Internet Business and Personal Success

I’ve been reminded recently that sometimes what seems like a great idea, can totally backfire.  You may have experienced something similar.

My Great Idea was to use different email addresses for everything I sign up for, whether online or off.  Each domain can have a “catch-all” email address where all email which doesn’t have a corresponding email account can be sent to.  This way I can effectively “key” every email address I give out, and determine if it’s being spread to other sites without permission, etc..  It also allows for very easy sorting in my email software of choice (Thunderbird).

All was well until about 2 years ago when my host at the time disallowed this functionality for all accounts.  It seems that their servers were being overrun with spam, partly due to this setting.   No problem, I was about ready to explore new hosting anyway, so I moved someplace which still allowed my “great idea”.

Well..  Over the past year, I’ve seen first hand what what the prior host have been talking about with an overload of spam.   You see, these automated spam programs will often use a random domain as the “sender” for their email.  So, even though an email doesn’t originate from your account, it still has a return/sender’s address from your domain.  Worse yet, it makes up new email addresses when doing this.

Why does that matter?  Well, every time an email blast gets sent by one of these programs, I end up getting several hundred (or even thousand) bounce messages from the systems of email addresses which don’t exist anymore, etc..  Some months this happens several time, others not at all.

There’s more… but I’m really here to rant a bit about the process of cleaning this up.  Since I have literally hundreds of these made up email addresses, it’s an ongoing process of updating everything to use one of a small handful of descriptive, but managable addresses.  Should be relatively simple.  Every time I get an email, just go to the link at the bottom to change my address in their system (or just unsubscribe).

Yet, almost half the time I either have to jump through hoops to make the change, or am only presented with the option of unsubscribing.  That’s insane!  Imagine someone moving their Internet provider, and not being able to move their subscriptions over.  The result is lost business, and a very sour taste in their mouth.

The worst of these are certain sites “powered by Infusionsoft” which apparently doesn’t have a single link to unsubscribe OR change user options.  The business owner must setup two links in the email footer… One for unsubscribe requests, and another for option changes. That would be fine if these business owners would provide both links.  often only the unsubscribe option exists.   So that’s what I do.  If it’s somethng I really want to track, I’ll sometimes resubscribe, but not always.

Other programs will require me to “log in” or otherwise  waste a lot of time making the change.  I only do this for relatively important sites.  All of the rest will simply get bounce notices when I make the switch away from the “catch-all” email addresses.

Sometimes, they allow me to change my name,  but not my email address!  How whacked is that?  While my brother actually legally changed his name, and women often change their name after getting married, I suspect email address changes happen a heck of a lot more often.

The simplest?  Everyone who uses Aweber, GetResponseor or 1ShoppingCart. The process is one or two clicks, and entering the new address.  Just like it should be.

So before you get your whole autoresponder or broadcast email list going, be sure to consider this simple usability issue.   It will reduce frustration from your customers, and possibly keep them for unsubscribing or falling off when their email address changes.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Can you believe the b.s. that many marketers shovel in their sales letters these days? If you are on a few lists, and have seen a “launch”, you’ll recognize the signs:

False scarcity.. Limited quantities. “next” 100 to order. Price goes up soon. One time only offer. Coupon good only for this visit, etc.. Once you’ve been around for a while, you’ll notice that many of these claims are outright lies. There are a few ways to check this out for yourself:

• Visit the site in a different browser. You’ll probably get the same offer, even if it’s a one-time offer just for you.
• Clear your browser cookies, and visit the site again.
• Wait a few days or weeks, and see if the same b.s. shows up. I know of one site which apparently didn’t do so well, and still has the same discount, coupon, first 100 fast-mover bonus, etc… How long has it been? almost 3 months, and counting.
• Register for the site with a separate email address. You’ll likely get the same special offer, regardless of how many times you sign-up

“Weasel” guarantees… 30 days 100% money back–not enough time to implement, yet alone absorb 15 dvd’s of information… or… following our system, document the steps you take and and if you’re not making $xxxxx in the first 60 days, we’ll send your money back (never mind what we teach you will cost you many times what you spent on the course to “try” out–thus it makes no sense to “try” it).

Testimonials, and “case studies” which include already successful businesspeople and marketers

• I don’t know about you, but if I recognize someone whose put on a pedestal, as an example of what can happen to you, and they’ve been successful since way before the product materialized, I’m skeptical to the extreme. These people probably did things that had nothing to do with the course.
• Phony names, limited info.. First name and last initial… c’mon, use some real information and help promote them in the process.
• “private students” who are privy to much more information, and more importantly–support and promotion from sponsors– that is presented as “newbie makes a fortune without any skills”….

There are many more examples, and yes, I *could* name names.. The point is, there’s a lot of b.s. out there aimed directly are parting you with your money. It’s not always that the information is bad. In fact I’m sure a lot of it is useful, if you are at the business stage that calls for it.

The point of this rant is simple: Pay attention to what the people you are thinking of following are DOING, not the image (”character”) they present. If they can’t tell the truth *before* you purchase from them, how in the heck can you believe them after the sale is made? You can’t!

There are plenty of ethical people on the Internet, why not choose to support, and follow one of them?

You can find just a few of the best, on my blog roll to the right.

-Tim

Popularity: 38% [?]