Article Directory Owners Becoming Spammers?

Sorry you're having this issue Jeremy... but to be fair, not all of us do that Maybe stop using that article directory? If enough people do it, it might get the point across. I hate to say that against anyone, but its true.

You could make a suggestion to him, that he could:

a) make a SEPARATE list (i.e., getresponse or aweber) and only email to those who WANT additional solicitations
b) keep the main list specifically for UPDATES to his system.

Anyone who gets anything from me MUST opt in via the getresponse forms on my site, and even then they don't get emailed daily with the latest IM launches. It's just not worth losing customers / subscribers over IMHO (but then again, I never have rolled with all the 'big guns' so what I say may not be worth much LOL except that I have more respect for my subscribers.)

Amber

You are suppose to get mails but what you say, crossed some boundaries. I knew there were options for you to decide whether to get any mail or not. I am sure now you look into other directories. And I believe all the article are now original again.

Maybe check whether or not you'll be added to a mailing list before deciding whether or not to join the directory?

At Blue Sea Articles, for example, we say to people that they'll be subscribed to a newsletter, and get several gifts, etc when they join the directory. (And yes, we do see people using fake or rarely-used email accounts...)

On the other hand, I can see that it might be a problem if you join a directory and aren't notified that you'll be signed up to a mailing list.

Also, if you're using an article distribution service you may not realize that some of the directories it's signing you up to (on your behalf) may automatically put you on mailing lists.

I can see both sides of the argument, and yes, sending someone emails they haven't been informed about, let alone agreed to receive, is spam... but if it comes about because people use distribution services to sign them up to article directories then it's less clear cut.

What should be clear cut is your ability to unsubscribe without the directory 'punishing' you by deleting all your articles... a bit vicious and I don't know why you'd bother sending them any further articles.

Hmmm...

I hate to say this owning an article directory...

but you know how there are lists of article directories to submit to?

Perhaps there should be a list of article directories that are KNOWN for spamming That way people can decide to post or not (or use a dump email).

Does this guy have it clear in his privacy policy?

As for others doing it too - (as per Dan's post) - do you guys read their privacy policies? (Just curious).

It should be clear if they're going to do this (i.e., share people's emails) - you might be surprised, but there's a few of the gur... ("well known marketers") who actually admit in their privacy policies that they can and very likely will sell or share your email address.

I unsubbed from several after finding that out, (a spammer actually replied where they got the email from - I could tell it was what they thought a legit email) - and now I read every privacy policy before I give an email... if they say they "might", they either get a dump account if its something I really want, or I don't even bother.

I think there's a fine line in marketing these days - and obvoiusly people who own some of the article directories are thinking cha-ching in their minds by abusing the emails, but the stupidity is they're just going to have thousands of fake or dump emails and a bad rep if they don't smarten up. Eesh.

Amber

Jeremy,

I have seen this happening as well. Not a good thing - it gives us directory owners a bad image.

Not all us pitch to our author base, in fact, most of us DON'T.

As you can imagine, the lists can grow very quickly - and knowing that they are all IMers, the directry owner may become greedy and let it get the best of him/her.

Shame.

For the record, I never pitch to my author base - ever. I did mention MyArticleNetwork in a newsletter once, though. LOL

Allen

That brings up another point - it is important to use an email that you will at least be checking every once in a while.

As you know, I am moving my membership site over to another platform (Simple Member Pro). So I have been sending out emails for the last month letting people know about it so they will be ready - because they had to cancel and re-signup.

I have received several dozen emails asking why accounts were canceled or why people couldn't login to the members area.

Had they used an email account that they checked, they would have known about it.

So I guess the moral of the story is that if you are planning on using a certain directory as a major source of your article marketing effort, then you should use an email address that you will be checking.

In Jeremy's case, I would agree that a "throw away" email account would probably suffice.

By the way - Jeremy, how've you been, haven't spoken in a while?!

Allen

Yeah I have noticed it also .. I unsubscribed from a few mailing list yesterday ... I did not signup to get a bunch of junk IM ads tossed in my inbox.

One I got 4 emails from yesterday and that is when I had enough...

"Get This Great New Product"
"Hey, I forgot to mention this goes with that great new product"
"Have you got your new product yet"

I did not join an article directory for this junk .... This is the exact reason I do not signup for opt-in list.

James

Jeremy, you and the others here need to stop whining. It's just an email or 10. You get to put your articles on their site, which helps you. Stop being a girly man. There are bigger things to worry about. Let me see... oh yes, I wouldn't want you for a customer.

OK, sorry. I just wanted to see how it felt to be on the OTHER side for a change. LOL

Sarcasm plug-in disengaged.

John

Choice #3 - set up a filter to delete his messages when they come in.

(I suspect that they're just doing bully marketing and getting paid to piss people off on the dark side. )

What am I missing here?

In another thread I just read last night, Jeremy, you suggest something like this:

1. sign up to a web 2.0 site
2. spam it to death
3. wait till they slap you
4. find another and repeat

Or something like that.

------

Let's consider for a moment the use of article spinners and submitters, which allow us to send our stuff to hundreds and hundreds of article directories with the click of a button...

...while this is obviously not spamming (as in the CAN-SPAM definition thereof), it's kinding of "spamming the web" to some degree, innit?

If every article is good-quality, readable, useful information -- just spun a bunch of times -- then, no, it's not "spamming the web". (And if they're not, then you are "spamming the web" -- Say, is that a real IM term or did I just make that up? Ha!)


But, really, the relationship between most of the article directories out there and bum marketers is a kind of symbiotic one: We (the directory owners) want your content because we will get Adsense revenue, banner advertising revenue, and affiliate commissions, etc. In return we will provide you with the potential for traffic.

Well, maybe the old Adsense game is over. And I don't know what kind of advertising rates the bulk of article directories can command. Not much I imagine.

Maybe it's no longer paying the bills.

Gotta make money somehow, right? They've got a site to maintain that's sending you and I traffic. And that site ain't gonna maintain itself (and our precious backlinks) for free, now is it?

And the implicit agreement when you and I (the bum marketers) signed up was that our content would help both the directory owner get traffic in front of his/her offers and then possibly drive traffic to our sites, too.

Key here, of course, is "our content" not our email addresses.

So, I dig what you're getting at, dude, but it seems a bit raw to me that someone who openly puts it about the forum how he uses all manner of ways to get links and churn out content and spam web 2.0 sites to death and so on should then complain about being sent offers by directory owners.

"sent offers"... hmmm... is that the same as "spammed"? Not sure about that.

In the strictest sense, obviously not: You signed up and confirmed and blah blah blah....

In the sense of "I signed up to get updates about the directory and now they're sending me all these IM-related pitches"... well, yeah, kinda.

But let's be honest here: What you mean when you say you signed up for updates to the directory, etc. is something more like this isn't it:

"I'll agree to sign up, Mr Article Directory Owner, but I don't really expect to hear from you at all ever... okay? Why would you need to send me email? You just sit tight and I'll keep pumping my articles out to you using my Bots. That way you can be happy with your Adsense and other revenue and, uh, just leave me alone. That way we'll both be happy..."

No?

The argument about being hammered with offers on a double opt-in list for related products has been had many times on this forum before. The owners of these directories know you're involved with internet marketing otherwise they you wouldn't be using their directory. This might also explain why the bigger directories don't do this (other than simply not having to resort to such tactics!): A good percentage of folks who post articles to the "big directories" are not hardcore internet marketers, they're just putting their stuff out there for credibility and to drive some traffic to their little old website or blog about their topic of interest/passion. Maybe they sell something there, maybe they don't.

The folks like us who use mass submission tools/services and are happy to post our articles on any (what I've heard called) "bottom-feeding article directories" are hardcore in the sense that we want to or do make a full-time living from that kind of thing.

And the owners of these directories know that. Which means that pitches for internet marketing related stuff is not at all off-topic. It is, in fact, right on topic.

Now, sure, you didn't sign up for product pitch emails, but how is this different from some of the "Big Boys" in IM? You sign up for something and they promise to send you more info about TopicXYZ and then send you salespitches for "ProductABCaboutTopicXYZ" plus an assortment of other offers.

People come on here all the time complaining about that and get slapped down and called cry-babies and so on.

Ain't heard anyone calling you a cry-baby yet in this thread, Jeremy, but it's certainly got that kind of ring about it in my opinion -- especially when you're happy to openly declare and profit from your amoral stand on how to do internet marketing.


TheNightOwl

I think the easiest way to deal with it is to set up a folder called article trash.

Then set up an email rule to send their email to the new folder.

Sorry to hear.So bad and unexpected thing from the article directory owners who are following the spam way. However,

I planned to build some article directories soon and I will never send any offer to the writers or readers.

Thanks

Monsur