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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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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Article: How to Choose the Right Keywords

I wrote an article over at Hubpages titled “How to Choose the Right Keywords.” I originally posted about this method at the BANS user forum, and after getting several compliments on my post, I decided to write it up as an article to share with everybody, as the method works well for anyone looking to optimize their website with keywords.

As a bonus, I created my very first YouTube video to go along with the article! Basically the video demonstrates me going through the step by step process of finding some keywords using the free method. I realize the quality isn’t the best on the video, but it should be good enough to drive home how simple the process really is.

If you get a chance to read the article or watch the video, please drop me a line and let me know what you thought of it. I’m hoping to do more articles and videos in the future, so any feedback you can give me is appreciated!

(PS. If you didn’t already realize, writing an article and producing a video are methods discussed in StomperNet’s Social Marketing Guide. Hint, hint…)

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StomperNet’s Social Marketing Guide

I almost hate posting this. Why? Because this is stuff I’ve been doing for awhile now with good results–some of which I had to pay money to learn about–and now StomperNet is spilling the beans and sharing it with the whole darn world!

They’ve released the Social Marketing Strategy Guide, and it contains several tips on how you can use social marketing to boost your affiliate business.

One of the strategies is to use Hubpages.com, which is a site I’ve been using for several months now. In fact, I’ve earned several commissions through Hubpages from only a handful of articles. While everyone was busy focusing primarily on Squidoo and Ezinearticles, I was happy to use Hubpages, get a great Google ranking, and enjoy those affiliate earnings.

Hopefully more people read StomerNet’s guide than actually implement the strategies in it. I can always hope, right?

Seriously, this blog is meant to help you out, so go get the guide and read it NOW, and then ACT upon what you read. Even if that means competing with me over at Hubpages…

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StomperNet Video - Doubling Your Traffic

If you haven’t already seen them, the guys at StomperNet have released a series of videos on the topic of search engine optimization. Here is the first video…

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