Sell it, give it away or keep it to yourself?
There was an interesting debate going on over at the A4U forum the other day where a user asked if people would pay “£50 to see a £50k Xmas 2007 Profit Strategy“. The post was made from a forum member called “Affi Liate” geddit? - and he seems to model himself on the Rick Jerk. For anybody who doesn’t know the Rick Jerk is an infamous “make money online” scheme from America that stands out from the crowd by being obnoxious, rude and full of it.
Reading through the thread it seems that quite a few people would happily pay the £50 for this report, no problem. But why would anyone do this? If you have something that does well, be it a PPC strategy, some tasty keywords that nobody else is bidding on or whatever - why would you sell it for a measly £50 a go when you can earn tens of thousands of pounds profit from it? Well it could be of course that it’s all hype and all you’re doing is selling some basic info that you have cobbled together from sites, forums and blogs over the years and then repackaging it as “Super Affiliate Killer Marketing Strategies That Will Explode Your Income Online” or whatever. Believe me, a lot of that goes on. Or it could be that you’re trying to build a reputation and a marketing list so you’re offering some genuine relevant advice. Now I’ve seen some of Affi’s stuff before and it’s not bad. It’s not rocket science however, but then again he openly admits that he is pitching for the newbie affiliates and not experienced affiliates. I haven’t seen what is in this 2007 profit strategy thing at all but if I were a betting man I would probably say that newbies will find it useful, based on the stuff I’ve seen so far anyway.
But then again it still begs the question, why sell it instead of just using it yourself? After all by selling it isn’t he just inviting more competition? I mean I have some PPC campaigns that make very, very good returns but I’m not going to tell anybody about them. Why would I? I’d cut off my income stream as soon as the new competition gets wind of it. Sure it’s a big market and the strategy probably isn’t limited to just one sector but still why would you give the competition an edge for the sake of just £50? Speaking of which how big is the UK market for products like this? The Americans seems to lap this stuff up but we’re a different culture and a lot more cynical. Even if he sells 100 copies, which I think is the maximum market if honest, that’s still only £5k. Hardly worth it.
I think that Affi is making the mistake of trying to replicate an American business model over here in the UK, when we just don’t have the appetite for it. I’ve just finished reading Click Here To Order by Joel Comm and was massively disappointed with it. I was hoping for inspirational stories of people who have made their living online but instead the book was full of anecdotes from “Master List Builders” and so called “Internet Gurus” who seem to do nothing else but sell the idea of how to make money online. None of whom seem to actually have any of their own ideas or real online business models they just repackage the same crapola over and over again and then sell it to our gullible cousins via God-awful sales letters and eBooks.
In my experience this type of stuff just doesn’t wash with us. For proof of this take a look at US based forum, DigitalPoint and compare it to our very own Affiliates 4U Forum. DigitalPoint is full of people hawking eBooks, online seminars, tutorials and other money making tat. Thankfully we have none of that at all, just a helpful community and very few hidden agendas. If the Make Money Online people to pop in to try and sell their wares then they soon get kicked into touch - just how it should be.
I’d be interested to know if any readers have bought and eBooks or other Make Money Online guides/strategies and if they found them useful?
P.S. Give me the Poor Loser over Rich Jerk anyday 
What I’m listening to right now: R Kelly Feat Keri Hilson – “Shake It Like A Dog”
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 10:31 am and is filed under Affiliate Marketing, Making Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I run UK Offer Media Ltd. I thought it would be fun to post a daily (well hopefully daily) blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing and more specifically Affiliate Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
thanks for this, Kieron.
Have had ‘Click Here To Order’ sitting in my Amazon basket for the last couple of days. Will put it to the back of the pile!
If you’re looking for a book with real technology/marketing success stories, have a look at ‘Founders at Work’. It’s a series of interviews with a whole range of tech/internet company founders - from the guys who started adobe, to the guy who set up hotornot, to the guy who wrote gmail. It’s a fantastic read with some amazing info.
daniel
Daniel -tbh I gave up on the book two thirds in, I just couldn’t stomach it any more. Thanks for the recommendation on “Founders At Work” I will give it a go.
The poor looser site is quality. I wonder if that guy on A4U realises how much of a cliche he really is?
Brilliant post.
I’m an American and understanding that there are exceptions, frankly I think that the decline of our educational and political systems, the Hollywoodization of our culture has reduced our collectivel imaginations and work ethics to an infantile level. We want it now, we want it free (or at a discount), we want it easy and we want it guaranteed.
Risk? Work? Think? Fail? Try again? Not interested.
Sad really. Then I see the intelligence and work ethics of you lot, our cousins across the pond and wonder: would being a subject be so bad? Being a “citizen” in a cess pool isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
I’ll have to visit the UK some day. I suspect I’ll fall in love and never want to come “home.”
Thanks for the insightful post Kieron. I needed this.
-Mike
Hi Kieron,
I think you have a made a few good points here. First, this concept of someone finding a way to be successful on-line and the first thing they do is sell it to the world is so old hat. How many times I have read this type of site and just thought, why? Why would you sell a successful formula and why would you beleive this enough to buy it? It’s a double whammy!
Internet marketing has been so tainted by this type of thing and people need to realise that developing an on-line business takes money, time, effort, commitment, determination, persistance and patience.
You can not buy a successful on-line business for fifty bucks and expect a fortune!
I think you are also right with your view that the UK have a much more cynical view of this type of marketing. I am not saying that the USA ar any kind of fools because they are not but as Mike says there is quite a wave of we want it now and we want it free mentality over there but this does seem to be creeping into our society too!
There are probably some good guide books about online marketing and starting an on-line buiness but they would have more of a success in the UK market if they called a spade a spade and marketed their guide book as a guide book not a get rich system. If you really want an on-line business you will have to work, and work hard. There is no harm buying a starters guide if you are a newbie but It is going to take more than a e-book to get online success.
Kenny Mc Bride
It wouldnt suprise me if Affi is the Rich Jerk, or at the very least someone american whos milked all he can (or been booted out) of ebook scammer central “the warrior forum”.
On the whole I like Affi. He’s sent me some of his free material and I think it’s pretty good though I agree it’s odd that he’s now asking people for money.
Did you hear that eBay are sueing the owner of Digital Point for a massive cookie stuffing scam?
Sounds like Affi is going into the snakeoil business.
Hi Kieron,
Also agree with the post. I’ve never actually bought one of those ‘kits’ for getting rich quick (which, on the other hand, might explain why I’m still building websites and not sitting on a beach somewhere) always assumed they were all hype… It’s also interesting how different products sell in different markets, we are quite different from those Americans I think…
I love that poor looser site lol, read the whole thing haha
You know, I love our American cousins to bits… some of them anyway… you know, the ones who get things like sarcasm and irony! (I jest… sort of)
They are remarkably gullible though. I’ve read a fair few of these e-books now and the most helpful ones (and the most helpful blogs and marketers) all seem to come from the UK with a couple of notable exceptions.
I don’t know if it’s the way they gush… or the pushy sales techniques… or all the stupid catch phrases… but something about it all sets my teeth on edge. It’s so typically American and it just does not work in the UK. I can “see” all these would be marketers nodding their heads in agreement with the “gurus” as I sit there looking at my screen with an eyebrow arched in complete scepticism and disgust.
It’s such a relief to discover it’s not just me being cynical and that others have noticed this too. Thanks so much for that post, it made me smile this morning!!
Have you ever considered that Aff is doing this because he is bored of making money and wants to give something back?
I subscribed to affi’s stuff.
It is basically a step by step guide to how to ppc onto your own landing pages for specific products.
He supplies software to help you set it all up including landing and price comparison pages.
So not for non-newbies, but it is a quick introduction to how it can be done.
He goes on to sell more stuff (like continuing use of his software after a period of time).
So it’s not all altruistic, but he’s given alot of what he knows away in the pile, not much that you can’t get free, but I learned a bit. I’d be pretty sure he’s making money out of the system.
He’s very funny (as long as you like being slagged off, even in the support emails) and all the info is in one place.
I didn’t manage to get a site going on his advice but I’m sure some people will manage to get returns.