Another Marketing Experiment to Leverage - Buying Links to Your Site

So, I was researching keywords related to blogging, researching a number of products with AdWords ads.  In that area, I stumbled across THIS interesting little number...

Mark Joyner claims that he's a blogging moron, and that he'd like your help reviewing his multimedia course on blogging.  So here's his deal...

In exchange for posting the following code on my blog:

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

I get to try-out their courseware for free.  So, basically, the deal is -- blog about their blogging stuff on a blog and you get their course.  Oh, and they've paid Google heftily, I'm sure, for the AdWords ad as well.

Here's the page the Google AdWords sent me to:  http://www.simpleology.com/training/blogging/

If you're interested, sign on up.  I imagine it probably has no idea if you take the code down immediately after you get the free software, but it's a really cute idea for generating inbound links to your site and getting blog press.

 

Once you've posted and confirmed -- witness the purity of the marketing machine at work. 

  • First, you sign up as a "member" -- this makes you feel like your in some special club.
  • Then you're sent to a "BUY NOW for these special bonuses" page which has a whole bunch of completely unrelated crap as bonuses.  Some stuff about losing weight, stopping hair loss, the Atkin's diet, meditation, and skin care.  I would smack any one of my clients for putting up a page like this.  I'm not always right...  I suppose it's making him some money, or he'd have swapped out the bonuses for something that worked.  Or maybe the bonuses are really leaders into a number of his other product sites, and they're not really bonuses at all, but infomercials for other products.  Regardless, you're told -- "Sign up now, or you'll never see these bonuses again!"  Classic scarcity ploy.  But, the bonuses stink, so I don't really care to sign up now... thanks.  You have to intentionally click the "NO! I want to miss out on this once in a lifetime offer..." to make it through to the next page.  His button text is "Lock in My Decision" <ominous theme music follows>
  • Oh, but wait... you click "No", then it sends you to ANOTHER page trying to hype it up some more.  You have to check the no box AGAIN.   It wasn't there the first time I did it, so maybe it's a split test thing to see if it increases takers.  An interesting idea.
  • Next, he directs you to set his site to your home page.  Oh, my God.  Who wants that?
  • Then, he directs you to install FIVE seperate little spyware apps on your machine so that you're always subjected to his branding messages.
  • Then he solicits the names and email addresses of some of your friends to send the offer to

Simply amazing! 

I suggest you sign up just to witness the wonderment of his raw marketing nerve.  When you think you've gone too far by asking for an email address in exchange for a white paper, consider this example.

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