How Not To Promote Your Business On The Internet
December 6, 2008
If you want to promote your business on the Internet, do it right. If you make some of these mistakes when you try to promote your business, you could do it more harm than good.
1. Using keyword stuffed names in blog comments and on social networking sites, is a foolish way to promote your business. Folk can’t have a serious conversation with someone called “WoodenFurniture” or “ColonMadness”(yes I really saw that name on Twitter). And building any sort of relationship would be out of the question.
2. Talking persistently on Twitter about how you’ve got almost 2000 followers. Nothing makes folk hit the unfollow button quicker. Folk in social networks want friends who are going to join in the conversation, not count them like sheep.
3. Ripping people off. I was promoting an affiliate product on this blog and the seller offered one of my readers the product for free, if she bought an additional product from her. That was really scammy, as it meant I wouldn’t get any commission for promoting her product. I complained, giving her the opportunity to put things right. But instead she ignored me and wrote a lengthy, drivelling blog post about how she deserves to make money.
If one person calls you a scamming bitch, some folk might think that person has a grudge against you and give you the benefit of the doubt. But do it more than once, maybe someone will write about it and link to other articles or videos that have called you out. And no matter how much you try to promote your business, it won’t do you much good, if you’re known as a scammer.
4. Bombarding webmasters with requests to link to your articles. Get to know folk before you ask them to do stuff for you. I have one guy who does this to me. I’ve never had a conversation with him, beyond his requests to “give his articles the exposure they deserve”. The only exposure his articles get from me now, is to the spam folder, with the rest of the crap I get.
5. Asking favours from folk you haven’t even tried to get to know. I get asked some pretty huge favours, often from complete strangers. Why should folk bother to spend hours doing something for you, when you’ve not even taken the trouble to get to know them? Spelling my name right would be a huge start.
6. Making sycophantic comments on blogs that get more traffic than yours. Being friendly is one thing but there’s a distinctive line between a genuine compliment and false flattery. And folk will see through you, even if they pretend not to.
7. Leaving spam comments all over the Internet. You should know that most folk have Askimet installed to pick up spam. And most bloggers will delete things like “great post – I really like your site”, aside from those who are desperate for comments.
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65 Responses to “How Not To Promote Your Business On The Internet”
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It’s amazing the things that people do. I’ve been answering questions on the WordPress forums and one guy found my website, emailed me, and asked if I used IM because he had a lot more questions. I politely told him that I answer questions on the forums and about my own articles but otherwise I charge for support and training. Geesh – I mean, maybe if I even knew you – I do help people that I actually know.
I think this is my favorite part of your article – ‘Spelling my name right would be a huge start” – lol
Kim Woodbridge’s last blog post..Preparing for the Release of WordPress 2.7
Cath, another great to-the-point post.
I don’t get why people go on about their follower numbers. Even quite sensible people do it. The numbers don’t mean anything, beyond a reflection of how aggressively you go out and follow people who’ll follow back.
I’m getting really fed up with the e-mails asking for link exchanges or to buy links from me. I try to be polite in my answers in case they’re genuine but misguided, but maybe I shouldn’t bother.
Joanna Young’s last blog post..Generosity: in 2 Syllables or Less
Cath, you’re brilliant. I love you. Seriously. I usually have a policy of not commenting on the weekend but this was such a pleasurable read. Thank you.
Vered – MomGrind’s last blog post..Are Blogs And eBooks Inferior To Printed Books?
he – he -he I saw that tweet. The thing is, it was the only one I had seen from that person and yes, it caused me to quit following as well.
Kathy – Virtual Impax’s last blog post..You can’t make money sitting on your ass
Hi Kim – I’ve had those types in forums before – but investment forums. They made me stop using instant messaging.
Hi Joanna – exactly – now these stupid ad companies are setting up and people are trying to get paid for tweets they probably want to capitalize on it. These people have a cheek asking to buy links. You could get your pages dropped from Google for selling them.
Hi Vered – thank you. I’m glad you liked it. Sometimes it’s fun to read on weekends.
Hi Kathy – I’m guessing it was the same guy – copywriter with glasses?
LOL Why do I miss all the fun? Instead I’m driving up to the cabin to retrieve a stray family vehicle and turning around again all in one day. In 15 degree weather with a 25 mph wind! When I could be hearing from ColonMadness? W.T.F? LMAO
Seriously, Cath, I’m beginning to think of you as the Bill O’Reilly of the blogosphere, as in you are always looking out for us. Now that I know what not to do, maybe I can figure out what *to* do. Thanks.
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Hi Betsy – I was ROFL when I got an email saying ColonMadness is following you on Twitter.
I had to look up Bill O’Reilly – he sounds interesting. I’m putting together some free downloads to help you know “what to do.” Hopefully they will be done by christmas.
Cath, Hard to argue with any of your points. Given the amount of negative press these techniques get, you wonder how it is that people still try them. I just can’t figure it out.
Brad Shorr’s last blog post..Today Is Cell Abuse Blog Contest Deadline
Hi Brad – I know – it’s silly isn’t it. I guess some of them just don’t know what they’re doing. Or they might have taken the wrong advice. And the rest are porbably just incredibly stupid.
Cath; Great post – I really like your site. Only kidding. All these points about how to be good bloggers are really pointers as to how to behave in society in general. Perhaps the socially inadequate should take up blogging to learn some etiquette.
Stevieboy66’s last blog post..Handling Customer Complaints In 9 Easy Steps
Hi Cath. Colon Madness? Alrighty then. I hope they’re not too full of themselves
I honestly have to shake my head at this list. I have to agree with Betsy… thanks for lighting our way.
Davina’s last blog post..Step Out Of Crisis And Into Power
Great Article, along with tweeting about how you have 2000 followers is another strange thing I see. Follow this person so they can get to 2000 followers? I follow people because they are interesting, not to help them reach some goal. I dont know them, so I dont care about them getting to 2000 followers. That lets me know the person is not going to be interested in me, they just want some numbers.
Dr. Wright
The Wright Place TV Show
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Hi Catherine – Great list. This is a list all bloggers should read. It’s could be “Blogging Etiquette, Part II”.
Ripping people off is a huge “no-no”. Blogosphere is WAY too small to try and pull that one off.
Barbara Swafford – Blogging Without A Blog’s last blog post..Come Out, Come Out, Where Ever You Are
Hi Stevie – That sounds like a brilliant idea. Maybe we should start a blogging boot camp for the socially inadequate.
Hi Davina LMAO – There’s definitely some nutters out there. What sane person would call themselves colon madness?
Hi Dr Wright – It sucks doesn’t it. As you say – you follow folk cos they’re interesting. The 2000 follower folk just tweet about how many followers they have.
Hi Barbara – I can’t understand people ripping folk off either. It’s obvious they’re going to tell others to help them avoid getting stung.
[...] you will make some mistakes. Some might harm more than you could ever predict, so here’s a list of what not to do when promoting your business online from Cath [...]
[...] Jason Cohen in a guest post over at On Startups gives 6 Reasons Why This Economy Is Good For Startups. Tom Volkar also has a great post on Grounding your Business Vision. (For some really great tips on what NOT to do once you’ve made the leap, read Cath Lawson’s How Not To Promote Your Business On The Internet) [...]
Good advice. What do you think about leaving signatures in your comment? If you actually make a real comment that engages and joins the conversation, do you feel leaving a signature and link back to a site is poor etiquette? The reason I ask is because I do that a lot, and most bloggers don’t care because the comments are real. Some asked me to stop and I of course do. I was wondering what your feelings on the issue are.
Hi Craig – Thanks. If someone leaves a signature, but their comment is genuine, I’ll allow it occasionally – depending what they have in their signature..
But I prefer it when folk just tick commentluv. On blogs – we already give links to the commenters site in the link from the name. And commentluv also gives a link to the last post. If you use good post titles, folk are more likely to click through to your blog.
I’ve come across the self-promotional type on many occasions! They’re easy to spot and let me just say, nothing is worse than that type of behavior. In most cases it does nothing more than annoy and has the opposite effect of attracting new readers (at least in my opinion. I know I run in the opposite direction when that sort of person approaches me). Just sayin’…
Ricardo Bueno’s last blog post..Yup…I’m Addicted to Social Media! You?
@Craig: I belong to a social network… When I leave comments on that network, I place my signature (my RB logo) but I don’t link back to it. A blogger once approached me and asked me to remove the link-back and I kindly did. We’ve since become great friends.
The reason I removed the link was because it was considered bad form (and I see that now). The info. field that we fill out when we leave comments already gives us a link-back to our blog. We don’t have to drop more links (or sneak them in via signatures).
Anyway, I’m not saying “hey, STOP DOING THAT.” Just sharing an experience is all.
Ricardo Bueno’s last blog post..Yup…I’m Addicted to Social Media! You?
@ Ricardo Thanks for sharing you experience. I have had similar experiences, where bloggers would request that I remove the backlink and I would out of respect, and would email back and forth a few times. I am pretty new to social media and am trying to learn the proper unwritten etiquette involved so I can be more involved with participating with others and joining in on conversations. In the future I will just comment without a signature. Thanks for the tips.
Great post Cath. I have been an entrepreneur for almost 20 years now but just now getting into social media and ebooks. I just released my ebook last week and have been very tempted to do some of the things you mentioned. I am learning…and expect great things to happen in the days ahead if I can approach the market the right way.
Any feedback on my new site and free ebook would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks again for the info!
Cath, you’ve the point here. I hated those commentators that never put their real name/nickname instead of those ridicolous websites’ name…lol
By the way, I hope that my comments didn’t count as the “Spams,” Cath lol
wilhb81’s last blog post..The Useful Business Tips 10: 5 Ultimate Tips for Improving Your Business!
Hi Ricardo – that is true – a lot of folk wouldnt click through if there was too much self promotion. I guess it would just be seen as spammy. I don’t know if you’ve seen those forum signatures with about 5 lines of different links in. I doubt whether anyone clicks them.
Hi Craig – people on here are quite curious anyway. If they see your face a few times, they’ll come and check you out.
Hi Mike – Thank you. There’s a lot to learn, isn’t there? I’ll definitely check out your site and your ebook and give you some feedback.
Hi Wilhb – no you don’t count as spam. If you did, I would have put you in the spam folder. What I was referring to is when folk have say, a blog which sells flat screen tv’s.
What they do is keyword stuff the name, to get a relevant link back to their site. So in the name section, it would say Flat Screen TV’s.
It’s usually product names they do it with. I don’t mind if it’s a non-product name, so long as it’s not a silly or offensive name.
My absolute favorite spam comments are the ones who find me on the various “commentluv” lists that are floating around out there.
I’ve actually commented myself on a few popular blogs that have made post about the commentluv plugin, and I subscribed to updates.
Every once in a while I’ll get one of those “great post” type comments. When I go check my email, sure enough the exact same comment (word for word) has also been left on the other blogs.
It would almost be funny, if it wasn’t so sad.
Where do all these clueless people come from?
Todd
Todd Morris’s last blog post..What I’m Reading – December 14, 2008
Hi Todd – I didn’t realise spam commenters were finding us through commentluv.
It is sad that they do it. I read somewhere that spammers make a sale to something like 1 person in 12 million. It doesn’t seem worth the effort.
Some great tips there Cath.
The funny thing is, is that a lot of those things are common sense, or perhaps common is the wrong word? Because so many people don’t seem to abide by simple etiquette with their online business ventures, and the loss is theirs at the end of the day. The internet is turning into a very social environment, and those that don’t play by its rules will be the ones that miss out.
And just reading your comment now, a conversation ratio of 1:12,000,000 would surely be an indication to a person that their tactics needed changing.
Commentluv really do bring me to your blog.. interesting plugin. Keyword is also important for your blog to increse traffic, nice blog for knowledge hehe thanks!
Melvin’s last blog post..From Drab to Fabulous
I’ve found the quality of your site’s content to be far more superior than that of the other sites I’ve looked at today on this same topic. Keep up the great work!
hi, Thanks for your sharing. This information is useful for me.
melissa’s last blog post..An Overview of Chris Carpenters New Google Cash Detective
It does not make any sense to talk to a person with a keyword name rather I would prefer to speak to a person with their original names. Where there is a contionous flow of conversation, no matter whether its on twitter or any forums or blogs, the others become more interested in knowing who you are and thus you promote your business.
funny (and accurate) list. it’s refreshing to see a list of what not to do – sort of balances out the million “here’s what you have to do”
i would also add, don’t blog/comment on something that you very limited knowledge of…
very informative post,my problem is implementation,i will endeavour to put this to good use……thanking you..
I agree with you 100% I asked on Elance to write a bunch of articles for me and the girl from Pakistan staff the articles with too many words. I had hard time explainng to her ethat she is spamming. But I agree with you holehardedly.
Good show.
Great post! Thanks for that and I will see if I can do it successfanatic.com
business marketing strategy’s last blog post..What Happened To American Dreamers?
Thanks for really taking the fact which normally nobody give attention to while promoting theri business online. I shall keep your valuable tips in mind while promoting my online niche.
At the last I must appreciate that your post is unique and I find it very useful for the people who like to take it that way. Congratulation on your success and hard work. With Blessing, Money Maker.
HudHUd’s last blog post..Make Money Selling Hot Items Online
Great list. I think you’ve cover about everything that annoys the beans out of me. I sign into a “yahoo groups: that I was intersted in and I kid you not, I recieved probably 100 emails the first day.
Joe’s last blog post..Advice on Starting a Home Based Business
Cath,
Very infighting post, it’s true I have a relative new blog and already Askimet caught so many spammers it’s amazing that kind of behavior.
The same in Twitter you receive so many spam DM that lately I mostly don’t read them, just delete them automatically, but I got some remarks from friends because of that…LOL
I really liked the post and will for sure continue following your blog.
This is a very good plugin, now I can easily add this and benefit my users. Thank you very much.
Thank you for this blog its should be an insperation especiall to the new network marketers that don’t know any better. It is a struggle and most people will do what thier gut instinct tells them if they don’t know any better. We need leaders that inspire new marketers. I know when I started I would try the spam game that doesn’t work and it does not pay off!
This is a very good plugin, now I can easily add this and benefit my users. Thank you very much.
Cath,
I really like your first point about keyword stuffing your name. I didn’t log into one of my blogs for a couple of weeks and when I came back, I had nearly 500 spam comments. Thankfully, I don’t auto approve my comments. Most of them were probably generated by some commenting software. Keep up the great articles. Glad I stumbled on your blog:)
Jason’s last blog post..Micro Niche Finder Tutorial – Part 4
Hi Cath – as always, you hit on a great subject.
Thanks again
thaks at all ……..
bu yaz? tamamen blog kelimesinde 1. olmak amaç? ?le yaz?lm?st?r.
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but how do you deal with such people who are overt self promoters with tag lines as “2000 followers on twitter, are you missing something”
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Cath, you nailed it on the head with this post!
Jay’s MasterMind’s last blog post..Viral Video Secrets Exposed Part 1
Seems like a good advice, although I’m not promoting any business so I can’t do it wrong
But there are a lot of spam commenters out there, or actually spam-trackbackers are even more common, so I’d hope more people would read this post as none of that spam helps with business, blog or anything.
Zemalf’s last blog post..How To Join Your First Affiliate Program
had to look up Bill O’Reilly – he sounds interesting. I’m putting together some free downloads to help you know “what to do.” Hopefully they will be done by christmas.
Seems like a good advice, although I’m not promoting any business so I can’t do it wrong But there are a lot of spam commenters out there, or actually spam-trackbackers are even more common, so I’d hope more people would read this post as none of that spam helps with business, blog or anything.
Right on! Just deliver a good product, promote it ethically, and be available when there’s a problem…
Bill’s last blog post..Traffic Building Ideas
Thank you for posting this. It is an excellent post.
Blog Marketer’s last blog post..A Neophytes Manual To The Basics Of Seo.
Glad I came across this blog. I will use this info in the future. Keep it comin
Traverus’s last blog post..Chris Waston- Executive Line – 1.888.258.0664
I see alot of new small business try to get things off the ground using myspace to gather customers based on the items in their profile pages. spamming them with friend requests if they like certain past times etc.
True Protein Discount’s last blog post..TrueProtein 10% off Discount Code BNT602
but how do you deal with such people who are overt self promoters with tag lines as “2000 followers on twitter, are you missing something”
yakup’s last blog post..Agnitum Outpost Personal Firewall Free
had to look up Bill O’Reilly – he sounds interesting. I’m putting together some free downloads to help you know “what to do.” Hopefully they will be done by christmas.
ceza’s last blog post..Ceza Diskografi
It’s unfortunate people are looking for quick riches and not realizing this is a people business. Glad you brought this up, because there are so many people doing this and it gets pretty old.
Kevin Tan’s last blog post..Article Marketing Tips: How To Build Permanent Traffic With Article Marketing
Most of what you said is common sense, but some of it sounds like sour grapes to me. Perhaps it is just in the attitude I get from from you by reading the article. I for one do not find it bad taste for one to use a user name that has something to do with the web site they are promoting. I often use SEORaleigh as a user name when blogging, not because I want to advertise so much as it defines where my expertise is and I believe tells a bit about me before I start blogging back and forth with someone. So I guess what I am saying is there are two sides to each issue and in this one part I have to disagree with you.
It’s unfortunate people are looking for quick riches and not realizing this is a people business. Glad you brought this up, because there are so many people doing this and it gets pretty old.
online müzik dinle’s last blog post..?zel – Yok Yere ?ark? Sözleri
It’s unfortunate people are looking for quick riches and not realizing this is a people business. Glad you brought this up, because there are so many people doing this and it gets pretty old.
I really like your site. Only kidding. All these points about how to be good bloggers are really pointers as to how to behave in society in general
Techno freakz’s last blog post..Download Rapidshare Files Without Limitation and Without Premium Account
Great post! You clearly pointed out the DON’Ts on promoting a business in the internet.
Thank you so much!
Your definitely right, using keyword as name is somewhat irritating to see. usually when we are talking to someone, we wanted to know his/her real name because it really matters a lot in building good relationship.
by the way this is my site hope you like it also..
Bing Management
At the end of the day it is all common sense. People act online in a different way to the way they would act in person. Always have the same principles online as you have offline and you won’t go far wrong.
I don?t usually reply to posts but I will in this case. WoW