Affiliate Sales Programs

Since I posted my previous comments on Google Snatch I’ve been reading some of the reviews going around the Web. Most (not all) are positive, but then they are usually written by an affiliate. So, am I being too harsh on Google Snatch when I say it is overpriced, poorly-written waffle?

As I mentioned before I contacted the affiliate who had promoted it to me, and as the author of Affiliate Rockstar Status, which I DO recommend, he is a very successful affiliate marketer himself. His view was that “people like you” forget that you were a newbie once, and that Google Snatch was “solid” advice for beginners. Furthermore, GN was a lead-in to a higher priced item (probably a membership site, he didn’t say). Hmmm, don’t think I’ll be buying into that one.

Is it good advice for beginners? Partly. The advice on keyword research and site structure is solid, albeit poorly presented, but newbies can get this information for free from just about any SEO forum. Heck, you can even get it from my own free SEO guide. When I fork out $97 for something that is NOT promoted as a newbie’s guide to SEO, I expect something a bit different. Some new ideas and concepts. Just have a look at the sales page. Does that sound like a beginner’s guide to SEO to you? BTW, the book is as long-winded and waffly as the sales page – lots of words, little content.

Note this from the sales page:

“And not to forget the world’s most ‘hocus pocus’ technique … SEO! Do you know what SEO means?

Search engine optimization (SEO) just means your website being accessible to the search engines to improve the chances that they will serve your website when your potential customers type in a specific search term.”

Does that sound to you like this book is NOT about SEO? So, writing an article with a link to your site and submitting it to hundreds of directories, after having re-written it each time, is not about SEO? Or doing keyword research? Or optimising your titles? Or writing to webmasters for link exchanges? These are the “cutting edge” techniques referred to in the sales letter. Give me a break.

Yes, these techniques do “work”. Good advice for beginners? I think not. If you want to spend hours every day rewriting someone else’s article and then rewiting it again, over and over, as you submit it to hundreds of article directories, then go ahead. Those inbound links, which apparently have nothing to do with SEO, will push your sites higher in the SERPs (search engine result pages).

Personally, I’d fall asleep after the third re-write. There are far more interesting and involving ways to promote your sites and achieve the same results. Check out Jack Humphries’ Authority Black Book for some great Web 2.0 techniques, totally free. I guarantee you won’t fall asleep reading the guide OR putting the techniques into practice. Instead of spending hours re-writing some fluff article, spend hours interacting, learning and sharing, while building links and direct traffic at the same time.

My opinion on Google Snatch hasn’t changed. Save your money.

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