This post comes shortly after my 1000th post at an affiliate marketing forum (<<You should read it - I gave away tons of free profitable campaigns) or webmaster forum… I signed up to DOZENS years and years ago, and went through signing up to about 20 (or perhaps ‘resigning up’ would be more accurate) about a year or so ago…

It can be a rather… intimate experience, one part of you is just trying to fit in with this group, another part of you is absorbing and filtering the bullshit, another part of you wants to network, and yes for many these plague infested fcuking forums are also filled with spammers, wankers, scammers, wannabees, and HILARIOUSLY fubar signature links with all of them chasing the same nickel… Now don’t get me wrong, forum marketing is HUGE, and I love it myself, and use signature links too however what I find fascinating are the kids that blatantly put “Make 7K your first 3 weeks online” - yet proceed to ask the stupidest and most basic questions totally diluting his own credit and being a broken inglush hypocrite … . .. Grrrr.. . …

So - in light of this new little milestone and being loyal to xx forums, and constantly refining my journey through them all, I’m going to try to offer a non-biased straight up look at the truth about each forum below. Please feel free to drop your opinions or agree/disagree with me - I AM going to offer a few of my ‘opinions’ here as well.

1. NicheChoppers Marketing and webmaster forums
100% Free, No paid sections yet, Na ads! must sign up to view most goods:
Visit: http://forums.nichechoppers.com

^^ I’m obviously going to have to spam my own first - it’s newer than most, is JUST starting to get busy, and I’M GLAD I waited a year of being loyal to others before really shaping and recruiting into mine - in short: No hassle bung free environment, moderated well, rather aggressive yet loose approach, tying my family in a little tighter with each day. Closed loop family with success stories, tons of step by steps, growing daily.

2. Digital Point review - Visit: http://forums.digitalpoint.com
Usually where most people start at, it’s HUGE and full of…. crap:however is also the forum I myself had to filter and waste time at for over 1000 posts (1001 at this time) before handing in my diet card and bowing out… I’ll be back, however probably just to laugh at the de ja vu of stupidity and horrible moderation. If it’s one thing DP has, it is shear SIZE and the fact that it is always BUSY - however at the same time is FULL of just… everything bad with this industry, like everything…

I personally must have helped get 20-30 idiots banned from there… FACK makes me angry thinking about that place!! If you’re a TOTAL n00b, enjoy the rare little golden nugget you can find in there, and don’t buy ebooks or click on signature links unless you view it from a marketing point of view not a consumer… (Hi guys, miss me yet?). If DP let ME run the boat for a few days, I’d a) kick a lot of people off b) get BETTER MODS c) Monetize it better d) Change the colors

3. WarriorForum review - Visit: http://warriorforum.com/forum/
Well, definitely a step up from DP!! WF is known to have a TON of the bigger ebook and digital products/services players all hawking their newest WSO (Warrior Special Offer) to each other and there is a LOT of padding, and patting! Hey I myself have sold a few things in their WSO section, and their JV section is actually pretty good if you’re scouting for new offers, launching, or looking to partner up with someone on a project…

I thought about dropping some names here but I’m not that kind with my link juice yet… and this blog seems to do great with ranking - so perhaps I’ll give some props to at least one person I can say a LOT about in there so far - and that is Nicholas from MasteredManuscripts << Great writer.

4. ClickBankSuccess review - Visit: http://clickbanksuccessforum.com/forum/
Once I joined CB - I wanted to start scouting for AFF’s and for pubs alike, thus joining CB’s appointed forum… I liked it a lot more at first than I do today - Main reason is it might as well be a ’support’ forum as their rules and door are quite tight re what you can/can’t talk about… If you so much as question whether or not CB is down/acting up/failing, the post gets removed and you may get banned… I can see why they do it and I would hate that on my forum too, so perhaps a stupid example but overall - THEY’RE TIGHT!

The good part is you’ll find a LOT of both CB n00bs and pro’s asking/answering GOOD and relevant CB questions. Though even with their own appointed forum - DP’s CB section alone easily compares to the activity and n00bness factor in each… (GUYS - A FEW FCUKING STICKIES!! THAT’S ALL IT TAKES TO STOP DUMB QUESTIONS AND FAST-TRACK PEOPLE - oh wait, you WANT dumb questions, versioned intel, make them ask… more threads and posts right??).. meh, sorry they’re all like that to a point not just this one. So yes, stickies and loosen the tie a little please.

5. ABW - AbestWeb review - Visit: http://www.abestweb.com
Perhaps the ONLY forum I’ve ever been banned from and kicked off of… wankers! I made a HUGE blog and formal complaint about it a while back but decided to remove it due to their response/reaction… more wankers! Also very busy, MANY top level brands and bullshit commission structures on things like carpets/rugs/tangibles/etc… Lot’s of pro’s and I heard the owner can be a nice guy, but the short lived days I had there proved him and his crew otherwise…

In short: I launched a Recruitment and affiliate spy software (TFRP), and paid to put up a advertorial/recruitment post… The first response was a hidden insult at my whole program FROM A FCUKING MOD - Referencing another new member and getting the whole crew to come to my paid thread, and rip me plus my program to pieces… Ok cool, I got to show some colors too, and have a good look around at all their sigs, their thread style, their learning curve/operation etc… and can only say that the elitists there do a good job of making n00bs stay n00bs, and detouring any chance of real earnings with mouthy personal bullshit back and forth, ‘at least put some humor into it you WF wannabees’. Anyway so within a day, I got thousands of views, some PR, some negative buzz, a lot of affiliates, and a pissed off group of elitists for not ‘freaking out’ like I’m sure they hoped…

Finally posted my final ‘fcuk you and have a nice day, I’m out’ but in a very gentle way, and my post got removed, then my whole paid thread got removed… then got a refund and a ban and kick in the ass out the door for standing up for myself, because I was vexed that a MOD would make an idiot out of a sponsor/paying member publically (hi Trust - hope all is well in ‘fun’ mod land)- wankers! Before all this drama - I was STARTING to like SOME of the banter and the members and offers/pubs…, however will still say that most are stuck on selling rugs and see 3-12% commission on $59 offers as ‘amazing’ programs, SAS seems to have them by the balls along with a few other networks, and the digital arena products/services is just ’stench’ to them…. On the flip side - THEY BANK (just needs some clean up with operations/day to day bullshit they allow). **Oh and too much advertising imo too (I know they’re for profit, but c’mon - easy on the offers man - way to make me feel UNcommunity - what is this church? You’re waiving a money basket at me when I just got here??).

6. 5staraffiliateprograms.com review - Visit: http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com/
One word - WOW - More on the corporate side of things, LARRY IS DA BOMB - and the main owner is actually really cool and involved with the op fairly intimately so the moderation is par… perhaps a tiny bit tight but for the programs and offers/clients/recruiters etc. that they attract, I think it’s best this way - To note the above - if ABW mods and members came to 5star, they’d get wake up call that’s for sure.

This place is like an affiliate and publisher wonderland full of anything and everything to do with our industry. News, gossip and funny banter is minimal - rather expect a mix of dry humor with witty banter and low tolerance to crapola. Also home to many networks sponsor threads and good recruiters/programs for all levels of experience. I said this once on there before - “Every Forum Needs A Larry” - And just might make him a t-shirt that says that oneday… Known not to sleep for 3 days because he actually PM’s just about everyone/anyone for any reason or just to help, or break their posting cherry, etc… (Wonder what he’s worth actually - most committed employee I’ve ever seen)… Kudos to you guys, sorry I’m not there as much, get an easier to remember domain and I’ll stop wasting time trying to get there and giving up .. . .. Jokes.

6. WickedFire GAY MARKETING FORUM review - Visit: http://www.wickedfire.com/
Two words - HOLY SHIT - “They can actually get away with this stuff?!?!” is probably the first thing you’ll think before visiting less than 4 threads. Perhaps the most diehard and down to earth AM forum - DEFINITELY NOT A PLACE FOR N00BS!! Lucky my name is Norb not noob - and although I PHAILED MISERABLY there on occasion - I’ll easily say that this is one of the best and upbeat places to mingle/stay active (just don’t transition from DP to there and you’ll be fine - maybe).

Amazing names and faces, top level industry veterans along with perhaps the most lethal dose of internweb humor you’ll ever experience… It’s like a Seinfeld episode and Kramer is 10x as fuct, mixed with many elements of ’survivor’ and a splash of ‘reality fcuk you’ daily n00by disaster pwnage…

All fun aside though - I’ve been there a little more often recently and after getting pwned myself, I’m making headway and gaining a few points with their elite .. . … i thinkz… See - if you haven’t been there you’ll think I’m an ass for calling it a gay marketing forum in the title lol, however once you get there and read some threads, you’ll see what I mean (no they are not actually gay - and no you should NEVER click on things - even when they look absolutely harmless… TRUST ME DON’T DO IT!!!) - it’s home to the most epic dickroll since the inception of the interweb, and you’ll be scarred for life!

Ok as you can see I’m really liking this one. However perhaps more than most others because it has a LOT of EDGE - kinda like me, though I’m quite tame in comparison - it’s amazing what they actually DO get away with - I won’t spoil it, and I won’t promise YOU will like it or fit in or get liked, but I will promise that it is packed with everything from black/blue/white/fcuking polkadot hat tactics, n00b guides, great threads, and an addictive humor base to boot.

6. WebmasterForums review - Visit: http://www.webmasterforums.com/
Kinda dry really, I think this was one of the ones I signed up to eonz ago and didn’t like it too much then either. It’s not that it’s bad - it’s just that I have to compare it with a LOT of other shtuff above - and that shtuff is just.. better.

Anyway - It’s got some great technoids that do seem to enjoy that side of the industry a lot more than actually making money (being a webmaster) - Not as busy as some of the others, not as intimate, and a lot of the threads are hard to decipher as it attracts a LOT of foreigners with horrible typing (god bless you all however you’re trying to break into the MARKETING spectrum in English speaking markets - you NEED to par up your writing/grammar before trying to be some expert/guru/makehmoniez ebook developer…)… Sorry but I’m giving this and DP the same playing field and user experience rating… At least this one laid out a little better and the pros/mods seems to care for the community a little more.

7. eWealth review - Visit: http://www.eWealth.com
I like it - Not as busy as many of the others, however home to many big names as well as great focused community involvement. Things to look for are the interviews with the pros, the announcements for programs/callouts to affs, and a well spread section for a few networks out there… Can’t really say too much more about it! 4.5 stars! (Good mods/good humor from senior members).

8. BlackHatWorld review - Visit: http://www.blackhatworld.com
Retarted amounts of info and ‘tools’ are available on this forum. If you’ve ever wanted to venture over to the wrong side of the digital legal tracks and see how to monetize them… this is the place to learn. It’s kinda funny actually - as my loyalty grew to this one slowly, I noticed that it’s actually filled with 80% n00bs too, most have no clue how or what all this BH stuff is, but want to eagerly learn/explore, and thus these n00bs probably (imo) evolve into amazing whitehat/greyhat marketers very quickly. I like hanging out in there sometimes because they don’t sugar coat shit, they don’t tollerate dumbasses, they explore and document sooo many tactics that you’ve probably never thought to do (and will probably be too chicken shit to try).

Once you get your initiation out of the way it’s smooth sailing… Not nearly as ‘bad’ as you’d think re the people or the vibe. Cheers to the admins/mods there they’ve been great to me (had a bunch of my shit shared there, and they actually have a blacklist for people like me to add their progs to make sure members don’t share them or they get banned - woot! And of course - I had to learn the hard way - everyones initiation is different)…

Damn I gotta run, was hoping to do at least 10 - perhaps I’ll do volume 2 later though I probably won’t… So in closing - yes I’ll probably still poke my head into all xx forums, no I probably won’t be signing up to anymore, HELL NO will I NEVER be paying for them like many dumbasses do, and HELL NO I don’t think I’ll be making my 2000th post at DP anytime soon…

I tried to raw - sorry if any of you owners read this and don’t like it - perhaps my own forum will now be under scrutiny but that’s fine mine is still a baby and has no $ agenda other than to honestly make my team money - because they sell my products they also make me money - so it’s in my best interest to make sure my forum, my family and my crew earn well, learn well and grow fast… /shameless plug.

<forumdiet> bigtime </forumdiet>

Norb.

I know every single one of you that take your affiliate marketing seriously and are really deep into your journey, probably have gotten past the frenzy of telling other people how you make money online from scratch… Usually when asked, you probably go “oh me? I play with computers” or “I do marketing stuff”…

Because you know that if they drag you into elaborating on it - it will turn into an hour long conversation - and in about 10 minutes you will be ‘right into it’ and find yourself recruiting again while you are just supposed to be having a chat… “I Do A Lot” Is my usual answer, I can’t sum it up because I touch many branches branches in the marketing arena so there is no ‘one hour’ I can dedicate to an overall explanation. You know what I mean?

Do you find yourself trying to explain it to someone, even the basics, and they just scratch or heads - OR - They think”WOW - YOU are brilliant!!!” and you think “Umm, not really - there are thousands like me - millions like me!”. I then remember that not everyone understands everything about marketing, or use their computer for much more than simple daily tasks at work/home/msn/email/little web surfing… I then remember ‘Wow - you’re ‘not even a newbie yet’ - how in the world am I going to explain ‘what i do’ to you? Ummmm… I… sell stuff…. no I make stuff to sell…. but I don’t sell it I get others to… yes I pay them but not until it’s sold… umm… they just find me, i scout for them to help me sell and give them good money for it… .

Yes - they get a lot of ’stuff’ to help them sell… no i don’t know most of them… yeh i have many ‘products’ and teams all at once and I sell the odd product for someone else too…. .. .. no I don’t invest a penny, just time/talent/resources… .. yeh I make a killing - sure i can teach you - just go to… blah blah and sign up, then go to blah2 and sign up, and blah3 and start to market stuff with blah and blah totally free, then buy adspace at blah for targeted traffic - oh that’s the traffic you need to get, no you can’t just buy 10K for $10 and get sales… why? because it’s… oh wait - yeh umm we were supposed to chat about the weekend and that cottage weren’t we? How did we get you here? Yes I know you want more money and to automate your life but hang on lol!!! I usually just try to avoid the topic now really.

I’m at a point where my studio is actually CLOSED and I’m rather enjoying NOT taking on anymore clients for a while too - I’ve managed to automate a few projects really well and get to focus on partnering with people I want to work with for future projects So now when someone asks me what I do for a living - I might say something like… I do NOTHING - and I make money - in fact - by the time I finish this sentence, I will make money It took me years to do ‘nothing’ and earn from it - but I’m finally here - and what do YOU do?

It’s a deregulated market guys, a lot can happen overnight - I’ve been developing branding material for big firms and smaller businesses for long enough - this might bite me in the butt but I kinda don’t want to build any more marketing campaigns for ANYONE other than my internal team ever again! You have no idea how hard this industry can be sometimes - I’m owed well over 200K if not more over my last 11 year stint working with suits/powerhouses/illusive entrepreneurs… I’ve made a heck of a lot and it balances out however I’d rather minimize that risk and worry have to worry about ME ripping myself off - much better problem to have

So let me ask you THIS - please answer it in a comment below: If a stranger asked you today “what do you do for a living?” How would you sum it up in less than a paragraph?

It’s funny nowadays that so many pirates have polluted forums, infested networks, taken control of the industry and consider themselves ‘the elite’ if there is such a thing… Some of these people are simply what I like to call ‘Virtual land owners’ - Their real estate online is ‘hot’ - they monetize by simply ‘being there’ with a great .com and a big head start in the industry… Lucky them huh? They get free user generated content, discussions, rantings, bashings, advice, chatting, creating pages and pages of backlinks and keyword stuffing << I just did it actually, just by trying to describe this process, go look up ‘generous marketing’ - .5million + results and I’m on page one within 2 hours (at time of this posting I’m at #3 - this lil’ blog of mine has some ‘juice’! **EDIT: now on page 2 ((the following day)) - however google sometimes reindexes or crawls and updates if you add/change pages, so generous marketing keyword << goes there, let’s see if re-adding the phrase “generous-marketing” a few times and changing my headline makes a difference and bumps me up again, I will update this part tomorrow or the next day) ((EDIT #2 - Following day - Now I’m on Page 1 - result #2!! this is for both google.ca and .com - it….worked;)) … Anyway so you think that if you could just get a site that gives you free content auto-generated and indexed quick, you can just throw some adsense in there - or some affiliate programs - or both (not recommended), that you can cash in the online cow and auto-pilot your revenue right?

Let’s take a different approach on things for a second though. Let’s talk about just good old marketing. When you get exposed to enough of it or have to look after many of your own clients, you see that sometimes the most bizarre techniques can actually get you the biggest results. Let’s look at internet marketing for a second, and the various ways we ‘do things’ in our day to day. We pick products to endorse, we buy ads everywhere, we get domains and set up tiny urls, we get opt-ins and autoresponders, we do upsells and retention campaigns, we re-cycle lists to keep trying to monetize them, we partner with others to do all of the above on a bigger scale… all in the hope of getting sales, affiliates, and at the end of the day consider yourself a good marketer paying his/her way through life with an internet connection…handsomely, hopefully!

Ok so ‘that other thought’ - everyone likes ‘free’ right? And everyone likes ‘money’ right? When you launch a campaign based around generous marketing or as I like to call ‘karma’ marketing - you have no idea what kind of buzz you can generate! Car manufacturers give cars away at promos or car lots all the time as prizes , in a branding effort, or a community effort, balloons are given away to kids at carnivals for the same - the feeling - the thought - it’s memorable and you’ll come back next time with a smile…. Marketers do it ‘every day’ and they do it in many different ways… but - there IS usually a catch, there IS usually someone, somewhere - that will want to monetize you or put other offers in front of you, I am no different! However this can also be done in a transparent way and under a good light…

Imagine if… you could offer someone some solid - genuine advice today. No really - some information that they perhaps were ‘craving’ for and having a really hard time finding… You might think of consulting or lawyering or a specialist you might hire or have hired. Now if YOU were the person that had the knowledge and information, how valuable would it be to you if you gave it away to your peers for free? How much ‘detail’ would you share? How much do you think you would be appreciated for offering someone that information - that could in fact make a big difference in their pockets and earnings? Sounds fishy right? of course, we’re all use to it - however when you have something people want, and you do a contest or a giveaway that is money related, you’re going to see that the response is huge and you will make an impression…

Here are two examples of such experiences, this goes to further shed light on a mass scale of all of the above.

How To Do A Giveaway Launch:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=811869 - Good Karma Marketing

Best ClickBank Starter Tips >> Getting Rep For Your Free Knowledge:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=831441- Generous Marketing

Next time you’re thinking of a hot promo - allocate a part of your efforts to a giveaway. Bonuses seem to run a large portion of the daily sales for many people - adding bonuses to your offers along with free knowledge, well - now we’re ‘talking’….

Make it a great day!
Norb.

It’ Down Right Dirty ! However, conveniently legal too (unless you’re on the receiving end of getting hi-jacked). It’s been a popular tactic lately in the affiliate world - to spy, learn from and outdo your competitors be they affiliates or vendors. To snoop and copy their profitable PPC or BUM marketing campaigns and steal your revenue streams by shaping competing campaigns, outbidding you, outwriting you, recruiting more than you, and ultimately making MUCH more money than you! If you don’t fight back you might as well kiss your campaigning good-bye along with your conversions and profits.

To stay competitive in the affiliate marketing world - especially digitial product markets like clickbank or paydotcom etc., you MUST be able to outperform your fellow affiliate or vendor. You must be able to know exactly when they are making moves and how they are marketing. You must be able to reach lucrative super affiliates faster and recruit more like them in as little time as possible. Some people have huge affiliate lists, huge campaigns penetrating the markets and huge competitive intel they’ve already gathered - which has taken years and many product launches to build - only to have any beginner swoop in and sweep his/her data from under their nose all with a legal and automated way.

It’s not NEW at all actually! Competitive intelligence and analytics is a HUGE part of any business and objective. Anyone that checks their web stats, PPC campaigns, blogs, articles etc. can all attest to data mining being lucrative… Affiliate Marketing Tools Like TheFatRichPig’s Affiliate Crusher are said to be the new era of spy vs. spy money makers. These recruitment automation and competition destroying advantages are… well… ANY marketers dream come true really. These tools are not really blackhat, they simply fast-track data mining and do research for you within a click or two that would usually take you months!

i think i speak on behalf of any affiliate marketer when I say ‘fluctuation SUCKS!’ I’ve stopped wondering about fluctuation and sudden drops in sales or why my affiliates all left… in fact i’ve done rather well since using these spy tools and kind of wish I had them since day one - It’s like hands on learn while you do/earn college that trains you to be a marketing sniper the moment you get your hands on it. I’ve learned a lof about my campaigning mistakes, why others are profiting so much, and how these big launches bring in fortunes with tons of affiliates on board from day one. There’s a whole lot to be said about competitive intelligence after all! >> http://www.thefatrichpig.com