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More Cowboys Ride Into Town 6 June 2002 Edition
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Million $ Ideas
At last, the contents of Aardvark's "million-dollar ideas" notebook are revealed for all to see!
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According to reports in the NZ Herald and on IDG's website, a new gang of cyber-cowboys have ridden into town.

StoresOnline have allegedly been touting for business by offering a number of seminars on the subject of developing e-commerce websites.

The stories written by both Chris Barton and Paul Brislen do a splendid job of presenting the facts so I'm not going to repeat it all here -- but it is important to note that the level of what one might call "deceptive practices" in respect to pitching Net-related products and services appears to be rising.

ING, InternetRegistry, StoresOnline - these are just three names that have, in recent weeks, been linked to questionable marketing practices.

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Okay, these aren't the first Internet cowboys we've seen here in New Zealand but it is interesting to note that the latest set are all based offshore.

Do we, as a country, come across as so technically naive that Aussie and American cowboys think we're an easy target for their tactics or what?

So much for the government's efforts to promote NZ as a hi-tech, knowledge-based economy. Even though we may consider ourselves to be pretty sharp, the view from the outside looking in might not be quite so flattering.

Clearly this misperception is starting to attract a decidedly undesirable element to our shores and this is already beginning keeping the Commerce Commission very busy.

What can be done to fix this sorry state of affairs I wonder?

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In the wake of StoresOnline's arrival and dubious sales pitch, I've decided to extend the feature section I'm publishing by including a piece on e-commerce.

Parts three and four of this series will be published tomorrow.

In the meantime, thanks to all those who have suggested their sites be used as a working example of implementing the ideas I'm promoting to boost site traffic.

It's going to take me a little while to wade through the suggestions and evaluate the merits of each before making a decision -- but I'll announce the "winner" next week.

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