Bartercard member portal vs clickfind

We got a call from Bartercard Australia today about our site dedicated to Bartercard businesses http://bartercard.clickfind.com.au – it’s a place where Bartercard members can find other Bartercard businesses, products and services that can be purchased on Bartercard etc. The call was about some users confusing the clickfind website with that of Bartercard. With a large logo saying “clickfind” I would think it’s obvious we’re not Bartercard. Our contact us page also states in big bold letters that we are not Bartercard and point them in the right direction if they are looking for the official Bartercard website.

 

The call was also about the fact our SEO efforts are paying of and we are listed higher than Bartercard itself in some instances and in others right underneath them. We were asked to change the URL of our website, remove the name Bartercard from the URL and change other sections of our site that gives us an advantage in the search engines.

 

We’ve complied with some of their requests, like removing their logo from our site, the logo that we had written permission to use for. We’ve also changed some of the wording, we’re waiting to hear back from them about the change of URL, if we are forced to change the URL we will probably close the Bartercard site down, as we’d lose all the work we spend on the SEO and the indexed pages in Google.

 

It’s an unpleasant situation to be in when we tried to involve them with the site from the beginning, but there was no interest from their side. Now that the site is becoming successful and Bartercard members find it easier to use than their site, I guess they feel threatened. Personally I’d take advantage of the situation and turn it into something good, the clickfind site can fill gaps where the Bartercard portal lacks, like marketing to the cash world, the one and only thing that every Bartercard member wants. In the end clickfind will get members spending more money.

 

We’ve also offered to license the technology to Bartercard, or even brand the site more like theirs, i.e. clickfind.bartercard.com Let’s see what the outcome of this will be, and how the Bartercard member will react who have paid for their listing on clickfind.

 

Stay tuned…