How would you respond to this email..........

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Seriously folks, I really get these............ with some frequency.
So, how would you respond, remembering you have limited funds in your legal defence fund.

---------------

I am very impressed with the knowledge and support I received from this company.  They spent over 1/2 hour helping me with my old spa and I had not made any purchases from their company.  I am looking to purchase another spa and was considering Hxxxn Spas.  Their website has a lot of information, the owner is an engineer as I recall and has worked for other spa companies before designing his own spas.  I would be interested in your evaluation of this company's products.

[cooltoy2000]

Your e-mail should say - "My mother taught me that if you can not say anything good, don't say anything period"

[Chris_H]

Doc,
You should tell them to visit this site, as well as, poolsearch.com and ask the same question here.  We will give them the appropriate response.
Chris

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

poolsearch is in fact my general recommendation.

Doc,
You should tell them to visit this site, as well as, poolsearch.com and ask the same question here.  We will give them the appropriate response.
Chris

[Vinny]

I would reply that you can not give any information on any particular spa (remembering that this could be a potenital customer for you or a setup). I agree that the best thing may be to suggest that the e-mailer search the internet for those spas their interested in and get their own info along with suggesting visiting a few boards. I wouldn't tell them which one(s) as you don't want any fingers pointing toward you.

Stay as neutral as can be. If someone is e-mailing you they do have the potential to research it themself!

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Research is what get's them to me in the first place........... Ya see............ ummmmmmmmm, I kinda have this other web site I've been "tinkering" with, on and off, in my spare time (which has been non-existant for quite a while) for the last few years. At the rate I'm going with it, 5 more years and it might be presentable to the public   ... problem is, Google doesn't think the same way, and has it listed #1 for, spa ratings, spa buying guide and spa buyers guide.....and in the top 3 for most of the other terms I targeted. So.........as they say, I built it, well, started building it, and they come...So, I get stuck with these emails . Oddly, this is the most common "subject"...

hmmmmmmmm, maybe I jump start the whoring of myself and sell the guy advertising on the site  :-/

[Chris_H]

I would have a professional develop your rhtubs.com site and make it into a message board and review site with paid advertising.  You could also have biased ratings area with which you can collect $25K for the right to be 5 Diamond recommended because stars are unfashionable.  Diamonds are the way to go.

Then create www.robertshottubs.com for the rest of the stuff you do.  I am serious.

[In Canada eh]

hmmmmmmmm, maybe I jump start the whoring of myself and sell the guy advertising on the site  :-/

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't do it Doc, don't sell out

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

There's a part of me, small as it may be, that has already thought of something along that idea.     Problem is, I don't think I could live with my self if I did. Although................ $500k a year for a bogis rating system??? Maybe I could buy some piece of mind  

I would have a professional develop your rhtubs.com site and make it into a message board and review site with paid advertising.  You could also have biased ratings area with which you can collect $25K for the right to be 5 Diamond recommended because stars are unfashionable.  Diamonds are the way to go.

Then create www.robertshottubs.com for the rest of the stuff you do.  I am serious.

[Vinny]

I have to say anyone who would buy a spa on the internet to the tune of $13,000 (I really can't believe he charges that much) deserves what they get!

I think PT Barnum said 'there's a sucker born every minute'.

I thought the e-mail was through rhtubs. I don't have any suggestions, sorry!

So you built a monster and now WE have to deal with it ...  

[geekd]

You're the rhtubs.com guy?

Your site has some great info, but, ummm, it's not the prettiest or easiest to use site out there.

I say do this:  Sign up for google ads.  It's easy and free.  Put the google ads on each page (they have text only ads that are not very intrusive).  then take the money you make off that to hire a good web designer.

It sounds like you already have the traffic and reputation.  And you DO have excellent content.  A decent design and you could have a great site.

-geekd

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Ya know, it's kind of funny, I get emails slamming me for how dificult it is to navigate the site, and I get email praising me for how easy it is to navigate the site. Oddly, I get much more email of praise than slamming, and since people tend to complain more when they're unhappy, as opposed to giving praise.............well, I'm a firm beliver in you can't please everyone  

The site's over 1200 pages, 8 years of work, and there's no way in "heck" I'm paying a designer to redesign the whole thing. On top of which, it does spectacularly well in the search engines. All a designer would do is screw that up, and cause me to have to lay off 50 or so employees. Nope, no chance that'll happen. Love it or hate, it feeds the families of over 100 people.

Google ads........... Well? 1 they don't tell you anything about how much they'll pay you. It's kind of a "good faith thing"........... "We're Google, the god of the internet, trust us, we'll pay you something"   " And ahhhh........ I played with their ad words a few years ago when they first came out...... I kinda got myself banned   ........ But hey! There's still Yahoo ads   ........ Seriously, there's a lot better paying advertisers out there, I just haven't had the time to sign up and put them on the site............ Got a few though.

[anne]

I'd be one of those to say that I love the info on your site but I find it frustrating to navigate. No criticism intended, just feedback.

[wmccall]

Did you check the IP of this email message? Sounds like a trap to me.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

I didn't bother to trace back the email, wasn't worth the time.

With regards to navigation... What's the problem? I mean, what's the difficulty? What can't you find? Gimmie some suggestions.