A quick Google search turned up over 1,000,000 results for the company name - the first several pages all looking legit. Adding the words “domain dispute” to my search changed the results significantly. This is a domain trademarking scam - and apparently rather an effective one.

There is no trademark dispute over our domain name. What they don’t disclose is that their goal is to frighten a business person into “protecting” their trademark by purchasing the overpriced .cn and .com.cn Chinese extensions of your domain. So don’t fall for it. Save yourself a headache and don’t even respond.

I’ve copied and pasted the email below. Several other versions using different company names are also used. The one common thread seems to be that they all originate in China.

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are Hong Kong Network service Company Limited, a domain name registration center in Asia.

Yesterday we received an application from another company for the domain names “zerotosixtymarketing” , but later we found your company is their original owner and this may involve your company name or trademark and  this may cause confusion between your products and others’ , and bring about negative effect on your company.Therefore we decided to inform you of this and check out your attitude toward this matter. We would appreciate if you can spare some precious time to settle this issue.

Thank you for your cooperation and looking forwards to your early reply.

Best Regards,
Monica.Meng

Hong Kong Network Service Company Limited
Address: 19/F., First Block, New World Bldg.,
No.18 Quen Middle Road,
Zhonghuan,
Hong Kong
Tel: +852-31757931 (ext8023)
Fax: +852- 31757932
Email: Monica.meng@hk-nsc.org.cn
website: www.hknsc.hk

Related Domain Trademark Scam Articles:

Beware of Chinese Domain Names Fraud

Chinese Domain Scam?

Domain Name Registration Scam

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Image by ckaroli on Flickr.

My battle cry this past year to any small business person willing to listen, has been to add a blog to their online marketing arsenal. The reasons are simple … an active, on-target blog increases your online visibility. It gives you an easy way to connect with your readers on an ongoing basis. And it’s a learning tool (if you’re a kinesthetic learner like me).

But what if you simply have no time to write? Let’s face it … if your business is growing, you’re already very busy! If your business is down in this economy, you’re likely just as busy trying to turn things around. So how do you find time to blog when you’re already working at full throttle?

The simple answer is that sometimes you don’t. We all have to work within the ebb and flow of our daily commitments.

We’re in that very busy business growth stage here. In fact, we’re finally making that important transition from self-employment to business ownership. It IS a transition, because you don’t simply wake up one morning with all the plans and networks in place.

My husband and I have opened a new business, Zero To Sixty Marketing LLC. We’re building on our combined strengths of marketing, copywriting, SEO, Web site development, and knowledge of and involvement in the hobby industry.

Zero To Sixty Marketing is a full-service virtual marketing firm, supported by a talented team of independent graphic artists, copywriters, marketing specialists, and web site development experts. We opened for business in late August and have been running at full throttle ever since. New projects have included a major trade Web site redesign, building an assortment of niche blogs that support that same site, entry into the magazine publishing business (more on this later), lots of new SEO copywriting assignments, even partnering with a consumer product manufacturer to bring a very useful item to the marketplace.

To bring this back around to the subject of finding time to blog – it’s obviously been an issue. My last post was near the end of September. I’ve given myself some leeway, because it’s just not possible to prioritize everything at once. But, if you want to kill a blog … just stop writing. Since, blogging has meant the difference between success and failure for Express It Write, it’s time to make time for this important activity.

For now, my time will be spent between this blog and our new Zero To Sixty Marketing blog. Expect to see some articles from our team and some guest posts from time to time. Expect greater frequency as well. We won’t be returning to five posts per week, but one or two per week sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

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We want our news on-demand and personalized to our interests. We value the ability to easily stay in touch with family and friends via e-mail and increasingly via social networks. When we’re not catching up on news and reading e-mail, we’re purchasing products and services online or looking for information about the weather, hobbies, products, travel, health and medicine.

I talk a lot about making sure your site can be found in the search engines - about the importance of online visibility in your local marketplace. But once your prospect finds you online, and clicks on that Google link to your Web site, will your visitor find what he’s looking for? Does your site contain content that answers his questions? If so, you may have just gained a customer. If not, you’ve wasted his time and he won’t make that mistake again.

As with all other marketing efforts, it comes down to understanding your market, then crafting your message to meet your market’s wants and needs. This is one area where blogging excels. As you learn more about your market, blogging allows you to easily write and share the information your potential customer is looking for.

Want to learn more about your market? Here are two free tools that will help you learn about what people are searching for online:

• Google Trends shows you the most popular trends on any topic. Discover the top 100 Google searches. Drill down by clicking on any link to find related searches, news articles and blog posts. Is the search volume for the topic on the rise or declining? Is it seasonal? Is it more popular in the US or elsewhere around the globe?
• Google Insights for Search reveals information about the geographic region where keyword phrases are most popular, when those phrases are most popular, and other phrases used to conduct similar searches. Use this tool to compare different keyword phrases to learn which ones are most important to your audience.

Related Articles:

• Give Web Users What They Really Want
• Small Business Marketing - The Power of Observation

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Read Can Small Business Afford “Healthy Wisconsin?”

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The answer to that question depends on your goals and your needs, the age of your target customer and the timing of your ads.

A newspaper is an information-delivery vehicle that only reaches buyers in the market for your product right now. If those buyers are under 45 years old, they’re less likely to be reading the paper, and more likely to be getting their news from TV and the Internet.

Newspaper advertising is a poor fit for building brand awareness, but it can be a cost-effective way for the small retail business to quickly get the word out about a sale or event.

Use it to advertise weekly or monthly sales, however, and you’ll also be training your customers to only buy at your sale price.

Tips for Effective Newspaper Ads for the Small Retail Business

Don’t waste your money on one-time ads. It may seem like one big ad would draw the most attention, but in reality, repetition trumps the size of the ad. If you can’t afford to repeat the ad three or more times, you can’t afford to run the ad.

Although design is typically included in the cost of your ad, don’t leave design or copy decisions up to the newspaper staff. Your goal is to create an ad that will bring a return on your investment. Their goal is to create a decent looking ad quickly. Decent-looking ads don’t necessarily provide any ROI.

Remember that a compelling offer is the centerpiece of any ad. Dan Kennedy, author of the No B.S. series of books for entrepreneurs, puts it this way,

If you want a yard full of deer, do not put a 50-pound block of cheddar cheese outside. Put a big salt block. If you want rats and mice, try the cheese. If you want to catch trout, do not tie an old shoe to your fishing line. Very simple formula: Match Bait to Critter.”

Make sure the right “bait” is part of your offer.

Always include a tracking mechanism. For example: “Mention this ad and receive X” or “For more information, visit offer.yourURL.com” where they will find exactly what you’ve promised in the ad.

Be sure that every ad includes accurate, easy-to-read contact information, and proof this part very carefully. In fact, having a second set of eyes look over your entire proof before publication is ALWAYS a good idea.

Again, I cannot stress enough that YOUR ad must be compelling to YOUR customers. The design staff at your local paper may be talented, creative people, but they get paid by the hour and are rewarded for quick turnaround. Your ROI is dependent upon results.

Need help creating an effective print ad for your small retail business? Just drop me a note on my contact page.

Photo Credit: eob on flickr

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Our new theme is a customization of PrimePress by Ravi Varma. The banner image is a slice of downtown Neenah, Wisconsin, photographed by my husband a couple of weeks ago. (He’s having fun with a new camera and we’re both seeing our home town with new eyes.)

It’s been an incredibly busy summer! We’ve had several new client projects, lots of new work quoted, and legwork done toward the launch of a new business. We basically went from June 1 through August 1 without a break, working long hours, hardly stepping outdoors.

About three weeks ago, we decided that enough was enough … work would still be here tomorrow, but our summer was quickly coming to an end. We purchased bicycles and ever since, we’ve been taking a little time most days to go riding around town or heading out of town on one of our many trails. We’re looking forward to the cooler weather of fall for more comfortable riding and more colorful photo opportunities. I’m finding it’s kind of fun to be married to a photographer!

I’d like to say that daily blogging will once again accompany our new look, but that’s probably not realistic for the next six weeks. We’re facing major deadlines that must remain a priority. (We like happy clients around here!) I’ll post as I’m able and we may add a few guest posts to the mix.

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Small business owners are notoriously busy with the day-to-day aspects of running a business. If social media is just the latest fad, why bother? But, if social media opens a door to new markets, if it presents an authentic way to engage your customer base, and if it can lead to greater profits - that’s something worthy of your time.

Charles Heflin asks on his blog, “How can we produce a positive cash flow by utilizing the seemingly limitless prospect base that is having millions of conversations about millions of things every day?”

Today, he’s opening a discussion on this subject with 10 statements that he’s found to be true during the past two years of testing, observing and implementing social media strategies.

Read more and get involved in the discussion about the ROI of social media.

Image Credit: ba1969 on Stock.xchng

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I made an online purchase today via a customer update form on a secure Web page. The URL included “https” and the little yellow padlock icon was definitely there, at the bottom right of my Flock browser.

Imagine my dismay when I discovered that this “secure” form transmitted all of my sensitive data via form mail. My full name, address, phone number, credit card information … the whole works, traveled from a secure web page via a non-encrypted email to the corporate inbox.

How did I learn of this? The thank you page linked back to a free Form Mail script archive. Oh yes, I’m feeling like a valued customer now!

Not only did it make the trip once, but an employee who received my form was also kind enough to answer a question, and replied to me with all of my form data in the body of her email. There were no x’s replacing credit card numbers or expiration date. Nope, it was all there for any reasonably proficient identity thief to see.

Why would any company that offers a good product and otherwise excellent customer service, fail so miserably on basic Internet security? The employee apologized for her error, but this isn’t a little “oops, I screwed up” type of mistake. Because the company didn’t take the time or effort to consider how their foolish shortcut could harm their customers and didn’t bother engaging in the most basic Internet security training, they’ve lost my trust. In my mind, their brand has gone from “quality product, excellent service” to wondering what other shortcuts they’ve taken.

Small Business Takeaway – If you collect ANY sensitive customer data, make sure you either know how to collect and transmit that data securely or hire someone who knows what they’re doing.

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