To Care Or Not To Care? (Highly Controversial Post…)
by rayjohnson | January 11, 2011 | under Internet Marketing | Comments (27)
Hi, Ray here with my first blog post of 2011!
Hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year…
You may think I have been slacking off for my lack of posts over the holidays and New Year, but let me tell you nothing could be further from the truth! As usual, the cogs have been whirring in my brain and I have been hard at work preparing what I feel is my best product to date… (more on that later) – plus 2 brand new products to help you build passive income in your business this year.
However I wanted to kick off with a VERY controversial post for 2011… and I want your input on it.
(You’ve probably seen silimilar blog posts to this online recently, but mine has a major TWIST. So keep reading…)
Over the last couple of months we have seen some very questionable Clickbank products being launched haven’t we? Even some that I have personally promoted on good word, AND on what I thought “stand up” marketers…
You know the ones:
“Miracle 3 Click Wonder Software Glitch Makes 2,734,129.99 In 3 Minutes!”
Well, my post today is all about how we perceive our subscribers…
Before I begin, I just to make my views PERFECTLY CLEAR 
I feel that my subscribers are solely responsible for my online success, for me coming from nothing to something, from me moving into a brand new office complex, for putting food on my family’s table, enabling me to have nice “material things” like a 7 Series V8 BMW Car, Cable and Plasma TV’s in every room of my home and allowing me the free-time and money I crave and need to relax and have fun with my young family.
Oh, and yeah – in some cases put diapers on my kids… I’m NOT kidding.
One of the first things I remember buying with one of my FIRST Paypal transfers to my bank was nappies (diapers) and clothes for my daughter Charlie! Funny how stuff works out hey?
I guess what I am saying is, I whole-heartedly believe that my subscribers are everything to me and our business…
I realised this when (to be honest) I quickly began making more money than I had ever had online, and the CONNECTION I made was that each subscriber is a real individual, with real thoughts and feelings just like me – the only difference was, they maybe hadn’t “cracked” Internet Marketing yet.
This is why I will try my best as I always have, and in 2011 – to continue to provide you with the best ways I know how to make money online, and share every new method that I come accross, in order to help you and give something back.
OK, so I have made my point. I love you guys! Without you I would be nothing and am humbled and thankful.
But let’s flip that on it’s head for a minute OK?
What IF I were a marketer with a 500,000 subscriber list?
What if I were adding lets say 500-1000 new subscribers a day to my business?
Would I CARE, or would I NOT care?
Would I see my people as just numbers, or would I have the same interest in trying to HELP individuals succeed, or would I just see them as a source of quick cash? I mean let’s face it, if you are adding 1000 new subs to your list everyday you probably won’t care too much would you?
AND THIS is the way some of the top sellers online work… naming no names, I want to tell you that you are being taken for a ride. A BIG ride…
Some of the top sellers, simply scratch each others backs… “I’ll mail for your product if you mail for mine” and they forms, what can only be described as groups online.
The next time you see a major Clickbank launch, just look at the pattern.
Marketer A releases a product.
Marketer B mails for marketer A.
Marketer C mails for marketer A… and so on and so on.
They create average (mainly rehashed) products, turn them into something new (similar to Resale Rights material, but probably worse quality! and they simply HAMMER the salespages with their lists.
BUT HERE’S THE CONTROVERSIAL BIT…
These guys are RULING/DOMINATING the Clickbank leaderboards, they are making far more money than the MAJORITY of established online marketers. Heck some of these guys are making hundreds of thousands of dollars everytime they launch, and they know that they will continue to do so as long as they have the support of the Inner Circle… in fact – some of these guys are so filthy rich they are MULTIMILLIONAIRES. It’s DISGUSTING…LY GOOD??!
So what gives?
If it works, and we are here as marketers to MAKE MONEY, then what’s the problem with it?
I mean, the majority of subscribers are NOT ACTUALLY APPLYING THEMSELVES or using the products they purchase (because partly in case of information overload…
Look at the product YOU have bought (yes, really. You)
Have you applied the techniques?
Did you follow the product until you could do no more with it?
Did you do EVERYTHING in your power to try to make it work?
Or did it just sit on your hard drive? (I’m guilty too of that).
Oh and before you say… these unscrupulous marketing guys will crash and burn… their business will be short lived…or whatever -
STOP AND THINK:
Some of them have made more money from a SINGLE product launch than some of the most loyal, respected and ethical marketers on the planet have made in YEARS and YEARS of hard work… decades of hard work in fact.
So the debate is on… Let me know your thoughts…
Until next time, stay safe and thank you!
Ray
P.S. Over the coming week I have a special announcement to make, so keep a close eye on your inbox. I’ll have a very SPECIAL one time ever training event that you won’t want to miss…
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27 Responses to “To Care Or Not To Care? (Highly Controversial Post…)”
Hiya Ray,
Nice post, very true as well. Sadly, these guys are definitely topping the tables at Clickbank because they are part of the “inner circle”.
However, although the money must be nice, it is all about how much you can look at yourself in the mirror. If, like some of these “game show hosts” can do it, and not give a monkeys about either their conscience, or their subscribers, then , yes it is worth it.
If, like yourself, you are straight and honest, then selling out is not in your blood. I myself, as you know have bought many products, and either not used them due to them being either crap, or, too technical, working with the right mentor has taught me how to do it right, not just build a list, rip off the client, and build more lists and rinse and repeat.
Without good guys like you and robert in IM, then this game will always favour the inner circle, and, the small fry, i.e. like myself, will never win.
Never give up, and never sell out, that is the best advice I can offer to struggling marketers out there.
Hope you enjoy the post.
Paul Power.
[Reply]
catherine
Reply:
January 12th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Funnily enough I have spent the last day clearing out my clutter. I have been a writer for eleven years and although I consider myself to be an expert on certain aspects of it, I have never written anything until recently.
Soooooooooo I subscribed to other markers lists just to see what the competition was offering , and guess what – They were offering crap reports to increase their list, to then send out spammy emails harassing me to buy.
So I have cleared out my lists and unsubscribed to all that have not given me something of value. The money is not i nhte list but in hte relationship that you have with your list.
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Hi Barbara – THANK you for your comment, and the kind compliments. I thought it was time people had a CHOCIE to decide which way they want to market.
Bottom line is we are marketers trying to make money BUT our subscribers should have an informed choice as to how they want to do their business.
Afterall, there are 2 ways.
The good way and the not so good way (That seems inevitably) to pay even better!
Instead of subscribers being ethically bribed and brainwashed into thinking certain things, I felt it was time to let you guys make your own minds up.
Hope the post has been of value.
Ray
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Hiya Paul,
So true hey?
All about ethics and the person behind the “mask” i guess,.
Thanks for your input.
Ray
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Just a quick question…….have you also noticed that some of these bonuses being offered are actually better than some of the products that are being promoted?
Tells me they don’t have faith in the power of the program they are promoting, and are bracing themselves for a high number of returns……
What do others think?
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Having spent $10,000s on various products myself I think you can probably divide the “guru” products into 2 types
1) Those that don’t give you enough detailed information so you have to buy the next product that contains the missing info. Now that’s probably just about OK for a $27 ebook but not for a $197 training program
2) Those that give too much information, i.e. there’s 40-50 videos to go through plus a LOAD of free bonuses to distract you. Almost nobody completes these courses, which is the aim. A few weeks later the next product is launched and people buy that instead. And so it continues, on and on.
Ray and I made a decision a few months ago not to promote any product unless we had a REALLY good look at it first, to see if it was viable and…..if we could apply the knowledge QUICKLY.
You’ve probably noticed we haven’t been out there promoting the big products on launch day like everyone else. That’s simply because we didn’t have enough time to look at them closely enough until after the initial launch. Doing that meant we discarded MANY big name products from BIG marketers simply because we quickly realised they were total crap. No other word for it.
That’s actually cost us a LOT of money in commissions, but on the other hand it has also saved us a lot of grief from angry customers.
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A few years ago, the Internet and the market was NOT like this.
It seems I blinked, then it all turned from serving our subscribers to nothing but mass greed.
I don’t know how all of you feel, but this has GOT to change soon. If not, we are all going to see some sort of regulatory intervention happen…and it will ONLY affect those of us who are ETHICAL marketers.
Just my 2 cents.
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Just to elaborate on the point of spending lord knows how much dollars I have spent on products that have just gathered digital dust on my hard drive, I do agree with Robert about the 2 categories of product.
I hate not having enough information to effectively make money, and I also hate too much information and bonuses to distract me from my goal.
Having used more than of Ray and Robert’s products, and seen how much information they deliver, I have found that they have always delivered the correct amount of information to stop info overload, and enough info to help you achieve what you are looking to do.
If in my business I can achieve just half of what these guys have, then I know that my subscribers have been treated well, and not like the “Lemmings” I am sadly seeing more of now.
Thank You for your inexhaustible patience and friendship guys. Long may you be the Keepers of The IM Flame of Right.
[Reply]
Ray Johnson
Reply:
January 12th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Paul, thank you.
That means a lot.
If you can look at yourself in the mirror, then you are doing something right hey!
Regards
Ray
(and Rob on his behalf I’m sure!)
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Hey Ray,
Changing diapers, dude, I went through that years ago. Don’t worry it won’t last forever. Your post is spot on, there are so many marketers out there that just want the money and don’t care about their subs. If you truly love what you do, then you will do your best to bring the best. There is a lot of “crap” out there and “rehashed” programs and systems that may have been great back in the day, but today’s internet marketing has jumped up a few levels since then. Ok, my rant is over. Great post, right on the money as usual.
Brad C.
[Reply]
rayjohnson
Reply:
January 12th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Cheers for your input Brad, much appreciated.
Gla you enjoyed the post.
Regards
Ray
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If your readers are like me they are probably on a lot of email list and their email is getting bomb like crazy with offers and more offers. If that is true then they probably already have a pretty good idea of how to start a business online. Here’s a simply break down of the process, find a hot market of buyers (hopefully in an area that you like and have knowledge of), find or create a product that feeds that crowd, find good buying keywords to build a web site with, build a web site and squeeze page, use a free product that offers good relevant information to get their name and email address from a squeeze page, drive traffic to the squeeze page after you have your auto responder set up and ready to handle the traffic. Write an email sequence to promote your product or products. Track which sites and ads or getting you the best results and repeat those. This is way too simplified of course because there are a multitude of information in the details for things like driving traffic, writing ads and squeeze pages and sales letters that convert, and also the details of how to track your results and protect your commission or sales. I haven’t even mentioned yet things like social media marketing and cell phone marketing. So what is a person to do who is getting too much information day in and day out in their email? First thing is too find the best information websites (like this one) and book mark it so the information is always handy when needed. Now unsubscribe to almost all the list that you are on, except for maybe two or three of the very best. Read your email offers only two or three times a week for only about 1/2 hour each. Now use your time to start building your business, and when you get stuck on something find the solution in those sites that you bookmark. If you can’t find a solution right away move on to the next task until the solution comes. Of course you can always ask and see if one of the website owners can help you with the solution by asking them personally.
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Brian,
Your post is completely valid and totally right.
As many of my subscribers know, I have always tried to give my best knowledge and advice to help (and ALWAYS for no cost)
Giving breeds receiving.
Hopefully later this week, beginning of next I will helping a whole lot more of my people too.
Watch your inbox Brian.
Ray
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Hi Ray
Happy New Year to all. My recovery continues.
Trust is such an important issue online. Ultimately, IM depends on trust, so people need to be honest and ethical.
Thing is where do you draw the line? There are so many shades of grey. Where does persuasion become manipulation or hype, just plain lies?
As consumers we don’t know until after we’ve made the purchase. At least with Clickbank you get 60 days to claim a refund.
Glad you and Robert have such a responsible attitude towards the products you promote.
Best wishes
Antony
[Reply]
rayjohnson
Reply:
January 12th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Hi Ant,
Thanks for the input but please focus on getting well!
You need to think of yourself, nothing is more important than your health, and I’ll be around to gladly accept more of your comments when you are back on your feet!
Regards
Ray
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Hi Ray & Robert, thanks for a great post and sharing this info with us.
When I started online 3 years ago, I was also one of the “lambs to the slaughter”. I subscribed to just about every other “Newsletter – with no news”, and purchased countless amounts of useless products. About 18 months ago I made a decision to un-subscribe from 99% of the so called IM Gurus that weren’t fulfilling promises of help and gudence but were instead bombarding me with emails about the latest pathetic so called product of the century.
As I have mentioned to you before, I have stayed with you as a subscriber because you are one of a very small few who have remained honest , loyal and helpful to your subscribers. I totally trust what you tell me what works and what dosen’t work.
I can now say I have a happy clean inbox from roughly 5 people like yourself who have kept their promises etc.
I myself will not promote any product to my small list if I have not purchased the product myself. As soon as I figure out how to actually make videos, I shall make a video of all the products I think are worth the time and money. I would like to show my subscribers that I have actually made the purchased and show them inside the download/members area of said product obviously not showing too much that would jepardise the product and/or owner’s integrity while promoting the product.
I can’t wait to see what you and Robert have planned for us in 2011.
Thanks for all your help and I shall remain one of your followers lol.
Take care
Valda
P.S. Please can you reply to my emails (-:
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Hi Valda
THANK YOU for the kind words, and good to see you TOOK ACTION and unsubscribed from the dreaded scam artists out there!
Great idea for building great rapport you have there… reviewing and showing PROOF never fails.
If you need help doing Camtasia I may have just the thing for you, watch that inbox OK?
Regards
Ray
[Reply]
Valda
Reply:
January 12th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
Hiya Ray, cheers for the reply and continued encouragement.
I shall keep an eye on my inbox as I have recently purchased Camtasia so I have been searching the net for some proper tutorials on how to make a professional video for my reviews.
Regards
Valda
[Reply]
Ray Johnson
Reply:
January 12th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
Valda,
Send me an email to:
contactray@ray-johnson.co.uk and I’ll help.
Talk soon then!
Ray
[Reply]
Valda
Reply:
March 29th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Hi there Ray, I’ve sent you a couple of messages regarding the “camtasia tuts” but I’ve not heard from you I know you are a very busy chap but I was just wondering if you did receive my messages.
Regards
Valda
[Reply]
Hey Ray,
I bought that new products launch 3 or 4 items, but I’m really have no time to apply it all. With my regular daily job, I’m just getting nothing but put the product in my hard disk, waiting to explore it. I know I have to focus but it’s difficult not to refuse so many offer ‘make $8765 per week without….”, make $100,987 a month with just 3 clicks, etc etc.
So now I have to do is I am quitting so many guru list…then focus what I have already bought.
What you say ray…
[Reply]
Hi Sam
Yes, and this is precisely why this marketing method and it’s issues needed to be raised.
Unscrupulous Marketers prey on desperate buyers, and well, to be honest the desperation of the buyer makes itEASY for them to get away with such ridiculous claims!
I’m glad you are unsubscribing and FOCUSSING on just a few select marketers to help you.
Stay tuned and watch your inbox, I have something that I guarantee will help you!
Regards and thanks for your 2 cents.
Ray
[Reply]
Hi Ray,
Maybe this will be a tad cotroversial, but I have not unsubscribed from the inner circles list.
Now the reason why I have not done this is because I believe their sharply worded emails will help me in the long run to craft an email swipe, or email for my product. Although I despise the way they pick on people’s desire to make money quickly, I do feel we could learn a little from their ad copy.
This is the only reason I will stay on one or two big boys lists, other than that sometimes their emails can, at least in my humble opinion, be over the top as well. Another excellent way of learning how NOT to create an email promo.
Stay Happy,
Paul Power.
[Reply]
Good point Paul, great way to learn, just don’t carry the hype in to your swipes!
Ray
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I hate it! Is causing me to waste so much time and effort trying to figure out if it is something I should be paying attention to or if it is something that will bennefit my in the near future. Can I afford another $37 product that sounds better than the last? Add up $37 5, 10 or 20 times and it sure adds up.
Every once and a while something that you pick up is actually pretty good and well worth that innitial cost and then that just keeps you interested for more. If we could just get to the point that it is just enough already than we might be able to move on already. If we did that than we may not have need of any of your other products Ray – that wouldn’t be good for you.
I also want to stay on top of the trends to know what people are doing and what is hot so I can learn of give honest reports on such items.
I know you told me to stop it all together… I have for the most part, but still finding myself waisting time on these little things. Maybe I am just still trying to figure out what it is I want to do specifically and am just testing the waters…?
Who knows?
Just looking forward to getting ahead sooner than later.
Ryan K
[Reply]
Ryan,
Some great points you made. But the key to all of the issues here is PROCRASTINATION! (IMHO)
Why?
Well, if we began to become the marketer, and not the subscriber mentality, then we:
a) Wouldn’t need to buy any or very many products at all
b) Would be focussing on building our own business
c) Would focus on creating our OWN products
d) Would replace the frustration with positivity
There are more reasons, but I think you get the gist of it.
Just my 2 cents. Stop buying trash, unsubscribe, and focus on you and your stuff.
Regards
Ray
[Reply]
Hi Ray,
How true, since I contacted you, I now know the correct way to go about becoming a marketer instead of a buyer. The products I purchase, if any, are now thoroughly researched, and I have to know if they will help me build my business.
A little tip for all marketers if you don’t mind, if you find a product that you think may help your business, don’t be shy to contact the program owner, and ask for a demo copy of what you intend to purchase first. That way you get time to evaluate it, and make sure that it works for your business.
Take Care,
Paul.
[Reply]
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