I do.

Warning!  This is just a rant.  And probably an unprofessional one at that…there’s really no good content here well, actually, I did add some videos and links at the end that you might like…I just felt the need to vent a little bit because I can’t believe what some people call “marketing” these days.

Here’s just a snippet of what I get Every.Single.Day…

• RE: Commissions (oh, please – what an underhanded way to get me to open your email).
• Earlybird Launch Special – Limited Offer! (Honestly, we all know that technically anything that’s available online for download cannot by its own nature, be “limited”.)
• Earn $5,000 a month without selling a thing! (LOL!!!)
• This (homeless, out-of-work, suicidal, non-educated, guy/gal) made $100,000 in 30 days!  Here’s how! (I’m resisting a gag reflex right now).
• Video shows you how to make $3,000 a week while you sleep! (5 marketers)
• Make ($enter dollar amount here) whenever you want!
• Private Video (yeah, for me and 50,000 other people).  [by the way I got this same email from 2 marketers (and counting)]
• Make $enter odd dollar number here (with odd dollar cents) too – with this “undiscovered” technique!
• “Here comes the cash”

So why, you might be wondering, if these bother me so much, do I get them in the first place, are these “marketers” spamming me?

Nope.  I signed up for their lists…not much of a marketer I would be if I didn’t keep tabs on “competition” – (tongue in cheek).

It makes me sad really, that there’s so much of this hype hitting people every single day.  It must work right?  I mean some of these headlines (and some have been altered just a bit; not to change their meaning but to protect where they actually came from), are truly outrageous!

I mean honestly, if you walked into a store and an employee there walked up to you and said “Make $10,000 by the end of the week!” what would your reaction be?

Would you believe them?

I wouldn’t…I don’t think any logical, reasonable human being would.

But…sometimes we forget that logic when we’re online.  People have a hard time separating fact from fiction when it comes to websites.  Why do you think that is?

Is it because they have testimonial A, B, C, and D from big name A, B, C, and D on their website?

Or is it because there’s a picture of a check shown that shows “proof” the person made a gabillion dollars last year with (_________________) enter the name of a online info-retailer here.

The fact is a lot of us tend to let our guard down when it comes to websites and “claims” and its sad really.

“Real” businesses take a lot of hard work and a LOT of dedication.  Just because it worked for Joe Smith doesn’t mean it will work for Jane Smith.

Do some of these products work?  Sure they do!  As a matter of fact, I can name off at least 5 people online that I would trust without a doubt (and by the way, none of them sent me any of those emails).

So, I thought I’d share some of my favorite “reality check” websites online.  These are people who, maybe like you, are trying their hardest to start a business, they pour their life savings into a business and even then, don’t start to reap positive cash rewards for at least a year or two.  If they’re lucky.

In real-life, just like in SEO, everything takes time.  Most people don’t have the patience; they want everything “RIGHT NOW!” and don’t want to have to work for it very much.

I guess that’s why all of those headlines hit a button with someone out there somewhere.

It’s sad really.

So, here’s a few things I’d like to share…one is a video from Sylvie Fortin.  You may very well be familiar with her husband, the copywriter Michel Fortin (one of the “good guys” “good couples” I like to call them) who has been recently very outspoken against some of the tactics used to “entice” people to hand over their hard-earned cash.

The other links below her video point to some “lets get back to reality” shows I like that I think you might too.

Thanks for listening (reading) the rant.  I have my moments.

- K

Sylvie’s video:

Other links/videos:

This first video is a series of clips from the ABC Show “Shark Tank”.  You have to sit through about 50 seconds of ads first to view segments of the show…but well worth it to keep you well-grounded.

http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank

The tv show Pitchmen with the late Billy Mays – http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/pitchmen/pitchmen.html

And these are just a few…I’d be interested in hearing your basis for inspiration…so feel free to chime in (or gripe)…that’s ok here too…but please, no foul language.

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Just to refresh your memory, here’s the list again…

• Need for obedience & dependency.
• Deliberately holding back information.
• Keeping you so busy you don’t have time to think.
• Information is not freely accessible.
• Leadership decides who “needs to know” what.
• Encourages you to “tell on” others.
• Good vs. Evil.
• “Us” vs. “Them”
• The use of “buzz” words.
• Only “good” and “proper” things encouraged.
• Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking.
• No critical questions about policy are seen as legitimate.
• No alternative beliefs are viewed as legitimate, good or useful.
• Makes you feel like if there are any problems, it’s your fault.
• Fear of disapproval.

So many of you came up with some very interesting and thought-provoking ideas:

• Democratic run health care
• Obama’s Health Care Non-Debate
• Movies
• Politics
• Bush’s leadership
• Religion
• Government
• Parents
• A government job
• Guru-style Internet Marketing
• PPC Marketing
• schools
• military
• Google
• The Rothschild Manifesto
• Parent/Child relationship

So, lots of good guesses and as you can tell, all over the board.

So let me first tell you what my initial thought was….

Google.

But, that’s not where the list came from.  Let me explain WHY I thought it was Google the first time I read the list:

• Need for obedience & dependency.
  • If you do anything against the “rules” your website is likely to be punished. Obedience to play by the rules or your website will suffer & dependency because Google is so large that without having a listing there, you’re all but dead in the water.
• Deliberately holding back information.
  • They give you information, yes, but not everything. Keeping important, SERP changing, pieces to themselves.
• Keeping you so busy you don’t have time to think.
  • Every time you turn around there’s a new product, a new PageRank update, a new rule regarding your web pages…etc.
• Information is not freely accessible.
  • This one I went back and forth with a bit.  They do have “freely accessible” information such as Matt Cutts’ videos, and plenty of FAQ sections but the information you REALLY want, the definitive answers you REALLY want, you never get.
• Leadership decides who “needs to know” what.
  • Again, Google makes the call on what they feel you need to know.
• Encourages you to “tell on” others.
  • This one was my favorite because recently they implemented a form that allows you to “tell on” other sites using black-hat or illegal SEO techniques.  And they encourage it.
• Good vs. Evil.
  • In a January 2003 Wired article, the founders of Google stated that they’re whole premise was to “not be evil”.  (in the face of the other search engines available such as Microsoft & Yahoo).
• “Us” vs. “Them”
  • The “Us” being Google and Google fans, the “Them” being fans of the “others”.
• The use of “buzz” words.
  • PageRank
  • SEO
  • CTR
  • CPM
  • SERPS
  • AdWords
  • AdSense
  • Google as in “go Google it”
  • Now, as a side note some of these terms can’t “directly” be attributed to Google but there’s no doubt that Google has fueled the fire to use these terms more often in our everyday vocabulary.
• Only “good” and “proper” things encouraged.
  • Again, only using “good” and “proper” ways of getting ranked in Google.
• Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking.
  • Rationally you might believe that Google Street view for example is a huge violation of privacy.  (this is the one example I could think of) yet Google repeatedly rejects this as they still continue to use it.
• No critical questions about policy are seen as legitimate.
  • You can feel free to question Google all you want about their methods, however, rarely if ever, is anything done to change it.
• No alternative beliefs are viewed as legitimate, good or useful.
  • Again, you can form your own opinions here.
• Makes you feel like if there are any problems, it’s your fault.
  • If your website has ever been delisted, you rarely know why. Additionally, if your site has lost rankings, again, you rarely know why…you just assume that it must have been “something you did” because it couldn’t be Google’s fault!
• Fear of disapproval.
  • This plays directly into the hands of AdWords.  New “improvements” are constantly made to their system and you literally sit on pins and needles waiting to see if they’ll “approve” your ad or not.  Even if they do, will it stay that way?  Or will they all of a sudden start charging you an arm and a leg only giving vague explanations as to why your costs have gone up so much?

Now, as many of you have pointed out, these statements can describe a vast amount of topics…but…here’s what you might be surprised to know.

All of these statements came from a website article entitled:

“Mind Control – The BITE Model” – which is a snippet of information from a book entitled “Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves“.

This is the model that cults use in order to promote destructive mind control and the acronym BITE stands for:

• Behavior Control
• Information Control
• Thought Control
• Emotional Control

According to the web page…

“It is important to understand that destructive mind control can be determined when the overall effect of these four components promotes dependency and obedience to some leader or cause.  It is not necessary for every single item on the list to be present.  Mind controlled cult members can live in their own apartments, have nine-to-five jobs, be married with children, and still be unable to think for themselves and act independently.”

Source:  http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/articles/BITE.htm

So there you have it.

I hope that this has been somewhat eye-opening and has stirred up more than a little emotion and creative thought in you.

As always, I’m interested to hear any additional comments and see what you might think.

Have a fantastic day!

- Kristine

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Below is a list of simple statements.  Once you finish reading the statements, try to figure out what I’m describing and then post your answers below.  On Wednesday the 12th, I’ll post the source; which I believe will surprise you.

I’ll also reveal my immediate thoughts on what these statements describe as well…so you won’t be left in the dark.

Again, just read though these, and post a comment as to what you think I’m describing below.

• Need for obedience & dependency.
• Deliberately holding back information.
• Keeping you so busy you don’t have time to think.
• Information is not freely accessible.
• Leadership decides who “needs to know” what.
• Encourages you to “tell on” others.
• Good vs. Evil.
• “Us” vs. “Them”
• The use of “buzz” words.
• Only “good” and “proper” things encouraged.
• Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking.
• No critical questions about policy are seen as legitimate.
• No alternative beliefs are viewed as legitimate, good or useful.
• Makes you feel like if there are any problems, it’s your fault.
• Fear of disapproval.

So what do YOU think this describes?  Be absolutely honest – there are no wrong answers here…but again, I think when you learn the source…well, you’ll be surprised.

Scroll down to post your thoughts.

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Here’s one that I received recently about how to do a variety of things with Google Chrome.  You can sign up for their newsletter here at the bottom of the page.

______________________________________________________________

The popularity of any software can be guessed from the number of hacks that trail it after a release. Or the number of add-ons. Google Chrome seems to be not only holding its own but also trotting along. As of April 2009, it is the world’s fourth most popular browser. Not bad for a browser which is few months away from its first birthday.

As user opinions sally back and forth about browser preferences, one thing is not open to question. Firefox is definitely more expandable and customizable than all others out there (Don’t they call it the Swiss Army knife for the web).

But if you like the Chrome’s agility then there are ways to make it more versatile. We at MakeUseOf.com have gone over quite a lot of ground with the Chrome. You can read about some tips and tricks here and here.

Here are some more ways to reach under the hood and exploit some handy Chrome features.

1. Make Chrome’s consume less memory

By default, Chrome is a multi-process browser. Yawn! What’s that? Simply, it means that each tab runs as a separate process asking for separate resources from the computer. The current working tab gets the most priority over the others. This was intentionally designed to make web apps run faster in Chrome. This feature makes the browser zippier and more stable even with multiple open tabs.

But if you aren’t a heavy user and use the browser to surf only a single site at a time then disabling multiple processes can free up some CPU resources. To handle each web process Chrome has three settings –

–process-per-tab
The default mode; each tab gets an independent process of its own. This increases the rendering of webpages and makes the browser stable as each tab is a separate process from the rest. But it also consumes memory.

–process-per-site
One process for each unique website; for instance a user with two tabs open for Gmail and another for MakeUseOf will have the two Google tabs running under the same process.

–single-process
The simplest mode; all tabs run in a single process, much like the other browsers we have now. This setting frees up memory for other applications. This is what we are looking for.

Create a shortcut for Chrome. Open the Properties tab. Edit the Target field as shown in the picture by appending –single-process to the path.



Similarly you can create two more shortcuts for the other two processes to handle your web sessions in three ways.

2. Manage tabs with the Task Manager

This is an offshoot of Google Chrome’s multi-process nature which allows each tab to run separate from the other. This allows us to manage, reload or shut down each tab without affecting the rest of our browsing. All this can be done through the Task Manager. Press Shift and Escape to start the task manager or right click on the blue top bar. An unresponsive tab can be shut down without bringing down the browser by a simple press of the End process button.



3. Some stats for nerds

There is a simple way to tell which browser is using the most resources on your computer. Chrome’s task manager lets you examine the memory use of the opened browsers on your computer irrespective of make. Open task manager and click on the‘Stats for nerds’ link at the bottom. A new tab opens with detailed memory info for all running browsers. The second part of the page also describes Chrome’s process usage stats.



4. Some more stats on the Resources page

More for site administrators than for you and me but the resources page has a ton of info to offer. To track the resources used by a web page – right click inside the page. Select Inspect element – go to the Resources tab and reload the web page. You can view a list of images, scripts and objects from the web page and you can sort them by size or by loading time.



5. Drag to resize any text box

Do you feel that the size of a text box on any website is not worthy of your thoughts…then just place your mouse on the bottom right edge and drag to increase the size. Give MakeUseOf.com’s comment box the first drag.



6. Split Chrome into double-pane view

This bookmarklet from Chromeplugins.org is incredibly useful. The dual view feature is useful when you want to compare two websites or search results side by side. Drag theChrome Split Browser bookmarklet into your bookmarks toolbar. When you click the bookmarklet, it asks you to choose the two websites you want and displays them in a double pane.



7. Startup with multiple pages

On launch, Chrome opens up with the ‘Most visited’ area. But it also lets us set options for starting the day by opening our most favored sites in several tabs at once. Click on the wrench icon (Customize and control Chrome) on the top right corner. Under Options – Basic tab we can add the pages we want to open on startup.



8. Drag and drop downloads from Chrome

After finishing a download, you can copy it to the desktop or to any other folder by a simple drag and drop directly from Google Chrome.

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Enjoy!

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