Thursday, March 13, 2008

I Cannot See Your Ads!

I'm surfing in Traffic Exchanges as a pro-active way to grab visitors for my website and offers. I also promote this blog in a few exchanges - you may have ended up on this blog if you're a member of some of the same exchanges that I use.

Again - here is the problem:

I cannot see your ads!

The reason:

You are promoting a page only which happens to have a video or clunky audio load on it!

The Traffic Exchange I am using has a 20 second timer but your video/audio takes 40 seconds to load. I can't wait for it to load because I have to 'get surfing' and earn credits.

I'm really sorry but I missed your offer.

Here's a solution:

Promote a SPLASHPAGE which has a link on it - leading to your page with the video/audio.

If I have time and your splash page is attrative and gains my attention, I will visit your page with the video/audio on it and check out your offer.

Here's a Traffic Exchange that will allow you to make a Splash Page from within your member area. The program already gives you more than 5 professionally designed splash pages connected with referral links for the Traffic Exchange itself. Therefore, you can use the splash page generator on-site to create a splash page for one of your other programs.

The exchange is Click Voyager:


Here are 3 examples of Splash Pages that Click Voyager already has in each member's area for each member to use for promotion:

Click Voyager "Surfing League" Splashpage

Click Voyager "Think You Can Keep Up?"/Contest Splashpage

Click Voyager "Surfer Stopper" Splashpage

There are more free, ready made splash pages for you to use inside your Click Voyager account when you sign up for free. I just showed 3 of them so you can have a look and make sure that the pages load quickly (they do!) and are attractive.

If you want your pages to actually be seen, and you're using Traffic Exchanges and click programs with timers, it is a good idea to direct viewers to your pages via splashpages.

You may think "oh, well, if my page is not directly shown FIRST, I haven't got a chance!" but YOU ARE WRONG!

If a person visits your page after clicking PAST your splash page, they have already made the decision to SEE YOUR PAGE and learn more about your offer. Otherwise, no, they won't go past your splash page. In the latter case, you have had only as much 'luck' as in showing your bad-loading referral/promo page with the vid/audio components that people aren't really paying attention to anyway.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Comical Spammer/Scam Son of Jefri Bolkiah

Here's a GREAT Spam email that I received today

* Note - do NOT click on links - I aim to disable them with spacing after I paste, but just in case, keep clear of anything that looks like a link in this post!

Dear Friend,
I am Fayad, the son of PRINCE JEFRI BOLKIAH who was the former Finance Minister along side chairman of the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA). Before I proceed, I would like you to view the website below as reported by the British Broadcasting Co-operation (BBC) for a better understanding of what am about to explain to you:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/67095 somethingelseblahblahblahLINKDISABLED!

As you may know from the international media above, the Sultan had falsely accused my father of financial mismanagement and impropriety of US$14.8 Billion. The huge loss was as a result of the Asian financial crisis which made government owned Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) to be declared bankrupt. I had dispatched money US$600 Million under special arrangement abroad and now I seek your good will & assistance to receive and invest these funds into profitable business investment in your country to facilitate future survival for me and my family abroad.
The amount accrued from the crude oil sales over the period of six years and The funds have nothing to do with any form of illegality and all documentations needed to authenticate the fact that the funds are clean and has no links whatsoever with either drugs or terrorism where processed. The money where Deposited with a safe Deposit Company in United Kingdom from where they where dispatched into various Warehouses in the following countries: US$50 Million is in England, US$60 Million is in Belgium, US$100 Million is in Spain, US$40 Million is in Saudi Arabia, US$ 80 Million is in United Arab Emirate, US$100 Millions in Malaysia, US$ 70 Million in Canada while the balance of US$100 Million are in two (2) offshore Banks.
I am unable to reach my friends & associates whom would have provided all the much needed moral and financial assistance I require to release the funds because my private/personal diary was seized by the Sultan. I seek your good will & assistance to receive and invest these funds into profitable business investment in your country to facilitate future survival for me and my family abroad. I am counting on your absolute transparency, honesty and confidentiality which this transaction deserves while looking forward to your prompt reply.
I am counting on your absolute confidentiality, transparency and trust towards a swift conclusion of this project.
I await your Urgent Reply.
Sincerely,
Fayad
bfayad3@yahoo.com

So anyhow, at least I know, before I delete this email that Fayad thinks of me as a friend!

Awwwe. I wonder if Fayad's real name is Jeffrey or Geoffrey something-last name-that-starts with a 'b'?

Certainly we all should have heard of Prince Jefri, now, right?

Please do me a favour, people...

Take a day out of the week and spend just 5 minutes REPORTING these emails instead of clicking the convenient delete checkbox and deleting in mass quantities. Yes, I know that most people are now aware of and are able to detect spam/scam mails at a glance with silly headlines like "I am the son of prince to give you money" and "You have been named as heir to--" but these still need to be reported.

Otherwise, spammer/scammers just switch to another convenient free hotmail or yahoo address and keep on spamming/scamming. Sometimes, even though some email services are 'anonymous' ones, they are able to detect users who spam and report to their internet service providers, telephone companies, etc. It's a long shot - but isn't it better than constantly checking boxes forever?

* Note - the looks of the original link were very misleading - seeming to be from an internet website that most people would trust. The link LOOKED LIKE a reputable International NEWS and REPORTING website - and the son of the prince asked me to go check out the news story there so I would 'know' that he is legitimate....again - blahblahblah, right?

SOME PEOPLE would click on that link, thinking they were going to the trusted news source.

But we know better, eh?

;)