| LED Digest 2300: Update on SEO Lawsuit |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. December 4, 2006 Issue no. 2300 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Update: Sued over SEO ==-- ~ Anonymous "Everyone's out to get something..." --== The Email Crisis ==-- ~ Nancy Cardinali "How does one make this switch [to RSS]?" ~ Joe Halbrook "I no longer have a problem with unwanted email or related issues." ~ Francine Maxistie "...what anti-spam service do you recommend?" ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Yahoo Blocking Email ==-- ~ Tom Aman ~ Robert Bass ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: [name withheld] Subject: Update - my adventure [Sued over SEO] Wanted to give you the latest on my soon-to-be history lawsuit saga. As you may remember I was being sued for SEO services I did for a client almost 4 years ago. They got angry at me (and aggressive) because I earned higher rankings for more recent clients in the same geocentric niche. [see issue 2286 for the original post: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1342/55/ -ed] First of all thanks. What a response - I based a lot of my decision on the input from the LED. Talk about a kick-ass list. It's nice having access to people of such high caliber and experience here. And it sure didn't hurt that Threadwatch, Techdirt and some other sites with a lotta reach picked up the story. ;-) Tell you what - I would have *loved* to break this thing all the way and come out with guns blazing. But it just didn't make any business sense. I think it was Greg Marquess who gave me this golden advice: > Sue/counter-sue, depositions, mediation, all will only > cost you six figures or much more in the end. It will effect > every aspect of your life so get ready... Evaluate the stress > and financial cost and make a decision based not on > emotion but rather on whether it is worth it. - Greg Marquess, LED Digest 2291 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1365/55/ In the end it wasn't worth it to take this thing on. I paid off this guy. I don't have the time in my life between work and family to help set a precedent for the SEO industry, even though that would help me in the future too. Plus the publicity would have been dynamite -- but my business relies on certain level of discretion. So I paid this guy off and it cost me, but it was 3 months income versus possibly much more -- and stress and head aches. This was the best decision for in the circumstances - now it's done. It was easy. I'll never have to deal with this person or his company and I can sleep at night. Everyone's out to get something - let me tell you this from some hard recent experience. Once you have a bit of success you are a target for unethical types who look for advantage. I guess I'm late in learning this one. For the future I'm working with my lawyer to set up new contracts and an entirely new system for presenting my service package. Rebranding too. So this thing still costs me in the end much more than the 5-figure settlement. And this is the best I can get out of it. Thanks to the LED - I wish I could buy you all a beer! Thanks too to Bruce Clay - not only do I appreciate the offer but I really dig your style. I've heard you speak several times and know you're on your game - the right way too. My hats off to you all -- Anonymous for now -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Nancy Cardinali Subject: Email Hi All, Joe Halbrook mentioned he "switched to RSS on my contact forms, ... because of the threat of spammers using my contact forms to send spam email to thousands of people!" How does one make this switch? I too have that problem, specifically on this site: www.flyinpenguin.com/contact.html . (This site needs an update - images take too long to load... etc. ) The form uses this: action="/cgi-sys/cgiemail/template.txt" . I realize the actual email address, found on the txt page, can be easily found by anyone who chooses to look for it, but I thooght it was rather 'safe' from the spammer robots. Can anyone provide a url to explain not only how to make the form do the RSS thing, but also how I will receive the messages? Through my mail program or a browser or other RSS feed thing? Obviously I'm quite ignorant on this subject, and I know this subject has been addressed. As much as I have wanted to educate myself about this, I simply have not had the time, and figured it'd get even simpler if I waited a spell! Guess it's time to get on the RSS boat! Help! Thanks, Nancy Cardinali -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Joe Halbrook Subject: Email > You can't win no matter what you do. And who has > the time? As for email marketing, it may not be dead > yet, but it's day has surely passed. Blogging and > RSS will rise to the fore. - Steve Pronger, LED Digest 2298 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1384/55/ Steve, your frustration is well understood and shared by most on-line marketers. But, please don't throw in the towel, just yet. There are some measures you can take, if you want to spend just a little more time. I can think of four right up front: 1. Switch to a whitelist-based filtering system. This kind of system looks only for the good (based on your preferences), amongst the sea of bad (unwanted) email. Everything else gets filtered. Over time, you get only the mail you want, and the rest dissipates to file 13. 2. Augment email with the use of RSS feeds for delivering your content. As you noted, the market is maturing for apps that will allow you to do this. RSS is a targeted technology to replace email for marketers in the near future. You watch. 3. Make sure your domain mail server is not an open relay. You may not be able to stop email header forging, but don't let them actually use your server to send their refuse. If you don't insure that your domain mail server is secure, you'll wind up on all the blacklists and you'll never be successful in sending outbound email. Check with your hosting company on how to make sure your mail server is secure. 4. Follow the suggestions in the LED related to handling unconfirmed subscriptions. Again, implementing RSS will help in this regard, as there's no need for double opt-in using RSS. And [spammers] can't circumvent RSS subscriptions. I've been right there with you, in the past, but by making small adjustments from time to time, I no longer have a problem with unwanted email or related issues. It's taken some time and effort, in small quantities. But, the ROI is phenomenal. Best of success, Steve. Joe Halbrook http://www.cleanmymailbox.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Francine Maxistie Subject: What anti-spam service? > Spammers love to use dictionary attacks. If you currently use > a catch-all mailbox, I would suggest the following strategy... - Joe Halbrook, LED 2298 This is great advice - but for non-technical users - what anti-spam service do you recommend? Basically what I desire is the ability to sign up for a service that can take care of these things for me. Yes, I'm willing to pay for it. Joe - yours looks interesting - and I'd love to hear about some others. Francine Maxistie ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Tom Aman Subject: Mailings blocked by Yahoo > Yahoo! blocked about 50 of those emails. - Tom Anson, LED Digest 2299 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1386/55/ Just wondering Tom, how are your emails addressed? To you send one with all the names listed under a "To", "CC", or "BCC" or are they sent as an individual email to each recipient? If the former, then it is likely that Yahoo has some limit on the number of addresses they will allow in one email so your solution may be to just reduce the number of these that appear in each email. Most of the time the LED arrives with no problem but occasionally one goes missing - the latest one that I did not receive was 2299. I do not use any type of automatic SPAM filtering so I know the missing email has not been filtered out. Also, I keep my mailbox on the host cleaned out so it should not be rejected because of a full mailbox. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem? Tom Aman Aman Software http://www.cyberspyder.com --------- new post - same topic --------- From: Robert Bass Subject: Mailings blocked I ran into the same problem with Yahoo and just about every other major ISP when the spam filters first came along. I sent letters to the This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it and asked to be white listed so this nonsense would stop. It took some time, but they did respond, and Yahoo particularly sent me a long questionaire about my mailing habits etc which I dutifully filled out and returned to them. After a few weeks I noticed, via my seed addresses, that the mail was going through, so the problem was solved. Same thing with AOL but MSN never answered me nor did several other smaller ones. Earthlink neither, in fact I put right into my sign-up form that I will not accept Earthlink addresses (total waste of time, every one got caught up in their spam filter when we tested) and suggest they open a Hotmail or Yahoo account to get my mail. Before you proceed you better set up an SPF at http://www.openspf.org/ because they will require that before they white list you. Robert Bass www.jewelex.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it." - Thomas Sowell |
