Fibbing on Website/Marketing
Discussion
No real judgement but more of an observation. A competitor has just opened in our area, and they do have a decent website. But everything in it is a bit of a fib.
"In business for over 20 years" (I think 20 days is probably closer).
The majority of the images are just taken from the Web, and they claim the pictures are theirs
Testimonials all seem very similar or are from people with the same surname as the owners
Kind of interested in opinions of lying on your website claiming to have carried out work you have not done?
Couple of the pictures are 'royalty free' pictures but others are simply taken from other people's sites in the industry.
Is that this the new norm now? If you were starting business would you do the same?
"In business for over 20 years" (I think 20 days is probably closer).
The majority of the images are just taken from the Web, and they claim the pictures are theirs
Testimonials all seem very similar or are from people with the same surname as the owners
Kind of interested in opinions of lying on your website claiming to have carried out work you have not done?
Couple of the pictures are 'royalty free' pictures but others are simply taken from other people's sites in the industry.
Is that this the new norm now? If you were starting business would you do the same?
Using competitors photos is the biggest problem there. Might be worth letting the copyright holders know about it if they don't already.
I know somebody who had their entire website copied and pasted by somebody else in the same industry, even linking to his server to load the images (which is how he found out). He updated his own site, then replaced the hotlinked images to an animated dancing penis. They got the hint
I know somebody who had their entire website copied and pasted by somebody else in the same industry, even linking to his server to load the images (which is how he found out). He updated his own site, then replaced the hotlinked images to an animated dancing penis. They got the hint
We get images copied a lot. I end up emailing the offenders who normally take them down. Google are pretty hot on this stuff too if you report them.
Worst for me was a sales chap (who stole from us) was fired and set up on his own. He then promptly started using images on his site from our projects. That was annoying! The projects he had decided to use were even before he joined us so he didn't even have any involvement in them. I can't imagine why he thought this was acceptable.
Worst for me was a sales chap (who stole from us) was fired and set up on his own. He then promptly started using images on his site from our projects. That was annoying! The projects he had decided to use were even before he joined us so he didn't even have any involvement in them. I can't imagine why he thought this was acceptable.
NorthDave said:
We get images copied a lot. I end up emailing the offenders who normally take them down. Google are pretty hot on this stuff too if you report them.
Worst for me was a sales chap (who stole from us) was fired and set up on his own. He then promptly started using images on his site from our projects. That was annoying! The projects he had decided to use were even before he joined us so he didn't even have any involvement in them. I can't imagine why he thought this was acceptable.
We've had that happen too. A former employee listed a bunch of our projects on her portfolio website that she wasn't involved in (several were done years after she left). I know the company launched legal proceedings against her about it but I never did find out the outcome.Worst for me was a sales chap (who stole from us) was fired and set up on his own. He then promptly started using images on his site from our projects. That was annoying! The projects he had decided to use were even before he joined us so he didn't even have any involvement in them. I can't imagine why he thought this was acceptable.
durbster said:
Using competitors photos is the biggest problem there. Might be worth letting the copyright holders know about it if they don't already.
I know somebody who had their entire website copied and pasted by somebody else in the same industry, even linking to his server to load the images (which is how he found out). He updated his own site, then replaced the hotlinked images to an animated dancing penis. They got the hint
I know somebody who had their entire website copied and pasted by somebody else in the same industry, even linking to his server to load the images (which is how he found out). He updated his own site, then replaced the hotlinked images to an animated dancing penis. They got the hint
Blatant lying is a big no no. You will be called on it sooner rather than later.
Embellishment....that's another matter.
We state in our marketing that we are an award-winning consultancy. We won a single award - actually, our client won it for a campaign we produced for them so we can viably claim that our work is award-winning.
We often use the phrase 'market-leader' - which is an entirely subjective, arbitrary statement. We genuinely think we are but have no metric to prove we are.
You often find in consulting type businesses, particularly start-ups or young companies, that the collective years of experience of the key people is used in a way to to suggest the the company has 'x' years of experience - which in a round about way, it does.
Embellishment....that's another matter.
We state in our marketing that we are an award-winning consultancy. We won a single award - actually, our client won it for a campaign we produced for them so we can viably claim that our work is award-winning.
We often use the phrase 'market-leader' - which is an entirely subjective, arbitrary statement. We genuinely think we are but have no metric to prove we are.
You often find in consulting type businesses, particularly start-ups or young companies, that the collective years of experience of the key people is used in a way to to suggest the the company has 'x' years of experience - which in a round about way, it does.
StevieBee said:
We often use the phrase 'market-leader' - which is an entirely subjective, arbitrary statement. We genuinely think we are but have no metric to prove we are
One of our competitors used to make a claim in their print advertising, with an asterisk, and a small note at the bottom that said "Internal survey - not researched". As I recall that claim they made was possibly true or possibly not, certainly open to very wide interpretation.It happens a lot, but mostly out of ignorance rather than malice I think (what do you mean I can't use that image? I found it on the internet, anyone can use it!).
A sale of a website fell through at the last minute, so the would be purchaser copied the text content wholesale for a new website, but a quick cease and desist letter had them take it down sharpish.
The use of other's images is the easiest to get them on. A DMCA take down notice to their web host if they are US based, or an email to the host's abuse department if they are EU based normally gets the desired result.
Or, take them through the IPEC small claims court for copyright infringement. It's remarkably straightforward.
A sale of a website fell through at the last minute, so the would be purchaser copied the text content wholesale for a new website, but a quick cease and desist letter had them take it down sharpish.
The use of other's images is the easiest to get them on. A DMCA take down notice to their web host if they are US based, or an email to the host's abuse department if they are EU based normally gets the desired result.
Or, take them through the IPEC small claims court for copyright infringement. It's remarkably straightforward.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff