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FIB - Scams 101
Re: I agree, with a twist...
Posted By: Bob E. In Response To: I agree, with a twist... (MaaMaw)
Date: Sunday, March 16, 2008, at 11:01 a.m.(pst)
Glad to see you taking the stance you are taking (at least right now), Maw.
Fact is, most likely Alex's site or "opportunity" isn't a scam. I haven't signed up for his newsletter (nor do I care to right now) but from a quick glance at his sales page I bet I already know exactly what he's going to tell me in his e-course because there are many other marketers that have free affiliate marketing email or online courses just like his (Travis at bum marketing is one of them). The following is most likely what you'll learn about (most likely very basically) in Alex's e-course...
1. Sign up for clickbank as an affiliate marketer.
2. Find niche products on clickbank that sell well, (according to clickbank's stats).
3. Drive traffic to your clickbank affiliate links for that product by using blog marketing, article marketing, and/or social marketing techniques (and/or even perhaps using PPC ads).
3a. Possibly even send your traffic to your own landing page to "pre-sell" your prospects instead of sending them directly to the clickbank merchant's sales page right away.
4. Watch the sales and affiliate commissions roll in.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 as much as you want to and even start looking into other products and affiliate channels like paydotcom, commission junction, link share, etc.
6. Sign up for a Wealthy Affiliate membership (using his own affiliate link) somewhere along the way to learn more about affiliate marketing tactics and techniques that can make you more money as an affiliate marketer.
There is no scam in this, not in the process or the course. It's just basic affiliate marketing information can could bank on if you do things right.
There is also nothing wrong with an affiliate marketer looking to shift his main focus from becoming a publisher of affiliate marketing how-to information. Not a scam at all.
The only real question here is, is Alex really a successful affiliate marketer who is now trying to become a publisher or did he read one of those other free affiliate marketing courses, write his own, and now uses the "fake it till you make it" technique that many wannabe internet/affiliate marketers try to use?
Well, I don't know the answer to that, but I can tell you that looking at those checks on his site that they really do look like real clickbank checks because I've gotten a couple of 'em myself in the past.
But whatever the case may be, it doesn't cost you anything but your time. He isn't charging your for anything. He will most likely try to sell you something through an affiliate link (to be expected since he is an affiliate marketer, right?), but that in no way tags him as a scammer. If he's going to give you information you can profit form or at least start you out on the road to profits, then he's due some kind of compensation for that.
I didn't read most of this thread yet but if there is anyone in this thread calling Alex a scammer or anything of the like at this point with no proof or even no knowledge of affiliate marketing, I do hope you rescind your statements (for the time being) as you cannot be taken seriously in the future, at least not by me (and I'm sure I'm not very unique in that respect in this world or on this forum so there has to be many others that take my stance).
Bob E.
>> I've been saying the same thing for the past ten years. All the
>> money-making "opportunities" on the net drive me completely
>> insane, and it makes absolutely no good sense to me that people would want
>> to "share" an opportunity where more competition can only make
>> it harder to be so wildly successful with it.>> Google Adwords comes to mind.
>> Me too.
>> But the key phrase is "most con artists."
>> Not everyone is a con artist, and Alex didn't strike me as one. After
>> I read his website, he seemed even less like a con artist. (I could be
>> 100% wrong; the jury is still out.)>> My main concerns were:
>> --> what was being left out (i.e., that most of his money might be
>> coming from subaffiliate sales, and I'm not quite convinced that it
>> isn't),>> --> and the fact that I don't believe anyone is going to share such
>> information just because they want to help and it makes them happy.>> However, Alex explained the second point to my satisfaction. I think
>> it's perfectly reasonable for someone to want to "become a
>> publisher" -- and giving away a course to get feedback and refine the
>> final product is certainly a good way to go about it.>> I see the usual warning signs, but they don't look like red flags...
>> yet.>> Yes, it's a ridiculous amount of money to be making with brand new
>> websites (it's taken me 10 years to reach a living wage!!) -- but Alex
>> didn't say he just started Affiliate marketing (or did he?).>> Sorry, my memory is less than perfect, but I thought he said the
>> website offering the free course was new -- not that he just started
>> affiliate marketing a couple of weeks ago.>> The course is free while Alex collects his information and fine tunes
>> his "For Sale" course -- and even if the *most* successful
>> trainee only makes a whopping $100 a week, they're still better off than
>> when they started.>> Granted, they'll also be very disappointed because they aren't making
>> the kind of money Alex makes, but that goes back to common sense and
>> experience. I found the site to be low on hype, and I did not walk away
>> with the belief that I would duplicate his success.>> There are a million-and-one scams on the internet that start out
>> similar to this (but generally much more hyped). The danger, of course, is
>> that "They'll getcha in the end" (or "bite you in the
>> hiney," depends what you're reading:-) ...>> but I had the sense that in this one case, the guy is genuine.
>> I could be SO wrong, in which case I'm setting myself up to look line
>> a ninny, but I figured there was no harm in giving it a shot before
>> bashing him.>> Time is short and I don't want to distract myself from what's workin',
>> so it's likely I won't actually put his methods to the test (which isn't
>> 100% fair to him) -- but at least I'll get a feel for the course and see
>> if he lied or tries to bleed me dry.>> I get accused of being a scammer on a daily basis. Why? Because I talk
>> the "anti-scam" talk, then I turn around and sell "Make
>> Money" products.>> I sell other people's products -- good ones!!
>> I wish I had some of my own products and an army of affiliates
>> peddling them for me.>> They (the "other people") are (and I could be) making money
>> teaching other people how to do what they/I did.>> That's exactly what Alex claims to be doing -- and because everyone
>> isn't a crook and he comes across to me as being pretty genuine, it just
>> seemed fair to give him a chance.>> That's my story and I'm stickin' to it (at least until I find out
>> otherwise).>> Luv,
>> MaaMaw
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