I’ve seen a lot of talk recently about several well-known marketers having their Paypal accounts frozen for various reasons. These are certainly NOT new issues either – such things have been happening for years. Whilst I don’t know all the “ins and outs” of each case, I know enough about doing business online to say that as marketers we should always have a backup plan. If you take nothing else away from this blog post, please remember that!

I certainly don’t ever recommend “putting all your eggs in the one basket” – especially if it’s your livelihood at stake. And that includes using Paypal as your only source of payment option or becoming solely reliant on ANY one payment option.

I’m certainly looking hard right now at how I can become less reliant on any one payment method and I wrote this post so that I could hear your thoughts.

I should also make it clear here that I’m NOT here to bash Paypal but simply to offer a platform where we can share trustworthy alternatives for those who no longer have a Paypal account, can’t accept Paypal due to where they live or simply do not trust them.

It’s no big secret that there are a lot of people out there that HATE Paypal. You only have to jump into the WarriorForum or any other respected forum and you’ll hear the horror stories. There are whole sites dedicated to exposing some of the Paypal horror stories… some which of course are not entirely accurate or present a slightly biased view.

It would be fair to say that many of those who have had their accounts suspended or frozen have in fact broken one of Paypal’s many Terms and Conditions. The problem is though that you can talk to two different reps at Paypal and get two completely different answers – so it’s hard to know what IS acceptable and what ISN’T until it’s too late.

Having said all of that, there are far more people that actually LOVE them than HATE them!

That’s what makes it tough for us as marketers – because even when we offer alternatives, 90% or more of our customers choose to pay via Paypal. I’ve tested this in my own businesses and well over 90% of my customers pay via Paypal.

So…. I wanted to hear your opinion on a few things…

AS A VENDOR (SELLER) what are the alternatives? What’s your fallback plan if anything was to happen to YOUR Paypal account?

There is a lot of talk and speculation amongst the Internet Marketing community (rightly or wrongly) that Alertpay may become the next big payment option for marketers. They operate in a similar fashion to Paypal but appear to be a little more “flexible” in their Terms and Conditions.

And finally…. if you use Paypal regularly….

As marketers, we need to share our ideas and solutions to problems which arise from time to time. We need to be prepared for any eventualities – even if they seem unlikely. That’s why I want us to start some discussion about these things now so that we can take steps to reduce the risk.

Please feel free to share any comments as I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on alternatives to Paypal or related issues.

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Even though nearly a year ago, I posted about the state of the IM industry and how we all needed to take a stand against shoddy marketing practices and fraudsters, I still get emails on a regular basis from readers and subscribers who want me to review products that have nothing but blind sales letters. Please help me out by sharing this post or video with friends and your own subscribers if you can. It REALLY IS time we made a stand because the situation is not getting any better – in fact, in many respects – it’s actually getting WORSE.

I really want this message to get out there so that we can clean up the IM industry. Feel free to post any comments and spread the word!

Also – I’ll be releasing my the first issue of my monthly PDF newsletter in the next 48 hours. It’ll be yours free and will have plenty of good content you can use in your business. Stay tuned for an update…

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Ok … so perhaps the title of this post has already got you wound up a bit but that was kind of intended because I REALLY want to hear your opinion on this so it was important that it got your attention and stirred up enough emotion one way or the other so that you made an effort to leave a comment.

Before I get started I also want to stress that I’m NOT writing this post simply to take some “moral highground” but merely highlight frustrations that many of people in the IM industry are having right now.

Ok … so let’s get started!

You see – about the beginning of last year I pretty much stopped promoting most of the major internet marketing launches and stuck to doing my own thing – promoting my own products or building businesses in niche markets outside of IM. To be quite honest – I’d had enough of the crap. It was starting to make me feel sick inside!

Sure – I possibly lost out on some easy cash in the form of commissions, but to me it’s not about making money by deceiving people. I doubt I could sleep at night if I felt that I’d ripped off a bunch of my subscribers so I won’t recommend products I haven’t used myself.

Anyhow, I sat back and watched all the hype from the sidelines for most of 2010. Rarely did I even pass judgment in the second half of last year. I foolishly thought that perhaps these “scam” products would die a quick and painful death if I ignored them for long enough. Unfortunately I was wrong… dead wrong. (Hey – as a total aside – I even admit to my wife that “I can be wrong too at times!” LOL)

Today however, I’ve decided to start some discussion again because in the last few months I have noticed an alarming trend – and because a good portion of my lists are new to the Internet Marketing arena, I wanted to ensure that these people didn’t get carried away (aka RIPPED OFF) with this “latest craze.”

The “craze” I’m referring to here are all those $37 automated software products popping up on Clickbank on seemingly a daily basis. They all seem to use the same “cookie cutter” sales letter, false scarcity and a “blind” sales video that tells you nothing about what the actual product is or does (except make you a lot of money – supposedly.) They all seem to promise instant riches virtually at the click of a button.

What really gets my back up though is the number of promotional emails I’ll receive for these completely useless pieces of software. Have ANY of these guys who promote this stuff actually even TESTED the software? I know for a fact that most of them haven’t – because if they had, they’d realize they don’t get anywhere close to delivering what the sales letter promises.

And when you get to the sales letter, to be told there are strictly 200 copies available is a complete and utter lie. Apart from doing some basic maths, I know it’s a lie because I am offered invited to promote these products as a JV partner and I know that some of the best promoters can clock up 200 sales on their own! So for the product creator to say that they are strictly limiting sales to just 200 or whatever is just total deception.

The relentless trend of “blind” sales letters is crazy. All these guys harp on about how great their one-of-a-kind software is and how “point and click easy” it is – yet none of them are prepared to put their money where their mouth is and SHOW you the software in action BEFORE you have to make the decision to purchase it (or not!)

In any case, do you REALLY think that a guy who makes 1,067,237.34 in just 3 short months is going to share his “revolutionary autopilot software” for just $37? You know he won’t right? Unless of course the software now no longer works as it once did!

I’ll say one thing for them though – these guys have balls, that’s for sure! The one great thing about Clickbank from a customer’s perspective is that there is virtually NO RISK. Clickbank will cheerfully refund your money (no questions asked) in just about EVERY SITUATION so you are pretty safe in purchasing any Clickbank product. I guess for the creators of these types of products it is simply a “numbers game” and they bank on the fact that many customers won’t actually bother to ask for a refund. (I know I haven’t at times in the past – I probably only ask for 50% of the refunds that I SHOULD ask for.)

Most of these recent $37 launches have been PLAGUED with problems and the feedback I’ve seen on some of the forums I go to is nothing less than atrocious.

- Blind sales letters that leave you salivating for this secret software that’s supposed to rake in tons of cash on autopilot but not knowing what the heck it’s supposed to actually do before you buy!

- Software that, once you DO decide to purchase, simply doesn’t work, no longer works as it once did or is BLACKHAT and using it could most likely get you into all sorts of trouble.

- Customer service that is pathetic – leaving customers to struggle for days on end without a reply.

- And last but not least – dodgy marketing tactics on the backend! (Endless upsells, downsells, cross-sells and telemarketers calling to entice you into some high end purchase!)

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the Warrior Forum or not – but if not, then you should familiarize yourself with it. It’s a goldmine of information. As an example, check out these scathing comments on some of the recent releases:

Free Mass Traffic – WARRIOR FORUM REVIEWS

Free Mass Traffic – SALES PAGE (NO AFFILIATE LINK!)

PushButtonCashSite – WARRIOR FORUM REVIEWS

PushButtonCashSite – SALES PAGE (NO AFFILIATE LINK)

LOL.. If you try and leave the sales pages for the above two, you’ll get taken to the sales video. Take a look at the background of the video on both the above two and see if you can spot something in common! They look like they’ve been filmed in the same room! (Nothing wrong with that I guess but it’s a bit of a laugh.)

Auto Traffic Hijack – WARRIOR FORUM REVIEWS

Auto Traffic Hijack – SALES PAGE (NO AFFILIATE LINK)

Auto Blog System X – WARRIOR FORUM REVIEWS

Auto Blog System X – SALES PAGE (NO AFFILIATE LINK)

The above one was launched in August 2010 and was supposedly limited to 250 copies – yet I just visited the sales page again and it’s still up and live!

Auto Cash Hijack – WARRIOR FORUM REVIEWS

Auto Cash Hijack – SALES PAGE (NO AFFILIATE LINK)

and just released today (so brace your inbox for a bombardment from all those “marketers” who try to sell you something they won’t use themselves)

Auto Click Profits – WARRIOR FORUM REVIEWS

Auto Click Profits – SALES PAGE (NO AFFILIATE LINK)

(albeit released at a $39 pricepoint rather than the “traditional” $37 one.)

And these are just a SMALL handful of the recent launches.

Common sense would tell most people NOT to buy something that sounds “too good to be true” (at least without concrete evidence) but there’s something inside everyone that tells them “there must be an easier way!” and these guys know that a good number of people WILL actually buy. That’s how they do so well from these launches!

Don’t get me wrong – there are a TON of FANTASTIC products on Clickbank but as of late, many of the big launches have unfortunately resorted to shady promotional tactics and crappy software products that simply don’t work as they are supposed to.

I’ve had enough of the BS and I’m sure you have too. Isn’t it time we all stood up and said we’re not interested? Sure – we can just NOT BUY their crappy pieces of software and that will definitely help, but unfortunately there will always be newcomers to the IM scene who will fall victim to these guys. I need you to help me send them a message that they can’t ignore. If you feel the same way, please post a comment on my blog. Tweet about this post to your friends. Spread the word. I want to get these so-called “gurus” to understand that we’ve had enough and we won’t stand for it a day longer.

If you’ve got first-hand experience of one of these types of products be sure to post a comment about it – GOOD OR BAD. I’m all for a balanced argument but I’m a firm believer that NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is a substitute for hard work, perseverance, a positive mindset and working to a proven system!

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Below you will find my Blogging Espionage Review. As you will know if you have followed my previous reviews, I am not one to hype up them up in a bid to get you to buy though me. I will tell it like it is and my Blogging Espionage Review is no exception.

Rob Benwell recently released his Blogging Espionage product and it was promoted by a LOT of big name marketers. Did they do their research before promoting it though? You decide based on my review.

Usually Rob Benwell’s products are pretty good. That was another reason why I decided to purchase it.

As always, I purchased this product at full price ($37) and decided to give it a whirl in case it was something worth telling my subscribers and readers about. As you may already know, my track record as of late has not been good so I was not expecting big things.

The first thing that struck me is that the website stated that “Only 300 Available!” Given that I had seen several big names promote the product, I was surprised that it hadn’t already sold out. (Well to be honest, I wasn’t really but given that it WAS limited, it SHOULD have already sold out.) Needless to say, more than 2 weeks since I purchased the product, it is still being sold, so I hardly believe that only 300 copies were only available.

Anyhow, I ordered and was immediately hit with an upsell. From memory it was for several hundred dollars and involved a “coaching service” but don’t quote me on that as it was over 2 weeks ago and I’ve bought a fair few products since then!

Obviously I declined the upsells and just went with the base product.

What I received was a 40 page PDF report (36 pages when you take out the cover page, copyright info, table of contents and a brief introduction.) The product itself focuses on TWO methods to make money from blogs. Obviously I can’t go into too much detail about the specific methods here, as that would not be fair to the product creator. Pages 22 – 34 of the PDF focus solely on setting up your blog (i.e. how to register a domain name and install a WordPress blog using Fantastico – something you will see I showed you how to do on this very blog some time ago.)

Overall, I don’t doubt the method taught on the remaining pages MAY actually work, HOWEVER I think most people will be disappointed. The sales page claims:

“… It’s possible for anyone to follow and make money in a matter of a few hours… If you’re really lazy, within 24 to 48 hours.”

Personally I struggle to see how this is the case unless you are very good at writing your own content. The product recommends 6 months (approximately 60 posts) worth of content should be created initially. 6 months! Even by outsourcing that, I don’t see how it’s possible to have the job listed, your writer(s) selected and the content back to you within 24 – 48 hours??? And if you’re doing it yourself then you’ll be looking at a LOT longer. To be fair, he doesn’t recommend that they ALL have to be text posts however this will still make up the majority of the content you will need.

“The great news is you don’t have to worry about any of the following…

Having An Existing Website Or Blog
Having Any Technical Knowledge
Having Previously Made Money Online
Having To Work Long Hours
Having To Wait More Than 48 Hours To See Results
Having To Spend More Than Ten Bucks
Having Your Own Product”

If you don’t have more than Ten Bucks (the price for the domain you will need to purchase, then you can kiss goodbye to the idea of outsourcing your content.)

Personally I feel that the sales page and sales video is WAY over-hyped. The product itself is perhaps feasible if you were patient enough to follow the system, however I think that the financial rewards would be significantly less than is touted on the sales page unless you were EXTREMELY lucky.

Benwell’s guarantee is indeed compelling, however I would suspect that you would have to provide a lot of PROOF that you have actually REALLY TRIED to make the system work for you before being able to claim the $100

“$100 Guarantee #1

I GUARANTEE That You’ve Never Even Heard Of This Strategy Before… If You Prove Me Wrong And Have Heard About It Before Then I’ll Give You $100 Out Of My Own Pocket Plus A Full Refund!

$100 Guarantee #2

I Also GUARANTEE That If You Run With This Strategy YOU’LL Be Able To Make At The Very Least $1,000 By This Time Next Week… Again, If You Prove Me Wrong I’ll Send You $100!”

Overall – and sadly yet again, my advice is to save your hard earned cash. For the majority of people, there is just too much work involved to see results. IF I categorically KNEW that the system would in fact produce the results that Benwell claimed, I would indeed have implemented everything he recommended. Given that there are now thousands upon thousands of people who will be trying to use this method, I did not see it as worthy of further investigation.

Having said all of this, Clickbank does offer a 60-Day Money Back Guarantee so, if nothing else, you have a fairly good chance to test it out for yourself if you were that way inclined. Personally I wouldn’t bother spend the time or money on this one though.

I hope that you have found this Blogging Espionage review helpful. Check back for more reviews on other products regularly.

You can visit the Blogging Espionage sales page here and see it for yourself.

If you’ve actually PURCHASED the product, what are your comments? Do you agree with my Blogging Espionage review? Disagree? Leave your thoughts and be sure to vote in the poll below. I hope you enjoyed my blogging espionage review.

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I have just purchased SEOPressor and my initial impressions are very positive. I want to do some further testing to see if it can really improve my Search Engine rankings but so far I’m impressed.

I’ll be sure to update you once I have some solid results (or lack thereof.)

Right now though, it’s priced at an introductory pricing. I really don’t know if this is just a tactic and whether the price WILL actually rise but I thought I should let you know.

One other word of warning: The sales process does involve a One Time Offer HOWEVER this is clearly stated on the sales page above the order button. Basically the One Time Offer just allows you to install the plugin on UNLIMITED SITES that you own as opposed to just one.

Now – if I had wanted to, I could have made a LOT more money promoting this to my readers as soon as it was released without even having tried it, however I am not in the habit of doing that. I’ll only promote something I actually use or have tested and found that works.

More soon….

In the meantime, you can check out SEOPressor here.

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I’ve been marketing online since 2002 and during this time I’ve learned a great deal about how to make money online.

As much as is humanly possible, I try to help others succeed with an internet business however only a small percentage of people will actually go on to reach their goals. In all honesty – that really saddens me because many of those people have the “potential” to achieve amazing results but they are often a victim of their own actions.

Over the years I have analyzed why so many people fail to make money online and I’ve come up with my “top 4 reasons” below:

REASON #1. They’re Looking For A “Silver Bullet”

If you’re looking for that elusive “silver bullet”, take my advice and stop hunting right now. You won’t find one.

There is no such thing as INSTANT RESULTS and if someone has told you otherwise, I’d be extremely cautious.

I’ve personally seen it first hand. A lot of those who turn to the internet to make money online are so desperate for quick cash that they start chasing INSTANT RICHES and then, once they’ve exhausted all their available cash or maxed out their credit cards, they throw in the towel with the belief that making money online isn’t possible.

NOTHING could be further from the truth and the internet is still an incredible platform for those looking to build an extremely profitable business that will produce income for them for years to come but you need to keep in mind that the days of INSTANT RICHES (if there ever was such a thing) are long gone. Be prepared to work hard and you WILL achieve surprising results.

REASON #2. They Do Not Set Themselves Realistic Goals

At best, most people set themselves very general goals whilst others are outrageously unrealistic.

One of the most important factors in achieving success in whatever you wish to do, is to set realistic goals. By setting realistic goals you are more likely to succeed because you can easily see that you are making progress towards your overall goal at each milestone.

As an example (and please keep in mind that the exact figures themselves are not particularly important here)…

If you want to make $3000 per month online, then you should try and think realistically how this can be achieved.

Firstly – you would probably not expect to see $3000 per month in your first month. (If you did, that would be sensational but for 99.9% of people this won’t happen.) So be sure to set yourself a realistic goal.

Maybe in your first month it is your goal to earn $300 (or an average of $10 per day). By achieving even this level of income, you are PROVING to YOURSELF that making money online is in fact possible.

(Important note: In most cases, you won’t make ANY money in the first month of joining a program. That’s reality. But don’t let that put you off. You have to do the groundwork first before you will see the fruits of your labor.)

Perhaps your second month’s goal is to make $600 for the month (or an average of $20 per day).

If you keep your goals realistic and “bite-sized” you are more likely to attain your longer term goal of generating $3000 per month rather than trying to shoot for it in Month #1 only to fail and become demotivated.

HOT TIP: If you can focus on ways to make RESIDUAL INCOME (i.e. income that rolls over every month) as opposed to ONE-OFF INCOME, then you can really make some awesome money in just a few short months as each month’s income essentially gets added to the previous months’ (with the exception of any cancellations).

REASON #3. They Don’t Stick With A Program Or Plan For Long Enough To See Results

This is a biggie and it’s easy to see why this happens, especially to those who are new to the internet marketing scene. Every day, we are bombarded with money making offer after money making offer and 95% of them SEEM great on the surface of things. The problem is that, even if 50% of those offers actually WORKED, most people won’t stick with them long enough to see results.

My advice to anyone who asks me how to make money online is this:

Find a step-by-step blueprint that has been proven to work for others in your position or is recommended or created by someone you trust. Stick with that blueprint and do not deviate for at least 3 months… I say “AT LEAST” because virtually every good system will take a few months to start working for you – especially if you are starting out from scratch.

I see it all the time…

“I’ve been trying for the last 3 months to make money online. I’ve tried virtually everything there is out there and nothing seems to work! I’ve tried PPC, blogging, CPA, MLMs and heaps of other things but none have made me any money. I’m at my wits end trying to get something to work because if I don’t make money online within the next month or so, I’ll be kicked out of my apartment and living on the street. Please help.”

If only these people would stick to just ONE program and devote all their time to it, in many cases, they would have been successful. But instead, they are swayed by all the tempting offers out there and end up doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that but not enough to actually make any income.

My mother always used to say to me “good things take time” and although I didn’t always believe everything my mother used to tell me (lol), I do believe that to be true. You have to allow enough time to see results. If you skip to the next program without giving the previous one enough of a chance to work properly, you’re doing yourself (and the program) a disservice.

The key is truly to stay very focused on the tasks at hand and not being distracted by all the other offers out there. As tempting as they may be, becoming distracted will be a massive reason why you will not succeed at any.

REASON #4. There Are TOO MANY WAYS To Make Money Online So They Simply DO NOT Take Action On Any…

Despite what many might think, there are actually TOO MANY WAYS that you can make money online and that can often be the biggest reason for failure for some. They just don’t know which route to take.

There is another group of people that simply freeze at the starting gate. Often these people are too scared to take ANY action and that is what holds them back from being able to make money online. It’s a shame but it’s partially the fault of there being so many choices that the individual just simply does not know where to begin.

Whatever you do – if you decide that you are going to do something, then DO IT. Don’t sit and procrastinate. Procrastination is time wasted. By all means, do your own “due diligence” but once you have reached a decision, don’t be afraid to take action!

Stay focused on your goals and stick with your chosen plan and I can virtually guarantee that in the months ahead, you WILL make money online!

I’d love to hear from you if you have yet to make any money online. Perhaps you could take 30 seconds to complete my poll? You may even like to share your comments below so that I can help you to succeed. Also – perhaps you HAVE had success and would like to share how you achieved this?

Your friend in success,

Aaron

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