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| Suzanne Haring performs at a movie premier. |
From time to time, the BHQ team is forced to delicately deal with the topic of spam. We say 'delicately' because the content that most aggravates our community is not the unwanted messages that occasionally make it through the Postini filters to the Email Forums. It's the messages put forward by members of our own balloon community that have the overall feel of an advertising sales pitch rather than genuine enthusiasm. From time to time, BHQ volunteer columnists, list subscribers, members, and even long-standing advertisers have all found themselves crossing into the realm of the spammer, as defined by popular opinion.
How does one recognize this fine line and stay on the safe side? Basically it comes down to the question, "Are you pushing something?" If your promotion points people to your web site/event/phone number/products, that's advertising. When you convey that message to lots of people that haven't asked for it, it's spam. Our members have made it very clear that they don't want any spam from anyone. And, we have had advertisers pull ads because they felt others (advertisers and non-advertisers) were abusing the areas of BHQ that are free. Vocal anti-spam folks are quick to hit a button and send a report back to their ISP when they see something that they judge is spam. Within minutes we get reports back from AOL and other large ISPs reporting an excessive number of complaints. BHQ messages then start to be rejected at the ISP level. That creates trouble for us as administrators and also stops the originator of the message from reaching a receptive target audience.
Luckily, the BHQ user community is extemely supportive of colleagues and advertisers. The (not so tricky) trick is to supply your information through the areas that people expect to see advertisements. These include BHQ monthly Press Releases, Classified Ads, Banner Ads, and sponsored Event Coverage. In some instances, a listing in our balloonhq.net Hot News zone would be applicable as well. In the past, small businesses with a brand new product have been welcomed to post a single annoucement to the email forums. This is still an option, but the message may or may not be deemed as spam by the community. People are very savvy and quick to pick up on genuine input and someone trying to push the limits. (Asking a group of people to rave about your thing within a few days is a fairly transparent ploy.)
We would ask the community to show some leniency to individuals in the balloon industry, and also to double check their spam tolerance settings. Often, automated software generates spam reports. If BHQ transmissions aren't set as allowed content, information can get unfairly flagged as spam. Sometimes individuals report a message as spam that looks like it came from us, but actually didn't. That can get real BHQ content shut out by service providers as well.
I recently attended a lunch time seminar on current tips for optimizing a web site's placement in search engine listings. The presentation was skewed toward Google, but the information was valid for search engines in general. The most relevent point showcased the transition in search algorithms from detecting appropriate keywords in web site content (written information) to seeking keyword phrases. Select one to three word keyword phrases that are relevent to your business and use the exact wording throughout the page... in the title bar, in the page header, and in the meta tag description.
To see how your web site stacks up on this point, try doing a google search using a short set of descriptive keywords that a customer might type to discover any business offering the types of services that you do. Now, use the Googlerankings Ultimate SEO tool to determine if that keyword grouping is actually present in your web page! If the keywords aren't embedded in your page content, there's no way that that page will show as a high ranked option in the search engine results.
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| This themed arch was tailor made for a children's party. |
Gina Savonell is the creative director of ExtraordinAIRS Event Decorating in Rochester, New York USA. Her extensive portfilio is full of great ideas for themed parties and classic decor, be they large or small.
See Gina Savonell's ExtraordinAIRS BHQ Portfolio.
