Adword scoundrels make me sick

[Artashes]

Well done, Vito.

Btw, when I first saw this thread (Dec 7), I dispatched an email to DemoPlaza:

Greetings,

I found your web site through Google by searching for DemoDemo.com tutorials. Your AdWords ad claimed you have DemoDemo tutorials. I am interested in purchasing them. How much do you charge for those because I definitely did not find them on your web site.

Thank you,
Artashes

Because their contact form on the site doesn't function, I had to use the email listed in domain whois. I never received a reply.

 

[vito]

Well, he clearly received your email, as he immediately changed the keywords in his campaign. He just never had the guts or character to reply to you.

Vito

 

[Artashes]

True on both accounts.

 

[Rochen]

I just clicked through on DemoPlaza's ad. I was 'interested' to see what services they offered. That being said, I will be keeping my business with DemoDemo :thumbsup:

- Chris

 

[vito]

Thanks, Chris. I appreciate the support. 🙂

Vito

 

[mjzhosting]

I'm getting so sick of bottom feeders who seem to feel that the only way they can build their "business" is by unethically and illegally riding the coattails of popular brands. :angry:

Do a Google search for "demodemo" and see what shows up in the Adwords on the right. It's bad enough when these dregs use the popularity of my brand to get exposure. It's quite another to actually claim right in their ad that they sell "demodemo flash tutorials". And to rub add insult to injury, after clicking their Adwords link (several times :angry: ) and visiting their site, their product is really poor quality and I resent the association of this crap product to my brand.

Needless to say, I fired off an email to Google. Other than that, what would you recommend that I do to shut down this practice?

Vito

...

Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to get these guys to stop using my brand name as a keyword for their ad campaigns.

Seems to happen quite often. Do a search for pingzine or soholaunch (some of those are legit) or httpme. Or even search for plesk and look at the sponsored ensim link at the top.

Sheesh.

Is it not common SEO practice to shamelessly flaunt keywords that are known to be popular? For example, picture rating websites may "shamelessly" use the keyword "hotornot" in an attempt to gain hits, etc. Take it as flattery instead of wasting anger on it.

It will be interesting to see if Google cares though.

Hmm.. could be my English again. 🙂

What I meant was to target a meaningful competitor, not 16 yo boy with ripped off tutorials.

I used the word "relatively" because Demodemo is huge compared to most competitors. Sort of like a whale. 🙂

Any I making any sense now? 🙂

Exactly, this is what I'm talking about here. How destructive does one need to become in order to maintain an already vast hegemony/quasi-monopoly? Does your form of competitive destructiveness somehow represent a superior form of morality by default simply because it has the dominant ability to play by the rules of an inherently unethical system? Is demoplaza.com "backstabbing" you by using a common SEO tactic and playing by the rules of the very same inherently unethical system? What is worse here? ... or even better, what is the best route to achieve reconciliation? Judging the humanistic failings on both parts (no one is perfect)? Or judging their economic catalysts?

To avoid personal flaming, "thinking outside the box" will be required to reckon with these questions.

Too much? Do you think Google would even allow me to display such an ad?

Vito

haha, that ad is awesome, probably the best way to deal with the matter in fact. I don't think it's too much at all. You should be free to do what you wish with your brand name and there aren't many better routes one can take than comedic and original expression. Incidentally, demoplaza.com too is free to do what they wish with the keyword, "demodemo", but now they have to reckon with your checkmate. This really is an interesting realization of the limits of conventional competition...

 

[Senad]

Hey Vito since we are talking about demodemo.com and competitors stealing your keywords here.... well I'm curious about the product. Like any good customer I've been "shopping" around and looking at your competition to compare the differences. The templates look very similar with yours but what is the difference between demodemo.com and those cheap $20 demos? Besides quality of service that is 😀.

 

[vito]

Hi Senad:

I hesitate in answering since this is not a sales thread, but you asked, so I will reply.

I'm always careful/mindful when answering this question because I never wish to put down any competitor in order to show differences. I'd rather focus on the pluses that I offer in my product. But sometimes you end up crossing that vague line out of necessity to make your point.

Anyone can throw a basic tutorial together. Anyone can put in text captions that merely say "Click here" and "Enter password here". It's quite another thing to put together an effective instructional tutorial. Creating an effective tutorial involves proper storyboarding, research into the product itself and effective delivery to caption text. A good tutorial will often include extra relevant information or tips. For instance, when changing nameservers at a registrar, you can just say "Click here" to finish the process, or you can also add info about propagation taking 24-72 hours. In a cPanel tutorial about creating a MySQL database, you can just say "Click here", or you can also add info about how cPanel automatically prepends the database name and user with the account's username. When creating a tutorial in Plesk on how to add your logo to the header, you can just say "Click here" or you can also say that it should be in jpg or gif format, and that the ideal size is 558x50.

Well, you get the idea. Before I produce a series, I always go through all available docs to pick out valuable "extra" info that is then incorporated into the lesson. Telling someone to click here and there isn't really a lesson. Explaining to someone why they are clicking is.

Aside from that, take a look around at product on the market. Pay attention to spelling and grammar. Pay attention to timing of frames and mouse clicks. Pay attention to proper formatting of text boxes. Pay attention to consistent location (or lack thereof) of text boxes. Pay attention to overall continuity of product. All of the subtle (and not so subtle) points contribute to the overall quality of product, as well as effectiveness as a learning tool.

Aside from all fo that, consider the provider. Does the site offer just a few tutorial series, or can you select from a large inventory covering many different products? Will the provider be there in 6 months or 2 years when it's time to update the tutorials or buy more? What kind of customer service can you expect?

Anyways, there's more, but I won't bore you.

Vito

 

[Senad]

Thanks for your answer Vito, explained it very nicely (I was going to ask you to go on but you have fish to fry 😀)