| LED Digest 2544: Internet Fraud, or Dishonesty? |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. December 1, 2007 Issue no. 2544 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ===================== <Moderator Comment> ~ Changing LED's Format? --== Internet Fraud & Dishonesty ==-- ~ Robert Joy "...in my mind it's theft as I did not authorize the additional charge." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Where's the Info for NON-Marketers? ==-- ~ Michael Martinez "Repetition is really what it comes down to." ~ Steve Pronger "Less posturing, more strategies, case studies and success stories." --== Trouble Downloading PDFs ==-- ~ Brett Dorron ~ Phil Chave ~ Veronica Yuill ~ Renee Kennedy ========== NEW =================================== <Moderator Comment> Quick question: do you have any interest in converting the LED to a traditional email list (moderated of course) with a post-by-post option? In other words, posts would be published to the list as they're sent in (provided they pass moderator approval). There would also be a Digest option that would pretty much resemble the list now, with all the posts for the day in one email. Just looking for feedback - something I've been thinking about for a long time. The advantages would be less moderator time formatting the list, and I could appoint more moderators to help shoulder the load with list duties. Thanks, Adam --------------- From: Robert Joy Subject: Internet Fraud and Dishonesty This may be of interest and I'd like to know if anything can be done. I recently purchased 2 flags on line and the invoice was received and also the flags arrived as promised. Then I noticed an additional separate charge of $2.20 from the very same company. The answer I was told, was extra shipping charges. Now it's not the amount it's the principle plus in my mind it's theft as I did not authorize the additional charge. The company further told me to send all the items back and they'll reimburse me along with the return postage. Now would you trust a company who had stolen money from you and then wants you to return the items at my initial expense with the hope that they will reimburse you? To do a charge back my bank wants a notarized complaint that would cost me $30 to be notarized before they will investigate, not worth spending $30 to get back $2.20. You may be asking what has this got to do with LED? The reason for the posting is this, - 1st it's a clear example of a dishonest trader on the internet and an example which we all should not follow and - 2nd what recourse do I have or anybody have against dishonesty, from what I can find out, nothing. Robert Joy http://www.alegriawebdesign.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Michael Martinez Subject: Non-marketers > Now that I'm settling into the LED Digest, I'm a > little disappointed in the content rather than the > format. I'm speaking from the perspective of a non- > marketer who is attempting to learn objectively > about SEO and marketing on the interenet. In other > words I know diddly-squat about the industry. - Al Toman, LED Digest 2542 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1957/190/ Search engine optimization has been around since about 1995 or 1996. Even so, it's an undisciplined industry governed by many opinions. For a very technical field, search engine optimization lacks any sort of standards or proven methodologies. All claims for "proven methodologies" are just marketing hype. There are some fundamental principles that are mentioned here and elsewhere occasionally (sometimes frequently). Those fundamental principles focus on good Web design (emphasizing usability and practicality over pretty designs), good internal linkage (using traditional HTML embedded links rather than sparkly off-page menus), and solid linking relationships between reliable Web sites. Search engines are trying to index the text you place on your HTML pages, so the more text you include the better. But they also look at what other Web sites "say" about your site through link anchor text. Hence, a lot of SEOs find it's easier to just build, buy, or steal links from other Web sites and pass anchor text through those links. Repetition is really what it comes down to. The more often a page repeats a word, the more relevant that page is algorithmically measured to be. Of course, the search engines understand that repetition is easy to abuse so they look at emphasis and other "on-page factors". But search engines are also trying to figure out which Web sites can be trusted to link to other Web sites. Google has actively devalued the links from millions of pages over the past few years. It's no longer as simple as just get some links. To influence your search engine rankings through links you need links from trusted Web sites, and the search engines don't tell you which sites they trust. Google did just recently blunder in a huge way, however, by reducing the Toolbar PR values for many Web sites it felt could not be trusted. So people who have been tracking Toolbar PR values for their linking sources have an advantage over everyone else because they at least can see which sites have not been penalized by Google. But most people don't need to play these games. The best approach to search engine marketing is to create a lot of unique content on your site that is relevant to your topic, use your content to build good internal linkage, and just let people discover your site through natural search results. People will link to informative resources. Web marketing should not focus JUST on search engines. There are plenty of other Web sites that can send traffic your way regardless of whether they help with your search engine results. As far as objectivity goes, there is very little to be found either here or elsewhere. People for the most part learn by doing. That is, it's good to look around for ideas and suggestions but you can only distinguish between the useful advice and the unuseful advice by trying to use it. And remember that just because someone says they made a million dollars doing "X" doesn't mean you'll make a million dollars doing "X". That same principle applies to search engine optimization and Web site marketing. Michael Martinez http://www.michael-martinez.com/ -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Steve Pronger Subject: Non-marketers > Al, did you just spam the LED Digest > with a Brad Callen pitch? - Lee Odden, LED Digest 2543 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1958/190/ attempt to do that. I'm sure Al will speak for himself, but I can assure you that promoting products he is affiliated with is not why he reads LED. Even if he was an affiliate (unlikely), where's the affiliate link? > I think Al was referring to Brad Fallon > of seoelite.com... - Moderator Comment Just to clarify, Brad Callen and Brad Fallon both have a high profile in the SEO industry. Despite the similar names, they are in fact different people. Brad Callen is mainly known as a software developer and created SEO Elite (link analysis software) and Keyword Elite (keyword research software). Brad Fallon and his partner Andy Jenkins created a product called Stomping the Search Engines which evolved into a membership site called Stompernet. I was an affiliate for Stomp and still am an affiliate for Callen's products so I'll make no comment here as to whether they are good, bad or ugly. My take on Al's post is he feels there isn't enough detail in marketing and SEO related posts for someone trying to learn and actually apply these techniques. And I think I know what he's getting at. Less posturing, more strategies, case studies and success stories. More nitty gritty. What works for you, and why? There's some very successful business people on this list, from a wide range of online business activities. We seem to be hearing from them less and less. So let's drag them out and grill 'em for all their worth! Steve Pronger http://www.stevepronger.com/freebook/ ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= Sometimes demand totally outstrips supply www.GetWebContent/LED was developed to provide unique web content written by full-time professionals. Since the writers spend a lot of time working with each client, their workload maxes out fast. Now they're so maxed we have to stop accepting new clients for a bit. See you soon. Thanks to those of you who are now repeat clients! ========== End Sponsor Message ========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Brett Dorron Subject: PDFs > I am having a problem with PDF downloads opening > in the browser window instead of... well, downloading! - Nancy Cardinali, LED Digest 2543 Open Adobe Reader, or Acrobat (which ever you use), and open the preferences dialog. Under the 'Internet' tab, you'll find the 'Web Browser Options'. Turn them off, save the preference, and close Acrobat. You'll probably need to restart your browsers also, for the change to take effect. Brett Dorron -------- new post - same topic ---------- From: Phil Chave Subject: PDFs Hi Nancy I can only talk for IE 7 and a bit. The bio file downloaded quickly and displayed perfectly, filling my screen at 150%. I then opened it again, first in a new tab, and then in a new window. All fine. To download the file outside of a browser window, instruct your readers to Right Click the file and Save Target As. This will cause it to download independent of a browser and the file can be saved anywhere on your machine and will open later directly in Adobe, not a browser window. The second option is to make the link open in a new window. This is useful if you want readers to stay on the download page and perhaps download the other files also, rather than navigate back to the download page. Even if you get the browser to open the file instead of say, saving the file directly to your desktop, you can still save the pdf as normal. One thing, large pdfs that download in the same browser window as the link can sometimes make it seem as if the browser has 'hung'. This is because the pdf cant display until it is fully downloaded and presented to the browser. If you check the Status bar at the bottom of the browser, in the greyed out bit, it will give you a readout of the amount in memory and the amount to go as the download proceeds. Hope this is helpful. All the best Phil Chave www.distanthealer.co.uk -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Veronica Yuill Subject: PDFs Hi Nancy The problem is that if you just post a link directly to a PDF and the visitor has an association set up on their PC to open PDFs automatically with Acrobat, then if they just click on the link, that's what will happen. some people will be savvy enough to right-click and "Save target as ..." when they see it's a PDF. If you want to force a download you need a bit of server-side script to set the "mime-type" such that the association doesn't fire. For example, in PHP something like the following would do the trick. Note, I have included some basic checks to stop visitors downloading any type of file from your site, but the code is provided with no warranty :-) -------------------- $ext = pathinfo($_GET['filetosend'], PATHINFO_EXTENSION); if (strtolower($ext) != 'pdf') die('You are trying to view files that you have no business viewing.'); if (strpos($_GET['filetosend'],'..') == true) die('You are trying to view files that you have no business viewing.'); $folder = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/pdf/'; $filetosend = $folder.$_GET['filetosend']; // check file exists if (file_exists($filetosend)) { // send file $mimetype = 'application/x-download'; // quotes needed round filename in case of of spaces // basename prevents path being revealed header('content-disposition: attachment; filename="'.basename($filetosend).'"'); header('content-type: '.$mimetype); header('content-length: '.filesize($filetosend)); readfile($filetosend); } else { echo('<p class="alert">Sorry, the file you asked for is not available.</p>'); } -------------------- Save this as e.g. download.php, and then instead of linking direct to the PDF, link to download.php?filetosend=nameofpdf.pdf HTH Veronica Yuill www.archetype-it.com/english/ -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Renee Kennedy Subject: PDFs Nancy, it is a setting on Adobe PDF Reader. Rather than me trying to explain it, try this document for directions: http://www.bnl.gov/itd/webapps/pdf_help.asp I had the same problem when I installed Adobe Reader 8.0, it wouldn't open PDF's in Firefox or IE. If that document above does not work, try doing a search in Google, "PDF won't open" or something similar. Renee Kennedy (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "The greatest obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the oceans was not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin |
