CopyDiva

I almost feel like perhaps I’ve been too harsh with Media Temple’s cheapo policy of no-spam-filter-without-more-money policy. Think of all the amazing spam I’ve missed in the past many years! Well, no worries, I’m still peeved because in order to find the gems I do find, I have to sift through a whole lot of crap.

This week’s winners:
–> occasional vinegar: Sounds like a recipe for keeping regular…or maybe as a skin toner…
–> scandal terminally: Is this a communique from Washington?
–> Be macho! If only I could
–> condemn my president: Much better subject line then the 3 or 4 a day that I get from various members of the Democratic Party

This week was a good week for subject line creative, so here’s the list in amusement order:

1. flannel pie chart: I might start suggesting these to clients looking for a way to add spark to the next sales meeting.
2. bequeath candy: Yes, bequeath was even spelled right. I imagine this as an inheritance contract for Halloween candy — “in case I get in a lot of trouble and lose my candy for punishment I bequeath it to my little brother.”
3. speck blacken: Is this some kind of German curse?
4. please do not come to work today: When you’re self-employed, getting this one can make you feel a little paranoid.

I know, you are jealous. But hey, if you sign up with Media Temple, your email subject lines will be much more entertaining. So what are you waiting for?

Tell me your favs by filling out this handy-dandy survey:

Today’s TechCrunch mentioned two new players in the pay-per-post arena, CreamAid and ReviewMe. I’m not quite sure that CreamAid is really the same as PayPerPost, though the whole royalty-for-posting idea is there. With so much of the blogosphere as spamblogs already, how does pay-per-post effect the trust factor of bloggers? Since PayPerPost already has people willing to sell their blogs for cash, I think the trust level suffers. Of course, there will always be a market for a service like this because there will always be marketers unwilling to really delve deep into learning how to really connect with customers. But really think about it — people already have such a low trust of advertising in any form, they ignore banner ads, get Tivos to bypass commercials and get creative to avoid being sold to. Soon enough, they will learn to tune out these fake blog posts too. Hey, sounds like a great new service, a way to strip those out.
The most important thing to remember about your customers — if they are even reading blogs — is they don’t want hype. Hype is the easy way out that will negatively impact your customers and prospects. People look to web resources for information, so give them information, leave the hype on the cutting room floor. If you want to make an impact in the blogosphere, there are simply better ways to do it then paying bloggers to write fake praises.

Ever since I switched to Media Temple as my site and email host, the amount of spam I get in my inbox daily has grown shockingly. It is a particular peeve I have with Media Temple that they do not provide even a basic spam filter as part of their service. I used to forward all my mail through an Earthlink account, and may decide again to do that, since it would be a whole lot cheaper (doesn’t cost extra) to do that then sign up for Media Temple’s spam filter. Sigh.

However, ever the optimist, I do have to say some of the subject lines for the spam I get are downright hilarious and creative. Doesn’t make me want to open it, but it can go far towards giving me a giggle or two during the day. Now granted, it doesn’t happen every day, or even every week, but when it does, I will be posting a fav, like the one that came in today:

clotheshorse churchwomen

The idea of posting these came to me when I got a funny one that had to do with tartar sauce, but for the life of me I can’t remember it now.

If you’ve got a funny subject line, feel free to add to the collection.

YouTube, the latest in the string of super cool, must-have Internet properties, is certainly hitting its stride. It has all the usual things going for it:

• started in a garage in Silicon Valley
• no revenue
• popular in the social networking realm
• copyright infringement issues

All it needed was Mark Cuban to open his mouth and tell Corporate America how STUPID anyone would be to think of buying it for there to be a Google-frenzy to do just that. Ok, certainly others have jumped the bandwagon on the copyright infringement issues that exist, but it sure seems to me that all you need is speculation for movement to happen. This is starting to smell a lot like the late 90’s Internet acquisition frenzy. I think that if you can get a rumour started that Google wants you, it might improve your chances of getting cash for your great idea. A little press controversy, a cash-happy corporate giant or two bidding over your little idea. Imagine what you might get if your hot property actually had a revenue stream — or even an idea about how to build one…