UPDATE: This review is now outdated. I am leaving it here for informational purposes only. For the most up-to-date information and recommendations, please join my free newsletter.
Edition #115 – 02/26/2007
I’m writing this newsletter from JFK airport in New York…
I’ve been at the 2007FigureBusiness Seminar, and I’m happy to report that they really over-delivered.
Instead of merely teaching online marketing techniques, they taught HOW to build and grow a scalable business the right way.
Essentially it confirmed many of the things I’ve written over the past year, and solidified a few things in my mind that I will now be able to take action upon.
Since all attendees signed a non-disclosure agreement, I can’t tell you the specifics, but it’s safe to say you will learn some things as I continue to write about my own experience of growing my own business.
I also want to thank the MANY Eric’s Tips readers who introduced themselves to me over the course of the weekend. I am seriously blown away at the thought of you all reading my newsletter. It’s humbling, and it’s an honor at the same time.
I look forward to meeting even more of you next month in Washington DC.
I have to go catch my flight in a few minutes, so I just want to wrap up by letting you know about a new tool that Mike revealed at the event.
It’s called Viral Friend Generator, and it can increase your website visitors by multiples. This tool has already created over $200,000 of sales with only two beta testers.
The program will be launched on Wednesday, and I’d like to invite you to join me among the very first to try it out.
If you go to the page now, you can watch an 8-minute video showing exactly how to use it. Check it out at:
Click here for Viral Friend Generator…
New York has been fun, but I’m ready to sign off and catch a plane back to beautiful Colorado…
As always you can post your comments here in the blog.
Have a great day!
Hey Eric,
I just watched the 8min video intro of the Viral Friend Generator and at first I thought it seemed pretty cool but hardly original. However I think the free gift feature for telling a friend is a really good idea and most people have an e-book kicking around on their hard drive they could use for the gift.
Unfortunately none of my sites use newsletters (because they don’t fit the type of site) but if they did I would have definitely purchased this product. (I may still get it for future use)
keep up the good work!
Steve
Eric,.
Great meeting you in New York man! So cool getting your newsletter – I’m typing this reply from JFK too, maybe from the same seat? 🙂
Take it easy and keep up the great work, will speak soon.
Michael
Hmm… Interesting!
I wonder though, if you would end up losing potential opt-ins by adding an extra step (as is normally the case) and although you might end up with more subscribers, they could be of a lesser quality because a large bulk are referrals and not genuine opt-ins.
Not sure that the approach would work for every business but I guess you never know until you test it.
Steve
Eric ; your browser addresses are not coming up.They keep producing an error message. check address and try again.site under construction. cannot find address
Bill
Michael- thanks buddy… let’s practice our table soccer skills and we’ll clean up next ime 😉
William- which URL, and what browser are you using?
Hi Eric,
Wonder how long this post will stay?
Scott Boulch is giving Viral Friend Detonator software for free today, does exactly the same as the overpriced optiom from the Filsaime stable.
Cheers
Mike- Boulch is a clever marketer, but he’s also a liar to insinuate that the idea was stolen from him. Filsaime registered the domain a year ago, and the only reason Boulch was able to sabatoge the launch is because Mike released a working preview copy of his script to his JV partners, obviously including one of Boulch’s cronies. Maybe I should release a report about how Boulch stole my “non guru” idea, LOL.
Anyway, I’ve compared both scripts and Scott’s is a simple CGI script while Mike’s is a more powerful template-based PHP script. I think Filsaime’s script will be well worth the price, and you will get the kind of product and support that you won’t get from a ripped off freebie. Also Filsaime’s script is specifically designed to work in compliance with Aweber and other autoresponders, which is an important feature to me.
Thanks for the tip Eric. I’m just getting a bit immune to ventures from, what I like to call ‘the high rollers of internet marketing”, the Strategic Posse. If the business world actually worked the way they are claiming it’s working for them, then we all would be multi-millionaires and can afford to buy $5,000 courses at the drop of a hat.
I’ll pass.
Man, I miss the days of Mark Joyner and Cory Rudl.
P.S.
In the video Skye forgot to mention that both Brad and the other dude probably have huge lists, and even though it is a viral method, numbers always cover any inefficiencies.
Cor, I nearly fell for that one too so thanks for the warning. Who Doo you believe these days?
My moneys on you Eric. You never cease to give us valuable advice and your reviews are second to none. I always make sure I wait for your email before I rush out and buy anything from these so called guru’s.
I cant wait to use it on my site.
Any idea how much it will cost?
Boluch’s software is called Viral Friend Dominator, not Detonator. I agree with Eric – this is just a spoiler, and you won’t get support or even a v.2 to fix the problems.
Hi Eric,
First let me say that I have a lot of respect for you and you know so do many on your list. With this Viral Friend Generator, you were some 30 minutes late. Scott Boulch was “visiting†just before you did. Now, I know you said that Mike’s is a more powerful template-based PHP script but bottom line is that it does the same thing Scott’s does with the exception that it costs money. I would not go as far as saying that “Filsaime’s script will be well worth the priceâ€
I would not jeopardize my reputation on such a controversy. You earned and proved your reputation time and time again. To vouch for Mike is a gamble, in my opinion. The man is good “too good to be considered trustworthy†You cannot make millions and be honest with “your list†I do happen to agree with Scott, “The Digital Incest in this industry (IM) has got out of handâ€.
For what is worth I would provide my list with an alternative to this script even though Scott’s may be “a simple CGI script†it is also free and does the same job. BTW I loved the presentation Skye made. I would have bought the script for because of that alone, If I did not know better.
I hope I did not put you on the spot here and if I did, I did so from respect for the what I believe to be the truth about the end results of the scripts and not the “souse†they come garnished with. Finally, I hope you post this.
Thank you!
Regards,
Nicholas Mancini
Hi Eric,
I wanted to write to you briefly about your suggestion. Having someone’s friend sign them up for your newsletter or even make a recommendation where you or provider like AWeber or Getresponse are the one sending the recommendation would be spam.
Email can only be sent to those recipients who specifically requested it. Violating that rule will cause problems with your deliverability and get you and provider blocked at leading ISP’s.
Remember, permission is everything. Without it you’ll run into many problems.
Hi Nicholas- I understand what you’re saying, and I certainly respect your opinion. It’s really a catch-22 for me. If I only recommend Mike’s script, then I risk some readers thinking I’m trying to rip them off by not telling them about a free version. On the other hand, if I send them to download Scott’s, I would be putting them on the mailing list of someone whose business ethics I do not agree with. “Guru bashing” and using the word “incest” has become an easy way to gain rapport with those who think it is the guru’s fault that they aren’t making any significant money in this business.
Mike happens to be a good friend of mine, and although that adds fuel to Boulch’s argument, those who adopt the “incest” theory are overlooking the fact that I know Mike’s character better than the average person. I’m not promoting his product because we’re in some sort of virtual “IM country club” together. I’m promoting it because I know him, and I know he’ll take care of you. Mike has helped MANY people become successful in this business… and most people would have no idea of the extent of his giving nature unless they could see behind the scenes. He is directly responsible for helping marketers like Michael Cheney, James Grandstaff, Keith Wellman, Brian Edmondson, Sterling Valentine, MYSELF, and many others make names for themselves in this business. I would love to see some of my readers names next on that list, and that’s why I won’t hesitate to promote Mike’s products.
And yeah, Skye did make a good video… I met her in NY too. Congrats to her and Jason who will be having a baby soon!
Katarina- Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the way it works is the email appears to come from the friend who invited them. You would not send them any email unless they act upon that email from their friend and opt-into your list.
I thought about putting this in a new post, but I’ll just put it here for now…
More reasons why I’m not sending my readers to download Scott Boulch’s script:
He’s not honest.
I just saw his latest email promoting his free script. It touts:
I found that to be very interesting when in fact there are multiple strings attached. The biggest string is that you have to opt-in and confirm your email address. It’s not like you can just put in a bogus email address. In order to get the script you have to get onto his list so you can see him spew hate toward the gurus. I’d call that a string if I ever saw one.
Second, he DOES have a backend, as he is blatantly using it to promote his List Virus program. So he just broke his own definition twice.
Later on in the email he goes on to say,
I found that to be an interesting statement because in his own ebook The Autopsy on page 16 he states:
Hmmm… for some reason he is now considering 37,915 opt-ins over the course of a MONTH to justify the statement “over 40,000 double opt in subscribers almost overnight!”
Sure it was still an impressive number… but that doesn’t make it honest.
Scott Boulch of Death of Adsense fame is giving this script away free.
I just downloaded it from the following site. And it appears to do what it shows on the video.
regards
Lloyd
http://www.viralscript.com/
Boy… There are times when you can end up looking really STUPID.. and today is one of them…
I posted the above comment about Scott after reading your email and obviosuly without reading the posts beforhand. I wont do that again in a hurry ….!! :-&.
After reading the posts I have to say that I agree that all the big marketeers do spend a great deal of time pushing each others projects and launches creating massive revenues from big ticket items that don’t always live up to the promises.
I am sure Mike is a good guy, but FREE is good and you can always use the firefox add on to generate temprorary email addresses which you can access then delete once you have activated the link.
thanks for a great newsletter and good advice Eric.
Regards
Lloyd “still working at it” Hester
Hi Eric, I downloaded Scott Boulch’s script and after reading the installation instructions I understood why it is free 🙁
I am not a novice in computers or website creations but I am in scripts installations. So I hope Mike Filsaime’s script installation instruction is better detailed and explained.
Cheers
Julius
Hi Eric, I agree with Julius – I’m no newcomer to computing and technology, but this script isn’t for the faint hearted. Yes, it’s free and I’ll probably make it work for me rather than buy Mike’s one, but for most people who aren’t able or willing to figure this installation procedure out, I expect this is where Mike Filsaime’s product will meet a need. Time is money, so a lot of money/time might get spent on the ‘free’, ‘no strings version’ I think.
Woah, calm down Eric
I refer to your post
Yes, Scott does ask for an opt in (confirmed) but so does Mike, also if you don’t want to watch (yet another video) you can bypass that for the next page, whereby you can get a free gift if you refer 3 friends, incidentally, Scott also says (albeit in a different way) you can get a free gift if you refer 3 friends, I did through signature links and my gift was a discount on the list virus (which I haven’t pursued) which brings me to the point where I do agree with you and that is the Backend – Scott did say there was no backend.
But, we should all be savvy enough now to know that that (hate that) is never ever the truth.
I might as well take the time too to comment on your reviews in the past of the death of adsense etc etc, in your own posts you applied the term ‘click flipping’ in relation to your use of the method, your mate Joel jumped on the bandwagon with his own report and later on, i do believe, he released a report on CPA
Mike jumped on too with death of IM
For us trying to get it right, man oh man, can’t one of these people bring out a clear concise step by step guide.
What next, the death of the $7 dollar report
with respect
steve
Eric, you promote yourself as a non-guru, but in fact, you ARE a guru.
You do all sorts of deals with the other gurus to promote ‘products’ and ‘services’ to people on your mailling list and on their mailing lists. You really are no different than any of the other so-called ‘top’ marketeers. You are in tight with the upper echelon. You’re one of them. And to pretend otherwise is massively deceptive.
No one is saying you shouldn’t be out there trying to make money or actually making it, but you’re a bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, albeit a pleasant, friendly and polite one. Even when you talk about stuff you pretend NOT to recommend, gee, you use an affiliate link. It’s like when you go to buy a car or a gym membership, and the salesperson pretends to be on your side. It’s you and him/her against the management to get you the best deal. Actually, NO, they work for the company. And the buyer is the outsider.
Because of the pretense, I don’t find you credible. It’s a great little facade you’ve got going. And people are thanking you for it, but seem oblivious to the fact that you’re part of the incestous ring of product pushers. You’re always pushing something, usually something pretty expensive. Reminds me of (sc)Amway and the top level of execs who got rich from selling books, tapes and programs, as opposed to ACTUAL Amway products like soap and the like.
I really get a chuckle when I see the blanked out earnings statements – WAKE UP PEOPLE – that money is mostly from SELLING YOU THESE PRODUCTS, not from actually taking their own advice.
It seems that the battle between Mike and Scott is spilling over everywhere, for those of you subscribed to imnewswatch you would of received an email stating the disappointment of not just the author but several other people in the current state of affairs, I personally agree.
Interestingly though, it seems another tell a friend script has entered the fray, once sold for $97 you can now get it for free, it;s from Paul Galloway and it was on the market before the others, you should read the page as it does mention the other products and it also mentions a probled with VFG which i’m sure will be resolved now that the issue has surfaced
It’s called TAFPro and yes it does require an email address and there is an OTO if you for the AT (advanced Technology) version
Details can be found at viralsoftwaregiveaway.com and i’m not associated with the site and/or Paul Galloway
Just thought people would be interested
Kindest Regards
Steve
Jaisne – I’ve called myself the “non-guru” since long before people such as yourself would have considered me to be a “guru”. In a way, you are right on that one point. I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a guru by any spiritual definition, but in terms of being a “internet marketing guru” I would admit that I am a teacher, and I do have somewhat of a following. So if that’s the definition of a guru, then maybe I am. For that reason, I’m thinking about changing my title. It’s a tough call because I’m still a non-guru at heart, and also because it’s become part of my personal brand.
HOWEVER, to say that my work is a facade is a misjudgement. I’ve previously discussed with critics on this blog the reason I often use affiliate links even when I don’t recommend a product. Am I trying to make money with my newsletter? Of course. Show me someone who’s not trying to make money, and I’ll show you someone who’s not a good marketer.
I realize that there are people like you who will never find ANY salesperson to be credible. I can almost understand that viewpoint. But in order to become a good sales/marketer, most people need to learn from someone who is successfully DOING what they want to do. In other words, you won’t learn how to be a good internet marketer from someone who isn’t a successful internet marketer. And a successful internet marketer is always marketing something.
I want you to know that I do take my own advice. If I say I am doing or trying something, it is because I am trying it. When I started writing this newsletter, the vast majority of my income came from OUTSIDE the IM niche. Now I make a lot from the IM niche because I have a popular newsletter and I’ve created several products. But I’m continuing to make money outside the IM niche, and I plan on increasing those parts of my business this year by using some of the techniques that I’ve recommended.
The reason I’m taking a moment to defend myself here is that there are probably others who feel the same as you do. And if I’ve made myself seem less credible, then that’s something I take seriously. I do care about the success of my readers, and I hope to prove it in the way I write my newsletters.
And of course I want to write something that people enjoy reading, so I’m always open to suggestions from readers…
Thanks for the heads up Steve, After checking out Paul Galloway’s site I’d have to say he’s worse than all the rest combined in terms of exploiting the situation. He is totally blatant in his attack on Mike F, and his ENTIRE sales letter is an attack on Mike’s product. I’ll admit this is a guerilla marketing situation, but that’s just piss-poor judgement in my opinion. It seems to me like he’s just jealous that someone else INNOVATED his idea (not that Paul even invented the TAF concept) and is making money with it. It’s an obvious effort to ride the wake of Mike’s launch.
I don’t have any problem with riding the success of successful products, or even creating clones ethically (ie. engineering your own product without looking at the other product’s source code). In Pauls’ case, he didn’t need to create a clone, because his software came first. But that doesn’t make it right to essentially slander a competitor.
As a general rule (here’s a hot tip for anyone still reading this thread), it is not good marketing sense to bash your competitor’s product (this applies to Mike bashing others, and others bashing Mike, etc). When you devalue your competitor’s product (which is closely related to yours), it devalues your own product. A better approach is generally to build value in your competitors product by saying how great it is, but then build so much more value in your own product that the decision is easy for the buyer.
Eric – it looks to me like Mike was the one who created the clone, and not a very good one compared to TAFPro. But, like you, I have no problem with someone creating a clone ethically.
But what did you mean by “he’s just jealous that someone else INNOVATED his idea”? Mike copied his idea and is about to swamp him by pouring big bucks into a big launch. That’s what Microsoft does to little companies, and I don’t see why you blame Paul for fightng back in the only way that might be effective.
I generally agree with not bashing your competitor’s product, especially if you are doing the launch, but if a copycat is trying to roll over you with marketing bucks, it is street fighting time.
With Paul’s script now available free, do you still recommend buying Filsaime’s script?
Hi again Eric
So, forgetting the obvious guerilla tactics, which product in your honest unbiased opinion is better, we can probably discount viralscript from some of the comments above, so VFG or TafPro, if your choice comes out better would it not be a more informed recommendation, if however TafPro is better you can still use an affiliate link.
Incidentally, can I remind you of this post – http://www.ericstips.com/tips/cody-moya-adsense-templates-review/
Whereby you are pretty much doing everything you say you should not be doing, i.e bashing someones elses product and riding on the wave of another product (MMS)
regards
steve
Michael- I really don’t think Mike “copied” his idea, and I do think he innovated it… but of course Paul is going to give you the impression that Mike’s is an inferior knock-off. The good news is that Paul at least handles himself professionally, and he and mike worked some things out. See mike’s blog
Do I still recommend Mike’s product? Absolutely… I know it’s a good product and he’ll take care of you. And it’s especially worthwhile during the 48 hour bonus. But of course it would also make sense for anyone to download the free one and see if they like it. Heck… do both, and if you think Mike’s is inferior then ask for a refund.
Steve- I think that’s going to be a matter of opinion depending on which features of the script are most important to you. If you feel it’s an important strategy for your business, get them both and keep the one you like better. I’m personally sticking with Mike’s because I’m happy with it.
In the case of the review you mention… I don’t think that’s quite congruent to this situation. That was a situation where I proved that something was copied. He was trying to ride the wake of our success, but he did it the WRONG way.
Also, as I said above, “I DON’T have any problem with riding the success of successful products, or even creating clones ethically (ie. engineering your own product without looking at the other product’s source code).”
You bring up the obvious example of MMS, in which I was riding the wake of Butterfly Marketing’s success. It’s a perfect example really, because it involved Mike too! As I’ve stated in past blogs, I would do things differently if I had to do it all over again, but fortunately I competed in what most people would consider a fair and ethical manner. I never bashed Butterfly, but rather continued to build value in it. I think the proof is that fact that Mike and I remain good friends to this day, and I am still a proponent of the Butterfly Marketing system.
So the moral of the story is… if you don’t want to reinvent the wheel, then you SHOULD ride the wake of others’ success… but you should do it the right way.
Ok, good, change your title. That’s a good first step. Whatever you meant by ‘non-guru’, it definitely doesn’t mean the same thing now in this market space, and quite frankly, it’s galling to keep seeing it, and I suspect that is far from what you mean it to be. Your claim to fame is that you are a NO BULL MARKETING GUY. I wouldn’t say that you’re a no-hype guy, because you are, and you’ve defended that position before. You stated that hyping and creating a sense of urgency are valid marketing tools. Personally, I don’t think that they are, but that’s a different post. And yes, you ARE a teacher, of sorts, that much is quite accurate, but probably instructor is a much better and more accurate term to describe what it is that you do. And note I didn’t say you shouldn’t be making money; in fact, I said just the opposite. However, for products that you specifically recommend that people shouldn’t buy, don’t use an affiliate link. That would be a huge boost to the perception of your integrity.
Eric – I am curious to know, what are the IM “Gurus” and promoters of these products (such as yourself) saying now that it has been stated directly from Aweber.com that using these products are against their TOS?
Especially when being compliant to awebers TOS was one of the main selling points of this product…
Thanks
If aweber syas it’s not compliant then I wouldn’t use it. But as far as I know, Mike’s is OK. I need to ask him about it. If it’s not OK, I’m guessing he’ll probably work to bring it into compliance, as he did with Butterfly Marketing…
hi
eric
this is gyaneshwar from india,i does nt have a system at home,still im not getting u wat u have sending messages,wat exactly is this,how can i get a money,from where i can get a money,how ull send the dollars to me so pls send exact eormat to me.
thanks
gyaneshwar
Hi Eric
Rick Raddatz also offers another Tell A Friend Generator for free. Please comment on this one?
Lai Yin
Hi all,
After reading some of comments here, i do agree on certain things and i do disagree with certain things..
ok, i’ve tried the script and you know what ? no results in sales or whatsoever but …. i manage to get people into my list very quickly … first month using it, it was like hell…i had no idea on how to use it and wildly sending traffic to the squeeze page in hope that people will buy products from me ( coz i’m offering huge MRR and PLR as a token if they buy from my link ) and guess what…very few people responded and i’m left with about $30 of profits only…yeah it was a horrible experience for me, the list wasn’t as responsive as i wanted it to be…they just wants my token and not really buying the product that i’ve promoted…silly me
but here’s the trick that i’ve used the next month..no selling, no affiliate links and what so ever..just a squeeze page telling them to subscribe to my membership site and as a bonus if they joined at that time ( i put a time frame, i offer the bonus in just 3 days and wow..) ..they opt-in like crazy and sending lots of friends to me like crazy too..i had about 400 subsribers in just 2 days by just doing that damn simple thing…
traffic – squeeze page – optin ( with benefits and benefits and some screenshots of my income ) – VFG – Huge MRR/PLR collections ( in 3 days they will expired ) ..boy that works..
and the next month, i’m making close to $3000 by just sending them offers and offers..yes, many had left the membership after that but hey, i’m getting new ones too and that’s not a big deal to me…10 left, 20 comes …no big deal bro
and if you want to know more on how i did it, just email me at harakahdaily11@yahoo.com and i will explain how i use this script ..even if u’re failing to install it, no big deal i will help you with that too..
you see…there’s so much thing to do with scripts, and software but few people realize that it’s the creativity that will turn it to be profitable…and i always believe that there’s many other way to make money, not just buy selling and doing affiliate…just do some soft selling first ( don’t sell first )..gain their thrust, help them with basic HTML/Concept…prove to them that internet marketing is not a myth and it can be done…and the money will come, thrust me…i’ve made it and i would say thanks to Mike for the lovely script…i’m not regretting a bit on buying it…
Hope that helps…;)