Dr. James Martin International, Fibber, Plagiarist
Everyone looks at their competition online - dentists, doctors, marketing consultants and website builders - we all want to see what the other guy is doing. Sadly, Dr. James Martin, a chiropractor (or his agents), decided to steal copyrighted content from The Visible Dentist website and use it as his own.
Backstory
Last week my blog got a spam post that led to an amateurish website. The site, dentalinternetmarketingsecrets.com, has video and details that purport to improve Google Places profiles for dentists. The site also guaranteed a 1st page spot in Google’s Local Maps for dentists — even for those spots representing cities with huge populations, for an ongoing monthly fee.
Promoted as Dr. James Martin International of Lincoln CA, his business targets Search Engine Marketing for the medical professions. His Google profile expounds on Martin’s prowess saying, “His revolutionary marketing and innovative thinking puts systems and tools in place to drive doctors to success.”
I often call my online competitors and fellow Web developers and introduce myself; sometimes I make a friend. However, this time I discovered a charlatan and scam artist — hours later he became a plagiarist too.
I phoned his number and reached the guy making the claims, Dr. James Martin in Brentwood, CA. His main website is drjamesmartininternational.com. He also has a Youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/DrJamesMartin.
Scam Artist, or Just A Dummy?
During our brief conversation I asked Dr. Martin how he could guarantee dentists first page prominence in Google Places when no one else could, or does make such claims. He giggled, then proudly proclaimed that a Google programming engineer he knew was diverting proprietary information about Google’s algorithm to him — which gave him an edge to help his clients.
Yes you heard correctly…
Dr. Martin actually boasted of how a programmer at Google is sacrificing his or her future for the privilege of helping an unknown entity advance their career as an online marketer. Whether or not Dr. Martin is fibbing, I don’t know for sure; though I seriously doubt a Google engineer is going to jeopardize his livelihood by passing insider trade secrets to another guy outside Google’s inner circle of influence — as simply a gesture of friendship.
Dr. Martin’s preposterous statement ended our phone conversation and I went back to work; a couple days later I found evidence that Martin was copying content from TheVisibleDentist.com and using it for blog comment fodder.
Unscrupulous Behavior
Rather than create original textual content of his own, Dr. Martin or his representatives, without my permission copies snippets of text from my website and then uses the material to spam blogs and forums hoping to elevate his positions in the search engines to promote his “services.”
Screenshots / proof: (plagiarised content highlighted in yellow)
700+ Spam Posts & Counting
The above 3 blog posts are only a few that I’ve identified so far — I’m still finding hundreds of their spam posts all over the Web. Needless to say, Dr. Martin has been busy; though his methods certainly do not symbolize ethical business standards for “revolutionary marketing and innovative thinking.”
Conclusion
I go to great lengths to create original content for my clients and myself; and I do not take kindly to someone plagiarizing my hard work for their own personal gain. James Martin, DC has destroyed his reputation as an online marketer with his blatant disregard for another person’s property. How could a patient, a dentist or another medical practice ever trust him?
I’m in the process now of sending Cease and Desist letters, DMCA Notices and considering whether to bring a copyright infringement suit against Dr. Martin for his egregious violation of ethics and law.
For The Visible Dentist, I’m John Barremore
June 13th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Update:
Just got a few emails from James Martin…
1st - he denied all knowledge of any content theft or blog posts
2nd - said he might be the victim of a competitor attack
3rd - now says he has an idea of who might be responsible
4th - retracts last and decides none of his blog commenters did it
5th - says sorry - he didn’t intend me or my site harm
I find it difficult to believe a competitor is going to take time to post hundreds of blog posts and links to another fellow’s website for keywords the other fellow is targeting, especially when the site which holds the #1 position is mine and the content in their spam posts was taken from my website!
There are no coincidences, especially not of this magnitude - not to mention that James Martin now concedes he has a blog comment team cruising the Web pasting his junk on every possible website that hasn’t banned him yet.
I pity the poor dentist who makes the mistake of hiring these bozos.
jb
June 14th, 2010 at 6:30 am
Businesses of every size can benefit from utilizing local listings. Having completed, accurate, and consistent data on listings like Google Maps and Yahoo Local can help increase awareness for your business and bring in more sales. Thank You
June 14th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
U r a moron. He probably can guarantee it. I can. All day long. Sorry. You just haven’t read the correct books. So he may be a liar. But some of us guarantee lucky local 7 placement all day long and deliver and have never had a chargeback. Keep your nasty views to yourself. Some of us were at the Geneva convention. Were you? That’s what I thought.
June 14th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
@Michael
Sir, Dr. Martin’s inherent right to guarantee listing positions in Google Places was never an issue. He’s certainly free to do and say as he wants. However, there are consequences for one’s actions — that’s why we have laws and social order.
Unless we return to a primitive dog-eat-dog society, we must consider how our actions affect other people around us. This blog post only reflects my experience; my views are not the last word on anything.
As for prisoners of war, or the treatment of war victims re: Geneva Convention, I haven’t a clue what you’re even talking about. What do humanitarian standards and international law have in common with Google Places, or my blog?
FYI, you couldn’t have possibly been in attendance at any of the four Geneva Conventions. They do not represent a time and place where people came together; they constitute landmark, international agreements.
In the future, consider choosing a more suitable metaphor (or fiction) to convey your meaning; the Geneva thing is not working well for you.
jb
August 8th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
I am a client of Dr. Martin who happened to be looking up his contact via google and found this blog posting ridiculous. Dr. Martin and his seo team had me at the #2 google places position in 6 days.
So, Yes…I agree with Michael above and his statement that you are a moron.
Just because you can’t achieve those results doesn’t mean others can’t.
Maybe you should spend your time learning how to do your seo or what you claim is seo. Makes you sound questionable charging dentists for seo when you can’t even perform a simple google places seo task.
August 8th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Dr. C eh? Would that be Dr. Keith Currie aka DrKeithCurrie?
Did it ever occur to you that when you post on someone’s blog, it leaves distinguishable traces behind that could be used to identify your location and the other sites you’re posting on?
Author : dr c (IP: 64.38.198.53 , equipmentadvice.com)
E-mail : keithcurrie@gmail.com
URL :
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=64.38.198.53
Since you also use the same name and email address of the person associated with Dr. Martin who spams blogs using MY CONTENT FROM MY WEBSITE, I can only wonder if you decided to post here by your own volition, or if James Martin instructed you to do so.
Dr. Keith Currie
See an example of this spammer’s craft
You may even be Dr. James Martin himself, or his “partner in crime.” Checking another one of your spam posts elsewhere, shows the website linked is registered to none other than James Martin.
A few minutes searching reveals all sorts of spam and scams with the common denominator always pointing to Dr. James Martin, the renegade chiropractor turned jack of all trades marketing guru. Apparently Dr. Martin and his friends have confused online marketing with spamming blogs.
Yet another Dr. Keith Currie spam blog post:
hey now I’m an SEO too
linked to:
sacramentoseoservices.com
registered to: who else, James Martin
sacramentoseoservices.com - WHOIS
Is there a central nest where you spammers work/live?
Either way, you sir/madam are a liar AND a thief and you have only confirmed the unprincipled nature of Dr. James Martin’s associates, namely you. Not to mention you’re a really dumb crook!
BTW, the anonymous surfing proxy software you’re using isn’t hiding you; I think it requires an IQ. Move on scammer and get an honest profession.
jb
August 16th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Heeee-larious! JB: I’m sure you are too involved to see the humor in this series of comments, but it really did make for some entertaining reading! I especially appreciated how you referenced his site in your post but were careful not to gift him with a precious link.
Dr. James Martin of Dr. James Martin International (who strikes me as an uber-creative individual based on the company name alone) sounds like an interesting fellow! He can effectively SEO my website while aligning my spine and correcting my acne? Dr. Martin, are you superhuman?
I’m still chuckling at this whole debacle!
Keep rockin JB!
August 16th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
@Robyn
There are so many shenanigans online these days, if a person had the time and inclination to do so, they could create a whole new career around reporting on them — just in dentistry alone there are all sorts of marketing wannabes who for lack of skills often end up going over to the ‘dark side.’
Thanks for stopping by.
John