| LED Digest 2335: Risks of Purchased Links? |
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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 .............................................. January 29, 2007 Issue no. 2335 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Risks of Purchased Links? ==-- ~ Dave Roberts "How can they tell that links are purchased?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== European Sales ==-- ~ Roy Williams "The real problem here is one of Data Protection." ~ Emma Mackintosh "Just to level the pitch a bit, this concern over international sales works both ways!" --== Presenting a Trustworthy Image ==-- ~ Tom Anson "I've appreciated you comments on my question about the BBB Online." ~ Adam Audette "Here's another perspective on the issue of third-party certification and credibility." --== Contest Promos for Non-profit Events ==-- ~ John Smart "People (me too!) are selfish and greedy." ~ Gerald Njuguna "...the reason why they might not be doing so well is the type of audience..." =========== NEW ================================== From: Dave Roberts Subject: Purchased Links -- How Much Risk? I posted a while back that my client's Webmaster had obtained many incoming links from the same IP address. Finally he told me the rest of the story -- he has been purchasing links from a company called linkexchangeexperts.com. In their email exchanges, I note that they accept payment only via Paypal, and the employees communicate with my client using gmail. My client wants me to tell him whether there is risk of being penalized by Google if he continues this practice. I can see that the purchased links have boosted his traffic from MSN and have reduced his free traffic from Google. But what can he expect to happen? Will he be increasingly penalized by Google? How can they tell that links are purchased? And if they do know of the purchase, what will be their response? Thanks Dave Roberts http://www.davedoesitall.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Roy Williams Subject: European sales > I think the biggest fear is being unable to confirm > the address a shipment is going to is the same > address as the cardholder... which for US Customers > is no problem. Once we go outside of the US it is. - R. Neilson, LED Digest 2334 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1728/55/ The problem of being unable to confirm the cardholder's address applies to us all. We are in the UK and have the 'reverse' problem with US purchasers. It's odd, but from time to time we DO get a confirmation on an overseas address, and have even had a confirmation on a Brazilian address, although 90 per cent of the time we are unable to get a confirmation on overseas orders. BTW, we are using HSBC's secure e-payment system. The real problem here is one of Data Protection. Do you want to think that your address details are given to a myriad of databases in other countries (think Lebanon, Iraq, etc.) every time you take out a new credit card in order that merchants in those other countries are protected? I don't think so. The reality is that we are back to checking if the e-mail address is 'real' and other 'variables'. We have a tick box where customers can request that we store their details, and we show that we are logging the IP number. None of these (or other similar ideas) are foolproof, but they all help to create a picture. We take our lead from PayPal. If PayPal doesn't operate a merchant service in any country, we won't accept credit card payments from that country unless the prospective customer sends us a photocopy of his bank statement and copied proof of identity. Things are not always what you think. AMEX franchises in 'Eastern' Europe now. Real gone, Roy Williams Nervous Records Check out our MP3 downloads at: www.nervous.co.uk/download.htm -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Emma Mackintosh Subject: European sales Just to level the pitch a bit, this concern over international sales works both ways! We run a clothing business here in the UK, but cannot obtain confirmation of address or card verification number for most non-UK customers, including those in Europe! Most of the time we take identity on trust, using a background phone number check (rudimentary, but at least it's something!) to help us. Some fraudulent orders are obvious, but frustratingly, some we just have to refuse to ship to even though they could well be genuine. I suspect one answer to this is to only accept Paypal from abroad - though even this may be open to fraud. I'd love to be able to take international orders without so much worry, but the banks don't seem able to put in a system for us to do this! Emma Mackintosh Stewardsons Outdoor Clothing -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Tom Anson Subject: Trust Hi fellow LEDers, I've appreciated you comments on my question about the BBB Online. I wish I had asked the question years ago. But I'd like to make a response to Nancy Cardinali's comment (LED Digest 2334). Yes, pretty much anyone can get the seal if they pay the membership fee. However, in my area (Nebraska / South Dakota), you have to be in business for at least a year, you have to be free of outstanding customer complaints and, if you don't abide by good business practices or you have unresolved issues with customers, your membership will be revoked. So, in that respect, it's not completely a waste of time or money. I'm not sure that adds anything to the discussion, but I thought I'd clear up that point. Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Adam Audette Subject: Trust, Credibility, and TRUSTe Here's another perspective on the issue of third-party certification and credibility. Back in the Adventive days we paid TRUSTe several thousands of dollars annually to be a part of their certification program. It was expensive, but we hoped it added to the trust and credibility of our site and service. Since we were collecting email addresses, it seemed especially important to foster a trustworthy brand. Recently I looked into TRUSTe again. This research of almost half a million sites, conducted by Benjamin Edelman of Harvard, demonstrates how TRUSTe can *decrease* perceived credibility: ----------------------- "What do I find? In short, nothing good. I examine a sampling of 500,000+ top web sites, as reported by a major ISP. Of the sites certified by TRUSTe, 5.4% are untrustworthy according to SiteAdvisor's data, compared with just 2.5% untrustworthy sites in the rest of the ISP's list. "So TRUSTe-certified sites are more than twice as likely to be untrustworthy. This result also holds in a regression framework controlling for site popularity (traffic rank) and even a basic notion of site type." Source: http://www.benedelman.org/news/092506-1.html ----------------------- Here's a link to his PDF draft on the topic, "Adverse Selection in Online "Trust" Certifications." http://www.benedelman.org/publications/advsel-trust-draft.pdf Here's a portion of the abstract: ----------------------- "Widely-used online "trust" authorities issue certifications without substantial verification of the actual trustworthiness of recipients. Their lax approach gives rise to adverse selection: The sites that seek and obtain trust certifications are actually significantly less trustworthy than those that forego certification. "I demonstrate this adverse selection empirically via a new dataset on web site characteristics and safety. I find that TRUSTe-certified sites are more than twice as likely to be untrustworthy as uncertified sites, a difference which remains statistically and economically significant when restricted to "complex" commercial sites." ----------------------- In response to this research, TRUSTe fired back via this blog post: http://blog.truste.org/?p=20. I find their response very telling, in that they sidestep most of the important issues raised by Edelman. So, the lesson here? Be careful giving money to third party certification outfits :-) If you're interested in further reading, here are some excellent resources: "Internet Credibility and the User" - a symposium put on by the University of Washington: http://projects.ischool.washington.edu/credibility/symposium_papers.htm Several papers freely available here are worthwhile, especially these: "Understanding How Internet Users Make Sense of Credibility" http://projects.ischool.washington.edu/credibility/Metzger%20Skills.pdf A response to the above paper: http://projects.ischool.washington.edu/credibility/NeumanResponse.pdf Incidentally, there's a discussion on this forum about the same issues: http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45395 Hope this is useful! Best wishes, Adam Audette http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/40/79/ -------- new post - new topic -------- From: John Smart Subject: Contest promos The prize has to be attractive. Please note that when I refer to "people" I am putting myself in that list (possibly at the top of the list!) and am not judging others. People (me too!) are selfish and greedy. Hopefully not very selfish and greedy -- I would not want those to be words used when describing me, but we are. I got a free subscription offer to two magazines -- I was vaguely interested in both. One had a huge form to fill out, I got bored, and did not get the magazine. The other had an even bigger form to fill out, with the chance of winning a 50" tv. I still get the magazine! A 5-" tv (which, sadly I did not get) is a lot to give away, we need cheaper things. A plaque with a name on it saying what I did is cool to put on a wall -- that may be a gift that would inspire me -- or go the other way completely, if it was a charity that I really cared for, an honest letter would inspire me, something like: -------------------------- Dear supporter, We want to encourage you as much as possible to help us this year. We thought about bribery, but to find something good enough to offer you would mean spending most of the money we earn for our good cause, so we are hoping that the fantastic feel-good-factor will be enough. -------------------------- Maybe add some humor (I don't work in marketing for obvious reasons)... -------------------------- Of course, if you do not help, you will feel bad. Studies show that feeling bad can lead to premature heart attacks, so as well as making yourself sick, by not helping us, we will not be able to help you when you need it!! -------------------------- If you go with something like that, you may want to have a lawyer check it 1st! But I would sign up for something like that! John Smart InternetDesign.com - A Human Touch in a Digital World -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Gerald Njuguna Subject: Contest promos > I've read a lot about how effective 'contests' are > in... promoting non-profit events... Anyone else > using this technique in a non-profit situation? > Can you share your experience with it? - Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian, LED Digest 2334 I've been a subscriber to Dr. Mani 's Internet marketing newsletters and have recieved a couple of his contest emails and i think the reason why they might not be doing so well is the type of audience he is mailing to. I believe Dr Mani most of your newsletter subscribers are in the Internet marketing field so the contests might not really motivate most of your visitors because the've subscribed to learn how to make money on the Internet. You might try and target owners of sites / forums / blog that offer content related to heart diseases. Regards Gerald Njuguna http://www.africapoint.com Africa Travel Agent- Great Destinations, Great Prices ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/120/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/77/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/86/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. 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