The Many Facets of Viral Marketing
December 9, 2008 by Rob White
Filed under New Media Pro
In the beginning, e-mail was the one way that viral marketing was started. Since that long ago day, viral marketing has gone from a marketing strategy to an art form and there are many ways to accomplish the objective of creating a successful viral marketing campaign. Seven of those ways are:
1. E-mail: It was first but it is still around and still used. It is, however, getting a little harder to use as more and more government restrictions are placed on it. Still… it does work.
2. Newsletters: This is an extension of e-mail but it a very effective tool. If you include enough timely and valuable information, a good newsletter can drive up the number of visits to your website.
3. Blogging: Providing the tools on your website to enable bloggers to interact with one another is a terrific way to get the message about your product of service out there and being talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services.
4. Chat Rooms: A chat room on your website can and does encourage interaction among your customers and that can’t be a bad thing. Also, you can use the chat room to schedule special events like having an expert available to answer questions on a given day at a given time.
5. Tell-a-friend Script: If you add this with a statement saying that e-mail addresses supplied will never be shared with third parties, you can increase your potential customer list greatly.
6. Video Clips: Including cool video clips on your website will keep the interest up and increase traffic.
7. Flash Games: Although they are a little costly to start, they are an extremely effective tool to get your viral marketing campaign going. Once they are launched, they require nothing more from you.
Popularity: 17% [?]
Email Groups - Hidden Treasure Troves For Advertising A Blog
November 22, 2008 by Rob White
Filed under New Media Pro
Something that has become increasingly popular since the Internet has grown are the email groups that are available through Yahoo, MSN, and other venues.
They are a great way to meet other people who have a common interest, and are very similar to the communities that are available through blogging sites.
There is plenty of diverse subjects and there are communities for just about any subject.
These groups can be a great place for people who have a blog about the subject and want to share it with other people.
Most of the time when you join a group, you are encouraged to take a moment and to introduce yourself. This is a great opportunity to tell people about your blog, but make certain that you don’t overdo it.
Just like with any of the other places you will advertise your blog, you want to make people want to go to your blog. If you are too overbearing, you will turn people off.
If your blog covers different subjects, you can advertise it on the other groups that cover those subjects as well.
Make certain that your post to the groups is interesting and that you let people know what it is that your blog is about. There’s nothing worse than getting taken to a blog under false pretenses.
When people visit your blog, make certain that you thank them for visiting and respond to comments that they leave.
If they know that you appreciate the time that they took, they are more likely to come back again.
Popularity: 20% [?]
BEWARE: New PayPal Phishing E-Mail Scam
November 18, 2008 by Rob White
Filed under Identity Theft Radio
I received an email this morning saying that my PayPal account had just put into a limited access mode. At first I was thinking what is limited access anyway? I mean, I never expected anything wrong with my account that I would receive this email from PayPal. I was a bit worried about having limited access as most of the online business owner knows that this is the major payment processor we use online.
The ID Theft Risk Management Specialist part of me kicked in and started studying this new email that was “apparently” from PayPal. At first glance, all appeared to be in order until I noticed the following discrepancies:
1. The email is not sending out from actual PayPal email. In the sender information, it is service@paypail.com Vs service @ paypal . com.
2. It provides an fraud case ID. I checked in my account based on the ID provided and I can’t found the record.
3. Another fraud email provided in the email: security@paypalfraudcheck.com Vs security or service @ paypal.com. And attempting to go to this domain automatically redirects to PayPal properly.
4. The way to remove the limit access is simply unreasonable. The email said this: “completing all of the checklist items will automatically restore your account access”.
1) Personal identification - a copy of one photographic ID from the following list:
- Passport - Driving license - National Identification card
2) Address verification - a copy of one of the following (online statements not accepted):
- Utility bill - less than 3 months old
- Bank statement - less than 3 months old
5. Last but not least, he send to my primary email address instead of my paypal email address.
Think about it, if you account is being limited access, that means your account is being monitored by Paypal, there is no way it will restore automatically by simply by submitting these documents. I am sure Paypal will go through the manual verification process in order to remove that access.
6. To further confirm it is a phishing email, I went to do domain whois check on the domain names provided. This screenshot below confirms that this domain does not belong to PayPal.
I found out this appeared to be one of the phishing email that send out by a guy named Ryan Gunness (according to the whois record) and it sound like the following email screenshot. And I received an answer back from spoof@paypal.com within 30 minutes of submitting this email that it is indeed a phishing email.
Popularity: 24% [?]
Advertise Your Blog In Your Email Signature
November 17, 2008 by Rob White
Filed under New Media Pro
If you have a blog that you are particularly proud of, and that you want to share with other people, there are a lot of free ways that you can get your blog noticed.
One of those ways is something that you do everyday, and that you may not even consider as a way to share your blog. Put the link to your blog in your e-mail signature.
Chances are that you send out e-mails more times that you can count during the day, Each time you send out an e-mail, you can advertise your blog by putting the address of your blog in your e-mail’s signature line.
It’s always a good idea to write something catchy like, “See what I am up to now”, or “Read my latest chapter of my fanfic here”, depending on what type of blog you have.
The thing to remember about putting an advertisement in your signature for your blog is to make it short, but eyecatching.
You want people to be interested enough to want to click on it, but you also don’t want to scare them off.
Just like it is with any advertisement, you want to give them just enough to be interested and take a closer look at what it is that you are advertising.
Think about what it is that your blog is about. What is really going to interest people about it and why they will want to visit. That is what you should include in your signature, and that is what is going to get people to go to your blog.
Popularity: 16% [?]
