Enjoyed the site but the content is over priced. Michael made a pitch to help his subscribers save money but I don't think it made the site a better value. Michael has an approachable, easy going demeanor but the content is not the caliber of other training sites. That is not to say its not good, in my opinion its not a value at the current price of addmission.
For those new to internet marketing Ed Dale's 30 day Challenge material will be a much better starting point.
I have started to look at some of Mike Filsaime's material. One thing I liked is he gives very clear instructions for canceling. There are so mnay programs that fail on this point. So kudos to that and I will post on the content shortly.
If you are getting started please read my post: "Listbuilding and more"
Tuesday
Wednesday
Bank Security Info and Unemployment Tips
I learned today that Bank of America has several anti-fraud features. Though I am not a big customer I found today that they are doing pretty good job giving their customers tools to shop safe and protect their accounts.
On a different note....unemployment. I am hearing about several companies selling job search features to people and flat out ripping them off. If you have been looking for work and had very little success let me suggest the following before you pay someone to help you.
Job Help Tips
1. Find support groups. Look online for your area, check churches-they sponsor a lot. You can also find groups focusing on your area of work. Such as marketing, engineering etc.
2. Speak to recruiters that are paid by employers. They are always looking new candidates but more importantly they can give you excellent insight into what is going on in the job field you are searching in.
3. If you think you want to use a pay for service recruiter then take the time to interview several and ask for referrals that they think are similar to your situation. To interview a person in a high demand field will be of little value to you if yo are in a crowded market space like IT.
4. Build your network group by seeking as many meetings as you can.
5. Be aggressive marketing yourself. Employers today care more about what you will do for them as opposed to what you did in the past. Work on branding yourself and write articles to publish online that can set you apart from the pack.
I hope this helps
On a different note....unemployment. I am hearing about several companies selling job search features to people and flat out ripping them off. If you have been looking for work and had very little success let me suggest the following before you pay someone to help you.
Job Help Tips
1. Find support groups. Look online for your area, check churches-they sponsor a lot. You can also find groups focusing on your area of work. Such as marketing, engineering etc.
2. Speak to recruiters that are paid by employers. They are always looking new candidates but more importantly they can give you excellent insight into what is going on in the job field you are searching in.
3. If you think you want to use a pay for service recruiter then take the time to interview several and ask for referrals that they think are similar to your situation. To interview a person in a high demand field will be of little value to you if yo are in a crowded market space like IT.
4. Build your network group by seeking as many meetings as you can.
5. Be aggressive marketing yourself. Employers today care more about what you will do for them as opposed to what you did in the past. Work on branding yourself and write articles to publish online that can set you apart from the pack.
I hope this helps
More on Delta Squadron
Follow up to my early post on this program. The video production quality is good I am enjoying them. The content is not great. For someone starting out I think they'd create more questons than they answer and the program does not provide an easy to follow road map. I think for a more experienced marketer there would be some valuable content and justify remaining a member for a short while.
More to follow.
More to follow.
Delta Squadron
I got this email promoting a live webinar...cool I like these and when done right can be very effective. I got 4 of these from various marketers so I know he is JVing with several people and paying them a commission to promote this program.
Here is what the email said:
Well one hour later nothing of value was delivered. Absolutely nothing. We heard about how he had a terrible job (I read online he was an IT guy at Exxon Mobil). So I think he's embellishing a bit....listening to him the first time through I thought he was working a job like a sewer cleaner or some other job you might see on the TV show Dirty Jobs. Working at ExxonMobil in IT... I don't think would qualify.Ok so he did not like it ok.
30 minutes into the webinar he has said NOTHING of value. I know something about his life (TMI really),his apartment and a nasty bed, his job and that he floundered online for several years. Albeit interesting it does not live up to the webinar playbill. I would summarize it as another example of hype and greed appeal hoping to cajole people into trying his program.
Let's look at what was promoted.
In the beginning for the webinar he says he is going to give the listener "awesome stuff" later he says he's going to give us the "lo-down DETAIL [my emphasis] of what delta squadron is..." Did not deliver on this. No details, not even an outline or a topical list.
At no time in the entire webinar did he give information about what he did--not even in general terms like niche marketing or MLM etc.
As in so many presentations like this you hear a description that goes no further than calling it a system, secrets or special program etc. You would never buy a product in a store with so little information.
Now what I learned online is he made his money selling another me-to training program that, depending on who you talk to, was a rehash of readily available internet marketing material. As with others, partnering with big list holders can sell a program fast in a very short period of time. A prospective buyer of this program should know how Mr. Cheney made his money because you may not be able to replicate what he did. He has partners and access to mailing lists with thousands of names on them.
Let's look at the other excerpt from the email.
This was another failed deliverable. After describing how much money he made he simply concludes that he has now disclosed how he made his money. That's it! The listener is given nothing but anecdotal information and more lifestyle stories. When he is done talking the listener has nothing to act on (except to buy into the trial and program) and does not have any detail.
Here is what I would have preferred he do and as consumers we should insist be done if they want to use some of our time to make their pitch.
1. If you feel compelled to tell your life story, keep it short.
2. Don't blab on about money,money money...we get it! If I am listening I have already come to the conclusion you might know what you're talking about.
3. Give me some detail so I can evaluate your program. Ok maybe you do have some proprietary information but if you cannot give some generic description other than repeating over and over again its a system or secret stuff then most likely you do not have anything of value. We have recommended to our readers that if you cannot say what you are buying or have some idea of the content and you can only get that info by paying up then we recommend you look elsewhere. There are so many mentors that will tell you up front what you will be buying.
So the bottom line is the promo and lead-ins over promised and under delivered.
I did like the $1 trial offer. I am going to do this and will report back here what I find. He refers to his friends Shawn Casey and Tellman Knudsen so I am thinking that I will see some similarity to Casey's business-in-a-box program or Knudsen's ListBuilder Club. Do some due diligence on these guys to get a feel for whether or not you want to work with these folks.
I cannot find any bad reports online that he makes canceling a problem but just in case I would recommend you use the safe shopping techniques I have talked about before.
Check in later and I will let you know what I find out. Mike...drop me an email I'd like to interview you directly.
PS. You would not believe the process for signing up. After you sign up for the $1 you have to go through 3 other squeeze pages trying to up sell you...and the copy is really quite funny. Good insight into how he made his money. As I say, it takes a lot of bull to catch a fool.
Here is the header and then the "No thanks" copy that follows {MY NOTES IN BRACKETS]:
Pressure page #1:
lead in:
STOP!
Your Order Is NOT Complete
Please Customize
Your Order
Order 86% Complete
As my way of thanking you for joining Delta Squadron...
Here's How You Can Get
53 Kick-Ass [SAYS WHO?], Cash-Creating SWIPE Files
That Quadruple Your Conversions,
Make You Money on Autopilot And Hypnotize Top Super Affiliates
into Sending You Thousands of Hungry Buyers! The best part: you are getting
52 of these Swipe Files for FREE!
[You buy or to move forward to conclusion click "no thanks". You can almost hear the whining..hahaha]
No thanks. I already know how to create multi-million dollar marketing campaigns [no I just don't know if you are trustworthy yet], there's nothing that you Michael (with your 14 years' online experience) can teach me [oh please pout elsewhere. This sounds like something you'd hear arguing with a four year old]. Even though you are giving me 52 of the 53 cash-creating power Swipe Files for FREE I'd prefer to go about this on my own and I'll pass up this chance to get a WHOPPING 92% discount on these exclusive ready-made Fast Cash Swipe Files that will never again be available...[yea what a value...how many thousand other people are going to be using these?...yea really exclusive and I'm sure that just one is worth the $127 price tag--baloney!]
Pressure page #2
lead in:
Your Order Is NOT Complete Please Customize Your Order
Order 97% Complete [oh, please make it soon!!]
Congratulations! You're almost done, but if you're serious about making money online...You must read the following IMPORTANT life-changing announcement...
I've Done All The Hard Work For You And Created 7 Profit-Pumping Products,[...that thousands of others will be using....we've seen something like this on cheap Jeff Paul TV infomercials] Stunning Salesletters And Websites For You To Sell As Your Own!
(And You're Getting SIX of Them For FREE!)Yes! You just have to pay the low [this is cheap and common], one-time, one-off investment of $397 for one product-pack and I'll give you the other SIX for nothing! :-)
[to move on click the no thanks that says:]
I don't want SIX free, professionally-created, ready-to-earn products, I don't want SIX free sales-inducing salesletters and I don't want SIX free mouth-watering graphic sets. I would rather spend hundreds [give me a break!!] of hours slaving [you can almost hear your Mom here after you messed up the kitchen] away to create my own one single product from scratch rather than have you hand me SIX free ready-made, professionally-researched, expertly hand-crafted, ready-to-sell products, websites and salesletters right now [that soon thousands of other would-be marketers will be popping up all over the internet...yup that sure is a value!]. I am already a celebrity [when you can't convince with fact and value try using sarcasm...what a class act-NOT] in my marketplace with thousands of customers begging to give me money so there's nothing I can learn from Michael's advice so I will pass up this insanely [maybe insane to trust someone using these sales tactics] great offer of getting all the Secret Weapons for a jaw-dropping 89% discount [I'm wondering if he made his money using high pressure garbage like this? For someone dedicated to helping others he has a lot to learn about appealing to people honestly and with respect]
Add sales page #3
Lead in:
STOP! Your Order Is NOT Complete Please CustomizeYour Order
Order 97% Complete
WAIT! Before you miss out on all the Profit-Pumping Ready-To-Earn Products...
PRICE SLASHED BY 50%!
Sorry The Last Offer Was Too Expensive For You - Now You're Getting ALL 7 Ready-To-Earn Killer Products at a 50% Discount! [ I wonder if you got fed up with this ridiculous copy and closed out if you'd still get the program trial?]
No thanks- even though you have SLASHED the price from its real value of $3491 [so YOU say] all the way down to $197 which is a 95% saving I still want to walk away from this incredible deal.[sounds like the guy selling the hollowed out rolex and its yours fro teh low price of $500...wow what a value....it's spent! useless!] I know that you will never make this available to me again [yeah right, I'm getting the impression you'll doing anything, say anything for a buck] and that I will kick myself afterwards for not grabbing these READY-TO-EARN products, cash-creating websites and stunning salesletters. [or sigh with relief that I did not get ripped off like so many other hard working people looking to make an honest dollar selling a good product]
This is really funny. Most readers probably don't know who this is, they certainly know nothing about the quality of the content because neither the pages nor the webinar gave any detail and yet the marketer has the gumption to act as if you have insulted him by not buying his product SITE UNSEEN. I will post what I find out in the program but based on what I have read so far this sounds like a real snake-oil salesman
Here is what the email said:
...register for this exclusive
FREE Live Webcam Training Event
where you'll discover for free;
- How to push the button of
Massive Passive Income that
will flow into your hands
automatically whilst you
watch TV, go on another
vacation, go shopping or
do whatever it is you want
to do
- You'll be given everything
you need to make MASSIVE CASH
FAST by using the easy
step-by-step secret tactics
of this "overnight" millionaire
- Grab the exact-same push-button
cash tactics that he used to
blast from ZERO to $5 Million
in record time
Well one hour later nothing of value was delivered. Absolutely nothing. We heard about how he had a terrible job (I read online he was an IT guy at Exxon Mobil). So I think he's embellishing a bit....listening to him the first time through I thought he was working a job like a sewer cleaner or some other job you might see on the TV show Dirty Jobs. Working at ExxonMobil in IT... I don't think would qualify.Ok so he did not like it ok.
30 minutes into the webinar he has said NOTHING of value. I know something about his life (TMI really),his apartment and a nasty bed, his job and that he floundered online for several years. Albeit interesting it does not live up to the webinar playbill. I would summarize it as another example of hype and greed appeal hoping to cajole people into trying his program.
Let's look at what was promoted.
- How to push the button of Massive Passive Income that will flow into your hands
automatically whilst you watch TV, go on another vacation, go shopping or do whatever it is you want to do
In the beginning for the webinar he says he is going to give the listener "awesome stuff" later he says he's going to give us the "lo-down DETAIL [my emphasis] of what delta squadron is..." Did not deliver on this. No details, not even an outline or a topical list.
At no time in the entire webinar did he give information about what he did--not even in general terms like niche marketing or MLM etc.
As in so many presentations like this you hear a description that goes no further than calling it a system, secrets or special program etc. You would never buy a product in a store with so little information.
Now what I learned online is he made his money selling another me-to training program that, depending on who you talk to, was a rehash of readily available internet marketing material. As with others, partnering with big list holders can sell a program fast in a very short period of time. A prospective buyer of this program should know how Mr. Cheney made his money because you may not be able to replicate what he did. He has partners and access to mailing lists with thousands of names on them.
Let's look at the other excerpt from the email.
- You'll be given everything you need to make MASSIVE CASH FAST by using the easy step-by-step secret tactics of this "overnight" millionaire. In the video he says he'll be gicing the listener, "down to earth info you CAN START TO APPLY"
This was another failed deliverable. After describing how much money he made he simply concludes that he has now disclosed how he made his money. That's it! The listener is given nothing but anecdotal information and more lifestyle stories. When he is done talking the listener has nothing to act on (except to buy into the trial and program) and does not have any detail.
Here is what I would have preferred he do and as consumers we should insist be done if they want to use some of our time to make their pitch.
1. If you feel compelled to tell your life story, keep it short.
2. Don't blab on about money,money money...we get it! If I am listening I have already come to the conclusion you might know what you're talking about.
3. Give me some detail so I can evaluate your program. Ok maybe you do have some proprietary information but if you cannot give some generic description other than repeating over and over again its a system or secret stuff then most likely you do not have anything of value. We have recommended to our readers that if you cannot say what you are buying or have some idea of the content and you can only get that info by paying up then we recommend you look elsewhere. There are so many mentors that will tell you up front what you will be buying.
So the bottom line is the promo and lead-ins over promised and under delivered.
I did like the $1 trial offer. I am going to do this and will report back here what I find. He refers to his friends Shawn Casey and Tellman Knudsen so I am thinking that I will see some similarity to Casey's business-in-a-box program or Knudsen's ListBuilder Club. Do some due diligence on these guys to get a feel for whether or not you want to work with these folks.
I cannot find any bad reports online that he makes canceling a problem but just in case I would recommend you use the safe shopping techniques I have talked about before.
Check in later and I will let you know what I find out. Mike...drop me an email I'd like to interview you directly.
PS. You would not believe the process for signing up. After you sign up for the $1 you have to go through 3 other squeeze pages trying to up sell you...and the copy is really quite funny. Good insight into how he made his money. As I say, it takes a lot of bull to catch a fool.
Here is the header and then the "No thanks" copy that follows {MY NOTES IN BRACKETS]:
Pressure page #1:
lead in:
STOP!
Your Order Is NOT Complete
Please Customize
Your Order
Order 86% Complete
As my way of thanking you for joining Delta Squadron...
Here's How You Can Get
53 Kick-Ass [SAYS WHO?], Cash-Creating SWIPE Files
That Quadruple Your Conversions,
Make You Money on Autopilot And Hypnotize Top Super Affiliates
into Sending You Thousands of Hungry Buyers! The best part: you are getting
52 of these Swipe Files for FREE!
[You buy or to move forward to conclusion click "no thanks". You can almost hear the whining..hahaha]
No thanks. I already know how to create multi-million dollar marketing campaigns [no I just don't know if you are trustworthy yet], there's nothing that you Michael (with your 14 years' online experience) can teach me [oh please pout elsewhere. This sounds like something you'd hear arguing with a four year old]. Even though you are giving me 52 of the 53 cash-creating power Swipe Files for FREE I'd prefer to go about this on my own and I'll pass up this chance to get a WHOPPING 92% discount on these exclusive ready-made Fast Cash Swipe Files that will never again be available...[yea what a value...how many thousand other people are going to be using these?...yea really exclusive and I'm sure that just one is worth the $127 price tag--baloney!]
Pressure page #2
lead in:
Your Order Is NOT Complete Please Customize Your Order
Order 97% Complete [oh, please make it soon!!]
Congratulations! You're almost done, but if you're serious about making money online...You must read the following IMPORTANT life-changing announcement...
I've Done All The Hard Work For You And Created 7 Profit-Pumping Products,[...that thousands of others will be using....we've seen something like this on cheap Jeff Paul TV infomercials] Stunning Salesletters And Websites For You To Sell As Your Own!
(And You're Getting SIX of Them For FREE!)Yes! You just have to pay the low [this is cheap and common], one-time, one-off investment of $397 for one product-pack and I'll give you the other SIX for nothing! :-)
[to move on click the no thanks that says:]
I don't want SIX free, professionally-created, ready-to-earn products, I don't want SIX free sales-inducing salesletters and I don't want SIX free mouth-watering graphic sets. I would rather spend hundreds [give me a break!!] of hours slaving [you can almost hear your Mom here after you messed up the kitchen] away to create my own one single product from scratch rather than have you hand me SIX free ready-made, professionally-researched, expertly hand-crafted, ready-to-sell products, websites and salesletters right now [that soon thousands of other would-be marketers will be popping up all over the internet...yup that sure is a value!]. I am already a celebrity [when you can't convince with fact and value try using sarcasm...what a class act-NOT] in my marketplace with thousands of customers begging to give me money so there's nothing I can learn from Michael's advice so I will pass up this insanely [maybe insane to trust someone using these sales tactics] great offer of getting all the Secret Weapons for a jaw-dropping 89% discount [I'm wondering if he made his money using high pressure garbage like this? For someone dedicated to helping others he has a lot to learn about appealing to people honestly and with respect]
Add sales page #3
Lead in:
STOP! Your Order Is NOT Complete Please CustomizeYour Order
Order 97% Complete
WAIT! Before you miss out on all the Profit-Pumping Ready-To-Earn Products...
PRICE SLASHED BY 50%!
Sorry The Last Offer Was Too Expensive For You - Now You're Getting ALL 7 Ready-To-Earn Killer Products at a 50% Discount! [ I wonder if you got fed up with this ridiculous copy and closed out if you'd still get the program trial?]
No thanks- even though you have SLASHED the price from its real value of $3491 [so YOU say] all the way down to $197 which is a 95% saving I still want to walk away from this incredible deal.[sounds like the guy selling the hollowed out rolex and its yours fro teh low price of $500...wow what a value....it's spent! useless!] I know that you will never make this available to me again [yeah right, I'm getting the impression you'll doing anything, say anything for a buck] and that I will kick myself afterwards for not grabbing these READY-TO-EARN products, cash-creating websites and stunning salesletters. [or sigh with relief that I did not get ripped off like so many other hard working people looking to make an honest dollar selling a good product]
This is really funny. Most readers probably don't know who this is, they certainly know nothing about the quality of the content because neither the pages nor the webinar gave any detail and yet the marketer has the gumption to act as if you have insulted him by not buying his product SITE UNSEEN. I will post what I find out in the program but based on what I have read so far this sounds like a real snake-oil salesman
Tuesday
Listbuilding and more
Over the last few days I have been looking at several online sales pages also known as squeeze pages. These pages are usually one (very long) page with all kinds of sales hype. I have developed this safe shopping formula to help avoid garbage.
This is what I mean. The more hyped up claims, bold statements (without one word of support),and ego challenging come-ons you see on a page the greater the likelihood they are looking for a fool. Don't let that be you. You will save yourself thousands of dollars if you guard your mind from falling into these big money come-ons.
Here are some examples:
This is clearly hyped up none sense. No where on the page does the marketer ever give the reader a solid description of what they are buying. You should also know that very often its not the content or "secrets" that has made them money but the marketing list they have. A list that takes time to build. More on this later.
Wow great!....but then over 5000 words later they are still going on and on about how wonderful they are and how they just want to help you. If they're giving this away or as was quoted above, "I don't want you to buy...", then why are they trying so hard to SELL you something?
I hope this helps. There are good opportunities out there and a ton of garbage so be careful.
The greater the bull the bigger the fool
This is what I mean. The more hyped up claims, bold statements (without one word of support),and ego challenging come-ons you see on a page the greater the likelihood they are looking for a fool. Don't let that be you. You will save yourself thousands of dollars if you guard your mind from falling into these big money come-ons.
Here are some examples:
1. Our most successful member will choose this option"Really? Oh jeez I better jump on this even though I can't verify what you're saying". I want to be part of the "success" group. Nonsense for all you know the only members he has are his dog and cat. It is not relevant to you what others are or are not doing. What is important to you is does this person offer a good product that you can use to your satisfaction?
2. And I’ve convinced these marketers (the same people I learned from) to reveal their top success strategies, secrets, and tricks for you each month, helping you to generate more money – FASTER! This is the kind of insider info they’re not revealing anywhere else!You have got to be kidding! Do you mean to tell me that you are the ONLY one....wow. You convinced them....really? how? No convincing here other than offering to sell his folks what they are selling their folks....but hey he did say this was "secret" so maybe they are marketing good Samaritans. Not.
This is clearly hyped up none sense. No where on the page does the marketer ever give the reader a solid description of what they are buying. You should also know that very often its not the content or "secrets" that has made them money but the marketing list they have. A list that takes time to build. More on this later.
3. WARNING! Making Money Online Just Got Push Button Simple…Warning? what's wrong? these nothing-to-it come-ons are the worst of the bunch. Anyone in Internet marketing will tell you it takes effort, you have to attract customers, you have to write good sales copy, offer a good product and provide good content and the list goes on. When you see something like this just know you are being treated like a fool and they expect the reader not to think but just react.
4. I don’t want you to buy something from me… that’s not what this is about…[variants of this are "it's free", "no charge", "giving this away"
Wow great!....but then over 5000 words later they are still going on and on about how wonderful they are and how they just want to help you. If they're giving this away or as was quoted above, "I don't want you to buy...", then why are they trying so hard to SELL you something?
5. ...it’s just “too good to be trueWhen a marketer tries to use this to make a reader think that it's NOT too good to be true then it probably IS too good to be true and you are going to gt ripped off.
6. YES, JEFF! SIGN ME UP! Please send me the XXXXX training, and grant me immediate access to the XXXXX List Building System for 30 Days FREE. (I'll be billed a simple low $47/month after that if I decide to stay on - no pressure!)Well when I searched the page there was a privacy policy link and and terms of use link but no documentation about cancellation etc. So you are asked to give your credit card number to buy a program- the exact contents of which you don't know-under terms and conditions that are not disclosed. Does that sound like a good idea? No!
7. This will change your lifeOne sales letter went on for over 6000 words talking about who he was, his poor beginnings, how he helped his father and brothers and then throw in some testimonials and some money shots. Oh don't forget the big house and expensive car shots...dang almost missed that. Anyway there is nothing on this page that could come close to being "life changing". So clearly this is hype. Another rule of thumb...."hype is directly proportional to the probability of waste". The more hype and filler wording you read the greater the chance that you will be buying fluff.
I hope this helps. There are good opportunities out there and a ton of garbage so be careful.
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