Fantomas Shadowmaker

If you read the post (and my previous post) you would understand.

The software is more than useful - it is formidable - and having read what I had written before I felt it important to set the record straight.

Hope that makes sense.

lostincyberspace said:

Time for an update on Shadowmaker

2 years on and I found this old thread and saw what I had previously written. I decided to let everyone know what progress has been made in that time.

I'm still no techie... but much better than I was!

I have persisted with Shadowmaker thru difficult times and it has absolutely paid off. It is hugely expensive - but actually as someone who coughed up the dough, I'm very glad it is. It means that the net is not spammed to death by shadowmaker sites and so we continue to fly under the radar.

Things have definitely changed. Shadowmaker was taken over by a new company in 2009 (bseolized). It has not stopped developing since. I think it is changing as fast (or faster) than the big G and that's the way I like it ;o)

It still works with the Fantomas botbase for which an annual licence is needed and this provides security for the software. Other than that it is like a whole new beast.

I believe that bots cannot possibly tell shadow sites from white hat any more because of the sophistication of the upgrades over the last year. Recent changes include:

1. use of templates - users create their own so sites are more unique
2. variables - just about aspect offers variables (and usually a range of variables which is beneficial in creating sites in volume)
3. random content snippets - adds updated content (updating as freqently as you require) so site continues to appear fresh and active
4. rss creation - sites generate an rss feed, can be used however you like (for example for indexing purposes)
5. content broken down into paragraphs - again, paragraph sizes are all randomized
6. rss in shadow site - you can add rss content either from an authority domain or you can add rss content from one of your other shadow sites

Sites can still be weeded out by hand as scraped content appears in the serps (you can add a site description but this does not appear consistently in the results) but at the rate we can generate sites,this really isn't an issue.

And regardless, many of my sites built back in June 2010 are still live and kicking! For a shadow site, I think that's an excellent result. It will be interesting to see just how long a site might now be able to survive - writing this now, I am tempted to create a single site on a unique template just to see...!

As for running costs, I use a dedicated server to cope with some of the load, but no longer worry about multiple c class IPs. That said, a useful new feature of shadowmaker is that you can add in backlinks (you upload a text file of links which are added to pages according to your specification) making it a potentially powerful tool for link generation and in that instance perhaps the multiple c classes would be better.

On a final note, Amin at bseolized is very hands on with support. If there's a problem I find that he is willing to help resolve it. No, I'm not on commission and no, I am not a part of the company (check out my comments a couple of years back and you will see the honesty level!).

At a time when duplicate content sites are being de-indexed (I just lost a big money-maker built using WPRobot), this software is just awesome.

I'm going to check I'm subscribed to this thread so if anyone wants to ask questions (easy on the techie stuff!) then I'll be happy to answer.

Slightly less Lostincyberspace

Click to expand...

Thanks for your honest opinion.

Do you think wp shapeshifter could be a solution
for poor marketers like me ?
And could you maybe have
a look at traffictrapper ? (rss ?)

Many thanks again,

A.

Hi Alonso,

The fact is, when I bought shadowmaker, I couldn't afford it either - I had to borrow the money to buy it. I really believe that sometimes (not always) you get what you pay for.

I haven't tried either of these tools (haven't needed anything else!) though I've taken a look though at your request. The trouble is, sales pages rarely give you the absolute low-down on what you're getting and maybe you would have to try them to find out. With recent updates to Google, unique content appears to be absolutely critical - I had a lucrative wprobot site totally de-indexed.

Anyway. I can't put it strongly enough. If you're interested in cloaking software, shadowmaker's price reflects the quality -and the service is first rate also.

lost

Hi Lost

I understand your point but there are exemptions.
For instance wp robot and wp mage, the cheaper is
better. Maybe we have here a similar situation,
the problem is that I don't know enough and just
have the feeling that shapeshifter can do the job,
and maybe a better one. As per above comments
it is way faster than shadow.

Anyway, thanks for your patience,
meanwhile I'll start walking before running and will
adopt the cheaper option.

Alonso.

Well, I'd lay money on there being nothing better out there, because I don't think anything else would come close to the sophistication of this software. But sure, it always makes sense to try - it may be that shapeshifter will do what you need. Watch out for issues like content uniqueness though - multiple pages the same are unlikely to do much for you.

Oh and btw, shadow isn't slow any more. It might take a few hours to run (depending on what server you have of course), but it will happily churn out not just thousands of pages but hundreds of thousands in that time. And all different. Different templates. Different file extensions. Different keyword densities.

Keep me posted? Would be good to hear if it's effective

lost

Is there any other good cloacking program not so expensive like Fantomas Shadowmaker?

I don't think so.. will be interesting to hear how alonso gets on Like a lot of people, I did use secloaker before I went over to shadowmaker, but I don't know how it's faring against Google these days.

lostincyberspace said:

Well, I'd lay money on there being nothing better out there, because I don't think anything else would come close to the sophistication of this software. But sure, it always makes sense to try - it may be that shapeshifter will do what you need. Watch out for issues like content uniqueness though - multiple pages the same are unlikely to do much for you.

Oh and btw, shadow isn't slow any more. It might take a few hours to run (depending on what server you have of course), but it will happily churn out not just thousands of pages but hundreds of thousands in that time. And all different. Different templates. Different file extensions. Different keyword densities.

Keep me posted? Would be good to hear if it's effective

lost

Click to expand...

Lost,

Didn't buy it yet. I am trying to figure how to integrate it
with other tools and maybe using it without the cloacking
option as default.
This is the site shown in his presentation:
greenmeadowgifts.com | prostate treatments
What do you think about it ?

I'll let you know how it works and how is their IP updating list
effective.

(In the end I'm sure will also buy Shadowmaker as a heavy duty tool.)

Alonso

Hi all, this is my first post here after lurking around for almost a year. I have gathered a ton of useful information here and thank all who contribute.

I too have been contemplating Shadowmaker for awhile. As for what Lost says, Amin from Bseolized is very hands on and helpful. I haven't bought the product yet and he has been quick to correspond with me and offer me advice and knowledge. Something that can't be said about most proprietors.

My question is (especially for you Lost) are you finding it most profitable to use disposable domains that you redirect to that are monetized strictly by Adsense and Affiliate links or has anybody been using Shadowmaker to boost there legitimate (whitehat) sites or both ? I am really looking for something real world rather than hypothetical. Forgive me if my question seems ignorant, I am just getting ready to dive into this headfirst and I want to make sure I pick the deepest pool.

Also, for others that would like to learn more do a search for ralph tegtmeier (he created shadowmaker). There is a good interview with him on webmaster radio and some other limited information on the net. In the radio interview he eludes to effective uses and gives some hypothetical examples.

Also for anyone that installs it on there domain, hide or remove the help files. I have found a few domains using the product by searching out Shadowmaker help files. If I can find them with my limited skill, the Big G most certainly is looking for them too.

Hi and welcome Wyzgy

Wow... quite a lot to answer!

OK. First, I tend to buy dot infos for a single year and expect that in that time they will be found and de-indexed. That said, sites built in June are STILL there, so I may have to rethink that strategy.

As far as rethinking strategy is concerned, this is a constant. What works one month may be less effective a few months later. It is advisable to constantly test and check alternative approaches. (I'm not sure comments from Ralph will still be valid because the product is now so very different from those days.)

My sites redirect straight to affiliate sites - why waste a click when you can send the visitor directly to the money site. I have not tried redirecting to a site with adsense because I am concerned that there is the danger of losing your adsense account. I'm not certain that G would take an unhealthy interest in where the traffic comes from. I was already banned from adwords for no good reason and G doesn't seem to need much of an excuse to be heavyhanded. I still need my adsense account for other things...

I do think that a valid use for shadow sites is as backlinks for white hat and recent updates to shadowmaker makes it much more do-able.

The potential of the tool is probably only limited now by our own time and imagination.

Don't worry about the shadowmaker helpfiles. These are only on the domain where the shadowmaker program is installed and they are not copied across to the sites it creates.

Hope that helps...

Lost

Holy mackerel your fast ! Thank you for your lightening quick advice. I agree, cut straight to the chase, why waste the link, redirect right to the money page. This should have been more obvious to me ... I'm sure I will hem and haw a little more, but I am certain I will be buying this solution. In this case, I believe you do get what you pay for ...

I'm posting again here in response to a PM. I felt that the comments may be useful to others...

I'm still actively involved with cloaking - more so now than ever. It's only fair that I should tell you that I am now directly involved with shadowMaker because I do training for them, helping people with creating their first site.

However... I only ever ended up in this position because I believe absolutely 100% in the product.

I consider shadowMaker to be far and away the very best cloaking product on the market - but it does come with a hefty price tag. Actually, with the improvements made over the last year, I would still say it's a bargain!

With regard to its continued effectiveness (or not) - the search engines continually upgrade their algorithms, so it is reasonable to assume that most techniques will have a limited shelf life. But the new owner of shadowMaker is committed to a process of continual development. I could not tell you how many features have been added this year alone - but, aside from the fact that the scraped content is not human readable, we have reached the point where shadow sites are indistinguishable from the real thing to robots.

Where you can still expect problems is if a template is identified as a shadowMaker footprint (but you can now create a new template for each project if you choose), or if perhaps you have left a consistent footprint in your template preparation. Other things to consider would be footprints in your titles and pages if you are using the same keyword list over and over. (But even here, the risk has been minimised by allowing for highly varied title tags.)

Other than that, it's down to common sense usage and perhaps a degree of luck in avoiding human report. Still, shadowMaker can create sites faster than any human could find and review them

ShadowMaker sites WILL bring traffic and they can last a long time. I had site that were 18months old when my server died and the owner I think has sites older still.

Remaining problems with using shadowMaker are essentially in finding offers that convert (you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink!) and finding workable black hat linking solutions. Most white hat linking options are closed to this type of site. Nevertheless there are solutions in the form of 10 Links a Day (expensive - but great for white hat sites too), or perhaps Link Wheel Bandit (I have had good reports about this one), or SSES linking (dynamic so perhaps less effective).

Sorry that the report is so overwhelmingly positive! But seriously, as fast as any kind of problem is identified, then you can expect Amin to fix it.

Best of luck to all in finding the best solution for you...

Wow, it's been years since i've heard of Shadowmaker being relevant! Glad to see it's still being developed out, and yes, if you've got the resources it'll churn out sites and cloak faster than you can think of it.

the name of the theme is so funny

cody41 said:

Wow, it's been years since i've heard of Shadowmaker being relevant! Glad to see it's still being developed out, and yes, if you've got the resources it'll churn out sites and cloak faster than you can think of it.

Click to expand...

Cody - if you valued the product in the past, do take another look - you just wouldn't believe it! And if you purchased previously you can get ALL the upgrades without charge. (I am pretty sure of this, but don't hold me to it as I'm not the owner!!)

It would be good to see another report here from a long time user who could vouch for all the changes.

Hi lost
I would like to give SM a try, can you tell me what amount of money I need to sum up. Cost of SM how many domains hosting accounts etc and when can I expect first income. Though if you can describe what is a shadow domain LOL ...

Current price is $2970 - this puts most people off. But to be honest, that's one of the good things - it's not overused.

Then yes, decent hosting is needed. Domains aren't too bad as dot infos work fine at the moment.

Hi lost,
do you still use it? Do you still think it's the best buy in IP cloaking?
Does IP cloaking still work for you?
Thanks

vah1de said:

Hi lost,
do you still use it? Do you still think it's the best buy in IP cloaking?
Does IP cloaking still work for you?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Most of what I do is still based on shadowMaker. I can't be certain that it's the best buy in IP cloaking - it's probably the most expensive If price is an issue, you can always start on one of the cheaper options and move to shadowMaker when you want to scale up - the benefits of shadowMaker are that it has a great many variables when building sites and can also handle serious volume, chucking sites out by the thousand. The possible variety when building, combined with the ability to use handbuilt templates means that footprints are minimised giving shadowMaker sites a potentially long shelf life. Not sure how old my oldest sites are, but let's say they have been renewed at least once.

Does IP cloaking still work for me? Well, let's be clear about what it does. All you get from shadowMaker is pages and pages of apparently unique, quality content. (At least from a bot's perspective.) The more Google shifts to content and away from links, the more valuable this will be. BUT the problem with backlinking remains. It is much harder to get links to a cloaked site than to a white hat site - and with links from xrumer and gsa ranker being heavily discounted now, many people are struggling to find a solution.

So, bottom line - I wouldn't want to be without shadowMaker right now, but like almost everyone else I am troubled by the lack of volume backlinking.

Hope that helps?

Lost

lostincyberspace said:

Hi and welcome Wyzgy

I do think that a valid use for shadow sites is as backlinks for white hat and recent updates to shadowmaker makes it much more do-able.
Lost

Click to expand...

Thanks for your response!
You wrote the above quoted years ago. What do you think about it now?
Thanks!