We’ve had a lot of comments on my article: Local Ad Link – Scam or Legitimate Advertising Opportunity?

A few of our readers have had some pretty interesting arguments.  Several felt that Local Ad Link (LAL) was a scam and were claiming bounced checks.  Others (mostly people SELLING the service) were talking about how great LAL is.  They talked about how LAL had problems and was in beta and things were getting better all the time.  They also talked about customers who were happy because they saw themselves listed on Google.

A couple criticized me and said I don’t know what I am talking about.  One criticized me for recommending people invest $47 in a Perry Marshall training on how to properly do their own PPC advertising.  Keep in mind that the top package at Local Ad Link costs $200 A MONTH.  I was recommending a training program that someone would buy one time and would give them a good understanding of why LAL is a scam.

Some other people recommended I do my homework.  They didn’t think I knew what I was talking about.

So let me clear up a few things…

I’ve been doing pay per click probably longer than most of you have been on the internet!

I’ve been on the Internet since 1993. I’ve owned my own internet service provider (1995-1996).  I created a search engine of soccer web sites which I sold for 5 figures in 1999.  I’ve been doing pay per click since Overture was called GoTo.com (Overture was bought by Yahoo and is now Yahoo’s PPC service.)  GoTo.com got started doing PPC in 1998 and I started with them in 1999.

Here are some reasons why I continue to think Local Ad Link is a bad investment.  I won’t call it a scam for now but I’ll continue to say LAL is a rip off and is for people who don’t know any better.

First and foremost…

Most LAL customers are basically buying ad placement on Google NOT clicks!  They are happy just to have their web site listed on Google. They don’t realize that there advertisement may not be getting clicked on AND even if they do click on their ad they have to go to Local Ad Link first before getting to their web site!  Since LAL is basically reselling Google ads Google requires them to go to the LAL web site first, then on to their web site.  Most of the LAL customers are too ignorant of internet marketing and PPC so they don’t realize how bad this is for them. This also effects the page relevancy which I’ll talk about in a moment.

Second, LocalAdLink provides a limited number of keywords and you must pay more if you want more keywords.  LocalAdLink limits you to 3 keyword phrases.  You should only pay more for more clicks NOT more keywords. That way you can buy keywords that are not clicked on very often and you can buy a bunch of them. Therefore you can buy a bunch of cheap keywords.  LAL instead charges  you based on the number of keywords you buy regardless of whether or not you actually get any clicks from them! (In the search engine world we call these long tail keywords and they can be some of the most profitable keywords to bid on.)

Third, You cannot select negative keywords which allow you to exclude certain negative phrases from your ads. PPC experts know that negative keywords are just as important as the keywords you want people to use.  Negative keywords allow you to weed out freebie seekers and people who are wasting your money. For example, you can setup negative keywords like “free” or “hacks”.  If you were selling cellular phones for example you wouldn’t want people who are looking for cell phone hacks to waste your advertising money.  LAL does not allow you to select negative keywords.

Fourth does Local Ad Link allow you to pick exact matches? I doubt they do since they don’t allow you to do negative keywords.  Basically there are 4 types of keyword matches at Google.  Broad match which would match any keywords were “cellular” and “phone” appear in the search.  Phrase matches where only phrases that match “cellular phones” appear in the search and exact matches which are only “cellular phones” and no other matches so it would exclude “free cellular phones” or any other 3 keyword searches.

You might be saying Local Ad Link defaults to “broad searches” so that’s best but in fact this is a major flaw in the LAL system. Because they are by default doing broad searches it means they are paying for a lot of extra clicks that are not effective clicks.  Since LAL is basically reselling Google PPC ads and they are wasting money on broad matches, they will run through their advertising budget faster!  If they used phrase matching, exact matching, and negative keywords the advertisers would get fewer clicks but they’d get better quality clicks.  LAL would save money.  LAL is trying to show a lot of clicks to their advertisers which is actually the OPPOSITE of what you want to do in PPC advertising! You don’t want a lot of clicks you want HIGH QUALITY clicks that lead to sales!

Fifth, LocalAdLink offers limited zip code selection and charges you based on how many zip codes you select. PPC should charge you based on the number of clicks you receive not the number of zip codes. You should be able to pick as many locations as you want!  If you pick a zip code of a high end neighborhood for example you might not get a lot of clicks.  For example I know of a neighborhood in Boston’s Back Bay that is very exclusive.  One city block has it’s own zip code!  Needless to say you wouldn’t get very many clicks by targetting that zip code, but anyone who clicked would be a millionaire and would be the kind of audience you would want to target.

Finally and perhaps worst of all is the fact that Local Ad Link provides a negative relevancy on your advertising. Google has a page relevancy or advertising relevancy rating. This essentially means that if you link your ad to a crappy web site you will show up lower in the listings.  It also means that if you’re ad gets more clicks than your competition you might be able to bid less on the ad and get rated higher on Google’s search engine listings. LAL is providing a negative relevancy because they are performing in a role of intermediary.  Linking to your page at LAL isn’t as good as linking directly to your web site is.

When you click on a LocalAdLink advertisement you are taken to LAL’s web site! This is the WORST possible thing to happen. MANY MANY MANY people who click on your ad will get to LAL and will NOT click through to your web site. You have a short period of time to get someone’s attention and making them click through LAL before they get to your web site adds complexity.  This means you’ll be paying for a lot of people to visit your web site that will never actually get there. They will get to LAL and click back to Google, click away to another link, etc. BUT you’re paying for them to visit your web site and they NEVER actually get there. (Actually LAL is paying for them and that is one reason why they will never succeed at this game financially unless they rip off a lot of users by providing them far less advertising for their money.)

Let’s say LAL is a good web site. Let’s say the design is good. Let’s say they Let’s say do a good job of getting people to click on your link  and go to your web site.  A GREAT result would be 80% of the people who click through get to your web site… That basically means you’re paying for 20% of the people to click on your add that don’t actually get to you. That’s 20% LOSS.  That’s 20% BREAKAGE.  What if the site isn’t any good? What if 50% of them fail?  Should you pay for a 50% failure rate? Should you pay for a 20% failure rate?

Here are some other good articles on whether or not Local Ad Link is a scam:

http://www.forestmarie.com/why-localadlink-is-a-scam-localadlink-review-local-ad-link/

http://hubpages.com/hub/Local-Ad-Link-Scam

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/427/ripoff0427685.htm

http://www.idowebmarketing.com/local-ad-link-review-its-a-scam-people-heres-why/

And some message boards where there are a lot of complaints.

http://www.feedagg.com/feed/138261/Local-Ad-Link-Scam-Comments

http://scam.com/showthread.php?t=80303

Some of these go back to the discussion of bounced checks, bad support, and technical problems with Local Ad Link.  I haven’t used it so I can’t talk about those things.  My analysis is based on sound PPC advertising practice.

I dare anyone with a strong background in PPC to tell me that using LAL is better than doing your own PPC advertising OR hiring a firm who charges you a small percentage to manage your ads for you.

- Ben Fitts

MLM Training > scam

The scam otherwise known as Chat to Text is back. I hate it and I recommend all of you avoid it.

This is a facebook application that allows you to get facebook chat messages sent to your cell phone. It costs $6 and has an MLM payplan associated with it.

Here is one example of why I hate it.

I got an email yesterday from a friend.  She is not a technical person.  In fact she has told me she hates being on the computer all day.  She is an outdoors person. She likes being outside. She enjoys traveling.  She enjoys meeting people and networking face to face, NOT working on the computer all the time. She explicitly told me she doesn’t want to spend a lot of time on the computer.

Yet this woman emailed me and asked me to take a look at Chat to Text.  This is a woman who doesn’t want to be on the computer all the time and yet now she is promoting a product that puts your computer chat on your cell phone.  If anything it’s the exact opposite!  This woman wants to try and get away from the computer and yet now she’s getting text messages on her cell phone?!?!

I feel like the ONLY reason she is pushing this crap is because:

1. Someone she knows probably sent her the link.

2. She hasn’t thought it through.

3. She is promoting it because of the MLM component and the ability to get paid for referring others.

In reality this is a product she won’t use. This is a product she actually won’t like at ALL!  Yet she is promoting it to others!

Chat to Text is one of the worst examples of MLM scam and is what causes people to not like MLM.  The majority of people promoting this JUNK aren’t even going to use it.  They are just promoting it for the MLM. That is how MLM get’s a bad name.

I encourage all of you to boycott Chat to Text.  Next time someone asks you emails you about Chat to Text send them here to find out why what they are doing is so bad for our industry.

MLM Training > scam

I hate to say I told you so, but I did.

Yesterday I wrote about the latest MLM fad and encouraged you to avoid it.  The fad is called Chat to Text.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one that didn’t think this was a good idea.  Facebook shut down Chat to Text yesterday.

I quote from the Chat to Text web site.

UPDATE – Facebook just shut down the application as of 9:42pm Eastern Time Monday, Feb. 2nd. Don’t worry, everyone that paid already will still receive their commission as per our agreement. But let’s get this back up and running…this is a way for ALL of us to make money. As you all know, MLM is legal and MLM works…this was exploding and Facebook may even have felt threatened by us.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! POST YOUR COMMENTS TO THIS NEW FACEBOOK GROUP – WHAT DO YOU THINK???

Email Facebook to tell them this is a legitimate business model that doesn’t violate any terms. Read Facebook’s terms for yourself, ChatToText doesn’t violate ANY of them! Here is the email they sent, a 5-second copy/paste email:

————————To the developer of ChatToText, application ID #43000236800,

Your application has been disabled for violating Facebook terms and policies.

For further information, please email platform-policy@facebook.com .  Please note that attempting to recreate this application may result in further action.

Sincerely,

Facebook Platform Developer Operations & Support

And just as Chat to Text is trying to create buzz and get support for their application there are groups of people forming who are trying to make sure they stay banned from Facebook.

Here is the group you should join if you want to keep Chat to Text off Facebook.

The problem with Chat to Text wasn’t that they charged money for a facebook application but that they were doing MLM.

You might wonder why I am upset by this. I do MLM and make a full time living doing MLM.  My issue with it wasn’t that it was MLM but that there wasn’t any real residual income here to be made.  All the money was up front money from selling the application AND it was an application that I felt I’d never want to use.

To be honest I don’t do much Facebook chat anyway. Why would I want Facebook chat to come through to my cell phone? That’d be annoying to me and I bet a lot of people would start to use the application, find text messages to their phone annoying and turn it off.

I felt like a lot of people were promoting it not because they liked the product but because they wanted to make money referring the product to other people. Or perhaps even worse, the product was only $6, so “why not” try it.  That’s a pretty bad way to build an MLM.  You will end up with a lot of unhappy people when they realize they wasted their money.

Apparently I was right.

If you are an established MLMer you have to beware of the junk you promote.  Several of my friends started promoting this junk.  One was even promoting it as “Facebook has gone MLM”. You have to remember that your reputation is more important than a quick paycheck. WHO CARES IF I CAN MAKE A PROFIT PROMOTING IT.  It takes bigger guts to not promote something.  If I don’t have to promote every little thing that comes up it shows I’m serious.  And I have a better reputation.

Remember the old tv commercials “When EF Hutton talks people listen”?  People would be at a restaurant eating. It would be very noisy.  Then one of the guys would start to talk and everyone would suddenly stop talking to hear what he had to say.  Then the voice over would come on and say “When EF Hutton talks people listen”.

That’s how you want to be perceived. You want people to listen to what you have to say.

What do you think? Do you think I’m crazy? Do you think ChatToText will be back on Facebook?

- Ben Fitts

MLM Training > scam

I would NOT recommend Web Prosperity!

For those of you living under a rock, a new powerline MLM is about to launch.

Web Prosperity launches tomorrow January 6, 2009. (That is NOT an affiliate link.  I am not and do NOT want to be affiliated with this company.)

Web Prosperity is a powerline MLM.  Meaning people can join the powerline and reserve their position for free.  It’s a straight line… Then when someone upgrades it sends an email to all the people in the middle who are still free members to let them know they’d be missing out on this upgrade.  It’s a fear of loss and works really well to encourage people to sign up.

Here’s the problem.

Powerlines are hype driven.  There’s been a ton of hype surrounding this including people telling me that downlines will be recruiting uplines so make sure I sign up now and offer it to my downline.  This kind of hype is bad for our industry.

Second, the products are usually not that good in a powerline.  Typically the products are available elsewhere for free or low cost.

Third most people joining the powerline are joining for the opportunity not to become a customer.  According to the Federal Trade Commission this is a violation of their policies regarding what is a legitimate MLM and what is a scam.  In a legitimate MLM company you should have 2/3rds customers who use the product but do not participate in the mlm building part.  This is why many companies require their distributors to sign up at least 2 customers.

In the past two years I have seen at least 3 other MLM powerlines.  All had big hype.  I was even involved in promoting a couple.  They all have gone by the wayside.  They still exist but the hype has faded and the people joining have dwindled.

Wowzza, ProBuilderPlus, ProWealthSolutions… I’m sure there will be others…

BUT this is not the kind of company I want to associate my name with.  I don’t want to tarnish my reputation by joining a company like WebProsperity… I’ve got a great company I’m representing now and I don’t want to take away any time or energy away from it.

That’s my 2 cents.  You may disagree and you may think web prosperity is great. You may make a ton of money promoting it to your downlines.  However I’d rather wait and see.  Let’s see where they are a year from now.  If they’re still around and still growing at a rapid pace, THEN I will consider it.

Let’s put it another way… Will anyone who isn’t already involved in MLM and internet marketing join web prosperity?

I sell my product to non MLMers almost every single week.  Because I have a REAL product.  How about Web Prosperity?

Agree or Disagree?

- Ben Fitts

MLM Training > scam

I just received this email.  I wanted to warn you guys of this.  This is definitely false advertising.

Hello Ben,
I saw your website last night and I have a couple of quick questions. Could you call me
when you have a minute?
Betty Snow
519-977-3639

I’ve decided to start blowing the whistle on these so called MLM experts.  They recruit by methods like this.  They want to sell me on their “system” yet their system includes false advertising!

If you google the number above you’ll find it doesn’t belong to Betty Snow. it belongs to Leo Silverstri.  When you google Leo you’ll find he is a network marketer selling a recruiting system.

Now here’s the big problem.

#1 the email above is misleading. It sounds like they are interested in my business but they aren’t.  They just want to sell me.

#2 the phone number given is not Betty’s but is Leo’s. Call the number and he’ll tell you that Betty Snow is one of his associates and she must have seen one of my web sites. So they don’t even know what web site they found you on.  That’s a big clue that they don’t care about you or your web site.  All they care about is you are a network marketer and they have a system to sell you.

Why would I want to buy a recruiting system from someone that has to “spam” to recruit? They’re may not even be a Betty Snow!  They could just be using software like SEO Elite to find people who have web sites on a topic like MLM or network marketing and spam those people automatically.

So their recruiting system begins with misleading advertising and spam.  That doesn’t sound like the kind of recruiting system I want to use!

Have you had any experiences like these? Let’s start a network marketing hall of shame and blow the cover on all these people!

- Ben Fitts

MLM Training > scam