Starting rumors - good idea?

[AdsEnse]

Just curious if starting a rumor is a good way to bring your website in alot of traffic?

for example ... something about a tv series being cancelled ect. or a celeb that died?

[Gordon]

If you think only in the short term it might work, but it will most likely not bring you a good reputation ?!

[jmpweb]

Depends on the topic of your site, if it is a site with investment tipps I would forget this idea

[deathofrats]

I think it would work for a short period of time, but it would ruin your credibility in the long run. Unless your site is specifically for gossip, I would advise against it.

[Archbob]

I would not do this. In the short term it might bring you small bursts of traffic but in the long term, it can only hurt you. Your reputation is more important than small amounts of traffic every once in a while.

[darkAngel]

Not really. Curiosity could only last a moment. However, if your site has good content, the visitors might stay.

[Simismy]

I think it could work to bring visitors to your site, but you would need something to hook them with once they are there. Otherwise, it's just like those phony site that show up in search engines; once the user realizes that they're not what they claim to be they just go back.

[DMK]

It's a 50-50 chance. Depends a lot on the topic and how the users see it. If it's a light funny rumor then people may welcome it otherwise if they get turned off then I doubt whether they will ever return to your site.