Reviews
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Archived posts from this Category
Posted by Martin| Tagged as: Reviews
What is the Internet marketing lifestyle? We hear about it all the time, and some of us even claim to live it – but what is it really?
My definition is simple: it is the ability to live your life on your own terms, secure in the knowledge that your income, from Internet marketing, will more than fund it.
It is not about the number of hours you work so much as the enjoyment you get from all the hours in your life.
In my case it means eating out a lot, going to the movies a lot and taking days off whenever I want to. But my needs are simple and I love staying at home more than anything. And although I could follow the 4-hour ‘work’ week, I don’t really think of what I do as being work anyway! Doing stuff on my computer is my hobby and most of the time is just a lot of fun.
Probably a more general view of the Internet lifestyle is of someone who jets from exotic place to place, works only when absolutely necessary – and from the beach at that – and makes more money from their efforts than they can ever spend.
I know a lot of full-time Internet marketers, many of whom make really big money, but I’ve only known two people who fit the jetset image in any way at all!
But I do know a lot who could drop everything and live life on their own terms whenever they want to.
Oddly, of all the people I know with that ‘lifestyle freedom’, almost all – probably 90% of them – are affiliate marketers. Their entire business model is based on selling other people’s products for a commission.
It is often said that to make real money online you have to produce your own products and get affiliates to sell them for you, but I beg to differ on that. Producing products can be very profitable, but it can also be exceedingly hard work. It can take months of serious effort to plan, research and create the product in the first place, can often cost quite a lot in development costs too, especially if it is software based. And as for attracting that army of affiliates, that in itself can be time-consuming and frustrating because even assuming that you have the contacts (or know someone who does) they are busy people who may not be able to fit in to your carefully devised launch schedule.
Don’t misunderstand me – creating your own products is a great way to make money online, but it is certainly not the easiest method!
And, as many big-name marketers have seen this year, you can put in all that work, expense and effort and still have a failure on your hands.
Affiliate marketing, on the other hand, has many advantages without many of the problems.
For example, it is largely set-and-forget. You build your affiliate site, do all the things you need to do to attract traffic and search engine love, then pat it on the head and leave it to send you money. Then you go on to build another affiliate site, and another.
Affiliate marketers build ‘Multiple Streams of Income’ that protect them from many of the ups and downs of the market. If you have ten sites making you money and three of them slow down, the chances are good that some of your other sites will do a little better and balance things out. or, it is easy enough to build a few more sites to catch whatever wave is current today.
Another big advantage that affiliate marketing has over selling your own products is that you very rarely have to do any customer support. As an affiliate you are the middle man who introduces a buyer to a seller, so if there are problems along the way, or questions to be answered, that’s the job of the vendor, not the affiliate.
For that reason, affiliates are far less tied to a desk or an email account. They can disappear off, enjoying their version of the Internet lifestyle, for weeks at a time and nobody will notice.
And, as an offshoot of that, they can remain largely anonymous if they wish.
I suppose that the closest offline analogue to an affiliate marketer is a commission-only salesman, but the analogy is very poor. For one thing, the offline salesman needs to rely on the force of his or her personality to sell. Salesmanship is the be all and end all. The ability to deal with – and persuade – people is vital. Affiliate marketers are not really salespeople at all. They are more like go-betweens who act as a conduit between the people who, by the very fact that they are searching for something online, have a problem they need solving and the sales page that offers them the solution.
I suppose ‘introducers’ would be a good description.
It is the salespage – which is the responsibility of the vendor, not the affiliate – that does the work of closing the sale. The affiliate’s job is merely to make sure the potential buyer sees that sales page.
If you aspire to your own version of the Internet lifestyle – whatever that means to you – then learning how to be the best affiliate you can is by far the best way to achieve your aim.
Learning how the super affiliates really operate is often difficult because the really top people, by definition, are not the ones creating products teaching it.
I mentioned earlier that I only know of two people who really live the jet-set lifestyle that is traditionally associated with being super-successful online. Both are affiliate marketers, but luckily, one of them is also very good at teaching what he does and how he does it.
That guy is Andrew Hansen, a young Aussie who, but his own admission, takes at least a week’s vacation every month! Although he lives in London now and has visited my London Lunches on occasion, tying him down to a date is like knitting spaghetti because he is forever out of the country!
I will say this though – when he does come along he is always surrounded by people because he loves to share his secrets and has a very calm and easy way of explaining exactly what he does that works so well.
A few days ago I learned that Andrew and his business partner Josh Stanton, have produced an exhaustive course, called Unstoppable Affiliate, that lays their entire affiliate marketing business model bare, right before your eyes.
In 50 or so videos (some are very short and some are 20-30 minutes) they break down EXACTLY what they do into really simple steps that absolutely anyone can follow.
I’ve known Andrew for some time and have enjoyed some of his other products, but this one is in a whole new league. Although I AM a pretty successful affiliate marketer in my own right, I learned at least three things from the first four videos – any one of which was worth the whole price of the course for me.
There is no black hat, dodgy dealing. There are no shady tricks. There is nothing in this course that would get you in trouble with Google in any way. Unstoppable Affiliate is a genuine process that will turn you into a super affiliate the fastest and most effective way possible.
http://kickstartrecommends.com/unstoppableaffiliate
Let’s talk a little about the sales process, because so many products launched lately mess up big time with outrageous claims, absurd hype and outright lies on their sales pages.
Andrew and Josh don’t need any of that.
There is a good video on the sales page, which, unusually these days, has all the controls on it that you need. You can pause it, fast forward it and even stop it. And it tells you exactly how long it is too! It is sad that I even think that is unusual enough to mention!
If you don’t much like sales videos you don’t have to watch it. I recommend you do because Andrew’s presentation style is refreshing, but everything is down below on the sales page too, so if reading is more your thing it’s all there for you.
Incidentally, that attempt to cater for all tastes follows through into the product as well because although it is primarily a video course, each of the videos has an accompanying PDF transcript for those who prefer the printed word.
One thing that I know many people (including me) dislike on sales pages is the way so may of them throw up an alert box as you try to leave that offers you a reduced price. I’ve seen some that have as many as 5 and they really get on my nerves.
There is one closure alert on this sales page and it is one that is a bit different.
Instead of making a phony cut-price offer, what Andrew has done is offer you the chance to get the entire product for $1.
The way it works is this: you can either pay the full price up front, or you can elect to pay in three instalments – the first of which is $1 followed by the second instalment five days later. The overall sum is the same, but if you are unhappy with the product you can cancel the 2nd and 3rd payments before your five days trial period are up.
I would be very surprised if anyone did cancel though because the course is worth its weight in gold – and certainly far more than the low price Andrew has put on it for now.
Speaking of the low price – this is just an introductory rate and will increase in a few days time, so don’t put off grabbing Unstoppable Affiliate while it is still in launch phase.
One thing I should mention – as far as I understand, there is a problem with the trial offer payment. Andrew says that 50% of people are able to take up the offer with no problem, but for some bizarre reason the rest are not. He is working on it but if it doesn’t work for you, don’t worry about it – just go back to the sales page and pay the regular amount. You are guaranteed either way so it won’t make any difference.
If the $1 trial is important to you and the page doesn’t let you get at it, drop me an email and I will send you a direct link that should work.
Whenever I’m considering buying a product I almost always check out what people are saying about it on the product review section of the Warrior Forum. There are people there who are negative about everything, so I know to take some of the comments with a pinch of salt, but in the case of Unstoppable Affiliate the 57 comments (so far) are exceptionally positive. Not just about the product, but also about Andrew Hansen himself.
Oh that more marketers could have such a shining reputation!
The other question that people often ask me regarding sales processes is about upsells. How many and how relevant are they to the main product.
In the case of Unstoppable Affiliate there is just one (as far as I know) and it is for a coaching course with Andrew. The aim is to provide more in depth personalised training for all the concepts involved with UA and as such, it augments the main product very well. Do you need it? No. The main product gives you all the information you need, but for many people, real-world training is very important so I would guess that this option will be popular.
Frankly, if I was in the market for personalized training, there are few people I’d rather do it with than this very successful – and extremely personable young man.
Inside the course itself (this wouldn’t be much of a review if I didn’t tell you about the content) the teaching is done in four sections:
1. Research
Here are ten videos that cover all aspects of finding niche markets and product to sell to them. There is a ton of information in here are a lot of things that I never knew about before.
It goes on to show you how Andrew assesses the niches, finds the best keywords, determines the likely profitability and uses tools like Google insights in ways I have certainly not seen discussed before.
2. Site Creation
This section shows you how to build quality websites that work. Everyone should take notice of the things taught here no matter what kind of sites they build because this is the stuff that will keep your sites earning you income long after your competitors are thrown out of the search engines.
3. Conversion Strategy
It isn’t enough to build a great website that the search engines love. Affiliates only make money when the visitors to their sites click through to the vendors’ sales page – and take action when they get there. That’s called conversion and is often missed out or glossed over in affiliate training.
Not so in Unstoppable Affiliate. There are 13 videos here to teach you everything you need to know to ensure that your visitors convert as well as is humanly possible.
More conversions equal more money for you. It is as simple – and as vital – as that.
4. Traffic Mastery
The final piece of the jigsaw is traffic. No traffic, no income – so it is a really important arm of the course.
There are another 13 videos here that will turn you from a traffic novice to a demon!
All in all I think you have got the idea by now that I’m seriously impressed with Unstoppable Affiliate. It really is the key to whatever type of Internet lifestyle that you aspire to.
It gets a huge Kickstart Recommendation from me.
http://kickstartrecommends.com/unstoppableaffiliate
Since my initial review there have been more videos added and a
whole new section on outsourcing, so the course is now even
better value than I originally thought.
http://kickstartrecommends.com/unstoppableaffiliate
As my inbox has been full of questions over the weekend so I will
show the most common ones here:
1. Are the videos downloadable?
- No. They are streamed on a site that you get access to after
you join. Andrew says that they have been optimized to run well,
even on low speed broadband, but a downloadable version is not
likely to be offered.
2. Are there PDFs?
- Yes, although the course is intended to be delivered by video,
each video has an accompanying PDF transcript.
3. Is the $1 trial genuine?
- Absolutely. You can get five days in which to decide whether to
keep it and pay the balance of the price in two instalments. This
shows a huge commitment by Andrew and Josh, and a great deal of
confidence in the quality and value of the product. A confidence
that I believe is totally justified.
You can get the $1 trial by closing the initial sales page at
http://kickstartrecommends.com/unstoppableaffiliate (wait for it
to finish loading before you close it) and then clicking on the
Cancel button in the box that pops up.
4. Is Andrew a real person?
- I can understand where that question comes from as so many
products are now being launched under fake names as the real
people behind them have become tainted by the underhand tactics
they have been using. I can assure you that Andrew is 100% real –
he has been to my London Lunches and has been a well-known
success story online for about 5 years.
I have never heard any negative words about him and his products
have always been of the very highest quality.
5. How much extra will I have to spend to put Andrew’s course
into action?
- Nothing. Although some of the things he teaches can be done
faster and easier if you have professional tools (for keyword
research, for example) and when you are totally comfortable with
the methods you may want to outsource some of the process, right
from the start you can do all of it for no more than the cost of
a domain name and hosting.
6. Is the information covered in Unstoppable Affiliate available
in other courses that I might have?
- I don’t know what other courses you have, or how well you have
studied them. And I’m certainly not familiar with everything that
is on sale. I can say that a lot of what I discovered in UA has
been new to me, so I certainly haven’t seen it anywhere else.
7. Is it really step-by-step?
- Yes. Each video shows you clearly how each step works. When you
are familiar with the process you might change the order you
personally do things, or you might choose to drop some of the
steps out. That’s your choice and you are free to adapt the
methods to your own style of doing business. However, from the
beginning, UA doesn’t leave anything out and explains everything
so that even a complete beginner should be able to follow along
perfectly well to become a super affiliate in their own right.
8. Do I need the upsell training?
- Some people learn better when they are guided by a real person,
and that method has the huge advantage of being able to ask
questions and gain extra clarity if anything confuses you. For
that reason, I have to say that for the right person, the
training will be invaluable.
Is it necessary? No. The videos cover everything and for me, give
quite enough information. But if you prefer more personal
training, then the upsell is very much worth considering. At the
very least make sure to read all about it because the first
training option offered is a one time offer that you won’t be
able to access again later.
9. Is the ‘introductory price’ genuine?
- Yes. The price of the course, which is delivered as over 50
videos (with accompanying PDF transcripts) is currently just $67.
But that will go up in a few days after the launch week is over.
As I write this there are just 4 days left of the launch price.
http://kickstartrecommends.com/unstoppableaffiliate
The launch price and, I believe, the $1 trial end in just 4 days.
Posted by Martin| Tagged as: Chat, Reviews
Is Stealth Profit Machines, and the wave of similar big launches that have pushed the boundaries of what constitutes ‘legal, decent and honest’ in advertising the beginning of the end of Internet marketing as we know it?
You, like me, may be sick and tired of hearing about Chris Freville’s Stealth Profit Machines by now. I’m getting dozens of cloned emails a day from all the big-time affiliates – multiple copies from many of them.
The result is that Stealth Profit Machines has gone from nowhere to being very close to the the biggest selling product on ClickBank. It may even be at #1 by the time you read this.
Now, I have my differences with Chris about some aspects of the sales letter. I’ve expressed them here in Kickstart, and privately by email to Chris. I don’t approve of the ultra-hype and downright falsehoods that are so commonly used these days. It seems to me that copywriters are taking the easy way out, which is sad.
I’m also uncomfortable with the exit price offers, the endless upsells, downsells and cross sells, and the general feeling that all you want to do is buy a decent product but the owner has set a small dog to biting your ankles.
Tip: Don’t buy ANYTHING connected to Internet marketing without first trying to exit the sales page. More often than not you’ll be offered a cheaper price – sometimes for the same product, sometimes for a lesser offering, and if not, you can always go straight back.
Chris’ launch hasn’t been unusual in any of the marketing tactics it has used. Lot’s of big name affiliates motivated by the desire to out-sell each other, scarcity tactics, outright deceits justified in the name of ‘selling’, lots of controversy, crashed servers – you name it.
But what sets this one apart in one specific way is that behind it all there is a very good product being sold at a very decent price (whether you get the $10 discount or not).
That’s why I’m being a hypocrite and still promoting it. You can read my full review at http://imkickstart.com/course/reviews/stealth-profit-machines-warts-and-all-review/
If you want to create self-populating blogs with an absolute minimum of effort, for an incredibly low price, then SPM is just what you’ve been looking for. But take the sales letter with a big pinch of salt and don’t forget to try to leave before buying.
As to all the upsells, downsells and cross sells, none of them are necessary to make SPM work. They are icing on the cake that you can pick up if you want to.
One thing that has been pointed out to me and which I must pass on is that the content SPM pulls into your blog comes from EzineArticles. According the the very strict wording of their ToS, what SPM does with the articles breaks EA’s rules. I’ll have to leave it to you whether you are comfortable with that or not.
Maybe I’m naive, but I’m sure that a more ethical sales letter and upsell/downsell process would not have damaged its success. In fact, going by the number of people I’ve heard say wouldn’t buy because of the sales letter or the cloned emails, maybe it would have been MORE successful.
I’m sure that Chris and his top affiliates are a lot better off after this week. And good for them. I have no problem with people making money. And I have no problem with the launch marketing process, provided it is ethical.
But I suspect that Internet marketing itself is becoming poorer as a result of people getting tired of the ‘art of persuasion’ being overshadowed by the trend towards ‘market stall tactics’.
At what point did hypnotic marketing become hypenotic? And can we begin to remove the e before the FTC in the US and the ASA in the UK take notice and regulate all of us out of existence?
Not long, I suspect. And when they do, as always happens with government bodies trying to clean things up, they will probably be draconian in their approach and unreasonable in their regulations.
When that happens, a lot of people will be up in arms about the loss of their earning potential, but really, we all will have only ourselves to blame.
Posted by Martin| Tagged as: Reviews
It is sadly often the case that the bigger the launch and the more
big name marketers who are shouting its praises from the
rooftops, the poorer the product turns out to be. Hype, greed and
a whole lot of mutual back scratching all too often come first, and
the quality of the product comes last.
So it is that it comes as a great surprise and pleasure to find a
big launch product that is very low cost and does exactly what it
promises.
I shouldn’t be all that surprised because the big launch product
I’m talking about comes from Chris Freville, who, although he
runs with the gurus, has never forgotten that your reputation is
foremost, and quality products and first class customer service
are what that reputation is based on.
When I got my review copy of Chris’ new product, Stealth Profit
Machines, I expected the best – and got it.
The sales page has been written by the same copywriter who seems
to have cornered the market in big launches – and so it is full
of hype and tries to tease you into buying without actually
telling anything concrete about the product itself. I dislike
that style a lot, but I’m told it works.
I also dislike pile ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap supermarkets, but
they work brilliantly too – the biggest in the UK has just posted
profits up over 12% on last year!
So hype selling is probably here to stay whether we like it or
not. All the more reason then for people who write reviews to
fill in the blanks and balance the hyperbole.
The claim on the sales page is that in just 7 clicks of your
mouse you can have money-making websites set up and running
completely on autopilot.
Now I can tell you that that is true.
To make it completely clear though , yes, you click the mouse
button 7 times, but between those clicks there are a few bits and
bobs to fill in on the on-page forms. Its not hard stuff and only
takes a moment.
Here is what Stealth Profit Machines does…
It sets up WordPress Blogs for you – as many as you like on any
domain (although I would personally have one per domain),
installs a theme of your choice and all the plugins you need.
Apart from the bits you have to fill in on the form, I think that
lot takes up three of your clicks. It’s that simple.
Having done that, the software prompts you for a keyword and then
goes off and finds articles to be posted on the blog.
Automatically.
You are always in control and can pre-select which of the
articles are posted, or all of them if you so wish.
You can build a list of as many articles as you like.
Then SPM randomly posts them to your blog according to a pattern
you set once and then forget.
So far, so good. It all works perfectly, but it isn’t all that
different to several other auto blog products out there.
But then things get better.
Within SPM you can set up affiliate links (it doesn’t matter if
they are ClickBank, Amazon , Commission Junction or any other
affiliate program) and ‘attach’ those links to specific keywords
of phrases. So every time one of those keywords appears in an
article it is turned into a text link to the affiliate product.
But, cleverly, when you hover over the link, it is cloaked so
that it looks as if it is simply a link to another page on the
blog.
What you end up with is a blog that grows on its own, filled with
affiliate links that don’t look like affiliate links.
And all in seven clicks (and some form filling).
I love it and have already started putting up blogs on several
old domains I’ve had stored away and never found a use for. Now I
can very quickly dust them off and get them out there working for
me.
I can’t make comment yet on the earning potential that the sales
page talks about as my SPM blogs are still too new to be making
anything, but I can see how the claims could be perfectly
reasonable.
But think about it another way – how about you use links to your
other sites instead of affiliate links – you’d have a very quick
and easy way of developing a ton of backlinks.
Or use links to your own products.
The possibilities of this are enormous.
And yet, the price is laughably low.
One thing about the sales page I must comment on is the 300
copies limit. You know what I think about those false scarcity
claims, and, frankly, expected better from Chris. So I asked him
about it.
The copywriter du jour insists on putting it in his copy,
apparently, but here was an initial limit while the product was
in beta test, to make sure that their support team weren’t
overwhelmed if there happened to be an unforeseen bug or two. It
turned out that the launch went smoothly and no serious problems
were found, so the limit has been lifted and Chris is planning to
take it off the sales page.
To be completely transparent, you can replicate what Stealth
Profit Machines does with a collection of other software and
plugins. But the genius is in having put it all into one program
that is dead easy to use.
And to sell it at a price that you don’t have to think about.
http://urlnex.us/stealth-profit-machines