compiled by Peter Kim at http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/

The same powerful underground techniques that are used by “black hat” webmasters can help you dramatically if you ever encounter bad press. You can have blackhat success without the potential blackhat downside effects by simply and carefully following these techniques provided by Matt Foster of Arteworks SEO.

“Bad press about your business can be very upsetting, especially when it is written by a disgruntled customer who posts information about you or your company online for the world to see. Oftentimes, this information is very visible in the search engines and is by its very nature extremely biased and one-sided. Here are six steps you can take which have proven effective in dealing with online slander. And some of them are black hat. But fear not - it works.

Online slander is a modern pain in the rear, and even more so when disreputable sites like Ripoff Report get involved. In such cases, the gloves come off, and here are some ways you can take care of business - if you don’t mind getting your hat dirty.”

You can read the whole article at http://www.arteworks.biz/2008/11/black-hat-reputation-management-6-steps.html

You may have seen this before, but I think it sheds some light on the nuances that words can make…

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You went up to her and say “I am very rich. Marry me”.
That’s DIRECT MARKETING

You are at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says, “He is very rich. Marry him”.
That’s ADVERTISING

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day you called her and say, “Hi, I am very rich. Marry me”.
That’s TELEMARKETING.

You are at a party and see a beautiful girl. You get up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink. You open the door for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride, and then say, ‘By the way, I’m very rich. Will you marry me?’.
That’s PUBLIC RELATIONS.

You are at a party and see a gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says, “You are very rich”.
That’s BRAND RECOGNITION.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, “I am very rich. Marry me”.
She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.
That’s CUSTOMER FEEDBACK. 
-Unknown

I had the chance to see the ”doctored” Sarah Palin pics (of her in a bikini holding a hunting rifle.) As far as graphic design goes it was a pretty good job…and I mentioned that in my Twitter post .

There has been talk about how attractive Palin is as a candidate. They also mention how strong of a candidate Obama is and he’s most assured to win the election.

My mind begins to wander just HOW strong is Obama? What if instead he was like Arnold Schwarzenegger strong? So I started digging. It did not take me long but I uncovered the photo the Obama camp does NOT want you to see.

This photo was apparently one of the lost election campaigns & slogans that got nixed due to being too “out there.” Behold The Obamanator.

While I’m sure the image won’t wind up on CNN or it’s sister publication the National Enquirer, it’s bound to make the rounds on the Internet.

Enjoy.

I tried Google Chrome, or at least I thought I would try it. Apparently it’s not ready yet for Small Business Server 2003, but it works fine on Windows Vista / XP versions.

Spartan design, very Google-esque, and it draws on Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox technology, open source… and it’s free.

I have some concerns about the “fine print” of this service — the end-user license agreement or EULA. Such a ruckus has been caused that Google changed their EULA

Take for instance, Google Chrome’s infamous section 11. Google has acted with speed and retracted the original objectionable sentences in Chrome’s EULA, so that any content you post via Chrome is yours, and yours alone.

It originally said:

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights that you already hold in Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content, you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

and then: 11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above licence.

Hmmmmm… ok? SocialMarketinExpert is feeling quasi-queezy. Made me do a spit take of my Diet Coke.

Now Google has altered the EULA to magically state

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights that you already hold in Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services.
That 11.4 is now all gone - and apparently when they highlighted and erase they includes sections 11.2 and 11.3.

OK…better…definitely better.  Head’s no longer spinning. Safe to resume drinking caffeinated beverage.

Matt Cutts feeling the pressure quickly blogged what Rebecca Ward, senior product counsel (ie top lawyer) for Google Chrome told him:

“In order to keep things simple for our users, we try to use the same set of legal terms (our Universal Terms of Service) for many of our products. Sometimes, as in the case of Google Chrome, this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don’t apply well to the use of that product.
We are working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome.”

Cutts goes on and corrals the confusion at http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-license-agreement/:

“But it was clearly a mistake on Google’s part to include that language when it shouldn’t have been there, and I should have been grateful to the people that pointed it out. Instead of getting snippy with people, my reaction should have been more along the lines of “Oh crap, I don’t think that’s intentional. Thank you so much for noticing that and pointing it out. I’ll see if we can get an official clarification or reaction as soon as possible.” I apologize for that, and I appreciate the people who push Google to be better.” 

Some feel that this license is just a money grab by Google to profit from any labor and it would also allow them to display or reproduce items that you may consider personal, sensitive or of commercial value.

The jury is still out for me on this point…

However, Chrome loves to call home. It’s not checking for updates for the program (I think), rather it’s constantly updating the anti-phishing list of sites that it keeps in its database. Google essentially had two options for anti-phishing, take the FirefoxF/Internet Explorer approach of phoning home every time you type in a URL to see if it matches with a known phishing site, or occasionally download and compare to a list of “bad” URLs.

In the first scenario, they’d be accused of spying on everyone business, which is exactly what Billy Gates is accused of doing with IE. Unfortunately it seems that’s exactly what people are already trying to claim Google Chrome does. In the second scenario they have to make a trade off between constantly updating to catch a phishing site as soon as it pops up, or updating less regularly and potentially missing a potentially damaging phishing site. Due to the inherently short-lived lifespan of most phishing sites (usually 24-48 hours), Google Chrome need to update on a fairly regular basis.

Reason 1) FEAR OF LOSS.
Who wants to be criticized for making a “dumb” purchase. Consumers ego’s are “sensitive”

Reason 2) LACK OF TRUST.
Consumers must know they can trust your business BEFORE they buy from you

Reason 3) LACK OF COMFORT.
We all have “feelings” we dont quit understand. If they dont have the right vibe- nada

Reason 4) SOLUTION DEFICIT.
Do they truly think your produt/service addresses their problem…”I have a problem?”

Reason 5) LACK OF NEED.
Guy’s like Dave Ramsey help them realize and ask themselves…”do I really need this?”

Reason 6) LACK OF QUALITY.
People have higher expectations today. Does your product ooze quality?

Reason 7) LIFESTYLE CONFUSION. 
Consumers have “image” that they project to others. Do YOU match their image?

Reason 8 ) BAD HISTORY.
Do consumers have previous bad experiences that they compare you to & you must overcome?

Reason 9) PREFERENCES.
They’re just “not that into you.” They like another brand better.