|
Bob writes in
about Giveaways
Once again as most of you know we
have spelled Bob's name backwards
so that nobody knows whom we are
talking about.
Our comments and thoughts to Bobs
statements appear below in
italics so it is easy to
differentiate between Bob and
us...
Hi
Joe,
I have seen another low for the
JV admin
and contributors alike.
I have noticed as of late that
more and more giveaway event
contributors are attempting to
use the free gift portion of the
events to gain an edge and
promote text links, banners, full
sales pages even.
Maybe they do not realize that
when you offer a free gift, you
are also offering a relationship
that can blossom into a great
marketing campaign or a chase
your tail bust. When I am told of
an item that is free to me and
the first thing I see is an offer
or banners, it makes me believe
that
these events are a waste of my
time.
While this
behavior seems ok for the junk
marketer, it does not benefit what
is a marvelous tool for list
building.
You are absolutely right Bob, but
unfortunately regular Members
themselves in some cases are
scamming too - with disposable or
non existent email addresses out
ot only steal the JV Partner/
Contributor Giveaway offer and
never intend to receive another
email from the Partner nor see
any future offers.
You are right about offering a
relationship and more, but the
unfortunate reality is that there
are scammers at every level, and
therefore at every level we see
people trying to "gain an
edge"
It would be unfair of me to point
the finger only at the giveaway
contributor as I have witnessed
many a scam from the promoters
with over inflated numbers and
fraudulent claims.
Ain't that the truth, but once
again unfortunately that seems to
be the norm for most Internet
Marketing - lies, inflated
numbers, and buy my crap you'll
make a gazillion - coming from
those who in some cases never
made a dime. Scripts that don't
work, programs that don't work,
and the list goes on and on
.....
As
of the last couple of days I have
received more disturbing emails
that I would like to share.
The first one start off with a
total lie that blames the script
not the operator:
"Downgrading - The script we are
using Ultimate Giveaway will
automatically
down grade you to members class
if you don’t have at least one
referral (by one day after
opening.)
This is done by
the script and there is nothing we
can do to stop it. We HAVE
tried."
The fact is as
Bob points out:
The Ultimate
Giveaway is fully controllable by
the admin of the event to the turn
of not only when but if it happens
at all.
Also the script
looks for unique IP hits to ensure
promotions, not an actual signup,
as is stated on their sign up
page:
"Rule #1:
You
MUST Promote the giveaway.
We have coded in Tracking Stats
to ensure ALL JV Partners are
Promoting.
If you do not have any unique
hits to your promotion URL after
the giveaway launches your JV
account will be downgraded and
your gift will be removed."
As mentioned above "the script
looks for unique IP hits to
ensure promotions" and not
mentioned it WILL downgrade those
whom have no unique IP hits
helping to stem fraud - if
activated.
It is unbelievable the amount of
JV Partners/Contributors that do
not get it that the event is
about reciprocal promotion and do
not promote the event, in short
being parasites of those whom
are.
Right now in a current event we
are hosting that has not reached
the Member Phase, we have
supposedly 186 JV
Partners/Contributors and of
those 77 have no activity on
their promotional
links.
That means that more then 40% are
scamming the rest of the partners
to include the host which brings
me to .....
My next complaint to fraud comes
in a different manner.
There are scripts that allow
this, but to do this without a
serious explanation on the front
end (which I could not find) is a
way of cheating
contributors:
"Welcome Members:
As a member of these events you
all come here for one reason, and
that is to gather up as many
gifts that you can from the
contributors.
And in exchange for you getting
the gifts you give the
contributor the right to get your
name and email.
This allows the
contributor to add you to their
list, so they can send you emails
about other offers.
The way this normally works is
that you have to click on the
contributors link to get the
gift, and then you must fill out
a form and then you are directed
to the gift.
Well we are doing something a bit
different here. If you buy the
upgrade ,
you will get a direct download
link to all the gifts .
You just click on that download
link and you will be taken to the
gift and not
to a signup page.
This is huge
seeing that some of these events
can have well over 100 gifts. That
takes you a lot of time to fill out
all those forms.
Now this service is restricted to
only the members that pay for an
upgrade.
If you do not pay for the upgrade
then you will still be required
to fill out all the forms in
order to get the gifts"
I can not help but feel that, any
promotional efforts, and even the
time I spend to sign up to events
like this are a
total cheat if my chance to
receive signups can be
sold.
but Bob, the actual numbers tell
a different story of what is
really lost to these offers and
we agree to disagree without
prejudice and still go on with
the events.
We ourselves in the distant past
have partaken in having a Member
OTO that sold the gifts without
having to signup to every
Partner, though at present and
for some time we have not done
this due to our new giveaway
software and taking the time to
implement this
practice.
Why do I not feel guilty about
this?
Here are the exact numbers from a
previous article of ours and
event in which we did this exact
thing:
I am gong to
play both sides of the fence
using REAL statistics from one of
our most recent and on going
giveaways though at the time of
this writing the giveaway is less
then 36 hours
old.
Confirmed
Members: 317
Upgraded Members: 1
I do not
think any of my contributors are
going to rebel because 1 out of
317 members did not sign up to
their list and one of the
referrers got a small
commission.
Now the
other side of the
fence:
Confirmed
Contributors: 228
Total Gifts: 152
Approved Gifts: 142
Number of
approved gifts that have NOT
received sign ups to their lists:
0
Number of
contributors that have at least
referred one confirmed referral:
49
Number of
contributors that have referred
98% of the confirmed referrals:
11
that
means 11 of us including myself
are basically carrying the other
133 contributors that are getting
sign ups with what appears to be
no effort on their part to
promote.
Now
do I feel guilty that the non
referring contributors have
missed 1 possible sign up out of
317 while the other 49 - in the
best possible light - carry the
remaining 93? - not one
bit.
Now on the
other hand, considering that only
one member out of 317 upgraded -
maybe it would be more profitable
for the contributors and
referrers to have an OTO or
something in place of the member
upgrade.
Unfair to
have a member upgrade and some of
the contributors miss out on a
possible sign up and have their
gift downloaded? -
considering the
statistics and since all of the
contributors have had sign ups to
their lists I think the people
driving the referrals are getting
totally
screwed.
So
ideologically Bob you may be
right about the perspective and
your reasoning of not having
member upgrades - but reality
shows a completely different
scene happening and it is the
referring contributors taking the
hit and not those missing a sign
up due to direct
downloads.
In
closing, it may be more
profitable to replace the member
upgrade with an OTO sharing the
commission with the referrer
etc.,
but
to do so because the majority
whom are not promoting, but ARE
building their lists - may have
their gift downloaded without a
sign up or three ..... wrong
answer.
and that is
the reality supported by
statistics
:-)
IT runs downhill. If the
contributors are scammed then
they are in turn attempting to do
the same thing.
Actually Bob it runs uphill, if
the Members were not scamming the
JV Partners and Contributors,
then the JV Partners and
Contributors would know the
Member will see their next offer
coming from their responder etc.
and would not go through the
trouble to such tactics of
getting their offer in front of
the Member before the Member runs
off.
If the JV Partners/Contributors
were promoting as they should the
event host would not be motivated
to squeeze more profit from the
event by selling the Gifts and/or
downgrading those that do not
promote or do not have
referrals.
Lead by example!
Honesty and cooperation on
everyone’s behalf has to exist to
provide an environment that
allows for everyone participating
to feel they do not need
to cheat to get an edge. The
supply is always abundant, if we
do not chase it away.
As always
Bob
You are absolutely right Bob, but
the unfortunate truth is that a
very large portion - definitely
not the majority - of the people
participating at all levels are
NOT honest and no matter what we
do they will not become honest
nor cooperative.
It is those few that are Honest
which have kept the events going
thus far and have not destroyed
the entire market.
What you did not mention or
address while talking about
fraud, hosts, and such ..... was
the fraud of Hosts and owners of
the scripts that are getting
around licensing terms offering
to do events for others? at a
relatively low price to those
whom have not made the much
larger investment into the
script? and the non owner
learning how to configure and run
the event? and of course the
script writer?
Aren't those hosts stealing from
the hosts whom have made the
plunge? Invested into the script
themselves? Took the time to
learn the script and run the
event? and the writer of the
script too?
Aren't these Hosts in a way
thieves too and
dishonest?
Stealing from my investment and
expertise in installing the
script and time learning and
running the event? Much more time
needed then to configure a
squeeze page and upload a gift?
Theft from the Domain Name
Registries and the hosting
companies too?
Indeed Lead by
example!
and those
couple of events that we (AECNU)
ran for other people like Paulo
Orlando etc.
They paid
and owned the script! and we were
equal partners in the event
50/50!
That
is why we host so few for
others.
We
confirm with the script writer that
the person bought the script and
has a legal license that they own.
Not piggy backing on our license
investment.
Lead by example
indeed!
This is the primary reason that I
agree to disagree with the
policies of others in their
businesses - without prejudice -
because it is my opinion that on
some level or degree they are all
cheating or trying to gain an
edge.
But I also find that many add
great value or have great value
in spite of the indifferences in
how they run their event or
business ..... so I deal with
them because it is not so
underhanded or evil, it is just
not perfect to my individual
perspective.
Those things that I can live with
I do, those things that I cannot
- I don't live with or deal with
expunging them from my world if
at all possible :-)
|
0
