Make Money Online - Scam or Legit?

Scam Found: GoClick

I believe GoClick is a total scam.  I received and paid for 2,558 clicks, 0 sales.  And yes my links went to reputable, worthy businesses.   GoClick has VERY low prices, so this was a somewhat affordable experiment/mistake.  I stupidly, make that very stupidly, went through those clicks in just a few days.  I figured, hey it usually takes a few days for the sales to show up.  And the cookies will be set for several weeks.  But I should have known better.  I mean if you want to buy something you go to Google or Yahoo or Yahoo Shopping or MSN -- no one really goes to GoClick to buy things.   

I'd be more upset about the price tag $160 except that the very low advertising prices got me poking through CJ extensively and I found a couple new products to sell that I'm going to experiment with on Adwords or MSN. 

I'd also be completely disillusioned and ticked off about the whole "make money online" thing, except I did make one big sale from an ad on MSN.  No, not big enough to pay off my stupid GoClick bill, but big enough to take some of the sting out of it.  And given that success I explored a similar niche and set up another brand item along the same lines.  Am I going back 2 steps and forward 3 or back 3 steps and forward 2?  Can't say for sure yet.  Hey the MSN ad was one sale out of 2 clicks.  Can't beat that conversion rate!  Course, I can't really expect it to continue either, ha ha.

I did actually do a few quick checks on GoClick before signing up.  But I entered "GoClick review" and found it listed with other "top 10" search engines.  The reviews were noncomittal, but all mentionned the low click prices and acted as though it was a legitimate search engine.  I don't think it is.  Just now I Googled "Goclick scam" and found another posting on forums.digitalpoint.com  - which I can't say enough how much valuable information is out on that site.   And I found someone on The Ripoff Report who complained that initially (a few years back) GoClick was paying him to "drive traffic" to them, but then changed the terms of the agreement and didn't pay. 

And actually Alexis reviews of the website include several other people who complain about no sales or noticable increase in traffic, just reports of clicks.  I do think the clicks actually occurred, because my CJ statistics match reasonably well with what was reported by GoClick, BUT.... I feel sure that it was not genuine traffic.  If a person was doing the clicking (can't even be sure of that), then they were paid to click.

Tomorrow will be a more upbeat post.  I've found squidoo and I love it (not that there aren't hucksters out there as well, sigh).

Not Really - Seth Godin

Seth Godin asked the question If no one reads your blog, does it exist?  He said simply writing a blog forces the author to be "respectful and clear" which is important.

Yes, if you write a blog and no one reads it, it exists, BUT it exists in a horrible unfulfilling state.  The point of writing, of communicating is to reach someone else, to connect.  If you put a message in a bottle and toss it into the ocean (a lot like the feeling you get when you post the first entry in a new blog), what you want is for someone on a distant shore to find the bottle and message and READ IT.  What you really hope is that they contact you back and you get the joy of knowing that you connected and communicated.  That's the thrill of writing.

I would argue that most blogs die, not from lack of the blog writer posting, but from a lack of comments.  A blog is meant to be chatty and it's hard to chat by yourself.  And if you do chat to yourself easily, it's hard to feel that it's particularly worthwhile.

Wow, I just came up with a new service.  The I'll-comment-on-your-blog service.  Anyone out there who is feeling that their blog is dieing (dying?) a slow death from lack of feedback, can (hmm... should I charge a fee?) request a comment on their blog.  And I'll make it a meaningful, discussion-inviting comment too (ok, it might have a misspelling or two).

A blog without readers, without commenters, is like a person on life-support.  Sadly, it's just usually a matter of time.

Late to the Party

Well, I lied.  Not really, I was mistaken.  It's still to soon to determine or announce whether my latest hairbrained make-money-online scheme will be successful or not (sometimes I feel like Lucy of I Love Lucy with one failed scheme after another for fame and fortune).  So if I'm not going to talk about that in this post, what then.  I just wanted to report on a conversation I had over on forums.digitalpoint.com, which if you haven't been there, it is DEFINITELY a great place to get information on this topic and share experiences. 

I had read a thread which asked whether anyone was making $1000 in commission every day.  No one claimed that number but several said they made $100+ a day.  So I posted:

I find it just amazing that people really do make hundreds a day at this and say "it really isn't so hard." I mean can I be that dumb? I've read the tips and followed them, but so far while I see income, I don't see profit. Every time I see a great product to promote that I'm sure will be profitable, it seems that someone else is already promoting it.

To those folks who are making more than $100 a day, did it take you a while to find the right formula? And did you learn from someone else -- via ebook, friendship, etc -- or just figure it out yourself.

I got a reply which told me that the key was the sentence: "Every time I see a great product to promote that I'm sure will be profitable, it seems that someone else is already promoting it."  The poster continued:

You need to get in on a new way to cash in early before everyone is trying it. If you come late to the party, you have to be a lot better than everyone else. Which is unlikely, since they probably got their first because they know what they are doing and they know the trends.

This makes sense, the idea that if you come "late to the party" that the pickings are going to be lean or the goods may be all cleaned out. That sort of jives with what someone said on another blog (can't remember whose) about the internet marketing guru who is letting you know his secrets is really explaining his old bag of tricks. That he's like a magician who isn't going to teach you the trick that is his current bread-and-butter, but instead MIGHT explain something he first happened upon and used a while back.   (I wish I could remember who wrote that to give them credit)

I think what is frustrating is it's easy to feel like "Hey, it worked for person A, what's wrong with me?"

So really a new opportunity -- whether it be a new marketing venue or a new product for an existing marketing option is where the $$$'s are.

Sometimes I do think I'm getting closer. I am learning strategies and also about different promotional options. Today I made a free sale from an article that I had originally had as a landing page on a failed PPC campaign. So I guess I'm starting to build up my skills and my own bag of tricks. And I thought of another similar article (I keep the recommended product links on a page that is in the bio, so it's legit).

So maybe this whole make money online deal isn't a total scam.  But what is perhaps a hoax is the idea that you can just read an ebook or two and suddenly see $$$$ every time you logon.

Irresistible Offer or Mirage

I guess my point in the last post was that what frequently (always?) sounds like an irresistible offer to "make money online" is typically a mirage.  It seems to me that more than almost any other "career" that making money online is something where level-headed people still get fooled into thinking there is some magic formula or secret.

My experience, so far with Day Job Killer has certainly been very-limited, if any, success.  I may have a few items that I'm selling that actually turn a profit and if I run those ads long enough, hopefully they will pay for the ads that turned a loss.  And I did come up with one idea, really on my own (just stumbled upon it), for a PPC affiliate promotion that MIGHT turn a decent profit.  I'll let you know in the next post.  Still when I say a decent profit, it is no Day-Job-Killer, unless you mean it as in how-to-lose-a-day-job-by-moonlighting-during-working-hours.  That to me still seems to be a big risk, that the idea of "easy money" or get-rich-quick schemes take time away that you should be spending on either family, career or other more important activities.      

Some People Just Sound So Sincere

Some people just sound so sincere and yet.... I don't believe them.  Still their gall amazes me.  They've got their picture on the internet and maybe an audio or video clip and they sound so friendly and gosh, they are going to let me in on the secret to making thousands of dollars each month.

Wow, I think maybe I've found my new best friend.  The picture shows a pretty attractive guy and maybe his picture or video shows his kid or dog.  And to hear them talk they don't want anything from me but the satisfaction of knowing that they've saved a fellow human being from financial hardship and delivered them unto financial freedom. 

These guys are so slick, no matter how many times you hear them, you still start to say "Wow, this sounds good.  Where do I sign up?  Gosh, there couldn't be any harm in filling out this little form for more information."  Here is a real-life example with just enough words changed to (perhaps) save me from liable charges.  The red text are my thoughts as I read. 

Hi, my name is xxxx. I've been earning a full-time income online now for over xx years. Recently I have stopped xxxxx and began focusing my energy on passive income which requires literally no work at all.  >Gosh, NO WORK AT ALL. Awesome, I can eat, sleep or play while doing it.

I'am Looking To Mentor Just 100 People  (hmm, pretty big typo there on I'am -- hope his previous profession wasn't a teacher)

Who Want To Make Between $5,000 and $15,000 Next Month!! Gosh, that sounds like me -- $5,000 would make a nice dent in back bills, maybe I'll go for the $15,000, gee how to decide.

You Can't Fail Wow, this is a relief.  Up until now, I had always thought there was a possibility that I might.  Glad failing is now an impossibility.

So what does everyone think? Do you think by any chance that he charges just a small fee to cover his expenses while he's getting me started on this huge money making opportunity that requires no work at all?

Wow, it's a wonder some people can sleep at night.

Money to Burn

This post is slightly off-topic.  It is NOT about a method to earn so much money that you'll have money to burn.  No, it is about the strange world we live in where someone would actually spend more than $40K on a HANDBAG! 

In looking for high-end niche items to try to run an ad for, I went to Ebay and search on "New" (yes, you get thousands and thousands of entries) and sorted by price.  I looked in categories that I thought might be of slightly less interest to your average internet-marketer (male).  Clothing jumped out and guess what tops the list of expensive Ebay items -- Birkin Bags.  I had only ever heard of these because they were mentionned in a Gilmore Girl episode.  (hey I like it, deal with it).  So I had heard that there were these super-expensive handbags.  BUT.... I had NO IDEA.  Now, as I write this post, there is a Blue Jean Crocodile 35 Hermes Birkin Bag selling on Ebay for $40,900 and it has TEN BIDS!!!!  There aren't simply two or three lunatics with enough money to spend $40K on a handbag -- there are more than ten.   AND THE RESERVE HASN'T BEEN MET!!!  Apparently this bag is worth significantly more than $40.9K.  The auction ends in 6 hours, so gosh if you read this in time and it seems like a bargain to you, check it out, you might be able to get a real steal.

Personally I can't imagine paying more for either a wallet or purse than the largest amount of money that I would put within it.  Especially since I'm personally known for forgetting my wallet and leaving it -- on the bench at the restaurant, in the ladies room, even, er, on the roof of the car before driving off (I only did this once).  But even beyond my personal quirks, seriously -- who wants, needs, makes, sells handbags for over $40K.  Some people work all year for that amount of money and even more work all year to get that amount after-taxes. 

Holy cow.  Yes, some people have money to burn.

And no, it's not my Ebay affiliate ad that you'll see if you Google or MSN search on "Birkin Bags" -- that spot was already taken. 

Learn Something New Every Day

I happened to look at my blog's statistics.  No really I'm NOT obsessed with who is clicking on my blog and ads.  I'm NOT obsessed, just curious.  Nothing wrong with that, right?

Anyway, I see a pile of people have linked from StumbleUpon.  What a cute name, don't you think.  Probably some guy that named it is groaning that I called it "cute."  Anyway it's a social bookmarking or whatever you call this way of trying to point out websites and blogs to others that might find them interesting -- that I had never heard of.  NOT that I'm the most versed on what's new on the web.  I still have trouble remembering where the dots go in del.icio.us -- did I get it right?  And I just added yours truly, Make Money Online - Scam or Legit to Technorati, though my install of the Technorati widget failed.  Told me to try again later.  Before it told me that though, it said I was ranked 2,684,663 on Technorati.  Hey, no where to go but up, right? 

So if anyone else stops here from StumbleUpon, let me know how you like it.  I signed up for an account but then it wanted to download something to install on my computer and I balked.  Is this like del.icio.us where you can install a download and get buttons added to your favorite web browser, or you can just use the web services?  I didn't really want to install something new.  Are there any users of both StumbleUpon and del.icio.us out there who can compare the two -- or did I completely miss what they are about.  It's possible and I'm sure my friends would chime in here about trying to teach an old dog new tricks.  If you check out my picture in my bio, you'll see what they mean. 

See-ya-later, Alligator  (talk about showing my age)

It's Not Just Me!

Okay, as I confessed in previous post, I know I'm addicted to my Adwords campaign.  No sooner had I promised to get a grip, then Gina at Promo Codes and Coupon Codes posted on another forum that MSN ads (MSN's version of Adwords) was offering $100 in free ads to new customers! 

Is that the bugle I hear being sounded at the racetrack?  Surely some of my feeble ads that couldn't cut it on Google might outperform the lesser competition on MSN.  For those of you that want to jump on the bandwagon, go to http://www.startadcenter.com/keyoff/

So now, I wondered, is it just me?  I mean I had read Eric's post: Making Money with Adwords is Mind-Numbingly Boring and most commenters actually AGREED with him.  Oh geez, why the hell am I so obsessed then?  So I googled on "adwords addiction" and found a blog entry on HitTail.com that said:

The joke goes that the back-end user interface to AdWords is so addicting that it's called CrackWords. And when your campaign gets so large, and you're constantly going back to see what got click-thru and converted, and you make adjustments, it becomes a viscous cycle. You truly could need to go through detox.

It's NOT JUST ME!!!  I'm so relieved.  So then I googled "Adwords Addiction Detox" -- alas, the only thing that came up was info on detox for other forms of addiction (I might try telling my employer that I think I need this if my low productivity is noticed).  And of course lots of ads that promised to tell me the REAL secrets of making money on Adwords.  No, I didn't click.  I'm not completely out of control. 

But hey, who are these guys at HitTail.com?  The product sounds pretty cool -- supposed to help you mine the long tail for keywords and it's free at the moment while in Beta.  I'm going to download it and check it out.  Whether I use it now or try to get more focused on my primary business goals, it certainly sounds worth grabbing before it starts selling for real $$.  Lord knows I've spent too much already MAKING MONEY online, I need some freebies.  Making all this money is really sucking my checking account dry!

Day Job Killer - Another Meaning to the Phrase

Okay, I bought Day Job Killer.  It was part curiousity, part greed.  I was pleased to find that there was at least one solid technique that didn't involve nuking or levelling anyone.  I'm a non-violent person.  And I liked the idea of selling real products -- books for Amazon, auction items for Ebay, cameras for Best Buy -- instead of just Clickbank stuff (as Affiliate Project X had suggested).

Furthermore, Day Job Killer suggested I could just use the fact that there are products where there already is a demand and make a sale based on that demand.  No need to first talk-down a product to gain the web surfers confidence and then recommend it or another product.  Again, the talk-down approach was the primary technique for Affiliate X, and while Day Job Killer has a similar technique, it was simply one option offered among many.

So here are my problems with Day Job Killer

1) These techniques are being used by so many people now that once again Adword bids are going up.  Since I started, I've made -- don't laugh (okay you can laugh I can't hear you) $1.77 in one Amazon sale and 63 cents from an Ebay sale and spent, er....  somewhere between $40 and $100 in Adwords.  Now with Ebay, sales can take a while, so I'm willing to give it a bit more time before pulling the plug.

2) I'm afraid this product may really be a Day-Job-Killer.  I have a day job and I keep taking a break to check on the status of my ads, just as I often take a break to check personal email.  But something about Google Adwords and sales commissions is addicting.  I think it's like horse race betting (not that I ever engaged in that).  As opposed to the blind luck of a lottery ticket, with Google Ads or horse racing you can have some reason to think you have picked a winner and that the $10 bet you just made might pay off in $150 and you get all excited by a massive Clickthrough rate (I can practically hear the thunder of horses hooves.  "COME ON SILVER LIGHTNING, COME ON!!!") and then when that bet doesn't pay off, well maybe the next one will be a BIG Winner and wipe out the other losses and I'll still go home with a pocketful of money.  Next thing I know hours have gone by where I'm on day-job-time, not doing the day job.  I mean okay, let's face it, for those of us that work at computers for a living, I am not alone at having misused company time.  But, I think Day Job Killer and Google Adwords is the most-addicting non-company activity that I've ever gotten involved in.    If I don't stop, this could kill my Day Job by getting me fired for misusing company time!

I laughed when I saw Eric's post, Making Money with Adwords is Mind-Numbingly Boring.  Oh, geez, I wish I felt that way. 

3)Day Job Killer is one more of what Charles Hefflin referred to as the hundreds of “money making” offers that are surely flooding your inbox.  He recommends that we ignore these and frankly, I'm coming to the same conclusion myself.  The reason the techniques in Day Job Killer worked so well for their author, is that he invented them (or at least learned about them before they were common knowledge).  I have business ideas (both day job and not day job) that are unique to me.  I think that Day Job Killer is a distraction that most likely I would be better off ignoring.  IF, I'm able to make money with it (which is a BIG IF) it will take time and frankly my time is every bit as limited and overtaxed as my money.  Perhaps that is what I need to remember -- yes I need more money, but I also need more time, or at least not less time, to accomplish my goals.  My own business ideas aren't going to make me rich overnight.  But if I don't stop getting distracted and focus on them, then surely they won't make me any money ever.

Frankly, even as I write this I'm tempted to just suspend all Adword campaigns -- the equivalent of closing the racetrack for the season.

Comments?

Other Reviews of Day-Job Killer

I think Eric Giguere, author of Uncommon Adsense had the most balanced and thorough Day Job Killer Review.  However he labels the review Part 1.    Eric, when is part 2 coming out?