Legit mail or SPAM ?

I don't get much SPAM. Due to several reasons. Put it down to not subscribing to every site using my main email account. Having an email address that is hard for spam engines to guess. Using cloaking scripts on my websites to hide / encrypt my email from spambots. We also recommend and do the same for our clients.

I put the fear of God into my clients regarding Spam; as we supply Bulk Email systems for business.

So when I do get what looks to be a legit business offer only to discover the TO: address is an obscure email address I used to use on an old website (now deleted) for my Contact us form; tells me one thing. The address was harvested.

Now to add insult to injury, the spammer, custom-outdoor-banners.com; says they abide by Australia's Spam Act 2003. They even have a link to their own interpretation of the Act here and then another link from there to the actual Spam Act here.

Guys you must be referring to Clause 4b: When consent may be inferred from publication of an electronic address: the electronic address has been conspicuously published;

Um, wrong my address has not been conspicuously published.

The email sent:

Subject: Merlinfx Pty Ltd: Did you receive the article I sent you about Outdoor Banners for retail businesses?

Message:

Hi . . .

Just thought this would be good for the Liverpool area, but not sure if you received my last email?

David.

-----------------
Original Message:

Just announced: Outdoor Banners - probably the quickest and cheapest way to boost retail walk-in trade.

It's rare to be able to spend as little as less than $100 on something that gets more potential customers through the door - yet the humble Outdoor Banner achieves this by being bright and cheerful and quick to design and order.

Outdoor Banners appeal directly to passers-by who need to take only a few steps before they're in the door, and this is the reason it's such cost-effective advertising - capturing this market can increase business turnover a little but boost profit dramatically. Next time you're out driving or walking, notice how the few businesses with outdoor banners catch your eye whilst the other shops go unnoticed.

And forget about traditional heavy $400+ banners from sign shops - now you can order a lightweight, bright outdoor banner for less than $100. And that's a full 3-metres long, printed with your design of words, and delivered free to your door.

A few mouse clicks on an innovative company's website is all it takes to see exactly how the finished banner will look. This is online design in seconds, free delivery to your door, and banner lengths from 3 to 8 metres in a range of colours.

More ideas on how to design and use outdoor banners is on a special page purely for the Retail industry at www.Custom-Outdoor-Banners.com

Or to go directly to the manufacturer's Design and Order website, go to www.Printshop.com.au

........................................................................
We abide by Australia's Spam Act 2003 (more info). - and welcome you to unsubscribe.


Bad attempt at trying to personalise the message saying did you get my previous message and this would be good for the Liverpool area. Ahh no I didn't. Nice try.

Starting with "Hi ..." Common guys stop playing amateur hour. You could have called my number on my website and asked to send me some info. I am usually pretty good with learning about new opportunities to advertise. At least send me a personalised email.

Don't insult my intelligence about complying with Australian Spam Act 2003; when clearly you have not.

I suggest you have purchased a list from someone who has harvested mail addresses from the web; sometime ago or you've done it yourself.

Can I give you a tip though. Having an Australian domain with an international phone number that I need to call overseas if I actually want to talk to someone doesn't give me much confidence. I don't care how great the price is. How about having a Chat component on the website or local number I can call?

They give the sage advice of 'a $5 discount phone card from your local convenience store will give you hours of international talk time.' I think I just had a Rove 'what the' moment!

Social Networking

Just what I was looking for, thanks Brendan.

I tell all my clients to not only be active in updating their content on their websites, but become more socially web savvy and aware.

It's high time I needed to update my BLOG and expect more on this topic later.

Domain Name Scam

There is currently a scam email being sent to Domain name owners, mainly from China. It all looks official. The company sending the email mentions they have received an application from 'such and such' a company to register yourdomain.cn, plus a few others that might be available in .com as well.

Unless you intend to register your domain name and do business in China, then by all means contact your web developer or domain Registrar and get it registered. You do not have to use these tricksters and profiteerers to register domains for you.

They go on to scare you about protecting your brand and that you should register with them right away.

The letter uses extremely poor grammar and looks like a mail merged document.

If you get mail like this, forward it immediately to your Web Developer or whoever takes care of all your domains. Check to see whether any of the domains they mention are in fact available and desirable. eg: yourdomain.com. DOT COM domains are cheap to register and no particular evidential business requirements are required. A two year old could register if they wanted to. So go grab it if you can.

Remember, if you are unsure about any particluar offer or claim etc to do with your domain name or website, be sure to contact your web developer or IT person who handles your web related services for peace of mind.

Rotary Website Award

MerlinFX has taken out the top prize with a perfect 10+10 score for 2007/2008 for the work we did on the Rotary Liverpool West website. Presented by the District Governor.

We are proud to be associated with Rotary Liverpool West and this project fell under our Charity efforts where we provide services in kind to support community groups.

MerlinFX launches new website!

We are proud to launch the new MerlinFX website.

An updated, cleaner look. Easy to locate content and some features for clients only.

What's New with MerlinFX
Well we have some very easy to use tools in the form of an online store (prodigyshop), content management (prodigymanage) and newsletters (prodigyconnect). Each of these prodigy applications feature numerous add-ons that enhance the feature set and provide you with what you need, rather than bloatware (stuff you don't need).

Subscribe to our newsletter.

We have also become a Microsoft Certified Partner.

Our Portfolio page sports an ipod Touch style gallery of some of our projects.

The client only icons include access to your own account, video tutorials, knowledgebase and support options, this blog and access to your webmail. Access to some of these sections is by username and password only.

Clients, stay tuned you will be getting an email from us shortly with your login details and more info on the client only sections of the site.

There are numerous features still to add and we'll keep you posted. It's built on the same platform that all our projects are constructed and many of the features within are new and ready to be integrated into our clients' sites if required.

A great features is the FAQ addon for prodigymanage.

The Testimonial add-on selects a random quote from a list and appears once or more on a page. We can have specific testimonial lists for any page or just draw from a giant pool of quotes. The FAQ uses AJAX technology. A very user friendly tool, that presents answers to questions instantly as well as pushing the most popular requested FAQ's to the top of the list.

Bookmarks everywhere!

Have ever wished that the bookmarks you use on your office PC could be available on your home PC or vice versa? Well you can if you use Firefox and a Free plugin called Foxmarks.

"Foxmarks is a free add-on for your Firefox browser that syncs your bookmarks across multiple computers and more."

If you rely on the web for banking, booking, other work related or social. Having your bookmarks with you on all your PC's even accessible if you are on someone elses PC or a Cyber Cafe is a welcome feature for those needing web access most of the time. Have all your bookmarks syncronised automatically.

Other helpful features:

• Bookmarks are backed up.
• Away from your computers? View, add, edit and delete your bookmarks on our website.
• Access your bookmarks on the go with your mobile and more.

I use it for both my office PC's and all my home PC's. A very helpful tool maximise one's online time.

Watch video and give to the Smith Family, thanks Microsoft!

No this is not a scam! I great way to get people to watch a promotional video is by donating to charity. Microsoft Australia, have done just that. Go to the site, watch video and Microsoft donate a $1 to the Smith Family.

Great idea, it's viral, it's a good cause.