Google Cash Detective?

Fuad Tolieb · 03-03-2009, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vince8151

Impossible. No way could you gross $215 with an adspend of $65 on the keyword Reverse Phone Search in 3 days. Absolutely impossible.
To get the ppc down that low you need a 4 page landing page and longer then 3 days. If you would have left out the 3 days, I might have believed you.

Do you even know how much cash you need with a budget of $500 per day?

Again, the software looks good, but you're not going to get anyone to buy with this crap.

And anyone in the world can be an affiliate/partner with GCD.

One more time. Any beta testers out there with results and no BS?

Wauw all I know now is that YOU make like ZERO cents online. Thats what I think. I dont give a crap that you dont believe me. Im not an affiliate or partner for this software. Have you seen me promoting something with a link or a signature. You wont see it in the future as well. Ask the guy himself if im a partner or affiliate. Talking about BS, I can spend up to a maximum of 1100 PER DAY! Can you??? You ask about proof and that says a lot of your state of mind and lack of knowledge. Im glad you think its impossible, because now Im very sure that newbies like you dont really know how google wants you to run your ads.

With the Guru Assasin I had a conversion of 35% do you know anybody that does that?? Now maybe you know why I made 215 with the ad test.

Peace out you MOFO!

ben565 · 03-03-2009, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrise

Btw, I did what he said manually in the pre launch videos and I made money. I made around $215 with the reverse phone detective and only spend $65 on ppc. Manually guys in 3 days! Do you know how much I will be making if I had the software and could clone like 20 campaigns per week and would set a budget of $500 a day? That would be a nice and juicy 30 or 40K per month. I mean.. thats just awsome, hello? anybody there? I said awsome oke! Well, this train is going to leave so you better decide if you want to hop on.

Peace

One love

I set up the same campaign in the rev phone niche with the same keyword,ctr,ad position and direct linked and after 152 clicks i have had only 1 sale and yet chris was converting at 1:15, how come such a huge difference as i was duplicating his campaign exactly?

John7447 · 03-03-2009, 06:12 PM

With all these offers to get rich,print money.One could go broke buying them all. If I had a system that worked so well don't think I would be shearing, why are they.

mott · 03-03-2009, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben565

I set up the same campaign in the rev phone niche with the same keyword,ctr,ad position and direct linked and after 152 clicks i have had only 1 sale and yet chris was converting at 1:15, how come such a huge difference as i was duplicating his campaign exactly?

Maybe you have to buy the system to find out? How much did you spend to get your clicks?

Rane · 03-03-2009, 07:10 PM

Can somebody clarify the Major differences in GCD, Affiliate Elite, and Affiliate espionage? (If the answer is obvious go easy on me-everyone starts somewhere)

Thanx!

ben565 · 03-03-2009, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mott

Maybe you have to buy the system to find out? How much did you spend to get your clicks?

chris actually logs into the system and shows us how to set up a direct linking campaign with the rev detective niche and shows us his results after 84 clicks = 6 sales, I set up a the same campaign so that everything was the same as chris's campaign and yet after 84 clicks i had 1 sale?

this system is supposed to be 100% profitable according to him,obviously it is not,

btw i started at $1.50 per click and ended up at 0.39cpc.

crudenbay · 03-04-2009, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben565

chris actually logs into the system and shows us how to set up a direct linking campaign with the rev detective niche and shows us his results after 84 clicks = 6 sales, I set up a the same campaign so that everything was the same as chris's campaign and yet after 84 clicks i had 1 sale?

this system is supposed to be 100% profitable according to him,obviously it is not,

btw i started at $1.50 per click and ended up at 0.39cpc.

Come on! How many people do you think are duplicating what Chris has done with Reverse Phone? Does anyone really expect to be profitable with it with everyone bidding on those terms.

Tip: when you see a guru demoing a niche, do not waste your time on it. Instead, learn from him and use it elsewhere.

cms418 · 03-04-2009, 12:27 AM

crudenbay,

When you are getting as many or more clicks than he was why wouldn't you get the sales?

4morereferrals · 03-04-2009, 02:39 AM

Quote:

still I say to you.......... Dont Mess With Chris Or Frank And Their products. Neverr, because they just rule. Capiche?

Peace Out!

Or what ... you'll post a really MEAN face at me like this

?

ayuwarr · 03-04-2009, 04:04 AM

We'll wait and see.

ben565 · 03-04-2009, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccmusicman

This is pretty simple, really:

Sales are ALWAYS up and down! Chris's sales could've been a fluke, other people's could've been caught on a bad day.

Time of day, time of week, month, season, etc. ALL play a part in sales. Chris, being an experienced marketer, would know this and obviously try to maximize his sales by hitting right when people are more likely to spend money. (And to demonstrate how well his system works)

Also, you don't have any real statistical relevancy with so few clicks. But after 84 clicks and you DO make a sale...that is considered "standard" 1% conversion ratio with fresh traffic.

But the fact is this...people are experiencing sales with this keyword, and their CPC is going down with those ad's. Seems like the GCD works pretty well.

Rob

You are missing the point. With this system you find a campaign that has been running for awhile,in this case chris found someone direct linking to reversephonedetective for 99/101 days, so chris identified this as a campaign that you will make money on,so chris set up a campaign and made 6 sales from 84 clicks,

So i then replicated this campaign exactly,same ad,ctr,ad pos,keyword,i even tested it on the same day and yet i have had 1 sale from 152 clicks.

So if the system works so well as you state then why did i not have a similar conversion rate to chris?

According to him a campaign like this is guaranteed to make you money,100% of the time,i would not be making claims like this as it gives people an unrealistic expectation.

pgreenwo · 03-04-2009, 05:35 AM

At least 3 things are happening:

1) Sample size blindness - a test of 84 clicks isn't enough to be statistically representativ of the performance of the test. So some people will get 1 conversion, some people will get 20 conversions.

2) Selection bias - Chris may have shot several set-up videos and then presented the best result...he even mentions that techique when he starts looking at the 'learn guitar' niche (if I recall). It's still a true result, but it's not representative.

3) It's a non-static test...as someone rightly pointed out, the measures he used to select his campaign are historical measures (from the last few months). Once new players enter the market, market forces will drive the bidding price up, and therefore the profitability down. Transparency (which Chris claims - correctly - that he is creating) drives efficiency into markets.

So if you suddenly create 500 new players going after the same most promising niches from historical data, most will get their shorts eaten, as bid prices rise. The winners will be the ones who have a hidden advantage, such as a long-standing account with Google, a better way to bid for position, reach across other PPC providers, landing page generation/match to keywords, etc.

And a campaign may be profitable one day, and loss making the next, based on statistical varibility...particularly when the numbers of visitors are small.

And this is the nub of my concern, voiced earlier...the value of the competitive information they are peddling changes...rapidly...and there's a basic human tendency to want to 'game' the prospect list (a game theory called 'tragedy of the commons' if you want to look it up).

What to do? Learn the basic lesson, and then 'zig while the others zag'.

mott · 03-04-2009, 07:43 AM

OK here is my take on this: Chris did an example where he made 6 sales from 84 clicks. Ben does the same example and gets 1 sale out of 152 clicks.

Let's assume both Chris and Ben are telling the truth. So now what happened?

Let's say 20 other people did the exact same example as Chris and Ben; wouldn't that saturate the ad so to speak, and make it less profitable? I guess my point is, if one ad is making money, duplicating that ad might still make money, and re-duplcating it may also, but by the time the 20th duplication comes along, the ad ceases to be a money maker.

If the cpc went down to .39 in one day, I assume it can go lower over time, and Ben did make a sale. Perhaps over 500 clicks we can get a better reading of if this works (if Ben wants to spend the money).

And one final thought; we are only seeing in the videos what Chris WANTS us to see. There may be other parts he isn't bringing up about GCD that can truly make money 100% of the time. Perhaps over 90 days Ben's ad WOULD make money (or picking less competitve ads than this one turned out to be).

Just my 39 cents worth.

Fuad Tolieb · 03-04-2009, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4morereferrals

Or what ... you'll post a really MEAN face at me like this

?

Haha no, somthing like this

Jay Rhome · 03-04-2009, 08:50 AM

Everyone bidding on the same keyword would affect bidding PPC prices, but not sales per click!

If you're getting similar price and CTR, you should be getting sales. Otherwise why bother?

I mean, we want to get sales, not traffic!

We really need the beta testers feedback. I mean, if it work as advertised, GCD should be as close to an automatic money machine as you can get. So the testers should have a lot more $$$ right about now.

mott · 03-04-2009, 09:57 AM

Let me ask this: If an ad is being shown for 100 straight days, can we assume it is making money? And if I clone the ad, wouldn't I make money too (over 100 days)?

JNFerree · 03-04-2009, 10:05 AM

I was 'tempted' to cut `n paste the email I got from the boys running PPC Classroom, but I decide against it.

Suffice to say, these guys know PPC as well as anyone on the planet (and) both Amit and Anik declare they are semi-addicted to the Detective.

A recommendation coming from these guys makes this a no-brainer 4 me!

Watching his 3rd Vid now - and yeah, Chris is one helluva marketer

vince8151 · 03-04-2009, 11:25 AM

Quote:

A recommendation coming from these guys makes this a no-brainer 4 me!

The affiliate commission on this is $450 per order plus $25 per month.

$450 per order! They will make more on this then their PPC Classroom!

I heard that Warren Buffet has signed up to be an affiliate.

Quote:

I can spend up to a maximum of 1100 PER DAY!

Anyone who makes claims about how much money they have are always full of it!

Quote:

Ask the guy himself if im a partner or affiliate.

Quote:

P.S. - Full disclosure - I am associated with the upcoming GCD launch.

So which one is it?

Beta testers have had this program for what, a month or two or three?

And still, no beta tester results!

Steve Mount · 03-04-2009, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vince8151

The affiliate commission on this is $450 per order plus $25 per month.

$450 per order! They will make more on this then their PPC Classroom!

I heard that Warren Buffet has signed up to be an affiliate.

HAHH!! That made me laugh out loud for real

Benchmark · 03-04-2009, 11:58 AM

Interesting Vince. Is the affiliate program only open to beta testers? How did you find the commision info? Is it going to be thru a network or private affiliate program?

JNFerree · 03-04-2009, 12:02 PM

Actually, it wasn't Warren Buffet -- it was the Geico Lizard who became an Affiliate

vince8151 · 03-04-2009, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Is the affiliate program only open to beta testers? How did you find the commision info? Is it going to be thru a network or private affiliate program?

It's a private affiliate program.
I found it searching around, I don't have the link handy but it's out there and anyone can become an affiliate.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am an affiliate. Hell, for 450 bucks I'll try and sell anything.

I think it was offered to testers a while back. I'm not sure if they paid or not.
The only thing I'm fairly certain of is the testers must have signed a non-disclosure statement because none of them are replying to this thread.

Or, is it none of them have made any money using it?
They have had it long enough to form an opinion.

I would guess that all positive statements for the program are from affiliates or newbs sucked in by the videos.
Again, 450 bucks per order. You won't find any Judas there!

The guys with lists are drooling over this offer. They can't wait for March 10!
All you have to do is get your list to watch the one video and if they have the $997 up front and the $25 per month, they will buy.

I hope the product does work. I would buy but I need a little more then a few really cool videos and postings from drooling affiliates who really have no idea other then the really cool videos and newbs who remain positive because of all the money they have thrown around.

mott · 03-04-2009, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vince8151

I would guess that all positive statements for the program are from affiliates or newbs sucked in by the videos.

I fall into the sucked-in newb category.

Obviously this will have a money-back guarantee, so it can be worth it to test it out. Also Chris Carpenter is well-known, so he won't skip town with our money.

Perhaps beta testers are not using their own money on the system, but are just supposed to test the features for bugs (or can use their own money if they wish but are not allowed to disclose their results).

I do think it is a good ploy to have all these videos for free, pretty much showing what GCD does; you can decide for yourself if you can make money with it

tedam · 03-04-2009, 01:36 PM

Good String & Good Posts.

I watched the GCD videos yesterday and was awestruck. My first exposure to Chris who strikes me as a very solid/honest guy. And the product looks amazing. But here are my questions for SEO Steve or anyone else who can help...

Spyfu allows you to get key word history and ads (going back over a year for millions of key words) though it doesn't have some of the stats GCD displays nor can you do wild card searches (I don't think) How is SpyFu different (better or worse) than Key Word Tracker?

Also I agree that key word tracking is essential. I've been using Stats Junky beta for couple of weeks and it seems to be pretty powerful. Any idea how it compares to XTreme Conversions or Affilliate Prophet?

Though it looks like GCD will be a game changer, I hope it doesn't change the game too fast. At least not so fast that I can't catch up! Still getting my feet wet in this PPC Game.

Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on the above questions...

Leon McKee · 03-04-2009, 03:46 PM

Question for those that build test campaigns based on what you saw in the videos. Did you build a negative keyword list as part of your test?

Leon McKee

crudenbay · 03-04-2009, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mott

I fall into the sucked-in newb category.

Obviously this will have a money-back guarantee, so it can be worth it to test it out. Also Chris Carpenter is well-known, so he won't skip town with our money.

Perhaps beta testers are not using their own money on the system, but are just supposed to test the features for bugs (or can use their own money if they wish but are not allowed to disclose their results).

I do think it is a good ploy to have all these videos for free, pretty much showing what GCD does; you can decide for yourself if you can make money with it

Don't know where you got that bit about "not using their own money".

I'm a Beta user and ONLY spend my own money. And I can tell you I am not doing this to "find bugs", although they do surface now and then.

I'm using it to make money for me and my clients.

GCD is pretty rock solid, with a couple of minor glitches in the 6 weeks I've been using it.

crudenbay · 03-04-2009, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cms418

crudenbay,

When you are getting as many or more clicks than he was why wouldn't you get the sales?

CCMusicman's post (the one after yours) summed it up really well, so I'm not going to repeat it.

Main point is this....do not go after the big niches with GCD. Everyone who signs up will - so go elsewhere. Come back when things die down a bit.

4morereferrals · 03-04-2009, 04:28 PM

Well .. hows the efficacy of this tool? Is it accomplishing your objectives, and could you accomplish them without it?

How much do you need to be prepared to spend on PPC - cash on hand - to make this tool and the system to be revealed ... work?

Quote:

Originally Posted by crudenbay

Don't know where you got that bit about "not using their own money".

I'm a Beta user and ONLY spend my own money. And I can tell you I am not doing this to "find bugs", although they do surface now and then.

I'm using it to make money for me and my clients.

GCD is pretty rock solid, with a couple of minor glitches in the 6 weeks I've been using it.

vince8151 · 03-04-2009, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Question for those that build test campaigns based on what you saw in the videos. Did you build a negative keyword list as part of your test?

Keyword should have been placed in brackets [

Quote:

GCD is pretty rock solid, with a couple of minor glitches in the 6 weeks I've been using it.

Finally, a tester has posted. Thanks!

And a few more should also post. No matter positive or negative.

crudenbay, the watchers of the cool videos could only copy the campaigns from the GCD's video and, as you have read, no success stories.

Glitches aside, that's expected, I gather there are other things that the videos left out which prevented the people who copied the campaigns from turning a profit?

I almost have a sneaking suspicion that not only do you need the GCD for x amount of dollars, but the real secret to really make money is da da da.

Can you please explain further? And, your take on the failures mentioned.

Your 2nd post got in while I was writing this. Never mind.

Need a few more testers to post.

mott · 03-04-2009, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crudenbay

Don't know where you got that bit about "not using their own money".

I'm a Beta user and ONLY spend my own money. And I can tell you I am not doing this to "find bugs", although they do surface now and then.

I'm using it to make money for me and my clients.

GCD is pretty rock solid, with a couple of minor glitches in the 6 weeks I've been using it.

Excuse me, Crudenbay, but I didn't mean to imply that you were spending someone else's money. What I meant was, that perhaps testers were not spending money in the testing of the product. I hope you realize that.

Also quite frankly, if you are a beta tester and are using the software primarily to make money, and apparently not to find problems, then you should not be testing the product. The function of a beta tester is to find any problems with the software that developers can't find, such as data loss, crashes, slowness of processing, etc.

Though I'm happy to hear the product is making money for you, I can't believe that was what Chris had in mind when he made you a tester. Just my opinion.

crudenbay · 03-04-2009, 06:55 PM

Well Mott, that would be a typical Beta you describe, where everyone thrashes on the product to find bugs...but this was different.

Instead we were asked to use it to see if we could be successful with it...

And BTW, this was rock solid from day one of "beta testing." I saw very few reports of bugs within the forums. I've been running it for several weeks and only seen the odd glitch which they fix very quickly.

This product is ready for prime time.

Steve Mount · 03-04-2009, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crudenbay

Well Mott, that would be a typical Beta you describe, where everyone thrashes on the product to find bugs...but this was different.

Instead we were asked to use it to see if we could be successful with it...

And BTW, this was rock solid from day one of "beta testing." I saw very few reports of bugs within the forums. I've been running it for several weeks and only seen the odd glitch which they fix very quickly.

This product is ready for prime time.

Ok.... SO WERE YOU SUCCESSFUL WITH IT?!????

The videos are impressive, the beta testers say "it works great", yet no one has said

"YES. I have made X amount of dollars in profit"

Would be really nice to get some proof.

vince8151 · 03-04-2009, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Ok.... SO WERE YOU SUCCESSFUL WITH IT?!????

The videos are impressive, the beta testers say "it works great", yet no one has said

"YES. I have made X amount of dollars in profit"

Would be really nice to get some proof.

Steve,

I'm not sure if we'll ever find this out from anyone other then ourselves after we buy it. I tell you what, sign up as an affiliate and I'll buy it from you if you buy it from me. It will save us $450 each. I wonder what the pay out threshold is? I bet it's $500. Never mind.

I had a discussion with another beta tester on another forum a few days ago resulting in the same skirting of the issue. It was like asking McCain and Obama direct questions during one of the debates. I found out everything I didn't really want to know.

Who GAF about glitches and who GAF that it's ready for prime time and who GAF about collecting data and who GAF about who made it.

Does the SOB make money or what.

The election is over, now is the time for real answers.

4morereferrals · 03-04-2009, 09:20 PM

can we get an amen? Preach it brother!

Quote:

Originally Posted by vince8151

Steve,

I'm not sure if we'll ever find this out from anyone other then ourselves after we buy it. I tell you what, sign up as an affiliate and I'll buy it from you if you buy it from me. It will save us $450 each. I wonder what the pay out threshold is? I bet it's $500. Never mind.

I had a discussion with another beta tester on another forum a few days ago resulting in the same skirting of the issue. It was like asking McCain and Obama direct questions during one of the debates. I found out everything I didn't really want to know.

Who GAF about glitches and who GAF that it's ready for prime time and who GAF about collecting data and who GAF about who made it.

Does the SOB make money or what.

The election is over, now is the time for real answers.

summit199 · 03-04-2009, 09:46 PM

Hey,

just a thought, but perhaps the reason there are no beta testers on here is because they are to busy picking that "low hanging Fruit" that may be a little harder to harvest once the rest of us get our greedy little hands on the GCD2...
I can't wait.

Ron Rajan · 03-04-2009, 10:06 PM

I just watched the videos and I am really not sure how up to date the database is?

One of the examples that Chris talks about is the keyword 'wal' which gets like millions of searches a month and has a profitable affiliate running an ad for walmart.

I just checked in google and there's no sign of any ad....so, he's probably been google slapped for some reason!!!

That's the problem with these spy tools - they are always a few weeks/months behind in terms of capturing and displaying data...

vince8151 · 03-04-2009, 10:38 PM

Quote:

I'm using it and so far it seems like a great product. I still have the same problem however, I spend more on adwords then I make. Even with the tool, you have to know how to create profitable adwords campaigns.

I do like the fact that you don't have to wait to see the history of keywords...they are already in the system so no waiting.

I just found this on another thread about GCD.
Kind of a boring thread, not cool like this one.

Hey new kids on the block, read the above quote.

I guess if I just spent $1100 I would still say it's a great product too.
And another 99 bucks will be due soon.
Even with a great tool, you still have to know what the hell you are doing.
And you still have to have the cash to keep up with Mr. Google's invoices while you are losing.

Nothing is easy!

vince8151 · 03-04-2009, 10:39 PM

You can't run a PPC campaign for Wal-Mart

vince8151 · 03-04-2009, 10:40 PM

Quote:

"low hanging Fruit"

C'mon. Don't fall for the hype.

hatdance · 03-04-2009, 10:48 PM

I saw the videos and it looks real promising. I would like to know if any beta testers were beginners and if they made any money. What is the learning curve from start to cash?

Steve Mount · 03-05-2009, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatdance

I saw the videos and it looks real promising. I would like to know if any beta testers were beginners and if they made any money. What is the learning curve from start to cash?

Take 2 seconds out of your day and read the rest of the thread man!

evertd · 03-05-2009, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben565

So i then replicated this campaign exactly,same ad,ctr,ad pos,keyword,i even tested it on the same day and yet i have had 1 sale from 152 clicks.

So if the system works so well as you state then why did i not have a similar conversion rate to chris?

In my humble opinion you got what GCD promises. You got your ad shown and you got clicks on it. Once it goes to the sales page, then it is up to the sales page to actually make the sales.

But, did you also consider the possibility that when people watched the video, they went to google and searched for those keywords featured in the video and saw your ad (which was exactly as the one in the video), and at least some of the clicks you got were from the people that watched the video after you? So I'd guess in some way you were the unfortunate victim of the success of the videos.

That's one of the problems with keyword and market research these days, it's impossible to tell how much the results are being skewed by other people doing the same research.

vince8151 · 03-05-2009, 07:45 AM

Quote:

In my humble opinion you got what GCD promises. You got your ad shown and you got clicks on it.

That's one hell of an expensive promise!
I hope he took you out to dinner too.

Steve Mount · 03-05-2009, 07:54 AM

I've been thinking about this software through out the last day or two.

Seems to me that either:

1. It's too good to be true

or

2. You simply CANT go wrong. I mean, if you really do straight COPY the ad and landing page off of a campaign that's been running rock solid for 90-100 days straight... then wouldn't you be 99% sure that you WILL eventually profit from that ad?

I'm thinking that it's just too early to tell at this point. Copying the campaigns in the video is pretty foolish if you ask me. You KNOW that probably 100 other people are doing the same thing.

Once we all get our hands on the software, and start looking at cloning successful ads outside of the IM niche, then I guess we'll find out if this software actually delivers the goods.

I'm really hoping that this software is as good as it looks.

baronig · 03-05-2009, 07:54 AM

thanks this post is eye opener.I wish more people would have know about this post before buying GC.

i did post this link on his blog and guess what? it was never posted

artsub · 03-05-2009, 07:56 AM

Other mentioned options are much better that Google Cash Detective

Steve Mount · 03-05-2009, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artsub

Other mentioned options are much better that Google Cash Detective

Thank you for that informative post. You really opened my eyes!

pgreenwo · 03-05-2009, 08:05 AM

OK, while this discussion has been going on, I've been doing some research and thinking...perhaps I can share what I've thought and found so far, putting aside the marketing hype? I know no-one is going to thank me for this (rather long) post, but I hope some people find it useful. Here goes: The GCD people are making a few claims, including:

1)They have a database of a few month's data about the presence & absence of PPC ads on Google Search engine sponsored results. This includes ad creative, links, keywords and landing pages for approx 2.5 million keyword phrases.

2)They have built a system that allows you to query their database to profile on the basis of keyword, link structure, and ads.

3)They have built human interfaces that let you inspect variations in ad creative for an identified affiliate.

4)They have built human interfaces that allow you to quickly browse through landing pages from ad links.

These are all shown by the videos, and are directly testable. Furthermore they claim:

5)Their system is robust enough for wide-scale use.

6)The system is an efficient mechanism for keyword research for PPC-based affiliate marketing (this has two components, usability and data accuracy).

We appear to have a beta tester on record who has supported those claims. Now we're on some more wooly ground...they make these further claims:

7)If an affiliate ad persists in a high ranking spot for a keyword phrase over an extended time then it is currently profitable for the promoter of an affiliate product.

8)If it's profitable for the promoter then it will be profitable for you as an incremental promoter of the affiliate product.

9)It is currently possible to make substantial profits by direct-linking from the ad to the affiliate page, using an affiliate link.

These are hard to validate without doing a large scale test; they are safe things to claim, because the test environment isn't stationary; the impact of the test will change it.

Claim 7) refers to identifying a symptom of a profitable campaign; all diagnoses are subject to the problem of false positives...so it is possible to identify the symptom and mis-diagnose the underlying cause. The same symptom could indicate, for example:

An affiliate marketer who has taken their eye of the ball (perhaps because their overall portfolio is doing quite all right thank-you-very-much, or their measurements aren't up to the job) or is behaving irrationally.

An affiliate marketer who uses a big sample size before making a go/no go decision about a campaign.

A campaign that used to be successful, and is being given a chance to return to profitability. The problem here is that you don't know in advance when that might be, in the same way that a forex trader doesn't!

A vendor masquerading as an affiliate (to boost their ratings). The economics of this approach are different than for a regular affiliate.

Advertiser whose cost of advertising is lower than yours (a long term account holder, and/or a big spender, or a JV arrangement with Google for some other reason) or with a special revenue sharing arrangement.

A remnant campaign from a product launch that has ended.

A campaign whose timing is precise, but happens to coincide with the times the data is sampled.

A campaign that is working on a specific geography that you are unaware of.

A campaign for which the landing page content is crucial for improving the conversion rates.

Experimenter error – that is, it's successful, but your test provided results that were incorrect, perhaps on the basis of your sample size, or something else.

Claim 8) is also problematic. Buying into a keyword campaign involves you in a market, and as we've seen from the financial world, markets are chaotic – sometimes they masquerade as being tame, other times they turn savage. On this basis, an incremental advertiser could drive prices way up; I'm sure Google has modelled it, but they're probably not sharing the results with us – Google has got an amazing portfolio play with Adwords / Adsense, and we're the ones taking the commercial risks!

Also, it is feasible that an incremental advertiser could change conversion rates! Certainly, if I detect a feeding frenzy (lots of Adwords pointing to the same place, lots of Adwords making hypey claims), then my guard is raised when I get to the landing page. I'm also spoiled for choice, and I might start exploring...reviewing the review sites, seeing if I can find the vendor themselves, direct.

Claim 9) is valid if Google hasn't prevented it! Logically, there will always be some opportunities where direct linking works. There will also be campaigns where it doesn't...and that depends on the efficiency of the landing page.

So now on to the results of my research:

GCD will speed up your ability to find niches where profits can be made, and structure campaigns to capture the profit compared to a tool that requires you to identify the keywords first, then capture information about competition.

As such, it will significantly reduce your time-to-market for an affiliate campaign. And there is real value in that! (Claim 6) If you are a newbie to the area of PPC, GCD may save you weeks of research and trial and error.

My concern is that the same information you have will be available to a large group of other people, who may distort the markets...and the launch process being used by GCD may exacerbate this issue. I expect this effect won't be large, and won't be long, and it can be side-stepped by avoiding aggressive sorting of the data – choose a niche idea first, rather than sort the whole of Clickbank's URLs for the most consistent, highest volume advertiser!

Also, you'll need additional tools if you want to run enough of a portfolio to get a consistent income – and I don't know yet whether these are included in the Google Cash Automator – maybe someone else here does? You'll want to be able to track the profitability of your campaigns by keyword; you may want a bid management tool once your spend makes it worthwhile; you may also want to manage domain names and potentially you'll want to propagate keyword targeted landing pages, link cloaking. And if you do landing pages, then you need to think through content and copy, and where you acquire that from...

You'll also need to be wary of over-trading, as the costs and profits come out of different accounts.

mott · 03-05-2009, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Mount

I've been thinking about this software through out the last day or two.

Seems to me that either:

1. It's too good to be true

or

2. You simply CANT go wrong. I mean, if you really do straight COPY the ad and landing page off of a campaign that's been running rock solid for 90-100 days straight... then wouldn't you be 99% sure that you WILL eventually profit from that ad?

I'm thinking that it's just too early to tell at this point. Copying the campaigns in the video is pretty foolish if you ask me. You KNOW that probably 100 other people are doing the same thing.

Once we all get our hands on the software, and start looking at cloning successful ads outside of the IM niche, then I guess we'll find out if this software actually delivers the goods.

I'm really hoping that this software is as good as it looks.

Yeah Steve, that's what I said earlier (though you said it better)...if person A is successful at something, and you do EXACTLY what person A does, then you will be successful! Sounds logical to me.

But of course if 100 others also copy person A, then there is the problem with too much competition. Then you might not be as successful, since we are competing with each other and there is just so much one can win.

So if GCD is actually doing what it says it's doing, then I don't see a problem; the trick is to copy something no one else has copied.

evertd · 03-05-2009, 08:43 AM

Thanks for everyone bringing up good food for thought. I guess in the end it is a question of whether you see value in it and believe that it will pay back your investment. At $997 up front it is pretty steep, but the $97 per month after that is probably pretty good value IF you actually use the research it provides.

And if you just want to make money out of the inevitable feeding frenzy to commence on Monday, check out the JV page: GC Detective JV Partner Blog

03-03-2009, 06:12 PM	#53
John7447 Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Boston,Ma Posts: 43 Thanks: 18 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? With all these offers to get rich,print money.One could go broke buying them all. If I had a system that worked so well don't think I would be shearing, why are they.

03-03-2009, 07:10 PM	#55
Rane Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 28 Thanks: 6 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Can somebody clarify the Major differences in GCD, Affiliate Elite, and Affiliate espionage? (If the answer is obvious go easy on me-everyone starts somewhere) Thanx!

03-04-2009, 12:27 AM	#58
cms418 Active Warrior Join Date: May 2008 Location: , , . Posts: 39 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? crudenbay, When you are getting as many or more clicks than he was why wouldn't you get the sales?

03-04-2009, 04:04 AM	#60
ayuwarr Active Warrior Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 51 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? We'll wait and see.

03-04-2009, 05:35 AM	#62
pgreenwo Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: , , United Kingdom. Posts: 33 Thanks: 2 Thanked 14 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? At least 3 things are happening: 1) Sample size blindness - a test of 84 clicks isn't enough to be statistically representativ of the performance of the test. So some people will get 1 conversion, some people will get 20 conversions. 2) Selection bias - Chris may have shot several set-up videos and then presented the best result...he even mentions that techique when he starts looking at the 'learn guitar' niche (if I recall). It's still a true result, but it's not representative. 3) It's a non-static test...as someone rightly pointed out, the measures he used to select his campaign are historical measures (from the last few months). Once new players enter the market, market forces will drive the bidding price up, and therefore the profitability down. Transparency (which Chris claims - correctly - that he is creating) drives efficiency into markets. So if you suddenly create 500 new players going after the same most promising niches from historical data, most will get their shorts eaten, as bid prices rise. The winners will be the ones who have a hidden advantage, such as a long-standing account with Google, a better way to bid for position, reach across other PPC providers, landing page generation/match to keywords, etc. And a campaign may be profitable one day, and loss making the next, based on statistical varibility...particularly when the numbers of visitors are small. And this is the nub of my concern, voiced earlier...the value of the competitive information they are peddling changes...rapidly...and there's a basic human tendency to want to 'game' the prospect list (a game theory called 'tragedy of the commons' if you want to look it up). What to do? Learn the basic lesson, and then 'zig while the others zag'.
	New Era - Just around the corner!

03-04-2009, 07:43 AM	#63
mott You figure it out War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Illinois Posts: 152 Thanks: 33 Thanked 21 Times in 18 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? OK here is my take on this: Chris did an example where he made 6 sales from 84 clicks. Ben does the same example and gets 1 sale out of 152 clicks. Let's assume both Chris and Ben are telling the truth. So now what happened? Let's say 20 other people did the exact same example as Chris and Ben; wouldn't that saturate the ad so to speak, and make it less profitable? I guess my point is, if one ad is making money, duplicating that ad might still make money, and re-duplcating it may also, but by the time the 20th duplication comes along, the ad ceases to be a money maker. If the cpc went down to .39 in one day, I assume it can go lower over time, and Ben did make a sale. Perhaps over 500 clicks we can get a better reading of if this works (if Ben wants to spend the money). And one final thought; we are only seeing in the videos what Chris WANTS us to see. There may be other parts he isn't bringing up about GCD that can truly make money 100% of the time. Perhaps over 90 days Ben's ad WOULD make money (or picking less competitve ads than this one turned out to be). Just my 39 cents worth.
	Rich

03-04-2009, 08:50 AM	#65
Jay Rhome Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 627 Thanks: 153 Thanked 119 Times in 84 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Everyone bidding on the same keyword would affect bidding PPC prices, but not sales per click! If you're getting similar price and CTR, you should be getting sales. Otherwise why bother? I mean, we want to get sales, not traffic! We really need the beta testers feedback. I mean, if it work as advertised, GCD should be as close to an automatic money machine as you can get. So the testers should have a lot more $$$ right about now.

03-04-2009, 09:57 AM	#66
mott You figure it out War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Illinois Posts: 152 Thanks: 33 Thanked 21 Times in 18 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Let me ask this: If an ad is being shown for 100 straight days, can we assume it is making money? And if I clone the ad, wouldn't I make money too (over 100 days)?
	Rich

03-04-2009, 10:05 AM	#67
JNFerree Google Plusser War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 345 Thanks: 69 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Google Cash Detective? I was 'tempted' to cut `n paste the email I got from the boys running PPC Classroom, but I decide against it. Suffice to say, these guys know PPC as well as anyone on the planet (and) both Amit and Anik declare they are semi-addicted to the Detective. A recommendation coming from these guys makes this a no-brainer 4 me! Watching his 3rd Vid now - and yeah, Chris is one helluva marketer
	Rank in the A-Spot in Google Maps :: Get Your Videos Ranked on Page 1 Google Organic Get Google Maps Traffic Here :: Get Google Organic Traffic Here :: Get Google Plus Tips Here

03-04-2009, 11:58 AM	#70
Benchmark Warrior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: ,Colorado , USA. Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Interesting Vince. Is the affiliate program only open to beta testers? How did you find the commision info? Is it going to be thru a network or private affiliate program?

03-04-2009, 12:02 PM	#71
JNFerree Google Plusser War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 345 Thanks: 69 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Google Cash Detective? Actually, it wasn't Warren Buffet -- it was the Geico Lizard who became an Affiliate
	Rank in the A-Spot in Google Maps :: Get Your Videos Ranked on Page 1 Google Organic Get Google Maps Traffic Here :: Get Google Organic Traffic Here :: Get Google Plus Tips Here

03-04-2009, 01:36 PM	#74
tedam Warrior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Good String & Good Posts. I watched the GCD videos yesterday and was awestruck. My first exposure to Chris who strikes me as a very solid/honest guy. And the product looks amazing. But here are my questions for SEO Steve or anyone else who can help... Spyfu allows you to get key word history and ads (going back over a year for millions of key words) though it doesn't have some of the stats GCD displays nor can you do wild card searches (I don't think) How is SpyFu different (better or worse) than Key Word Tracker? Also I agree that key word tracking is essential. I've been using Stats Junky beta for couple of weeks and it seems to be pretty powerful. Any idea how it compares to XTreme Conversions or Affilliate Prophet? Though it looks like GCD will be a game changer, I hope it doesn't change the game too fast. At least not so fast that I can't catch up! Still getting my feet wet in this PPC Game. Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on the above questions...

03-04-2009, 03:46 PM	#75
Leon McKee HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Bend, OR Posts: 102 Thanks: 6 Thanked 9 Times in 8 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Question for those that build test campaigns based on what you saw in the videos. Did you build a negative keyword list as part of your test? Leon McKee

03-04-2009, 06:55 PM	#81
crudenbay HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bellevue,WA Posts: 126 Thanks: 3 Thanked 17 Times in 14 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Well Mott, that would be a typical Beta you describe, where everyone thrashes on the product to find bugs...but this was different. Instead we were asked to use it to see if we could be successful with it... And BTW, this was rock solid from day one of "beta testing." I saw very few reports of bugs within the forums. I've been running it for several weeks and only seen the odd glitch which they fix very quickly. This product is ready for prime time.

03-04-2009, 09:46 PM	#85
summit199 Warrior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Hey, just a thought, but perhaps the reason there are no beta testers on here is because they are to busy picking that "low hanging Fruit" that may be a little harder to harvest once the rest of us get our greedy little hands on the GCD2... I can't wait.

03-04-2009, 10:06 PM	#86
Ron Rajan HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: , , . Posts: 422 Thanks: 41 Thanked 112 Times in 40 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? I just watched the videos and I am really not sure how up to date the database is? One of the examples that Chris talks about is the keyword 'wal' which gets like millions of searches a month and has a profitable affiliate running an ad for walmart. I just checked in google and there's no sign of any ad....so, he's probably been google slapped for some reason!!! That's the problem with these spy tools - they are always a few weeks/months behind in terms of capturing and displaying data...

03-04-2009, 10:39 PM	#88
vince8151 Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 15 Thanks: 1 Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post	Re: Google Cash Detective? You can't run a PPC campaign for Wal-Mart

03-04-2009, 10:48 PM	#90
hatdance Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 24 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? I saw the videos and it looks real promising. I would like to know if any beta testers were beginners and if they made any money. What is the learning curve from start to cash?

03-05-2009, 07:54 AM	#94
Steve Mount Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Washington DC Posts: 2,285 Thanks: 132 Thanked 124 Times in 63 Posts Contact Info	Re: Google Cash Detective? I've been thinking about this software through out the last day or two. Seems to me that either: 1. It's too good to be true or 2. You simply CANT go wrong. I mean, if you really do straight COPY the ad and landing page off of a campaign that's been running rock solid for 90-100 days straight... then wouldn't you be 99% sure that you WILL eventually profit from that ad? I'm thinking that it's just too early to tell at this point. Copying the campaigns in the video is pretty foolish if you ask me. You KNOW that probably 100 other people are doing the same thing. Once we all get our hands on the software, and start looking at cloning successful ads outside of the IM niche, then I guess we'll find out if this software actually delivers the goods. I'm really hoping that this software is as good as it looks.

03-05-2009, 07:54 AM	#95
baronig HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 337 Thanks: 30 Thanked 15 Times in 15 Posts Contact Info	Re: Google Cash Detective? thanks this post is eye opener.I wish more people would have know about this post before buying GC. i did post this link on his blog and guess what? it was never posted

03-05-2009, 07:56 AM	#96
artsub HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 154 Thanks: 4 Thanked 20 Times in 16 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Other mentioned options are much better that Google Cash Detective

03-05-2009, 08:05 AM	#98
pgreenwo Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: , , United Kingdom. Posts: 33 Thanks: 2 Thanked 14 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? OK, while this discussion has been going on, I've been doing some research and thinking...perhaps I can share what I've thought and found so far, putting aside the marketing hype? I know no-one is going to thank me for this (rather long) post, but I hope some people find it useful. Here goes: The GCD people are making a few claims, including: 1)They have a database of a few month's data about the presence & absence of PPC ads on Google Search engine sponsored results. This includes ad creative, links, keywords and landing pages for approx 2.5 million keyword phrases. 2)They have built a system that allows you to query their database to profile on the basis of keyword, link structure, and ads. 3)They have built human interfaces that let you inspect variations in ad creative for an identified affiliate. 4)They have built human interfaces that allow you to quickly browse through landing pages from ad links. These are all shown by the videos, and are directly testable. Furthermore they claim: 5)Their system is robust enough for wide-scale use. 6)The system is an efficient mechanism for keyword research for PPC-based affiliate marketing (this has two components, usability and data accuracy). We appear to have a beta tester on record who has supported those claims. Now we're on some more wooly ground...they make these further claims: 7)If an affiliate ad persists in a high ranking spot for a keyword phrase over an extended time then it is currently profitable for the promoter of an affiliate product. 8)If it's profitable for the promoter then it will be profitable for you as an incremental promoter of the affiliate product. 9)It is currently possible to make substantial profits by direct-linking from the ad to the affiliate page, using an affiliate link. These are hard to validate without doing a large scale test; they are safe things to claim, because the test environment isn't stationary; the impact of the test will change it. Claim 7) refers to identifying a symptom of a profitable campaign; all diagnoses are subject to the problem of false positives...so it is possible to identify the symptom and mis-diagnose the underlying cause. The same symptom could indicate, for example: An affiliate marketer who has taken their eye of the ball (perhaps because their overall portfolio is doing quite all right thank-you-very-much, or their measurements aren't up to the job) or is behaving irrationally. An affiliate marketer who uses a big sample size before making a go/no go decision about a campaign. A campaign that used to be successful, and is being given a chance to return to profitability. The problem here is that you don't know in advance when that might be, in the same way that a forex trader doesn't! A vendor masquerading as an affiliate (to boost their ratings). The economics of this approach are different than for a regular affiliate. Advertiser whose cost of advertising is lower than yours (a long term account holder, and/or a big spender, or a JV arrangement with Google for some other reason) or with a special revenue sharing arrangement. A remnant campaign from a product launch that has ended. A campaign whose timing is precise, but happens to coincide with the times the data is sampled. A campaign that is working on a specific geography that you are unaware of. A campaign for which the landing page content is crucial for improving the conversion rates. Experimenter error – that is, it's successful, but your test provided results that were incorrect, perhaps on the basis of your sample size, or something else. Claim 8) is also problematic. Buying into a keyword campaign involves you in a market, and as we've seen from the financial world, markets are chaotic – sometimes they masquerade as being tame, other times they turn savage. On this basis, an incremental advertiser could drive prices way up; I'm sure Google has modelled it, but they're probably not sharing the results with us – Google has got an amazing portfolio play with Adwords / Adsense, and we're the ones taking the commercial risks! Also, it is feasible that an incremental advertiser could change conversion rates! Certainly, if I detect a feeding frenzy (lots of Adwords pointing to the same place, lots of Adwords making hypey claims), then my guard is raised when I get to the landing page. I'm also spoiled for choice, and I might start exploring...reviewing the review sites, seeing if I can find the vendor themselves, direct. Claim 9) is valid if Google hasn't prevented it! Logically, there will always be some opportunities where direct linking works. There will also be campaigns where it doesn't...and that depends on the efficiency of the landing page. So now on to the results of my research: GCD will speed up your ability to find niches where profits can be made, and structure campaigns to capture the profit compared to a tool that requires you to identify the keywords first, then capture information about competition. As such, it will significantly reduce your time-to-market for an affiliate campaign. And there is real value in that! (Claim 6) If you are a newbie to the area of PPC, GCD may save you weeks of research and trial and error. My concern is that the same information you have will be available to a large group of other people, who may distort the markets...and the launch process being used by GCD may exacerbate this issue. I expect this effect won't be large, and won't be long, and it can be side-stepped by avoiding aggressive sorting of the data – choose a niche idea first, rather than sort the whole of Clickbank's URLs for the most consistent, highest volume advertiser! Also, you'll need additional tools if you want to run enough of a portfolio to get a consistent income – and I don't know yet whether these are included in the Google Cash Automator – maybe someone else here does? You'll want to be able to track the profitability of your campaigns by keyword; you may want a bid management tool once your spend makes it worthwhile; you may also want to manage domain names and potentially you'll want to propagate keyword targeted landing pages, link cloaking. And if you do landing pages, then you need to think through content and copy, and where you acquire that from... You'll also need to be wary of over-trading, as the costs and profits come out of different accounts.
	New Era - Just around the corner!

03-05-2009, 08:43 AM	#100
evertd HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: , , . Posts: 172 Thanks: 10 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Google Cash Detective? Thanks for everyone bringing up good food for thought. I guess in the end it is a question of whether you see value in it and believe that it will pay back your investment. At $997 up front it is pretty steep, but the $97 per month after that is probably pretty good value IF you actually use the research it provides. And if you just want to make money out of the inevitable feeding frenzy to commence on Monday, check out the JV page: GC Detective JV Partner Blog