Nothing Works Part 2

Clive (aka “The Grumpy Old Chef”) posted another comment on my “Nothing Works” post (you should read that and the comments first if you haven’t already, Clive’s original comments are about half way down the page) that I felt needed a longer reply than is really suitable for a “comment”, so this post is my reply.

Here’s Clive’s comment: –

No, I’m not defeated – I had no expectations from the start. Everyone laughed at me from day one.

I thought of capturing emails by giving the book away for emails but I’ve found that those who’ve signed up for a freebie have no intention of ever buying anything.

Apart from that, it took me six months VERY hard work to write and it WILL save people money.

Maybe I should just write some IM hype and sell for $97. LOL Everyone else is making a fortune this way.

I’ve never bought a single IM product that’s made me a cent.

I have sales page templates – I’ll have to see if I can use them.

I’m pretty useless when it comes to techie stuff.

As Matt knows, after more than 4 years I still can’t make a popup. LOL

I agree with you on the sales page being one of the advantages of affiliate products but a disadvantage is that nobody ever seems to buy them.

After no affiliate sales in 52 months I am waking up to the the fact that affiliate links are as much use as a one-legged man in an ar*e kicking contest.

The traffic I get buys nothing. As I am here and they are “there” there’s no way to ’sell’ them anything, I must just hope they buy. lol. And they don’t.
Have fun,
Clive Praed

so here’s my reply: –

1. most of us have had friends and family mock us for thinking it’s possible to make money on the internet, and yet most of them are now quite happy to buy things from sites like Amazon.

If I had listened to everyone who ever told me that I shouldn’t/couldn’t do something I’d probably still be working behind a bar in my home town earning minimum wage, rather than having the freedom to work for myself (with no boss) and earn more than most of my friends with far less effort.

2. Personally I’ve found that giving away top quality content for free to build a list is a very succesful way of doing business, and I’m not the only one.

If you don’t want to go that route then you will need to look at why your sales letter/process is not converting, which means learning more about copywriting and testing & tracking.

3. If you just write some “IM Hype” and try and sell it for $97 you’re probably not going to make much money.

How about looking at an area of IM that you have problems with, learn more about it so that you can “master” it, then write about what you’ve learnt, that’s far more likly to do well!

4. I’ve bought LOTS of IM products, most of which have either helped me learn soemthing that has helped me to make money, or they have directly helped my blogs or websites to get more traffic and make more money.

the ones that haven’t made me any money are usually those that I’ve not had time to actually USE.

5. If you’re no good at “techie” stuff then work out what you are good at and outsource the techie stuff for a few dollars on Rentacoder.com or Elance.com, you don’t have to do everything yourself.

6. I’ve been doing this a decade, and I still don’t know how to make a pop up either! but it doesn’t matter, I can easily find a program to use to make one for me if I need it, there’s a few of them out there… 🙂

or I could go to rentacoder and pay someone to write a program to do it for me exactly the way I want it, and then I’d have another product to sell!

7. I guess I must be just imagining the thousands I make each month from affiliate links..?

Affiliate programs can and do work, you just need to make sure you’re putting the right programs in front of the right people, in other words help people find what they are looking for.

8. If the traffic you are getting buys nothing, then you have to look at what you are offering them.

Check your website stats to see where the traffic is coming from to get an idea of what they are looking for, so you can work out what you should be offering them.

or, here’s a wild thought, ask them! 😉

that’s part of the power of having a blog, you can ask your visitors for feedback and they can post comments, so you find out exactly what they are looking for.

if it’s not a blog, then ask them to email you, although you may need to offer some incentive for them to do so.

Clive, although you do seem to be a tad “negative” now and then, you are obviously willing to ask questions and seek the knowledge you need, and to put in some effort to move your business forwards, I’ve seen you do so over the last couple of months.

That alone puts you a step ahead of many people, so keep learning and keep making improvements based on what you learn and you WILL get there!

I believe in you.

~~## NEW UPDATE ##~~

I probably should have given some background before making this post, as Clive and I have shared a few emails over the last few months, and his “grumpyoldchef” moniker isn’t without reason.

he’s been working at trying to make some money online for several years without a great deal of success, but his latest reply will give you a clearer idea of this.

I’m posting his “comment”/reply as an update to this post instead of a comment both because his reply is quite long and because my follow up reply is even longer, so grab a glass of your favorite tiple and hold on to your seat….

Clive’s follow up reply: –

Matt,
I feel honoured!
As you know, I agree with almost 100% of what you say.

The ‘guru’s’ sell IM hype for thousands and make millions.
Nobody is ever going to convince me that any of these “$1,997 courses” do anything except put $1k in the guru’s account and $1k into the account of the con-artist that sends out the emails.
I know why I don’t sell affiliate products – I’m no good at deceiving people.

Glad to see you plugging Randy’s book. He’s a nice guy. I’m a paid member of his site. Never made a penny out of it and never will, but, as I said, he’s a very nice guy.

I know there are programmes out there to make popups – I have at least six of them. Can’t get any of them to work.


The same as “Sales page templates”, “OTO Templates”, “Instant Squeeze Page Makers” etc. I have the lot. Gathering dust. Can’t use them and nobody wants to buy them.

Believe it or not, I have no areas that I have problems with.
I write good articles that have thousands of readers. Unfortunately, nobody ever clicks on the links – that’s totally beyond my control. I write and post the article and that’s all I can do.

I follow all the “traffic tips” – except any of those to do with social sites – but no traffic eventuates.

Viral Spiral, Viral eBook Explosion – I’m in them all. Clicks or ‘downline members’? None in a year or more.

Traffic Exchanges – ditto – not one click.

Link exchanges – don’t understand what they’re supposed to do.

Twitter – strange. It must do something. I get about 10 – 20 people a day “following” me so I “follow”. That is, I click ‘follow’ on their page and that seems to be the end of the operation. I don’t think anything happens after that. I never visit the site.

I set up lenses on Squidoo. Dear reader, don’t bother with this – if you get 2 visitors a year you will be one of the lucky ones. LOL

I have given away over 10,000 e-Books with Clickbank links and my URLs over 4 years.
Not one sale from the links and, as my websites have only made $1.99 in sales in 2 years, I can also assume no traffic.

I write products that other marketers review for me and give me good reports.
Even “honest” testimonials – as rare as rocking horse sh*t.
Nobody ever buys them, though.
I actually finished one this week and then decided it was a waste of money even registering a domain name for it so I’ve just “shelved” it.

I have a slight problem in that I’ve not been able to use anything I’ve bought. It’s all far too complicated. Or plain illogical.
Only four years in University will fix my inability to use any software I download.

Website stats are totally incomprehensible. You can never tell how many visits you’ve had, let alone where they came from.

I’m afraid the rentacoder idea is out of my league. Even if I did pay someone to write a programme for me I would just be deeper in debt as nobody would buy it.
Remember ~ 3 websites – 2 years – $1.99 sales.

I see what you mean about affiliate programs – putting the right product in front of the right people. Well, in principle. I don’t quite know how I choose who sees my blog or web page. I just put it up there and hope for the best.
There is nowhere to go to where all the “right people” congregate. This is the internet, people are scattered all over the place. It is one continual “stab in the dark”.

Yes, “asking them” is a wild idea. I get no comments on my blogs and I’ve had a “comments and questions” box on one of my websites for 2 years with no comments or questions.
I’ve never had any communication, whatsoever from anyone on my list – nor sales, either. LOL

I have no intention of ever giving up but I have got to the point where I don’t even consider making a sale, I just set a budget for how much I will lose each month.
A much easier goal to achieve.

Matt, your videos are the best, even if I can’t put anything like adsense or banners on my blogs. That’s .php. If you’re not a qualified programmer, you can’t touch it. It’s a programmers’ conspiracy.

I’ll be off now, it’s 5am and I just bought another “course” that is going to produce absolutely $0.00 for me but lots of cash for the scammer that sold it to me.
See ya,
Clive

and here’s my reply: –

oh dear Clive, looks like you’ve gone back in to “the Grumpy Old Chef” mode!

well, I’ve got a glass of wine in front of me so let’s see if I can answer some of your points, although I’m pretty sure we’ve been through these before in our emails mate…

1. the only one who will ever convince you that any of these “$1,997 courses” work is yourself, and the only way you’ll do so is by following one step by step all the way through.

what “gurus” tend to do is find a technique that makes them money, then turn it in to a process for themselves to use. Then they sell that same process for others to follow.

Now the question that always gets asked is “why would they sell it if it’s making them money”?

the answer has two parts, first the internet is big enough and has so many different markets/niches, that those who buy and FOLLOW the process are unlikely to have any impact on the “gurus” own income, and second it’s a well known fact of life that the majority of people who pay for the process/course will never actually follow it or “take action”!

If you don’t believe that the internet is big enough for more than one person to make a process work then just look at this blog of mine…

do you think I’m the only, or even the first, person to give away free tutorials on how to set up, optimize and run a blog!?!

Hell no!!!

Go do a search if you don’t believe me…

yes, it helps that I enjoy what I do, and that people seem to realize that, but as long as the content you provide is accurate, useful and in demand, you will do well!

and as for the second part, that only a small few will ever actually use what they have paid for, well, it may be sad, but it’s true.

just look at it from a different perspective, this means that if you are one of the few who does take action you have an even greater chance of doing well!!!

2. I do quite well at promoting affiliate products simply because I get hold of them and read/use/test them myself, so I can provide an honest opinion, based on my knowledge and experience, of whether they are any good.

any one who’s been on my list for a while will know that there are occasions when I have actually sent out email to advise people NOT to buy something that is being promoted, as well as times when I’ve warned about the “hidden cost” of “forced continuity” behind a supposedly free program.

so, imho, THE best way to promote an affiliate product is to get it yourself, try it out, and write about the results you had, of course this means that it’s too much effort for most people, but again, this gives you the advantage, IF you do it!

Most of my affiliate income comes from less than a dozen programs that I promote regularly because I use them in my own business all the while, so I know they work and I know what I’m talking about. If someone emails me with a question about the program, I have the answer.

3. yup, Randy  is a great guy and a friend of mine. He’s actually written the sales letter for my next product and it Rocks, I’ve just gotta get the product finished and ready for launch, even though I’m already making money with it.

His copywriting ebook is the best I’ve come across, it’s actually simple to follow, but that’s part of Randy’s skill, taking something that could be confusing and getting it across in an understandable way.

4. If you’ve got pop up programs that you can’t get to work, have you tried contacting their support desks? If they simply don’t work then ask for your money back, if it’s because you don’t know how to get them to work, get them to tell/help you, then you have some excellent material for a new blog post/article, in which you could then promote that product, as you know know how to show others to make it work…

get used to thinking this way – if it’s a problem for you, then it’s a problem for other people, so solving the problem gives you something of REAL value to share with people!

5. same goes for all the other stuff that’s “gathering digital dust” on your PC, although it sounds like you’re just like all the rest of us, and have more stuff than you will ever use, so just pick one or two that you like most and make them work!

6. you say you have no areas that you have problems with, yet a few lines above you said you couldn’t get any of the six popup programs you have to work, that sounds like you have a problem with them to me…

either get it sorted or move on to something you do want to spend time on, don’t dwell on it.

7. If your articles are getting traffic but people are not clicking on the links then you need to look at why not. The most important part of an article is the “author bio” or “resource box”.

This needs to be written in a way that encourages people to click on the links, it’s the whole purpose of the article.

My articles in ezinearticles do not have great “resource box’s”, improving them is one of the many things on my “to do” list, and I still get an average of 5% click through’s. Some articles do better (as high as 18-20%), some worse, it’s a bit of a numbers game, but they’ve still brought in almost 10k visitors (and counting) to my sites in different niche markets…

and before you say that perhaps that’s because I’m good at writing articles, I had the majority of those articles ghost written for me, and it wasn’t expensive….

I’d even say that’s not a bad idea for a product or free report, work out what works best for getting people to click on the links in the resource box and write a report on it, I’d pay for that!

8. I have all the traffic tips too, I test them out and keep the ones that work for me, and a LOT of them do. I’ve still got a whole bunch of videos to make on my “to do” list that I want to make to share what works for me.

9. I can’t really comment too much on traffic exchanges, I’ve never put any effort or time in to testing them myself, although I have two friends (who I’ve got drunk enough to get the truth out of) who’s (highly profitable) businesses rely for the majority of their traffic on these…

10. link exchanges, imho, don’t bother, concentrate on one way links. For more info re-read my free linking report that is included as an extra bonus/download when you get the free BlogTactics blog setup guide… 🙂

11. LMAO!
Twitter is not just about following people who follow you, start using it to talk to people who are following you. Tell them what you think is good/bad, get your message out there!

they’re following you because they want to hear what you have to say, so say something!

12. if you’re Squidoo lenses aren’t getting the traffic they should then go and find out why, take a look at Kelly Stone’s blog, she’s the Squidoo Queen, learn from her.

13. 10,000 rebranded ebooks and no sales in 4 years?

Really???

I’ve given away a lot less and made a lot more and all I did was follow the instructions, stick the links and info on one of my sites (http://mat7.com/free/) and mention it in a couple of emails, and this was way back when I had a LOT less subscribers on my lists…

With the kind of results you’ve had I can understand why you’re a bit “grumpy” about that as a method, so dump it and go with what does work for you.

14. If it’s a good product and you’ve got decent testimonials, then you need to take another look at the sales page/process and whether the traffic you are getting is targeted to the offer.

Don’t try and sell a “Save on your fuel bills” product to people who are looking for ways to make money online, write blog posts and articles with tips (and keyword targeted) on how to cut costs and save money, I’m fairly sure there’s a market for that right now…

15. To spend your valuable time writing a new product and then “shelve” the project because you don’t want to waste the money investing in a domain name for a site to promote it suggests that you are getting stuck in a seriously negative spiral my friend, and I KNOW you can BREAK OUT OF IT!

Get it done, read Randy’s copywriting ebook and get the sale page done following his process, then get it set up on clickbank, then search for blogs and sites on similar topics that where the visitors would be interested in the subject and then get in touch with the owners of those sites and let them know about it.

If that all sounds like it might take a bit of time and effort, well yes, it will, but how much time have you spent writing these comments to this post and my last one???

you are strong enough and committed enough to this to ask for help, although you have your own indomitable “grumpyoldchef” style of doing so, that I know you can succeed in this if you put the same time, effort and commitment in to making this work!

I just hope that the time I’ve spent trying to answer your “comments” encourages you to take action!

I’m lucky enough to have got my business to a stage where I can afford to spend an hour (or three) trying to give you the answers your looking for, so please take heart, I didn’t get here overnight either, I had to be persistent (aka stubborn) and ask for help and seek the answers and knowledge I needed too. I still do. 🙂

oh, and Clive, please be positive about it when you get in touch with them, don’t open the email with something like “I know you’re not going to reply to me or like this, but…”

try something like “I thought your readers might be interested in just how easy it is to cut their gas bill by 10%, and that’s just one of the simple to use tips I reveal in my brand new report, I’ve attached a copy so you can check it out, please let me know what you think, and if you’d like to let your readers know about it you can not only save them a whole bunch of money, you can make 50% of every sale… please get in touch if you have any questions or want some more info…”

that’s obviously just a rough guide, but I’m sure you get the idea.

you might also find a previous post (and the follow up comments) on one of my other blogs useful –
http://mattgarrett.com/jv-tips-100-prize/

and the follow up here: –
http://mattgarrett.com/jv-tips-blog-post-winner/

16. you’ve already shown that it’s not “all too complicated” for you!

you have more than one blog set up, you have created ebooks, in pdf format and have a sales link in place, with a salespage, it may need improving, but you’ve already got it up there!

don’t let the “big picture” put you off, just concentrate on each single step at a time, none of it is beyond you.

17. ok, maybe I’ll give you some lee way on this one. I hate the whole testing and tracking thing too, it really can seem a bit “geek speak” at times, but even I’ve managed to do the basics on that one, so it’s not beyond you either. Look for the expert on the topic and learn from them.

18. wow! Clive, are you losing it, did you just agree with me on something mate!?!
yes – “putting the right product in front of the right people”

simple isn’t it?

now using a blog makes this easier, you just have to choose keywords that those people are searching for, think about what you would search for in a search engine if you were looking for the kind of advice that your product offers…

then type those keywords in to the google keyword tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) which will then who you how many people are searching on that key phrase as well as a whole bunch of related keywords, then just start using those in the title of your posts and in the posts themselves!

oh and with wordpress, add those as tags in the post as well, don’t ask me why, just do it.

start doing that and your “stabs in the dark” will start getting “in to the light” on google and you’ll get “targeted” visitors.

19. I know you’re not going to give up, we’ve shared enough emails that I’ve seen that, otherwise I wouldn’t have spent my valuable time writing this response for you!

But PLEASE start setting your goals higher Clive!

You say you’ve only made $1.99 in the last 4 years, so aiming to make double that ($3.98) in this year wouldn’t seem out of reach, right?

want to know what I want you to aim for………?

I’m laughing to myself even as I write this as I’m just imagining your reaction!
how about we keep it very easy and “doable”, let’s just say $398, per month within 6 months…?

to be fair, I don’t really like that figure, as it’s just way too low an aim to have, you’re limiting yourself, but I know your going to balk at even that… it’s where you are now, and I understand that, but you have to start “reframing” things, thinking positive and aiming higher. It’s kinda self fulfilling in my experience.

so I guess I’m going to have to let you set your own goal, but I believe you need to aim higher, a LOT higher!

let’s say $3,980 per month within six months, so what if you then missed that by a few hundred dollars, or even a couple of thousand, you’d still be doing a LOT more than you currently “think” you can.

start aiming HIGH Clive!

20. putting adsense on your blogs is not some kind of arcane “php” wizardry, it’s copy and paste.

but I’m not a fan of AdSense, you’ll make more money by reviewing affiliate programs.

and as for adding banners, it’s copy and paste again to add 125×125 square banners in to th sidebar of your blog using text widgets, and using one of my themes it’s copy & paste + point and click to add a 468×60 banner to the top and bottom of a blog.

21. I think after all this we’re going to have to turn you in to a case study mate, so go and “take action”, instead of just posting another long and “grumpy” comment here, and then let me, and all the other BlogTactics readers, know how it goes with regular updates!

go do it!!!

~~## NEW UPDATE ##~~

well, it seems good old Clive just can’t hold back the flood of negativity that seems to simple gush forth from his mind, so here we go for one last time, you’ll see why when you get the the end of my reply to his latest response….

 Short answer.


Well, not as long as I’d like.

1/ I have bought expensive programs and followed them UNTIL they ask me to do something asinine like “set up a Facebook profile” or “sell this product for $47 or $97″. I then chuck them into “totally useless junk” folder. No offence M.Cheney. My fault I wasted $500 but no-one in their right mind is going to pay over $20 for an IM product.

2/ Maybe I should give up affiliate marketing as there are no products that work.
I know there has never been an e-Book written that imparts $1 worth of help.
That’s why they all sold on eBay for 99 cents – true value.

3/ Randy is a nice guy. I’m SO glad you can afford his fees. I’d never pay anyone to do anything as there is very little chance of any return on investment.
I certainly will never sell enough product to pay Randy’s charges.


No, I’ve not read his e-Book. It’s more than $20 and I find that if you put a marketer in front of a PC to write an e-Book he instinctively turns into a compulsive liar.

4/ No, I never contact software support desks. I’m not going to tell them I’m a complete idiot for downloading something I wasn’t already qualified to use.
It’s my fault. If you can’t already use something – don’t download it.

5/ None of the thousands of software programs I have accumulated will ever work.

6/True – Accept that it’s not possible for me to ever have a popup and forget the whole thing.

7/ My bio boxes are crap because I cannot write anything about myself.
There’s nothing to write.
I just say “read more here”. All my profile pages are left blank, too.
My clickthroughs are 0%


I’d never pay anyone to write an article – because, again – no chance of return on investment.

8/ I’ve tested hundreds of traffic tips – none have produced any traffic.

9/ Traffic Exchanges – rubbish. I won’t be getting drunk with other marketers for 2 reasons. 1. I’ll never be able to afford a pint and 2. I’ll never meet a marketer.

10/ I’ve got your free linking report but I’ve not read it (or the blog tactics setup guide). You know what I think of e-Books. LOL
If it involves writing to people I don’t know – include me out. I’m no good on begging letters.

11/ I wouldn’t have any idea how to talk to anyone on Twitter. I also have nothing to say that would interest anyone. They get the blog posts twitted automatically – that’s all they want. They’re not interested in me (who is a young mother on this particular blog. :lol:). I’ve never even TOUCHED a baby in my entire life.

12/ Kelly Stone lol – that’s personal.

13/ Probably closer to 15,000 re-branded eBooks in 4 years, 5 months with not one single sale. Yep, really.
That doesn’t bother me, though. I knew that it wasn’t possible to get anyone to click on a link in an e-Book. In the books I write now I don’t bother with links – total waste of time and effort. I just stick a couple of banners at the end with the usual lies – “I’ve used this and it’s great”.

14/ You’ve lost me on this one. There is no way I can influence who looks at my sales pages. Targeted Traffic is a total mystery to me.

15/ I’m not paying Clickbank $50 when there is very little chance of ever making a sale of my own product. $50 is a lot to sell. You must remember I won’t be ripping people off for $27 and upwards. Under $5 or $10 is all anything I write would be worth. Never get $50 back that way.
Also, it’s not an Internet Marketing e-Book so it’s worth nothing. You can only rip people off big time with IM products.
Again, I couldn’t lower myself to write to strangers and ask them to sell my books. They’d know immediately that I couldn’t sell them myself.

16/ I will concentrate on one step at a time. When I can work out what the first step is. I’m doing about 43 things at the moment secure in the knowledge that I’ll never know what it’s like to get a payment notification from Paypal. Like dying a virgin, isn’t it. :lol1

17/ Not interested in testing and tracking. Just looked at the stats page on my IM site. MY 10 visitors a day are all ME. I didn’t realise that ‘visit site’ counted as a visitor. So, after 3 months my IM blog is getting no visitors at all. That’s more realistic.

18/ I agree with you on almost everything – it just doesn’t work for me.
I don’t use keywords because the keywords tool may as well be written in Chines for all the use they are to me.
It must be age, I ran hotels and restaurants for years, taught in trade schools and actually wrote a hospitality training manual.

19/ You’re laughing

$3.98 a month = possible
$398 a month = laughable
$3,980 a month = Where can I get some of that good stuff you’re smoking

You seriously don’t expect me to try selling stuff at $47. Buyers don’t like crooks.
That’s the easiest way to lose credibility – try to rip people off.
No – nothing over $20. Even if I have to buy with resell rights for $97 and sell for $17. I will have to tell a lot of lies about it being a good product and working but I guess that goes with the turf.

20/ I’ve worked out how to put 125s on the blog. It will be interesting to see if anyone ever clicks on them.
The never have on any other pages.

21/ Don’t hold your breath for news of a sale.

Bye,
May the forks be with you.

PS I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do next. Just carry on the same I guess.
I bought another “course’ yesterday but page one started talking about The Law of Attraction and The Secret and as I’m not a gibbering moron who believes in fairies at the bottom of the garden I’m going to junk that one too.

~##~

and here is my reply: –

1. setting up a facebook account is hardly asinine, neither is selling a product for $47 or $97, providing it’s a good product.

And if you believe that “no-one in their right mind” is going to pay over $20 for an IM product then you are WRONG, plain and simple!

I regularly pay well over $20 for IM products myself, and even though I’ve been making a full time living on the net for over 4 years now, I still learn things from them, but perhaps that is because I have an opne mind and am willing to learn new things…

I guess we’ve come full circle back to the point of my original post, you need to be willing to invest in your own education.

You also need to be willing to follow advice and take action, by the sounds of it you aren’t willing to do either, which kinda explains why you’ve not achieved any real level of success yet, and probably won’t until you change…

2. maybe you should give up affiliate marketing as apparently there are no products that you are willing to take the effort to make work.

3. Woah! hang on a moment there a moment Clive, it sounds a lot like you’re accusing Randy, and ALL other marketers, of being liars and I won’t accept that, you are wrong AND you are out of order.

Just because you are too negative to make something work, it doesn’t give you the right to accuse others of deceiving you.

until you stop thinking this way you are very unlikely to actually have any real success, so take responsibility for your own actions, and stop blaming others, imho.

4. the clues actually in the name Clive, “software SUPPORT desk”, they are there to offer support, not judgement.

If you aren’t willing to swallow your pride to ask for support, then you have no one to blame but yourself for not being able to use the product.

5. I have to ask how many of them have you actually followed to the letter, as opposed to giving up on before the end..?

6. your choice, but don’t bother to tell me how you can’t get any of them to work if you won’t ask for help from the support desk…

7. you don’t have to write about yourself, write about why people should click through.

8. you are contradicting yourself again, as you previously mentioned that you are now getting traffic to your blogs, so obviously you have found something that works.

I guess you just like to concentrate on the negative and forget about anything positive.

9. YOU have chosen not to be able to afford a pint or meet a marketer.

10. so you’ve already decided to write off any advice from anyone before you even read it, it seems to me that you believe that you know better than anyone else, isn’t that a little arrogant?

and perhaps you should re-read my previous reply, it has nothing to do with writing “begging” letters, that’s simply you trying to twist what I said to fit your negative view of the world.

11. I’m beginning to think you’re right, if you take this negative tone in everything you do, then of course no one is going to be interested in listening to you.

12. n/a

13. it seems to me that you are getting the results that you want to get.

It is possible to get people to click on links in ebooks, myself and many, many other people do so.

perhaps if you did actually use something you wouldn’t need to lie by saying “I’ve used this and it’s great”?

and perhaps you should stop accusing other people of this, when it is in fact you (as you have just admitted) that is trying to make money by lying…

14. ok, well I’m not going to waste more of my time trying to help you on this, as I’m fairly sure you will just reply to tell me that it won’t work, whatever I say.

15. if you don’t want to pay the $50 it costs to get your product on clickbank then use PayPal, but, and I’m just guessing here, you will probably tell me that you can’t possibly do that and it won’t work for you, am I right?

I can only assume you’ve never taken the time to have a look around in the clickbank marketplace, if you had you would quickly see that there are all sorts of successful info products being offered through clickbank, from health related products, to pet training, golf tips and money saving guides…

so you can’t hide behind the fake excuse that only IM products sell, it’s simply not true.

16. perhaps if you actually tried reading and FOLLOWING one of all those “rip off” courses you’ve paid for, you might discover what the first step you need to take is.

until you do so you aren’t going to get a payment notification from paypal. You are effectively making this a self fulfilling prophecy by constantly being self-sabotaging.

until you make the decision to change you are not going to see any different results.

remember the old saying, if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results…

17. I’m sorry Clive, but i simply don’t believe you, as you constantly change your story to support your view of how things “are”.

In the past you showed me one of your blogs that you claimed never had any visitors, and yet the Alexa rank for that site suggested there most definitely were visitors, so you changed your story when I pointed this out, and now you are changing it again to support your belief that nothing can ever work.

Nothing is going to work for you as long as you continue to make sure that nothing works for you, it is your choice.

18. In fact, you agree with me on almost nothing.

I will repeat this for you one last time, it doesn’t work for you because you don’t want it to work for you and until you change the way you look at things that will remain the same.

19, 20 & 21….

well, I think I’ve actually said enough here.

it has become quite clear to me why you have so little success Clive, and I’m going to save my time to spend on helping people who willing to learn and work towards their goals, without being constantly self sabotaging and negative like yourself.

feel free to let me know if you do manage to re-align your way of thinking and get a more positive outlook on life, but until then please unsubscribe from my newsletter list, there’s no point in you being on it really is there…

~##~

So, please tell me, am I  right or wrong?

Is Clive a victim of monumental bad luck and being ripped off by every marketer on the planet?

Or is he simply doomed to failure from self-sabotage until he changes his outlook on life?

I wanna hear what you think, please!

READ LATER - DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS PDF >> CLICK HERE <<

This Post Has 50 Comments

  1. Joe Jablonski

    Nicely stated.
    The Key we talked about earlier on the skype is “Taking Action”
    Only the individual that decides he wants more and has that
    desire will create an outcome.

    “A good plan is like a road map: It shows the final destination
    and usually the best way to get there.”

    ~ Joe Jablonski
    http://JosephJablonski.com

  2. Robert Puddy

    yep he’s doomed, not worth bothering with Matt

    1. admin

      it’s taken me a while to realise that Bob, you know me, I can be a bit slow at times!
      😉
      Matt

  3. Gene Stagg

    No sense wasting any time with someone like that. You get what you say and Clive keeps saying “It won’t work.

    I haven’t had much success yet, but it keeps getting better as I study and learn more. And I try to keep a close watch over what I’m saying so I don’t shoot myself in the foot.

    Keep on helping those of us who want to hear what your experience can teach us.

    Gene Stagg

    1. admin

      thanks Gene!
      I enjoy trying to help people achieve their goals, but it’s gotta be a two way street, I value my own time too much to waste it on people who aren’t interested, so it’s good to hear that I’m nbot wasting my time.
      🙂
      Matt

  4. Richard Legg

    I’ve had people like this who I’ve tried to help in the past.

    I’m happy to help people when I can … but they have to be willing to help themselves.

    If Clive thinks that earning $398/mo is “laughable” then it seems he doesn’t believe that he can make that much money online. If he doesn’t even *think* it’s possible, there’s no way he’ll get those results.

    I think you’ve done a great job of spending time doing your best to point him in the right direction. At the end of the day, your time is valuable too, so you have to weigh up whether it’s worth it to you to spend more time helping someone who won’t help themselves.

    Richard

    1. admin

      Thanks for the support Richard!
      I guess shows the old saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” is true.. 🙂
      Matt

  5. ECS Dave

    Outstanding effort, on your part, to help “Clive”…

    Way above, and beyond the “call of duty”, IMHO. What you’ve said, repeatedly, “be willing to follow advice and take action”, is KEY to achieving any success as an internet marketer, hands down.

    Thanks for “sharing” this episode!

    Be Well!
    ECS Dave

    http://twitter.com/ECS_Dave

  6. Glenda Oakley

    My God!!!! I have NEVER laughed so much for ages. And as I read more and more I thought it was a short comedy that came to cheer me up today.
    Clive: ya kill me!! I really thought this was all a “put on”. But at the end I knew it was for real. Matt has done an excellent job with each post, can’t fault him at all. He does know what he is talking about.
    And that is, nothing will change if we keep doing the same thing…we get the same results. My god Clive, you are smarter than you think. Some of the things you have done, like write a product; for some of us that is a struggle to learn. If you can do that then what is stopping you putting a gift in a giveaway and getting a list interested in that product and then “look after those people with heaps of great stuff that they can use? Earn their trust and then they will buy. It is not just about making money, but HOW you make the money that counts. Once someone trusts you and and gets to know what type of person you are, they will buy. Why I laughed (really outloud here at my pc) is that some of the stuff you said I can relate to. I ‘aint making any money either, but I do know what I have to do to start, and I AM focusing now on what I need to do. You need to FOCUS and stick to one thing long enough to see if it works. Master one thing at a time. I KNOW I am going to be making money online, and it will be before I have been here for 4 years. You have to let someone help you. Clive…LET someone HELP you.
    Good luck Clive, although you will probably say that luck does not work for you…

    Glenda

    1. admin

      Hi Glenda,
      thanks for your feedback.
      this is one of the things that I’ve found most difficult, even painful, about this “conversation” with Clive, he has made real progress and, as you mention, he is already doing some things, like writing his own products, that many people find a scary prospect..
      so, imho, he’s ahead of the curve in some ways, if only he could get through what seems to be a major “success block” he has.
      There’s another old saying (chinese I think) that I like –
      “The tempatation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed”
      cheers,
      Matt

  7. Louise

    I read that in complete bafflement Matt. His attitude is at the root of all his problems for sure. You were absolutely right in your reply to him. All I could think was that I’ve made more in my 7 months of doing this than he has in 4 years… and like many others, I haven’t done it through lying, scamming or anything of the sort. Incredible. 😯 Did he realise he was directly insulting you when he said that I wonder?

    Louise

  8. Luca

    Hey Matt,
    Wow, it’s 1:00 a.m. in Canada and I made the mistake of opening my email and followed the link to this post. Started reading and could not stop.
    I’ve only been doing this online stuff for about 6 months and just starting to get the hang of it. It’s not an overnight thing and you do need perserverance.
    However, I do share Clive’s frustration but nor the negativity.
    I beleive that it is possible but I have to stop the iformation analysis and actually do the work.
    Traffic is my problem – what works best for you?
    I still have a lot to learn. I love your posts and will buy from you whenever you promote something I need.
    Thanks,

    1. admin

      Hi Luca,

      you are spot on, achieveing success in an online business is not an overnight event, it does take perseverence.
      I know many people who do now earn a full time living online, but I don’t remember EVER hearing any of them say it was easy or happened overnight.
      It’s just like any other serious business, you need to learn the basics, persavere and improve by investing in your own education whenever you can.

      Getting traffic is a common problem, I don’t like to pay for traffic, so I use blogs and backlink systems to get free traffic from the search engines.

      I did a post (and video) on a system that’s starting to get me some great results here: –
      http://blogtactics.com/one-way-links/
      I also use a few other similar systems: –
      http://www.linkingvana.com
      http://www.uniquearticleswizard.com
      and I use video submissions, there’s a video on the automated tool I use here: –
      http://www.vidpostrobot.com
      as well as BlogCarnival submissions, here’s a video on how to do these: –
      http://www.blogcarnivalsubmission.com/

      hope this helps!
      cheers,
      Matt

  9. John Taylor

    If Clive put as much energy into researching a market, finding a group of people with money to spend to solve a problem and then got between them and a merchant… as he puts into whining about everything.. he’d have made a lot more than his $1.99.

    Matt,

    I admire your patience, I commend you for your professionalism. BUT I have to question your ability to know when it’s time to tell clive to.. well the second word’s off. 😉

    John

    1. Stuart Stirling

      Spot on John Taylor…

      Matt, I admire your patience and compassion to help grumpy old Clive…I don’t know if I could spend that much time reasoning with such a cynical negative thinker. And I considerr myself a nice’ish guy…

      Don’t you think it’s bad for your mojo? No offense to Clive…but maybe it’s time you both moved on. Like you say in your email “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”.

      Cheers,
      Stuart Stirling

  10. Erika

    Wow Matt. If I knew you had this much patience with helping people make money, I would of been bugging you a long time ago. I may still bug you.

    You did good and I loved your answer to Clive. Well written, full of lots of GREAT advice (perhaps you should make a mini eBook out of this whole thing and give it away as a what not to do …) and you tried really hard to sway his attitude. Unfortunately – that’s the problem. His attitude. You can’t get past that. You’ve got to believe you will succeed at every turn, no matter how many times you fail. Pick yourself up – keep plugging along, try something different. Always have faith in yourself and what you do.

    Bottom line – methinks Clive needs to find a new hobby …

    P.S. A smart move Clive could of made was to at least include a link to one of his sites in his complaints… look at all the traffic he would of gotten. 🙂

    1. admin

      Hi Erika,
      I’ve probably been spending too much time over the last few months trying to answer people’s questions on a “one to one” basis via email, when I should be using them for as topics blog posts and videos so I can help more people with the same effort.
      I’m going back to this way of doing it as it’s better for everyone.
      AND I’m now involved in a fabtastic new project, along with 70+ other top successful marketers, to help anyone get any question they have answered, by the best posible expert for the question, when the answer is needed!
      it’s a bit “hush hush” at the moment, as we don’t officially let the “world” in until 26th Feb, but anyone who’s on one of my lists will have just got an email about it, as a special invite.
      I can’t publish the site url here yet, as we are not officially open for business, but let’s just say it’s somewhere that all your questions will be “Easily Answered”…
      😉
      cheers,
      Matt

  11. Jeff

    I have to almost think that Clive is not for real and is just yanking your chain. I cannot fathom anybody really being that much of an Eyore. Unvelieveable.

    1. admin

      Hi Jeff,
      it did occur to me that maybe all this may be just some clever marketing ploy from Clive to get himself some traffic…
      if so, it’s worked!
      cheers,
      Matt

  12. pjCheviot

    Hi Matt

    I had to have a laugh at this one :mrgreen: – I, too, had Clive’s rantings about 18 month’s ago when I tried to help him after he signed up for a couple of courses (FREE ones!) and then said he couldn’t follow them – so was giving up! He was most surprised when I took the time to speak to him on a personal level (I think he thought everything was driven by robots!) – however he still insisted on not knowing what he was doing and he would never make it – all the IM stuff was a waste of money etc etc . . . :mrgreen: I’m pleased to see he hasn’t changed! (honestly!)

    I don’t know if he remembers me but I certainly won’t forget him! He is certainly a challenge!

    All the best with him
    To yours (and his) success

    pj

    1. admin

      Hi PJ,
      we’re not the only one’s, I now know of two other marketers that have been through more or less the same thing with Clive, and get the feeling that there are probably more…
      cheers,
      Matt

  13. Des Thomas

    Hi Matt,

    I enjoyed a good laugh at all that Clive has said but I can sympathise with him on some things as i am a bit like that. I tend to get side tracked looking for the next “Money Making” product or course but it all comes down to hard work and believing that you can do it. I have been on the “Alex Jeffrey’s” Course and again another marketer who promises the earth and does not deliver in the way needed for beginners like myself. Although he did give me the incentive to start a blog and now I have joined BloggingBeginners who provide easy-to-follow videos and personal help with any problems that you get. I will now continue with them and hope that I can earn mor than the £12 i made last year. I think as far as Clive is concerned you are flogging a dead horse. He has his mind set in a negative gear so unless he pulls himself out of it and starts to change his thinking he will never reach first gear and get a good start. You Matt have been a good help to me following your videos before I joined bloggingbeginners and I am now going to try writing my own articles and get more traffic to my blog. As you have said if you are going to do a something then you need to learn and become something of an expert in that field.
    DES

  14. Gilly

    Is this guy for real? He’s so awful it’s almost funny – I’ve met some negative people in my time, but he really takes the biscuit. If he ‘knows’ nothing will work, then why doesn’t he just give up? As you say, his emails are full of contradictions. The only thing this person needs to change is his attitude and then the rest would fall into place.
    Matt, hats off to you for your patience with him and your considered and helpful replies, but to be honest I think your time would be better spent on someone with an open mind and a willingness to take advice and accept support.

    1. admin

      agreed!
      🙂
      Matt

  15. Brian Russell

    Hey Mat
    Clive is really stuck and dosent really want to move forward.
    The IM Market is huge with thousands coming into it everyday.
    The point I wanted to make is that Clive has done all the hard work
    and has a product, wow wish I could say that. OK Clive if you are reading this
    I spend money on I’m Products all the time because if I want to learn more then
    I need to spend some money to do that. Its no different than going to school
    where you can spend anywhere from 30 k to 200 k for an education and
    there is no grantees after all that . You have to work your butt off and if you
    you get a good job, you pay your loans off in 10 years lol. After all that we need
    to spring into action. Anyway I’m products do work if you really apply whats working for other people it can work for you and there really are thousands of people making a very good living from the internet. I would suggest you check out Liz Tomay and
    her Product Creation course. Liz takes you through every stage Creation, putting it all together , traffic , affiliates , clickbank etc you really need all the parts to really make it work.
    Brian Russell

    1. admin

      Hi Brian,
      good point, it’s obvious I guess, but I’d never thought of comparing your investment in learning how to make money online with the cost of a decent offline education or vocational training…
      In which case, getting an IM education could actually be seen as relatively cheap, expecially for the potential returns!
      cheers,
      Matt

  16. Alex Newell

    Clive simply has a case of toxic attitude. “I had no expectations from the start”
    Without an expectation of success – you cannot succeed at anything.
    And rather than taking responsibility – Clive blames others.

    He needs to join a small team of people who will help each other get over the rough patches.

    I don’t know what Clive has tried to sell – I do hope it’s not make money online products – he does not have the experience or the attitude.

    Assuming that he does know what he is doing doing in the kitchen -why not blog about some aspect of that. Clive has heaps of attitude and can certainly write. A single banner in the side bar of his blog can earn him more than 4 years of unfocused thrashing around.

    1. admin

      Hi Alex,
      yup, Clive obviously has the talent to write stuff that “gets attention” and has a different style!
      The info product he showed me is about how to save money around the home on utility bills etc., which I believe is a pretty popular subject in the current economic climate, so I honetly think he could make some real money if he just focused on getting some JV partners from sites on related topics and maybe spent some time working out how to improve his sales letter/process.
      but whether he can get past the idea that nothing is going to work for him is the problem he seems to face…
      cheers,
      Matt

  17. Jay at How2Books&Videos

    The last thing I want to do is whine about my failures. I would just get lambasted by those who are succeeding so I would rather listen up and, put enough effort in each project to see if it worked for me, and narrow my focus to what does.
    Coming from a retail standpoint, I found my first success in physical product. And I spent $4K into a $10 program to learn a hell of a lot. The information overload made me stop and work on what I learned and save the rest for later. Takes me awhile to “get it” most of the time but now I do. Thanks to all the mentors who hung in there with me. I did not, however, whine about how it didn’t work. Waste of energy—do that on my own time.
    Some people really believe if they can’t sell the next internet marketing miracle product, they “can’t make it work”. I sold ClickBank products for genealogy, for Pete’s sake. I sell baby gifts (by inventory & drop ship), lingerie (by affiliate) and even sold a couple of GURU products (by using ppc & no website). A dollar here, a few more there—find what works and let it finance your other experiments in internet hijinks!
    My (devalued) two cents…
    Happy Valentine’s day, ya’ll

    1. admin

      Hi Jay,
      yup, this is one of the tings about making money online that a lot of people “don’t get”, you don’t need to stick to the “make money online” market, there are thousands of other markets, many of which will be easier to have success in and have just as much potential, if not more!
      just take a look at the huge variety of products in the clickbank marketplace…
      I too have a “niche” site in the geneaology market, although it’s still in the “testing” stage, but I have already seen that the “niche” has one heck of a lot of potential!
      cheers,
      Matt

  18. Aminu Rahaman

    The main problem with Olive is Negative mental attitude . His sub concious mind is set on “Not working”. No amount of effort can dislodge this until he can change his mind set and convince himself that it works and he can succeed. He had made more than enough progress than not to be successful. But as the saying is “As he think in His heart so Is he”.

    Except he believes that he can make it it will be difficult for him to be successful in the online business. My advice to him is just to sit down and believe that if he can make it and surely he will make it.

  19. Deborah Szopo

    Hey Matt, It kind of sounds like Clive is afraid of sucess so he just keeps on telling himself that nothing will work! He has no right to be calling everyone who are successful liars when he won’t even read what he buys nor try it out. So if this is the way you think Clive then internet marketing is not for you. I cannot help but wonder if your sales pages are negative. Please keep doing what your doing matt because I for one find your information very helpful. Thankyou so much for using some of your valuable time to help us that need and appreciate the information and guidence that you give to us. Have a great day everyone! Deb

  20. Kevin Lyle

    WoW 😳

    I am pretty sure that I once purchased a product from Clive aka “grumpy old chef”
    Now I can’t remember which one, it may even have been from ebay but thats not the point, He Made a Sale! All he has to do is repeat, rinse & do the same again.
    Then maybe he should mix with positive thinkers, surround yourself with successful people, even an online community blog, forum or whatever. By doing this Clive could at least learn to be positiveand cut out the negativity.

    You only live once, you may as well enjoy it.

    I think Clive might just be having a laugh here, a little British humour that some may not understand, his words have to be tongue in cheek while he waves that little red flag, designed to get everyone heated as it surely seems to have.

    To our success

    Kevin Lyle

  21. verdeman

    What is that old saying

    whether you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right

    have a great one

    clink

  22. Jaquone Jefferson

    Hi, i say only way we fail is if we quite. Thanks and jesus is blessing us, amen.

  23. Terence

    I can’t really understand why Clive is not more successful as he can certainly write well, judging by some of his articles submissions I have tracked down. He just can’t seem to understand how to put it all together in some viable plan and stick to it, which is the problem with a lot of people trying to make money on the internet.

    For someone who seems to have a good sense of humour he projects a strangely cynical attitude, almost as if he is doing it all tongue-in-cheek. He should get himself a decent domain name, add a WordPress template and start typing away in his own inimical style. He could become a Victor Meldrew type of cult figure if only he knew it.

    1. Glenda Oakley

      I agree, Terance. I was also thinking Clive should get a “What shi*ts Me Off” blog.
      Or a “Don’t Tell Me Your Troubles-I got Enough of My Own” type of blog, for budding internet marketers….
      Or “Clive’s Blog: The Truth , As I see It”
      I’d hate him to give me a testimonial….. He does seem to be able to write really well though, I think.
      Cheers, Glenda

  24. Currency Trader

    Wow!

    I thought I was struggling to make it, but after reading Clives trials and tribulations I am cruising! 😉
    cheers
    Tony

  25. Maureen

    Hi Matt,
    I think Clive actually gets great pleasure out of his ravings. Let’s face it he gets people’s attention, has centre stage for his 15 minutes of fame, and is happy in his misery. Unfortunately if you waste anymore time on him you’ll be as bad as he is.

    The Clive’s of this world always want people to feel sorry for them but NOTHING is ever going to do no matter if it was the most successful program on earth and the successful marketer held his hand and did it all for him he would screw it up so it doesn’t work, he doesn’t want to succeed. I would be rich if I had just one dollar for the number of people I have met like this during my life.

    Clive, crawl back into your hole and enjoy your misery because you’re right the whole world is against you like you thought it was so all we people who don’t believe that are just here to antagonize you so if you crawl in your hole we can’t be a bother. Thank God I’m not married to you.

    Maureen

  26. Dale Kydd

    Hi All,
    Thank you Matt for the up date. I am glad you have pulled the plug. It does not help to have negativity on ones site, Blog, or sight which transfers to mind.
    Clive I am afraid is a write off and has been for years I have come across him a couple of times before in support rooms or some one using the same name, with the same attitude.
    To all the new people that have read these posts forget them but use Matt’s sugestions. Copy and past them into a file so they do not get contaminated with the negativity bug. You will always have them on hand if needed.
    Oh yes Matt I noticed my last post was not on the blog; was it to long?
    Take care all.
    Dale

  27. Ken

    Come on guys,
    Clive is not real!
    I think it’s a ‘Guru’ having a bit of fun with a lot of gullible people.
    You cannot get that many visitors to your blog/websites without selling a thing.
    It’s taken me 3 long years and many thousands of $$$ to start getting real results online.
    Yes many of ‘Make Money Online’ products that I have purchased have been crap, but a handful have been outstanding. These are the one’s that I’ve concentrated on and have gotten me where I am today.
    If a product is crap get a refund and unsubscribe a.s.a.p.

    Regards,
    Ken

  28. Glenn

    If Clive’s written some ebooks, he should sell them as WSO’s on the Warrior forum. If they’re nothing too special, just put a $7 price tag on there and people will buy them. That’s a hungry market.

    Then rinse & repeat as they say. There are people on the whose sole business is just selling WSO’s.

  29. Hugh Fraser

    Hi Matt,
    Before i get onto the topic of Clive, May I give you my thanks for the answer you give me on easilyanswered, the answer you gave me was spot on the money! Thanks.

    Now on to Clive, If I had just happened across this blog, I would have swore you had paid someone to be Clive, how can Clive always be so negitive all of the time ❓ I have not had much success but I HAVE HAD SUCCESS 😀 With this success I know I can grow this, make more blog posts, leave comments on blogs, drive some traffic through these comments, I will make more sales in the coming months, who knows I might even be able to pay someone to leave comments on likeminded blogs for me to get it up the SERPs. I have recently done a Skype interview, that I have to transcribe, I might transcribe it myself as it is only 20 minutes (what can I say it is my first product!) or pay someone $30 or so (Boy, am I glad I live in the UK 😉 ). Then I offer the transcript for $5 to $10 with the audio as an upsell for about $10

    I would love to hear what you think I shoud do?
    Talk later
    Hugh

    1. admin

      Hi Hugh,
      you’re welcome, that’s what EasilyAnswered is there for!
      note: anyone who’s not joined yet, watch the video here: –
      http://mg.gd/a/answers
      sounds like you’ve already worked out what you need to do, so go get it done already! 😉
      and yes, the $v£ exchange rate has provided an nice little pay rise for us Brit marketers…
      cheers,
      Matt

  30. John Reed

    Hi Matt,
    Clive and I correspond quite frequently… – Yes I know, I must be a Masochist!!
    He seems quite bright, can write well, but either doesn’t apply any of the simple principles we all read about every day or is actually just a Nom de Plume who is making money whilst enjoying a laugh at our expense for believing his persona!!
    He can’t be surprised at making no money because that’s what he sets himself up to receive – eg, according to him he has put up Blogs but “never goes back to add more posts”. Now, I’ve been guilty of that too, but I KNOW what the result is going to be and don’t moan about it!!
    I think he is a genuine guy really, but he has a total blank when it comes to taking helpful advice and I now try NOT to waste my time sending him any!!!
    Check other Forums and Blogs and you’ll find him around, he just oozes total, hopeless negativity and should be avoided ……….. my opinion, and I’ve earned the right to express it!!
    John, York, UK

  31. Ed

    Hey Matt,
    I’m not exactly “New” to I.M., but even though I’ve had similar results to “Clive”, I don’t go around “Boo-Hooing” and throwing myself a pity-party every 3 seconds either.
    Yes, I still work a 9-5 J.O.B. (just over broke), but I keep plugging away learning, researching, experimenting, and the like. If I thought for one second that EVERYTHING out there on the internet was a scam and a rip-off, I’d have tossed my computer into traffic on a busy street long ago.
    I’ve NEVER in my entire 50 years of being alive ever seen anyone with enough negativity to sink an ocean liner… that is up until now. I’d like to toss my own slant on this into the ring, if that’s OK.
    Clive, To be brutally honest… you’re full of it. On one hand you scream at the top of your lungs “Foul”, “Scam”, “Rip-Off”, and things of the like. However, on the other hand, any help that you’ve been offered, you’ve summarily dismissed as “Don’t care how good the advice is, it can’t possibly work”. You seem to keep spending your money on courses, that apparently you “KNOW” won’t work for you. Of course, that requires something known to the informed few as “Putting what you’ve learned into A C T I O N”… which is a word I don’t think that you’re all too well acquainted with (Shy of giving Matt a hard time, that is).
    I’ve always known that there are essentially 3 types of people in this world:
    1. Those who MAKE things happen
    2. Those who Watch things happen
    3. Those who WONDERED what just happened.
    Now, my dear Clive, you’ve just created a fourth category (wow, you actually did something here… and it worked too!), Those who go out of their way to make sure that NOTHING HAPPENS. (Action? – yes. correct action? – you figure it out)
    I can understand that at times things don’t go as planned. Even undertaking something that seems all easy on the surface, can have a few speed bumps that require addressing along the way. But to outright go out of your way to ensure complete and utter failure with all you seem to be doing, and then just laughing it off to go onto something else to toss into the trash heap, I really gotta hand it to you, In all my years, I’ve never come across the likes of someone like you.
    I will give you this though… if negativity could act like electricity, you’d be the central power plant.
    Actually, I’m also thinking that everything you’ve put out here thus far is just your way of grabbing some attention. albeit, the wrong kind. While I’m not the world’s answer to mental health, I think that you may have some rather deep seated issues that really need to be addressed.
    Here’s what I see from my own unique view-point.
    “What’s the sense of taking a bath? I’m only going to get dirty again”.
    “Why should I make the bed? I’m only going to mess it up again later”.
    “Why should I bother eating? I’ll only go to the bathroom and get hungry all over again anyway”.
    “Why should I listen and apply your advice? I don’t care that you’re the expert, it couldn’t possibly work for me or anyone else. Please re-load my gun so I can shoot myself in the foot”.
    Clive, with all you’ve put on Matt’s blog, I really think that you’re pulling everyone’s leg here with all this negative crappolla.
    Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if you were putting out all this crap just to glean the correct answers so you can harvest the info and compile it into an “E-Product” that you can sell to all those folks who don’t visit your sites or read your blog posts and would NEVER consider paying you more than $20 for it.
    (… And I know that you’ll NEVER do ANYTHING like this, because this I.M Thing DOESN’T WORK ANYWAY in the first place, does it?)

    End of soapbox speech.

    Thanks for the wasted space away from your primary info, Matt
    Talk soon
    … Ed …

  32. John Dufresne

    I’m new to this IM thing too, but I know I’m going to make it.
    I read the blogs from Matt and Alex and Dean and Michael, I’m always finding new things I didn’t know about and write them down to implement them asap, like, for instance, in the comments to Clive, I didn’t know about adding your keywords to your post tags 😯
    I just setup my site, but I haven’t submitted my site to searches yet because I’m not quite ready for traffic.
    I’m still trying to figure out this autoresponder stuff and getting sales copy done.
    I will always need help and I trust on the advice Matt gives.
    Thank you Matt.
    John Dufresne

    1. admin

      Thanks John!
      one quick point though, don’t “submit” your site to the search engines, you should never need to, let them find it naturally by spending your time getting backlinks to it instead…
      🙂
      Matt

  33. John Dufresne

    Thanks for that Matt.
    It took me 2 days to find a site that explained, in plain english, how to do excerpts.
    I went to wordpress first, but dang, you need to Einstein to follow that stuff, just a simple look for this and paste this here would do 😯 LOL
    I’m still new to backlinks, so I’ll need help there.
    I think I’m on the right track with this list thing.
    I’ll run this by you and see if I’m right.
    I know what my site is about and I know the type of “targeted” traffic I want, so I need to place products into categories that serve certain subscribers.
    For example, Internet Marketing Strategies. All products related to this category get placed here and the freebies and buy offers only go to those in my list for IMS.
    Correct?
    So when I have my autoresponder setup with all the emails and campaigns I need, I can sign up for giveaway sites and offer my free products to subscribers, like above, IMS.
    I hope this right, I’ve spent 2 days on it. LOL
    Thanks Matt.
    John Dufresne

  34. John Reed

    You’re wasting your time and energy replying to Clive, unless you happen to enjoy trying fruitlessly to “do your bit” for the self-professed UNDERDOGS of someone else’s society……… and I speak with experience as Clive and I regularly send one another Jokes etc (now that I’ve given up even thinking of changing his approach).

    If Clive’s own words are to be believed then he’s a Brit who wants to earn enough OnLine to return from Oz to UK!!!!!!!!!!!
    Now, I don’t know about you, but I believe he must be the epitomy of the “Whinging Pom” and it’s in our own interest to see that he never stands a chance of getting back here – it’s gloomy enough without Clive’s influence!!! I think that underneath it all he loves the raging heat, his Oz beer, maybe his cat or a parrot (I forget which now) and though he can’t admit it to himself he doesn’t really want to be here in UK at all – so his current negative ROI, in fact NEGATIVE EVERYTHING really just suits his aims down to the ground………… So, roll on Clive, but try keeping a bit of it to yourself mate, we prefer feeling positive, and if you keep polluting our Blogs/Forums etc with negative Sh**e we may just come over there instead to let you have the pleasure of a bit of creative negativity of our own…….. you really shouldn’t keep tempting us, most confirmed masochists take a more responsible attitude!!
    Be seeing you…….. NOT
    John

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