As you know he has been in big trouble of late but with some skillful negotiating we managed to get refunds on all of the internet marketing courses he recently signed up for and his credit card company are no longer hounding him. He went away, cap in hand, and promised not to spend anymore on courses and “make money” products.

And today he was excitedly telling me he’d given up internet marketing for good.

He went on to tell me he had bought a bookstore of all things from a certain Mr Wong who for some reason wasn’t doing too well. My eyebrows raised – “why oh why Homer can’t you just do something straightforward” I thought.

“It was a bargain” he told me, ” it is in the centre of town and has loads of passing trade and a website – but the last owner tells me the biggest potential is the telephone / postal service. Apparently he gets hundreds of calls a day but for some reason people keep putting the phone down as soon as he announces the name of the shop.”

“I can’t think why Mr Wong isn’t making any money from it. I know I can – I’ll even have a section where I’ll sell off all my internet ebooks. I’ll print them out and make a fortune – I have enough stock to last several years without buying anything else.”

OK, Homer I said – take me to take a look at the store.

My heart sank. Does that guy never think?

So who cares about product names!

Sometime I despair – I know Homer will be back on the internet marketing trail after he’s answered the phone a few times!

As usual Homer failed to do his research

© TheAntiHype for guru-fodder.com, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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“Internet Marketing made me bankrupt”

I could barely hear his voice. It was shaking and I could only just make it out to be Homer’s voice.

I’d not heard from him for ages and he was in fact the last person I expected to hear from – especially after his re-union with Sylvie Fortin. I expected him to be too embarrassed to get in touch – but by the sounds of things he needed real help.

“This time…” he paused “…this time, I’ve really gone and done it and Marge will kill me” he exclaimed.

Now, I thought he was referring to his, er, relationships but as the story unfolded it was clear he’d been up to his old tricks – and more!

“Let me put my cards on the table Mr Anti Hype” he continued. “I really had hoped that when Sylvie interviewed me a few days ago that it was because she still had some feelings for me after all this time.”

“Secretly, I really thought she was trying to woo me back. But as she is such a smart, successful internet marketer and I, well you know, I’ve made one or two mistakes, I decided I’d really impress her.”

He had me really worried. Nothing Homer has done since I’ve known him would impress anybody. Least of all someone as successful as Sylvie – unless she really was looking to woo Homer back! No, I really couldn’t see that, Sylvie is happily married and as far as I know in full control of her mental faculties.

He was in full flow now and the sad story continued…

“You might know there’s been a number of big product launches recently; Michael Rasmussen’s Affiliate Launch Blueprint ; Michael Cheney’s Delta Squadron & Jeff Dedrick’s Send Button Profits and I knew that armed with the knowledge from those three programs I could make my stack and finally win over Sylvie”

“The great thing about those launches is that they all offer free information so I figured it wouldn’t cost me anything to get just where I wanted and then to get Sylvie just where I wanted!”

“So I watched the videos and read in detail all of the sales pages. Oh, yes – she will be mine, I thought. With this information I cannot fail.”

Now, I was itching for Homer to get to the punchline and tell me why he was bankrupt. But in his usual style he had to lay out his failings in their full glory!

“So launch day for all three has been within the past week – in fact Jeff’s product only launched this afternoon and that was the final straw.”

I was getting impatient. How could something that happened just now have been so catastophic.

“Well, here it is Mr Anti Hype. I got taken in again. You know those free products. Well they’re not really free. I waited for the launch emails and got in to each product as soon as they launched. I filled in my details (including credit card) for the Postage Costs and the $1 “contribution” to costs. I then got taken to these great pages that were offering me stuff that I just knew I couldn’t possibly live without.”

“I was hitting my back button on the browser and my refresh button as I zipped from One Time Offer to Upgrade and back to Second Upgrade and ongoing training. I went from private mentoring back to original email and product bonuses from whoever (and that was loads of people)  had told me about the launches. I even bought some stuff from the guys promoting. I don’t know how I found that!”

“It was like those TV wildlife programs – you know the sharks feeding frenzies. Mr Anti Hype, I need help. I’m an Internet Marketing product junkie. I know it now. How could I possibly expect Sylvie to be interested in me now? And as for Marge – she just pities me.”

“The only person who wants me is the debt collector set on me by the credit card company. You see I bought every upgrade, every mentoring program, every continuity membership program – and all within the last week. I had a call from the card company asking when I’d lost my card because in over 30 years they had never seen such outrageous spending activity on one card.”

“I hate to think how much money I’ve spent and it could all have been avoided if I’d just taken Sylvie up on her offer to join her at Success Chef.”

I’ve never been one for saying “I told you so” but I have to say I was so sorely tempted on this occasion – after telling Homer for years where he was going wrong I really think perhaps I should have done so.

But I couldn’t rub his nose in it!

Don’t be like Homer and let internet marketing make you bankrupt. Know what you need and buy what you need – not what somebody else convinces you you should have!

© TheAntiHype for guru-fodder.com, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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With just under 19,000 people already registered it looks like Michael Cheney is about to have a massive pay day!

Now, as The Anti Hype, I’m still in two minds about this launch. As you know I’m not keen on the over-hype associated with many launches. With The Golden Thread I do feel that this is a great product and will be very well received by those looking for a set-up and go solution, but I really dislike the volume of emails I’m receiving AND the offers of bonuses for using certain links – personally I’d rather have a discount!

The challenge is that although the product promises Cash Cannons for some products that are included in the package, by its very nature this means 500 people using the same system at the same time to sell the same products. Or maybe I’ve just missed something.

Anyway, I’ll let you into a little secret – I’ve been using Pre Sale Videos for about a year and to all intents and purposes these are the equivalent of cash cannons. No you don’t get the full training, personalised templates and resell rights products that are available in The Golden Thread. But, what you do get is professional pre recorded videos that promote a variety of great affiliate products.

All you do is sign up, get your links and promote or embed the code on a page of your own. The following is an example and in keeping with todays theme of video sales pages this video is for a brilliant package of products that makes adding any video to any web page a piece of cake. I bought the product myself yesterday and I’m amazed at how easy it is to use.

WATCH THE VIDEO NOW

If you have no products to sell the basic PreSale Videos system may be a perfect fit – basically it’s a video with your affiliate link embedded into the code. But if you want to take it a stage further then you may want to source your own resale rights products. If so watch the video at the following link for details of a free trial to Resale Rights Express

So, if you miss out on Michael Cheney’s product or you find the price too steep take a look at Pre Sale Videos as an alternative.

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Post tags: cash cannons, michael cheney, presale videos, resale rights, the golden thread, video marketing
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• Yes, the usual trumpets herald its arrival.

• Yes, there are bonus offers galore

• Yes, your inbox is likely to be flooded by the promotions

BUT…

I actually like much of the work Michael Cheney does. His products usually over deliver and his way of explaining things is easy to follow.

So what about The Golden Thread?

In concept it’s great – create a Cash Cannon, Michael’s term for a video sales page. Nothing so unusual or groundbreaking about that. But when combined with persuasive commentary and stamped with your own personality AND all produced for you then maybe there is something special.

Michael’s launch includes a number of case studies including mind maps AND a live webcam at his blog.

I was really taken by the first video in the series – you can read my review and watch the video at The Golden Thread – particularly because of the success of the lady concerned with very few visitors to her site. When i say site – it really is just one page.

For many people adding an extra $1,000 to their income each month would be a life saver – and for anyone generating a lot of traffic increasing sales percentages from 1% to upwards of 10% would have a massive impact on profitability. That’s the promise!

As for the cost – I don’t know yet, but whatever it is – if an extra $1,000 a month is possible with little work it has to be worth looking at.

© admin for guru-fodder.com, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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If you’re into Social Bookmarking you’ll know about StumbleUpon. But there are some important things you should avoid or you could be putting not only your own site but those of others at risk.

No. 1 – The Thumbs Up Stumble, Stumble

If you click on the Stumble “thumbs up” button and that page has not already been submitted a pop-up screen appears that requires some more detail.

DO NOT CANCEL. If you do the page is only partially submitted. The page is registered but as the submission was canceled no one is associated with it and the page usually suffers as a result.

Any visitor to your blog can just hit thumbs up and then cancel because they don’t want to fill in the details. Bang – your page is consigned to graveyard. Please don’t do this to my pages

No. 2 – The Self Stumble

There is nothing wrong in Stumbling your own posts and StumbleUpon expects you to do so from time to time, BUT, you may get your account terminated if you abuse the Terms of Service. They state that accounts created for the primary purpose of promoting a product or service will be considered spam.

To avoid this you should be Stumbling many other sites to dilute the impact of your own submissions. You should also avoid submitting every one of your posts as you run the risk of a Thumbs Down on any that are not considered good – unless you are superhuman there will be a few dogs from time to time!

No. 3 – The Stumble Mate

Similarly, you should not be limiting your Stumbles to a few of your favourite blogs. This too will start to look like a spamming technique and may lead to your “mates” sites getting penalised. Be careful too of submitting several pages from the same site at the same time.

No. 4 – The Wrong Category Stumble

The first time a page is submitted the submitter has to choose a category. THIS IS A VITAL STEP because only the original submitter can change the category later – and that’s not very likely!

The category selected for the page will be used to determine who sees that page when they use StumbleUpon.

If you set up StumbleUpon to show you pages about, say photography and you get shown pages clearly about politics (because someone has wrongly selected the photography category for a photographic site) you are not likely to approve!

It is vital, therefore, that a page is allocated to an appropriate category otherwise members who are shown pages that they are not interested in may give those pages a “thumbs down”.

No. 5 – Not Using StumbleUpon Correctly

The concept of Stumble is to identify categories of sites you are interested in (when you sign up), and then to Thumbs Up those you particularly like as you are served up pages from the Stumble toolbar. This helps the system serve up better sites to you in the future – more relevant to your tastes. Sites you don’t like, sales pages, too many Adwords, slow loading, irrelevant etc may be given a Thumbs Down.

This helps the system serve up more appropriate content to every user.

If all you are using Stumble for is to submit your own and a few favourite sites – you and your friends sites will suffer from being downgraded and ultimately not served up on the network.

So please, download the toolbar and spend a few minutes each day Stumbling through the sites served up and giving them some Thumbs.

For more detailed information and full training on the correct way to use StumbleUpon I recommend Caroline Middleton’s excellent free course.

Hope to Stumble into you soon.

Mark

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Michel Fortin found out about Homer getting into bed with Sylvie (as reported here a few days ago) and came looking for him. (You may still see Michel in the BlogLog widget below if you’re quick).

He obviously confronted Sylvie. Sylvie in turn has admitted to knowing Homer and she seems to have developed a soft spot for him as she says the post is a “Must Read” where she refers to the post on her new Internet Marketing Sins feedback page.

Don’t forget you can access the whole report at Internet Marketing Sins.

You’ll be glad you did.

The AntiHype

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Michel Fortin will be livid – or so you’d think. His wife, Sylvie Fortin in bed with the Guru Fodder Homer!

Actually, he’s delighted.

Sylvie has just released a report Internet Marketing Sins in which she slates all of the tricks, scams and sales hype that poor old Homer has fallen for. Whether she consulted Homer is another matter, although I’m sure she would have appreciated his stripy pajamas had she met him really!

I’ve just finished reading the first 5 sins – there are 15 in all – and I have to say I wish I had written it. Yes, The Anti Hype is impressed!

The language is a little base at times and Sylvie doesn’t pull any punches.

The report slams into some of the tactics we’ve been highlighting at Guru Fodder for a long time. But also, dare I say it, she lays into the likes of Homer. Why? Because he spends money but does nothing.

You loyal followers will know that deep down I have a sly pop at poor old Homer but Sylvie has well and truly told him what for.

If he was still feeling the after effects of his hypnosis, his mind will be clear and racing after that!

Now, the cynic in me tells me that Sylvie is expecting sales of her products to follow in the wake of this report. She suggests the report does nothing to promote a product, which is true. But there are links to her excellent Success Chef sprinkled through the report. It does, however, stand on it’s own two feet. It’s a great read.

A while back I talked about “refunds” or rather the lack of refunds. What Sylvie has to say will make your hair stand on end.

Sylvie likes labels – and lists 15 of them. These are her Internet Marketing Sins.

The first, we dealt with here a few weeks ago in “The Forced Continuity Credit Card Dance”

Sylvie calls this one: Sleight of Hand Continuity. She talks about 3 methods, the 1st being acceptable, the 2nd questionable and the 3rd illegal.

Wow, how I wish I’d written this report! Or maybe Sylvie has been hanging out here and storing our thoughts for her Report!

Sidenote: Homer, close your eyes when you get to page 41, I think it’s aimed at you personally!

Have you ever fallen for the One Time Offer or Upsell Hell as Sylvie calls it? Read page 56. I told you there were no pulled punches!

I can’t go on. I have to tell you this.

You must get Internet Marketing Sins. It’s a free download, of course, and it is outstanding.

I could use the whole report as a basis of a comedy TV series featuring Homer & Marge. It would be hilarious BUT the sad thing is – all of this stuff is true. It is happening as we speak.

If you are Guru Fodder or feel for Homer you must get this report. It carries The AntiHype’s highest recommendation. If you’ve not read anything of the scrapes Homer gets into then you should read the report cover to cover before venturing out online alone again. You have been warned.

And if you enjoy reading Guru Fodder then you’ll love Internet Marketing Sins.

Get it now and sit back for a ride amongst the real Big Bad Gurus!

The Anti Hype

Add to Onlywire

© TheAntiHype for guru-fodder.com, 2008. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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The use of Twitter had completely passed me by – until today. I admitted to my scepticism a few days ago but now I’m convinced.

I just spent $20 on the best traffic, social marketing and credibility building idea I’ve seen.

The light bulb is shining brightly now that Rick Butts has explained what I should do to use Twitter to build a following.

Rick’s Twitter Squeeze process is so simple and will take very little time to implement. I just wish I’d thought of it!

Understandably, Rick doesn’t want details spilt outside of the members area so I will, obviously, honour that request. If you’re looking to grow your business using social networking and have an interest in Twitter then you may want to take a look. Rick explains everything really well in his videos, plus there’s a bonus e-book that walks you through setting up a Twitter account from scratch – all the do’s and don’ts.

I’ll let you know when I’ve implemented Rick’s strategy and how it’s working

Mark

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I’ve been experimenting with Twitter although I openly admit to being a little sceptical since I personally take little notice of other people’s Twits – most seem to be promoting something or telling me they’re making a cup of coffee!

But today, Mark at Healthy Foods brought something to my attention that really caught my imagination.

This brand new plugin (like most WordPress addons it’s free) has really opened my eyes to how Twitter can be a real traffic generator. There is an upsell to be fair, which actually is really exciting, but I’ve not gone for it yet. My Homer tendencies had me reaching for the credit card but I’ve got too much else going on right now.

What’s unusual about this plugin is that is does several things. The main part being it should really increase the traffic to your sites due to the viral nature of what it does.

Firstly it automatically posts to Twitter immediately you post to your blog. One job saved.

Secondly, there is a widget that goes on your own blog that immediately shows your latest Twits. Visitors at your site are likely to look at your list of Twits and, if your worth following, will start to follow you.

Thirdly, there’s the upsell. If anyone decides to download the plugin and buy the upsell then you get a share of the commission.

So by simply using a plugin to potentially generate more traffic you could also make some commissions without doing any more promoting at all.

I’ve decided to try to enhance this traffic experiment a little further and you may like to give this a go too.

Anyone posting a comment on Guru-Fodder (at any time) or showing up in my Recent Visitors box will, as always, be visited by me.

What I’ll now do, however, is Twit those blogs / websites so they will get exposure to my followers and perhaps my followers, followers. In addition, the link to those blogs will also show up in My Twitter Feeds on this blog.

So, for a simple comment here you will get two links – one from Twitter and the other from this blog.

Will that lead to more traffic? I can’t answer that but I can tell you – there’ll be no traffic from here if you don’t give it a go since no one will know you’ve visited!

To join just click the link at the bottom of the My Twitter Feed list or take a look at Tweet My Blog.

Looking forward to your comments.

Mark

If you know little about Twitter you’ll find these other resources useful

Ultimate Twitter Resource and Promotional Guide – (Here are the links to my previous Twitter columns: Using Twitter to Increase Readers and Make Friends, Don’t Take Promotional Personal with Twitter, and The Twitter Effect). My series of Twitter entries created quite a bit of buzz, …

Digsby: Get Twitter Followers and Nintendo SP? – Now I have been on Twitter for a little more than 10 months, and I have currently a little over 260 followers. I started actually using Twitter in March, in only five months I have gained 250 followers. How did I do it? …

Relationship Marketing via Twitter – Social networking sites like Twitter have rapidly saturated the Internet landscape and are flourishing. Is your organization capitalizing on this phenomenon? Zappos is using Twitter to connect with job seekers. …

Using Twitter in your Social Media Strategy – For those that aren’t aware, Twitter is a social network that allows ‘friends’ to communicate with each other in brief 140 character bursts of text (known as tweets). You can send these tweets directly through the twitter website, …

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The week before I was all set to write 4 or 5 posts and stack them for automatic posting in my absence but, as usual “stuff” got in the way. The result was a quiet blog for most of the week and on my return I spent 3 days clearing out the spam emails and returning calls before I could even think about writing again.

I’d looked at Utility Poster some weeks ago when Jack Humphrey first launched it but as I was considering joining Authority Site Center I deferred doing anything about it.

Today, I finally caught up with myself and decided to take another look at Utility Poster so I don’t get caught with a dead blog for a week or more next time I’m away. Simply put, this program can help generate backlinks and posts in a few minutes that otherwise (at least in my circumstances) wouldn’t get created at all.

Jack’s video explains what it does far better than I could although if you take a look at Utility Poster – Finding Gurus you’ll get a great idea of what can be created. That took me less than 5 minutes.

No, it won’t take the place of your usual blog posts but it will supplement those with quality articles, that will also create some welcome links for you, when you just don’t have the time to write a full post.

So, if you are a blogger who sometimes struggles with getting enough posts written you may want to take a closer look at Utility Poster.

© admin for guru-fodder.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog posts, easy blog posts, jack humphrey, utility poster, writing blog posts
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