Forum Moderators: open
1. Minimum Spend...The other day 9/25/04 I deposited $30 into my overture account to reactive my listings for the holiday season (I only use Overture during the holiday season, then shut down in late January).
Due to Overtures recent slow system response and the slow editorial reviews it took several days just to get a few listings on line. On 10/5 the Overture pick pocket team depleted my account...10 days after I activated it! Talk about being kicked in the teeth.
I wish I ha dthe opportunity to at least put up a struggle while I was being MUGGED!
2. Yahoo Express:
Maybe someone could straighten me out on this...I recently ordered Yahoo Express...they reviewed my site quickly (probably took 2 minutes to approve) than they hit a button to add me to their "directory".
Big deal! What does THAT get me?
I'm not in the web listings...(yes I did read the fine print, there is no guarantee of that happening).
So what did I pay for (again)?
The directory does not produce any added traffic, although a few years back I did the same and wound up in the web listings very quickly.
It's all about PPC.
They don't WANT you listed, so they can continually fleece you on PPC charges, then overcharge (I've never seen an undercharge!) you on that too!
Hey, I don't want a free ride, but when I pay money, I expect SOME type of results or service or at least an explanation of exactly why they need to take my money when they provide no service...especially when I spend thousands per year!
I sure wish money was that easy to (steal) make in my company! Perhaps I'd do better dealing with the Mafia.
Ok, all done...
Anyone else want the soap box?
Yes, inclusion in the Yahoo directory is a lot less valuable than it was a couple years ago, and it's not always worth doing. If you read these boards you'll find the consensus is that most websites are not worth paying for a Yahoo review. (Big traffic sites with big advertising budgets are an exception.)
On the Overture situation I'm more sympathetic because this happened to me twice. I did learn the lesson the first time and didn't deposit the money the second time because my balance was negative and I knew they'd immediately take some of my deposit.
I e-mailed Overture and said: why don't I just open a new account rather than have my new money disappear immediately to fill your minimum? And they responded with some reason why that made no sense from my standpoint, which showed that whoever wrote the response did not understand their own system.
So I opened a new account (there were only about 9 keywords) and got the $25 sign up bonus and avoided paying for the old account's minumum monthly charge.
