Blogbuzz

In today’s economic hard times it’s really easy to understand why people are so hot after getting something for nothing anytime they get a chance. Let’s face it, stimulus or not, money’s tight all around and it’s not looking like things are going to change anytime soon.

This means that the world of marketing is gearing up big time to take advantage of the situation. Their tailoring their offers and advertising to target this economic sore spot and make the most of it.

Lately I’ve been getting a LOT of offers for various ways to make money or get something free. One that I got recently had the subject line “Get your FREE Rachael Ray Package right here!” which actually did get my attention because I’d really like to have the cookware, knife set and cookbooks that it was saying that you could get “FREE”. Most of my stuff is old, badly worn bits and pieces that sorta get the job done, I’ve got one halfway decent knife and the cookbooks … Hey, It’s Rachael Ray, ya just gotta have ‘em.

Red Flag #1:

Not only was the email in html format (something I’ve hated since the practice began) but the body of the email only contained one line of text that was readable without loading the images (I have Thunderbird set to NOT load remote images unless I click a “load images” button): “Visit-us here, if you cannot view the image below” The word “here” was a link to the same url that the pictures that made up most of the body of the email were linked to.

So I decided to have a look at the offer and, against the advice of Thunderbird’s junk & scam filters, clicked on it.

I ended up on http://www.chefdiscountcookware.com/offer?{followed by a bunch of codes}

Across the top of the page in “Rachael Ray Orange” a headline proclaimed:

Receive a FREE Rachael Ray Chef Package!

Red Flag #2:

Under that it said: “Participation required, click here for details”. At this point I already had a pretty good idea what the requirements were going to be but I clicked anyway.

When I did, a smallish popup appeared a summary of the program requirements. It had something I truly hate, a semi transparent background that made it very difficult to read because you could still see the website under it. Fortunately I found the information also available in readable text at the bottom of the page.

Basically you have to be 18 or older, register with valid info, complete a survey and then complete three “reward offers” that consisted of 2 Silver,2 Gold, and 2 Platinum offers.

It went on to state that:

Available reward offers will vary. Some reward offers require a purchase. Credit card offers may require you to activate the card by making a purchase, transferring a balance or taking a cash advance.

… and so on about how you have 120 days to complete the offers, Etc.

Red Flag #3:

Then, near the end of that text I found a deal-breaker:

Your information will be shared with our marketing partners. Please read the Privacy Policy for more details.

It’s good in that they’ve at least got the decency to come out front and tell you but the fact that they’re saying flat out that they’re going to do it is a total deal breaker all by itself. What’s more, if you take the time to look over the terms and conditions page and the privacy policy page, both of which you automatically agree to if you sign up, they make it clear that by signing up you are giving them permission to share your information.

At this point I knew I wasn’t going to go any farther with them. However since they did have links that let you get a look at what the silver, gold and platinum offers were, I decided to have a quick look to confirm what I already suspected.

I was right, each group consisted of various offers from advertisers that you would have to complete in order to qualify. They ranged from free trial offers for products & services on the silver and gold levels that the most you’d pay would be a dollar or three for shipping. To the platinum level that included things like credit card offers where you would have to sign up and qualify for the card, receive and activate it by making a purchase. Discount subscriptions to Direct tv, ADT home security.

So you see, There really is no such thing as a free lunch OR free cookware to prepare it with.

Sorry Rach, maybe next time ‘eh?

Technorati Tags: free cookware offer, advertiser offers, deal breaker, chef discount cookware, participation required, rachael ray cookware, sharing personal information

It’s a pretty important issue because more and more people are dedicating some of the space on their blogs to advertising. This can range anywhere from producing enough to offset some of the costs of hosting and domain registration to providing a full blown income.

I’ve seen bloggers and conventional webmasters writing about how they’ve got their sites to the point where they’re earning anywhere from $100 to $3,000 a month from sources such as Adsense, Kontera, Clickbank, text links in and out of posts, 125×125 button ads and so on.

While I don’t want to take away from my original intent for this blog, I also would like to see it start earning it’s keep and help around the house. Granted, it’s probably not going to make my coffee in the morning but it could very well pay for the hosting and perhaps a computer upgrade or three.

With that in mind, I’m going to start by shopping around for a new theme. Something in a three column format that combines my favorite features of easy to read text and color combinations and still have enough room in the layout for advertising blocks. Then all I need to do is design the ad blocks so that they aren’t obnoxious yet still are noticeable enough that people will occasionally click on them deliberately.