It seems to me that the objective of the product developer is to get as many sales as possible in the first few days, before potential buyers figure out that the product isn’t all that good.

It’s pretty easy to get caught up in all the hype. I just received an email that told me I could make $23,546.56 in one week from the product being promoted.

I’m not the smartest person in the world, but it isn’t difficult to figure out that’s not going to happen.

In my experience, there are very few new products that live up to their hype. I’ve been disappointed much of the time, and have had to get too many refunds to count.

The only new products I even look at now are software programs that will help me improve my productivity. Even those aren’t always great. But I will take a look.

Now, if I am interested in any new product, I go to WarriorForum and search for the specific product. I will almost always find out the good, bad, and the ugly, and be able to make an informed decison.

Every once in a while I’ll find a  shill promoting the product, but it’s pretty easy to identify and discount the post.

So, my advice is to do your own homework before you get caught up in all the hype of new product launches. It’s better to know sooner than later that a product won’t do what you expect it to do.

While I was waiting, I installed the EPN WordPress plug-in, expecting to be able to get started promoting eBay products pretty quickly.

I like eBay, and thought I’d be bringing some good value to my website visitors.

But low and behold, about a week and a half after I applied to be an EPN affiliate, I received this email from eBay, rejecting my application:

Thank you for applying to the eBay Partner Network. Unfortunately, we cannot accept your application at this time. If you have questions regarding this process, please contact eBay Partner Network customer support.

Thank you,

The eBay Partner Network Team

I was really surprised that I was rejected, because my site has great quality content.  So I tried to contact the eBay Partner Network customer support department to find out why they reject my website.

Interestingly, I discovered that there was no link to a customer support department on the EBN website. There’s no way to contact anyone there.

Hmmm, I thought. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a legitimate affiliate program that doesn’t want you to contact them.

So I began to do some investigation on the web, and discovered that EPN has been regularly ticking off their affiliate and potential affiliate partners.

There are many, many people like me who have been rejected and have never been able to find out why.

And there are many, many people who were affiliates in good standing, only to get banned from EPN for no reason.

At this point, I don’t even care why EPN is doing this. I just know I will never do business with them, and I urge you to stay away from this affiliate program.

It’s really easy to get caught up in all the sales hype. These guys are good. They make each product seem like it’s the answer to all your problems, and all you have to do is buy…right now.

Then you buy the product, and it somehow doesn’t live up to all the hype. It’s not as easy to use as they claim, and it doesn’t seem to make you any money.

So you ask yourself why this product has been promoted by so many people, and you start thinking maybe you’re just not using it correctly.

Well, maybe you’re not using it correctly, but that’s probably not the issue. The product probably just isn’t as good as you thought it would be.

But why are so many people sending you email, telling you this product is the greatest thing since sliced bread?

They’re sending you email because they’re actually selling the product as an affiliate, and they want you to buy the product.

Now that in itself is fine. There’s nothing wrong with making money by selling products as an affiliate.

But how do you, as a buyer, know which products are really as good as they say?

It’s not always easy, but if you follow my five guidelines, you’ll at least avoid making big mistakes.

1. Don’t buy a product as soon as it’s released ─ that’s when the hype is the greatest, and when the most affiliates are selling it. They’ll tell you that you have to buy now because the price will soon be going up. That’s not a good reason to buy. Wait a few weeks at least, and then go to the Internet marketing forums to find out what people really think of it. You’ll get honest answers, and if the product really is that good, you should think about buying it.
2. Don’t buy a product if you’re not going to use it right away ─ I’ve bought way too many products I thought I’d use “someday.” The vast majority of the time I never did use them. Only buy products you need now.
3. Beware of automated software systems ─ you can automate your websites until the cows come home, but you probably won’t make money from the sites. The sales copy for every new automated system says that this product is different and really works. I haven’t found any that really do work. It’s so tempting to try out a new system and make easy money. But there are no easy ways to make money. That’s just the truth.
4. Look for free solutions before you buy anything ─ very often you can find free products or help through forums or by searching on the web.
5. Be careful when joining a membership program ─ membership sites are very profitable to their owners because they generate steady monthly income. But before you join, think about whether or not you really need this service and whether or not you’re going to want to pay for it each and every month.

No one I know has money to throw away nowadays, so it’s more important than ever to really spend time evaluating the products you’re thinking about buying, and only buying what you need, when you need them

I really believe in giving back, so I’ve launched a new blog called “Save Money Tips and Tricks” with the grocery, household, business, health, insurance, and more money saving tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way.

I hope you’ll visit my new blog, and look forward to your comments!

I was having a hard time believing the system would really make money for marketers, and I suggested that my readers approach the system with caution, and pay $1 for a 45-day trial to see if their full system works.

I opened a free account, and was less than impressed. It seemed to me that the automated system just pulled content from other sites into my blog, and I couldn’t see how that would attract traffic.

WordPressDirect recently sent out a press release, announcing that it now has 10,000 subscribers.

The release set off a fury, with many bloggers saying that WordPressDirect just produces spam blogs, with duplicate content that isn’t even attributed to the original authors.

Let’s see how the WordPressDirect website describes its system:

No More Duplicate Content . . . WordPress Direct scours the internet for topic-specific video, audio and article content and automatically combines it on your site to create a truly unique visitor experience.

No More PRESSURE to Update Your Site Daily. . . Simply click a few buttons and WordPress Direct will update your site as often or as rarely as you’d like.

No More Wasting Your Precious Time with Setup, Search Engine Optimization, or Maintaining Your Site . . . WordPressDirect has been designed to handle all the setup, SEO and maintenance functions for you.

I frankly don’t know how WordPressDirect can say there’s no more duplicate content. It’s all duplicate content. And you can’t just simply click a few buttons to update WordPress Direct.

Late yesterday, I received this email from WordPressDirect:

This message is to announce that we will be removing the
content posting features from the WordPressDirect basic
Free account level on Monday, December 1st.

Our decision to change the Free account level features is
due to the article on Mashable after we issued our press
release.  The negative public impression created by this
article is that the content posting software is some kind
of dangerous spam creator, which is simply not the case.

As you know, WordPressDirect is primarily a WordPress
deployment and maintenance service that helps people
(especially those with very little technical experience)
create a search-optimized WordPress blog.  Our service
saves people time and frustration with technical headaches,
among other benefits.

Also in response to the negative posting and commenting
from the Mashable uproar, we will update our out of date
(July 2008) marketing video to make the intent of the
service clear to those who have not had exposure to our
service through the 30 Day Challenge.  These materials
clarify that spamming your own blog will cause you nothing
but trouble.

Then they tried to get me to upgrade to a bronze membership:

Bronze Account Upgrade: For those of you who wish to
preserve your content functions, we are creating a limited
time offer (expiring Tuesday December 2) to allow Free
users to upgrade to our Bronze account level for as little
as $27 monthly from the link below

If their system doesn’t create spam sites, it shouldn’t make any difference if you are using their free service or the paid one. So I can only assume they’re just using the controversy to upsell their non-paying customers.

I no longer recommend that you even try WordPressDirect. I’m tired of spam on the web, and I believe this automated system only makes the situation worse.

What do you think?