SHENANIGANS: Mass Money Makers

It's unfortunate that so many product developers depend on smoke, mirrors, and BS. Some may be decent products that shoot themselves in the foot trying to be more/better/slicker than they are, but all too many are simply trash, and must rely on fabricated or misleading info, claims, etc. in order to be appealing.

Michael

Tricky business - hard to tell what's above-board most of the time

Looking at the video briefly, it appears that the results are from instantviralincome.com

How do I know that? The Clickbank account name is snjmktg

Go here: Instant Viral Income

Sorry to bump but found this:

Alex Malave Launching 'Instant Viral Income' December 13

"Alex Malave Launching 'Instant Viral Income' December 13 - December 12, 2010"

I did a lot of digging too. I think what they did is took all their free traffic and aimed it into a new account.

When you go into the Clickbank marketplace you will see that that offer is Alex and Alen's who is Matt's partner too. So I think connecting the dots is pretty easy when you consider that, they said "this strategy and this technology" and inside the training on phase 3 they talk about
implementing email marketing strategies and other methods like that...

Btw.. I know that Matt and Bill are doing a lot together... They are holding a super affiliate secret seminar, in a few weeks.

I watched the other video and found that these two sites that they mentioned in another video too. Actually it was on the exit pop:

get spouse back - Yahoo! Search Results

"xbox rrod" - Bing
xboxrrod.net

To me it looks and sounds like they got their hands in a lot of pots testing out their strategies...

Hi Guys
First of all I am a buddy of matts so was just checking for feedback. as Matt requests the thoughts and comments of other IM people. So i asked him when i saw this thread. the account belongs to Alex Malave, Alen Sultanics partner. So thats why there is some old money. the account was dormant for 3 weeks prior to the live test.
So thats the scoop guys nice eyes dude.

they are not the results from instantviral by the way. They are the test results from the system. This video was for testing the product pre launch, was put up as the sales page as a split test against 5 others. this one converted like hell. its number one on clickbank today.

I have all of the products, i like them.
Thats the inside word guys and my views, hope it helps
Anthony

Gotta love Martin...

Michael

The sales page is totally misleading. By showing that video, they make people think they are going to get a magic 13 click software that will bring hundreds or thousandths in sales in a day. The truth is far from this. What the video shows is simply this guy opeining his account after sending out an email to his huge email list. That´s it guys! Whenever you watch a video showing some "guru" going from 0 to 3, 6 or 15 grand in only a day, that´s someone with a huge mailing list. period. Can you build a list like this in a day? nope. Does the guy actually teach how to build a list? I´m sure he does, just be prepared to put in a lot of time and/or money.

Guys - there really is NO time to discuss this - there are only 183 places left!!! Quick take out your credit cards and buy! ;-)

Incidentally there were 183 places left yesterday too.....

Can anyone actually tell me what you would be buying?

I was sceptical about this too. If you look even closer, with regards to apparently opening a brand new account on this day for this experiment ( I believe that's what it said? ) you'll notice the account was actually opened in 2009!! It's very tiny at the bottom but if you increase the zoom level you can just about see it. Just my 2 cents worth

Thanks for the input guys, I actually considered it for about a minute.

Hey all,

For everyone freaking out about the money showing up so suddenly, through another account... I don't want to give too much away, but Matt's system is mostly about building mailing lists, and promoting offers as an affiliate to your lists... that's what Matt does best.

You're focusing on the wrong thing here...

Ok, the account isn't "brand new", but is THAT, of all things, what you're really focused on? If so, you're really missing the point...

The point of the video was to show something like... <i>here's an account without any money coming in, and look what happens when I put my system into action. </i>

It was to show that there wasn't recurring income, it wasn't currently selling products, and there was no residual income of any kind...

It's almost like going to buy a new house, and as the realtor is telling you that the house is riddled with termites, is going to need a new roof, and was the site of a mass murder ... and all you can focus on is a couple of weeds in the front yard.

Focus on what's important here...

Thanks & Good Luck,
Gary Ambrose

P.S. Yes, Matt probably should have said a "dormant" account, or have opened up a "brand new" account... but would that really matter? The money came in, the products he promoted were sold, and he took home the money he's claiming... the fact that the account was opened a while back is the weeds...

So, there's a lie at the center of the pitch, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Hmm...

I suppose that this is a silly question, but is is possible to make big money online as an affiliate marketer without an iota of deception?

coluden

I think drawing a comparison between a new car with a few miles worth of test drives on it and a supposedly new ClickBank account with over a year's history is probably not fair. Kind of a huge difference there.

We should make an effort to stop unethical sales practices by "voting with our wallet" and refusing to buy these products. And we might consider unsubscribing from lists of marketers who actively push these products. After all, at worst, this speaks to their complicity. At best, it tells us something about their judgment.

If we don't want to take the time to make our feelings known we should just stop complaining about being taken in by false claims and expect to see more of them in the future. And we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.

Happy new year everyone!

Has anyone tried this product for over 72 hours? Here is the guarantee. You can ask refund within 60 days though.

The product has some outrageous claims without disclaimer. I wouldn't be surprised if the FTC comes cracking down on it!

Prosperity in 2011,
Milton

P.S. I wouldn't be surprised that the money from Clickbank was actually generated by all the affiliates promoting it during launch. Also, there is no indication that all the money was from that one piece of software.

Hopefully they've had a good lawyer review their offer and copy, like big stake direct marketers do.

These days it's easier to land into a whole lot of hot water with the feds like the FTC. Once they're onto a you (for whatever like complaints), it's an uphill losing battle -- if not one way -- their way.

I am getting at least 5-7 emails a day from people advertising this product offering a FREE copy, got to be honest getting really peeved with it all now and there is NO FREE COPY - guess it's just a ploy, have just received another one now advertising it.

I've opted into a few peoples lists but unfortunately because they are sending me so many emails regarding this product I've opted out, their loss, I have been a faithful subscriber to these lists for a couple of years but do not want to get bombarded by the same product time after time.

I got bombarded with emails with this stupid product. I like to subscribe to see whats goin on in the market but this launch is ridiculous. I ask myself a question why would all these guys promote such a cheap product? I wouldn't be surprised if theirs not some major upsells in the back end of this, and its gotta be for some big buck considering the guys promoting this. Alot of the big hitters wont touch it unless its good for over $500 bucks anyone know what the upsells are on this? I have been doing some major unsubscribes due to this product (more then 4 emails = unsubscribe) cant wait for this one to be over

I paid for the product to see if it's good to promote to my list,
I didn't like it and needless to say, I didn't promote it.

Anyway, I don't recommend it...

I bought this product as well.

The only software that comes with it is something that helps you locate keywords. There are 4 training videos, the 4th is very distorted and you aren't able to follow them step by step as you should be able to. I've emailed them about this as they send us emails saying that they listen to there clients and will make changes to make the learning process easier. There are also 2 sections that don't work as of yet, they state they're coming soon. I'm ready to watch them and they're not available. I've paid for this product and can't get access to the things I've paid for. We'll see if they respond. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance.

There are other products that they recommend you get, one being about $1000. Obviously, that's not happening.

I will say, I do like the keyword software, that's helpful. They also give some helpful tips in areas that I didn't know about because I'm so new at this. I've started to implement the training that I've been allowed to do without all the extra expense and without the missing parts.

We'll see. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I thought the software was for keyword research, as described above by Fruzzlies.

Gary, are you saying that's inaccurate?

Just downloaded and installed the software, so far, I prefer MNF.

I'm not going to explain the whole system, but anyone who doesn't do any keyword research before building a list of some kind should probably start thinking about whether or not they have a career in marketing...

And I'm not so sure it's a stretch. What I think it's a great example of is... Marketing!

The guys in the Bowflex commercials are ripped models, and the fast food you see in the commercials is prettied up by a food artist for hours before it is filmed... that's how advertising works.

Advertising typically shows best case, or non-typical scenarios... Marketing is supposed to accentuate the positive, and sell the product. Matt didn't claim that he's reviewing the product... It's not a "Review", it's a SALES video.

I stand by what I said. The system is about building lists, they made the money using the lists they built. But... there's something I think most people are missing...

I don't recall Matt saying that the software was "turned on" and them boom... instant money. I clearly recall Matt saying that his strategy, and the technology were used to take this new ClickBank account from nothing, to a lot of money per day.

That's exactly what happened. (see my earlier post about "new" if you want to question that part)

There are a lot of people making assumptions based on the what they think they're hearing, or what they want to be hearing... and honestly, that's one of the cornerstones of a great ad... everyone is assuming that he clicked a button on some magic software, and boom, instant money when at no point did he ever say that.

I don't remember him saying that... and in fact, I just re-watched the 8 minute video, and he doesn't say it one single time.

He also said that he "didn't think it would do so well", but I don't remember him referring to what "it" was. Maybe he didn't think the offer he was testing with would sell as well as it did... maybe he didn't think the email would generate such a response... maybe he didn't think there would be so many sales a week before Christmas.

You're the one assuming that the "it" is the software.

I don't remember him saying... wow, my software made a ton of money in 2 seconds... and I don't remember him saying that because he never does.

Maybe some of you need to re-watch the video, and listen to the ACTUAL words he's using, instead of putting words into his mouth... when you listen, it's a carefully crafted sales video. No, it doesn't say anything about how much time, effort, or energy was required BEFORE the big day... but I don't recall the Bowflex commercials telling us much about the hours of time in the gym their models spend before getting on set, or the 3-4 week starvation diet they go on before the shoots, or the tanning beds, or makeup artists, or the people standing around with bottles of water to spray on the models making it look like they're sweating.

I also don't remember seeing a McDonald's commercial with a disclaimer saying that the food on screen is made of plastic, has been worked on by a food artist, and is not likely to look anything like what you're ever going to get when you place an order...

It's marketing folks. You don't have to like it... well, not unless you plan on being a marketer anyway.

To wrap this up...

What I heard Matt say was that he took a new ClickBank account, and using the strategies and software he plans to teach, he made a lot of money.

Then in the video, you are watching a new ClickBank account go from nothing, to a lot of money... as it says in the headline, and as he said in the video.

The headline matches the video, which matches what he says. There's nothing misleading about it, not unless you make assumptions...

Listen closer, and stop reading into the video with biases. Instead of putting words in his mouth, listen to the words he's actually saying... if you do that, you might come away with a different opinion.

Disclaimer: Coming away with a different opinion will likely mean you're intelligent enough, and open minded enough, not to let any "guru bias" cloud the facts.

-G

P.S. Adding a little edit here...

I have a feeling that a lot of people are letting their judgement of this video be clouded by some of the past products that have clearly been sold using deceptive marketing practices, and outright lies... that's not fair to Matt.

Finally, there's no question that Matt is an aggressive marketer, and while it may not be your style to market as aggressively as Matt does, it's not right to label aggressive marketing a lie when nothing has been said that is actually a lie.

Matt's job is to sell the product, a product he believes in, and he's doing so to the best of his ability. You may not like his style of doing so, but there's a big difference in saying you don't like his style, and in saying that he's a deceptive liar. I'd expect a little better on a marketing forum...

I can assure you that most product owners never use fake stats etc, BUT we are a very busy lot and make mistakes when doing things in a hurry. A real smoooth dudes would not have any "oooops" in their videos etc.

I know Matt personally and have to say he is a very straight shooter. This clickbank account had to have the benefits of a lot of assets in place before it would generate these results....What I am say is the account may be new, but the sites and what not that generated the result have been in place for some time.

His techniques are sound...actually his wife does this.

Good luck everyone.

If we can get back to the actual product and at least temporarily put aside the inaccuracies in the sales copy, I'd like to know a bit more about the software involved.

So far I've read that it's designed for keyword research but Gary Ambrose suggested that it was for list building.

Now, I understand that keyword research is necessary for effective list building as Gary has implied (I think you might make a case that all things in IM are related to each other in some way or another) but these are separate functions.

I know Gary promotes this product so it's to be expected that he knows the details of the software, but can I just get some definitive confirmation from a user?

I'm not asking anyone "to explain the whole system" - just the purpose of the software. Thanks.

I'm curious why my name is being mentioned in this thread?

I did not promote the product. Don't know what the product even is, and have no clue about it what so ever. I've been too busy surfing and preparing for 2011.

If anyone could alert me where they saw my name as being a partner or anyone mistakingly using my name I'd appreciate it.

I've gone through this course and software. Here are my impressions/opinions.

The software is basically weeding out keywords for offers that are low competition. This can be done using a number of programs, MNF, IMeye, Market Samurai (which was used in one of the videos). I won't give away the exact competition numbers out of deference to Matt and Alan.

The concept is sound, however, as noted here in earlier posts, the marketing leads one to believe that you purchase the software (whatever it is supposed to do, which is not mentioned) and a day or two later you're pulling down several thousand a day.

Either those results were created using assets already in place for some time, during a launch or an email campaign (which would fit the sales pattern), or media buys or as someone suggested, maybe a redirection of existing traffic.

He did say around 1:30 into the sales video, "when we downloaded this we made $138 dollars, which is undeniable proof."

So I think anyone watching this would be left with the impression that the results were created overnight using "13 clicks," which of course is B.S. He did say "using the techniques you're about to learn," so maybe he did use this method to create the income. Maybe. I think this is certainly misleading. And personally, I don't think misleading is "good marketing."

Content-wise, I think it's good for the price point. You can certainly make money with this model.

However, as someone posted earlier, I'm not sure you can attain lasting rankings with a bare-bones squeeze page in Google for any meaningful length of time, particularly these squeeze pages, which have minimal content. Alan says Google isn't using those thousands of manual reviewers anymore, so you can rank with these.

The audio on the videos were clear, however they (or their team) could have taken the time to zoom and pan for clearer visuals. They just did a webinar full screen, and left it at that. There are many places you can't see what's going on, even at full screen viewing. Maybe the price point was not high enough to bother...

What is most "amazing" about this product, is how you can take stuff that's been around for years and dress it up into the "next big thing."

Just my opinion...hope it helps.

I have bought this product only because it is from Matt Bacak as he is down to earth and always delivers for the newbie.
I just scrolled down past the screen shots of income as I never believe those anyway and read more of the sales letter then decided that for $37 I might as well have a look at what was offered.just clicking away from the upsells as I was not wanting them.

As far as a lot of the critics giving their 2 cents worth of the product I suggest you buy it and have a look at what is offered for your hard earned $37
For the Newbie just starting out there is a lot of very valuable information on video 2
That would certainly get you on the way to making money.

Today I recieved an email from one of the promoters of this product offering me an upgrade for free to get some bonuses.
I had a look at the bonus page and the bonuses offered and what was offered is valued at way more than the $37 I had paid .One of them is Matt Bacak's video "Article Marketing Cash " which I already have and have learned a lot from it as well as other products from Matt.

Guess what!!!! I have forwarded my clickbank reciept as requested for the bonuses
so as I said before this product is good for a Newbie just looking to learn how to do something and start to make some money.
I cannot see how you could not make back your initial purchase in no time.If you have not made back your $37 in a week then maybe you should look for another "J.O.B"

Thank you, Fruzzlies, for your quick response to my question. So it isn't list building software after all.

Surprising that people promoting this product would think that it is.

I looked at their JV list and was surprised to see nine of my most trusted internet marketers on that list. But then I realized that not one of them sent out emails promoting this product. Big relief there.

Mind you, there are several on that page who have, in my opinion, behaved badly in the past and have convinced me to unsubscribe from their lists. I unsubscribed from Matt Bacak's list long ago. I don't know enough about Alen Sultanic to make a decision yet.

So Laurie, I would never suggest that we unsubscribe from all of those marketers. Just the ones that we might feel don't have our interests in mind. I know we all want to make money, but there are ethical boundaries, after all.

And you'll notice I didn't yell in this post even once.