Edition #89 – 10/16/2006
I wish I had gotten this review out a couple of weeks ago when I bought this product, but as many of you know, I was immersed in preparations for another product launch at the time.
When Chris McNeeny launched his latest ebook, Affiliate Project X, earlier this month, I received about a dozen email promos for it. I got them from just about every internet marketer that I subscribe to, including several that I personally know and am friends with.
Since I was bombarded with it, I’m guessing you may have seen some of the same.
The thing is, some of these guys promoting it are really friends of mine…guys who typically do not promote junk, and whom I generally trust for marketing tips.
So naturally, I went and checked out the site.
What I came across was what I would consider to be unquestionably one of the “best-written” sales letters I’ve ever seen. As soon as I saw it, I knew… it’s no wonder so many of my friends are promoting it, this thing must be converting like crazy.
I sat down and read through the page, and by the time I got to the order button I was truly salivating for the information promised by the sales letter. I knew I had to buy it. At that point, I was thinking of it in terms of using this information for MYSELF, and not necessarily as review-material for this newsletter.
So I went ahead and bought it for $77 (since then, the price has gone up to $97 and may be going up to $197 soon).
Unfortunately, this product did not even come close to meeting my expectations, and left me disappointed with the purchase.
I did not ask for a refund, because I don’t think Chris is trying to rip people off, and because I just typically don’t ask for refunds. I also feel like its sort of a courtesy as a fellow marketer, and I feel more justified in giving brutally honest reviews when I’ve paid for it.
Okay, so before I continue, I want to give two disclaimers that I don’t always give.
1) I do not think Chris is trying to rip people off, or that he’s a bad guy.
2) I don’t think my internet marketing friends who promoted it were trying to mislead you, or that you should judge them on the basis of this one product. In fact I think most of them were sincerely trying to help.
Okay, so that said, I’ll tell you what I think…
I think the sales letter is over-the-top full of hyped up claims, and the product does not fulfill those claims.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not jumping onto the “all hype is bad” bandwagon.
If you’ve seen any of my product launches, you’ll know that I also weave certain hype elements into my own marketing style. I make no secret about it, because I’ve also TAUGHT in this newsletter about how YOU as an internet marketer can use tactics such as urgency and scarcity to drive your sales.
While there is a contingency who will vehemently disagree with me on this, I feel that as long as your claims are TRUE, and your product helps people in the way you say it will, then there’s an ethical place for marketing “tactics”. If you disagree, then honestly you should get out of this industry altogether. If you feel it is wrong to attempt to sell anything to anyone, then you can’t be an internet marketer.
At the same time, I’m not afraid to call hype for what it is, and separate the facts from the tactics…particularly when those tactics are clouding the truth.
In the case of Affiliate Project X, I think a brilliantly written sales letter kind of got away like a runaway train, and took on a life of its own apart from the product it was originally intended to promote.
Let me break it down a bit and point out some things in the sales letter…
The headline starts by saying, “You’re about to discover the affiliate secrets that the gurus have been keeping from you.”
I’ve started to realize lately that guru-bashing is becoming a very popular and profitable strategy. A good example would be the “AdSense is Dead” guy, whose reports supposedly flew in the face of the gurus. He created instant trust by disagreeing with the gurus, and made an absolute killing when he launched his product shortly thereafter.
I’ve long considered myself to be a “Non-Guru”, but please realize that doesn’t mean that I’m ANTI-guru. There are plenty of good gurus out there, and the way most of them became gurus was by sincerely helping people. If they never helped anyone become more successful, then they wouldn’t have so many followers.
Okay, so that’s not to say that all gurus are trustworthy, I’m just saying that being a guru does not inherently make someone untrustworthy.
But what’s happened lately is that SOME gurus have gone overboard with their hyped up techniques, and it’s caused a large fallout in the internet marketing community where a lot of people now think that ALL gurus are bad.
The ironic thing is that this new breed of anti-guru people are still craving leaders. Maybe the gurus didn’t lead them to success, so they’re looking for someone new to show them the “truth” about making money online.
This opened the door for some smart marketers to fill that void by turning themselves into self-proclaimed bearers of the truth (and that opportunity still exists very much). All you have to do is loudly proclaim your anti-guru dissent, and claim to be a revealer of the truth hidden by gurus. And if you can get people to hear you, you will soon have many in agreement with you. The extra dose of irony is that those marketers become instant “gurus” in their own right.
This whole rant is just to say, beware the anti-guru marketing technique. It may be legitimate to a degree, but I’ve been around a lot of gurus, and I can sincerely tell you that in general they are NOT trying to hide secrets from people. In fact, most of the time its just the opposite. They’re trying to learn more so that they can reveal more.
The anti-guru marketing technique is founded upon exploiting the pent-up frustration that so many marketers have toward the gurus.
But this is not where the Affiliate Project X sales letter took a wrong turn. I think that started to happen when the income claims started popping everywhere. Let’s look at some of the income-related lines from the sales letter…
“The methods the real super affiliates use to make $500 per day…”
“Quit your job in weeks, not years and make as much as $1,000 per day…”
“A complete affiliate formula… that will allow you to make at least $5,000 per month…”
“…guiding you every inch of the way until you make the same $2,000 per day that I make.”
“… one of my test subjects caught fire and did $400 in a single day.”
“…had collectively done $643/day in their final week.”
“…a few secrets separate… the abject failures from the $500/day affiliates. ”
“$600 IN MY FIRST TEN DAYS” (testimonial)
“$1,465 SINCE I STARTED” (testimonial)
“…the very reason that some affiliates make as much as $20,000 in a single day”
“…how to 100% guarantee a $200/week income stream”
“…and setup $5,000/month income streams every time”
“…used by the world’s most successful, underground $500/day affiliates”
“…how the super affiliates – the $1k/day guys – do their research”
“…as much as $5,000 per month with NO list and NO special skills required”
“…including a $6,000 per month income stream that you can replicate”
“…you are practically guaranteed to be making $100 per day within 30 days”
“…every promotion that a $600 per day affiliate has ever done”
“…the surest path to $500/day financial freedom on the planet.”
“…replicate, sit back and watch those $2k checks roll in like clockwork.”
“…an hour’s work a day for $2,000 a week, anyone?”
“$19,000 in two weeks…”
“I have generated a little over $400 from a dead start.” (testimonial)
“…when I began to make $1,000 per day.”
“…I have gone from broke to banking over $12,000 in a single day.”
“I was making $300 per week… then $400… and it grew and grew”
“… a few weeks later, I did $750 in profit.”
“…and then I hit $15,000 per week”
“…my income hit the $1k/week level, then a few weeks later, $2k a week.”
“…I hit $3,000 per week in clear profit, then $10k per week”
“…soon I was making an easy $15,000 each and every week.”
“…and another $14,000”
“…hitting $1,000/week within 2 months of my initial experiment”
“$300 IN THIRTY HOURS” (testimonial)
“I made $476 in 3 hours”
“…set up a $50,000 income stream with a single web page”
“…a full $180/day with no advertising costs”
“I setup a $46,000/year income stream while in an Internet cafe in London.”
“…already set up $2,470/month in passive income streams.”
“…were collectively making $1,509/day.”
“…was making fully $300/day despite starting out with no capital.”
“…making $5,000 is one hell of a feeling”
“…when you have your first $1,000 week”
“do this, make $100 per week and repeat” (testimonial)
“…every strategy used by the $100,000+ affiliates”
“…and a full 8 weeks to make $2000 per week”
“I want to make as much as $2,000 per day…”
“…buyers making as much $600 in the 30 hours since launch.”
“…10 of them were making a upwards of $100 per day.”
“…affiliate promotions that make me $100,000 per year.”
Okay, now I’m not saying that those are straight up “income claims” as the FTC would define it, but good grief!
That’s a LOT of numbers for one sales letter, wouldn’t you agree? Normally you want to be extra careful not to confuse your reader, because a confused mind never buys. But in this case, I think the barrage of digits had a bit of a “shock and awe” effect.
I can tell you that by the time I finished reading the sales letter, I was like… okay I don’t have a clue who this guy is, but I HAVE to know how he makes all those amounts of money.
With all those SPECIFIC numbers, it must be true, right?
I’d be willing to bet that the above numbers ARE true, but here’s my advice. Don’t let numbers alone sell you on ANY product, because they are not necessarily representative of the value you’ll be getting.
Another area of the sales letter that I’d like to mention is the prevalance of “so-called-evil”.
This is another marketing technique that has become highly successful lately, with various “black hat” evil secrets being revealed by the gurus and anti-gurus alike 😉
I guess a lot of people think that the biggest money-making secrets inherently must be evil or illegal in some way, and we’re attracted to it.
The sales letter says things like…
“I would guess that less than 100 affiliates world-wide are using these underground, “black hat” methods”
“…you guys are going to feel a little uneasy when you learn how I have been making my riches.”
“Several of my techniques are so profitable, so devious, so treacherous…”
“My methods are downright evil. Chances are I will get shut down by someone, somewhere…”
However, I didn’t find anything overtly evil in the methods described in the book. A lot of it involves what I would call “spying on the competition”, but nothing particularly unethical, and nothing illegal that I could find.
Once again, it’s a tactic. People are drawn to the dark and mysterious ways of making money. Sometimes those black hat methods are real, but here’s my advice. Don’t buy anything just because it claims to be “bad”. Maybe it really is, but chances are better that it’s just a sales tactic.
I could go through the entire page and pick apart the dozens of hype-laden promises that led me to buy it, but I don’t think that’s necessary.
In the ordering area, he says “It is beyond dispute that any affiliate on the planet will need this at some point” .
To that statement I simply have to disagree. If you’re new to the internet marketing game, this ebook could get you off to a great start. But you’re not destined for failure without it.
He even goes so far as to say, “You will not find my techniques in any e-book on the market. Ever.”
Again, simply not true. In fact, I’d dare say I’ve seen EVERY one of his techniques in other ebooks, though he does put his own spin on a couple of them.
With all of the hype and claims, I really expected the ebook to be “all killer and no filler”. After all, who would have the guts to make such bold claims unless their product seriously rocked?
That’s why I was surprised to find the quantity of information relatively small. The ebook is only 50 pages, and the strategies don’t even start until page 11 (the first 10 pages are an introduction and basics of affiliate marketing).
In all, the ebook covers six techniques over the course of about 32 pages. Again, I was fully aware of all six of these techniques, and I’ve also seen them taught in other places (but maybe not all in the same place).
In fairness, maybe I’m overestimating the prevalence of these techniques being known and used. Maybe I just happen to have spotted these techniques in other places because I’m already one of the super affiliates and I know what to look for. That is possible.
So the bottom line…
Are these six techniques worth the money?
1) YES they are worth the money. In spite of the hype, one small technique (it could be any of them) would easily pay off the price of the ebook.
2) BUT if you already know the techniques (like me)…it obviously isn’t worth your time. I’m guessing that most semi-successful affiliate marketers know this stuff, but again I might be wrong.
3) AND don’t set your expectations too high if you read the sales letter. As I mentioned, I was disappointed because I was expecting life-changing information after reading it.
If you can contain your curiosity; more power to you. But if you just can’t contain your curiosity (like me), then I’d say feel free to take him up on his money back guarantee. He is so brazen as to say that if you’re not making $2000/week within 8 weeks than you can have all your money back.
I’ve covered a lot here… really more than just a product review. I’ve also talked about income claims, anti-guru marketing, and so-called-evil-marketing, all of which are forms of hype in my opinion.
I’d be happy to hear your take on all this.
As always, you can leave your comments here in the blog.
Have a great day!
Your review jives completely with Ewen Chia’s. Thanks to both of you, I saved $77!
Hi,
I am sitting in India . I can’t understand your USA language . I want to konow about how to get
a Job from their .
Thanks
Saju kurian
Eric,
Thanks as always for a great honest review. I got bombarded like you and I almost got sucked in. You are correct about the sales letter. It was incredible and it almost sucked in. I guess I am just a skeptic. I felt uneasy with all those claims. I mean good grief. Well anyway, thanks for always telling it like it is.
Brad Dixon
http://admin.onlinebusinessgenerator.com
FREE Gold Membership ($97 Value) with my compliments. A growing community of marketing friends.
Thanks for this review Eric. I too was drawn by the promises in the sales letter, not so much by all the numbers but, because it looked to offer information that I may not have read or heard of elsewhere.
After getting my copy (for $77.00) the thing that I noticed the most was that a total newbie would have a hard time understanding all the terms and technology that most of us who have been at this for awhile already have learned. I did find value in some of what Chris shared but again, with my goal being to offer help in the area of technology as I have been doing for over 12 years, I thought that this was NOT something a newbie should spend their money on.
Hi Eric: I feel better now, thanks. As you said, I got bombarded with promos to buy this ebook, but after buying so many over-hyped ebooks that turned out to be a repeat of what is, for the most part, common knowledge, I decided I’d resist buying this one because I probably already had 5 ebooks with mostly the same techiques. I must say, it was really difficult to resist … hard as hell in fact.
Buy I did. Thanks to your review, Eric I’m certainly glad I did as I’m generally like you, I don’t usually ask for a refund (except once for an ebook that was so over-hyped and so totally bad).
Much appreciation for your honest review, Eric, as usual.
Hi Eric
Thanks for the honest opinion. Glad that I did not buy it before reading your view as I was bombarded with many emails promoting it. As usual, I am always looking out for your view before jumping into it.
Great post Eric!
I agree with you that nowadays guru-bashing seems to be the fad. Everyone seems to be an evil alien with plans to take over the world, everyone besides the marketer stating the claim, lol.
Of particular interest is this product (I shall not name the marketer) who comes up with wild claims about how to finally end your financial worries and actually has many many big names endorsing her course. Indeed, she touches the heart of many, and does provide some great information as pre-selling, but instead of a real attempt to help the little guy with financial difficulties success, she comes up with a BIG-TICKET item to sell.
I don’t know, but I was disappointed. If she has a BIG-TICKET item to sell, I feel that she shouldn’t have gone on and on about how she’s here to salvage the poor 9-5 blokes, and how OTHER marketers are out to kill, and make herself sound like an angel from above.
I digress.
Anyway, I didn’t find the sales letter for Project X especially hypey actually at first glance, maybe because I’m kinda immune to it already since everyone’s doing it, haha. I didn’t really buy it because I got pumped up by the salesletter, but I did find the ebook very useful. I guess the most important thing is that one of his tactics would have been sufficient to pay for the ebook itself. Overall, I still think it would be a great shortcut for beginners, though like you said, veterans won’t find it too helpful. Anyway, I think its gravity on CB hit a high of 740 and even broke Mike’s BM record.
And check out the warrior thread at http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=109510
Many many people find it outstanding.
I got many email promoting this ebook.
I didn’t buy the product.
Ewen Chia and You has simmilar opinion about this product.
I knew it….
But I do promoting this ebook to my list, and got 5 people buy the products.
not bad !! 🙂
YUAN
I liked Affiliate Project X. For me it was worth the price of admission to get all that info in one place, and clearly explained. As you point out, the sales letter should go in your copywriting “swipe file” – there’s some brilliance in it. Same with the “Adsense is Dead” guy (Scott Boulch), a good writer and his marketing was brilliant (I didn’t buy his product, though.)
Bear in mind there are forthcoming bonuses and updates to Affiliate Project X.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents. Keep up the good work, Eric. I look forward to your reviews and marketing info.
Hi Eric,
Thanks for this review about ProjectX. I too received an enormous number of emails promoting this program, most of them from “gurus” whose lists I unsubscribed from ages ago. (funny about that!)
The sales letter sold me so I purchased the book, after promising myself never to buy another ebook until I had written my own, which of course hasnt even been started.
I was really disappointed with PX. I have also heard of those tactics from other sources although in fairness to Chris, he does explain them in a bit more detail than many others.
Another disappointment was the writing style. The sales letter was so well written that I expected the book to be the same and sadly it isn’t. I found it annoying when he starts to talk about a technique then just as one gets interested he says something like “….I’ll return to this later”. Gosh that’s frustrating, and a really poor teaching style too. So I’ve concluded that the sales letter was written for him by a copywriter, and Chris wrote the book, another thing we should be aware of when reading any sales letter in the future.
For me, the best part of the ebook was Chris’s recommendation of one of Brad Callen’s programs,
Keyword Elite.
When I purchase something new, if I find it to be useful, I put a shortcut to it on my desktop, to make sure I use it . ProjectX hasnt rated that honour, it’s tucked away in My Documents collecting dust for the time being. After reading your review I might return it, as a protest against the untrue claim of
the info being unique to Chris. I think we all need to be accountable for what we put up on the Web and take moral responsibility for it.
In closing , your post has boosted my confidence in my own opinion. When one is relatively new to Internet Marketing one thinks that what the experienced marketers say must be the truth. Sounds naive I know, but it’s all a matter of confidence along with the accumulation of more knowledge, and posts such as yours provides both.
Kindest regards
Veronica
Your review is quite revealing. Since switching over to the prioritizing mode, I didn’t buy the product.
Your mention of “black hat” techniques up there, however, reminds me I may have fallen victim to such a tactic from one of last week’s biggest sales. BTW, I purchased the product(s), which was something I had intended to do earlier, after anticipating it’s release for quite sometime; hopefully the shipment arrives soon.
I guess everyone must have experienced what follows the pre-launch/release of products. There’s the usual windfall of emails from affiliates promoting the stuff, each one trying to outbid the other with their range of extra bonuses, should the purchase be made through their links. One in particular offered bonuses M and N (say) – enticements -, which I assumed would be right for me, and effected the purchase there and then. And guess what? Even after sending several emails to the product affiliate promoter, inquiring, to the effect, the whereabouts of the bonuses, he stays silent!
Am I eventually going to get bonuses M and N? I don’t know, it’s not detrimental though, but it’s something more to be aware of. There’s a minefield out there.
Thanks for your review.
Hi Eric,
Thank goodness for such a plain straight talk of an honest opinion. We need more of you in this era of internet marketing who will call a spade a spade and not a thing use for digging dirt. Personally, I did not buy this e-book even though I’m a newbie regarding internet marketing but I recently found myself paying close to three $300.00 to a lady who professes to be the most honest straight talk person on the net purposefully there to help people be on their feet. Having bought into what she was saying in her sales letter, I sent her an e-mail asking if she knew of a way I could set up a website and start selling some of her products which she gave a full resale rights. She replied by saying I should wait for some few weeks and that she was about to release an e-book to address the issue. What do you call this, cheat or greed or better still selfishness? Here I am almost broke after spending so much money buying a lot of junk and now finally breaking my own rules to fall into the net of such an over promising marketer and finally leaving me in the midst of the ocean and even looking forward to estort more money from me.
Bravo Eric, we need more people like you who will be the mouth piece especially for the newbie looking forward to aspire in internet marketing.
Stay Blessed and refreshed.
Hey Eric,
I purchased Project X and then I purchased Chris’ earlier ebook Adwords Miracles and then I purchased Keyword Elite which was promoted by Chris in Adwords Miracles.
I have read a lot of Adwords material and I found this stuff the easiest to get through and start applying.
It is easy to see that the material comes from his own experience working with Adwords.
But Eric, you were actually using one of the methods from Affiliate Project X in your review weren’t you? 😉
Here’s to us ALL making lots of cash!
Phil
Good Morning, Eric!
A spectacular review, as always. I am simply tickled pink every time I read one of your posts!
I just love it when you completely confirm my own thoughts and impressions – and best of all, your voice rings out loud and clear across the internet.
I am delighted to be a long-time subscriber and customer, and just knowing there’s someone out there like you – actually purchasing and reviewing products and services – holds us all to a higher standard.
Which is as it should be.
There’s a dark void where honesty, integrity and sincerity should be in the Internet Marketing world.
I’m guessing that’s one of the reasons that your light shines so brightly.
God Bless!
Lisa Preston
Hi Eric,
You are one of the few internet marketers that I rely on for an honest opinion on products flying around on the net. I almost bought ProjectX because I am desperate and hungry to learn about that one technique or secret that will jumpstart my business. That being said, can you recommend a particular product that would actually be useful in getting targeted traffic to my websites. It would be an SEO product that is affordable. I did not jump on the most recent promotion that cost $750 per month which is out of my comfort range.
Also, I am lookng for a product that actually walks you step by step on how to set up a complete web page that is idiot proof, including downloading, uploading, transfering of information, etc. Another product that explains how to submit your websites through natural search engine optimization. I have read about so many of these products, purchased some of them, and
I am overwhelmed and skeptical about most of them now that I read about.
I have invested in Joel Comm’s Adsense templates (the earlier version this summer), and
Shawn Casey’s, “How to Make an Absolute Fortune”. I would really like to keep the cost down!
Thank you for your honesty and integrety. I truly respect your opinion as a professional.
Nancy Lenz
Whether the sales-letter was well-written or plain just hypey, personally, I feel that anyone who does not read this ebook has missed out on a lot of valuable information.
Finally you’ve come out with your review on Project X. I really want to know what you have to say. Lucky for me, your thought on the PX is the same as mine. Chris makes a bold claim that nobody on the Internet, ever (yeah right!), reveal the secrets on Affiliate Marketing. What a rip-off.
It was my mistake also to easily get sucked in into his sales letter. I agree with you Eric, PX sales letter is on of the best sales letter I’ve ever read.
I really, really, really, really, really (sorry for keep on repeating but I must) believe that PX is the thing that I’ve been searching for after reading his sales letter. After I’ve bought it, believe it or not, tears come out from my eyes because I’ve seen or heard all of his techniques somewhere before. The reason that I shred with tears is that I’ve been totally lied by him. I thought PX can really change my financial problem but in the end, I’ve earn nothing at all, PERIOD!
That’s the problem when we ourselves did not write our sales letter. We hand it over to some mumbo jumbo brialliant guy with words to write it for us. I just can’t take this crap anymore. Somebody have to do something regarding this matter.
Eric, keep up the good work. I wonder what’s next review from you will be.
Hi Eric and all…
“He created instant trust by disagreeing with the gurus…”
If so many people are so eager and willing to trust someone who flies “in the face of the gurus,” then what does that say about the gurus?
I walk into a darkened room full of people feeling the walls for a light switch. I find it, flick it, and there’s light. In the Internet Marketing World, I just became a guru. It’s an “in” title far too easily and arbitrarily bestowed these days.
“Hey! He’s got TWO working brain cells! Bow before him!”
I LOL when the gurus disagree with each other :-)~
I think you’re far too gracious and forgiving toward your friends who promoted this. They were all promoting with their affiliate links. It’s all about the money.
I think a simple truth has escaped the minds of many IM’s today. Whether you call it “hype” or “tactics,” claims made about a product that aren’t true have a name:
Lies.
A rose by any other name…
G’nite 🙂
To be quite frank i am newbie to internet marketing but i have been in it for yonks of years project x is a dissapointment for $77.00 although there is a good in the book as well but it sales letter was on the wrong route
Hi, Eric,
I just subscibe to you newsletter and I must said your review must have caused a big ripple on the internet marketing scence but not amounting wave yet.
Human buy on emotion especially many eager new Internet Marketer who wanted to be overnight riches and/or overnight success. And I have read some way on the internet this phrase and it’s aptly descibe many successful entrepreneurs. ” I have spend the last 17 years to be an overnight success.” There is no shortcut in success.
I did not buy the book and I believe the fundamental of all marketing is the same, the difference is the approaches and how to apply them to your advantage. I do not doubt the techniques of PX though I do not know what are they. One of the Internet marketer I knew couple of years ago promote one marketing system and was very successful and introduce to his subscribers. And some of his subscribers replied that the technique worked for him (the internet marketer) but might not work for them (his subscribers). Why, simple because he has a huge list but not his subscribers. If you got what I mean.
The recently trend on internet marketing promotion is alraming. Once there is a new program coming out from a certain guru, your inbox will be bormbarded with promotional emails of the same product/program from amany gurus. What make it worse is many gurus start offering incentive on their own products and programs package with purchasing of the new program through their link. How does the new and small guy response to this apart from being hyped into paying for something that doesn’t worth what it’s claimed to be plus a hugh package of products or program that they might not know aht to do with them. If the gurus or experts product or program is so good, why do they need to package and promote other people products/programs together. Some food for thought.
Forgive me for being blant! Any one have any enlightenment idea?
Eric, thanks for the review.
I stopped reading the sales letter half-way through. Why? It was as if I had read it before, all glitter and no glory! Man, I must actually be learning something. Three years ago I would have stopped reading, but not in disgust, but to go get my credit card!
I just read somewhere that when the caveman came across the sleeping bear he thought he had dinner in the bag. Affiliate X made me feel the same way!
Grandma always used to say, (Say it with me: If it sounds [or looks] too good to be true, ………………….)
Mike
BusinessByMouse.com
well wriiten sir . hat off to u. u tips v ill more helpfull 4 our future .
thanks 4 u once again , and to u r smart attention
niru
Eric, why do you NEVER have an opinion that you don’t partially retract for fear of offending someone?
Examples:
“1) I do not think Chris is trying to rip people off, or that he’s a bad guy.”
Then you proceed to explain that Project X is a rip-off.
“2) I don’t think my internet marketing friends who promoted it were trying to mislead you, or that you should judge them on the basis of this one product. In fact I think most of them were sincerely trying to help.”
Either your “friends” WERE misleading us, or they were promoting a product that they hadn’t tried themselves – either way it is misleading.
Have the guts to have an unqualified opinion.
I also don’t believe that you couldn’t have got this review out sooner. I bet it was delayed so that you wouldn’t interfere with your “friend’s” promotions for Project X.
Hi Eric,
I did purchase and read affiliate project X. I’m curious, are you saying the teqniques in there don’t work?
I thought it was pretty good and was willing to create a strategy around it.
If you think the techniques are not sound. please elaborate,
Thanks,
Dave
Hi Eric
You are obviously an American from good honest Nordic stock. I like your style, and your advice
– Don’t buy anything just because it claims to be “badâ€.
absolutely tickles me pink!
cheers
Simon
Hi,
I’ve been marketing on the Internet for around 9 years now and as a consequence I didn’t buy PX. I’m developing a 250 module course that takes newbies and experienced alike, step by step, through the absolute maze of Internet marketing. At the end of the 12 month course they should be making a significant amount of money. For that reason, I may eventually buy PX and make sure that I have got the ‘six’ covered. For that reason I thank you for your honest review of the product. However, I must make mention that if you offer a bad review and do NOT endorse a product then an affiliate link is a type of ENDORSEMENT. I understand the “Why Not?” mentality and getting paid for time invested but I think your strategy and position as a ‘trusted expert’ would be STRENGTHENED by not profiting from what in your opinion is an over hyped product. I also think it would boost sales of your genuine recommendations and you would only miss out on a few sales of the ‘stinkers’. Apologies for the rant and I wish you well. All the very best, Allen
Eric,
Thank you for an your honest appraisal. I did not buy this ebook because to me it was overhyped in the letter, and I’ve been sucked into one too many of the high priced programs by the gurus. I can understand how many others who have had similar experiences feel. I only started on this track about four months ago and my expenditure far exceeds the earnings that have been promised. This is my problem and no one else’s but I am working through everything systematically now and aim to reverse the direction of the cash flow, but with more integrity I hope than I have experienced to date.
I have recently found your site through purchasing Joel Comms Instant Adsense Templates and look forward to your straight up and down approach assisting me in my learning.
Yes the review is very accurate. I bought both of Chris McNeeneys books and did find the methods didnt really match the claims, though he did take time to answer email comments, and do followups.
To some extent he was a victim of his success, as everyone was doing exactly as he advised, so I suspect only the fastest and most expert made much money from project x type Adwords campaigns.
One other thing …the guru bashing technique has been going on for years now. Heck I have a domain name with ‘gurubasher’ in it! What seems to be recently on the rise is the hyping of ‘secret , borderline-legal instant fortune making information’ for a limited time at fast rising prices, using sophisticated marketing techniques – some of the Black Hat and Death of Adsense stuff referred to above.
The good news is that genuine marketers who are seen and proven to be overdelivering new, solid quality product- Joel Comms Instant Adsense Templates for example- just enhance their reputations. No backlash there!
I wish you had spoken up sooner. I could have saved my $77. Yes, I was taken in by the hype and I just wish I knew how to write a sales letter that good.
Hi Eric,
I summed it up as a lot of hype as well. Glad that others have had the good sense to pass it up.
Barbara King
http://www.BestFreeMarketingTools.com/
THANK YOU ERIC, FOR LETTING ME KNOW ABOUT THE AFFILIATE X E-BOOK. I SORT OF THOUGH OF THAT AS TO MUCH TALKING ABOUT IT. I NEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH IT BUT THANKS AGAIN ERIC FROM LEON VINES.
Hello Eric,
Great Review of the book and actually the only way to approach the topic, as you have is to have bought the product or had access to it.
I didn’t buy the product myself. The Sales Letter was too good for me to believe in especially with all the income claims. Look, the book was just released, it seemed obvious to me that the testimonies were lies as far as this product is concerned.
Th information I missed by not purchasing is surely already available somewhere, some shape or form. Heck I probably have the techniques on my computer buried under Junk on one of my drives, somewhere.
I enjoy reading your tips.
Thanks,
Jim
Hi Eric, Ken Mathie here.
RE: “I received about a dozen email promos for it. I got them from just about every internet marketer that I subscribe to, including several that I personally know and am friends with.”
This is the problem and as I see it an enormous headache for most if not all new comers to IM. The sad part about development of the net over the pasts 12 months I believe is that so many well known marketers are putting their names to many product they have not even reviewed prior to recommendation.
Shame more vendors don’t supply access to the product for review prior to launch. At least then the Marketer can make an educated decision as to recommend or not. Too many people online today just seem as though the almighty dollar is number one and do not consider the hardship and pain paying out $90+ may cause someone, especially if the product does not deliver as promised. These poor souls that order go away and fade into the distance completely disillusioned and after several similar purchases with little or no results, they give up..
Keep up the good work you, most of us may not relies it but you are doing every Internet marketer a huge good turn.
Take care,
Ken Mathie.
Didn’t buy it after Ewen Chia reviewed it. After reading your review, I’m happier I didn’t buy it…
Ian del Carmen
http://TheMasterTape.com
The truth about Guru’s and Making Money!
Sure they charge say $29.95 for a ebook and pay you 50%! But, you need to remember the Gurus will have 10 to 20,000 affiliates out there advertising. If only 1,000 sell 1 book each month, then that Guru will make $15,000 a month.
Now, that same Guru will have a new book, Item, and/or product in the works. Mr./Ms Guru will then be able to advertise to his affiliates for his new Item “How I Made $15,000 A Month”, but you’ll never in this lifetime see in print just how he made that much money a month.
Former President and Founder Of Internet Marketing Center Corey Rudl Had 90,000 Affiliates Selling His Products! Corey Passed Away June of 2005!
Now, If you would look at their page where they show the BIG Income you’ll see that the dates are before the new “SPAM” laws became into being! Also, (SPAM) used to mean {“Some Thing Posing As Meat”} and {“You’ll Find It In A Can”!} Yea, that was some time ago!
I’ve learned over the years if it’s hyped over the top, it’ll be usless to wast any money on…
Yours
Kenneth E. Wheeler, Sr
203 North East St.,
Parkersburg,IL 62452
Phone: (618) 442-5056
Eric
Well written is all I can say, because being new to IM I to come across every man and his dog trying to sell me something and what’s worst I get emails from people selling the same thing whom I’ve never subscribed to so how does that work? admitedly some do have something to offer, but the rest is just crap. So here’s what i do…I study only with those who have a rep in the industry and stick to those only primarily because they have done it the hard way and they have made mistakes whilst building the fortunes. I am just putting the finishing touches to my new site along with writing my own copy along with ebook for a niche I researched the proper way and I have passed it around for comments and the feedback is great…..So my advice to those starting out is to stick to your game plan and don’t get sidetracked and when there is a need for additions to your project go look for the tools and review extensivley and finally pick an expert you feel you can work with and work with him or her…..Marlon Sanders is one such person
Best of luck guys and gals because you’ll need it with all this info about.
P.S learn to pick sense out of nonsense.
G
I too bought the book and though I am new to all this and want to get started in affiliate marketing, I too was disappointed in the actual context. I didnt like the 11 page intro and felt the rest of it was poorly structured.
I also bought Joel Comm’s AdSense Secrets, he offers NO REFUND. I am waiting on the package, apparently he is overwhelmed with orders. I am hoping it is worth the money. Do you know anything about him?
Hi Eric,
I’m getting used to wait for your reviews and sometimes feel hesitant to move without getting one from you. Yes, the PX copy is exceptionally well-written (kudos to the copywriter) and really encourages one to get a copy of the book. I could have gotten one had I not missed the $77 special deal. But I kept on coming back to read again and again the sales copy, until your post came (thanks heavens, but please be quick next time – you’re almost late, perhaps a little later for the others).
After reading the posts, I feel happy to have done my own sales copy and wrote my own book at the same time. What I have in my sales letter may not be that compelling, but at least nobody gave me a bad review. This is one great lesson I learned today – to write the sales copy yourself, which should come straight from the heart, expressing the real content of the product you’re trying to promote.
All the best, Eric, and . . . please be quicker the next time!
ReyM
Hi Eric!
Thank you for advice.
regards
Johannes
This is just ridiculous! YOU previously sent an email telling people to buy it. And now you’d slagging it while STILL using an affiliate link. And now some unethical idiot earlier in the comments is chuckling how it’s worthless but notes that he still got FIVE friends to buy it. Nice of you to throw your friend/business associate under the bus, Eric. Or is this yet another ‘anti-hype’ marketing technique?
Well written truth Mr. Holmlund,
I did not purchase the ebook in question but did get my paws on it quickly after it was released and at the time of reading, never seen the sales page nor any hype. To tell you the truth Eric, since it was given to me by my bro I thought it was a free ebook. I’m not even much of a marketer and there wasn’t much of anything in PX regarding the claims on the salespage…in fact, felt somewhat like groundhog day.
A few things that raise warnings bells for me is when a sales letter starts with, “Quit your job” “Get rich while on the vacationing on a beach” “Make money while (or in) you(r) sleep” “Wanna live the lifestyle of your dreams?”… !
The hype being used by a good percentage of “guru’s”, I think is getting over-whelmingly overused with this bandwagon mentallity of ‘ buy…or else bad things happen! ‘ . Give us a break already. What I do like is it’s box it comes in. Resembles a launch of a blockbuster movie….(am I seeing a pattern here?)
Good job on the review Eric……the truth will set us free.
I have to admit I just skimmed over the sales letter without really reading it in detail like I do most sales pages. Why? Because I bought Adwords Miracle from Chris and thought it was the best Adwords book I had read. So, I bought Project X with little hesitation and I’m glad I did. It’s one of the few books that I printed out, will read more than once, will markup and will generate ideas from.
I have been doing the internet marketing thing for a few years (not a full timer yet) and I picked up some key ideas from Project X. It could be a difficult book for beginners to benefit from, and perhaps super affiliates like Eric may not benefit from it. But, there are some like me who did.
About the sales page – show me a sales page without some hype and over exaggeration and I’ll show you a product that doesn’t sell. A fact of marketing.
About this anti guru thing. I think the beginner and intermediate marketers are becoming more and more frustrated with the “Gurus”. We get the impression that they really do want to help us succeed -we just need to buy their product. So, we buy their product and may find some value in it, but in most cases just feel sold.
When was the last time a guru offered you some assistance/advice for nothing in return? Very few will repsond to your emails personally. The bottom line is you are part of their list. You always hear how important your list is. You are not a person to most of them – your are $$$ on their list.
I have become so skeptical of the gurus that I rarely buy from them anymore (Eric, Chris and one other are my exceptions). I am tired of being pitched on the same product by all the gurus. I am tired of email subjects “Don’t buy XXXXX product” and then they offer you the bonuses of the century if you buy XXXXX from them.
I am also tired of working so hard at this and being left on the outside looking in at the guru circle. When was the last time one of the gurus asked you to be a JV partner on a launch with them? Probably never because you have not made a name yet. A catch 22 – you may have a great product, but no name and so no JV opportunities with the gurus. But if you had those guru JVs you may be able to finally make a name.
And, by the time you hear about product launches from one of the gurus, your chances of making many sales are slim because the gurus have already emailed their list of internet marketers. They have a big head start on you. Many times getting the product for free, and having marketing strategies in place before you ever even know of the product.
The more I look at this the clearer it becomes. It has become way to difficult to complete in the internet marketing arena – unless you are already an established guru, or you have an unbelievable product.
As for me, I am bowing out of the marketing to internet marketers game. I am moving my time and energy on to non internet marketing niches.
Wow – I think I had too much coffee this morning:)
Mike
HI Eric,
Ewen Chia had similar review in his blog few weeks back. He took some bashing for that. I think here you had been honest for the most, except your disclaimer number 2 ” I don’t think my internet marketing friends who promoted it were trying to mislead you, or that you should judge them on the basis of this one product. In fact I think most of them were sincerely trying to help.” I admire your loyalty to your IM friends -:)
They are REALLY misleading us for their own benefits, always trying very hard to add few more buck to their “millions”. They are just greedy. I am not anti-GURU, but have opted-out from most of the SPAM lists because of this never ending “secrets” revealing product-launches and saving a bunch of money that way.
Quamrul
Eric,
Thanks for the review. I didn’t buy the product, but did learn a lot about how to write great sales copy!
Steve Polk
http://www.aquickwaytocash.com
I think it’s probably safe to say that there are very few ebooks published nowadays containing information that is new. Generally, 90% of them are just re-hashed, regurgitated methods that have been used many times by many people before. However, not being a “guru” myself, I found some stuff in this book that I had never seen before, and also, as Eric points out, some new twists on old techniques. I actually purchased the book without even reading the whole sales page, because it was recommended by someone whose opinion I value greatly. Whether it was hyped or not, the book gave me info that I can use. And I think it’s a good idea to repeat a couple of things Eric said:
“I’d be willing to bet that the above numbers ARE true” and “Are these six techniques worth the money? YES they are absolutely worth the money.”
Personally, I found a lot more value in this book than some of the high ticket “ecourses” and “instructional videos” that some big name gurus have produced.
My feeling is that if I can make thousands of extra bucks from one technique I learned from a $77 ebook, it was a worthwhile investment.
Hey Paul- Not true. I’ve done several negative reviews with no disclaimers and I’ve offended plenty of people.
And also not true on your second point… I happened to be in the middle of launching one of the biggest product launches of the entire year for this industry. I would have loved to have gotten this out right away, it would have been blogged about like crazy.
Dave- No I’m not saying the techniques don’t work. As I mentioned, the techniques themselves are worth the price of the ebook if you don’t already know them. And like ANY info-product…they’re only worth it if you APPLY them.
Hey Bill- I think you’re referring to IAT and not Joel’s AdSense ebook (as he does offer refunds on it). And yeah I know a lot about him. I am his partner on that project, and he is one of the most trustworthy marketers you’ll ever meet. I feel we really overdelivered on the product, and you’ll be happy when you receive the package.
Hey Tari- I definitely didn’t send any email about it to anyone. You must be thinking of another marketer…maybe another Eric?
It is the best review of ProjectX I’ve seen on the Internet so far.
It’s good to see that someone doesn’t give us only the hype and hope to get some comissions.