Comments on: How to avoid bad marketing advice online

By: Scott Gould

Scott Gould — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:32:24 +0000

Jim,

Very good and very needed. Nothing to add as my brain is fried – but just wanted to say that this has helped me!

By: Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:56:28 +0000

I think another warning sign is when someone calls themselves a marketing (or social media) guru.

I had a chat on Twitter with Chris Brogan about the term ‘guru’ and like me, he detests it. I would go a step further and call the guru term toxic.

Thanks Anthony!

By: Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:54:07 +0000

Thanks for the feedback Toni.

Whilst this post is about how to avoid taking bad free advice from a marketing blog, it’s really important NOT to part with any cash until you have really checked the person and the product out first.

By: AnthonyB

AnthonyB — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:19:36 +0000

Let the buyer beware.
What ever happened to that?
There are more than enough so-called, marketing and social media gurus for me to take notice.

By: Toni lamb

Toni lamb — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:29:12 +0000

I think you covered most of the top warning signs on my list about how to spot a fake/shady marketing professional, but I do have one more I would like to add to that list. Another warning sign that tips me off that I’m dealing with a fake is, when they want you to take immediate action $ for their beautifully packaged marketing bullshit that they’ve whipped together in a total of 5 minutes.

By: Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:27:15 +0000

Hi Sean,

Thanks for the suggestions.

By: Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:14:54 +0000

Hi Sarah – Yep, changed the look of the blog last week and the feedback’s been pretty good so far.

The post was not about someone BOOKING a marketing professional, it was about how someone took bad marketing that was offered for free on a website. The tips are for people who can’t afford to pay for help, but rely on free advice; so that can figure out the good from the bad.

Thanks for the feedback.

By: Sean McPheat

Sean McPheat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:47:46 +0000

I find that a quick google search first to get the top 10 sites on the first page is the first port of call and then for “reach” pop on over to Yahoo and do the same search for total number of pages.

If it’s a strange name like mine then just do a straight search but if its something like John Smith, you might want to use something like:

“John Smith” marketing or
“John Smith” marketing advice

That will remove the gazzillion pages with good old John Smith on!

I’m on over 40,000 pages in Yahoo but Google doesn’t pick a lot of them up due to the way it counts and records the pages and it does not show all of them any more due to an algorithim change. I went down from 60,000 mentions to just 5,000 several months ago in Google so they definately changed something! lol

Also, put in words like “marketing consultant” or “marketing blog” into google.co.uk and see if the so called guru shows up anywhere or not

Hope that helps!

Sean

By: Sarah Arrow

Sarah Arrow — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:52:05 +0000

Hi Jim,
You have changed the look (I normally read by email but felt compelled to comment)

I find it hard to believe a person booked a marketer based solely on their blog, surely they would have done some research first?

It took me 3 years to find a designer that I liked in that time I read thousands of blogs, was given both good and bad advice and yet I still asked questions and it was a designer that was calm, patient and forthright that won my business. They did no heavy sell, their website wasn’t the flashiest of the planet, I can’t even recall what their contact details on the site were!

If people rush into a sale based on one blog post then they have only themselves to blame! Not bad advice but bad judgment.

By: Nicola Erlich

Nicola Erlich — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:12:00 +0000

Hi Dan,

Have had a quick look at your blog. No disrespect because I have no doubt you have your followers, but its not my cup of tea.

If I can give one feedback though, from a readers perspective, not a bloggers, its that I struggled to find a common thread to your blogs. Or indeed an intro to the blog itself.

Maybe a post about why noone is commenting and asking for some feedback might help cajole a reaction out of your readers?

Best of luck with it.

Nicky