Competitor asked to remove his banner

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Competitor asked to remove his banner

dailypress

3:30 am on Jun 15, 2015 (gmt 0)

hi all,

As a promotion and incentive to have a potential competitor as well as customer advertise with us, I offered free advertisement and created and placed a free flash banner on my website (which receives over 2,000 visitors/day for a keyword CPC=$3). Although the traffic is currently not all organic.

I mentioned that I am placing a banner so he can see the traffic and referrals received and then decide if he wanted to advertise with us for a whole year.

Surprisingly, he kindly asked me to remove the banner!

Why would someone do that? When the site has many strong backlinks, has a nice domain, decent traffic in a niche market and ...? My site also ranks higher on SERPS than his company for that specific premium keyword.

Although my site only has a few pages while his consists of hundreds if not thousands of pages. He receives most of his traffic for long-tail keywords.

Any ideas?

stever

6:27 am on Jun 15, 2015 (gmt 0)

Perhaps he didn't appreciate a competitor appropriating his brand for their own benefit and implying that the two of you had (at least) a commercial relationship?

I too would be fairly miffed if somebody started advertising one of my sites on their domains without even talking to me first.

dailypress

8:35 am on Jun 15, 2015 (gmt 0)

Probably. You're right. However, I'd probably appreciate it.

topr8

6:25 pm on Jun 15, 2015 (gmt 0)

some people are just suspicious ... i think that is the problem. if you'd have given him a link i shouldn't think he would have minded.

i think it's a good strategy, not everyone will react in that way.

londrum

6:56 pm on Jun 15, 2015 (gmt 0)

did you create the image yourself? maybe he'd be alright with it if he supplied his own advert

dailypress

5:19 am on Jun 16, 2015 (gmt 0)

yes I did create the flash banner myself. however, used his website theme and logo. My designer did an excellent job on the banner.

I guess everyone thinks different, acts different. Anyway I removed his banner immediately.

tangor

5:48 am on Jun 16, 2015 (gmt 0)

That "look and feel" banner for your competitor ON YOUR SITE would certainly tick me off. A link is one thing. Running an ad on YOUR SITE for MY STUFF? Not so much.

toidi

11:43 am on Jun 16, 2015 (gmt 0)

This is not about a link. This is about brand protection. I would never trust a competitor with my brand displayed on their website.

Leosghost

12:21 pm on Jun 16, 2015 (gmt 0)

His logo is also probably copyright..to him..Presumably you used it without permission..use of it on your site could be seen as his "brand" endorsing your site..I'd say you should consider yourself fortunate not to have received a letter from his lawyers..

dailypress

3:31 am on Jun 17, 2015 (gmt 0)

Ok. Thanks. I guess you guys have a point. Lesson learned. :)