Spamming Fools and Branding Dilemmas
September 16th, 2011 | 
Author: Hi everyone! I’m feeling SO good today that I decided to do a vlog/blog combo. That either just made you really happy or thoroughly disgusted 
So here’s the video or you can watch it on Daily Motion or read the text below – and a Honey video is at the bottom of this blog as well as her making an appearance in this video!
First thing I want to tell you about. I got a Google Alert for my name (you should all have this for your name and products FYI) and i went to check it out. It’s some black hat world forum thingy where I always have to look at the cached version because Google Chrome won’t show it live (why is that?). Here’s what I see:
http://www.tiffanydow.com/images/spam.JPG
Now first of all the thread is titled: Has Tiffany Dow spammed your blog yet?” CRINGE! I don’t spam!! So I look and the guy/girl says they have 3 IM blogs that I’ve spammed. They guess it’s SB.
I go into Warrior Forum and ask what SB is and why someone would spam with my name since I know for damn sure it’s not me!
I find out SB is some tool called ScrapeBox – I guess it harvests blogs and posts spam for you? Ick! And the reasons people are spamming with my name were either because they were hoping to get it approved using my name (as if the blog owner wouldn’t read the comment) or someone’s trying to make me look bad!
I have a feeling it’s the second choice. How grade school pathetic of you spammers! Get a life and go help someone.
Anyway if you see spam with Tiffany Dow in it, it isn’t me! Someone else asked if I’d paid for links because they thought maybe a link person did that. I had only bought a specific profile link set during Bring the Fresh, but zero blog comment links! I would never ever allow anyone to represent my site like that.
And the funny thing is, I’ve been spammed by my own name before here but I thought maybe someone screwed up their spam and entered my name under the name section. I didn’t know they were doing it on purpose.
Okay secondly! A branding question I want to get your feedback on:
I got an email from someone but I want to keep it very generic and not give away her exact keywords. Okay so what if you decide you’re going to brand yourself as “the amazing marketer!” You buy the domain amazingmarketer.com. You suddenly find out someone else just got amazinginternetmarketer.com – neither of you stole the idea, but you’re both now pursuing it from scratch.
Do you keep pursuing it or abandon the idea?
Hmmmm. I see it two ways. First, most people are going to quit or fail at marketing anyway, so if you abandon the idea it might never get fulfilled. I also think you might be able to dominate them.
OR…they could topple you. Or you’d have to share traffic. This happened when my Squidoo guide came out and people called me Squidoo Queen but someone else grabbed the domain and made a good career teaching other people – that person became another qualified, branded teacher, so it worked to their advantage to brand like that.
You could have to share traffic – if you’re both amazing marketer, then she might get your traffic and you might get hers.
Personally, I’d find something else but I think with this emailer’s specific word, she’s probably going to wind up picking something else ANYWAY because of the initial exercise I’m going to have y’all do that involves choosing our brand words. I had to Google to see if the idea I’m considering has been taken and I saw nothing on page 1 of Google in quotes or not, so that’s good.
But what are your thoughts? What if two of YOU here both chose the same adjective and niche to brand yourselves. Would you compete or pick something else?
Enjoy the video below of Honey showing Zoe (from Sesame Street) who’s boss. She brings her toy to me wrestles me for it, wants me to throw it so she can do it again.
Honey the Chihuahua Teaches Zoe from Sesame… by TiffanyDow
Tiff
Share and Enjoy
Posted in Career
I am sure I would pick something else RE the brand. As long as you haven’t invested anything into it already, I think it’s worth taking time to choose a new idea.
As for the spammy tactic – that sucks! But at least we all know you here and would never believe it was really you leaving spammy comments.
Am loving the new Honey vid
She was glad to get some time on camera
First off, love your moose! (I have two rescue mooses meself at home (ie, moose-sized doggied) and now call every canine I see…moose.
Next, my gosh, spamming with your name? That…is simply just plain icky. However, your rep in the online world, I seriously believe, cannot be tarnished…so hopefully this will die a well-deserved death once whomever tried hurting you discovers it didn’t work.
And regarding branding, well, I’m now of the venerable age where I’m happy to co-promote others so long as its a win-win scenario. I’ve outgrown the “everyone is my competitor!” mode (having zero energy after running my business/taking care of the passel of kids/mooses/spouse/etc. probably has something to do with this).
So if (and this is a huuuuge if) one can swing a mutually beneficial relationship, I wouldn’t worry too much.
Your mileage, of course, may vary indeed.
Yeah the problem would be in not knowing if that person was ethical or not. LOL
Poor Zoe! That’s what you get when u mess with a Chihuahua.
Exactly! Zoe and those big scary eyes….lol
As far as the branding goes, I think it would depend on how stuck on the adjective or phrase I was. If it was something I thought up and was like, “OH I HAVE TO BE THAT!!” and created this vision in my head of my logo, motto, etc. etc., I’d probably stick with it. It would have to be something that I felt strongly about, and knew that I could make it my own even if the competition is using something similar.
However, if was just an idea I had and I was like “Ehhh” about the whole thing, I’d probably let it go.
Good insight Kecia – if it meant a lot, I’d go for it too.
Sorry to hear that someone is spamming with your name. Some people just don’t have anything better to do with their time besides acting stupid. I just recently set up some Google alerts myself.
If the name was something I really want to brand myself with and have already started doing so I would go for it because there is a good chance the other person my not make it happen. If just starting out I see someone else was using it, I’d rather pick something else out.
Honey is cute. I like when she stopped and looked right at the camera LOL.
Yes I agree Alice – she could intimidate the OTHER person out of it
Hurrah! Tiff is well and back on screen. (I am saying this without having watched as the video is still in Publishing in Progress mode).
Re: Domain name and branding. If you haven’t already started, then it is quite easy to change your idea and invest in another domain name and tag line. However if you were creating a brand using your name and someone else with the same name bought the .net/.org domains, then you would just have to work a little harder to make sure you dominate the search engines.
Tiptopcat
Wonder why it does that for some and not for others? Very weird! LOL
I look forward to hearing the responses on this. I would think it’s very rare, but it does happen and two people can have the same idea almost simultaneously.
Spammers suck! They should be forced to live on Gilligan’s Island without any modern luxuries.
I think I would get very sidetracked playing fetch with the doggie.
Thanks for sharing all of this.
Gilligans Island LOL!
Hi,
I know of two guys that the same ting happened to. one bought a domain and the other bought the same in the plural. At the time they did not know each other, but were just thinking of similar ideas. Instead of worrying about what happened they got in touch with each other and have since become good friends JVing for each other. They have even worked together on product creation and are constantly launching wsos together.
It wouldn’t hurt to contact this other person and see if maybe you can work together. Whats the worse that can happen. They end up being a jerk and you just take all their business.
Stan, aka The Old Hippy Dude
Might be good!
Hi,
Like others have stated unless it was something I couldn’t live without, and provided I didn’t have to much time and energy invested, I would try to come up with something else better and unique.
But if it was something that I had to have I would pursue it and either dominate them or get blown out myself.
Sorry to hear about the scammers, and I think Gilligans Island would be too good for them.
Take Care
Mel
lol Mel!
Okay, I would still go with it and here is why: amazing marketer in my mind is not the same as amazing net marketer (this one reminds me of amazing network marketer) and they both look kinda generic to me.
For example I have Marketing Results Now . something – I am using this to sell to chiropractors, small business people and video marketing for small business. I kept it generic so I could offer many markets a service BUT I am not going to get search engine traffic from it – I am using direct mail/email blasts to drive traffic as well as article marketing.
So – I guess it also depends on what she is selling and how she is getting traffic. Also is is specific or general marketing. For example:
dog bones or dog bones for the chocolate lab?
I hope that got my point across.
Thanks Mark or should I sign this with Tiffany’s name? Ok kidding – I’m sorry you are getting spammers who want to be you Tiff. Yuck!
lol thanks Tiff!
Hi Tiff,
First thing spamming in your name well I know you have Kudos but the fact that 99.9% of folks know that you are uber ethical would surely get those spam comments removed .. I would hope so anyway.
As far as the branding thingy .. I think that it’s a case of sticking with your original phrase idea and toughing it out. As you said only a small % of folks have the glue to stick it out .. On that note.. Is it a requirement to brand a ‘new name’ I am thinking that I would love to apply what were going to learn to one of current my online pseudonym’s ie Affiliate Buddy.. would that work or are we starting from scratch?
(umm I notice that I have a habit of adding 2 dots (..) everywhere lately! )
Nope not required at all!
Hi Tiff
Hey you can “spam” my blog anytime, probably would increase readers. LOL. Doing what these bottom feeders do requires much more effort than just being honest and ethical. But they will never get it.
As to you branding question I agree with most here. If you really invested and geared for that domain go for it. You competition will probably fade over time anyway. Then you can buy that domain and point it to your site. hehe.
Barney
PS my mini Schnauzer acts just like Honey.
lol video your doggie!
first off, bummer about the spammer… and there’s no guarantee (with ScrapeBox or any of its ilk, there’s like four main ones now) that they even read English or know what they did… ScrapeBox just grabs content from anywhere that matches its search term, and sends it back out again…
second, considering the fallout rate on internet marketers, I wouldn’t worry about the intersection of thinking… and if it turns out you’re grabbing each other’s traffic, JV it! the odds of two folks randomly seeking the same niche is pretty damn small….could be one is thinking video, while the other is thinking PLR…
glad you’re feeling better; we missed your sparkly smile
what a crappy tool then! Ugh.
Well i have a site cyrilalmond.com there is another site of the same. It is a porn site! Anybody who knows me well will know that is the last thing i would be involved with. I have left it. If anybody wants to go on the other, well they need counseling. Come to mine they can have it!
LOL! Oh no poor Cyril!
Branding – I had that dilemma with THAT Painter Lady years ago. Everyone called me THE Painter Lady locally but that domain was already taken. So I became THAT PL… and had no problems. The other person was weak at marketing.
Of course – I didn’t “Know” what the other person was going to do when I started out and worried about it constantly. It made me a better marketer… LOL
And… this was NOT in the IM niches of course so that helps.
I can’t wait to see what you’ve cooked up to share in this new Branding Course… I might become some new “Diva” of something. *giggle*
Honey was looking for something to Squeak! “Damn – why won’t Zoe squeak – I’m chewing the daylights out of her foot?”
LOL! She won’t play w/squeak toys for some reason.
For some reason your journal won’t play on my computer. All I get is a black screen. I use Mozilla Firefox. Do you need to be signed in to view them?
Hmm I’m sorry I don’t know Bob
Does anyone else know about that?
Tiffany,
You look beautiful! So glad you’re feeling better!!!
I have to tell you that I FINALLY got my PLR site up and running – had a few shopping cart and hosting issues, but I think they are all resolved. Thank you for your encouragement and Christine too – she encouraged me here on an earlier post.
Now, I’ve got to head over to sign up for the branding challenge. Can’t wait!
BTW – I’m sitting by a cozy fire here in crisp, cool Seattle but wishing I were in sunny, warm Texas! Then again, today’s weather is well suited to making carmel apples. How’d they turn out?
Thanks Tiffiney! Glad you got your site functional
Let’s trade weather a bit! Well it’s raining tonight so maybe later. lol
Very nice PLR work, I’ll be buying more for sure. You will do well in PLR.
1. Similar named domains. I do article marketing for natural remedies for pets. Someone had the unhyphenated domain name, so I took the hyphenated version of it. I don’t know if I lost any sales to the unhyphenated domain or not. I seriously doubt it as they sold a different thinger. Would I do it again? I would change to a different keyword phrase.
2. BUT, if I was so fired up on a keyword phrase and just had to have it, I would let the enthusiasm drive the delivery. She probably needs to worry about more important things like keeping up with her brand promise.
3. I don’t think your detractors have enough smarts to use the scrapper. I sounds like someone leveraging your name to get comment approval.
3. Are the Chi’s EARS getting really long? I swear they have grown! Soon she will be a Chi-ePhant.
;>
Kater
lol her ears might be growing. She is starting to resemble a gremlin
“I do article marketing for natural remedies for pets.”
…. where can I see some, is it for sale?
Can’t count.
I have my name with the .net, but a consultant from another state has my name with the .com. I have been trying to decide what to do with it. Maybe this challenge can help me decide.
P.S. So glad you are feeling better. I hope Scarlett is feeling better, too.
Thanks she is!
what happened??? I saw two commercials (1) halfway through your video and(1) was near the end. first was T mobile the 2nd was scrubbling bubbles. Your video or my computer?????? bob
Weird! I don’t know – I see no commercials. Anyone else? This site is strange. LOL!
I saw two commercials too, Tiff
The commercial I saw was at the end of each one of your videos. It wouldn’t let you go until you watched them.
I get the two commercials too…Just assumed you were still testing out the service and using the free version.
Debi J
Yeah it’s like $1,000 a month for paid – not worth it to me. I’ll probably sneak back into YT or something.
Spammers are terrible and what a waste of space for the Internet community.
Regarding the branding. Remember that branding is much more than the name and logo you select.Your brand is an extension of who you are and what you represent.It’s the quality of the service you provide. Once you get that nailed down,then focus on the name or logo you want.
I think there will always be competition for a name. If someone sees your domain and that you get lots of traffic, someone will try to get a name very similar to that in the hopes of hijacking traffic. It’s bound to happen if you’re successful as demonstrated by spammers using Tiffany’s name. They want to benefit from her success.
I think choosing a name that sets you apart from others plus tells people what you do is the way to go. Anyway, that’s just some of my thoughts on the issue.
I’ll stop blabbing now.
Agree Deborah! Hate spammers. And good insight on the branding and what it is – you’re right – more than a name!
Tiff,
You are so beautiful, and nice, it’s hard to believe someone is spamming with your name. That’s just crappy, but we (your fans) all know you would never do something like that. It’s good to see you feeling better. Love to see Honey on video too!
As for the gal with the branding dilemma, I would change the domain name and not try to compete.
Thanks Valerie
Hi Tiffany:
Glad to hear you are feeling better. Also, so HAPPY to see HONEY. My wife and I always enjoy seeing Honey on Video. As far as the spamming problem, it is probably someone who has recently unsubscribed to your list. Someone who had a dispute with you. Know what I mean. Well, guess they don’t have anything to do.
That’s my guess too Sam
Nice to see you back looking and sounding so great!
A tip for anyone who has been ‘spammed’ by Tiff (tee hee) you can fight fire with a little fire of your own and edit all comments. So just go in and change the links and content of the commenter so that Tiffany gets the backlink!
Win for you, win for Tiff, LOSE for the spammer
Ha ha! That’s a good way to screw with em!
lol. I think there’s a bot for that!
Hi, Tiffany-
Good to see you again! Beautiful kitty you have. Sorry she’s a nipper. Great to see Honey again too.
Too bad about the spam thing-probably one of those Nellie’s-lol.
I’m reading “Branding Yourself” as well. I just got the book yesterday, and it’s hard to put down. I love it when a book is that good!
Take care!
Cindi
Glad to see that you are feeling better. Sorry about the spammer. What Sam said was the first thing that came to my mind also.
Ok about the duplication in the branding. It would all depend on whether you were actually fighting for the same niche in the internet. I create bead patterns and quite often, someone else will come up with the same idea that I did at the same time but they will look completely different so that we compliment each other. It could potentially be the same with the brandings. Then again, you could both be going in a different direction and not compete with each other at all.
Tiff,
I don’t see a way to brand my name…heck, I can’t evens set up a Google alert for it without spending all day going thru a list a mile long (there’s not a doctor/dentist/college I’ve been too that doesn’t have at LEAST 2 of me!!
Looking forward to the branding challenge. I’ve had a list for a long time of my traits/strengths/principles but then have no idea how to choose or combine to create a brand. This will be fun.
Thanks for the videos!
Debi J
I know there’s some Tiffany Dow porn star but I ONLY know this because of a Google alert. LOL! She must not be very good because I only heard about her once.
Tiff,
Love the Honey video, for a sec I was worried she might accidentally bite your hand!
No she’s very careful. My cat on the other hand…
Tiff,
I’d choose another brand. There are enough things to overcome in successful marketing. Why start with an issue? There are so many possibilities when you get creative. Marketing is unlimited. I’d just choose something else and not worry about it.
If you really had to have that branding, maybe I’d talk to the person taking it and see if something can be worked out? Possibly they don’t really need it and you could negotiate something. But only if you really just had to have that branding and nothing else.
Debbie
You’ve given me so much food for thought today. There is a heavy hitter using the keywords I was thinking of, but they have a lot of irons in the fire. They don’t market this particular area that heavily. Going to order ‘Branding Yourself’ now.
Yay for video!!!!!! So nice to SEE you and Honey again… thank you!!!
Tiff, you look fantastic!!! Clear skin and eyes, that blue is a fantastic color for you. You must have been really sick because you look like you’ve lost weight. Anyway you look beautiful and glad you’re feeling better.
I have lost a couple of pounds lol
Re the branding, I think I’d stop and see if I could find an even better name. However, someone else could come along tomorrow and use my new adjective / niche combo so if I loved the original I think I’d stay put. I’m confident we’d both bring our unique view to the subject and different people would enjoy us both.
Sorry to hear about the sp*amming, Tiff. Price of celebrity. Next they’ll be going through your bins.
Marion x
This is called brand hijacking. Dirty marketing technique but works