The Net Effect Scam?

As I wrote back on September 26, I had received my first issue of The Net Effect when I got my copy of Stomping the Search Engines 2.

Then about three weeks ago, I was billed for my second issue of the magazine.

Well now it’s November 13, and I still haven’t receive squat from them… meaning no magazine, no e-mail explaining the delay… nothing… ziltch… nadda…

I suppose my use of the word “scam” in this post title is too harsh, because there’s no sign of anything more malicious going on here aside from complete and utter incompetence. Clearly they’re having deliverability problems combined with a severe lack of customer communication.

Taking that in additional to the steep monthly cost of the magazine (I can get an entire year of Sports Illustrated for the cost of ONE issue of The Net Effect), it becomes pretty clear this is a BAD DEAL.

Now I just need to find that phone number to call so I can cancel my subscription…

Update: as soon as I published this post, I see from their web site that they’ve supspended new orders due to problems with their fullfillment company. Gee… it would have been nice to be told this through an e-mail, a postal letter, or a phone call.

Okay, so they’re having problems with the fullfillment company. Boo hoo for them. They already billed me for over $60 for the second issue and DVD, and the fact remains I didn’t recieve the issue, I never got a refund, and I was never contacted about the situation.

Perhaps if they had contacted me early on I would be more understanding. Too late.

Stompernet, you screwed up on this one.

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Wealthy Affiliate Accredited Courses

Wealthy Affiliate is an internet marketing membership site that contains a wealth of information, training, coaching/mentoring, and peer-to-peer support and assistance. It’s where I got my feet wet in affiliate marketing, and being completely honest, I didn’t make a penny online until I joined.

It’s also the place where I first learned about the Build a Niche Store software (which is still my largest source of income).

Just to be clear, Wealthy Affiliate is a membership site that costs $29 per month. However I’ve been a member there for over one year (you can look me up on the forums, I’m “skolvikings”), and as long as I still have my affiliate marketing business, I plan to continue my membership. So obviously, since I’m spending my own money on a membership, I feel it’s a good deal.

So why am I telling you about Wealthy Affiliate?

Accredited Training Courses

I wanted to mention Wealthy Affiliate to you because they’ve just released two additional training courses:

• Article Marketing Accreditation
• PPC Accreditation

These courses cost $67 each, and are only available to Wealthy Affiliate members. (That price is valid for only the first week after the launch, after which it will be increasing.)

I’m not going to get into the details for each of these courses, because I don’t want you to think I’m hyping them and just trying to make a sale.

As you’d expect, they do come with a ton of great bonuses, etc, but I’ll let you check out those details for yourself by clicking one of the links.

Is This For You?

If you’re already very successful online, then you probably don’t need additional training, and you can save your money. But if you’re still in the beginning stages of your online business, you might want to check out Wealthy Affiliate and their new accreditation courses. (And if you use my links in this post, you’ll be helping me out, so THANKS!)

Again, I’m a satisfied member of Wealthy Affiliate, so if you have any questions about it, please feel free to contact me and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Here are those links again:

Wealthy Affiliate
http://www.wealthyaffiliate.com/course_signup.php?a_aid=n921cagg

Article Marketing Accreditation Course
http://www.wealthyaffiliate.com/course_article_marketing.php?a_aid=n921cagg

PPC Accreditation Course
http://www.wealthyaffiliate.com/course_ppc.php?a_aid=n921cagg

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You Don’t Need Anymore Information To Succeed

This post is part of the Why You Suck At Affiliate Marketing series.

The title of this post is brutally honest. It’s clear, simple, and it’s true. You do not need any more information.

As we already established, you suck at affiliate marketing. But it’s not because you don’t know enough about it. Listen, you’ve been at this awhile now, so you already know what you need to make a profit online.

Think about it: you make money by putting your affiliate links out there and convincing people to click on them and make purchases. This isn’t rocket science. You put your affiliate links out there by having a blog or a landing page, advertising through PPC, posting to niche forums, publishing articles to authority sites, etc.

What makes you think another $97 eBook, or another $49/month training portal, is going to change any of that?

Sure… obviously you don’t know everything. There’s still learning to be done and experience to be gained. But you’re not making any profits, so you can’t afford to spend any more money on training resources that just delay the inevitable.

You need to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

You need to implement the stuff you already know before you take the time or spend the money to learn more.

Keep in mind that the people who can succeed in a job or industry are the ones out there doing it. The ones who can’t become college professors.

Do you want to be Professor Affiliate Marketer? Or do you want to make a huge pile of cash, pay off all your bills, and tell your boss to shove it?

I know which option is my choice.

If you’ve been working at affiliate marketing for less than a month or so, then okay, you probably still need to invest the time and money to learn the basics. But once you know the basics, continued learning is just a diversion from that activities it really takes to earn money.

Sure, your learning never stops, and you should always strive to know as much as you can. But it comes within reason, and it comes over time and with experience. It’s time to leave school and start earning some cash.

So get to it… now!

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Why You Suck at Affiliate Marketing

See what’s in that empty box? It’s your affiliate marketing income.

You’re not making any money. Or at least nothing even remotely close to what you were hoping for. And you’ve been at this for how long? One month… Two months… Six months… An entire year or more?

Dude… face it… you suck at affiliate marketing.

It looks like you need some help, so let me clue you in to a few things. Don’t worry, I’m not going to bombard you will false promises and charge you $97 for them. But I’m not going to pull any punches here either.

Let’s just get brutally honest for a moment, and face some hard cruel facts:

• You don’t need any more information to succeed.
• You don’t need any more software, utilities, tools, resources, or memberships.
• You need to stop looking for shortcuts.
• You need to get to work.
• You need to get real about successes and failures.
• You need to stop being scared of winning.

All you need to do is take what you already know, stop looking for shortcuts, stop being lazy, stop making excuses, and get to work.

Easy right? Well guess what, it’s not as hard as you’re making it.

Over the next few days I’m going to cover each of the points in that list above in greater detail. So if you’re not making money in affiliate marketing, you need to check back each day for the next installment. Unless you don’t want success, in which case I can’t help you.

Your choice…

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Stomping the Search Engines 2

Yesterday I finally received my copy of Stomping the Search Engines 2 (STSE2) via UPS, along with a copy of the Net Effect trade magazine. If you’ve already ordered your own copy of STSE2, you know that they try to upsell you on a few additional packages, and if you purchase all of the additional products you’ll spend over $400. If not, I want to make sure you know that. You also subscribe to the Net Effect magazine, so if you don’t want that, you’ll have to cancel it after your first order arrives.

Now I have to admit that I did purchase a couple of the extra packages. I opted to receive the StomperNet Insiders’ DVD of the Month that will accompany each issue of the Net Effect. I also ordered the Mega Pack, which is a collection of 4 or 5 modules covering additional topics such as Pay Per Click advertising. All said, I spent about an extra $100 on the upgrades.

So far I’ve watched the module 1 videos from the STSE2 disc, and while they were basic and introductory in nature (which is expected for module 1), the quality was excellent. I’m looking forward to watching the entire course.

My initial reaction to the Net Effect magazine wasn’t as positive. I quickly skimmed through it, read the first article, and thought that it wasn’t worth $30 a month. Later I decided to read through more of the articles, and they were all great. So while I’m still on the fence, I’m liking it more than I did at first glance, and have decided to remain subscribed through at least the second issue before making a final decision on it.

I haven’t had a chance to watch any of the extra videos from the Insiders’ DVD of the Month or the Mega Pack discs. When I do get a chance to watch those videos, I’ll post a note letting you know what I think of them.

If you have already started watching Stomping the Search Engines 2 or read the Net Effect (or watched any of the extra videos) then I’d love to know what you think of them! Please share your comments below…

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