Are you unknowingly blog spamming to promote your business?

Yesterday I received a comment on my blog. The sole purpose was to provide a link back to a business. You know the generic "great site" type of comment. A quick check and the person writing the comment was located in Delhi and not Queensland where the business is located.

When this happens I write a post naming the business. Today the business owner contacted me. Amazing how fast my blog gets the information out there! He assured me he wasn't blog spamming anyone and that it was not him. I assured him that it was him and I'd seen this many times before.

He'd approved an SEO organisation to promote his business but hadn't thought that when business acts on his behalf, he has given them authority, so it is indeed his responsibility. Businesses need to ask for details of how their business is to be promoted. The SEO (and I've seen web designers do this as well) then outsource the work. They may not even know what is going to be done. The work gets sent offshore and the blog spamming begins. Hundreds or even thousands of blogs get the comment along the lines "Wow, love your blog and will come back regularly, and by the way here is my site type of comment".

Many small businesses don't have a clue their marketing is hurting their business reputation. Who wants to deal with a business that uses disreputable techniques to promote their business. I certainly wouldn't. There are many very good ethical and honourable businesses people can use. If you find a business hurts your business reputation dump them immediately. Often they'll know what they're doing isn't right but all they are really interested in is your money. It is your business reputation that suffers as no one has a clue who you are using.

The good outcome is this IT business in Queensland is now aware they were blog spamming and is now looking for another SEO business.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

JustLocal welcomes Share A Nanny.

I'd like to welcome Share A Nanny to JustLocal. You can find Share A Nanny on the 3043 postcode page www.JustLocal.com.au/3043.

For those who aren't aware of a nanny sharing services, I certainly wasn't, the following is a sentence from the Share A Nanny site.

Nanny sharing is a great, flexible, convenient option for all of your child care needs at an affordable price, where you have the peace of mind knowing your child/children are being looked after by an experienced nanny.

The idea of sharing a nanny appeals to me as it enables people to share the cost of a nanny. If you'd like to find out more about Share A Nanny, you can also visit www.share-a-nanny.com.au.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Mount Beauty area holiday home rental - Creekside holiday home Tawonga South

I'd like to welcome Creekside Holiday Home rental to JustLocal. The following is a short description from the Creekside Holiday Home site.

Creekside Holiday Home is an excellent and affordable holiday rental for those who wish to self-cater. Situated in Tawonga South, in a quiet, peaceful location which is safe for children, backed onto a natural reserve with a small creek and is only a ten minute walk to Mt Beauty shops, Tavern and Club.

You can find Creekside Holiday Home on the Tawonga South page of JustLocal at www.JustLocal.com.au/3698.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Different people being offered different Coles Flybuys offers

Recently I was alerted to something I didn't quite believe with Coles Flybuys offers. The following is the offer we received from Flybuys.

I went back through my deleted items and found emails with the offers on 19/2/14, 26/2/14 and 5/3/14.

I was told another family member received an offer that required a spend of $160. I'd never seen any offer that I recalled that required an offer for $160. I'd only ever seen a maximum offer of $150. It was actually hard for me to believe that other people would receive a different offer. Sure enough, here is the offer they'd received.

The first reaction by the other person was they were getting shafted once they knew the offer they were receiving required a greater spend. We spend less each week than they do, so we felt what Coles is doing is working out the average spend and then using the offer to encourage the person to spend more.

It does make me wonder if others have an even higher spend requirement. 

This may be a good marketing idea in terms of increasing a person's spend, but I don't think it is a good marketing idea once people realise different people are getting different offers. Customers that spend more appear to be getting a worse offer.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Update: Thanks to members of a group I participate in, I've now identified offers at the low end of $90/$10 and $120/$20, and at the higher end $200/$10 and $230/$20. This is an example of where the data we provide now to retailers can be used to offer different discounts to different customers. In this case customers spending more money end up with an offer worth less in percentage terms.

Alert: LinkedIn FREE Subscription.

I received an email this morning which is obviously a scam but thought it best to warn others as it has a slightly different approach to other scams I've seen.

The email has the subject LinkedIn FREE Subscription. The email offers a special today only upgrade to LinkedIn Premium, which according to the email is a saving of AUD 359.40.

This is scam. If you check the sign in link you'll see it is for a domain ending in .cn (a Chinese domain) and nothing to do with LinkedIn.

You should delete these emails.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.

Cafe Ivanhoe - the new style cafe in Ivanhoe

I'd like to welcome to Cafe Ivanhoe to the Ivanhoe page of JustLocal www.JustLocal.com.au/3079. I visited Cafe Ivanhoe with a colleague today and enjoyed a good coffee and friendly service.

The Cafe Ivanhoe site is www.cafeivanhoeonupper.com.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au 

Better Homes and Garden herding dog training story on Channel 7 tonight.

For those who missed the herding dog training story on Better Homes and Garden tonight on Channel 7, keep in mind the show should be available in the next day or two on catch-up TV. The story started about 10 minutes into the show. To get to Channel 7's catch-up TV type TV 7 into Search Australia.

If you'd like to see more videos on herding dog training visit Charlie Brincat's site www.HerdingDogTraining.com.

Congratulations also to Charlie Brincat for being published in Town & Country Farmer. Another pat on the back for the great picture on the front of the magazine, which was taken by Charlie.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au