McAfee Secure Site

[janeread]

Last week i was approached by a salesman from McAfee secure about getting their McAfee Secure logo on my site.

He got me to look at this page where people have done A/B testing:

http://www.mcafeesecure.com/ms/?p=2

and their sales have gone up by 6.5% to 25%

He quoted a price of almost $3000 a year

He said that shortly when people do a search on Google, Yahoo and MSN the search results will show the McAfee Secure logo against them, and that would encourage people to those sites.

Anyone tried this scheme or have any comments on it.

thanks

Jane

[Duncan Rounding]

The logo that 'can' appear against the Google (and other search result links) is nothing to do with Google but is displayed as a result of software that people may load on their computer. Much the same as AVG are now doing by default with their link advisor that is bundled with AVG8.

The free McAfee SiteAdvisor tool will have to be installed on the client computer for these logos to be displayed.

It seems like underhand marketing by McAfee to me.

See: http://groups.google.com/group/Googl...lnk=raot&fwc=1

[janeread]

that's really interesting, Duncan. Not at all what the guy said, although I suspect he didn't lie to me - possibly somewhat economical with the truth.

When talked to me about this, he sent me to this page of the Macafee site so I could see what it would look like:

http://www.mcafeesecure.com/ms/?p=4

Jane

[RuralWeb]

the devil is in the detail - it says available to macafee users. This means that only people with macafee software installed will see it.

More bloatware to slow your of down, eat your bandwidth and mess with stats

[Azurra]

I have had the same sales pitch. I hadn't picked up either on the fact that the extra logo in Google results is only seen by people with McAfee software installed. Definitely a case of 'truth but not the whole truth' on the part of the salesman.

Not having the marker on all Google searches considerably reduces the attraction of the proposition to something of little value - especially with such high subscription fees. Looks like something I'll be leaving until Joe Public expect sites to be routinely tested by a 3rd party, which I suspect will be a long time off!

I also hadn't appreciated the fact that something like Google search results would be subject to manipulation after Google has generated them and before the browser displays them. Makes me wonder what else is being changed without the end user realising it. If I have time when the salesman calls next I can anticipate quite an interesting conversation.

[janeread]

yes, basically my reply to the salesman is: you didn't give me a true picture the first time, so everything you say is now suspect, so I'm not interested.

This forum is such a good resource.

Jane

[grantglendinnin]

I was getting hassle from McAfee almost every day for over a month about their security suite being put on our site to increase sales. So, what, do you they go out in the streets with big boards and promote my site? Nope, they do nothing - give you a little sticker to put on your site that may or may not fool another customer into believing their details are secured all because McAfee are behind it - regardless who's behind it - the basic SSL encryption is based on the same storybook - it's all just a matter of how it's portrayed to the customer.

I personally think all 'safe shopping' and 'secure shopping' logos from various organisations are a gimmick and do nothing - the 'tests' we had to go through to get 'proof' of our business authenticity was nothing short of a joke. Think of it as you will - they are all nothing but gimmicks for your customers.

Oh, and if McAfee are still bothering you - just ask them if they still sell PageRank with their website security suite. HaHaHa.

[john@stinkyink.]

Hmmmm, Macafee have taken over Scanalert/Hackersafe and I have to be honest, having paid for Scanalert for three years now that I am half inclined not to bother to renew this summer.

When we re-designed our site a few months ago, we (that is actually me) forgot to put the Hackersafe logo onto it. We saw no drop in traffic and no drop in Conversions. I've got IMRG, Safebuy and Safe Shopping Network accreditations as well and I'm begining to wonder if they are worth it.

In the privacy of our own forum, anybody else got any comments about these customer reassurance sites, or do we all just use them because we are scared that if the competition are using them we should as well?.

The other benefit is the back link back into the site, but the only one that shows up is Safebuy, so for a hundred quid that is probably worth it.

Here's a thought, with over 7,000 Actinic users compated to 1,200 Safebuy members, maybe we should set up our own 'accreditation certificate'?

[Bonjour]

Hi

As I understand it, there is the McAfee Site Advisor which is as you say, only seen if you install the toolbar. (That is free by the way, but takes forever to get on). I insisted to McAfee that as I used their Anti virus stuff they should assess my site, because I thought it was a cheek to offer these things to try and put people off your site unless you are 'green' (ok). Who do they think they are anyway - if you're not on it you can't be good - it's a load of *****cks. They just pluck these things out of the air and we all end up having to comply because everyone else does!

Then there's HackerSafe, supposed to give the customer confidence and a secure experience, so what's the other thing for, I don't understand?

Yes maybe we should start our own scheme and if you're not on it, you must be BAD!

Helen

[mattc]

I've spent a good few hours on the phone to mcafee about this.

I've asked about this specifically and they have told me that at the end of the month google will show this logo alongside results at their end.

I checked about software and they said that you would NOT HAVE to have any mcafee software installed and that this was a partnership with google.

If you want to double check the guy I spoke to is called Akio and is very helpful.

his email is Akio_Fannin@McAfee.com

mention me if you do please! thanks

[dave_finlayson]

I've asked about this specifically and they have told me that at the end of the month google will show this logo alongside results at their end

Unconditionally, with no software installed? I will be absolutely gobsmacked if that is true!

[Duncan Rounding]

This remains to be seen - all the info I've read mentions that it is SiteAdvisor. It is amazing (if true) that McAfee are trying to sell this without any public announcement. This all started after McAfee bought SiteAdvisor. I'll believe it when I see it.

[RuralWeb]

highly unlikely that g would do a deal with macafee. More likely that g would build thier own system as an income generator - like they did with google checkout rather than partnering with another psp. I would be more trusting of a site with a google secure logo