Jan 09
Dumbass of the Week: Gene Marks
You look familiar. Are you on Twitter? Subscribed to my feed yet?
I had this week’s dumbass post all lined up and then I received a suggestion from Sphinnster Incrediblehelp about a more deserving candidate. So without further ado, I give you this week’s dumbass: Gene Marks.
Frighteningly, Gene writes for Business Week on MSNBC and his column is read by a large percentage of small businesses. The link above leads to his very unenlightened post titled Tech “Solutions” Your Small Biz Can’t Use. In the post, he basically states that having an online presence is a bad idea for small business.
This article contains possibly THE WORST advice for small business that I have ever read. Certainly the worst I’ve read this year.
Here are five 13 reasons why this article makes Gene Marks a dumbass:
1. He uses “highfalutin” as an adjective:
“A lot of highfalutin software and gadgets aim to help you run your company, but too little of it is suited for a small business environment.”
2. He claims to speak for ALL business owners:
“We business owners are subjected to an endless array of tools that never fail to disappoint. We’re promised. We pay. And we’re let down.”
3. He claims that the following technology doesn’t work when evidence to the contrary is staring him in the face:
“1. RSS Feeds 2. Spam Filters 3.Antivirus Software 4. Blogs 5. Search Engine Optimization 6. Mobile Applications 7. CRM Software 8. AdWords 9. Online Video 10. Web 2.0″
4. He recommends against using anti-virus software:
“Betsy was looking for just the right technology to slow down her employees’ computers and significantly degrade the performance of her business applications. Well, she found it, and it’s called anti-virus software.”
5. He tars all SEOs with the same brush because he was scammed by one:
“I forked over a bunch of dough to a firm in California that promised to get my company’s name on “all the major search engines” when someone was looking for products that we sell. How did they plan to do this? I’m still not really sure, but it had something to do with spiders, black hats, and link farms. That should’ve been enough of a hint that witchcraft was involved.
6. He recommends against using anti-spam software:
“I get this question at just about every presentation I give to business owners: ‘What spam filters do you recommend?’ My answer: ‘None.’ They all suck.”
7. He recommends AGAINST using anti-spam software! (Thought this one was worth repeating)
“In the end, it’s cheaper for your employees to just sort and delete spam as it comes in.”
8. He considers mobile apps (and renewable energy) science fiction:
“Mobile applications will be a great thing someday. Just like hovercrafts, telepods, and renewable energy. But for a small business on a limited budget, it’s still science fiction.”
9. He sold $20K worth of software to a customer who didn’t need it and blamed the customer:
“I’ve always been a big proponent of customer relationship management [CRM] software. One big reason is that my company sells this stuff… Unfortunately, we have a lot of other customers who haven’t been as successful. Fred, a manufacturer of roofing materials, is one of them. Fred and I both learned that a CRM system doesn’t work for a small business without an internal “champion” who takes ownership of it. His $20,000 system just sat there. No one used it.”
10. He encourages readers NOT to buy his company’s software:
See 9.
11. He writes off pay per click advertising for all small business just because HE can’t figure it out:
“Are you interested in a mind-numbing exercise? Give AdSense a shot. Or Yahoo SM or MSN AdCenter… Here’s a word of wisdom: Leave the mass-market advertising to Coke (KO) and Pepsi (PEP). Small business owners should stick to less mystifying forms of promotion.”
12. His comments about online video are pure fiction and display his total ignorance of the medium:
“Quality videos require production companies. Otherwise you’ll have grainy, useless footage. And videos that run beyond a certain length aren’t even YouTube-able.”
The final clue that shows Gene as a deserving candidate for Dumbass of the Week is this one:
13. He complains that RSS Feeds are meaningless, but his own articles appear in them:
“Bob, an electrical contractor, knows what RSS stands for, and I feel sorry for him. He had the misfortune of signing up for an RSS feed.”
In fact, there is an RSS feed directly under his article. Priceless!
Wow, I started this post assuming I’d only find 5 reasons why Mr Marks is a dumbass, but I ended up with 13. Well 12 really. Judging by the commentary his article has triggered, it seems I’m not alone in my assessment. But it’s scary to think of how many small business owners will read this article and take it as gospel. Let’s hope they read the comments!
Have you got an opinion on the article? Why not contact the editors of BusinessWeek directly, or simply comment on this post. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
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January 9th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Nice job Kalena. I wonder what Gene really feels about this article now?
January 9th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
“He writes off pay per click advertising for all small business just because HE can’t figure it out”
Pure Genius. It is unfortunate how “authority” figures are allowed to talk about stuff they have no clue about without editorial control on such influential sites. Some poor sod is going to go and cancel his/her SEO and PPC campaign thinking “Gene said I dont need it” . Maybe a return to hand made fliers distributed in the local markets a better solution huh?
January 9th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
This is truly astonishing – this guy is seriously suffering from foot-in-mouth.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:57 am
All his points stem from ignorance. If he can’t figure it out, it must be worthless.
I just hate the fact that many small business owners may see this and automatically dismiss these tools. He mentions some great tools that can have a huge impact on revenue if executed correctly.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Hah – I discovered if you click far to the left of the little “rate this” stars under this utterly inane and foolish post, you can rate it as “.5″. Still trying to zoom in and find a way to rate it 0 or perhaps negative..on the other hand, perhaps this is a bit of viral brilliance – exceeding stupidity very quickly grabbed, commented on and distributed…good traffic no doubt…look for a follow-up story recanting all.
January 10th, 2008 at 3:10 am
[...] Kanellis, two of my favorite SEO bloggers, both were among the first to weigh in with comments and left links to their blog posts about Gene “the genius” [...]
January 10th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Wow! I love trashy journalists like that ! they think they can talk for the masses, because they write for the masses, but don’t realise those two terms are very different. :P
Also, from a business (or common sense) point of view, msnbc should be very angry at these comments being published on their portal… not because they’re ridiculous (they are) but because the msn network works hugely with small businesses whereas Google gets all the big spenders…
January 10th, 2008 at 5:40 am
I especially like how PPC is AdSense…he was almost right.
I’m constantly amazed that people this clueless are allowed to be called “experts.”
January 10th, 2008 at 7:25 am
What a frigg’n dumbass. I felt angry/annoyed after reading this. Thanks for exposing him for what he is Kalena. Some people are downright dangerous.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Oh I do love a good chuckle, and this post gave me quite a few. Ya gotta just love those people who feel the need to inform the masses when they themselves have no clue what they are talking about.
January 10th, 2008 at 9:37 am
[...] No wait, here’s another good rant on it. [...]
January 10th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Man this guy is a genious!
Maybe some competitors of the little guy read it and will buy into it. It will help the small business. I don’t know much about this guy but I look at him as a political pundit that everyone watches and laughs at. Kind of like the Colbert Report. I once joined a group in college that used these types of tactics to try and convince people to do the opposite of what they say. Check them out here. I was suprised to see how effective it is.
Now it is off to do my activist duties and write the guys boss. There are such idiots in the world.
January 11th, 2008 at 8:15 am
If I didn’t know it really happened, I would think it was a spoof or something. It is amazing that someone can be so ignorant, yet be so bold as to tout the ignorance (that’s almost scary) The funnier part is that all of use talking, blogging, Sphinning, and Stumbling about him, will prove at least 4 of his false assumptions wrong about what doesn’t work (referring to your #3).
January 11th, 2008 at 11:43 am
It’s comforting to see that a search for “Gene Marks” on Google now shows up 3 negative reviews of his article in the top 10 results including this post :-)
January 11th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
You’re right! I searched “Gene Marks” and the first thing I saw was… “Sphinn – Dumbass of the Week: Gene Marks”! It’s good though. Small business owners who read his ‘advice’ should seek out objective opinions before following it.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
He forgot to add, “writing anything online is a stupid waste of time, try it and they’ll wind up calling you a dumb ass”.
January 11th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
On a brighter note, this story (on Sphinn), now ranks 3rd on Google for “Gene Marks”. Kalena – you’ve done a service for all small businesses.
January 12th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Wow. That was ridiculous – and it didn’t even sound like one of those attempts at being deliberately controversial in order to bait readers.
He might as well add “And as a small business owner, you don’t have time to listen to what your customers want. Don’t ever pay any attention to customer feedback; just keep doing everything the way you did it 10 years ago.”
January 12th, 2008 at 8:30 am
It is sad that useless articles like this appear in major business news. Doesn’t matter how you hate Google, they will never approve article like this to be published on their pages.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Maybe he thought something along the lines of “bad publicity is publicity as well”? But I’m probably giving the guy too much credit :(
Mr. marks definitely deserves this not-so-coveted dumbass of the week ‘award’.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:07 am
“highfalutin” IS an adjective.
He didn’t advise against using anti virus – he just pointed out that there are no great solutions.
You say “In the post, he basically states that having an online presence is a bad idea for small business.” I don’t see him say this anywhere.
OK I agree it’s a pretty stupid column, but your ‘criticism’ of it leaves a lot to be desired too.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
@ Donald – I know highfalutin’ is an adjective. But I didn’t know anyone actually used it outside of Halitosis Arkansas. It’s mean to be a business article but using that type of language makes him sound like he’s got an old couch and 7 dogs asleep on his porch.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:35 am
Good one Kalena,
Josh also wrote about it here http://www.seo-factor.com/bad-information-from-msnbc-doesnt-help-anyone
I love to read such scams :)
PS: Is there any possibility that Gene was going through some sort of mental trauma while he wrote this piece of article?
January 16th, 2008 at 10:20 am
More fun from Adam:
http://www.walkonmypath.com/finally-a-mainstream-media-article-gets-it-right-almost/
http://www.walkonmypath.com/gene-marks-the-sequel/
January 16th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Kalena – when i read this guy’s blog post I was like WTF!!!??? Where the hell did this guy come from and why did Businessweek give him the time of day!?
Great Choice!
~Li
btw… came across this through stumble and gave it a thumbs up!
January 18th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Thanks so much Li!
January 19th, 2008 at 12:46 am
[...] Kalena crowned him Dumbass of the week. >> Josh Garner gave a pretty good explanation to Gene. >> Another one >> Sequel [...]
February 1st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
[...] Kalena: Dumbass of the Week: Gene Marks Go ahead, tell others about this… These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers [...]
February 8th, 2008 at 6:41 am
This is astounding. I had to write the editors via the link you provided. There’s nothing I hate more than people that talk out their ass…
February 14th, 2008 at 4:30 am
I started reading the post and for the first few paragraphs (Especially after the anti-virus section) I thought, “He’s joking. He’s got to be joking…he’s joking…isn’t he?” Several paragraphs later when I realized he wasn’t joking, I felt physically ill.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:36 am
Yet another prehistoric incompetent dumbass. Astounding, and highly irritating. I do think that he’s bitching about so much that many non-geeks with a speck of common sense would see through this…SURELY!!!!!!!! On a more positive note though, kinda makes you feel good that you know better. The witchcraft comment will have me restless for some time though. Dumbass. This is one of the best dumbasses of the week yet, classic kalena!
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
[...] so bad, it got him listed as “dumbass of the week” on Ask Kalena: The Daily Search Engine Advice Column. I’d go into more detail [...]
April 5th, 2008 at 7:11 am
At least is makes most of us look really smart :)
April 13th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
[...] business by Gene Marks from BusinessWeek made people mad (Editor note: sure did, earned him my Dumbass of the Week [...]
April 14th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Hi Kalena –
I know this post is older, but I just came through from your SMX Sydney recap. The first link to the story is dead (but the comments link works, which then takes you back to the story). Just FYI. It was a GREAT read and I think anyone who works with small businesses should read it – an interesting glimpse into the mind of a bitter individual. Amazing the ignorance!
Laura
June 13th, 2008 at 9:35 am
[...] are lists of technologies that Marks says promise much but deliver little for SMBs. From blogs like this one, in which Kalena Jordan nominates Marks as her “Dumbass of the Week,” I think [...]
December 5th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
I have seen questions “Why SEO does not work commission basis?”. I have answered “I will do, if I think I can sell your product”. But then I’m an affiliate not a SEO specialist anymore. SEO is actually much more than optimising a website. It’s keyword and industry metrics research to find key phrases with high KEI (keywords effeciency index), techical optimisation, link building and analytics.may I suggest an hint…. none of the above, but a substantial change on the site’s main topic. This can be a trigger and an indicator of a true ownership change (bad for the new owner).
I’m staying tuned on the comments to this post ;)
January 20th, 2009 at 5:02 am
[...] Dumbass of the Week: Gene Marks Kalena Jordan, Ask Kalena | 1/9/08 [...]
January 20th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
[...] it seems enough of the judges liked my rant about MSNBC columnist Gene Marks to nominate it in the *rants* category. Sure, I wish some of my posts had made it to the more [...]
March 5th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Someone send him a virus.
Seriously. I want to see him scream when he realizes that Anti-Virus software might have been a good idea.
Or spam him loads if the virus is too much. Let’s see you manually sort THAT!
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:55 am
[...] No wait, here’s another good rant on it. [...]
February 24th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Nice job Kalena. :)
April 20th, 2010 at 2:51 am
Highfalutin is an adjective,
Who does you think you are Kalena?
You criticize him for this and your not even nice like what is that?
Like who are you? Like what is Kalena like who are you?