| LED Digest 2304: Kanoodle Fraud or User Mistake? |
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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 8, 2006 Issue no. 2304 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Kanoodle Experience ==-- ~ Brad Waller "...not having a unique tracking code for all activity is a big mistake. " --== Sitemaps for Search Engines or Users? ==-- ~ Jim King "[The sitemap] has turned into a platform to complain about the way Google indexes..." --== The Email Crisis ==-- ~ Peter D'Aprix "Do you have a nice code that us morons could use to take the place of mailto...?" ~ Roger Hass "...we need a global anti-spam law with unilateral action against spammers." --== Transactional Emails Being Ignored? ==-- ~ James Miller "...don't forget good old-fashioned business solutions!" ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Looking for a PPC Expert ==-- ~ Lee Price ~ Nathan Holley ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Brad Waller Subject: Click fraud > I believe the conversation speaks volumes in and of itself, > so much so that I want very much to expose this but not to > inject any additional interpretation... - Karl L. Baldwin, LED Digest 2303 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1392/55/ I can't speak for the fraud issue, but this shows that not having a unique tracking code for all activity is a big mistake. I would not expect any traffic from Kanoodle for a PPC campaign, as users should be coming from all over. I really can't tell from this exchange how likely the fraudulent activity was. But by adding tracking codes (Web analytics can use these, and we use affiliate tracking for some) to every link I can control, I can look at the clicks coming from PPC, paid placements, directories, and other sources to review their legitimacy and productivity. Brad Waller Manage and Sell your own site advertising http://adjungle.com waller, adjungle.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Jim King Subject: Sitemaps > ... if you're using Google Analytics (which is tied into AdWords), > you could be giving Google access to your best *converting* search > phrases... Arguments against Webmaster Tools follow related logic. - Moderator Comment, LED Digest 2303 I use Google Sitemaps only for its statistical reports about how it sees my web sites. I have seen no evidence that the existence of my sitemaps influences googlebot or Google's indexing and ranking algorithm in any way. The sitemap program was originally advertised as a way to insure that Google knew about your pages that were hard to find and index for various reasons. It has turned into a platform to complain about the way Google indexes and ranks web sites. I have no idea what Google is doing with the data. To my mind, "do no evil" seems to have evolved into "try not to screw up." Jim King -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Peter D'Aprix Subject: mailto tag...? Dear Al Toman Regarding your frustration with people who still use "mailto:" I wonder, as a designer not a programmer, if you would be so kind as to take a minute out of your ranting and raving and suggest an easy to use alternative. Believe it or not, there are many designers of web sites out here who are not programmers. Rather like the fact that there are many racing drivers who are not mechanics and manage to be quite successful at their careers. Do you have a nice code that us morons could use to take the place of "mailto:' that is more secure? If so, it would be lovely of you to share it with us. Telling us what we should be doing is all very well, but telling us how to do it correctly would be even better. All my best Peter D'Aprix - Visual Communications http://www.peterdaprix.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Roger Hass Subject: Blacklists are useless, as is reporting Spam. Hello again LEDer's or should I say G'Day? I wish I had more time to contribute to the pool of information with specific facts and the most common mistakes that are made by users while on the Internet and using their e-Mail programs and domain accounts. Alas, this is not possible; however I do read a lot and have found the topics on Email since issue 2296 to the current 2301, very interesting. With particular regard to those where they blame everyone else and including the Governments who's Members have been sitting on their laurels for years taking long lunch and dinner meetings at tax payer's expense and only reaching to conclude to have more meetings on the subjects of legislating and passing "Anti Spam Laws." There is however one predominant affect, which has been overlooked which, I think, is the largest contributor to Spam on the Internet and that is the old "Catch All" function which is active on the majority of e-Mail accounts world wide. The old adage toward the "Catch All," was suggested by ISP's to ensure that anyone misspelling the addressees name of a domain mail box, that this "Catch All" function would make sure you got ALL the e-Mail for your domain mail boxes. Guess what, it worked and you sure are getting all of it, and whoever the idiot was that suggested this "Catch All" must be seen to be the greatest benefactor Spammers ever had. Some years ago while working in the Gaming Industry I was involved with game odds and calculate permutations of numbers and possibilities. Now rather than bore you with how all this is done, I will relate a simple exercise on how many address combinations can be generated from an 8 digit alphabetic combination. E.G. This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it -- There are 8 sets of "a" and in the Alphabet there are 26 letters, so each character in the set of 8 can be substituted with 25 others (A - Z) i.e. aaaaaaaa can become abaaaaaa, then abbaaaaa. Then abbbaaaa etc to abbbbbbb, and then acaaaaaa -- got the idea. OK to calculate the number of possible combinations of alpha characters in 8 sets of 26, simply multiply 26 by itself 8 times: (26x26x26x26x26c26x26x26 = 43,608,742,899,428,874,059,776 alphabetical combinations that can be used by any Spammer in front of any one "Singular" @domainname.) Now, how long did you say your black list was, mind you we now get some spammers using many more alpha and numeric combinations in front of the @ symbol I got this one in the spam trap the other day, qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm1234567890@domainname = 36 characters in front of the @domainname needing a veerryyy long Blacklist to block them all, and even after all that your actual e-mail box name is in that permutation, so the spammer wins anyway. And, yes you got it all with the "Catch All" function turned ON!! Now get on to this, and immediately request your Domain Webmasters, Domain Hosting Company and or ISP's (Internet Service Providers) to turn OFF the "Catch All" function on all your domain e-mail and ensure that they set the flags or which or whatever systems they use to do so, to set all Non-Specific e-mail (meaning non existent e-mail account names) 1st choice = to :fail: 2nd choice = to :blackhole: but NEVER "bounce" as in a lot of instances, your actual e-mail address may have been fraudulently used resulting in the "bounced" mail most likely bouncing around the globe and ending up back in your mail box, yup and you did not sent any mail to anyone! Get rid of or Stop the Catch All and the stupid Bounce and I think we get rid of at least 60% or more of Spam. So that's on my Christmas Wish List to Santa Clause. Please don't ask me about the International Internet Authorities, or others in each Country, including Government Anti-Spam Acts and Laws and the actual "Abuse" departments of Mail Host and ISP companies, as at one time not so long ago I spent 65 days with one of my e-Mail addresses hijacked by an Italian Server sending viruses to the rest of the World. At the end of the day there was NOT ONE of these so called Agencies and Authorities that took on the responsibility to affect or effect any action to stop the virus infected server from using my e-Mail address and spreading virus infected e-Mails around the world. Spam Humbug, and all toothless Tigers pushing pencils and most successful Anti=Spam job task they perform, is passing the buck and saying "it's from outside our domain so we can't take action." -- I took action myself after 61 days of getting the run-around from the so called Anti-Spam Authorities Worldwide and it stoped: http://www.pcbugfixer.com/temp/ Who said we needed Anti-Spam Laws Urgently? Well we got them here in Australia, sounds good, except they can only take action if the e-mail was generated from an .au address and then they politely give the spammer a warning, and only if you allow your name and e-mail address to be used in the notice to the, get this, "suspected spammer" Ok so the spammer now has confirmation of my e-mail address which he now adds to the World Wide Spammers Database. Blacklist the "Blacklist" and turn Off the "Catch all" I say, and we need a "Global Anti-Spam Law" used by all Countries, with co-operation for unilateral action against Spammers. Roger Hass www.pcbugfixer.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: James Miller Subject: Confirmation messages [Re: transactional emails not getting through] This is not a problem to me, as I don't run that sort of site. Perhaps the solution to confirm messages is not necessarily solved by computer technology, but by some good business sense. Let's say that everybody who registers on your site is worth say $100 in orders in a year. In a normal business, you would probably be prepared to pay say 5-10 per cent on sales promotion, either in the form of adverts or a mail shot. So why not offer a discount of the first order, when someone registers or put their name into a free draw with either a cash price or free product. A version of this technique was used by Waitrose to get their on-line shopping going here in the UK. They just gave out vouchers off a first on-line order in their supermarkets. Also the on-line bookmakers and betting exchanges here, also give you a free bet to start with. So don't forget good old-fashioned business solutions! James Miller Daisy Analysis: www.daisy.co.uk ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Lee Price Subject: PPC expert > I have a client who wants to set up a PPC campaign for > his new web site. I have no experience with PPC so we > would like to hire a specialist. - Carol Simicich, LED Digest 2303 Carol, you just opened the flood gates for all to toot their own horn. I'm not a PPC expert, but my colleague is so I'll toot his instead. Robert Fltyhe with ebasedEvolution (www.ebasedevolution.com). I'm not involved with our program here, but I understand our management fees are very competitive. Regards, Lee Price, Search Engine Optimization Analyst ebasedEVOLUTION -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Nathan Holley Subject: PPC recommendation needed? Carol - Be warned that you'll probably receive a mass of email from folks pitching you. Although it may be quieter than usual because of the seasonal timing and SES / WMW conferences happening around this time. Anyway, to get back on topic, yes I'm one too - I'd like to pitch my stuff. But I don't advertise my site anywhere online and keep a very low profile for competitive reasons. You can reach me at the email below (just replace the comma with the @ sign, of course). Other recommendations are as follows, in order: http://www.clientsidesem.com/ - Aaron Wall and Scott Smith. This is probably upper-cost levels and is definitely an experienced couple guys. http://toprankresults.com/ - Lee Odden. Very classy guy, well connected and updates his blog like a maniac. http://www.page-zero.com/ - Andrew Goodman. This guy used to moderate I-Search waaay back and I think he sorta clubbed it :-) Then again, he's a good guy by all accounts, if excessively self-promotional. Find out more by applying to join the SEM group at google: http://groups.google.com/group/SEM2 . This is moderated by - guess who - Andrew Goodman. Very focused, small group with total PPC topics. As I said, I recommend myself first, these after :-) Nathan Holley holleymoney, gmail.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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "...some people look at a glass and see it as half full, and other people look at a glass and say that it's a dragon." - John Stewart |
