An interesting article appeared at FastCompany.com today talking about the new FTC regulations we blogged about the other day and its planned enforcement of those rules on Blogs and other online marketers. FastCompany posed a bunch of questions to Richard Cleland, assistant director, division of advertising practices at the FTC. While certainly Mr. Cleland statements are not binding on the … [Read more...]
ComScore: Drug Companies “Have Virtually Abandoned Search Advertising” & It’s All Because Of The Government
Maybe here is an reason why some of your PPC revenue is down. According to Adage.com, drug companies, "have virtually abandoned search ad marketing in the wake of the FDA's online ad crackdown earlier this year." The Adage.com article cites a study from ComScore, which showed that "paid search ads by pharmaceutical companies dropped 84% between March 26 of this year and the end of … [Read more...]
thepiratebay.org New ISP Shuts The Site Down, Again & Google Removes It
Following up on a story we have been following for a while, according to multiple reports ThePirateBay.org was shut down again, today, after a group representing copyright owners forced the search engine's new bandwidth provider, NForce to cut off service. At the time of publication the site is inaccessible. Apparently there is a nonstop effort to go after any ISP that provides bandwidth to … [Read more...]
FTC Releases New Guidelines For Bloggers, Twitterers and Advertisers & Fines Up to $11K Per
The Federal Trade Commission released guidelines today, effective December 1, mandating that bloggers, Tweeters and other "online marketers" will have to tell readers (consumers) when they are paid or given freebies to write positive reviews or online postings. The rules also applies to "word of mouth" campaigns such as those carried out on social networking sites. The FTC said, "the post … [Read more...]
UDRP: Your’e Going To Lose A “…Sucks” Domain If You Park It.
In a new ruling today on the domain radioshacksucks.com made it pretty clear if you own one of these company "sucks" domains if you park it you will lose it. While such domains have been found to be fair use when there is a site with content related to fair critizim of the company, this WIPO ruling clearly states that parking such a domain will be fatal to continued ownership. """The Panel … [Read more...]
Why Do Lawyers Spend Thousands a Month Renting Billboards & Don’t Spend A Dime For A Good Domain
In a recent 4 week period, I was up and down the I-4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando, several times a week. I noticed as a "industry" no one group advertises on billboards more than lawyers. More than 1/2 of the billboards I saw didn't even have a domain name on the billboard. The billboards almost all had phone numbers, 99% of which I still can't remember even having seen the boards … [Read more...]
Porsche Loses UDRP On Porscheexperience.com & Porscheguides.com Even After The Owner Offers To Sell Them
It's becoming very frustrating for domainers to know what the status of the law is regarding UDRP's, as decisions are all over the place an seem to have little consistency. In a decision released today, Porsche the car maker, filed a UDRP on the domains porscheexperience.com and porscheguides.com. The owner of the domain according to the facts, offered to sell the domains to Porsche for … [Read more...]