atlasdivers,
Here is the
OFFICIAL POSITION on Commercial Advertising on this forum ...
It
IS ALLOWED and can be done
IF it is
done right...
Now let me explain ...
I only ask that you follow 2 rules really, and the few we have had so far, besides yours, have been done correctly for which I thank those of you that have done so (ie Natasha, JP, jenmichigan, etc. You were all very polite and professional about it... Kudos to you).
1)
No "Hit and Run's" - Which is looking like you did exactly that... Don't join the forum just to slap us upside the head with your ad and then leave. Doing so just irritates everyone.
2)
Don't be so obvious about it - Am I saying to be more sneaky about it?
YES, I AM... You obviously know about setting your "signature" so that it shows at the end of all your post. This is a nice way, and you have done so correctly. The other correct way, which most recently done by "JP" is to start a discussion on your sites topic. Meaning, ask for peoples thoughts, opinions or knowledge on the subject. In your case, you would have been ok to give your URL in responding to someone's question when it answers the question. For example ...
Don: "Where can I find Pink Lace Leotard after dive wear?"
Mario: "Don, I love to wear that stuff so much that I make and sell it at my site now, try:
http://www.Marios-Pink-Lace-Wear.com"
But, as you can see, this would require you to actually contribute something useful, because if those are the only questions you answered then no one would get to know you and they wouldn't trust your opinion.
Let me tell you this much, take it however you like. For more than 9 years now I have been a
Professional Internet Consultant, providing Corporations everything from custom network design, building and implementation, and designing, setting up and building their web presence and e-comm online. What you have done above is equal to "SPAMMING" if not worse! What you have now effectively done is make sure that many people will never trust you nor your website, especially because (and I truly hope I am wrong but ...) I am sure that we wont be seeing anymore of you. 99% of the
Fly-By Spam's result in the person never returning, since they were not here for anything more than to spam.
I, for one, would greatly question the legitimacy of your website for a few reasons. You have just shown 100's of divers how you conduct business and presented them with a distasteful 1st impression. Because of your poor choice of "marketing" and "promotion" people will question the rest of your business, such as:
1) Is this just a "Fly-by-night" operation that wont be there next week?
2) What if I need customer support? Is the above post an example of how they treat everyone?
3) If they are willing to stoop this low to market their product how low will they stoop to conduct the rest of any transaction?
And the list goes on and on ....
Do you realize that some people are very offended by spam? Do you know that a simple
Registrant Search will tell everyone everything they need to know about you? Like your location:
ATLAS DIVERS
18706 Candlechase Drive
SPRING, TX 77388
281-350-9909
or the e-mail address used in domain registration:
hollo@flash.net
And even the company you use for hosting?
http://www.main.com/
Which people can and will use to
Complain and get your website shut down for spamming? This is very real and many hosting companies have a very strict policy against spam! Additionally they see your site's contact e-mail uses
Flash.net for its service and could
Complain there too. The registrant may show flash.net but your website is with main.com which your website shows the e-mail address is
joe@atlasdivers.com ... whew, you've been busy!
Do you understand that your Internet Access Provider,
RoadRunner Cable Service could also be
contacted (abuse@rr.com) and you could lose your
HIGH SPEED access???
Someone could then begin to wonder why they see so many different e-mail addresses for everything you do... Are you hiding something? Is this just some sort of SCAM? On your website right next to your e-mail address is "Atlas Divers is an online internet retail dive shop which can be reached
only through the internet"??? Hmmmm ... someone could only wonder if things are really starting to sound fishy with all this covert loop-jumping!!!
Only through the Internet? That's not what I see above! It looks like there is more than one way to skin a spammer... Not to mention when I view your profile through the admin I noticed you turned off viewing of your "YET ANOTHER" e-mail address, (which I wont show because you entered it with the understanding that it was done in privacy and I respect what someone enters and expects to be private) but I made sure to change it back to your websites posted e-mail address. I also noticed you turned off notification of replies to your post which in this case makes me wonder if it's because you knew you would be flamed and didn't want to be bothered with the upset people. Well, I turned it back on so you could at least receive notification of this post.
Everyone makes mistakes, and we can all understand that, but we will wait and see if we get an apology or if the posts between yours and mine are right in their being upset. So now we ask, are you a legit service and care about potential customers, or were you just spamming us? Only your business's reputation is on the line here!
I truly hope you take responsibility and respond respectfully...
=-)
