Tom Is Not Your Friend

Watch this video and formulate your own opinion. It will be interesting to hear what you think.

clipped from video.stumbleupon.com

Yahoo Groups, A Source Of Income? PART I

This is a multi part reference to how I generate income through Yahoo Groups. I just wanted to touch on a subject that hardly ever comes up in conversation when talking about traffic. I am the moderator of 3 Yahoo Advertising Groups. Believe it or not these groups generate a significant income. If you haven’t been involved with Yahoo Groups you just may be interested in what I have to report about this subject. Let’s start with setting the stage. Here are some statistics to give you an idea of what I am working with. First group Members: 1136 Second group Members: 165 Third group Members: 2222 This gives me a total of 3523 members to date. Here is how it works: The groups are based on free advertising as that brings in the most revolving traffic. The concept is, (You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours). There are a lot of people looking for a place to give their sales pitch. I am offering them a place with significant traffic flow. I don’t even advertise the groups. Yes they are listed as public with Yahoo group listings but that’s as far as it goes. People search for a place to advertise without being accused of spamming. This is the perfect environment for that. The rules are simple, here is a copy of the email reminder that is sent to the group upon joining and re-sent every two weeks after that. To All Members, This is a reminder to the group on the rules of membership. This is an advertising group. What that means is that most, if not all post there opportunities on this site. If you want to be a part of this group you must follow the rules of membership. We try to be fair as to how and why we set the rules for this group so everyone has a chance to get there opportunity noticed. For those of you that have no regard for following rules, you do not have to and will not be a member of this group. Here are the rules laid out for you so you have a clear understanding of how things work in this group. 1. Individual or Digest settings only: The whole point behind an advertising group is to post ads for others to read. The cost for posting that ad is allowing others to show you there opportunity as well. Only in this way your ad is not SPAM and the community becomes stronger. If you can’t accept this rule and change your settings, you will be deleted from this group. If you are a repeat offender you will be banned from the group. 2. You must have a Yahoo profile to be a member of this group: If you are found listed with no yahoo profile you will be deleted. I find that most people listed without a yahoo profile have had there account closed for whatever reason. They are not a part of yahoo anymore and results are they are not a part of this group. 3. Please one profile: None of this (iamhere1, iamhere2 stuff). What is that about anyway? People will read your ad with one profile. I am not going to pretend to understand this concept so if we find this you will be automatically banned from this group 4. Bouncing E-mails: If your e-mail bounces you will be sent a re-activation request. If you go into a hard bounce we will assume your e-mail account is no longer active and your membership will be deleted. 5. Please don't send the same ad 50 times in a row: We are only going to look at it once. I don't know why some people want to send the same ad like that. How many times have you opened your group e-mail in digest and found the same ad listed all the way to the bottom. HERE IS THE RULE!!! Don't Do It. You will be banned. NOTES: These are the rules. They are simple to follow and fair. We try to maintain a fruitful group and if we can maintain order we will all prosper from our efforts. If you have any question or comment about the group or the rules please contact the group owner at: Ok, it sounds a bit harsh but if you don’t want a complete out of control mess then I suggest you set strong rules and enforce them. You may be thinking that you won’t be getting many subscribers being so strict but you will be surprised at how many people sign up as you grow. My largest group grows on an average of 25 new members a week. Mind you, about half the amount dropped out or have been deleted for one reason or another. Still 12 people a day is still fantastic. Coming up in part II Next time I will be telling you about how I setup my front page in my groups, also many other tips and tricks on how I have optimized all the tools yahoo gives you to run your group.

I love Watching Membership Site Affiliates Beat The Hell Out Of Each Other!

To start with let me give you a background on some membership sites. I belong to a select few and they are top notch in my book.

In my own words: A membership site is a website that gives away something, usually e-books or some sort of content or information that should have some form of value placed on it. This content is given in exchange for your contact information.

Some membership sites have a membership fee for joining them and offer a valuable supply of content in return. These sites can be an asset if the marketer is at the top of his game and offers a content rich and personal support system. If this is so you can bet your bottom dollar that this marketer is working for his money. He is offering you a service and is delivering on his promise. After all, this is what you paid for in the first place.


With that said lets get to why I named this article what I did. Here is the original e-mail message that I received from Ewen Chia.

Hi Donald,

Mark your calendar for this Saturday, December 1st
at 12PM EST...

On this day, I'll be releasing all my secrets to super affiliate marketing so you can finally make a fortune with other people's products.

You'll also discover the *exact* step-by-step system
I used to make $50,000 in PASSIVE INCOME every
single month automatically...and how you can instantly duplicate it too!

In fact, I'll even hand you a *built-in* passive income
system you can use immediately for massive results.

You can see the website at: The link was here.

You can also download a confidential report called
"7 Hidden Principles Of Super Affiliate Marketing".

*Important*: Do NOT opt-in to get the report or you'll
receive duplicate emails from me as you're already
my subscriber.

Instead I'm going to give you the download link here...

Go to this page to download your confidential report:

The link would be here if this was an advertisement.

Saturday - December 1st, 12PM EST.

Mark that date and time down now and look out for
my email tomorrow with the subject line:

"Donald, sneak peek..."

It's going to blow your mind.

To Your Incredible Success!

Ewen

Ok; I am a member of one of Ewen’s sites and like what it is I am a member for. Here is the kicker. Now everyone and their neighbor is trying to get me to join. Read some of the other e-mail I received.

Subject Line: Do not join Ewen's Super Affiliates yet! Read this before...

"Hello Donald,

I had the privilege to review Ewen Chia's
Super Affiliates Membership Club and it's
awesome so I decided to give you an excellent
bonus package if you join through my link:”

Subject Line: Your $10 discount for Ewen's site (I have egg on my face)

"Hi Donald,

I knew that other marketers had prepared bonuses for Ewen's
launch. Well, I don't play the bonus wars game, so I didn't
create a bonus package for those who order from me.

Instead, I decided to offer a $10 rebate - for EVERY month
you're a member - because I think saving money is something
you'll really appreciate...”


This is just a couple of email messages from some of my subscriptions. I have received many of the same, each one with an offer to go through their site.

Look, I signed up with their e-mail newsletter for one reason or another but please!!!!!!! STOP THE MADNESS! This is a complete turn-off to affiliate marketing. I for one do-not feel that this is an appropriate form of affiliate marketing. To me, it sounds like a bunch of cut-throats. When I received selected information from them, I held the utmost respect for what they had to offer me. Now that level of respect has gone right out the window.

The bottom line is when I want a certain type of information I will go right to the source. I am also opting out of many newsletters.

Anyone who reads this post, please let me know your views on this subject as the subject of affiliate marketing is appealing to me, however I seem to be learning what not to do more that what to do lately.