Clickbank Code Review Wrapup

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Posted by The NetKnucklehead | Posted on 22-05-2009

Category : Products to Avoid

Tags: , ,

This post will conclude my review of the Clickbank Code course by Michael Jones and unfortunately, the product was a “washout”.

For the second time in a few weeks, I’ve got to say that I really, really, really wanted to like a particular Clickbank product. This time it was the Clickbank Code course. (Prior to that it was the Rich Garbage Man)

My first impressions were favorable. The videos were well done. Although the information wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking, I still managed to pick up a couple of things. And I really liked the Excel spreadsheet that is used to evaluate a product’s potential.

But in the end, I just can’t in good concious recommend buying the Clickbank Code course. Here are my complaints:

  • Not enough new material or information to justify the price.
  • You better have some money saved before trying to make money following the Clickbank Code methods, otherwise, you’ll lose your shorts paying PPC costs. For example, Mr. Jones recommends a daily ad budget of $500 to start.
  • No examples included of the types of sites you’ll be creating.
  • I noticed as of today (5/22) the refund rate is over 19%.

So this concludes the Clickbank Code Review.  I will be requesting a refund of my purchase but I will keep searching for REAL money-making products. Make sure you subsribe to the blog (top left column) so you’ll be notified when I hit the jackpot!

Take care.

-The NetKnucklehead

Disclaimer: This post contains my personal opinions and does not reflect the opinion of any organization I am/was associated with or affiliated to.

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The Clickbank Code Review

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Posted by The NetKnucklehead | Posted on 14-05-2009

Category : Products to Avoid

Tags: ,

cbcodeThe Clickbank Code review is an honest, unbiased look at the latest course to hit the streets promising financial freedom. Since we’re definitely interested in anything that advances us a stage toward our goal of escaping the cubicle, I thought a review of The Clickbank Code was necessary.

As of this writing, I am just now starting to go through the course. I paid $77 to get access to it. After logging into the members area, I have access to 6 different modules and inside those modules are anywhere from 2 to 6 videos. The names of the modules are:

1. Making a killing as an affiliate

2. Powerful keyword research

3. It’s all about the offer

4. Buyers on demand

5. Article what?

6. Killer free traffic tactic

I’ve only had the course for maybe 10 minutes so I’ve only listened to one video (“How to be Succecssful”) so far. My initial impression about the video is positive. The author of The Clickbank Code, Michael Jones, has a pleasant speaking voice and I thought he did a good job on the video. The information was not your typical “you need to have the right mindset” stuff that is usually repeated over and over by other courses.

I will continue to update The Clickbank Code review after I’ve had time to view more of the videos. If you’re already convinced this is YOUR path to financial freedom and escape from the cubicle walls, you can purchase the Clickbank Code by following this link.

5-14-2009 7:00 p.m. update:

I’ve been skipping around in the different modules of The Clickbank Code viewing the videos that peaked my interest the most. So far I’ve probably watched around 10 of the videos.

I am very impressed with this course to this point. Michael Jones does a fabulous job of explaining things in his videos. Everything just seems to make sense. Kudos to Michael for a job well done.

One thing I am a little ticked about right now is the inability to find or download a spreadsheet that Michael uses in the videos. He says we will get a copy but I cannot find any instructions whatsoever on how to get it. I submitted a problem ticket to their ‘help desk’ at 5:44 p.m. and haven’t received a reply yet. The spreadsheet is a key component to following the steps in The Clickbank Code so I’m kind of dead in the water until I can get it. Until I do, I will continue to watch the videos.

I will update this post again when I have more to share.

5-15-2009 8:13 a.m. update:

No one has responded to the ticket I submitted to the Clickbank Code help desk, however, I noticed this morning the missing spreadsheet has been added to the members area so that’s good. Now I can continue going through the course by evaluating potential Clickbank products.

One thing I should point out is this course isn’t groundbreaking in terms of using Clickbank to make money. The same basic system (process) is followed:

1) Find a product
2) Find keywords
3) Create a landing page/website
4) Set up a PPC campaign
5) Get other traffic
6) Evaluate.

The point I want to make is this: You must be able and willing to spend money on PPC campaigns (Adwords, for example) for this process to really work. Yes, you can use free traffic but results will be very slow coming.

Anyway, I will continue going through the course today and start working on a test following Michael’s methods. Of course I will document everything so you can see the results.

5-15-2009 9:00 a.m. update:

GRRRRRRR, the Excel spreadsheet I downloaded from the course is completely blank! It is supposed to be the one shown in the Clickbank Code videos.

Very, Very Frustrating!

5-15-2009 10:20 a.m. update:

FINALLY – I just downloaded the Excel CB Evaluator spreadsheet and everything is there. I will now start doing some product evaluations on potential products to sale.

BTW, no one ever responded to my trouble ticket I submitted to the help desk or send me an email to let me know the spreadsheet was ready. I had to keep downloading it periodically to see if it had been fixed. VERY poor customer service so far.

Stay tuned….

5-17-2009 3:00 p.m. update:

After getting frustrated over the weekend, I almost gave up on The Clickbank Code. The source of my frustration was finding a website template for the landing page/website. This may not sound like a big deal but the author recommends creating a full website containing articles, a landing page, contact page, privacy policy, sitemap, and a blog. I don’t like spending a lot of time developing websites with Dreamweaver so I started searching for the easiest tool to use. (Note: The course recommends a particular hosting company which comes with some website templates. I prefer using my own hosting so I didn’t go this route.)

This search caused me to get sidetracked by looking at the newest version of XsitePro (XSP). XSP can certainly do everything I need so I was close to upgrading my version 1 copy to version 2 ($127). In the end, I didn’t do it because I decided I could do the same thing using WordPress. It was during this research period that I was about ready to call it quits.

But I’m still plugging away with my first Clickbank Code campaign. I’ve identified a couple of Clickbank products I’m going to use. What I’m doing now is trying to get my head around this ‘landing page’, ‘themes’, and ‘story’ concept Michael mentions in his videos. One big complaint I have about the course so far – no examples of anything. It would be extremely helpful to see a site and a landing page and the three themes he talks about.

I will continue my review of The Clickbank Code course and provide updates as I proceed.


Click here to get YOUR copy of The Clickbank Code

-The NetKnuckleHead

Disclaimer: This post contains my personal opinions and does not reflect the opinion of any organization I am/was associated with or affiliated to.

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Rich Garbage Man Review

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Posted by The NetKnucklehead | Posted on 12-05-2009

Category : Case Studies, Products to Avoid

Tags: , ,

Rich Garbage Man Review

Rich Garbage Man Review

I recently received emails about the launch of THE RICH GARBAGE MAN by Scott Laevy. And I have to admit the concept of a garbage man turning his life around by making gobs of money via the internet is clever. It’s bound to raise the curiosity factor, at least it did for me.

I searched around the Internet looking for honest reviews of The Rich Garbage Man. Surprisingly, I didn’t really find any that I thought were legitimate, as in not just trying to make a fast commission.

So what do I do? I buy the product and do my own Rich Garbage Man review of course. After all, I LOVE spending money on new courses and software. It’s an addiction, I believe.

It wasn’t too surprising that I was able to buy the Rich Garbage Man ‘manuscript’ for less than half price ($27). That seems to be all the marketing rage these days. How? Just go to the main salesletter page, then try to navigate away from the page. A lot of the sites will then display a popup telling you that you qualify for special pricing.

The other big marketing trick these days is to sell you a course at a very discounted price and then display page after page of “special” one time offers on your way to actually receiving the download links to receive your purchase. The Rich Garbage Man certainly did this in a big way which is very annoying.

Finally, I arrived at the course links page. Or did I? I wasn’t sure because the page started out with an offer of a free website. That was followed by some special bonuses (mostly rehashed crap). I actually left the page and checked my email hoping to find links to the dang course. I eventually made my way back to the links page and found them. It was far, far from obvious.

I then began going through the Rich Garbage Man “manuscript” and I use the word “manuscript” VERY loosely. The first section of the prized “manuscript” was a whopping 6 pages. (The 6th page was actually blank.) But let me tell you what my reactions were upon reading the first section: Disgust, Anger, Annoyance to name just a few.

I could not believe what I was seeing. It starts out talking about how great Google Trends is. (Wow, that’s something new….NOT!!!) But get this: page 5 starts out with this text – “Once you get these steps and this system down,We encourage you to work with a few of our partners in the business”. That’s followed by 5 links to other products in which The Rich Garbage Man, Scott Laevy, earns a commission if you buy them.

I find it simply amazing that someone would have the nerve and audacity to create a course, sell it for $47, and basically tell people to “get these steps down and work with partners of mine so I can earn more money”. It’s disgusting.

Folks, stay away from The Rich Garbage Man by Scott Laevy. If you really want to make money using Google Trends, go to the Google search engine and type in “how to make money with google trends”. You will find everything you need to know for free.

So will The Rich Garbage Man help YOU escape the cubicle walls? Sorry to say “no, it will not”.

Until next time…good-bye and good luck.

- The NetKnuckleHead

Disclaimer: This post contains my personal opinions and does not reflect the opinion of any organization I am/was associated with or affiliated to.

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Pushbutton Extreme Review – Extreme Failure

Posted by The NetKnucklehead | Posted on 24-03-2009

Category : Products to Avoid

Tags: , , , , , , ,

pushbutton extreme reviewToday’s post is a Pushbutton Extreme review. Let’s start with what Pushbutton Extreme (PBX) is and then move into what PBX isn’t.

Navigating to the PBX website (I refuse to provide a link!) you will see a very colorful welcome message that says "Discover the most extreme online home business in history". It goes on to say "with a Secret product designed to explode your income…".

The only thing that will explode is your wallet because it will probably be left in shambles by the time you cancel your PBX account.

But I digress. 

I actually don’t recall how I stumbled upon PBX but when I did, curiosity got the best of me so I signed up. Upon receiving my welcome email, I proceeded to explore the site via their little demo thingy. That’s when I realized PBX was actually a multi-level marketing type of deal but different.

Now I admit I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I’ve always tried to steer clear of any MLM stuff. PBX seem to have a different slant to it though. According to their material, you didn’t need to recruit anyone under you. Instead, you cycle through a matrix and you get paid everytime you move to the top, then you move down to the bottom and it starts over again.

How long does it take to cycle through the matrix? That’s a good question. If you want to cycle through it faster, you need to recruit some people under you! AH HA! Surprised?

And get this….the first time you cycle through, you earn a whopping $27. Recruit 27 people under you and you will earn an amazing $54 the next time through. How much money would you earn if you cycled through every week? The answer is ZERO because you ain’t going to cycle through every week unless you have a 10,000 person mailing list consisting of people anxious to sign up for just about anything!

I was a member for just over a month and I had moved up to position 21. And that’s with pushing traffic to my PBX capture page on a daily basis. Needless to say, I was going nowhere fast.

And what is this ‘secret product’ that is mentioned on the salespage? That’s another good question and let me know if you find out because I still do not know what it is even after being a member for a month.

The Bottom Line

Stay away from Pushbutton Extreme unless you have a HUGE mailing list to spam. (And I better not be on it either!) I ended up losing around $150 on PBX because I paid $89 for some leads – another mistake.

If you don’t believe me, do a seach for Pushbutton Extreme Review on Google and you will find similar reviews to mine.

I hope you found this review helpful. Be sure to share it if you hear anyone thinking of signing up for Pushbutton Extreme.

The NetKnuckleHead

(Below is another Pushbutton Extreme Review from Youtube. I AM NOT recommending this guy or his website or his offering. I know nothing about him or what he’s pushing so I would not recommend signing up for anything unless you’ve done your due diligence.)

 

Disclaimer: This post contains my personal opinions and does not reflect the opinion of any organization I am/was associated with or affiliated to.

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Is Wild SEO Any Good?

Posted by The NetKnucklehead | Posted on 19-02-2009

Category : Products to Avoid

Tags: ,

I’ve been thinking about what case studies I want to do for the past couple of days and had decided on a couple when I received an email about “Wild SEO”. Yep, the price is about to go up so you better buy now. Yeah, right.

I had not heard of “Wild SEO” before so I thought I would check it out. I clicked over to their site and the first thing I noticed was the eye-pleasing website. Nicely done.

I skimmed over the salesletter (it’s a long one and apparently a good one according to people on the Warriors foum) and moved down to the bottom of the page to find out the cost – $49.99 but going up to $97. This is where it got interesting.

wildseodiscountedprice1 When I attempted to leave the page, a popup appeared announcing a special discount. That’s right – the special price just for me is $17. Wow, they went from $49.99 to $17 just like that!

wildseodiscountedprice2 I decided I still wasn’t interested at $17 so I attempted to leave the page again. STOP! Another popup appeared and the new discounted price is only $7. Is that funny or what.

I don’t know about you but I’m suspicious of any product that apparently sells for $97, gets discounted to $49.99, gets discounted again to $17, and finally down to $7. What are they telling me? That they think their own product sucks?

I finally closed out all these discount pages and did a search on “Wild SEO Reviews”. I clicked on a link to a post in the Warriors forum where they were discussing “Wild SEO”. Based on the replies, it appears this product’s worth is probably less than $7. Here is a link to the thread:

Wild SEO Discussion at Warriors Forum

My recommendation is stay away from “Wild SEO”. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it as a free giveaway or in PLR form in the near future.

Hit me up if you have any questions or comments.

The NetKnuckleHead

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Beware of Get Money From Google

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Posted by The NetKnucklehead | Posted on 23-01-2009

Category : Products to Avoid

Does everyone deserve a second chance? Sure it’s easy to make a blanket statement like that and feel good about yourself but is it true? I believe most people would agree that evil and deranged people who commit horrible acts don’t deserve a second chance. But what about scammers and people who intentionally try to cheat you? Do they get a “do over”?

The reason I bring this up is due to the big launch of the “Get Money From Google” system. Its creator claims he made something like $1.4 million dollars in 9 months (before expenses) and now, he wants to teach you how to do it too. For only $27!

But wait….

The person behind the system is Perry Belcher. Want to see something disturbing? Check this out.

Does that give you second thoughts about spending your $27? It does me.

Be careful out there! Research everything and everyone before spending a dime!!!

Niche Blueprint Initial Thoughts

Posted by The NetKnucklehead | Posted on 15-01-2009

Category : Products to Avoid

Tags: ,

I’m sure anyone reading this blog heard about the recent Niche Blueprint rocket launch, unless you don’t have an email account. I must have received at least five emails from five different marketers tempting me to taste the fruit.

And after telling myself to ignore them, I couldn’t. So yes, I ended up buying it – for $450! But is it worth it? In my opinion the jury is still out.

It’s become almost comical how marketers will display images on their website of their latest greatest product featuring gobs of manuals and CD cases. And the Niche Blueprint boys are no different. But the fact is, everything is digitally delivered so you won’t be seeing any of those nice looking manuals and such. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – I just find it kind of funny and maybe just a tad misleading.

One thing I do find very misleading is the fact the entire course is not immediately available after paying your $450. No, they decided to deliver it in chunks. Modules 3 & 4 will be available on 1/19. Module 5 is coming on 1/27, module 6 on 2/3, etc, etc. When I expressed my disappointment in this delivery method (via their Help Desk support system), I received this reply:

“I’m sorry that you’re not pleased with the way we’re delivering the content. It really didn’t have anything to do with how we marketed the product, we just want everyone to have a very firm grip on each module before taking on the next. Plus, we’d be WAY to overwhelmed with questions, and tickets & such if everything was available day 1. It would be a mess.”

So, they’re basically saying they are holding back the material because they don’t have the staff to support it in its entirety. Hmmmmm, interesting. (Did I mention I paid $450 for the *entire* course?)

In my opinion, there are two main reasons you deliver material in pieces like this:

1. You decrease your odds of people asking for refunds because they have to stick around to see the entire course.

2. You don’t need to have all your material ready to go on launch day 1.

I think saying “(we) want everyone to have a very firm grip on each module…” is a cop out. (Do people still say “cop out” anymore?)

When I submitted my support ticket mentioned above, I also asked about getting access to the forum. Here is the reply:

“We may have a forum up soon, but we wanted to feel things out before throwing one up.”

So let’s recap what I have received for my $450:

1. Module 1 – A video and a couple of PDFs on an overview of Niche Blueprint.
2. Module 2 – Four videos and four PDFs summarizing the videos covering market research.

That’s it!

Now let’s go over the positive aspects of the system.

1. I love the idea of dropshipping and always have but I’ve never been able to put my hands on anything that covered it all from beginning to end. It appears this course *might* provide that.

2. Module 5, the one I am VERY interested in, will cover how to quickly build ecommerce sites for “maximum conversions and sales”. I definitely want to know more about quickly building ecomm sites.

That’s all the positives I can come up with right now. I’m very hopeful this system will deliver on its promise but in my opinion, they’re off to a shaky start. We’ll have to see what the next couple of weeks bring.

*** 2-18-2009 Update ***

I finally had enough of the ‘slow play method’ with Niche Blueprint and requested a refund. The clencher for me was getting access to their dropshipper database and realizing most, if not all, were already available as part of my World Wide Brands membership.

Plus, the quality of the teaching videos left a lot to be desired in my opinion. I don’t mean to be rude but the speaker kept saying “Okay?” after almost every sentence he uttered. That doesn’t sound like a big deal but after about 10 “okays”, you get kind of tired of it.

Bottom line: I cannot recommend Niche Blueprint as a solution for making money online.

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Beware of T-Mobile – My Sidekick Slide Horror Story

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Posted by The NetKnucklehead | Posted on 09-09-2008

Category : Grumblings, Products to Avoid

The following is a blurb I’ve posted to a few cell phone forums seeking some help for my Sidekick Slide problem – the one where the phone resets itself for no apparent reason. I have definitely learned that T-Mobile absolutely sucks the big one when it comes to customer service. They couldn’t care less about you once they have you commited to a contract. Learn from my horror story and STAY AWAY FROM T-MOBILE!!!

—- Forum Posting Starts Here —–

I bought a Sidekick Slide for my daughter at Christmas 2007. Two to three months later the ‘hard reset’ problem (well documented on the internet) started occurring. After experiencing the problem for a couple months, we eventually contacted T-Mobile for help. (Comment: I hesitate to use the word “help” and T-Mobile in the same sentence.)

The customer service rep, who I could barely understand, first tried to sell me the $20 per month data plan claiming that would fix the phone reset problem. I told them the data plan had nothing to do with the phone resetting. Yes, the data plan would solve the issue of losing absolutely everything on the phone when it reset itself, but not the problem with it resetting for no rhyme or reason. After many, many minutes and much back-and-forth, the rep eventually agreed to send a replacement phone – a refurbished one. All this took place in June.

After receiving the refurbished phone, we returned the defective one and began using the new one. Needless to day, the problem reappeared soon thereafter.

This week my daughter was so frustrated with losing all her contacts when the phone reset itself and she asked me to call T-Mobile again. I dreaded it but I called T-Mobile again.

Once again, I explained the problem with the hard reset to the customer service rep and once again she started trying to sell me a data plan for $20 per month. She actually told me the problem would not occur if I had the data plan. I told her that is false and deceptive advertising if you sell the Sidekick Slide knowing there will be problems if you don’t buy the data plan. Her response was “Well, I hate to tell you this but lots of companies do it”. My reply was “the Attorney General will be very interested in hearing this”.

I insisted on talking with a supervisor. She reluctantly agreed and put me on-hold for over half an hour before the supervisor finally answered.

At first, the supervisor also tried to sell me a data plan but soon backed off when she realized I wasn’t some sucker. I told her I wanted the phone replaced with either a Sidekick LX or 2008. She said they couldn’t do that per policy but they could send me a replacement since it’s still under warranty.

She went on to say I would have to take the phone to a UPS store and have it sent to them. If we need/want a replacement phone in the meantime, we’ll have to go to our local T-Mobile store and get a loaner. (They sent me a replacement phone first the last time it was replaced but according to the supervisor, they’re not supposed to do that so she wouldn’t.)

Has anyone had any success in getting a defective Sidekick Slide replaced? If so, what is the “secret”? Is there a special number or a particular person/department I should talk to?

BTW, I called Motorola this morning and they said send it to them and they will repair it since it’s under warranty. Does anyone know if the repair will get rid of the ‘hard reset’ problem?

Thank you in advance for any and all tips and information.

—- End of Forum Posting —–

If anyone has any comments or insights, please send them to me at: randal [at] netknucklehead.com.

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