Some months ago, I joined Shetoldme.com, one of the many sites where you can publish your content in exchange for back links and share in a possible ad revenue generated by your content / article. I think I mentioned them even briefly in this context on this blog (have [...]]]> Shetoldme – How not to do it!

Some months ago, I joined Shetoldme.com, one of the many sites where you can publish your content in exchange for back links and share in a possible ad revenue generated by your content / article. I think I mentioned them even briefly in this context on this blog (have to check that one up). Truth is, I never used them much, I published only one article with them and for reasons I don’t remember (working of the site? / indexing speed?) never bothered again with them — until today.

I just started a new site, a home and garden niche article directory, and noticed that some of the articles published still hadn’t been indexed by Google a few days later.

So I decided to give them a little “push” with a short, supporting article. Just to show the Google Bot where to find the quality content And, hey!, I remembered my Shetoldme account. Exactly what would fit the bill, a short article on a well indexed site, to show the way to content gold to the search engine bots.

So, I sat down and wrote up a little post, called a “scoop” for SheToldMe. No double content, originally written, all in keeping with their content guidelines (I check them afresh, as it was quite some time ago that I had visited the site the last time). I hit submit and what do I get back? An “unvalid url” error for my link to my site. Ehm!? Without link, such a supporting article is quite useless, don’t you agree? After re-checking several times, I was sure that the mistake was not to be found in my part of the submission process. So I send a support ticket, and here is where the story really starts! Immediately I got the copy of my support ticket send to my email, as requested. Great, now I can be sure the ticket has arrived. And hey! Minutes later I receive an answer! Great customer care you think? Not really! Here the text of the answer to my support ticket:

“Thank you for your message, this is an automated email to let you know that the message has been sent correctly and I will read it soon.”

Wonderful, great, but then I read on:

“Do you have your own website/blog? SheToldMe.com is hosted by xyz-webhost, this is the best web hosting company I’ve found after many years of webmastering, have a look at (referral link) and if you’re interested in a free trial or to get a full account, use the coupon code “shetoldme” in order to have $50 off your order. If you need more info on why this web hosting company is the best I’ve found, contact me with your questions.

Cheers,
name of SheToldMe-Owner”

What the heck??? I submitted a support ticket, I didn’t subscribe to an email marketing list and I was surely not expecting getting a sales pitch in exchange for a support ticket I submitted because of the malfunctioning of his site. So I wrote back:

“Good grief, instead of a response to my problem, I get a sales pitch! Don’t think I will use your site ever again, bye, SY”

And, I guess before he could read my reply, I also received this answer to my ticket:

“Hello, thank you for your message regarding the URL checking system not working correctly. I’ll reboot the server now, and you can try again, maybe it will work. If not tomorrow it should be resolved. Sorry for the inconvenience, I understand it can be frustrating, but don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with your account.
Cheers, SheToldMe-Owner”

Bolding by me… So, what, a site that wants my content, needs their servers be re-booted “by hand” as soon as something goes wrong? Maybe it will work? Wow, what level of professionalism! Perhaps tomorrow? Or when? Don’t worry? Every time somebody tells me that, I DO worry! Cheers to you…

Don’t get me wrong, bad things do happen to good sites and things can be turned around in a heart beat to make a good impression despite a minor technical mishap. But sending a referral-sales pitch in response to a technical support ticket? And instead of simply acknowledging that: Yes, the problem is on our site, we work on it and will tell you when it is back to normal, I get a “maybe, try again, perhaps tomorrow”-style email? Not what I call good public relation skills! But then I also got another reply shortly after:

“Hello, well I also sent a reply to your email, saying that I’m working on it, the site might work tomorrow. You can’t possibly blame me for an automated message confirming your email has been received, along with a sales pitch, can you? Cheers, SheToldMe – Owner”

I can’t? Really? Who I beg to know, set up the automated sales pitch, some unknown alien that lives in your server – or your good self? Oh, and very glad to know, that your site might work tomorrow …

But it didn’t stop here, I received another email:

“But I’ll help you to avoid wasting time with my site by deleting your user account, which you hardly used anyway, it’s simpler that way. Sincerely sorry for the inconvenience this url checking problem caused you.
Cheers, SheToldMe-Owner”

To which I simply replied:

“You are welcome to do so! SY”

So, why do I bother to blog about this? Apart of the cathartic effect obviously? Because it is a great example how a complaint could have turned into something positive, but instead the situation got completely misused by greed to make the quick referral buck.

Compare what would have happened with this, theoretical, scenario:

• Site user sends support ticket to report a bug / malfunction.

• Site owner sends automated message that the support ticket has been received and will be answered shortly by a human.

• Site owner sends apology for malfunction, says “Thank You” for reporting the bug and tells site user exactly when the problem will be solved and the site can be used as usual.

• Site user appreciates the customer care, waits until the problem is solved and uses site again.

• Site User writes a raving blog post about how good the support at XYZ.com is and helps to spread the word about this great site.

See the difference? What could have happened if the situation would have been handled wisely and what happened instead?

Oh, in case you don’t know how SheToldMe works, the idea is similar to Hubpages or Infobarrel (both highly recommended by me for their great level of customer care). You submit original content and get in return a dofollow backlink and a share in the advertisement revenue your article creates.

Disclaimer: This blog post just expresses my personal experience and opinion about how customer care is handled by SheToldMe.com, nothing else. Oh, and I have already web hosting which I am extremely happy with

Inetglobal Update and this blogs future

I thought it is time to update this blog a bit with the newest developments in the Inetglobal case. Or should I say cases? As for those who are new to this blog and don’t know what I am speaking about, you can read up on my opinion about Inetglobal [...]]]>

Inetglobal Update and this blogs future

I thought it is time to update this blog a bit with the newest developments in the Inetglobal case. Or should I say cases? As for those who are new to this blog and don’t know what I am speaking about, you can read up on my opinion about Inetglobal and then continue the story with how Inetglobal is trying to sue me.

So, todays blog post has two facets; one about the developments in my own “battle” with Inetglobal and one about how the investigation of Inetglobal develops in the USA.

As for my own case, I have finished writing my answer to their “Summons and Complaint” and got it signed, stamped, affidavit, notarized, served etc last week. Obviously it would be unwise to divulge here in public what I wrote and how I argued my case. But I think it is safe to say a big

THANK YOU!

to everybody that helped me online and offline with this task. I received a lot of moral and practical support from a lot of people. Some of them I knew beforehand, some of them I have just become friends with. Again, thank you to all of you you know who you are.

What happens next?

Inetglobal and its attorney have now to make the decision, if they want to file their papers with the court. If they don’t, this case stops here. If they do, I will have to file my answer and a judge will be assigned to the case and take it from there. So, lets see what happens – patience is a virtue!

As for the investigation against Inetglobal

This has had its first hearing before Judge Donovan W Frank. You can read the full story here: Steve Renner Court Hearing , to summarize it:

• Steve Renner (the owner of Inetglobal) remains free for the moment, but is required to wear a GPS tracking device.

• He is still awaiting sentencing for tax evasion for which he was convicted 8^th December 2009 by a Minneapolis court. (source: Steven Renner found guilty of tax evasion)

• Inetglobal funds remain frozen, but it might be considered to free some of them in order to enable payment of employees wages and health insurance. No decision has been made about this so far.

What will happen now?

As I understand it, Steven Renner is facing sentencing (up to a maximum of 5 years in prison) because of tax evasion. I couldn’t find clear information, or a reliable source, that states if he is appealing against that conviction or not. If he is appealing, there will be most likely more court hearings. If he is merely awaiting sentencing, then that will happen whenever the court in question “gets around” to his case.

As for the investigation currently under way by the FBI et al regarding if Inetglobal is a Ponzi / Pyramid scheme or not, this will take time. Time because all the material confiscated in the raid at Inetglobal 23^rd February 2010 needs to be evaluated and people need to be interviewed. My knowledge about the US-American law system is limited, but I am sure charges will be made when the investigating authorities have found enough evidence against Inetglobal.

So, also in this case, patience is needed until the next party makes the next move

As for the further direction of this blog

There seems to be a big need for basic information about “how the making money online part of the internet works”. And no, I don’t mean with that advanced SEO techniques and expensive membership sites and products. I mean free, basic information about how to make money online for free. So, I hope to concentrate my hyperactive brain long enough over the coming months to outline the very basics in this field where so many people try to rip others off. I might even write a -free!- ebook about it.

• So, what kind of information are you looking for?

• Where do you have questions?

• What parts of the “making money online” business puzzles you?

• What do you want to know?

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I will do my best to find the right information for you.

For a start, and in the tradition of “Pay it forward SEO”, here a bit of sound internet marketing information and make money online tips. Have a good look at the following two blogs:

Lissie from Passive Income writes about the importance of long tail keywords and Allyn from Blogger Illustrated has a great series going about links and link building. Start with his first blog post of the series aptly entitled “Everything you need to know about backlinks” and continue from there. If you take the time to digest the information provided by these two – and to apply it!- you are off to a good start in having success with your internet business!

See you – and don’t forget to leave a comment

Promojunkie has announced the keyword phrase and the rules for their next SEO contest, starting the 18th December 2009 and finishing the 18th March 2010. I was actually looking forward to it. I mean, it would have been great fun to actually start at the start and [...]]]> Why I am not participating in this Seo contest

Promojunkie has announced the keyword phrase and the rules for their next SEO contest, starting the 18th December 2009 and finishing the 18th March 2010. I was actually looking forward to it. I mean, it would have been great fun to actually start at the start and not 3 weeks close to the dead line But there are a few points that prevented me from submitting my entry.

Your mileage may vary, so if you want to try to catch the $1000, that they offer as first price, start here: PromoJunkie SEO Contest

In case you are still in doubt, here my some of my main and minor reasons not to participate in this seo contest:

• The keyword phrase does make sense.

Now, that sounds like an advantage at first sight. Instead of having to write about some non-sensical keywords like “jumpy dumpy flubby glibber” or similar, you get actually something you can create real content about. The key word phrase for this contest is “mma pound for pound”, I had to google it, to find out what it stands for. MMA means Mixed Martial Arts and Pound for Pound refers to the best competitors in MMA. Or something along this lines…

Which means that there are actually a lot of sites already established that target these keywords. And here lays my main, ethical, problem.

A seo contest is basically a lot of web masters and (some wannabee) seo experts trying to rank first for a keyword or a keyword phrase. But if this bunch of “trigger happy backlinkers” gets let loose on “real” search results, Google will not be happy. It is one thing to compete in a closed field of like-minded competitors, another one to knock real web sites of the first page of the Google SERPentines in the intent. It is simply not fair for the people that build the existing web sites in the first place and might or might not have an idea about SEO.

• I can’t create content around it.

Granted, you can become an expert on nearly every topic by just studying the top ten sites that turn up on Google’s first page, but that makes you only a “ass-u-me-d expert”. To really compete, you need to know and be passionate about, the topic on hand. Or, in the case of non-nonsensical keywords, be creative and have a sense of humor to write about the “life and love of the dingerry tumbly”.

I do love watching Jackie Chan movies occasionally, but that doesn’t qualify me with any stretch of imagination to write about martial arts. So, next pass on this one.

• I don’t like the site they require participants to link to.

Like I stated before, I do like watching well made martial arts movies, but I simply don’t understand and get the site they require participants to link to. Most likely my own shortcoming, but as a rule of thumb I only link to sites I do like and want to share with others.

Minor problems

• The rules are not clear cut

In the rules it is set out that the domain can’t be an exact copy of the keyword phrase “mma pound for pound”, ruling out domains like mmapoundforpound.com from participating. Unfortunately the rules don’t state that the domain can’t contain any of the keywords, making domains like mmapound4pound.com able to participate. That is a potential can of worms and creates a very insecure feeling amongst the participants (see their forum threads to see what I mean). It would have been better, to state from the beginning, that participants are not allowed to use domains that contain ANY of the keywords. Just my two cents

• The result page doesn’t show correct results

This is most likely dues to a faulty script, but at the moment the page that shows the top results includes web sites that are clearly not new (one of the requirements of the contest).

Like I said in the opening paragraph, I happily pass on this seo contest. Now, if anybody wanted to start one with a non-sensical keyword phrase like “blue dotted humbliedumblie birdiethingie” or similar, I am game Just drop me a comment!

Todays find of the blogosphere, which builds up on yesterdays in Internet and Manners, is James Chartrand is a woman. A startling account of a 21st century blogger and freelance writer that discovered that she would get the better gigs when she pretends to be a man. Frightening, in our days, or not?

Ok, and to bring some variety into the comments, tell me, have you done all your Christmas shopping? Or you can obviously also leave a comment that is relevant to my blog post Take care ans see you around, SY