20,433 Elephant Lovers Say Goodbye to GoDaddy for NameCheap

It was just a couple weeks ago that the CEO of GoDaddy released a video of himself hunting down helpless elephants and taking some nasty footage the whole way through. Standing in front of his killed elephant like a fool, did Bob Parsons, CEO of GoDaddy, even think about the consequences of his actions and footage which would soon spawn across millions of web sites and domain owners? … or was Bob Parson simply looking for the attention he tries to get every year with his Superbowl commercials that always try to push the envelope? Either way, he did get the attention, but he also helped GoDaddy lose a decent amount of customers and increase the competition at the same time.

Long story short… once the video and story was released on GoDaddy’s elephant video, the drama and boycott started. NameCheap was smart enough to think of a way to both attack GoDaddy, take their customers and also help donate to saving the elephants. NameCheap created a coupon code that would allow you to transfer domains away from GoDaddy for a lower price, and a portion would also go to charity.

I’ve been very curious how successful this campaign was, and some numbers were actually released today.

“Domain registrar Namecheap said thousands of outraged customers transferred 20,433 Web domains to their service in the fallout over a graphic hunting video showing GoDaddy chief Bob Parsons shooting an elephant.

A spokesperson for the small L.A.-based registrar said that a “majority” of the transfers were from GoDaddy, and that a special “Save the Elephants” deal rolled out after the scandal reaped $80,000 in revenue.”

It’s quite amazing to see that over 20,000 domains were transferred away from GoDaddy to NameCheap. You can read the full story and watch the original elephant hunting video here.

Although the “Save the Elephants” campaign is now over, you can still save money by using coupon code “SWITCH2NC“, which will take off $1 per domain transfer.

07 April, 2011 Posted by: Zac Johnson Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing, Bad Companies, Blogging

All Your Emails Are Belong To Us

Being that the majority of us all manage our rewards cards, membership program, banking statements and credit cards online, I’m sure you’ve receive at least one of the following emails over the past few days.

Dear “Company Name Here” Customer,

“Company Name Here“‘s email service provider, Epsilon, has recently informed us that your email address may have been exposed due to unauthorized access of Epsilon’s system. We’ve been told that this unauthorized access was limited to only name and email addresses of some Beachbody customers, with no other information accessed.

As a result of this incident, it is possible that you may receive spam email messages, emails that contain links containing computer viruses or other types of computer malware, or emails that seek to deceive you into providing personal or credit card information.

We recommend that you always be extremely cautious with emails from persons or entities you do not recognize or know, and specifically:

- Don’t open links or attachments from third parties you don’t know or recognize;
- Don’t provide any personal or other sensitive information by email to third parties you don’t know or recognize; and
- Don’t provide a credit or debit card number, bank or other account details, or any other financial information by email to any third parties you don’t know or recognize.

We regret that this incident has occurred and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.

If you have unsubscribed in the past, there is no need to unsubscribe again. Your preferences will remain in place.Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions at emailsecurity@companyname.com.

Sincerely,
Company CEO Name,
Company Name

I first started receiving these emails a few days ago, then the major new spread around quickly that Epsilon was hacked and all the emails were on the loose. Just a few of the names I’ve received emails from include HiltonHonors, Target, Best Buy, Wallgreens and more.

The Epsilon security breach is noted as one of the largest ever, even though it was only email records. Head over to Google News and perform a search for “Epsilon” and you will see articles all over the place on how the attack is affecting Epsilon, their partner companies and how it’s now spreading to other countries. Imagine who has access to this powerful list of emails now, and what could be done with that type of data!

What are your thoughts on the Epsilon attack and how many of these same email notifications have you received?

06 April, 2011 Posted by: Zac Johnson Filed Under: Bad Companies, Blogging

Better Business Bureau Gone Bad

The other night I was flipping through the channels and stopped on a special report about the Better Business Bureau and it was really interesting! As you know, millions of people around the world are turning to the Better Business Bureau for accurate information and customer reviews from real life people and customers like you and me. However, it looks like there is more to the BBB than most of us might be aware of.

Is the Better Business Bureau as Legitimate as You May Think?

Without going into too much detail, the video reports that BBB is basically giving companies and organizations a very low grade, even as low as an “F”, just for not being a paid member of the BBB. Sure, some companies deserve an “F”. but after you watch the video below, you will have a new concept of how the BBB works and the business that they run. If you want a better grade, and changed basically over night, all you need to do is pay a few hundred bucks to get an “A”!

Better Business Bureau Featured on ABC 20/20 News

Watch the full ABC 20/20 News Special on Better Business Bureau video here.

Better Business Bureau Video Cliff Notes:

- Well known companies such as Wolfgang Puck, The Ritz Carlton, DisneyLand and other companies have all received ratings of an “F” from the BBB.

- The BBB is a non profit company, but there are more than two dozen individuals in the company earning six figure salaries. William Mitchell, the head of BBB, earns over $400,000 per year.

- Earlier this year, the Mid East terror group “Hamas”, received a rating of “A-”, when applying with the Better Business Bureau. This wasn’t actually “Hamas”, but a company listing setup by bloggers to “punk” the BBB. The price of this Hamas “A-” rating was $425. Even better, the same group listed a another fake company, which was for a racist white power web site, and used the actual contact name of “Aryn Whiting”, which was also approved with an “A+” rating after paying a $425 membership fee.

Have you ever done company research or reported anything to the Better Business Bureau?

14 November, 2010 Posted by: Zac Johnson Filed Under: Bad Companies, Blogging

Stupid Contests & Giveaways Selling Your Personal Info

When was the last time you saw a car sitting in your local mall with a big “Win this Car Free!” sign above it? I have a presentation in my local mall right now! Then on each corner it has four stations to fill out entry forms. Ever wonder why people are just randomly giving cars and huge cash prizes away? I’m sure as a marketer you already understand the concept, but for everyone else it just seems like an amazing opportunity. The truth is, it’s usually anything but.

The idea for this post was inspired by a call my sister got on her phone today, and from other upsell crap I’ve wrote about in the past. She entered a contest at Hershey Park in PA a few weeks ago to win a free car or $50,000 in cash. Today a voice mail was left on her phone that basically said the following:

Hi, my name is Sandy. I am calling in regards to the contest you entered to win $50,000 or a luxury car while at a Sundance Concert . I have GREAT NEWS!!” regarding your contest entry. Please call back as soon as possible as we are waiting to hear from you.

This sounds pretty awesome at first. To get an actual call with the possibility that you have won a huge cash prize or a luxury is just amazing! However, as marketers we almost know it’s too good to be true. My sister came over, we listened to the voice mail, then looked at the number it came from and did a quick Google search.

The number was listed as 800-309-7000, and Google came up with a whole selection of relevant sites. I went to one of the first listings, which was WhoCallsMe.com and it was a page full of complaints and people with the same exact call and experience.

As expected, it’s some trash company collecting/selling all of their content entry information then trying to upsell them some garbage that no one wants… another shady business. However, thanks to the power of the internet and people taking action against these scummy promotion companies, you can easily save yourself a lot of time, money and stress by doing your research and not calling these idiots back.

Other great sites for researching promotional companies and random calls you may receive are WhoCallsMe.com, RipOffReport.com and Complaints.com.

24 August, 2010 Posted by: Zac Johnson Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing, Bad Companies

Your Best and Worst Marketing Solutions Experiences

Every day my email box is inundated a flood of new email pitches and sales letters for new marketing programs that will promise cash and riches. Depending who it’s offered by and what it is, these marketing solutions can vary heavily in pricing, anywhere from $29.97 all the way up to $4997. Just because a big name player backs a program, should it sell for X times more than another… and how many of these “exclusive” programs are really limited to the 100 members they promise?

When it comes to the success of a program/service, price isn’t everything. I’ve tried out a ton of programs and memberships, just to see what’s new and what they are selling. It’s not often that a $299 a month package is providing something much different than a cheaper or free service/blog is. It’s all about how the sales page leaves you feeling and if it can get you to bite. Once you become a member of these services, you will see many offer the same mix tools. (ie: ShoeMoney Tools, KeywordSpy, PPC Coach). All these of these solutions have cross overs on what they offer, and vary in pricing… but still, all three have been very successful. Which of them is the best is still up in the air, and to be decided by the customer.

With so many programs available, how are you to weed out the good from bad?

Two great examples of purchases I’ve been very happy with, are Hummingbird and 4HourAffiliate. Several months ago I purchased a tool for twitter, called Hummingbird, the program helps build up your following with relevant users. This has been an excellent resource for building up traffic to my smaller sites and has paid for itself several times over. There are no monthly membership fees, and it was only a $97 product. Another excellent program I’m using is called 4HourAffiliate, which can create hundreds of Facebook Ads in minutes, instead of hours and eliminates the headaches of manually creating new campaigns. Both programs were a one time purchase and worth a ton more to me than any other monthly subscription service.

On the flip side, I’ve tried a few programs that just haven’t lived up to their hype. I’ve also been a member of other sites that charge $99-$199 a month to access forums and services. The program with monthly membership sites, is that I usually find myself fading away from the site and just waste money and forget to cancel or just not use the site.

Which brings us to the big question. If you had the chance to grab any affiliate / internet marketing course, what would it be? Also, for those of you that have spent good money on a program and found it to be lacking, feel free to post on that as well.