THE NEW COWARDS - Drug Companies Struggle For Popularity

The worst type of coward has shown its ugly head. In the age of RSS and subscription based content - drug companies are fearful that you will forget them. They are so afraid in fact that they are looking for new ways to stay afloat.

ENTER THE SPAM BLOGGER......

Off shore drug and pharmacy companies are terrified that you may forget them. They are traumatized that you will forget to buy their products. Instead of getting rejected in your SPAM box they turn to one of the last great resources left.

Spamming your web sites and blogs.

The companies who are pulling this cowardly act include:

* Viagra
* Male Enhancement
* Cialis
* Weight Loss
* Investment Ops

These unsavory companies single out blogs and web site forms that have no character protection on them. These companies use robots that scour through the web community looking for any place they can call home. They visit your site and fill out your comment section looking to advertise to you.

This type of behavior is absurd.

As anyone knows the response rate for something like this is very small. You may be batting one out of a thousand. So before any of you out there get any ideas please take note that this is very uneffective marketing.

WHAT BLOGS ARE AT RISK?
GoDaddy.com has very good blog software. I actually like it due to its effectiveness. There are calendar features and many other smart attributes that go along with it. The only bad thing is that there is no text entry code for those who write entries. This means that any spam bot can come in and fill your inbox with gibberish.

TYPEPAD is a smart system. BLOGGER is a smart system too. It requires a live human being to fill out the forms on it in order to complete a submission. This is worth mentioning.

THE SCAM
Spam bots can also penetrate your online ordering forms. They can get inside of your order forms on your ecommerce web sites. They will usually come in and order something for a dollar. They are testing your server to see if they can run stolen credit cards on it. You will get a sale listed for a buck and then the next thing you know you will get a notice from your ecommerce provider. You will get charged a $20 dollar fee from your ecommerce provider each time this happens. But there is a way you can strike back.

Make sure that your order forms have a text code on it to prevent spam bots from ordering. You can control this in your control panel on your online gateway.

Look, make it simple by asking your merchant account provider of the latest scams and how you can protect yourself. This is very important as cyber criminals are getting a little smarter with each passing day.

Ted Cantu posted this on Aug. 30, 2007 at 11:25 PM

Since When Does Cheap Price = Good SEO ?

This was a rather strange week -- even for me, ( a person who prides himself on getting into some over the top strange situations).

I've come to a rather stark conclusion about online marketing and that is..... Some companies should NOT have web sites. I know that may be a little harsh for some of you but its true. There are many contributing factors to making a web site campaign take off half way decent. There are many tools that you should be aware of when putting a site together.

SUCCESS DOES NOT COME EASY
Most importantly you should take care of the necessary costs.... hint.... directories... when putting your site together. Having a site on the Internet does not automatically mean you will get cash paying customers.....

It does not mean that you will get people buying everything you are selling. It does not guarantee that you will get a fair share of fans. It doesn't even mean you will get indexed or listed in the search engines.

Yahoo was charging a fee of $49 dollars per page just to get indexed. Now this does not mean that you will get listed. This means that you may have a chance of getting included into the search engines. You will appear somewhere in the bottom of the searches. This fee does not include TOP RANKINGS.

Incidently it also doesn't mean you will get A TON OF TRAFFIC. That is something that will happen if you are plugged into the top web directories which are DIFFERENT than search engines. You will have to be in enough niche market directories to make some sort of impact.

* Just because you have a web site does not entitle you to popularity or profits.....

To Be Cont.

Posted by CANTU on Aug. 23, 2007 at 10:37 PM

GIVING INTO DEMAND: Diversifying Your Customer Base

What is it that people really want from your company? Instead of always focussing on the lowest price - a tactic that rarely gets GREAT RESULTS consider the following:

* VISIBILITY
* TIME SAVING
* LUXURY ITEM AT COST (?)

When you market a product or service look for a hidden benefit to carry most of the weight for your business. Consider looking for a time saver.... Plenty of other companies have done this to great efficiency.

.... JIFFY LUBE (Oil Change)
... MINUTE OIL (Oil Change)

There are plenty of other businesses that can utilize this strength. This does not have to be just limited to oil change places. You can apply this tactic to ANY BUSINESS that brings a certain amount of pain to it....

* TAX PREPERATION....
* ACCOUNTING....
* LOAN APPLICATIONS OF ANY KIND... and so on.....

Removing pain from a somewhat painful experience or TIME, (which can be actually defined as a PAIN in the ass) is a good strategy. The same can be said for DENTISTS or anyone practicing this type of work in the chiropractic field.

IN OUT HELLO GOODBYE

CASH PLEASE.. !!!! ;)

Posted by CANTU ON AUGUST 21, 2007 at 3:26 PM

NEWSFLASH - LIVING IN "REACTION" MAKES BIG BUCKS

"The Only Thing Worse Than
Bad Marketing - Is A Total Lack Of Guts"

I walked out of the two star weekend hit, "Superbad" this weekend. It was a packed house and I was only into the first quarter of the film when it hit me.

The premise centered around two clueless doofuses, ( doofi ) who were constantly living in "reaction". They bounced around from one ridiculous situation to another like destinys football. There were plenty of Home Alone, reaction shots... AHHHHHHHHHHH etc. that plague so many genres of films today... no matter if its comedy, romance, drama and others.

How much of this can you take?

But that is not why I walked out.

There is a reward system in Hollywood thats for sure. Every film that was previewed had a similar reaction shot like this. The plots looked paper thin and my patience was nearly exhausted. It occured to me that American culture has not only supported this lame behavior but it can also sell out a packed movie house. Audiences were cheering, laughing and nearly fainting at these predictable jokes and reactions.

Finally, I blew up and stormed out......

I walked out because this type of behavior has seeped into a lot of business in America. There seems to even be a reward system in place for clueless behavior and people who live in constant reaction........ for example.

"You'll never guess what this guy did to me....."
"... it isn't my fault, because she was like WHATEVER, and I was like WHATEVER...."
".... i COULD get that promotion if only .... ( so and so ) would get off my back...."


PASS THE BLAME BECOMES A BUSINESS SURVIVAL TACTIC
This type of wimp behavior may prove to be profitable in a cube situation. You can always find a shoulder to cry on when things get to be too unbareable. There are HR offices waiting to listen to the daily soap box drama.

But this proves to be deadly behavior for entrepreneurs.

You are totally responsible for the good things that happen to you as well as the bad. You need to understand that in order to totally take advantage of the great opportunities in life you MUST STOP LIVING IN REACTION.

YOU MUST BE THE AGGRESSOR.

WEALTH CONSCIOUSNESS: LIVING IN DESTINY
SO many times I talk to people who are not living with any type of wealth consciousness whatsoever. They more unconscious than anything else. The problem with relying on other people to fulfil the missing components in your business life is that you could be waiting... and WAITING for things to happen. You must be the total reason of the CAUSE AND EFFECT in your life.

This also spills over into many other parts of your life. This can happen in relationships and matters of spirituality. Simply said... theres danger in not growing in any of these directions.

Master marketer JEFF PAUL, top student of Dan Kennedy, said it best.....

"There are people who are good at making excuses and there are those who are good at making money..... but you cannot be both"

I am sometimes amazed at how this type of lackluster behavior..... LACK CONSCIOUSNESS and living in REACTION tends to get rewarded. Films are made about these type of people. Office culture breeds this sort of whininess and anti hero aesthetic. And self depreciating speak is encouraged in dating circles.

Sadly, all of this tends to make big bucks and get human sympathy but for an entrepreneur this behavior should not be pursued. The ability to give your aggressors the upper hand is the kiss of death to money making conscious people. It does not fit into the wealth mode.

This type of behavior can come in the form of:

* Lame sales people
* Sloppy uplines
* Bad management
* Pit bosses gone haywire
* Control-a-maniacs
* The office Spaz

You want the five second?

When you get into a sticky situation don't lose your cool. Think aloud.. WHAT WOULD TRUMP DO? WHAT WOULD ANTHONY ROBBINS DO?

Seriously.

Cantu posted this on Aug. 18, 2007 at 10:10 PM

Michigan Entrepreneur Network Is Back

I'm a little partial to the Entrepreneurs Network of Michigan due to the fact that I've been involved with several projects of theirs. But these guys are back with a vengeance.....

Rumor has it that they are ramping up their money making opportunities.....

That is, this site is going to be a hub for professionals in S.E. Michigan....

Stay tuned for more details....

Oh and before I forget, here is a copy of their calendar....
For Michigan Entrepreneur events....

Ted Cantu posted this on Aug. 17, 2007

HE COMES ON SMOOTH AND SLICK, LIKE AN UNWANTED DISEASE

ANOTHER POST SEO RANT

I promise to keep the dismal stuff to a bare minimum. But seriously folks, whatever happend to good old fashioned manners.

I got a SALES PITCH THIS WEEK on my FRIGGEN YOUTUBE STATION. This YO YO offered to MAKE ME RICH. I don't mind the message so much. That is what the SPAM filter is for on my email. And before I give anyone out there ideas on what to do.... or what not to do in this case... that is where all my unwanted pitches... get pitched.

Its disturbing to me that this slippery, flip flop of a marketing wannabe is trying soft soap me into a sale... on something I CREATED. This is like graffitti on another level.

Here is my YOUTUBE STATION.....
http://youtube.com/user/tedcantu1

Also note that you won't find a sales pitch on there. I had to block this knucklehead off my message board. Until I can find a way to permanently delete him I am going to keep this channel tip top clean.

By the way, this is a horrible business model. You cannot create a market by slobbering over prospective clients who are sitting ducks. This is not marketing. This is worse than spam. And to think I am supposed to give into the "pressure" and give this jerk money is not in the future.

Get a clue, all you clueless marketers out there.

Get a job.

Ted Cantu posted this on Aug. 15, 2007 at 10:40 pm

Who's Holding The Keys?

TALES FROM THE DIGITAL SOUP KITCHEN

Looking for web help shouldn't be like looking for old rims and side mirrors for your car in the junk yard. You should get a quality product from the starting gate.

1. Look for the BBB
2. Get someone who is certified either in web building or in SEO
3. Get references

.. nuff said.
============================

The real stickler this week came from a newsource about web site designers keeping their customers hostage. They can do this somewhat legally by having ownership over the domain name and even the web site itself.

This rarely comes down to a legal court of law but it can. To keep things safe and sane I always give my partners full ownership over anything I create for them. I do not want to get into a sticky situation down the road. Remember that in a court of law you have to have proof.

Business owners get sloppy because they start to trust the "leader" a little too much. In fact, they let the leader steer the ship right into an iceberg. When things go sour, and this can happen for whatever reason, then the owner has a right to take his business elsewhere.

I would say about 20% of our business centers around looking for domain names, (registered in other countries) and also taking web sites back from deadbeat designers. Other times I have to track these web designers down and often times if they are real small they don't have an office. This means I have to track them down through friends and ex-business associates.

I actually tacked on a SUPER SLEUTH FEE for this service. I have to play detective for the defective and to do that takes money. The most annoying thing I feel about this process is that it eats up a good deal of my time. This is time that I could spend doing something else that is productive for my business.

To save everyone from a trail of disputes and the dreaded "HE SAID SHE SAID" take a tip from Cantu. Make sure you get EVERYTHING CONNECTED TO A WEB SITE PROJECT IN YOUR OWN NAME.

This includes:

* Domain names
* Web site hosting accounts
* Graphic services
* Add ons, (graphic enhancements)
* Form code
* Pictures
* Video
* Additional hosting information

Make sure you get everything in YOUR name and also make sure you have the passwords and usernames to access these accounts.

** I would install a policy that forbids us from entering a project of this nature. But the problem is that this is becoming very widespread. It becomes somewhat difficult to avoid this turmoil.

Make it easy on everyone by being a responsible business owner and take FULL OWNERSHIP.

Posted by Cantu on Aug. 6, 2007 at 7:59 AM

2 Second Slam Dunks

Ever notice that some products and services really do the job visually in about 2 seconds? IN other words just looking at the product and what it can do tells the entire story. You don't need a ton of MTV rapid fire machine gun edits to get your message across. One shot will usually get the job done. Its the product that does all the work.

This is EXACTLY what we are looking for in our latest project. We are searching for products that get the message out there while telling a visual story.

Check out this mini clip we did for Color Vanish....
www.colorvanish.com

And watch this amazing product go to work.......

We'll be featuring these clips on our up coming business profiles site.....



Posted by Cantu on Aug. 3, 2007 at 8:46 am