I have yet to see a legitimate ad blaster that works and is legal? You can find them to blast emails, Yahoo Groups, MySpace etc. and they are junk. Just like Free For All lists, they give legitimate advertising methods a bad name.

Guess who owns MasterAdBlaster.com? Yep, I do. I was so excited when I first purchased that domain. I already had the perfect product to promote there. I had purchased the resell rights to an ad blaster from a very respected marketer. It was the latest (Back in Nov. of 2005) Automatic AdBlasting Software that sent your ad automatically and instantly to over 1000 Advertising Networks and 2,500,000+ Websites and Engines across the net, day after day, throughout the year! Bla Bla Bla

The site was perfect. Great graphics and structure. Enticing ad copy that promised:

“Have Your Ad Blasted To 2,500,000+ Sites Every Day
Automatically Using The Worlds Most Astonishing
“Set And Forget” Technology !”

and

Get 5000 Hits To Your Website Per Hour!

I was nieve back then. I used the blaster everyday. I promoted my new site and sold a few copies. Then the inevitable came. I began receiving complaints and refund requests. You know why? Because I hadn’t bothered testing it. I faithfully submitted my ads daily just assuming they were being delivered just as the software displayed after the submission process. So I finally wised up and used a tracker. I tested many sites for weeks. Hundreds of ads going to what was supposed to be millions of sites and not one single click. I was so embarrassed.

Embarrassed but not defeated, I started looking for a replacement that worked. I tried several other email blasters that didn’t work at all. I found a nice Yahoo Groups mailer that showed promise but didn’t pan out. The latest was a piece of junk MySpace mailer that was being promoted everywhere last year. Again, zero clicks!

The Bottom Line

Here’s the bottom line - Are the ads even delivered? I doubt it but even if they are, the proofs in the pudding as to the results.

Are there any legitimate Blasters? I have yet to find one and I really really tried. Hey, I wanted MasterAdBlaster to be a success! Do you have one that is legal, ethical and actually works? Give it to me and I’ll test it but I’m done buying them. Don’t even bother unless every single person that receives the blast has opted-in to get the ads. If you can’t prove that then it’s unethical as far as I’m concerned.

Why they’ll never work - A blaster won’t work even if the ad actually gets delivered unless someone can resolve one huge problem. That problem has to do with targeted ads going to potential customers that want to see what you have to offer. It’s our greed and laziness that fuels the development of these fraudulent programs. Now if it was an opt-in membership based blaster then I would be of a different opinion but then it would be called a safelist

That’s Right I Said It,
Brian Hawkins

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Back in February I wrote a piece on why WordPress is a better choice than Blogger for setting up your own blog. That post is no longer available but it was basically my opinion that WordPress’ options and features allowed for much more control over your site making it a better choice over Blogger. Now it looks like there’s another reason to lean toward WordPress for your blog format - security risks…

I’m sure that no one is surprised that Web 2.0 isn’t only gaining popularity with good Google fearing web users, hackers are loving it too. Sophos.com just released their threat report for July 2008. The report highlights some interesting yet not surprising facts. Website infection rate is up 300% times faster than last year with Google’s Blogger being the number one host of malware.

“Sophos has identified that the number one host for malware on the web is Blogger (Blogspot.com), which allows computer users to make their own websites easily at no charge. Hackers both set up malicious blogs on the service, and inject dangerous web links and content into innocent blogs in the form of comments. Blogspot.com accounts for 2 percent of all of the world’s malware hosted on the web.”

source

To be fair WordPress may be in the news next. The fact is Blogger hosts 2% of malware on the web but that’s still a small fraction of the low lives out there. Blogs and Web 2.0 sites and other legitimate websites are at an increased risk due to their increased popularity.

I recommend that you always know what you’re clicking on before you hit the mouse button and keep your computer up to date with quality virus, malware and spyware protection. In my opinion WordPress is still a better choice than Blogger.

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I drive a gas-hungry pickup truck and I have no plans to trade it in for a fuel efficient sedan much less a hybrid. It’s not that I haven’t been hit hard by gas prices too. I just spent $75.00 on a little over 18 gallons of gas last night. Many of you have known me for years as ‘CheapAzz‘ so you would think that I would be first in line for the savings of driving a smaller vehicle. I drive a F-150 and the mileage sucks. I like my truck. Can a Honda Civic carry a load of top soil home? Can it pull my trailer or haul the twelve sheets of plywood I just bought? Can it pull my wife’s car out of the ditch or drag my children’s broke down clunkers home?

I drive very little and if I needed to travel more I would probably consider buying a third car, used of course, to run errands. It’s a free Country and it’s my choice what to drive.

All of the sudden everyone is turning green. It was perfectly ok to run around in their SUVs and mini vans until it hit their pocketbooks. I understand the need to conserve and save money but let me say, “Just because you went out and over-paid for a lesser vehicle doesn’t make you any better than everyone else“. Concerned for the environment? Great, more power to you. Just get your nose out of the clouds and save your dirty looks for that car payment.

Far too many people have converted to the ‘Go Green Religion‘ for the wrong reasons. Not because they’re environmentalists or concerned citizens. They jumped on the green bandwagon to feel superior. They go around and give their unsolicited advice about what to drive and why. I have something to say to those obnoxious idiots;

That’s Right I Said It,
Brian D. Hawkins

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