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Is ProBlogger an Infomercial Blog

Posted By Darren Rowse 13th of January 2006 Pro Blogging News 0 Comments

Eric at Subnixus just posted a post titled The Infomercial Blogs which caught my attention tonight for a number of reasons – the main one being that he writes that ProBlogger, Jensense and his own blog are like infomercials. I’ll not do his post justice by paraphrasing it so feel free to go read his post to get the full message – but below are a few quotes with some of my own thoughts (this could get a little long and rant like – bare with me as I think out loud):

‘I had watched sites like Problogger “help bloggers make money” for a while. I thought to myself, “Here was a site that was making money, by telling others how to make money, by explaining how his site was making money”. I couldn’t help but get that infomercial feeling. “If you order my free CD I will teach you how you could be making $10,000 a month on Ebay, all from the comfort of your own home!” Anyone ever seen that one? Well Problogger was the same… come to the site for the “free cd” and leave spending $280 on his “Six Figure Blogging Course”.’

On one hand I think Eric’s got an element of truth to what he says – I think we’d find if we had heart to heart conversations with them that most bloggers experimenting with ads, affiliate programs, products, donation jars or any other potential income source will at one time or another have grappled a little with the temptation to be a bit infomercialish – but I wouldn’t limit it to blogs that write about making money online – I’d widen it out to most entrepreneurial bloggers and take it a step further and say it’s something most businesses are tempted with.

I caught a 5 minute grab of Dr Phil on TV today as I ate lunch (please don’t tell anyone) and he took a couple through ‘five ways to fix their family’ – all of which were from his latest book. I opened the paper today and saw a helpful article written about how to select a digital camera – of course it was totally surrounded by ads for digital cameras. I was in our local hardware store yesterday and saw the tail end of a free workshop on how to build a mailbox and of course saw the hard sell by the demonstrator who had a range of helpful mailbox building products ready for purchase. I was at a craft market on my recent holiday and saw a guy running a free table for kids to make greeting cards and then selling their parents card making kits. I took a painting course with my wife last year and our teacher tried to upsell us to the next course she was running at the end.

I’m not sure what my point is – except that I think many businesses use a variety of tactics like Eric describes – many are a lot more explicit than others – quite a few are more manipulative than anything I’ve seen on any of the blogs Eric mentions (unless I’m blinded to it by my own greed?).

‘The truth is that people don’t need middlemen to tell them how to make money from their blogs. Every tip you see on Problogger, Subnixus, Jensense, etc… can be found on one site: Digital Point.’

Once again Eric is right on one level here. I’ve never hidden the fact that what I write here comes from a variety of sources including forums like Digital Point. However I would argue three things:

1. Digital Point is similar to the blogs Eric refers to in his post in on some fronts. Whilst it’s a different medium to blogging, it too has ads, it recommends products and it too has information that can be found in other places. I would argue that this isn’t a bad thing – in fact it’s brilliant, as can be seen by the thousands of loyal readers that it attracts.

2. One thing that Digital Point provides and that blogs like Jensense and hopefully ProBlogger also attempt to give is a place where a large amount of information on one particular topic can be found in the one spot. When I first started blogging on a commercial level I spent many many hours scouring the web for information relevant to bloggers seeking to make an income online. While I found site’s like DP I never quite found anything that was aimed at the blogger specifically and that provided the blogger with the mix of topics that they’d need. So I surfed around many sites to find it. If there had been one site which focused upon blogging I’d have been it’s biggest fan but there wasn’t one – so I pulled all the information I’d learned together to make one and gave it all away for free.

“But what about your $280 course? That’s not free!” I can hear you say. That’s true. But as I’ve written previously in talking about SixFigureBlogging – it’s a course that similarly condenses the lessons I’ve learned into an even more concise and focused form than the blog can. When people have asked me why they should do the course I’ve always said that if they have time to read all the archives of ProBlogger (currently around 1870 posts) that they probably won’t learn much more by doing the course except for the more up to date information and to hear it in a verbal conversational form from two bloggers with different experiences – (ie Andy brought his own expertise and experiences to what I know). Most of those that I’ve spoken with that did the course didn’t have the time and were willing to pay for someone to collate it into something they could digest in a more focused way.

3. Eric writes –People don’t need middlemen to tell them how to make money from their blogs‘ – true they don’t ‘need’ it. The information is all out there for free – but the fact is that some people don’t have the many hours I had to find all the information I needed by sifting through a variety of forums (DP must have tens of thousands of threads) and sites. People may not ‘need’ site’s like ProBlogger but I’ve found that they certainly want it. Once again the phenomena of ‘middlemen/women’ is not just restricted to blogging (although I’d argue most niche blogs on any topic function in this way) – it’s something that happens on a grand scale in wider culture. People are willing pay a premium for others to do work for them to provide them with services, information and goods that they could potentially get for themselves much cheaper or for free but which they don’t have the time, patience or expertise to get for themselves. This is why ProBlogger seems to have gained some popularity and why SixFigureBlogging has interested some.

‘Don’t kid yourself. These sites are created to make money by recycling information you can find on Digital Point, Site Point, etc… I know, because I have been doing it for three months. I have made over $2500 from ads and referral programs on this site since it started.’

I can only speak for myself on this one – but while I’m certainly aware of and from time to time read sites like DP and SP – I’m not in the business of simply recycling their information. On occassion forums have inspired posts (I always link to them when they do) but I’m much more inspired by other bloggers and my own experiences. I would argue that there is one thing that forums or even other blogs don’t have that my blog does have – and that is my own story. While my story is not the ultimate story I tell it every day as I write (sometimes directly and sometimes through my comments on what others write) and see people respond to it. This doesn’t make my blog better than any other blog out there – but it does make it unique (as every blog, and forum, is unique as a result of the stories and experiences of it’s writers).

‘And finally, don’t put any faith in Problogger, Jensense, Subnixus, the list goes on… in the end, we just want you for your clicks. Take us with a grain of salt.’

Speak for yourself Eric.

While I agree that people shouldn’t take any one person, blog, TV show, newspaper etc too seriously I take exception the statement that I am just in this for my reader’s clicks. If there was truth in that statement I’d have given up on ProBlogger after a few months of writing it. No offense readers – but you just don’t click that much (and I kind of like that about you you web savy lot)! If I was only in blogging for the cash can honestly say I’d be pouring the hours every day that I put in here into other ventures.

While I’m not adverse to the idea of making money from ProBlogger (and it does make some) – I have a much much wider mix of motivations for this blog. While some are selfish (happy to admit that), many are not.

Eric asks ‘So why this post?– and to be honest I’m not sure. While I think it does bring out some interesting points for discussion (I think we SHOULD talk about the temptations for example) I’m a little puzzled by where his posts leaves his blog Subnixus. Is it only going to post tips that can’t be found elsewhere? Are the ads going to be taken off? Is this just a release of some sort of a guilty before the blog continues on as normal? I’m not wanting to pick a fight but I’m interested to see how his post that is to ‘call out our entire niche‘ impacts his part in it.

I’m not wanting this to turn into a flame war or bitch session – but am interested in discussing it further (although I head off tomorrow morning for a weekend away to marry yet another couple up in a rural area of our state so won’t be here to respond much for a few days).

I’m happy to be told if people think ProBlogger is Infomercial-ish (perhaps infomercials are different here from elsewhere but the ones we get give no worthwhile information at all and are just about promoting themselves – hence my strong reaction to being compared to one) – and interested to hear what other’s experiences are on the topic.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Yeah, I don’t understand the purpose of creating a post like that either. Maybe it’s for more traffic, for controversy’s sake. Who knows?

    Look, as long as you don’t promise us that we’ll make $100,000 over the next day (or stories of others who made $100,000 in 5 hours), then I wouldn’t relegate your site to the infomercial list. ;)

    Vic

  2. You blog about nothing but how much money your making……who would read a blog about nothing?

  3. PAUL – looking at the comments you’ve been making recently you obviously have an issue with Darren for some reason but this comment is just crazy.

    Did you read Darren’s post? He’s written 1870 posts here. IF he’d written about how much he earns in every post I’d agree with you but as far as I can see he’s done it in less than 10 of them. I havn’t counted them so I could well be wrong but I can’t remember the last time he gave figures. The vast majority of his posts are tips or news on a variety of advertising options, SEO, blog design and other areas of interest to bloggers.

    His blog is about making money on blogs so I think he has a reason to talk about money and blogs but I for one think he does it in a very responsible way, quite often stopping to tell people that making money from blogs is NOT easy to do. I still remember the day he talked to me for an hour on MSN and convinced me not to quit my job to go pro.

    I don’t know what your problem is with him Paul but I think you’re a bit deluded on this one. Read through his archives and I hope you’ll see his character.

  4. Brian says: 01/13/2006 at 1:02 am

    Don’t even sweat this kind of thing Darren. I admire you for even responding to something like this, especially this diplomatically.

  5. No-one would read a blog about nothing, Paul, but just look at the statistics to see how many people are reading ProBlogger. Whatever that gigantic sliced potato is doing on your shoulder, it’s weighiing you down.

  6. I think Eric is just link-baiting you and Jensense. It’s too easy to jab at people who are successful. I’ve been reading this site for a year now and never have I felt “infomercialled”. If that was true I would never have you on the top of my RSS reader and visit your site daily.

  7. No worries Darren. I went out looking for help with making money with my blog and found tons of great advice here.

    This blog has its own little thing going on that keeps me coming back for more.

    I think someone is a little jealous at your success.

  8. Paul if you want to chat this one through let me know – not quite sure where your comments today are coming from but as I said in my email to you, if it’s something I’ve done I’m happy to talk if you want to. You know where to find me.

  9. Suddenly, I feel so unclean. You mean I’ve been living in an infomercial for the last year?

    There are a lot of sites out there that just rehash everything. But there are also a lot of sites out there (like this one) that provide original or augmented commentary and advice.

    Funny how some of that great advice on DP is provided by people like me, JenSense, Darren, Shoemoney, and others who also have their own blogs.

    — the other Eric

  10. To me, things here are not informercial at all.

    You know what is infomercial ? This post over at Quick Online Tips is a blatant infomercial : http://pchere.blogspot.com/2005/12/google-adsense-secrets-by-joel-comm.html

    That’s a story full of affiliate links and promoting a product that the author has not even tried and has no clue whether it’s good or it’s crap.

    (Plus, the blog author killed my comment (and it was kind and polite) when I wrote to say so.)

  11. It’s kind of an infomercial, but not really. It really reminds me more of the strategy that is outlined on this site expertizing.com, than a blatant infomercial.

  12. Darren you are at the heart of the Chitika scam, why are you so oblivious to the fact that Chitika is two weeks behind paying bloggers?

  13. People don’t like infomercials because they hint at something the watcher/reader doesn’t believe can be done and shows no proof other than testimonials that can be easily fabricated.

    JenSense and ProBlogger aren’t infomercial, even though they do show advertising, because neither site makes outlandish promises while showing ZERO content. The testimonials left here, on a daily basis, are from people with credibility (at least you can look at their blogs) and who are not paid to appear.

    People read Problogger and Jensense because of the content. As a problogger, Darren knows that the repeat readers aren’t clicking on any Adsense or Chitika ads, so the cynical view of him seeing us only as clicks doesn’t make sense.

    Keep it up and I agree with Jon, probably just link-baiting but whatever, that’s what makes the blogosphere fun. :)

  14. Darren you and your blog are an enrichment for all probloggers and who wants to get one!!

  15. […] Eric Reynolds decries the rise of what he calls infomercial blogs, stating that everything you read on those blogs, including this one, can be found in the Digital Point forums. There’s a good discussion about it happening over at ProBlogger, so I’ll refer you there instead of rehashing the comments here. […]

  16. Ah-ha,

    I caught you putting that “products” link in the paragraph about DP.
    I wonder if that will make you Six Figures???

    LOL

    Joe

  17. I can see both sides to this.

    I don’t think an infomercial is necessarily all bad. I once watched an infomercial on TV regarding becoming rich by investing in real estate. Actually, I thought that was a fantastic idea. But instead of buying the guy’s course, I headed to the library. (I still think it’s a good idea, although I have not pursued it yet.)

    Back to blogging – the fact that you are a 6-figure blogger, Darren, should not be taken to mean that anyone can do the same. I think that’s where people get that “infomercial” feel. I don’t think that taking your course will make everyone who takes it a 6-figure blogger. Yet I am sure a lot can be learned from your course.

    I love reading your blog because I feel it is the one blog where I can find out all I need to know about blogging for money, in one spot. Sure, the information is elsewhere, but I don’t have time to wade through a lot of forums. So I believe you provide a valuable service.

    I don’t think you should do it for free either. You should be getting paid for what you do. So I don’t see anything wrong with it.

    I have a blog on making money with affiliate marketing. I am sure this info is available elsewhere too. But I think my blog is helpful in that I try out the things I read, and then report on what works for me. I think my blog is geared toward newbies. But I am not doing it for free either. I am hoping to make money from it, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.

    Pat

  18. One person’s “feeling” is not a fair measure of the status or purpose of any website, especially when that person claims their experience spans a whopping 3 months and profit of $2500? lol…

    The truth is that people need (and want) information from a variety of sources – snippets of ideas from here and there that combine to give a greater perspective and personal knowledge base.

    My question – if there was no real value at ProBlogger, then why would he have followed it regularly? There must have been some reason. If it disturbed him *that* much – then why come back again and again?

    I found his post quite funny. Despite the ranting, there was not one intelligent point backing up his perspective.

    In the end, people in the business of writing for the web want good solid information and advice, not somebody’s whining and rants – which is all I see at the site. There’s nothing tangible, nothing useful.

  19. Jon Mills says: 01/13/2006 at 3:01 am

    Paul

    I have to disagree with you mate.. Darren does provide some quality information on this blog. I have surfed around and seen a ton of crap on blogging but I know here you get some good insight into someone doing it daily for a living. Those Tips are valuable.

    I have noticed a trend online.. when one person does very well in a market everyone wants to jump in that market and make money.. if they dont make money they then show their dislike for the person who is making money in that market its sad really…

    The internet is big enough that we can all have a piece of the pie, we dont have to get at each others throats and we dont all have to jump into the same markets.

    Crikey… Everyone knows that any free course on the net, any free information is going to have some backend to it.. less moaning and more getting on with business

    Anyway back to trying to get this DANG wordpress 2.0 working with post2blog and blogjet

    Peace.

  20. I call link bait

  21. Im from the UK so infomercial isnt really a term used here, but i would agree with Eric’s point on this site being comparable to an infomercial as it does follow the same patterns. However, because of the brilliant quality of the writing, huge readership and the fact that this site is specifically about making money i think that Darren should be proud to have best quality informercial i have ever seen.

    Also, i must applaud Eric on his marketing strategy, its black hat, but it worked ;)

    PS: I dunno who this Paul guy is but his random off subject comments are pretty stupid and pointless, unless its a poorly executed attempt of copying Eric’s idea.

  22. All I can really say to this is that I’ve never spent a penny accessing the information on this site, and yet it has helped me make a fair amount of pennies for myself, so I’m not at all sure where the criticism comes from.

    Hehe – to attack a blogger for writing about information that’s already available somewhere else is like attacking a cow for producing milk.

    This guy obviously didn’t do his homework…there’s plenty at ProBlogger that you won’t find anywhere else–it’s called Darren!

    Keep up the good work, Mate!

  23. The best bloggers blog about what they do for a living, we don’t blog for a living…

  24. Ahh, the blog-nazis have come to tell us that we all must blog about our current vocations…you’re just priceless, Paul!

    I blog about my wife’s battle with Stage IV cancer…so I suppose that makes me a “bad” blogger?

    moron…

  25. Eric has no idea what he’s talking about. He might be “recycling content from Digital Point and Sitepoint” but you’re not.

    Yes, anyone could spend all day keeping up with two or three key forums and find most of the same information… or we could spend ten seconds getting it here. For free. I’m not complaining.

    Really, his post is so far out there I don’t know what he’s trying to say, especially calling out Problogger and Jensense, two blogs that are 90% ORIGINAL content and often have posts ABOUT them on the forums. If he’s recycling content to make money, fine, I won’t read his site… but I’ll keep reading Problogger and Jensense.

  26. I don’t find ProBlogger to be overly Infomercial-ish. The Chitika ads at the bottom of every post annoy me a bit, mostly because they’re not contextual at all – they’re just big “PLEASE BUY SOMETHING VIA THIS AD INTERFACE” signs to me. But hey – if they work for you, that’s cool. It’s your site after all, and it’s your time and effort going into the content.

    Besides that, I don’t have any problem whatsoever with ProBlogger OR Jensense.

    Okay, that’s a lie. I do have one other problem. I’m jealous of you two. :P I wish I could come up with a decent niche topic that would prove profitable.

  27. Paul take a pill please. We all blog about what interests us. Darren has done a fantastic job equipping many of us in the blogging world.
    Not everyone’s experience will be the same, we learn from our mistakes and those of others and we move on.

    http://crimsonlight.com/google

  28. Well, Infomercials usually sell something dubious at high prices. On the other hand, Darren gives away good ideas for free. Sure, he lets us know about his Six Figure Blogging stuff and things like Chikita, but no-one is forcing anyone to buy in unless they think it’s in their best interests.

    Darren is upfront about what he does — I seem to remember that he even split out Chikita referral information in a recent chart showing how much he makes, and I’m dead certain that when I signed up Chikita (through this site) that he indicated in black and white that it was an affiliate link. In a world of shadiness and profiteering, Darren does an excellent job of walking the tightrope between generosity and money making. He has a right to make a living, and strikes me as a very honest soul from what I’ve seen over the past six months.

  29. Darren,

    You’ve more than adequately answered a pure link-bait post in this and in your previous work. It’s good that you are heading away for a couple of days and not therefore wasting your time and arguably ProBlogger’s and it’s readers by giving this any more time.

    Anyone that has ever found ProBlogger by searching has obviously found sources of information in many places but comes back to ProBlogger because of the great value it gives to that information which is openly collated, formulated and personalized. It’s good that you acknowledge Eric’s post but it isn’t really worthy of a lengthy ongoing discussion.

  30. Darren, you just made me do, what you daily save me from doing.

    I went to Subnixus and read his – for me – useless post. I find almost everything I need to know about blogging here at your website, instead of spending my entire day reading ~90% useless posts in forums etc.

    I’m very happy that you spend your time sorting out what I “need to know”. And if you make some money while doing it, well that just make me even happier…!

    Paul, I wonder… You write “The best bloggers blog about what they do for a living, we don’t blog for a living…” – Then let’s say that this guy do consulting for a living, and since he began blogging about it he would get clients through the blog. Which is good because he can’t afford other advertising since he charges his clients so little. So he keep on blogging about what he does for a living, and he wouldn’t get clients without blogging about it. Now he is “blogging for a living” and “blogging about what he does for a living”. Would that make him a better or worse blogger?

    If it makes him a worse blogger, that would mean that any kind of marketing on blogs is bad? But then he could just remove the dates from his posts, remove his RSS feeds, and finally call it a website instead of a blog, that would be okay right? Or is marketing on the internet bad?

    Well I definitely got off track, I’m sorry about that…

  31. I have never visited this site and not learned something about blogging. If infomercials were so useful, I’d start watching them.

    ProBlogger taught me that blogging is an art, and if I work hard at it I can master it.

    I can get SEO tips anywhere, the reason why I keep coming here is because Darren writes from a space of love. I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. Darren loves what he does, and is comes through in his writing.

    To quote Victor: “…as long as you don’t promise us that we’ll make $100,000 over the next day (or stories of others who made $100,000 in 5 hours), then I wouldn’t’t relegate your site to the infomercial list.”

  32. I think his post is baiting as well. And I don’t have problems with infomercials if they are good ones. My sister uses ProActive and her sking looks very good now.

    I’m thankful for Probloggers, because I’ve found ways to earn money on my blog without offending my audience. I learned why I need my own domain. And I have one now(it’s not ready for public view yet!) In fact, right now my team blogger and I are writing a book and organizing a course on Christian Book Promotion. We never would have came with the idea and the means to do it without this site. I’ve received invitations to speak at writing conferences, to publish books, to write magazine articles, to ghostwrite, because of the tips I found here to help generate more traffic to the blog.

    Problogger does more than sell its products. It helps me see how I can take my talents and earn a decent living for my family, while affording me the opportunity to go to my daughter’s Kindergarten class tomorrow and teach the kids how to make a pop-up book. :)

    Thanks.

  33. I’m a little put off by Eric’s original comment … I haven’t as yet read his blog but doubt I’ll have time. I’m totally flabbergasted by Paul’s comment; I don’t think money is discussed here very often at all.

    I started my own small blog principally as an outlet to vent about some of the items I feel are right or wrong in my industry … things I wouldn’t care to post directly on my standard commercial “business brochure” site, although I sign my name to all of them

    While figuring out what this “blogging” phenomenon was all about I came across Problogger. I come back every day because it is _not_ a blatant ‘content site’ to make people buy a book, CD, on line course, etc. Yes, I can find much of this information elsewhere. I’m a Site Point and Digital Point user, have been for years. However, in addition to many authoritative participants those places harbor an ocean of ‘wanna bees’ who can only ask questions, some even more pitiful than my own groping. Finding specific, targeted information on those resources is like having a question and going to the public library and reading books in sequential order from one end of the stacks to the other. Eventually you’ll learn the answer and a whole lot more, but even a fast reader may never reach the end (and if the books are all jumbled between fact and fiction the search will be infinitely more difficult).

    To learn how Adsense works, I used tmy blog to experiment with knowledge I obtained here, from someone who was ‘doing’, not talking about doing. Suffice to say my wife now has now started two blogs of her own and I am going to launch a second ‘real’ blog … this is all based on actual money we have earned through Adsense, not on any false hopes or ‘Ginso knives’ that Darren tried to sell us.

    About the best thing I can say to wind up this perhaps overlong post is to say a week ago my son asked me, “Dad, what the heck is this blogging for money thing about”? I only needed a very brief answer; “Go surf around in the resources on Problogger.net and let me know what questions you have then.”

    Is this blog is an infomercial? If it is, the ‘info’ outweighs the ‘mercial’, by a long chalk. Thanks for all the effort, Darren.

  34. I get very few clicks from Blogs…but they are a great source of traffic that link to my product sites…There I get revenue from adsense, real products, chikita and affiliate programs.

    Who cares if blogs are infomercial? If people find them and read them and learn something for nothing thats fine with me. But the blogs I frequent I do click on some of there ads if appreciate the value of the information I receive from the blog. So you’ll make 10 cents from me today…now you owe me a beer :)

    Now on to the clicking

  35. I’ve never heard of Sub-Nixus until now. For the last six years I have been trying to get energy and focus to write a book or E-book for $1.00 with the tagline “Over a million copies sold”. Yes, I have bought similar books or ebooks from others who claim the same thing or claims to teach you how to do this. I wouldn’t buy it for the information it contained, but to learn reasons why this particular product and marketing motivated me to spend $1.00 to find out if it was possible.

    I still haven’t written any books, but I can say that at least I make $1.00 per day in adsense and who knows… in a million days I will be a millionaire! WooHoo!

  36. Bill… you hit the nail on the head. If the visitor is finding what they are looking for (whether free or not) – then nothing else matters.

  37. Darren

    I think it’s time for you to move on from all this self-flagellation and get on with doing what you do best – helping others to make money.

    Anyone who calls Problogger an infomercial is either off with the fairies or desperately envious of what you have achieved.

    Ignore them and stop giving them credibility and hits that they don’t deserve.

  38. I agree with Stuart. However, you can only turn your cheek so many times before you lose credibility. As in real life (away from the cyber world) you just have to take a stand about who you are and what you do.

    Vic

  39. Thanks for the comments all.

    Paul as you’ve chosen not to reply to my email offering to talk this through I think I’ll not debate you any further in public over my involvement with Chitika. I’ve outlined a response to you previously and am not sure what more I can do. In terms of me being oblivious to them being behind – I know very well they are running late this month. They announced it the day I left for a two week holiday and I linked to their announcement and spoke briefly of my disappointment with them the day I got back from my holiday. I also know that Google are late paying some publishers this month, that YPN seem to have some check errors with some publishers (see Jensense) and that I just got a cheque from an ad agency that I was dealing with who I had ads on my blog with four months ago but who ‘forgot’ to pay me.

  40. I asked for a full disclosure of your relationship with Chitika, it’s obviously more then what you have stated.

    Chitika is not communicating with their clients, but you are still referring people to them.

  41. I like some infomercials and I like problogger. I don’t think problogger is like an informerical more like the discovery channel with commercial breaks.

    Personally I think its worth paying for summarised infomation with all the key short cuts and fundamentals to making something work. Spending all day searching through different websites is a pain the butt.

    Subnixus has some good stuff over there.

  42. I’ve given the disclosure you wanted – I’ve done it numerous times. What more can I do Paul. Do you want to come over and go through my emails?

    I refer people to them because I’ve had 90% positive experience with them. I think their product has potential. It’s not perfect (as I’ve said in my reviews) but it gives a good income stream to some publishers.

    Their customer service is average and at times poor but I suspect this is more to do with the large numbers of publishers they’ve had wanting to join up.

    If you’ve got issues with them Paul I’m sorry – but I fail to see how taking it out on me is going to solve anything. I’m a publisher – nothing more.

    And now I’m going away for the weekend.

    As I’ve offered I’m willing to talk to you via email about this.

    Have a good weekend all!

  43. I can’t help but think Paul is at the wrong site.
    ProBonoBlogger is down the hall.

    Andrew

  44. I am just wondering what’s so horrible with people providing information and then also running ads on their site? Newspapers do this every day, sometimes it is connected to the content of the paper and sometimes it is not. I personally prefer if it is.

    I find great content on this site, maybe it is all available at other places on the web, but to me much of the material is unique.

    And why would I go anywhere else to try to find it when Darren does such a great job of presenting it here? He also has the knowledge to filter out what works and what does not which can be hard to do if you are not experienced in the area.

    I will probably never take the course since so much great information is available for free here. But if he ever holds a speech here in Sweden I would surely go if it was not too expensive.Sometimes I will click the ads, and I have no problem with Darren making a few bucks from that.

    I think it is good if he can support himself from blogging because then he has more time and motivation to publish more of the same kind of quality content that I have become accustomed to.

  45. Paul

    You seem to be flogging a dead horse – there is nothing that Darren has done that is any different to what any other affiliate marketer has done.

    You on the other hand obviously have little knowledge of affiliate marketing and I suggest you spend some time reading some of the better affiliate marketing boards out there in the real world.

    No one out there asks for full disclosure and I didn’t realise just how much of a twit you really were till you mentioned that term.

    In affiliate marketing it’s up to the individual to assess a person’s recommendation and act according to that assessment – and after being involved in affiliate marketing for many years I’ve never seen anyone expect what you seem to think is your right to have.

  46. Darren

    Personally if I were you I’d take the necessary action to block Paul from your site.

    He’s obviously little more than a stalker and a couple of lines in your htaccess file will shut him out forever.

    He brings nothing positive to the discussion on your blog and you don’t to be continually harrassed by him.

  47. Eric is right that you can get the information from elsewhere on the web, but we appreciate that you have done here Darren in putting it together in a single place and in a format the really works for Bloggers.

    Thanks a lot Darren for all your work on this site and for sorting through a lot of the information on the web for us.

    Bill

  48. […] My favourite part of Darren’s post when he responds simply to that assertion with: Speak for yourself Eric. […]

  49. I pretty much just read Performancing and Here for blogging information. Its not all infomercially. Its all pretty straight forward and above board about sponsorships and where money comes from. What I appreciate is that Darren tells us about stuff that works. If it doesn’t work, he tells us. Chitka didn’t work for me despite all my messing with it. (2 clicks on my site.) But I’ve follow as many of his ad sense tips to get revenue from that.

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