Ray’s Blog at RedHotClicks.com

As I browse the topics in various Internet Marketing Forums, or “surf” Traffic Exchanges to earn credits for my own sites, I invariably come across disccusions about, or sales pitches for, the most recent “products” offered by the so-called Internet Marketing Gurus.  These generally run the gamut from “secrets” they will offer you, mentoring programs, or some other such vehichle guaranteed to make you zillions of dollars.  Do I sound skeptical already?

Whenever I see one of these posts or ads, I am reminded of that great 1962 movie “The Music Man” starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones.  It’s really quite an excellent movie and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to just laugh for 90 minutes.

In the movie, Preston plays the role of Professor Harold Hill, a self-proclaimed music teacher of extrodinary ability.  Now Harold is, let’s be blunt, a con-man and something of a rogue.  He arrives in River City with the stated intention of forming a boys bad.  Nevermind that none of them can play an instrument of any sort.  Nevermind that he can’t either.  His true purpose is to collect funds from the parents, promising to buy them instruments for the band, and then disappear with the cash before any instruments are purchased.

When it is brought to his attention that none of the kids can actually play an instrument, he convinces the town folk that his “Think System” is all they need.  He tells the parents that with his system, all the boys need to do is “think” about playing the tunes, and they will do exactly that.  The town folk buy into his claims and give him their money.  Not unlike those who buy into the “secret” systems of the IM Gurus.  There are always those who will spend their money for ”the dream”, even when the details are a bit fuzzy.

Of course, this is a movie and therefore requires a happy ending.  So, while staying in the town as he collects money he winds up falling in love with the local librarian, played by Shirley Jones.  The strength of that love for the librarian, along with the remnants of a conscience, leads Harold Hill to renounce his con-man ways and actually purchase the instruments for the boys band.   And even though he knows his “Think System” is total nonsense, he makes an effort to teach the boys.

At the end of the movie, the band does indeed give a concert.  Nevermind that they sound like a train crash, the parents are happy.  They see their kids “playing” their instruments so they are happy, even while knowing they have been scammed of their money.  In their minds, they somehow believe they have been given value for their donations to Professor Hill.

Professor Hill is a rogue, but a lovable rogue.  In the end, love and a previously buried desire to do the right thing makes him at least make the attempt to deliver on what he has promised. 

It should come as no surprise that you are unlikely to find those traits in your typical self-proclaimed Internet Marketing Guru.  Nor should you be surprised when you discover that their particular variation of the “Think System” is nothing but smoke and mirrors, and that their “secrets” are simply regurgitated information available to anyone on the Internet who takes the time to look for it.  The “Think System” doesn’t work for playing an instrument, and it doesn’t work for establishing a successful business, no matter how flashy the packaging or how convincing the peddler.

-Ray
www.redhotclicks.com

Traffic Exchanges (TEs) provide just one of many ways for people to promote their websites and products on the Web.  Some people have very good success with TEs, while others do not. 

 The fact that literally tens of thousands of people use them should be an indication of their value.  The secret, of course, is understanding why they work for some people and why they don’t for others.  Like any advertising approach, TEs require an understanding of the most effective ways to use them.  If you want to be successful with your use of Traffic Exchanges, you have to consider the demographics of TE users.     

Traffic Exchanges rotate the pages of their members for other members of the TE to view.  This is generally referred to as “surfing”.  A particular page will display in the surf rotator for 15-30 seconds, depending on the timer for a particular exchange.  By viewing the pages of other members, you earn credits for your own site(s) in the rotation.  Those who don’t want to spend time surfing you can purchase credits, but in most cases members surf the TE in order to accrue credits to put their own sites in rotation.   

Keeping in mind that your own pages, aka target links, will be displayed to other members for a limited 15-30 second interval, one key to success is to get your message out there quickly and often.  Consider as you drive along a highway with billboards on the side of the road.  Most times you will either ignore these billboards, or perhaps only get a brief glimpse of them.  Successful billboard campaigns don’t have volumes of information on them.  Rather, they give us a “quick hit” message.  Since people are driving by these billboards rapidly, it just isn’t practical to load them up with information that people won’t have time to read.  The whole idea is to provide a glimpse of the product or service; just enough to register in the person’s consciousness as they drive along.   The goal is to get your branding or logo etched in people’s minds.  Do you know anyone who actually stops along the side a road to read a billboard?  TE’s work the same way.   

Successful billboard campaigns use repetition.  If someone sees the same billboard several times as they drive, they will eventually become curious about the product or service.  It becomes a subliminal thing.  One lone billboard on one highway is unlikely to produce results.  Putting your site in rotation 5-10 times isn’t going to work either.  Repetition, repetition, repetition!!  That is a classic theory of any advertising campaign.   

In my experience, the most effective approach to success with Traffic Exchanges is the use of Splash Pages.  Like a billboard, a splash page gets your message out quickly.  An effective splash page should fit completely into the surf window of the TE.  The reality is, most people are just not going to scroll down a lengthy page.  They are trying to accumulate credits for their own sites and in most cases they aren’t going to take time away to read lengthy text.

Obviously, your splash page should be attractive, and designed to grab someone’s attention.  On the other hand,  it shouldn’t be so loaded with graphics or Flash that it takes too long to load into the surf frame.  Remember, you are on a 15-30 second timer.  If your page takes too long to load, the surfer will likely click “Next” before your page is even seen.   

Your splash page should give the surfer the option of clicking your link and opening it in a new window.  That way, if they are interested they can come back later to check it out without interrupting their surf session.   

Likewise, if your objective is to develop a mailing list for a product or service, make it short and to the point.  Give a brief description of the product along with a quick email signup form.  As before, this should all display within the surf frame to the extent possible.     

I have seen numerous pages in a surf rotation that display the actual product site.  In most cases, these are filled with text and links for FAQs, member information, and so on.  That just won’t work with TE surfers in the vast majority of cases.  Most people aren’t going to take the time to read through all of that while surfing.  Consider your own surfing habits.  If you are surfing a TE to accumulate credits, do you really take the time to read the lengthy pages that come up?  Most surfers don’t either.   

One of the approaches that seems to be in vogue in the Internet Marketing sector is the narrow sales page that seems to go on forever describing the product, freebies, testimonials, and so on.  I never bother to read these.  Unless you are a well-known “guru”, it’s unlikey anyone will read such pages either.  It works for the gurus or well-known Internet Marketers because of name recognition, but it rarely works for ”John Doe”.

Most Traffic Exchanges allow one “popup” or “pop-under” page attached to your main rotation page.  I’m not a big fan of these.  My feeling is, if you can’t get the message across with your main page, the popups aren’t going to help, and in many cases, they are just annoying and counterproductive.  As for the TE sites that allow multiple popups, I won’t use them.  Period.  If you really want to add a popup to your site, go ahead, but consider their effectiveness versus the aggravation factor for surfers.  Again, consider your own tendencies.  Do you really like all those popups when you are surfing?   

One of the newer techniques available is “Peel Away” ads.  While unobtrusive, these Flash based ads are very effective in getting noticed.   I highly recomment giving these a try.

Many pages in rotation also include audio and/or video.  In my opinion, these are just another nuisance.  I consider myself a fairly typical TE surfer.  I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one that turns off the sound on my PC before I start a surf session.  Audio/video can also cause the page to load slower, which in turn means the surfer will often hit “Next” before the page has fully loaded.  Use audio/video if you must, but I am likely to ignore the site and just wait for the opportunity to go to the next page.   

In summary, if you want to successfully use the services of TEs, use splash pages.  Make your message quick and catchy.  Give the surfer the opportunity to open the page in a new window so it can be more thoroughly checked out after the surf session is finished.  Don’t make your pages so long no one will bother to read them, or they don’t fully load in the time allotted.  Your potential customers in a TE are akin to someone driving by a highway billboard.  Get their attention quickly, but don’t annoy them.       

-Ray
www.redhotclicks.com

I first wrote this about six months ago while I was up late one night reading through several of the Forums dedicated to Internet Marketing.  Some of the posts made me realize just how comical our industry can be at times.  I’m reposting the article here because I still think some of the items below are more true than most of us want to admit.

You MIGHT be an Internet Marketer IF…….

1) You are familiar with names such as Mike Filsaime, Gary Ambrose, Joe Vitale and Willie Crawford, but you think Barack Obama is a type of sushi

2) You have more email addresses than silverware

3) You are considering replacing your office chair with a camper’s port-a-johnny because going to the bathroom takes away too much valuable computer time

4) You are actually able to convince people that they will make more money by reading emails at 5-cents a pop than getting a part-time job at Walmart

5) You actually manage to get visitors to your web page to believe that the mansion, sports car, swimming pool and yatch displayed on your site actually belong to you

6) Words such as niche, matrix, and AdSense roll off your tongue effortlessly, but you occasionally struggle to remember the names of your kids

7) You consider 2:00am a reasonable time for lunch

8) You believe spending $5000-$10000 on a particular “gurus” mentoring program is a better use of funds than spending it on a college education, or food

9) You use the term “guru” regularily

10) You spend more time in Internet Marketing discussion forums than you do in your own living room

11) You believe there are ebooks available that are actually worth $97.  Or you offer a 30-page ebook and think it’s worth $97

12) All of your products are priced ending in .97 rather than .99

13) You have a large spiral-bound notebook to keep track of all your UserIDs and passwords

14) You think “Winepress” is a new type of blogging software

15) Your spouse tells you in the morning that you kept uttering the word “downline” in your sleep

16) All your “friends” on MySpace are Internet Marketers

17) You don’t see the irony of the words “bum” and “marketing” appearing in the same sentence

18) You have the Paypal support number assigned to the “1″ button on your speed dial

19) You believe people actually read every word of those mile-long columnar sales pages

20) Your family and friends suggest that you are becoming obsessive/compulsive with this Internet Marketing “thing”.  You spend the next 5 days developing an “Obsessive/Compulsive Internet Marketer’s” niche website with plans to make a million using AdSense.

21) Unlike the general population, you use the word “viral” in a positive context

22) When your teenager comes home from school, he tells you he made the JV team.  You ask him who his other partners are.

23) You believe firmly that your products are worth $97, $197, $297, or more, but you constantly ask others where you can buy a domain name for $1

24) You honestly believe “I want to make money” represents a valid business plan

25) When you woke up, your spouse reminded you that today is your 8-year old’s 10th birthday

26) You think a Pop Tart is a new kind of floating ad

27) You celebrate the freedom that running your own IM business from your home gives you, while you sit at your computer for 80+ hours a week

28) And finally, you understood more the 90% of the above

If you have any additional ditties you would like to add to this list of silliness, please feel free to do so in the comments.

-Ray

http://www.redhotclicks.com

“I made $10,000 in my first week with only 30 minutes of work!” 

“Give me just 10 minutes of your time and I will show you how to make a 6-figure income in your spare time from home!” 

“I’m going to let you in on my secret, never before seen, guaranteed method for a massive multi-stream incomel!” 

Uh-huh.

If you’re reading this post, I just know you have seen web sites shouting headlines such as these.  It’s virtually impossible not to encounter them at some point in a TE, mailing list, or other venue.  If it wasn’t for my spam filter, my inbox would be filled to the max with similar pronouncements or wealth and fame.  I’ve even seen some of this on late-night TV. 

Welcome to the sometimes goofy world of Internet Marketing (IM). Ah yes, the lure of untold riches.  The flashy and compelling web sites with screaming headlines and photos of Corvettes, yachts, huge mansions, sexy ladies, swimming pools, and crates full of cash.  Of course, one must suspend his or her disbelief and ignore the fact that 99% of the time, the Corvette, yachts, large house and so on don’t actually belong to the person who owns the site.  Those are most often stock photos.  But damn, they do draw people in don’t they? 

Before I continue, let me stipulate one thing very clearly.  Internet Marketing is a perfectly legitimate and potentially lucrative business.  There are numerous people in the IM field, some of whom I know, who operate with a high degree of integrity and honesty.  Their various programs offer people a realistic opportunity to make money.  These people are professional marketers who know how to do things the correct way.  They don’t make promises built on fog and illusion.  They will be the first to tell you it is extremely hard work.   

Unfortunately, there are all too many people who are willing to sell you snake oil in a can.  The schemes they offer run the gamut from questionable, to absurd, to outright illegal.  And that has nothing to do with the Internet.  The unscrupulous people who perpetrate these sorts of scams have been around long before the Internet.  Some of these schemes, pyramids, ponzi, and the like, have been around for centuries.  The Internet simply provides another convenient vehicle for their deception.  You can put lipstick on a pig, but ultimately, it’s still a pig. 

If your desire is to get into the Internet Marketing field, then by all means do so.  But do so cautiously and with your eyes open.  Don’t fall for the first flashy web page you see that offers staggering promises of income with a minimum of effort.  That is just not reality.  Use common sense.  If you run across a web page promising to tell you the “secret formula” for how to make $250,000 your first month, or some other such drivel, and you fall for it, well, let me offer something my dad taught me many years ago.  “Son”, my dad would say, “you can’t fix stupid”.

There is money to be made for sure.  The IM world is still in it’s infancy.  There are untapped marketing possibilities and many new and exciting products to exploit.  But you won’t do it with 30 minutes of work.  You won’t do it with questionable programs.  And you won’t do it just by becoming someone elses affiliate.  Affiliate programs are a good place to start, but they won’t put that Corvette in your driveway.  THAT is reality.

Internet Marketing is still a business.  Any successful business must be nurtured and cultivated.  Any successful business begins with a coherent business plan.  That bears repeating: ANY successful business begins with a coherent business plan.  As my favorite philosopher, Yogi Berra says: “You have to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going because you may not get there”.  Business, ANY business, is hard work.  Internet Marketing is no different than any other business.  There are NO secrets.  The minute you buy into someone’s “secret approach”, you have already failed. 

Secrets?  On the Internet???  Secrets to be shared with anyone who will plop down their $97??  Give me a break.  Coca Cola has a secret formula for their beverage.  Do you see them selling that all over the Web to anyone with $97?  Do you see the guy with a successful BBQ sauce selling that on eBay?  Real secrets are patented and copyrighted, not sold to the masses all over the Web.

-Ray
http://www.redhotclicks.com

They’ve been around for a while now and it seems they just won’t go away.  I’m talking about the so-called ”Randomizer” programs. 

In reality, Randomizers are nothing more than a variation of the classic Ponzi scheme, which of course makes them illegal.   They sell no product.  That should be an immediate red flag.  Their means of bringing money into the program is by recruitment of new members.  The person at the top is guaranteed a payout but the other members aren’t.  Their primary (and typically only) means of funding is from the members themselves, not by sales to people outside the membership.  By legal definition, in the USA at least, that is a Ponzi scheme. 

In some cases, there is also a lottery associated with these programs.  Of course, they use some convoluted language to say it isn’t really a lottery, but all you have to do is look at how these programs work.  Lotteries are legal, but only if you are licensed and officially sanctioned to do run one. 

When a new member joins, usually for $10-$25, a part of that immediately goes to the program owner; he or she can’t lose, except perhaps legally when he/she winds up being indicted for fraud.  All too often however, the amounts involved aren’t at a threshold for the Justice Department to investigate. 

Another part of the cut goes to the person who referred the new member, which makes the referrer an accessory to felony.  And finally, a part (typically $5) goes into the “pool”. Each time a new member joins; someone within the program is randomly selected to receive the $5 pool allotment. 

There is just no other way to say this, so let me be blunt.  The people who believe they are going to make money through this system obviously have no understanding of basic mathematics.  Not only are the odds against you, those odds continue to decline as the program grows. 

The math is painfully simple. If there are 100 people in the program and 5 new members join, your odds of being randomly selected for the $5 are 1 in 20 (5/100 = 0.05%, which translates to 1 in 20). When the membership increases to 500 and 5 new people join, your odds of winning one of the randomly selected pool slots drops to 1 in 100 (5/500 = 0.01%).  When the membership reaches 1,000 members, the odds drop to 1 in 200.  If the membership reaches 10,000 and 5 new members join, your odds drop to a rather unattractive 1 in 2,000.  That’s the math.

All Ponzi schemes are beset with a basic conundrum, Randomizers included.  These schemes need additional members in order to pay out to the current members.  But as those additional members join, your odds of a payout decrease dramatically.  Eventually, the scheme collapses due to the sheer weight of its increased membership.  When that happens, the vast majority of people wind up with less money (if any) than they started with.  The originator folds his tent and walks away with a bundle.   

 Of course, you don’t have to rely solely on the lottery.  You also receive a “commission” for bringing new members into the program.  That means, of course, that in order to make money, you are now in a position of having to recruit people for what is essentially an illegal activity. For those people who are considering joining one of these nefarious programs, I suggest a 2-step detox program: 1) go to your local community college and take a fundamental mathematics course, and 2), make an appointment with a neurosurgeon to have your head examined. 

Randomizers are specifically banned from redhotclicks.com.  Diligent owners of other traffic generation sites (traffic exchanges, safelists, etc.) also ban these scams.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case.  As a result, these scams appear in site promotion vehicles all over the Internet.

To anyone who is considering joining one of these schemes, I would strongly advise you to run far, far away as quickly as you can. 

-Ray

http://www.redhotclicks.com