I was spammed today by this Realtor via Top Producer. He has a blog but apparently has not caught on to the whole RSS thing where instead of dripping or spamming it is possible to get readers to come and subscribe. Think I have 1200 or so subscribers to one of my blogs and 160 people who have signed up for an "opt In" email newsletter.
For those who don’t know what opt in is, it is the opposite of opt out. Instead of me sending you spam and you having to take action to make it stop, opt in is where you sign up for my newsletter or you don’t get it at all, not ever, no way no how. (I mean it too!)
As if that was not bad enough he sent this picture too. It was embedded in the email and I have posted it here in the actual size as shown on the email. I may have added a little text but other than that this is the picture.
I am not going to say anything about the picture. I don’t think I need to.
I hate spam. This was a canned email sent to a huge mailing list (like I have to define spam). Bloggers contact me all the time, daily even. Some send polite notes, you know the kind that are just to me and do not go out to a huge mailing list. Others call, and some leave comments on my blog. That is all fine and I have friends that I met just that way.
I know my email should not frighten me but the amount that I get is almost staggering, and some of the content is appalling. The type of email the gentleman sent is simply annoying. He came uninvited into my business email and to make it worse he sent himself along to.
that picture would scare me too.
I wrote about this type of schmuck awhile ago in a post called Realtor Egos Run Amok….
http://www.justnewlistings.com/arlington-virginia-blog/jay-seville/realtor-egos-gone-amock/show/
Wow…I’m just about to start blogging myself and this is a timely catch. I was just about to drop you an e-mail. 🙂
This begs the question with Web 2.0 — what are the methods that most people prefer when “hooking up” online? Blog hook-ups, that is! It seems to me that Blogrolling, trackbacks, Twitters and what-not are a lot like dating. You can say yes, you can say no, you can say maybe…and once you’ve committed to the partnership you can still keep your eyes open looking for something better, right?
Is there some kind of e-Harmony.com for bloggers to figure out who matches their 29 dimensions of personality? Some way to create a solid, synergistic relationship between blogs? Or is this more like hitting all the bars in town and seeing if you find someone cute that you won’t regret meeting in the morning?
John – you just created a link to your blog with a comment. Now I know you exist and am likely to click the link and find your blog. If I like what I see I may even put you on my blog roll. You may have to visit blogs a few times and get to know people. You can write short posts about other blogs and put links in them too. Connecting with people in your area who are not realtors is even better. You will not only get links but might get business too.
Teressa – this is John a.k.a RentalsGuy. I just wanted to say thanks…your response actually pushed me to get my blog online. After 3 or 4 months of “I just don’t know how to start” I’m off on a rip roaring escapade. I don’t know how great my blog is, but that’s not the point. I enjoy doing it and I have a plan to use it for generating more business (afterall, as much as I do like doing a blog, I wouldn’t be doing this kind of blog if it were not for the profit incentive!). I found some news ditty about you so you are actually the first blog I’ve linked to. Thanks again for such a great blog…I thoroughly enjoy reading your rants…er, fits…I mean, commentary. 😉