"Imagine"

I have recently been amused by a very clever marketing ploy that seems to be working involving an internet marketer who has built something of a name. The new strategy involves announcements that this person is ‘going to college” and thus “letting go” of some “prime properties” and, some other promotions which are rather in the line of having a “firesale” and selling off some “secret weapons”. Lol. Usually when people go to college they are concerned with financial aid, costs of education, cost of living and etc. So, if you have a working, viable business going that actually makes you money, the LAST thing you are going to do is get rid of it!

Have you even looked at the COST OF GOING TO COLLEGE these days? Not to mention, living expenses, (even dorm living is pricey.), car, entertainment, cloths, fun….well, you get my drift. Even with scholarships and student loans, you need at least a part time job AND help from mom and dad. Yep. Expensive. So, you have a going and profitable online business you keep it to support your way through college. The last thing you do is “sell it off”. Besides, it is not like you have to quit your job because you are moving away to a new state or whatever. Your job, company, is in cyperspace and GOES WITH! Lol.

Now, the fire sales I can rather see as the selling of “secret weapons.” You need to earn cash for some venture, or in this case, to “go to college.” So, you have a sale to do this. Cool. Call it that. Don’t wrap it up in a bunch of nonsense.

Usually, I have found out through experience, whenever people start having “firesales” and/or giving things away when you sign up for something else it is because those things are becoming obsolete. A great example of this are adblasters. I obtained a number of them over the past few months through signing up for other sites and etc only to find that these sites have “left the building.” Lol. I did get a month or two emailing done through them, only to log on to find messages like this: “Our list has become unviable and we have discontinued it.” Usually this is accompanied by a sales page where you can go and purchase the new, viable and oh-so hot list.

So, I am now rather skeptical of fire sales and give aways of this nature. This rather ties in with things you need to look at when considering a “long term” business opportunity. Let’s face it, you do not build a business overnight! Period. There are no “fast track” road to riches, easy money, or “no work” venues out there. Repeat that over and over again.

And, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU IF THAT SO CALLED HOT OP DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU! Yep, repeat that over and over again. As far as I can see, the majority are pre-designed to fail for the average affiliate and benefit only the program owner/s. Does that mean you stop looking! Absolutely not!! There are some great ops out there, great sites, great marketing resources, great business and products. You just have to learn how to sift through things to find them.

So, my top “run away” from phrases. Meaning, these are sites I run away from quickly whenever I see these phrases:

1. Imagine… yeah I can imagine all my money going into the pocket of someone else.
2. What if… what if? What happens if it doesn’t work out they way the ad hype implies it “will”?
3. You Could… uh-huh, I could also run away very fast keeping my money firmly in my pocket or bank account.
4. Letting go of properties: usually there is a good reason for that. One does not just “let go” a profitable business. You keep those for sure.
5. YOUR INBOX CAN LOOK LIKE THIS, NO ADVERTISING REQUIRED!
Right. Since when? Usually these phrases are associated with “Randomizers” which is still synonymous with: “gambling.”

Top phrases/words which make me sit back and think about before running aw from quickly:

1. Firesale: why?
2. Giving Away: ditto

Top phrases/words I analyze in conjunction with that specific site to ensure they add up:

1. Free: Hey, I love free, am all for free, thrive on free. I join sites free to find out if this is a good fit for me. I upgrade or purchase when it is. What I do not buy or participate in “free” sites which are NOT!!!
My all time favorite was a safelist which toted itself as THE (as in only) free safelist on the net and then had like 2 payment processor buttons prominently displayed. Lol. Hate to break it to them but they were not the only safe list on the net to offer free membership option, and, paying for a membership is not free. Hello!

2. Free: again, only to find you get sent free sales literature. Yeah, that is supposed to be free.
3. Free to join, no benefits, you buy all those. Hello again, not free.
4. Free… did I mention this already? If a site is free, great. Offering free incentives is a tried and true marketing tactic. It is good, solid business practice. Just, make sure it is actually free before signing up. If the site was deceptive about this up front, you can be assured that it will be deceptive in other matters.

In fact there is one thing about logic statements in general that need to be applied to all on line marketing and opportunity sites: you must have all true (tested and verified true) components in a statement to equal a true statement. T + T + T = T. T + F + T = F. So, if you are looking at a site, make sure all the statements about that site add up. Otherwise, rafq.

- Cherie Halliday
XtreamSurf
Xtream Submitter
Xtream SAL