We're talking the Internet today folks. We're talking about all that tracking that Google and other tracking websites do, of everything you do on the Internet. For the most part it irritates everyone! And in fact, that is why the cookie acceptance has happened, because there was a lawsuit about information cookies being written to your computer. It downright pisses some people off, and with due cause as they are violating people's privacy!
They track what you buy, where you go, how long you are there, transaction information such as how much you spent and where and for what, and every place you go on the internet. They have all the business web sites and many other private web sites convinced that their analytics will help them sell their products! They share this information with anyone who will pay for it! It's big money for advertisers such as Google. It's also one of the biggest scams ever!
Have you actually seen the results of their so called analytics? I laugh every time I see them! You can see them in the advertisements on web sites that you visit, if you're paying attention. What they are doing is putting advertisements on the web pages for items that you have already purchased. Talk about stupid! By the time they get their advertisements out there, you have already bought these items that you searched for and they're all but worthless ads and will never get clicked. It's a joke!
What do they think? You are going to keep buying the same item over and over and over. Talk about stupid! They're bilking millions of people out of advertising money with this scam! Mind you, this is completely legal. For example, I bought a pump for my hot tub about six months ago and they are still putting ads up on the websites for that, like I'm gonna buy another one! People are paying for them to put these ads up there and they are useless.
And it just in case you haven't noticed, they slow down the web pages load time by at least a factor of five! Talk about stupid! There is no way I would let these people slow my website down for their stupid analytics which serve absolutely no purpose, except to monitor what we do. Who knows where this information goes, but it is definitely in databases with your name on it. It's hard enough to get pages to load in a reasonable time without having to deal with Google and their stupid analytics. I have left a number of websites because they loaded too slow, with Google analytics. This is one way to know when a website has tracking; it loads reeeeaaaally slow. Also, I don't like being tracked. Do you?!
For all intents and purposes they are a day late and a dollar short with their ads!
Another prominent marketing scam that has been going on for a number of years now is the telephone marketing by computers. They display your phone's area code and prefix, but some other number, which is definitely not the callers. Technically, it is fraud to send a number that is not being called from and they could be prosecuted under the Rico act. I have had a large number of calls from people calling me thinking I had called them, and I have had to explain to them what is going on.
I would have thought that by now the FBI would have brought these people to justice, but they allow this crime to continue on, taking no action against these interstate criminals! They should be fired for not doing their job, as well as the state investigation agency's! We are all sick of this marketing scam! The law says they MUST provide a way to be put on a no-call list! It is not possible when they send a fraudulent phone number!
Recently I have been the victim of a new marketing scam! It is actually quite ingenious, and I have to say, I'm impressed. Here's how it works! First they set up a web site for retail sales such as DVDs, but they have no products on hand. You as a victim, go to their website and make a purchase of a non-existing product. A week later they send you a notice that they are shipping it. Then a month later it has still not arrived and you start getting worried. And then you get on notice from your credit card or debit card company, or whoever you paid with, informing you that they have given you your money back as a full refund.
Now here's the catch; they never had any intention of sending you that product, but, they got to use your money for a full month interest free! As long as they return your money within 30 days, they are within the law!!! Just consider that, if they got 1000 people to spend $50.00 a month, they would have $50,000 to invest on wall street during that month, and make a profit from your money, interest free! Keep in mind that their prices are substantially lower than everywhere else for the given product. This is their incentive to get you to their website and to buy their nonexistent products!
Another prominent marketing scam, is the promotional offer scam. The business offers an initial special priced offer, for you to sign up with them for regular services. The offer may be for one month or up to one year. Then at the end of that designated term, they start charging double the promotional price for their services! In this scam the promotional price is usually below market value, but when compared to the double price it is not what one would call a good deal. In fact, it is stupid on the part of the business, as it drives the new customer away when it increases so much! If they had a brain among them, they would try to keep that new customer and not double the price!
You might wonder where marketers get their leads from. It is really quite simple. They have computer programs that are called robots, and they go through websites such as craigslist and parse the data out of the pages, where user ads are. Any web site that allows users to place ads is subject to this -data mining- by robot computer programs!
These marketing people will do anything to sell their products!