rpsmith

I had an experience similar to yours quite some time ago. Some hacker got into my account and had set up multiple auctions while causing me to foot the bill. Ebay noted the activity and suspended all auctions (and my account) while notifying me of the illegal activity. I had to jump through quite a few hoops and verify who I was before I could get my account back. It was a nightmare. I wound up having to change all of my passwords in all of my related accounts. In the end though, I had to delete the ebay account and set up another one. Not sure why though, I don't shop there much any more. While they have denied it in the past, I think ebay has had data breaches more than once. I seem to remember one a few years ago that made the news. I have learned to beware these "Your Account Has Been Suspended" emails as they have been known to be actual phishing attempts by hackers. In the past, if I am not sure, I send it to the spoof email address of sites like Paypal and Ebay (I think they have one). They will usually verify if it is theirs or not within a day or so. I have also learned to check the url in the url repeater in my browser. If it doesn't make sense or looks outright suspicious, I send it to the spoof addresses I mentioned before. I don't usually go through the link supplied in the emails for the above reasons. Again, I have gotten very suspicious when I see these emails. I open another window and log in (if I can) to the suspect account. The scary part of this is that these hackers and such have gotten much more sophisticated in their operations. I remember seeing an article on real and fake sites like Paypal and Ebay. The articles in question challenged the reader to figure out which one was real and which was fake. It was nearly impossible. Just food for thought.

Personalizing ads can be a great way to get attention. Another way is to use certain numerical codes to create hearts,money bags, etc.

The one important factor to consider is whether or not the viewers will see the colors. I do use them when I can. I tend to agree with some comments made above that suggest they can be distracting. I have seen some emails that create eye strain just looking at them. When I do use them, I try to use color combinations that are tasteful and less eye straining and use bold and italic letters to draw attention to important points. I avoid wild or garish colors.

I am planning to start/promote/launch a new business. I know that reads funny, but let me explain. I have been working on a couple of business ideas for a couple of months now. Why? Simply put, I am tired of working in a factory.

I have used them in the past and re upped with them a few days ago. This site offers a couple of different methods to use for promoting your site. One is called BLURBS. It is kind of like a bulletin board. It's a free way to promote your site. I have had good results with them. It is one of the best and cost effective advertising means available!

Well said. If more in the business world did this then it would be more scam free.

I just thought I would mention this: My host offers a site lock scan to prevent hackers from destroying my Wordpress site. I agree that Wordpress can be a security nightmare, but it can be dealt with. I would use caution when it came to some of the security plug ins that claim to do it all. My hosting company has done a great deal to help me deal with this issue.

I haven't tried free hosting in quite a while. The last time I did, the main issue was that they had placed their ads on my site in such a way that any ads I would want to place made it seem cluttered. Weebly sounds alot like some paid hosting that I have had the misfortune of dealing with. Too much traffic and your site gets shut down. I'm sorry for your loss. I hope you get things worked out.

Just when i thought I had seen it all. This is incredible!

If I may ask, where do you promote now? Please pm me.

Everything you said is a possibility. It is one of the risks associated with just about any marketing. It is also why I recommend building a list as part of your marketing efforts. Another tack I recommend is branching out your marketing efforts in several directions including email marketing, video marketing, etc. In this way you are not relying entirely on social media.

The biggest issue I face is to not give in to frustration. I tend to want it all now. But, I have to remind myself that it takes patience for a business to grow and succeed. I think too many buy into the hype of "instant success".

Winners never quit and quitters never win!

I think it is important to build "brand awareness". It can also be important to build followers and a fan base.

I'm a big fan of Wordpress. Blogger is part of google and they have had a reputation of deleting blogs due to content. From the things I have heard, it is arguable exactly what content was deleted. The nice thing about Wordpress is that it is customizable and has lots of great support and plug ins that can really help build traffic and readers.

One important point to remember about hiring writers is to check the work. I would recommend getting samples of their work before hiring them and checking the work when it's done. Before you hire, it is also a good idea to check out their feedback from previous work. If you order in bulk, make sure you read all of the articles. In my experience, I have encountered writers who are willing to include crap articles (I.E. just a nonsensical collection of words and phrases). Should you encounter such force a revision of such or refuse to pay. I had a similar situation recently and was forced to get admin arbitration to get it settled. As a final note, it is also important to make sure the writer understands what you want.

I think they are a waste of time. You are advertising to people who are selling their own products. I personally believe that there are more effective way to make generate traffic and make sales.

While I agree that pop ups have a place when used correctly. I would beware of popups as a rule. I have noted that a few of them contain phishing or malware scripts in them. I haven't seen many in a while, but it is always good to keep your security software up to date. When I run into one nowadays, my security programs block them.

A couple of things note: Google's new rules have two major "must haves" this time around. It must have videos and must be mobile friendly. I don't know about the rest, but I have had to guess at the rest for some time. As I mentioned in a previous post, they keep changing the rules and negating previous SEO work done. One thing I did learn seems to be the ideas of keyword saturation is now a big no-no. I'm not sure where I read this, but, I think it came from a newsletter I get where they do alot of articles about Google and their latest rampages. Just thought I would share this.

I've heard this too. There are a couple of things that should be added. The Information I had didn't say specifically that sites with no SSL would not be indexed, but there would be a warning that "the site was unsecure" for each site that did not have an up to date SSL.

Every time I read stuff like this, I tend to get a little more cautious. I have seen sites like this come and go with such regularity that I ignore them for the most part. Some time ago, I ran across a site that was dedicated to identifying these scammers and their sites. I used to check it quite often as it was updated frequently. I haven't seen it in awhile. I may have just lost the link in my favorites.

I see leased ad space advertised alot. It always struck me as sounding very familiar. Now that I know the same owner was cash ad stream I will never join. I seem to remember hearing some negative things being said about cash ad stream when it was out. Don't these people learn? The word will get out on them eventually.

Payza used to be Alertpay, huh? And people are joining up with them? That doesn't make much sense. Alertpay was involved in a number of scams. I was of the impression that they went out of business or something after their legal troubles got started. That's why they stopped doing business and started their own "private" operations. I don't remember exactly what they were doing, I just remember that my account was frozen and I lost money with them. I think they were doing some sort of auctions or something like that. I was one of the people that lost my a** with one of the scams they were payment processor for. In that particular case the scammers were on video bragging about how many people they had ripped off. I can't remember the name of the program right now, I just remember being invested with it. If I remember right, Alertpay was then investigated for their own scams, but again, I can't remember specific details. It has been awhile since all of this transpired. If people are joiing them, I think they should be very cautious.

Hi, I have been reading about the "paypal crisis" in some of these threads. These threads are alo stating that many are switching to Payza. I have a few questions about all of this. Can someone tell me what this "Paypal crisis" is all about? Secondly, I was of the impression that Payza was being investigated as a fraud or scam. I admit this info may be a little old, but I would like to know what happened and what is going on. Can someone shed some light on this?

Thanks for the info.