I’m not a happy camper these days. I like things to be fair and I think we are taking it in the rears right now. So it was suggested I write a rant once a week. Here’s the rant this week, Email Spamming Practices.

If you want to actually see the law, you can find a copy of the CanSpam Act at Magic In Words.

Our first dilema:

I’m at a networking event. I’ve picked up every single card I saw at the event. I may have had a conversation with the business owner. Can I go back and scan that card in, adding it to my database?

Ethically, I don’t think so, in my humble opinion. Legally, yes as long as you provide a way for the recipient of your marketing emails to unsubscribe to your list. This is what’s commonly referred to as the opt-out method. The people you add to your e-mail database should have an expectation that you’ll be reaching out to them.  It would help if you actually asked their permission. I’ve seen that done in a very creative way.

There was a small business owner who took a clip board to each event, asking people to sign up for the e-mails. This owner secured, in their handwriting, permission to reach out. Brilliant!!

Our second dilema:

I just received a forwarded e-mail from a friend. The e-mail has all the addresses of the other recipients. Can I take those names and add them to my database?

Ethically, no, I don’t think so.  Legally, again if you have a way for the recipient to unsubscribe to your list, you can probably get away with it, but is that in your best interest? Here’s an example of why this might not be in your business’ best interest.

A couple of years ago there was a new networking group in town. The regional coordinator arbitraily added people to the e-mail database without permission. There was an "unsubscribe", or "opt-out" on the e-mail. A business could opt out of this list, unfortunately, the regional didn’t control the list, so these businesses were arbitraily added back into the database after each networking event, without the business owner’s knowledge or permission.  This strategy leaves the recipient with no choice other than report the business to their internet service provider (ISP). You don’t want that to happen to you.

In these times, it behooves us to be respectful and operate with the utmost integrity, or the goodwill of our business may be irreparably damaged. Please read up on the CanSpam Act and work to keep your business in compliance.

Any comments?

Several months ago I was introduced to Ad Surf Daily (ASD). You sign up, paying a monthly fee of course (they call it an "ad investment"), and simply click on links to "earn" your advertising investment back, and….of course, more $$$$$.

Now, being online for as long as I have been, I knew this was a scam right away. Traffic Swarm does the same thing, for FREE.

It seems the Florida Attorney General and the US Attorney’s office From the District of Columbia have served search warrants on ASD, asserting that they are a "Ponzi scheme … disguised as an advertising company."

California Attorney General, Edmund G. Brown announced on August 5th that the state is filing a lawsuit against Your Travel Biz.com for operating as a "gigantic pyramid scheme" that recruited tens of thousands of members with deceptive claims they could earn huge sums of money through it’s online travel agencies.

Today I received yet another call about an internet "get rich quick" scheme where you have to pay to be an affiliate. Be careful these days. There are those who will try to take advantage of you because they are counting on you not being very internet savvy. In internet marketing, rarely do you pay to be an affiliate.

Here’s a great tip on researching these new offerings….Google the multi-level marketing company name and add "scam", or "sucks" afterwards, so your search term would be….."MLM name" + scam.  Read up about who is involved and what others have to say about the company before investing your hard earned money. I did and discovered that there is a long, questionable history with the people at the top of this "opportunity."

I was told this new product would drive traffic to my website.  Upon further investigation, that claim couldn’t be further from the truth. As much as I like the person trying to sell me this new service, I’m not gullible when it comes to the internet and I could hear this person being coached in the background. Again, be careful. Do your due diligence in checking these firms out and, ask the person trying to convince you that this is the next best "money maker" how many MLM firms they’ve touted in the past 5 years. If it’s more than one, why?

There are MLM firms that offer great products and they sell with high integrity. I’m just urging you to check them out before giving your bucks to them.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.