Traffic Bad Boys
Traffic Bad Boys is a site Jason Fladlien and I launched during the first week of our PLR Copywriting class -- DURING the end of the first class. It was pretty crazy, we showed our students how fast and easy it is to build a site consisting of private label rights material.
I don't usually read what other people say about me. But I just read a bad review about Traffic Bad Boys, actually a bunch of bad reviews written by just one guy. And I'm smiling and laughing about it. You know why? Because the only bad things he had to say about it were:
1. I was banned from YouTube, so I "must" be bad. (Not a good assumption.)
2. Someone blogged about me a couple years ago calling me the next Mike Filsaime in a good way, that reviewer found it and tried to spin that as a bad thing.
3. The Traffic Bad Boys site contains master resale rights material, so it must be bad. (False... in the AM2.0 Platinum Google group full of $100K+ earners we recommend master resale rights products all the time.)
For that class, we took 7 products we had rights to, cut them up into pieces and dripped them out onto a membership site for 7 dollars a month.
The reviewer joined for one day, couldn't wait for the rest of the month or even the rest of the week, cancelled immediately and wrote a bad review about us... even though all he had to base it on was the first 20 pages of the material.
So What Does This All REALLY Mean?
It means you need a $7 product for two reasons: to get people on your list, and to get people OFF your list.
You can't always land a $97 or $497 or $997 sale immediately, you have to build trust. Get them to say yes to something small and then build them up with upsells.
But when you price so low you're also attracting bad buyers... it's a fact of life. When those people cancel, you can't take it personally, it's just part of the weeding out process.
You need to weed out those people complaining about having to pay an entire dollar for each product, complaining about having to wait for the rest of the material when they haven't even read what they already have.
(It would be stupid to put your best stuff into your free products and $7 products... save that for your high-end stuff.)
You can't pack the member's area with more stuff because then people will join and complain about being overwhelmed... been there, bought the t-shirt with the Daily Seminar membership.
The Solution!
If you're offering a $7 per month membership site, put $7 of content into it every month... no more, no less. (That's exactly what we did.) That sounds like common sense, but far too many people take bad customers personally and overcompensate.
If you were selling everything in that first month for a one time $7 payment, you would value-stack so that the information was already worth at least $50 or $100. There's no need to further bloat that up to $200 or $300 of value every month just because it's recurring.
Your information and your advice needs to be expensive so people will take it seriously. That's the real lesson you should take away from what happened with Traffic Bad Boys.
Do you find when you price higher you deal with better customers, yes or yes? Leave me a comment below to share your thoughts with me.
Filed in: Product Launches • Site Building
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Don’t you just love those types of customers, Robert? They really have too much time on their hands to go out of their way to complain about a $7 purchase.
And where do I get one of those DailySeminar t-shirts, anyway?
Exactly Dennis… people either value their time or their money higher… some people will buy to get a “bargain” but your ideal buyers are buying to get a shortcut or save time.
You can get the Daily Seminar t-shirt in a bundle with the “Suck Less” t-shirt (inside joke).
I still make good money from $7 products, but the big hitters like Mike Filsaime etc (who have their funnels tested to perfection) reinvest 100% of their front-end profits into advertising… that tells me that $7 buyers are okay, but $2000 buyers are better. 🙂
I find that people who bitch and complain will always bitch and complain.
I like your reasoning here. I can’t believe people expect a total solution for the price of a McDonald’s value meal.
It is just dumb, asinine, and insulting.
That’s one thing I hate about the IM niche. People want everything for nothing and they don’t do anything with the basic stuff that can replace your job.
I just don’t get it…why should someone give you the Butterfly Manuscript + Script to run upsells, downsells, etc if you haven’t even set up a sales page?
Talk about putting the cart before the horse.
Robert, I’m glad you talked about this b/c you should fire your worst customers. I’m glad you have the courage to do so.
Cheers,
Brad Spencer
Absolutely!
the higher priced stuff goes to a better group of customers… that don’t complain over perceived faults in your products.
the lower priced stuff is good to get people into the sales funnel…. but not as a rule to price stuff at… always need to think back end and residual income.
Brad, you’re right, internet marketing is a desperate niche which is why it’s important to get into a really specific subniche instead, i.e. product creation or WordPress.
Great advice as always especially that part about folks taking you seriously only when they have invested in themselves by investing in your higher-end products.
Appreciate the wisdom.
Daniel Hall
Author, “Speak on Cruise Ships: 8 Easy Steps to a Lifetime of FREE Luxury Cruises”
I think it’s a good thing. We’ve put out SUCH amazing high quality stuff that when we don’t hit a home run all the time, we get back lash.
I’m human. I make mistakes. That’s what 100% satisfaction guarantees are for. 🙂
I surely didn’t get flooded with great reviews when I created $17 products that were worth more than other products on the same topic that sold for $297. Guess most people operate from a negative mind state – except my best customers, which eat up our webinar trainings and make a small fortune 🙂
-Jason
Shame on you, Jason…
😀 😀
If you’re offering a $7 per month membership site, put $7 of content into it every month… no more, no less.
Best piece of advice I’ve seen for a long time. It’s all too easy to keep adding value without regard for receiving value in return. Especially in the IM niche. We get so caught up with “over delivering” that we give away the bank.
In fact…
I’ve just printed it out and am sticking it next to my computer. This is the sort of thing I need to keep reminding myself.
No matter what one does, there is always someone who complains and bitches. The best thing is to ignore those people and get rid of them.
If I buy something for $7.00, I darn well know it’s not going to make me a million dollars. I might find some nugget in it I can use, who knows.
Complainers are born every day.
Robert:
I don’t mind if you want to spin the reviews of Traffic Bad Boys, but you’re not paying attention and you shouldn’t be laughing and smiling about this.
I have no problem saying I did the review you are referring to. There are several other similar reviews, done by other people I do not know, including one who has apparently demanded to be removed as one of your testimonial providers for another product.
What you don’t mention is that I have bought numerous products of yours, including some of your earliest products.
In the future, you create good products and I’ll continue to buy.
Never, ever, confuse a complaint or a negative review from a long-time, repeat customer as meaning they are a ‘bad customer’ or it is a ‘bad review’ as you assert in your blog post. What, can you only accept good reviews?
And that is part of what makes Traffic Bad Boys so especially bad. It’s not just that the product isn’t worth anything, it’s that it has your name attached to it and you can do better – a lot better.
So let’s clear-up some issues:
– Traffic Bad Boys is a bad product. Not just my opinion, but others as well.
– You did not create Traffic Bad Boys, which ironically is good for you. My suggestion is to forget promoting MRR products. Your own stuff is what has created your mailing list and web following.
– The review has nothing to do with $7 products. Price is not the issue. You’re right that a $7 product can be a foot in the door to a $97 product, but that $7 product still has to be good, otherwise you’ll never get someone like me who is repeat customer.
I bought the product not because it was $7 – but because you suggested it. I think you may know price is not an issue when it comes to what I purchase online. So get off your false pedestal about using cheap products to weed out certain prospects.
– Finally, IMHO you are intentionally deceiving your readers claiming those 3 points were the ‘negatives’ about the product.
In a nutshell, the product is bad, and I even quickly noted a few examples from the product. I also noted who has done Master Resale Rights products correctly, but that this did not compare. I’ve never seen another review comparing you to Mike Filsaime, but was merely making my own observation after being in this business for a long time and seeing countless marketers follow a certain trajectory then end up in flames.
If I didn’t care, having seen you go from a student, to an employee, to your own man – I wouldn’t have spent my time on a review or this blog comment.
Robert, the information you have created, even the free stuff, is a zillion times better than the rubbish in Traffic Bad Boys.
So don’t be lazy and promote junk where you don’t even bother to remove the MRR licensing files. Sell your own stuff. That’s why we’re here.
Brian, that person you mention demanding the testimonial from my site doesn’t even have a testimonial on my site… but that’s not the point.
You joined a site and quit the first day even though there were notices that Jason’s own traffic videos were being dripped out throughout the month in addition to the MRR.
Your review was based on seeing 3% of the FIRST month of content. There’s no denying that and you’ve proved my point that your biggest jab to the product is that it’s master resale rights.
p.s. Brian… looking you up in PayPal, you bought four products from me for $8.09, $1.38, $10 and $13… 30 bucks total after fees… not exactly a high ticket buyer.
Brian,
I’m happy to see that you will contine to buy Planks products in the future. but, question:
Will Plank want to sell to you?
Belly Laugh! The story and punch well done.
Yes, I’ll print and paste it too. Reminders like this are solid gold.
And, one wonders what’s next coming down the pike. Am I hooked? Yes.
I’m a new newbie here. Joined 2 days ago. And, love it already.
Couple of requests:
1) Mac aps of your software would be nice (PLEASE);
2) Little better direction on your aps for the newbie be nicer too.
Can we send you questions when we’re stuck? If so, where to?
Often, when there is one question, someone else comes up with it too.
Talk later.
Definitely I have better experiences with higher paying clients. But not always. And I definitely have lower paying clients who become higher paying clients, so building trust is good.
But what do you think about all this emphasis on “moving the free line”? You sound quite against it.
Robert,
I used to feel that you should give complainers something extra so they feel satisfied. But lately I have started doing the reverse– because when you start overcompensating people that are complaining, you end up rewarding bad behavior.
Buyers: Always email seller before posting publicly about something…
My comment is going to get me banned probably…
The sales pitch for TrafficBadBoys indicated 600 pages of content were available when you opted in before the timer ran out.
In reality it is trickle time… There were no seven products on site, they are going to be trickle fed to you.
OK it is only $7 but the sales page portrays this gonga deal and then even more to come if you stay a member. But oops you can have the material only a little at a time…
What was initially posted was well worth the $7, and the additions that followed added to the benefit, still not all the products that were promised appeared.
Aren’t we as marketers trying to sell our credibility? If we sell something it seems by golly it better be there. If we suddenly trickle feed it gives the appearance of a scam…and if you look like a scammer at $7 then how do you build buyer confidence for the bigger ticket items?
Scott,
Fair enough. We already had an entire post, PLUS a big notice at the top of the member’s blog saying the content will be dripped out over the month, but I’ve just gone and added a mention of the drip content in three places in the sales copy.
$7 membership is a warm up from …Free.
And, a stepping stone to upper levels (higher $$$) of membership, events, back-end stuff.
But first you got to keep your …”Fish On!”
Robert, I know nothing of this squabble.
But at 67, I’ve learned …the Customer Is Always Right!
Or, as my old travel agent said:
“I’ll take your money for what ever makes you happy.”
Brian, “Cool It!”
And, learn to say your piece shorter.
Think it out more cleverly. Mom’s always said: “if you ain’t got something nice to say, don’t say it at all.”
That don’t mean you have to keep quiet. Just means you have to say it giftedly.
Such as… the guest that came for dinner, screamed and belly ached something fierce.
And, no one said a word.
After he left, sister Jane asked Dad, “Why did you let him talk like that?”
Dad said: “It only stays if it got heard.” Thank about that, if you don’t get it.
Robert has you beat there. He’s a great story teller.
Pick up the challenge from Robert and hone your own skill for talking.
Think of how you would appear to your customers if you added
humor like Robert.
Anyone can do it. How? Practice-Practice-Practice.
And both of you, save your “hots” for other causes.
Accusations get nowhere. We have too much of that in the news.
But, as internet lookie-lous, we’re here for neat tips and tricks to help us.
So, let’s all focus on the cause of why we are here: To Get What’s In It For Me!
That’s the same thing our customers want.
End of Story
I find the post discouraging because I’ve been working so hard at getting my own $7 site set up. What seems so simple to you has a stiff learning curve for me. (It has been harder than I thought it would be!)
At any rate, I think he made a reasonable point about expecting more from you, since you have an established reputation for providing good original content. Maybe you should put the notice about dripping Jason’s traffic videos on the sales page. Or was it a big deal on the Thank You page? I don’t know; I didn’t buy because I have plenty of MRR/PLR content!
I guess I can benefit from low expectations on my sites (I bought SIX domain names!) since I don’t have my own products out there. See you tomorrow night. (I’ve been panicked thinking tonight was my deadline; I think I’m going to stop and watch an episode of Lost!)
Thanks for getting me going on a membership website! – Merry
Robert:
Since you don’t know all the companies I use to buy products from, and since I’ve obviously made use of your ‘dime’ sales to quickly buy products from you, what is your point?
Someone who has bought at least 5 products from you, quickly when you launch them, is a ‘bad customer?’
You think someone is a bad customer because they order as fast as possible to make use of dime sales?
Truly amazing. You can’t even accept a compliment because it is associated with an opinion that a product you did not create is not any good.
Take a cue from your partner. Even long-time, repeat customers are not necessarily going to think every product you promote is worthwhile.
But instead of trashing them, calling them a bad customer, and making knee-jerk responses on your own blog that makes you look bad – how about thanking the customer for their continued support and suggesting that while they did not see value in a MRR product, that you have something new coming along that you created which they may be interested in?
Or, are you more interested in not initially responding to a private email about a product, and would rather publicly disclose your customers’ purchase histories?
I gotta say that I did feel a bit cheated when I looked at that first piece of content from TBB.
On the other hand, I have also had the opposite feeling after a Plank purchase; a bit of real honest guilt for getting something so good for an insanely low price.
I’ll chalk it up as an overdue karma payment.
I did pick up some real good pointers from the sales letter though.
Q: Do you find when you price higher you deal with better customers, yes or yes?
A. Yes – I released a product that started at $7 and increased $2 every 25 sales. I got more refunds on the lower price points than I did on the higher ones. I then released product 2, and started it at $17. It was a crappier product, but I haven’t had a single refund.
Personally when I buy a $7 product it is not worth my time to ask for a refund – even if I feel it is crap like the one I bought this morning.
Hey, checked out your updated sales letter…nice…no surprises.
The products are nuggets that can be gold in working hands.
Brian, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not sure why you’re still posting here.
You joined a membership site with monthly content and got a refund the same day. You have that right. That’s why we have the refund policy, if people don’t like it.
Then you left some nasty reviews around the internet based on your one day of the membership which you refunded. Your review focused on your distortion of my character instead of the content itself. You also have that right.
But… it’s extremely rude. Obviously membership sites are just not right for you, they aren’t for everyone. No hard feelings okay?
Well, Robert, I was going to take you at your word about no hard feelings, despite your jab, but then you just wasted your time attempting an immature and ineffective web lockout, so you’ve obviously got a lot to learn as a marketer, programmer, and person.
Good luck.
Ah, heck, Brian.
Your falling into Robert’s trap & taking it personal.
Good luck, to you.
After all, Robert did get the infusion of comments by stirring the pot.
And, that’s what he asked for when starting this thread.
And, the good side is that other people emerged giving their light to both sides.
There is no good or bad. It only is until we attach our emotions to it. And, emotions are what drives us & our customers.
Other words, make like water off a ducks back.
What’s next Robert?
Robert wants 100+ comments on this post.
Robert…Admit it?
As a former Network/Security Engineer, I’ve also dealt with many of these “types” of people…
We had a saying in hi-tech to identify these people, as
iD10T (eye D Ten T) folks…That works out to idiot….
~AzSno…
“I don’t care what they say about me as long as they spell my name right.” ~ P.T. Barnum
Ron,
LOVE the quote! 🙂
Robert I understand where you are coming from I think. Some marketers get upset when I end my posts with a sig file like:
Star “Puff Daddy Ain’t got nothing on me!” Riley
Most don’t care and the ones who find it cool are the few that understand the quote is a take on a Denzel Washington movie Training day. So basically its a shout out calling them the big dog and saying I’ll be that.
The point many fail to understand its also a SEO Jedi mind trick and usually directs search engine traffic to whatever I say.
However I’m sure that many marketers will still take a silly stance on “the ain’t got nothing on me’ words to start claiming I’m an idiot. Not that I would even denie that or argue with them.
Before I forget my point is no matter how you spell out somethings people will read what ever they want comming from the place they are and focus on that.
If you dissed me and I counted you, I would come at you like a rabid pit-bull If not I wouldn’t give it a second thought.
Guess that could go for both parties in this case, until we meet again peace to all and to all good night.
P.T. Barnum also said,
“There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Hi,
There are people like him who live among us and, unfortunately, breed! Their quickfire negative criticisms are based on their own jealousy and feeling of importance.
Someone did that to one of my (free!) products and a discourse was for him out of the question. If you’d like to see how I handled it – similar site to this (not a blog though) – visit http://ww.felgall.info. It’s not a commercial site.
Comments appreciated.
Mike
One more thing, Brian Kindsvater rymes with **instigator** your an @$$hole just cause you have all the traffic plr known to man doesn’t take away from the value of what Robert “IM Genius” Plank did.
When you look at it he was teaching us how to re-purpose plr really fast into a recurring income stream for people who can find value in the package allowing us to create something we could continue to add value to.
Even if R.P had put together a site on “Picking Nose Hairs” with PLR content as the basis. I would have still been happy to learn the lesson and I’m sure for people with nose hair issues it would have been a good thing to join.
Although I myself would not join and then if I did out of some idiotic impulse had I been given a refund would not go dissing Robert or Jason.
You what people in my hood call a hater so please step out the way so I can continue to learn from my #1 homies, there on a level you probably will never understand.
Why not go mess with Filsaime his staff can handle nobodies like you while he does his thing. Roberts giving us direct 1 one 1 access others are charging upwards 10k for this type of interaction.
Robert we got your back ignore this clown : – )
P.T. Barnum also said,
“There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Actually John no he didn’t. Joe Vitale has spent a couple of decades researching Barnum and no where is it documented that he said that.
Holly duck !!
Robert, you are really a bad boy.
Mwuahahahahahahaha ..
YOU ARE ! (in the opposite day)
However: the costumer is the master. Business old school teach this anyway and is true.
Up to a point, is true. But ..
start Quote:
“But there are times when you NEED TO FIRE A CUSTOMER.
If you have your policies spelled out on your site (which you should!) it is the customer’s responsibility to read, understand, and accept them before making a purchase.”
end Quote
source:
http://www.audreykerwoodblog.com/customerisnotalwaysright
Period.
I don’t care what everyone else says. I buy your products and get value from them. Admittedly, I can’t always figure out how to use all of them but that is my fault as I am less than adequate, esp. when it comes to php. Still, you provide real value for the money you charge.
I have found out that there are always a certain number of people who buy something cheap and expect a steal. But I have also found that if I find one thing that increases my awareness of my game, I am miles ahead. And you supply that every time.
It is like drug addicts, legal or not, there will always be some. And the internet cheapies are cut from the same cloth.
It would be nice to question how many of the complainers have actually taken what you have provided and done anything with it. I was in the franchise industry for many years (still am but only limited) and I found that in that industry, as with most, there are always people looking for the magic pill. If any of you find that, let me in on it!
Keep up the good work, Robert!
Hey, that’s more than ten comments. {-)
But it’s all good stuff. This is a lesson we need to learn and re-learn if necessary.
Thanks for another great post, Robert.
I haven’t found my price point yet. At the moment, I’m unable to even give away products or services.
The gurus say “move the free line.”
Ok, it’s moved. Nobody cares!
I’ll crack this nut yet… need a bigger hammer…
My post should’ve said htp://www.felgall.info. Comments still welcome.
Mike