You can learn a lot about marketing from other marketers’ messages and their delivery.
In that vein, I’d like to know what you thought of the Affiliate Marketing Sham report [find out why this link was removed].
Did you find it interesting and informative or piled high with hype? Did the report leave you concerned about the future of affiliate marketing and affiliate[link removed] marketers? Or, did you think ‘X’ was too dramatic in his assessment?
What tactics does X use to build desire for his product? Does ‘X’s’ approach build trust and make you ‘hungry’ to learn more? Why or why not? What do you think of this marketing approach? Would you use it to promote your own or other people’s products?
If you haven’t already done so, take a critical look at the Affiliate Marketing Sham [link removed], then post a Comment with your answers to the above questions.
When enough comments have been posted, I’ll post a follow-up with my own thoughts on the subject.
About Rosalind Gardner
I think we all know there is and always will be hype and dishonesty on the net.You really should research before you take the plunge.Lets face it curiousity is a powerful thing with us humans,nothing wrong with exploration….you can learn from it.What works for some does not always work for others…..eg…Rich Jerk.Like him or not,he creates controversy which works well for him.
I disagree that affiliate marketing is a SHAM,however I also applaude Mr. X’s use of marketing… he’s taken an opposing point of view, which attracts attention; he’s using colored language, which invokes a response — the amount of people it turns off just nichifies his market. He’s a very creative marketer!
my feeling is that X is probably correct that 25% of affiliate commissions never get to the affiliate. in large part i believe that this is due to sloppiness on the part of those who run affiliate programs. i have worked as a developer for a company that ran PPC arbitrage for owners of huge numbers of domains and i can tell you that building the backend systems for this kind of stuff doesn’t get the attention it should. it’s often keystone cops code that keeps track of referrals and it often doesn’t work. that said, i’m not overly concerned about the future of affiliate marketing. sooner or later some really smart guys in a garage will figure out they can build a better affiliate program model and there will be sweeping change in the industry. as for X’s approach to preselling, i do wish guys like him would actually say what kind of model they have come up with instead of hiding it in their report. i read these preselling reports, but never go any further because i have no clue as to what X is actually talking about. Blackbook DVD’s? after reading his report i have no clue as to whether i could prosper from the content of these DVDs. so i won’t bother pursing it.
HiRosalina!
I can see that people.which are occupied by the internet marketing too a lot,but I only to one. If I shall be become .so to say, will be not sending an exclusive of information as :articles,prospects,stories on searh systems as:google,searh enginers,eBay;then your are marketers will be without jobs.
I read it thinking it would be full of info, and it was full of attitude and nothing. I thought it was a waste of time to read it.
I would have to say that I don’t normally read these ebooks. Now I know why I don’t read them
I thought the way the person wrote the ebook was easy to read – but not really worth reading. I didn’t think that any great mysteries would be shared (since it’s a free book) – and it was to promote the DVDs. Some might want in on it. I get the whole “rich get richer” due to limited supplies and those who can actually afford those bigger pricetags for information (if it would be worth buying? … I couldn’t tell you).
This is just my opinion, I’m sure others will think those were valid rants and thoughts – and buy in. Me, not so much. I’d probably pass on this offer.
Borrowing a line from granny in The Outlaw Josey Wales, “That report’s worth doodly squat.” Very transparent and self-serving. Just another in an already too long line of pre-launch ‘Special Reports’ designed to hook readers on the ‘adcopy heroin’ and create a dependency on the author’s soon-to-be-released miracle cure. It’s no wonder ‘X’ chooses to remain anonymous. Pathetic.
He lost me with the swearing. I know you warned us about it, but I was prepared for a candid report. Not necessarily all the swearing. I just don’t think it helps – we are supposed to be professionals. It just didn’t work for me.
This sort of marketing plays on fear and ignorance. It is all hype, and tells you nothing. The writer tries to come across as the “common man” with the rough language. He (or she) wants you to feel that only he is on your side, and is the only one giving you the truth.
Personally, I think it’s crass and undignified, though it will probably make a lot of money, as it will appeal to a certain segment of the population. It’s sad, but people are people.
I can’t imagine that I would ever use this type of marketing tactic.
Ros
4wiw, my view is that he’s jumping on a bandwagon. It follows “The Death of Adsense”, “Death of Interet Marketing” and is presented in a style reminiscent of the rich jerk.
The report is perhaps summed with the words at the top of page 12: STUPID. IDIOTIC. MORONIC. ASININE. Not words I’d choose but X will no doubt understand.
Perhaps it was the mid pubescent testosterone overload style that put me off. Perhaps there was a whole stash of valuable advice hidden in the drivel and profanity (X – this means I didn’t think the swear words enhanced your work). Perhaps I should have read past page 20…..
Must say Ros, I was surprised you sent this to your list. I’d much prefer to “learn” from materials written in the style of the SAH which is low on hype, high on professionalism.
50+ pages! of which at least 20 are drivel.
Rant over.
Ros,
I think the person who wrote the report is angry,to say the least. But, he/she has some valid points. Most of it seems to be a pitch for the magic covert dvds. My guess is that by owning the information he is talking about, one would have an edge in our marketing but I tend to believe it is all about taking action no matter what information you possess. The report gives us a highly profitable nugget in that it says the only way to make a solid living as a long term affiliate is by developing a system that keeps you in control of the list and traffic. That has been taught in a number of different ways by a lot of others in our industry, They are not bitter and don’t seem to have to use so many “soldier words” in their copy.
I would not be a buyer of these dvds.
The affiliate marketing scam report left me feeling unsettled for the simple fact that “gutter” level language was freely used.
Sadly, when such language is employed, it takes away from the value of the message.
In addition, there were one or two claims within the fabric of the letter which raised some questions and doubts for the reader.
If the approach employed more professionalism it probably would have peeked my interest.
Respectfully,
Richard
I liked his comment about AdSense income Vs. Affiliate Income. I have always believed that people could make more from Affiliate Comissions than AdSense, if the page was laid out well. I’m curious about his product, but my guess is that he will simply tell people to capture names and e-mail addresses with a squeeze page while promoting Affiliate Programs. I might be wrong…
I don’t buy many (if any) Web marketing schemes, and I wait a few weeks, maybe a month, and purchase the items on eBay(TM) for less than $1 USD.
When I see some “report” or ebook that seems interesting, I search eBay(TM), and more often than not, that ebook is there…and cheap.
I am a licensed professional counselor, and my long relationship with a code of ethics seems to prevent me from using tactics like the ones I see Internet marketers using. I am still looking for an honest way to make money online.
I was caught up in the idea that others were stealing my commission, but according to Mr.X, a much greater percentage is just not recorded for whatever reason.
Also, it seems that he has the experience and has walked the talk. He is quite persuasive in his line of reasoning and I am highly tempted to pursue his information further.
Please let us know what you think, because you do speak from experience and I do need to hear your perspective on it.
Thanks,
Leonard
hi Rosalind. just a quick note on the Sham thing. I haven’t had any experience on affiliate marketing because I haven’t been able to manufacture enough money to get into it. I haven’t been able to free up enough cash to get started. However, that doesn’t keep me from commenting. I believe as I stated in my book about Ebay selling, that one can not maker a living doing ebay as per say so and that one would need some working capital to do what I think is poosible in the world of the internet. I believe that the way to make am income on the internet is to get other companies invovled with your own website and to use ebay as a means to do just that through the about me page. I don’;t believe that you can manufacture a profitable website by strictly one or the other. We tried a website some time ago, like four years back and getting traffic to that site was like pulling teeth. using Corey Rudl’s Insider secrets version 3-0 as our guidelines, it was still tough. I think a lot of website activity and running a profitable business has a lot to do with the product you’re offering and also what kind of luck you have. As far as the scam thing, if all the companies had scam and were offering affiliates to make money for themselves I don;t think they’d be in business that long. Of coruse, let’s all remember the famous expression there a sucker born every minute, and the added phrase, and two to take him. I don’t believe that they are all scams, although there might be some however I believe that this person that wrote this report is probably peeved in that he didn’t make any real money on the internet simply because like my self, he doesn’t know how. Denny Frey
Although I found the article a bit heavy-handed, there are some areas that, if true, that we do need to be concerned about. If it is true that we, as affiliates, are not getting 100% of the sales due us, then there is something to stand up and shout about. More power to X if his brand of shouting works. It’s not personally by style, but if it works, that’s great.
The entire useful message could have been distilled down to one page. Does this kind of thing have the potential to hurt affiliates? Your endless sales letter technique, which his diatribe is just another version of, is a very old school approach to sales copy. It works (I bought your book) but its a limiting approach that I personally would like to have the option of skipping- just give me a concise pitch with real value instead of endless repetition and I’ll buy. The pitch I want to hear is ‘how I’ll make more than this book cost me inturns of money and time to digest and use its ideas’.
What can I say Ros. I am hardly in the position to have an opinion. However the nature of the Net and how it is practically faceless and unaccountable of course it is open to all kinds of abuse and people with only $ signs in their eyes will take advantage of anyone
Merchants possibly most of all….if they can get away with it. This is a fact of human nature . But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time and eventually they lose out.
The positive optimisitic honest approach works best Is my gut feeling and so I think his report is distasteful and I would rather not follow in his footsteps but try to learn the correct approach to protecting myself and my efforts on the net.I have already been burned by several Internet marketers …mostly through my own inexperience lack of Internet savvy.I know once they axe one there is no redress they just don’t have the time to waste on an individual who doesn’t know the ropes.They have their eye on the big http://WWW.there are plenty more where I came from and I am dispensible.That is their mind set.
The Internet I think is still in it’s infancy it hasn’t even reached adolescence yet. By the time it reaches adulthood it will be the same as in the real world ( which incidently it is still a part of) When it reaches it’s full potential then it will be the big boys as usual in charge they will have the game sewn up.The brains and the know how will beat the competition hands down.they will call the shots and we will be working for them again.
Until that happens here’s hoping .From one who gets traffic mainly from go no where blogs, who buy absolutely nothing.
Have a Happy New Year Ros you are O.K.
I liked the report, it’s upfront in your face and enlightening. A breath of fresh air, because there really is a lot of crap out there, and way too many crap information marketers, adding to information overload. If I had a dollar for every spelling and gramatical error I’ve read in so many (so called Guru)sales letters and ebooks I would be rich by now. Can’t these so called people in the know, even use spell check in their computer? That goes to show you what kind of crap is out there.
Hi Rosalind
I am one of the newbies online in earnings as I don’t make much at all. I have been trying for years to succeed online and found ”X”s article great but just the same as all the big guys and gals!!
I have come to expect all the successful people to really hype their great discovery up and simply sell a whole lot of stuff for over inflated prices, giving you thousands of dollars worth of freebies that you can actually get from other sources anyway.
They all claim to have found something fantastic and tell their lists that we must get this really because it will change our lives.
I don’t know who to trust, yourself excepted, and really couldn’t be bothered reading all the crap anymore.
With the ”X” article I nearly signed his/her form simply because yeah I have been stung by Google and stung by paying out hundreds of dollars for information that is useful but it doesn’t actually tell me how to Make Money!!
So did ”X” article gain my trust?
Nearly but not enough, so I decided to make a comment on your site and hopefully get a great reply from your good self Rosalind. I have been getting your newsletter for a couple of months now and actively promote your Super Affiliate EBook on my site.
I do look forward to further comments from your readers and from yourself.
Yours Sincerely
Colin Thomson
I read affiliate marketing sham. I agree with some of what he says, everything seems to be a ploy for backend sales daily in my email box. You are an exception and I know Holly Mann and she is not that way. You just have to learn how to weed through all the crap. He is trying to lure you into buying his product too, probably overpriced. Your ebook and Hollys are affordable and have more helpful information than most. I market both at superaffiliateshandbooks.com I try to be honest in what I do and it is not easy getting started and making money. I am still working on that but am on my way.
I have never been able to start any type of internet business or affiliate program due to the fact I have never been given the complete help and instructions to approach it with any success. Also, I do not have the money it takes to do all the marketing and stay alive long enough to get any where at all. I think it is all a bunch of crap and sick of being scammed out of every cent I have with zero return.
I think the sham report has two-thirds really good information; there could be a lot there. However, the extremely competitive and angry tone leaves me cold – if I have to be like this guy to achieve success, what’s the point? Furthermore, I’ve already achieved a great deal of success doing work I love without resorting to such a cutthroat attitude.
There is a better way.
Some of what he said made real sense.With so much comment on afilliate marketing much of it conflicting, for a new entrant into this marketing it becomes very confusing in what to believe. I prefer to listen to yourself whom I trust and has proved yourself and take my lead from your comments.