Is this spam… You tell me
Posted By admin on April 12, 2009
At Entrecard, members may purchase advertising on other members sites.
I recently added Traffic-Exchange-Business.com Blog to my stable of blogs which use Entrecard to drive traffic.
Since January 2008, I have routinely sent a thank-you note to my advertisers. I have also held a random prize drawing amongst the advertisers. However, because Entrecard has radically changed how the value of the EC advertising with the addition of paid advertising alternating on our single widget, I’ve put my rewards on hold.
That means I’ve modified my thank-you notes.
Here are the two notes I send. The first note is sent to my older blogs. The second I created specifically for Traffic-Exchange-Business.com Blog.
Thanks for advertising with me at “Escalante Desert Valley News”
I have temporarily suspended my “Loyal Advertiser Program” while I evaluate the new third-party paid ads platform.
However, I would still like to assist you and recommend you try out Traffic-Exchange-Business.com, a free manual traffic exchange.
My roommate and I are diligently working to make this exchange the premier free option for both bloggers and other advertiser. What’s really nice, is that you are not giving up prime cyber estate on your blog.
Here’s the link for you to explore the exchange…
http://traffic-exchange-business.com
To your success!
Shari ThomasMy Entrecard Blogs
Ask Me Why… Work From Home (Internet Marketing)
My Favorite Online Programs Tips and Techniques (Make Money Online)
Shari’s Gone Country! (Home and Garden)
Ask Shari About PGA Tour Fantasy Golf (Sports)
Successful Food Service (Cooking and Dining)
Escalante Desert Valley News (News and Media)
This note was used exactly four times for the very new blog.
Thanks for choosing to advertise on Traffic-Exchange-Business Blog.
This blog/program offers you one more way to drive traffic to your website or blog. It’s free to join, and the benefits are awesome.
To join, go to http://traffic-exchange-business.com/register.php
We’ll be waiting for you with some free gifts!
Shari Thomas and Cindy Dages
Co-Owners: Traffic-Exchange-Business.com
Beryl UT USA
So, if you had placed an ad on one of my blogs and I sent you a thank you note as above, would you have considered either of them to be spam? I’d really appreciate your comments.
Personally, I consider this spam from the 4th line down. Anything that solicits, links or explains your site to a member without inquiry is considered spam in my book.
I actually thought twice about this and asked the opinion of 6 other moderators. All unanimously answered, “Yes, this is spam.”
To me, the “Thank you” part is great. Its great to reach out and thank your advertisers. However, the entrecard rules state spam is not allowed, and like I said, this is spam in my book.
I apologize for the inconvenience this may have brought to you or the hardship it may have caused. I am merely doing my job as a moderator for Entrecard.
Please let me know if you have any valid points you would like to appeal this with and I will consider them.
Thanks,
Andy T
Andy, for a number of reasons, you are quite off-base.
Here is a copy directly from the EC Blog Standards “Account Warnings”.
(emphasis added by me).
The above thank-you notes are sent to people who purchased an ad. They are sent individually, therefor not “mass-spam”.
When someone has paid me (I get all the EC that aren’t dumped) for an ad, they are my customer. That gives me the perfect right to send them a one-time e-mail. I have never in over 15 months received a complaint for spam.
To me, the larger question is why did you bother to advertise on this very young blog? You were the fourth advertiser. I have contacted the first advertiser, and she had no complaints. The second advertiser just happened to be a splog, which I have reported to Entrecard. I will be contacting the third advertiser today.
You say that “personally I consider this spam…” has nothing to do with the Entrecard stance on the matter. You’ve yet to show me where in the rules it says I can’t send a note like that.
To call this an inconvenience is a real slap in the face. You and your henchmen have managed to steal thousands of my credits, delete one of my blogs and take a considerable amount of my time fighting for my rights in this manner. If you expect me to go away quietly, I afraid you don’t know me.
I don’t see this as spam at all - afterall, we are all on entrecard to promote our sites - that should be a given. If you sent it to everyone at entrecard regardless, that would be spam. If you send it only to those who have essentially solicited you with ads, then I don’t see it as such..
Just my 2 cents worth - keep the change.
Bryan
http://www.yourpersonalgrowthsite.com/wordpress
Hi Bryan,
My point exactly. When someone enters into a relationship by purchasing an ad where I get the credit, then they are my customer. If I choose to be a good business owner and encourage the relationship, then I am being a good marketer.
Sorry, I don’t think it was spam either, so it seems that EC was way off base. As Bryan said, if you had sent that to everyone on EC that would have been one thing, but to only those with whom you had already done business, that is a whole other ballgame. Actually, I had received just such a message from you on EC and wasn’t offended at all. As it is, I’m leaving EC for several reasons, but this is just another example of how they are corrupting what was once a good idea. Good luck with your endeavors Shari and Cindy!
Hi Shari - It looks like your blog might have been removed because there is only one post on it. there must be at least 5 posts on a blog in order for it to be in Entrecard. If you hit the help button on your dashboard you can see all of the different rules for blogs. If I’m wrong about this you should go to the forum and send Phirate a private message, he likes to keeps members happy and will do what he can to help you out.
Hi Sheila,
Actually, there are at least five posts. The blog is set to show a static page, and that is not against the rules. As for anyone keeping me happy at Entrecard, I doubt that would happen now. I tweeted Graham, and got no response. Really strange, too, as I’ve had a pretty good relationship and have heartily supported him in his mission.
The original deletion was for alleged spam.
I got it reinstated, but before I could access the dashboard to grab a new widget, they tagged me for having the wrong widget. Their own software was part of the problem, but no one would listen to me. After that, they began deducting thousands of credits from my other blogs.
I’m done with them. They’re children who have obtained too much power to ever become fully successful.