TCOBaG – kNow ThiNkIng AllOwEd

I, like many others out there who have a number of domains (er, especially un/under-developed ones get a fair number of enqueries about them. Most of the enqueries are just junk, some are actual spam, but this one appears to be a scam for an appraisal service.

email’s like this:

Don’t know for sure what the scam is, but appears to be trying to drive folks to the first appraisal site link (fleos.com –sound too much like ‘fleece’ to anyone besides me?) which was registered in July of this year, and offers lower prices than Sedo (um, who doesn’t?

A couple of notes on checking authenticity:

1. Real buyers that represent companies don’t use gmail (well, except to forward/manage email) as their primary contact information.

2. Real buyers don’t ask for your payment options and promise to send the money before you have worked out the transfer process.

Good luck selling any domains or sites you have, but do your homework and deal with reputable buyers/sellers.

Okay, so I had a few questions/comments come in about using the ‘report as spam’ button.

Look, I know it’s easy, and sometimes you get that little ‘ooo, that’ll teach them’ feeling, or you really just are lazy and/or think ‘this is crap, I asked for it, but this stinks’ feeling, but you really need to use a little caution here.

Here’s a reply I made about this:

No problem marking real spam as spam, and if you did not ever subscribe, do not hit the unsubscribe button as that will only confirm to the spammers an active email address and most likely not remove you from the list. But if you subscribed, find the unsubscribe link and use it. If that doesn’t remove you with 48 hours, report it.

However, you really need to be careful in two ways:
1. If you’re forwarding other email addy’s to Yahoo! or gmail and report it as spam, the service provider is marking ‘your’ email as the sender. Just delete those.
2. If you’re not sure, don’t recall, then just delete.

gmail also uses user actions to ‘learn’ what’s spam. It’s not really new technology.

Bottom line is simple.

If you subscribed, do the ethical thing and unsuscribe. Give the system a chance to work for you.

If you did not subscribe, and you’re really sure about that (look at the bottom of the email message where most good, ethical email marketers often include such information for things like possibly your IP address, a date, time, from when you subscribed), then report it.

Also, regularly check your spam and trash folders for legitimate emails and ‘de-mark’ them. This will help train most of the better email service providers algorithms to act appropriately in the future for you, and sometimes for others as well.

Not that this is a new problem (major email service providers blocking access), but when it hits a publication as old, as reliable, and as stringent about promoting and proliferating proper email use, the little guys should take note.

I’ve certainly had my own issues with this, and even using gmail, and having Google filter it’s own Alerts, which I of course set up, confirmed, and send and receive through their very own system, end up where?

That’s right, in the trash or spam folder.
Randy Cassingham, of ThisIsTrue, just published this blog post
http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-yahoo_alert_trues_biggest_crisis_ever.html
about having 20,000+ subscribers through Yahoo! being blocked from them from receiving the email they asked for.

<sigh> Sad.

And also a wake up call, again, that we all need to be pushing subscribers to be educated about managing their subscriptions, and using (or preferably ‘not using’) free email service providers for subscribers.

If you read the post on his blog, you’ll see that the problem appears to stem from the lazy unsubscribers who just hit the “This is spam” button rather than using the unsub link provided in every issue.

What’s the recourse here? Complaining to the choir (other marketers, and those still getting their subscriptions) isn’t really going to do much.

Getting the word out through other newsletters and especially social media sites that your subscribers frequent though can help.

For now, you may be thinking, “Well, it’s not me, or my list isn’t that big yet, or there’s only a few Yahoo! subscribers” but even if they make up a small percentage, that’s still email not being delivered, email that puts you at risk of getting blocked by one of the major free email service providers and adding your name, website, url, and your business to a major black list.

Be responsible.

If you took the time to optin and subscribe, confirm that subscription, then have the decency to use the proper method for unsubscribing if that’s what you want to do. Or, be lazy, and fraudulent, and report every email you receive that you’re tired of getting as spam, and then see how long it take before all of your subscriptions disappear because you and others like you (oh yes, there are certainly enough idiots out there doing this, not just you) have taken the lazy, malicious way out… all the way out.
To me, that’s frightening.

To Yahoo!, wake up. Honestly, which do you think is worth more to you, the sludge of the earth subscribers who report legitimate email as spam, or quality content providers who give people a reason to use your service in the first place?

Doesn’t really take a genius or a calculator to do that math, now does it?
Be well, live well, die last.
Allen

TCOBaG: Time is Money, but Value is . . . ?

Time is not money. Money, I can make again But I do see the logic of this. What bothers me is this tendency to place a greater value on something because it takes up, needed, or requires more time to do.

Sometimes this might be the case, fine wine, diamonds, and large works of art, as well as scientific discoveries, research and development, and even things like great relationships. More time = better value.

One part that is not in the equation though is our desire to latch onto, hold on to sometimes at even detrimental costs, things simply because of the time that has been invested.

So, what am I getting at?

It is a dangerous trap to fall into, believing that value is directly proportionate to time spent.

Often we are just as bound to trying to hang on to something because we’ve invested so much time into it as we are to think that something we have is not worth much because the time it took to create it was so short.

Recently I had a discussion with a colleague who had just written his first book. I expressed concern over the value of including a certain portion and that others would likely not find it useful as well. He replied that it was interesting I’d mentioned that, especially since it was specifically brought up as a possible problem by the publishing house he is working with to release the book.

Then, he says, “But I’ve spent so much time working on that particular section, I really hate to give it up.”

Besides this being a common fault among writers, from amateurs to professionals, it is also a common mistake made by many in various walks of life and a wide range of situations.

He attached greater value to the ‘time spent’ than the overall value of the book he was trying to create.

He has chosen to ignore my suggestions, and now the suggestions of the publisher, and is likely to find his whole project looking for a new home, hopefully not just on his hard drive. All of this is because of his misplaced ideal of “time spent equals value.”

The same is true in reverse. Sometimes we think things created in a short time are not of as great an importance, or value, as those created over longer periods.

I’m reminded of the story of the man who went to the dentist for a tooth extraction after suffering in great pain for weeks. He arrived at the dentist’s office, was ushered into the chair
shortly afterwards, spent about 15 minutes with the dentist, the tooth was removed, and he was on his way.

When he received the bill, some $200, he called the dentist to complain. “I was only in your office less than 30 minutes! $200?”

To which the dentist replied, “Next time, I could take longer?”

The key is?

Value is in the result.

For all those who still think internet marketing is rocket science, it isn’t.

Back in the middle of October in 2004 I decided to do these 3 things. (I’ve always ‘done’ them, but not as consciously or on as regular a basis.) I had big plans that were stalling, sites that had leveled off, and was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I’m sure lots of people can relate to that, eh?

I’m also not sure exactly what or who made these things come to me. I read a lot, so I’m sure it’s not an original idea, just one that finally hit home with me and I implemented.

(Note: These are things outside of the add content, test headlines, etc types of things, that well, frankly, you just have to be doing on a regular basis.)

Here they are:

1. Do something every day that will make you more money or grow your traffic and business.
Just a few examples:
- add incoming links
- add a few more words to your PPC
- buy an ezine ad
- do a thank you exchange
- raise your daily limits for a campaign that’s successful
- add a new source of revenue to a content site
- from whatever the last resource you purchased, read/listen and implement one strategy

2. Do something every day that will save you time or money.
A few of my own examples:
- automate something
- add a new FAQ and answer to your site
- turn off your email software during your ‘working hours’ or at least for a while
- same for IC software
- set aside a limited time for your general email reading/answering
- unsubscribe from a newsletter that you’re no longer reading or finding helpful
- cancel recurring payments on a program you’ve been promoting unsuccessfully, or that you keep saying “I’m going to have to cancel that . . ”
- get software to do the stuff you’re spending too much time doing, ie link exchanges, AR, formatting etc
- make some ‘template’ emails for answers to your most generally asked questions
- make a notepad or text document containing linking information for your sites so you can quickly cut and paste from that when exchanging or requesting link exchanges with someone not using a script or not using the same script as you
- before you buy something, look at the folder full of ebooks you already have and see if you might not already have something similar, or maybe even the same one that came as a bonus with something else you bought
- pause or delete a PPC campaign that isn’t working

Okay, this could be a book by itself, but maybe you get the picture.

3. Help some one, any one, when there’s nothing in it for you but good karma. (This doesn’t have to be internet related.)
- give a thoughtful reply to a post asking for suggestions or help (leave out your affiliate links, cloaked and uncloaked/redirected whatever)
- answer (kindly) one of the many emails you get asking for information that’s clearly posted on your site, or that anyone with half a brain should know the answer to. Thank them for asking. (Limit one for sanity’s sake)
- help your neighbor fix his garage door
- email a webmaster with a piece of patched script or html code that you found broken on their site
- or a dead link

The key here is to do at least one from each of the three, trying to do them all will just put you right back where you were, overwhelmed, stalled, or worse hiding behind the excuse that you’re busy, you’re working all the time, but your business just isn’t growing.

I start the day with 1 and 2 and ask myself “What can I do today that will/should/could make me more money, increase my traffic, or help my business?” — and — “What can I do today that will save me time or money?”

I like to do these first since it makes the rest of my day Gravy.

Do Number 3 whenever the opportunity arises. It makes you feel good, trust me, and how you feel is directly related to how successful you are, especially in the eyes of the most important person you are dealing with, “you.”

I still have days, sometimes, where I don’t hit all three. But more often than not, I get them all, and the results have been great.

I also end my day by asking which things on the list I did for that day. A great re-enforcement and encouragement for continuing to follow through.

If my examples don’t fit your situation, you shouldn’t have to think too hard to come up with something that does fit.

Be well, live well, die last.

Allen Williams

The author is a professional educator, speaker and writer. You can see some of what he is up to by visiting :
http://www.linksnoop.com Article and Link Directory
or
http://www.PowerMeUp.com Personal and Professional Growth