to keep up.   

Very good response from ESMB, IMO.  Once the entire series has been posted, it would be interesting to see what one of the SEO forums would have to say (while at the same time, informing them about Narconon  ).

[Mary_McConnell]

SEOlogy has made a new blog post on Narconon Reviews:

'The Rise and Fall of the Narconon Internet Marketing Empire (Part 5)'

If you missed the earlier segments of this series, see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,
or Part 4.

Anonymous Takes Notice of Scientology and Narconon
In 2008, an informal group called "Anonymous" hit the scene and began focusing their efforts on Scientology and later Narconon. Whereas Narconon used to be relatively immune to any accountability at [...]

Read more and post your thoughts at:
http://narcononreviews.net/narconon/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-narconon-internet-marketing-empire-part-5/

[Lulu Belle]

I joined this group because I wanted to tell the author that this is one of the most interesting, well researched, and informative articles I have ever read.

I not only learned a lot about how Narconon managed to expand using the internet, I also learned a lot of fascinating information about Google Search and how search has been able to be manipulated.

Really well done. Kudos to the author.

And thanks Mary McConnell, for bringing it to ESMB.