UPDATE: This review is now outdated, and I do not make any current claims regarding this product. Additionally, I have removed the links from this review. I am leaving it here for informational purposes only. To get the most up-to-date information and recommendations, please join my free newsletter.
Special Edition – 7/13/2008
The Internet Marketing world is currently buzzing about the release of Traffic Secrets 2.0, by John Reese.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that this is one of the most anticipated launches… ever!
Back in 2004, John launched the original Traffic Secrets home study course, which resulted in his infamous million dollar day (over $1 million of the course was sold in the first 18 hours).
Many lives were changed as a result of the traffic generation methods John taught in the course.
As you may know, a lot has changed on the Internet since 2004, and that’s why the Internet Marketing world has been craving an updated version of the course.
The new course is updated with the latest cutting edge strategies, and John estimates that 85% of the material is brand new (stuff that WASN’T in the original Traffic Secrets course). As far as the content of the course… I feel very little needs to be said. As far as I’m concerned, I’m confident knowing that John Reese is the go-to guy when it comes to web traffic, and he has a long lasting reputation of producing quality material.
Honestly, I wasn’t planning on promoting this. In fact, I’ve become very cautious about promoting other people’s products directly on Eric’s Tips.
If you’ve watched my video lessons, you may recall from Lesson #3 I said to “stop buying stuff that you don’t need!” And yes, that rule DOES apply to this product too!
But there were a few factors that tipped the scale in this instance, which I felt warranted me writing about it.
First, I expected this to be another BIG ticket home study course. The original Traffic Secrets was $997. Recently we’ve seen successful launches of $1997 products like Product Launch Formula 2, Mass Control, and the List Pros course. So I expected the price to be at least $997, with a likely price point of $1997.
However, I was surprised to learn that John is taking a different approach. He’s selling Traffic Secrets 2.0 for only $397. So right off the bat, I feel good about the price, knowing that it’s clearly not bloated and overly inflated by hype.
Next, there are NO upsells… no “one time offers”…. no increasing price countdowns… no fake limits. In other words, he’s decided to try a no-hype approach to the sale itself.
Whether that’s a smart move from a marketing standpoint remains to be seen, but I certainly appreciate the effort.
Lastly, I was impressed by the simple format of the learning system he’s created. This is by no means a “thrown together” collection of all of his techniques. It’s really a step-by-step system designed to be followed by Internet marketers of all skill levels.
So should you buy it?
I would say a strong maybe.
If you don’t know why you’re buying it, don’t buy it.
If you think it’s a magic bullet that’s going to build your business for you, don’t buy it (Keep in mind that this is a TRAFFIC course, not a complete business building course.)
If you’re at a place in your business where you’re ready for web traffic, and you have $400 to invest, I would say yes– buy it.
Just to let you know, I will be covering many traffic generation methods in my free lessons. In fact, there will be approximately 15-20 lessons devoted to traffic.
However, there’s no way I could cover as much ground and teach everything that he teaches in his course, without spending a year creating a separate course devoted to web traffic.
Can you build a successful online business without John Reese’s course? Absolutely. I certainly did.
But is it worth a $400 investment if you can afford it? Absolutely. I often spend that much per DAY on paid traffic, so it’s easy to see how a one time price paid for these traffic generation techniques could have a very good return on investment.
If you would like to get more information and details about the course, feel free to check it out via my affiliate link:
(link removed)
Just remember my saying, “Don’t buy it if you don’t need it”. In other words, if you don’t need a course about traffic generation, don’t buy it. But if you need web traffic and you don’t know how to get it, I think this is a product worthy of consideration.
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below.
Have a great day!
Hi Eric,
I have a couple sites up and running that I’d diffently like to improve their traffic.I’ve never heard of John Reese but after watching his 2 videos and researching him, he seems like a good educator. I know $400.00 is a lot better than $2000.00 but for someone just starting out thats still a lot of money. Looking at your picture I noticed only one(1)software CD. Is that the only CD-Rom that comes with the program? Thanks for any info.
Best Regards,
Gary
Yeah it really just depends on where you’re at in your business, and whether you can afford it. If you’re actively paying for traffic, or if you’re at a point where you really need traffic, that’s a good time to buy this.
It comes with an entire set of CD-rom’s.
I would like to congratulate you on this blog of free teaching Erick,,, it’s wonderful and i can say that i thinks like a marketer except that i need to know the ropes on how to do internet marketing, and all that you’re teaching on your courses makes a lot of sense.
keep it up..
Ps.
When you did that fundraising for the Belize cause,, i’d contributed by purchasing a set of e-books with resell rights,, i could’t download the bundle until you made the amount that you’d requested,,, just want to know if i’m entitle to download the bundle???
Thanks and my best regards…
Yes if you did not receive the download for some reason, please open a ticket at the helpdesk (www.ericsupport.com) with your Paypal trans#, and we’ll get you the download link. Thanks
Hi Eric,
Love your site and your work! An example!
One gets and finds so much information today about traffic generation, web 2.0, social networking, video, etc…
Where are John’s course main + points:
– new ideas?
– good, concise step-by-step explanations (we still have to DO IT!)
– does it cover branding, funnelling etc..
– …?
– do you know if it will come with a payement plan (would make sense for me, also with his approach)
Kind regards, Seb
Hi Eric,
Once again I have to write and say thanks for offering up your thoughts on a product–in this case Traffic Secrets 2.0
I think I saw somewhere that with this purchase, John Reese is also offering lifetime upgrades since the likelihood is that even these “secrets” will become outdated as Web 2.0 becomes Web 3.0 and newer technologies come around.
Can you confirm whether there is an upgrade included since you’ve already gotten a review copy, I presume?
Thanks again Eric!
Best regards,
Michael
P.S. Didnt recognize you in the new photo with the short hair!
I believe the course comes with a set of 8 cds.
Hey Eric,
Definitely agree I was going to pass this one by as a little bit of a serial purchase of info products, last one being plf. And the reason for that was as you said the over inflated pricing that is being thrown around by some IMers.
But I was completely shocked when I saw the price and the sincerity with the offer that I will be a definite buyer. Plus traffic really is the next step for me.
Thanks again for the great info and content
Rich
100% agreed with your sentiments.
What is your main focus with traffic?
I have had a lot of people on Facebook recently asking about a comprehensive way to get started from scratch, and I’ve been recommending your Eric’s Tips Program as one of 2 resources they should investigate. I would recommend John’s course, but for a flat out newbie, I really think yours is the way to go. Plus, it’s cheaper. Thanks for all your help, advise, and teachings. Here’s lookin’ at you!
Eric Hi,
First I would like to commend you for trying to teach people on all things to do with building a web business in your latest series of lessons.
Secondly with regard to Traffic Secrets 2, I should first say that I bought Traffic Secrets 1, and as someone who is an SEO I found it less than convincing and in fact returned the product.
The problem I had with Traffic Secrets 1, was that it was clear to me from the presentations that John himself either did not know the stuff he was presenting or had not done it for a long time.
There is no doubt that John is successful but having watched his latest preview videos of Traffic Secrets 2, I was reminded of one aspect of Traffic Secrets 1, that was a problem for me.
John is one of those presenters who whilst putting on a good slick presentation, takes a long time to get to the point.
I found myself saying come on, get on with it. When I find myself saying that during anyones presentation, it is a bad sign.
Is Traffic Secrets 2 for everyone, I would say no. Not because I have my own issues with it as an SEO, but from the previews John talks about various strategies for getting traffic which are beyond the resources of the average newbie.
John makes much of the leverage of using others to do the work, but that is not possible for many startups. They simply do not have the resources or the money to employ others to do the work.
If you are one of those people who currently expects or has to do everything yourself then I doubt if Traffic Secrets 2 would benefit you even to the tune of its asking price.
Andy
Yes Eric fair comment thank you!
I just watched the sample video. Very interesting. Not going to purchase it right now but keep it in mind.
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the advice. It makes perfect sense.
I have enjoyed your lessons and I anxiously await each one.
I only wish there was a way to move forward at my own pace. As you know, some of us have been online for years and are suffering (for lack of a better term) to start producing results.
In any case, I wanted to mention that your sincerity to help people really comes through in the videos.
Thank you for your generosity,
Don
I belive 400 bucks is a tad too much for the average wannabe Internet Marketer…I also believe most of what he talks about on the videos can be found online right now!
It may take time and patience before someone can put it all together but it’s really there. BTW I’m up to my ears in emails about John Reese’s Videos.
Paul
Eric,
Thank you for the honest, unbiased expert opinion on the product. And reminded us of Eric’s Tip #3.
It’s July 15th at 9:30 am and I am still struggling with the decision to purchase.
I am just starting out with a blog site (posting niche articles) and NO traffic. LOL. No surprise there.
For me, it’s not a question of affording the product. It’s a question if it will shorten the learning curve and shrink the timeline for someone in my present position with Internet Marketing. Hmmmmmmm….
At any rate, thanks again for this email and I look forward to following and completing your course and eventually purchasing recommended products from your site.
Regards,
tradewt
I’m impressed by the quality of the information you share, Eric. And I do believe my site is ready for more traffic.
Since April 24, I have built an 84-page website, which I update regularly. I have published ezine articles, created information products, posted to forums and blogs, created a private (free) member site, started a free ezine, and joined social sites.
Despite all that, I have had precisely two conversions online, although off-line my business is growing.
The problem for me — and I’ve had no one answer this — is there a natural building process for attracting visitors or am I not applying what I’ve learned correctly?
I will be extremely disappointed if I invest $400 this afternoon and simply discover that all I needed to apply was patience!
Thanks for your input Eric. I just found out a wonderful thing about Traffic Secrets 2 and it was my deciding factor to make an investment. The product comes with a lifetime upgrade. I think this is absolutely wonderful… knowing that as Traffic Secrets 2 system evolves and changes you no longer have to pay for future updates. Great Price…Good Topic…Good Teacher…and Good Lifetime Benefits= Product Sold.
Best Regards,
Gary 😉
For a novice marketer like myself this is a lot of money. Who doesn’t need more traffic to their websites. I’ve learned over the past year to be very selective on what I purchase. Maybe in your training videos you can cover web traffic. Thanks for the great advice and blog.
Hi Eric,
Your fair comments on not to buy or buying is really make sense. This could make us less worry & we felt something like this offered is a must to buy as to get to know alot of new things.
Your experienced advised is what we need to learn.
Ths, regards.
Yes Eric
Thanks for the information on Traffic screts 2.0 It looks like a quality product.
Yes it includes lifetime updates for the life of the product.
My main focus for traffic is the readers of this blog, and may main method is list building. For most of my non-IM stuff my main traffic focus is PPC, along with some SEO and word of mouth.
When it comes to product launches, my focus for traffic is JV partners/affiliates.
Eric,
I appreciate your balance. I plan to pass on this one. I am pretty much spent out and have almost nothing to show for it! I have several sites up including a blog. I need to build content for the blog and will probably work on ezine submissions. Any advice on these two areas would be greatly appreciated. I worked as a small business consultant off line and had several hundred go through my classes. The ones I knew were a success were the ones that decided the “idea” they were working on would not work after showing them how to analyze the potential. I have not figured out how to do this online and have been conned into buying the “hot” ticket so many times that I am taking your advice to heart and not buying anything else that I am not CERTAIN I need AND that does not tell me enough about what they are promoting to be able to evaluate the residual expenses to apply what they are selling!
One other question,”Can you recommend a site that offers personal development content from a Christian perspective that would be suitable content for my blog?
Thanks again – God Bless
Jolly Joe
Thanks very much for the recommendation, I appreciate it!
It will shorten your learning curve IF you take the time to go through the course and apply the techniques.
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the straight forward honest review of John’s Traffic Secrets. I believe this straight talk style may be a trend for the future.
People are tired of being conned and sold rather than informed, so they can make the right decision for themselves.
Thanks again for being upright and honest. By the way, I do intend to get the product as soon as I can afford it.
I think it takes some of both Elaine. It can take time to build up a traffic stream. However, if your site has been online for over two months and updated regularly, I think it could be getting more traffic. Without knowing exactly what you’ve done I can’t say whether it’s a matter of not applying things correctly, or whether it’s a matter of not knowing the best techniques. I took a quick look at your site, and it appears list building is not a part of your strategy, so right there I see a big opportunity for improvement. As far as conversions, I browsed through some of the pages and saw one lone paypal button at the bottom of one page, and nothing really pointing me to what you are selling, so there’s also a lot of room for improvement there, in terms of getting people to buy. Based on your solid efforts thus far, and the fact that you seem like a good “learner” I would not hesitate to recommend John’s course to you.
I think those things will be covered on the sales page as soon as it goes live.
Thanks Jon! Boy…you would not believe all the emails I’m receiving from gurus and affiliates wanting me to purchase this product from their affiliate link…lol!!! Each of them are promising to having the best free products included if you buy through them! However my loyalty is with Eric and I will be purchasing my product through his affiliate link..I hope everyone else whos taking advantage of his free trainiing course will do the same…it’s the least we can do!
Best Regards,
Gary Pettit
Gary, thank you very much, that means a lot to me 🙂
Eric,
I like what you have been doing lately on your blog…giving back! So I bought the course through your link. Keep up the good training.
Tobey
I totally agree with the above statement by Dee. She took the words out of my mouth! So I cut & pasted them:
At 2008.07.15 11:15, Dee said:
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the straight forward honest review of John’s Traffic Secrets. I believe this straight talk style may be a trend for the future.
People are tired of being conned and sold rather than informed, so they can make the right decision for themselves.
Thanks again for being upright and honest. By the way, I do intend to get the product as soon as I can afford it.
Thank you Dee, and thank you Eric. You are awesome.
Just a Heads-up — Traffic Secrets One came with lifetime updates, at $1,000.00 dollars I believe that Traffic Secrets 2.0 should be Free
to people who bought Traffic Secrets One.
Beware this guy gets away with over pricing products, and all the people selling this course are making Very Good Commissions??
Regards,
Ron Kee
I intend to get the product, but still asking myself that: if could be there more secrets about how to get more traffic? What about all the information the gurus gave us, well i bought a lot of e-books how to get just not only traffic but qualified traffic, and suddenly appear one guy claiming that there are more secrets…
But because you Eric is recommending the product I can believe that indeed there is something or more than we expecting.
God Bless,
I agree with so many of your Fans. You have a very informative and Forthright Blog and method of attracting Followers.
But please everyone, don’t rush headlong to spend your money on a product that offers information available for FREE everywhere. The Author had a good lick a while back, but that doesn’t not mean all is going to be valuable.
One of the readers above said it best….
The real Secret of Success in any business is
proper planning, and Patience, patience.
My recommendation to most is save your money and INVEST in Yourself and YOUR Business, not someone else’s.
Chuck,
I agree with you partially but to have a program such as Traffic Secrets 2.0, it gives you EVERYTHING in one place without having to learn and track everything down individually. Honestly if you read Johns website from top to bottom and read some of the reviews already circulating you’ll find that this program carries it’s weight in Gold…especially for $397
Eric,
Just a quick thankee thankee!! I found a source for lots of content elsewhere on you site. I also found an article on domain choices. I apparently violated every rule you gave!?! I may link a cleaned up version tht follows your rules.
U da Best
Glad to see you finally got a haircut.
I had no less than 5 emails today all telling me to buy this product and with all kinds of enticements. And I read them all. At least two were reviews, which at least were informative.
Yours was the first I read and the most balanced – it didn’t yell at me to buy it unlike a couple of the others that hinted that this product is “MUST” for every internet marketer or aspiring Internet Marketer, or tell me that my competition would get ahead of me if I didn’t get it…probably true but not a worry for me right now. Here’s why I’m passing.
1. I don’t need it right now. As a Copywriter I’d love to get more traffic (who wouldn’t?) but I do my main prospecting by direct mail,email, writing news releases and articles – and I’ve also created a free report which has been driving traffic very nicely to my site. Of course, for a strictly IM product I know it would be all on-line and one of my goals there is to become more proficient at PPC.
2. You will only be successful with the course IF you put in the required time and commitment to work at all the exercises. I think people are underestimating the time commitment – and it’s hardly mentioned in all the promo. I know I can’t possibly commit that time right now, so I’d be wasting my money.And I wouldn’t see the return on my investment for some time.
3. I’m more interested in conversion than traffic – although I know traffic is very important…
4. I’me already experimenting with what worked on my personal niche blog which has been very successful – I plan to use that on my soon to be new blog to drive further traffic to my website
5. And this may sound petty to some – It’s on CDROM!!! Which means I have to be tied to my computer to use it, or have lug my walkman around. MP3 would have been nice…I love my Zen Vision M.
6. The price. Notice this is near the bottom ;)at nearly $400 I think it is too expensive (overpriced?) for me at this time. I am all for having info in all in one place, but I’m pretty sure I can buy a pile of books on Amazon, get the same info and pay much less.
7. I already have a ton of ebooks on getting traffic!
Do I need more traffic? Yes. Do I think I need this course? No. Maybe after I’m done with your course my answer may be different. But until then, I’m passing.
Eric
I appreciate your fresh up-to-date information on internet marketing. I have been a subscriber for a while. I do not even open the emails from most internet gurus, but I always will open yours. I know that I will find value. Even more so now that you have changed your format.
A generous man will prosper, he who blesses others will himself be blessed. Good luck in all of your endevors.
THANKS ERICK…
Eric…
I’ve been reading your blog here and following your lessons and I love what I see. I don’t know you but I’ve developed a bit of a “trust” in you and need to ask your opinion about a decision I’m about to make to join a coaching program. Would you be willing to email me so we could talk off line? I would really rather not disclose publicly who it is I’m looking to purchase the course from for fear of causing any damage to their reputation… I simply would like to get an unbiased opinion before I invest the amount of money they’re requiring.
Much appreciation…
Therese
Elaine,
I’m no guru in this stuff. In fact I have not accomplised as much as you. I would like to give you my insights on your site from a cutomer perspective. If your PRIMARY GOAL is to offer information to others to protect them, your site is quite effective. If your PRIMARY Goal is to sell your product it is lost in all the other information. Somehow it needs to be described and promoted very early if that is what you hope to accomplish. I had to search for it and look for a way to be able to purchase. You have a lot of good information but it adds to the overload most of us feel after about 10 minutes of looking for ways to make money on the web. Many are like me and are squeezing their research and learning and building and analyzing into little bits of time in a very busy life.
Just my two cents worth! I am impressed with all that you have put together. May all your efforts yield GREAT success.
Jolly Joe
Johns course is just as awesome as you said it would be Eric.
I suppose backing champions is always a good idea.
Paul
http://www.trafficsecrets.com/adwordblog
Hi Eric,
Yours is one of the few newsletters i take time to read…you don’t send endless emails hyping other products or even your own. This practice is going to be the end of lots of im marketers I feel.
About Reese’s offer…
I have recently bought and am still trying to plod through
Forced Money
Secret Affiliate Code
Last Affiliate Secret
which have tons of great traffic info, should I even consider buying?
Thanks!
Dan
Eric i can’t wait to see your info on traffic through your lessons here! im sure they will be great like everything else i’ve seen you do here at Eric’s tips so far , on this one I think i might starts johns course now too, just because i have little traffic and a few sites and would like to speed up the earning process a little thanks for offering on your site I’ll get it from you I’m still with you for the long haul Bro I think you have a lot of good advice.
thanks
Mark Sansom
http://www.secretmoneybox.com
I really do appreciate your sincere approach to your marketing efforts – no doubt, this has contributed to your huge success so far as you build trust in your community.
As for the traffic secrets, I will pass it by for now.
I’ve learnt some traffic strategies already that I’m trying out. I want to give it some time before I can say if they are effective or not.
Adding traffic secrets to it may just result to information overload and possibly stress as I have to do the necessary things to make it work myself.
Thanks all the same for the balanced preview.
Wednesday July 23, 2008
Hi Eric,
I’ve received about 100 different emails promoting John Reese and his new release web 2.0 over the past few weeks..I remember when he released web 1.0 for a couple grand…
You have a very thorough set of Erics Tips Videos and pdf’s, etc in your free content
they are an eye opener to me even though I started online with my first website objective was just to create a beefed up multi-page yellow page presence site for local credibility supporting my offline marketing credibility..it was not a e-commerce site
The website was just an integral part of the “Big Picture”…for my ongoing offline business plan going back in the late 1990’s
Today, as you emphasized, a business plan is ongoing set of revisions…step by step as you accomplish sets of goals..then revisions are needed.so it’s an ongoing part of running a business..
After 10 years of watching the internet, the education that comes with it and subscribing to the GURU lists..acquiring the basic website building and operation tools, going through their learning curves, joning countless key groups like ebay, paypal, listdotcom, amazon, and so many others to do e-commerce and affiliate marketing..I have been downsizing my offline business slowly to relieve my business operations and getting positioned to operate solo with the help of outsourcing services, it has been a very worthwhile effort.
I’ve tried several web building softwares, HTML/CSS and graphic editors, sales copy studies and thru trial and error with lots of failures, just how to build a website, setup a web structure funnel and how to lead the prospects to the end goals…
Internet Marketing is real work..a lifestyle..and like you said.a set of steps you have to go through the fire to get tempered
You are a kewl marketer….you have set a bar of free line content without BS and I want to thankyou for all your efforts…you’ve kept me on track to retire from my full time brick and mortar career of 35 years making some transitional issues more clear with your valuable content…downloads and strong display of building trust through relationship concepts..you talk the walk and walk the talk.
Your loyal sbscriber,
Jimmy Hogue
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