WARNING About Kooday the PPC Search Engine
Dear surfer,
I have a warning for you today about a new online business opportunity called Kooday.
I don’t want to call Kooday a scam because I don’t know enough about it. But I certainly do want to warn you about it.
You see when people are new to the internet and home business they fall prey to a lot of these so called “opportunities”. These scams, rip offs, con artists, or whatever you want to call them make these opportunities that sound great but are really full of false promises. They make a big splash because everyone wants in on the latest greatest opportunity, but one day people wise up.
Kooday is a new pay per click search engine. They are being marketed heavily in some internet circles right now and there is a lot of buzz.
They are selling themselves saying that you can buy keywords. You can then rent those keywords to other people who want to use the same keyword, thereby earning yourself commissions. You can also recommend others to Kooday.
The issue isn’t whether or not that could work. It could work. You certainly could make some money now if you get started early and sell a lot of keywords. However…. Long term buying keywords will only work if people actually search on Kooday. What good is it to own a keyword if no one ever uses the web site to search?
The real difficulty with search engines is how do you get a percentage of the market? How do you get people to search your web site instead of searching using Google or Bing?
Here is a warning right from the Kooday home page August 30, 2010:
Our Webcrawlers have not yet been turned on and once activated relevant results will be displayed. Our algorithm will impress the world. Currently our directory content is being used in beta and search relevancy is not accurate.
Kooday is admitting they don’t even have “relevant search results” yet. At this point Kooday is selling false promises. They are selling keywords in a search engine but they don’t even have a search engine yet! Shouldn’t they have launched the search engine first?
This has happened at least 2x that I know of in the past. Search Big Daddy and Search Estate both tried to take over the search engine market. They allowed you to buy keywords just like Kooday is. SBD even had some programs to pay surfers for searching their web site. Yet they never took off. They didn’t have enough people searching to make it worthwhile.
If there are only a small number of searchers using a search engine only the most popular keywords will receive enough clicks to make buying them worthwhile. Keywords that are not popular may go days or weeks without someone searching for them. Advertisers give up because they’re paying for keywords that are never clicked.
The other thing to think about here is… if there wasn’t a business opportunity attached to it, who would use Kooday? Sure people would want to buy some keywords just in case it works out… but there wouldn’t be nearly as many people doing it… especially since the Kooday search engine doesn’t even work yet!
Is Kooday a scam? Maybe. Is it going to fail in 1 year? Most likely.
Could you buy some keywords and hold on to them in case it works? Certainly… but just be careful. Don’t invest too much time or money into something like Kooday. Don’t let it take time and energy away from building your real business.
- Ben Fitts
PS. No affiliate links were used. This was not some trick to try and get you to buy Kooday ads through me. I genuinely don’t like the service and would not spend a dime there. I’m not even comfortable giving them my credit card. At least when Search Big Daddy and Search Estate launched they HAD a search engine in place. Kooday doesn’t even have that yet! Smells like a rip off to me.
PPS. This is my opinion based on 17 years of being on the internet and 13 years of doing internet marketing. I’ve seen a lot of these come and go.
PPS. Some people are mad that I call it PPC. I dunno what to call it? PPK? Pay Per Keyword?
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Ben, Thanks for the heads-up. You always give a honest appraisal of whats going on out there and I appreciate it. I look forward to your blog post there very informative.
Hello Ben,
Thanks for giving us an insight into your mind, so to speak. I understand your concerns but there is one safety button users can use: when they don’t want to continue participating in Kooday they are allowed to file a dispute with PayPal and they will receive the value of their keywords and the balance. No questions asked.
Dominick,
You’d rather file a dispute with Paypal?
I’m not sure that’s ethical either.
I’m also not sure how much experience you have with Paypal disputes. It usually is NOT a “no questions asked” policy. The vendor is entitled to file a rebuttal to your dispute. Paypal can hold the funds while the dispute is being researched. Depending on the terms and conditions at Kooday (I haven’t read them) you may be agreeing to a no refund policy. In which case Paypal would not refund your money. In addition you have to have a valid reason for your dispute. Saying you are unhappy with a digital service is a reason for canceling not for getting your money back for example. They would have had to breach their agreement with you in some way.
Ben,
I question your motive because you’ve got marketing stuff all over your page. I think you’re likely trying to pull me off one scam and onto another, more damaging and expensive one. At the same time you’re bad mouthing Kooday to get to it’s members by trying to hijack it’s search keywords.
I think this because I have 18 years of internet experience and 14 years of internet marketing experience; which is more than you. I know you’re fake picture of a book on the right is for neither a published book nor a book of the size depicted. Nice try pulling in new people…..when you get to 14 years of marketing experience you’ll learn how to design css and web pages better.
BLOG FAIL,
Rob
P.S. Read the whole Kooday site before writing. Some of the things you’ve written sound uninformed(Read the news page on Kooday about Paypal refunds – which are automatic).
Thanks for this great post. I love it when other leaders tell the truth about other programs from their point of view.
Personally, I did not see the big deal with this Kooday and am not involved. Now that I read your post, I’m glad for my decision.
Let’s review again in 6 months eh?
Janet Legere
Quote:Kooday is a new pay per click search engine. – FALSE
will Kooday be a success? chansces are they wont, but we have to wait and see.
Huge difference between a scam and a failed business model.
Thanks all for your comments.
Rob thanks for sharing your opinion. I don’t need to defend myself my ebook or my blog though
You after all are reading and posting here so I must be doing something right.
Janet, I agree. Let’s see where they are 6 months from now.
Joe, you say it’s not a pay per click search engine. I know that term probably isn’t accurate but I’m at a loss for how to describe a search engine where people pay for keywords.
As far as whether or not it is a scam or a failed business model. That remains to be seen. A site selling people keywords that doesn’t have a search engine yet certainly concerns me. Are you saying that doesn’t concern you?
- Ben
Come on ben, really?
Its not a pay per click, period.
so basically the whole article and title are entirely wrong and misleading.
maybe you should read an FAQ before you write an article.
again, if you understood the business model you would understand why they are building the keyword base first.
Why are you so angry?
It is PAY PER KEYWORD, right? That’s the essence of PPC. So what do you want to say PPK? instead of PPC? Would that make you happy?
Do they have a search engine yet?
Nope. So I still think it is a rip-off.
As far as whether or not they say they honor refunds, I don’t trust someone who sells a product that doesn’t exist yet.
It’s not hard to start a search engine. You pay a real search engine company to license their index. They provide you a basic search engine and depending on how much you pay you can modify their basic index.
Why hasn’t Kooday done this?
Why is there so much buzz over buying keywords but no buzz about the search engine, about getting people to visit the search engine and USE it?
Sorry I don’t like it and I stand by my belief.
- Ben
You guys are claiming Kooday will honor refunds. Have you READ the terms and conditions?
http://www.kooday.com/terms.asp
Due to the type of services that Kooday offers no refunds will be given. If your account has been terminated because of infractions of our terms or conditions then no refund will be given.
PPC and buying keywords are two different totally different things.
maybe would be interesting if you researched exactly how they are very different.
Until you correct that your bogus article i will not comment anymore.
Whether i call it PPC or something else does not matter. What is funny is that you’re picking out something like PPC and making that your whole point for claiming my article is bogus. That has very little relevance on whether or not Kooday is a rip off. It has no relevance on whether or not Kooday will be around in 6 months or a year. It has no relevance on the fact that Kooday is currently admitting they don’t have a search engine yet.
@Benjamin they will do refunds. You have the right to request a refund within 60 days of participation. Mark Huhtella from Kooday announced this at least twice during the conference calls. So all what you are saying does not apply to requesting a refund.
Also Kooday is not PPC Benjamin. Advertisers have to pay 15% of the keyword price to advertise up to 15 dollar per keyword. If someone matches or exceeds that bid they will have to pay that price again to get the number 1 ad ranking again for that keyword.
Next time please research better, this article was atrocious.
Dominick, Research better?
In WRITING on the Kooday web page in the terms and conditions it says no refunds.
I trust what they put in writing better than what someone says on a conference call.
Why don’t they have contact information on their web site? Why don’t they have a support number, a support email, etc? There needs to be information like this on the general web site not just in the members area for paid members. Any REAL business web site puts this information out there.
Why do they say one thing on their conference calls but their terms and conditions say something else?
Of course you think my article is atrocious because you want to lure more people in to buying/renting keywords from you!
,It seems that kooday is becoming a scam. People now can’t request for payout. They say they are changing payment method to alertpay. They said that if members don’t wish to switch to AlertPay they can request for full refund of all his paypal transactions to Kooday. I have decided to stop from Kooday and started to submit a proposal for refund. It has been a week since I sent an email proposal but I get no response until now. I have also filed a dispute/claim to paypal and am waiting for Kooday response.
OMG! I have to say that this blog is one of the worst i have read. Ben, you are just spouting off without doing any research whatsoever. Kooday does have a support number for its members. I have called it 3 times, and have got answers to my quetions 3 times. The number is on the NEWS page of the site. Any member can access it. Also, when the terms and conditions were written, paypal had agreed to handle the monies coming in, then they decied not too. That is where the refund came about. Yeah, kooday could have stuck to the terms and conditions and said no refund, but they didn’t. Seriously, if you are gonna review something, don’t you think you should do a little research? As far as it being a PPC, that can’t be further from the truth. There is no PPC in Kooday. People link keywords to their site, you earn a commission from that if you own the keyword. There is no getting paid per click. Man,you sure don’t act like you have been in marketing as long as you say you have.
Damn it! I already spent USD150 on kooday?! So do they refund all my money or should i just go straight to paypal and file a claim? GOD! Why i have not found this blog earlier?!
Ok, Have filed 8 claims against kooday (as i made 8 payments from paypal to kooday…), will see what will paypal do about this….will update you once the claims are closed (hopefully in my favour….lol)
I requested $1500 of the $6000 I deposited into Kooday through paypal.
It took about 3 days, and to my shock the actually refunded all $6000.
No Scam here.
At the end of the day it may fall flat on it face but not a scam.
it has been three weeks since I filed 4 claims against kooday, but no response untill now.
Man all I can say is that they pay. Went to bed last night with $13 in my alertpay account and woke up to $176 because my one and only refer bought words. Guys don’t sleep on this thing, I have never found anything like this 281 650 3528
@ Benjamin F.
Dude Kooday has just been incorporated, after weeks of existance. This shows it’s not like Kooday has 1 billion employers to fix every single unimportant thing you are upset/worried about. Yes they will likely change all legal problems you noted.
Also on their blog, kooday.us they wrote that they will soon publish all the corporation information.
Wait until say October and then tell us what you think again.
They’ve been taking your money for months but aren’t incorporated?
Do you want to know why the finally incorporated?
In case they get SUED.
They should have been incorporated before they even launched. This goes to show what a bunch of amateurs are running this business.
You Kooday people have obviously drunk the koolaid.
If kooday isnt a scam, it most certainly is a shady and poorly run “business”. Any requests for information or payouts have fees, limits and other bs attached to it.
Not only that, they are siphoning money out of my alert pay balance, i was close to 5 dollars (enough for a payout). I checked today and lo and behold my balance of 4.78 was 3.88 AFTER I had sold a keyword for 64 cents.
Would not recommend kooday at all, not worth the headache. Im also speculating that they artificially raise prices of words in order to draw more money in…
Pete, If you have any questions about kooday here is there corporate blog-http://kooday.us/
if that doesnt work you can call mark @ 705-564-9365
Ben, why are you so angry?
Kooday may fail, but you have no proof of anything.
your whole article is a misrepresentation.
do you even know what a PPC site is?
have you called Kooday and asked any questions?
Best i can see you havnt even joined as a free member to do your research and read the NEWS or FAQ.
WOW, you smell as a blogger or …
quote: They should have been incorporated before they even launched.
Ben, you goof ball they havnt launched.
what jack says is right you have know idea of what is going on with Kooday.
I call launched the day they start taking your money.
Lmao Ben Fitts is a global Moron! Dont spend any more time giving this guy traffic!
I have one more thing to say to Ben. After all this talk about kooday, they paid their members. I personally got $600 sent to my alertpay account last week and will be getting $2000 more next week. I was the first diamond and have been with them from the get-go. I don’t really care if anyone wants to call this site a scam but you really shouldn’t post anything without doing your research first. If kooday is a scam, they can just keep scamming me cause i got my $600 sent from alert pay to my bank today. After putting in a total of $300, thats not too bad. But i have $1500 in my alert pay balance at kooday now with $2000 all ready requested and on its way. So i want everyone to rest assure that kooday is paying now. I don’t know how long it will last but i am riding this cash cow as far as i can.
Is Kooday a scam? time will tell, but don’t be fooled by the hype and promises. Most Pyramid scheme’s pay out for awhile to draw in “investors.” I encourage everyone to do their homework, as Ben and other’s suggest. Things to ask are:
Who run’s Kooday? (Brian Lindback, red flag)
What is the competition? (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.) Kooday says they only want 3 percent of their business, they don’t even have any advertisers, who would pay the prices they are asking? who has even heard of Kooday?
What is their experience in the business?
What is their business plan?
Marketing plan?
What is their experience and background?
Are they registered?
Where are their filings?
When is their startup? (Kooday already missed theirs)
Why did Paypal boot them?
They’re selling what? keywords? look at what they’re charging and paying. The first few people in bought all the keywords, and they’re the one’s making the money.
Kooday doesn’t even have a web site or search engine!
Their advertising is amateurish?
Where are the corporate offices?
What are the telephone numbers?
Who are the employees?
What about tax consequences? You do have to file taxes? right?
What about their return policy? read the fine print? they can change policy at any time without notice.
They have paid out to some investors, but never the amount that they have earned, always less than stated, and less than they invested. Pyramid?
Kooday advertisements promise millions in return, then why are they going public, and not making these millions for themselves.
Again, Who makes the money, people at the top! look at their levels, Gold, Diamond etc. and look again at what they’re charging for keywords.
People at the top are now making money off everyone underneath them, including Kooday owners who don’t even have a website, advertisers or any of the above.
So, they blew their launch date, how long will it be before they just say it didn’t work as expected, or they were sabotaged! yet they have made millions from investors with NO promise of return.
Do your homework!
They also miss their deadlines.
Every month I hear from someone in Kooday that says they are going to finally launch their search engine. The date comes and goes and Kooday still hasn’t launched their search engine.
THAT is what their product is supposed to be. If they don’t have a search engine then you’re buying and selling air.
Last I heard from one of the Kooday fakers (they all post using the same ip address, and change the name/email. It is only 3 email addresses representing those dozens of kooday comments) they were claiming the search engine would be launched by October 22nd or earlier. Well it’s the 25th and there still isn’t a search engine.
Go figure.
Better check out Kooday’s policies as of 25 October 2010. Here it goes, starting to blame and getting ready to run. For example, here is Kooday’s comment in the FAQ site of Kooday.us
What is Kooday’s refund policy?
Answer(s)
Monday Oct 18, 2010Although it is established that Kooday offers a refund policy – until negotiations with AlterPay have been finalized – the exact length of the refund policy has not yet been finalized.
Kooday is also aware that there are a small number of members who are attempting to manipulate the system in a less than ethical manner. Owing to this – measures are also being settled upon to ensure that the profits which all members share are not going to be put in jeopardy by the actions of the actions of these few.
The result is trying to balance off protecting our Kooday profits while simultaneously ensuring that the refund policy be a fair one.
It is anticipated that the refund policy time-frame will be finalized within the next week or so i.e. sometime on or before the end of Oct.
Check out all the questions asked, they are starting to hide the proverbial ball…..
Kooday is paying out. What now?
The fact that Kooday is paying out is great. I’m glad for those people who have made some money back or made a profit.
Unfortunately the demise of Kooday is already in the works. There are 2 or 3 new competitors out there and some of Kooday’s largest affiliates have already run to the competition.
The problem with Kooday is it was supposed to be selling search engine advertising but no real search engine exists. They have always claimed to be working on a search engine but as months pass they still haven’t launched the search engine. Most advertisers are loosing money. Only the people who have been able to resell ads are making any money. (Go look at the Facebook group to see people desperately trying to sell Kooday ads)
They put up a notice on their web page saying that they activated their web crawlers and they are %%% done crawling the internet, but that appears to just be more hype and lies. They have been crawling for months. The so called percentage crawled has actually shrunk. At one point it was up to 80% but now it says they’re only 50.98% done crawling. To me, it doesn’t seem like they ever intend to really launch their search engine.
It appears to be a scam. People are buying ads hoping to turn around and resell those ads and make money, but the ads themselves don’t really exist. There is no search engine for those keyword ads to exist on. They can get away with their fake search results and saying their real “spider” is coming online soon… but they can only do that for so long before most people see through the lies.
Whether or not they pay out is not relevant here.
For example. If I was a real estate developer and I paid realtors to go out and sell property in my new real estate development. I actually sell property in my new development and I actually pay those realtors their commissions. Does that mean it isn’t a scam? What if I never actually build the properties? What if the property being sold doesn’t actually exist?
Your logic is saying that because Kooday paid someone it isn’t a scam. So your logic says that in my real estate example I’m not a scam because I’m actually paying people a commission to sell my fake property.
Kooday right now is selling fake advertising. It doesn’t matter if they pay commissions or not.
THAT is why their top affiliates are leaving. They’re probably loosing a lot of the advertisers who are tired of paying for nothing… Those top affiliates are going to take their money and run to another site and start promoting there. They won’t quit Kooday. They’ll try and make as much money from it as they can before it dies, but they won’t be putting forth the same kind of marketing efforts.
By this time next year no one will probably even remember Kooday existed.