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Welcome to another edition of The Monday Morning Rant! This one was inspired by an airline that set the bar high (long ago) and has constantly lowered the bar as time as passed by.
Go check it out –
The Bad Ass Ninja Mind Tricks can help you accomplish your goals. Check it out here.
I got this wild idea a few weeks ago when I made a video about Why the Google Algorithm Change Is Crap and got some good feedback about it; plus, it made me feel better.
So this is cathartic, too; it helps me, it helps you. We're all good. I guess except for the person, place, or thing I rant about.
Today's rant is about product launches. Specifically, the ones that have the super-hypey sales letters, the super-hypey affiliates and/or JV partners, and the really crappy product(s) to back them up.
I called out "Stripped Down Profits" (don't bother to look it up because the product vendor pulled it down because it was "full"). Ahem.
Initially, I read a note on a friend's Facebook page about it. Then, I read a review by Dan Thompson on his blog: The El Passo Blog: Stripped Down Profits Review. I read a little more. Nothing positive.
You could say that I was "inspired." 
I didn't call it out as the only fraud or poster child for the scummy practice of hyping up a product to the point of everybody wanting to sign up to sell it; nope, there are tons more of these crummy products released every day. I've fallen for it, too. I've bought this junk and I've signed up to be an affiliate in the past. I will not deny it. But this has got to stop!
Consider yourself lucky if you don't get pitched for this kind of junk 7 or 8 times a day like I do.
Anyway, onto the video. This is NSFW, so beware.
By the way, I apologize for the out-of-sync audio/video. It's annoying but try to get past it 
Original YouTube video: Product-Launches-Suck
Original Facebook video: Monday Morning Rant Against Hypey Product Launches [HQ]
You ever get the feeling that you're being played? Like you're nothing but an open wallet and people want to know you just because they want what's inside that wallet?
I've been feeling that more and more every day. I bet you do feel that way on occasion.
Especially since I began to focus more of my time on internet marketing. I really thought there were some good guys out here. And maybe there are; maybe I just haven't found them yet.
Let me explain.
As an internet marketer, I personally sign up for many lists. You know, I go to a website, sign up for their "newsletter" because I like their stuff or want their "f*ree" giveaway (what the fuck does that mean? Oh, yeah, "free" is a SPAM signal, for whatever reason. Like "f*ree" isn't, right?)
But time after time, I find that the only reason these guys want me on their list is so that they can sell some crappy-ass product to me.
I really don't mind when they offer me something good. Hell, that's why I'm here. Let's be blunt: If you buy my stuff, or the stuff I promote, I make money. I don't want a lavish lifestyle. I just want to pay the damned bills. I try to offer you products and services that will help you make more money, generate more revenue, help you grow either professionally or personally (and they're inter-related, in case you hadn't noticed), or assist you in some way.
Without killing your bank account.
I try to vet out my affiliate offers and only make mention of them if I've either tried them myself or have some concrete reason to recommend them (for example, I recently picked up Magic Submitter, which I have seen work for other people, but for the life of me I cannot get to work for myself — technical issues only, not conceptual failures. But still…I'd be more enthusiastic about it if the damned thing worked for me!).
The stuff I create or convert from PLR — I try to price them such that they are good great values and — again — don't break the bank. If you're unsatisfied, I refund your money. Now, I have to say that I hate "perennial refunders" — folks who buy stuff, download it, get a refund, yet keep using the product. What a waste of human life you are.
But I digress. As I often do
So today, after getting hammered the last few weeks about shit like AutoMassTraffic (with 9 — count 'em — NINE freaking alternate offers (see Are You Sure?), Zero Down Traffic Blueprint, Google Red Carpet (see Ridiculous Internet Marketing Claims (Number 1 of a Thousand) and 7 Land Mines Under Google Red Carpet?), and other worthless and/or nearly valueless "products" (frauducts?), I'm
O-U-T
Not only am I unsubscribing from all marketing lists, I'm removing my support for a lot of stuff I used to market. Admittedly, it may take me a while to undo all of that, and I may miss a thing here or there. As an affiliate marketer, I have promotions all over the place and if I miss some, tell me about it and I'll rectify the situation as quickly as I can.
Now, the obvious question is this: Am I, Bill Davis, like all the rest?
In some ways, yes! I am here to make money. No doubt about that. But here's where I differ:
Seriously, I will only partner with folks that I respect and whose products I deem worthy. Yes, that's two conditions and they're both required. So if a guy asks me to do a JV and I respect him but his product blows, guess what? I politely decline. If the product rocks but the person is a douchebag, I walk. It's really that simple.So that's it. In a nutshell, I am so disillusioned with the internet marketing crowd and its over-hyped steaming piles of crap that I'm removing myself from marketing lists, re-evaluating my affiliate offers, and will be concentrating on what I have to offer you.
Look for some new tools coming your way as well as some helpful videos, some solid content on business-building, and some more RANTS
No, it's not what you think, and it's not the name of the latest adult movie!
I thought up this title while I was on the phone with a colleague. We are working together on some local marketing and we were both lamenting the fact that there's so much "noise" in this business.
As a general rule, those of us who call ourselves "internet marketers" sign up to be on a lot of email lists. There are multiple reasons for doing so: To be apprised of new products or techniques, to learn what the "gurus" are up to, to see how others market to their lists, and also to get all those freebies that circulate (they literally circulate like poop in the can).
Every once in a while I go on a tear where I sign up to everything. Then, I go through a period where I unsubscribe to nearly everything. Not a lot sticks, if you know what I mean.
Occasionally, I come across a breath of fresh air, a marketer who knows his stuff and who seems to be ethical, honest, and helpful. One of those guys is Michael Rasmussen. He's putting out a completely free how-to video series on setting up Joint Ventures, or JVs, called, "Joint Ventures Exposed."
But I digress.
I get dozens of offers every single day and I'm just about sick of it. Especially when it's the same offer from 20 different internet marketers. What boggles my mind is how they think this over-hyping will sell anything?
Of course, it "works." For the short term. I, for one, am not immune to this. I buy this crap. And then I get a refund because it's so much like everything else out there. (Wait while I puke in my mouth.)
Okay, I'm back.
Scope? Listerine? Vodka!
Anyway, we get inundated with so much crap that we forget our mission: To make money by helping others. That really is how internet marketing is supposed to work.
Instead, we "sit and spin."
It's a euphemism for getting nothing done. Not a damned thing done.
I'm done not getting anything done.
(Imagine me putting up a ginormous Do Not Disturb sign.)
After my last post, the first of many internet Marketing annoyances I've experienced, entitled, Annoying Internet Marketing Business Practice Number 1, about how I hate despise IMers not putting the price to their "most awesome product EVER" in their sales pages, I though I'd rant a little more today
A method a lot of internet marketers use is the "Are you sure?" method. This is where you take a look at their sales or squeeze page and proceed to exit. Perhaps their offer isn't compelling enough for you, it's just not right for you, or god forbid, they didn't put a price on their offer!
When you attempt to exit, you get a message box that pops up that — in essence — asks "Are you sure?" You then have two options: Ok, yes, I'm sure, leave me the hell alone OR Cancel.
Cancel does not close the browser tab or window. It either takes you to another page or keeps you on the same page. The second method really doesn't work. But the former does — in some cases.
NOTE: keep reading, I have a trick for you. Skip to the bottom if you read the last page of a book first, just to see if it's worth reading
So you cancel. You're given another offer. If you're an internet marketer, watch what happens and record how you feel. Your customers are liable to feel similarly.
Often, you'll be offered something different from the original offer. Sort of like when the kid at McDonald's asks if you want fries with that, and when you say "No," he responds with, "Would you like an ice cream?"
Sometimes the offer is pertinent, sometimes it's not. I don't get that one, by the way.
"Would you like me to check your oil?"
"Uh, no thanks, I wanted a Big Mac."
Anyway, sometimes the offer is a less costly downgrade. I get that. The idea is that — for the money — the offer wasn't what the reader wanted. Perhaps price was the issue. Strip down the product and make it more affordable.
Totally reasonable.
But let's say you don't want that offer either. You try to click away. Guess what? You get another, "Are you sure?"
YES, I AM SURE.
I've seen this occur up to 4 to 5 times on the same website. You just have to keep clicking Ok until the incessant offers cease.
It's like being on a porn page that spawns literally dozens of "related sites" that you may be interested in. Don't like bondage? How about interracial? No, why not 3-ways? Not good enough?
Uh, you get the grim picture.
When this happens, because it's totally freaking annoying, I make note of the IMer and endeavor never to view another of his offers. It's just a waste of my time. I'm a simple guy, looking for simple solutions. If I look at your stuff and decide against it, I'm done. Please don't keep offering me crap.
Okay, for all you "I can't wait to read the whole damned post, I want the shocking ending right now!" folks, here goes.
If you really like an offer and want to buy it, even at the original offer price, do this:
Try to leave. Many times, you will get another offer. As described before, sometimes the offer is completely different, and sometimes it's a stripped down lower-priced version.
But it may be the same product at a lower price.
I actually just saw this last night, where I liked the offer, tried to leave, got a second offer at $10 less, tried to leave, and got a third offer at still another $10 off! A legitimate $27 product was mine for only $7.
Now, if I had done some sleuthing, I probably could have found that final offer somewhere else. But this is the lazy man's way of finding the oftentimes rock-bottom price that an internet marketer is willing to take for his product.
In conclusion, if you like a product, try to leave. When asked, "Are you sure?" click Cancel. See if you get a better offer. If you do, repeat the process. Keep on repeating until you run out of offers. Then, start over, noting how many times you had to click Cancel before the offers stopped. Then buy.
Simple, eh?
And it makes you feel better for having to wade through the aggravation!
