Jun
23
What is Wrong with Ning
Filed Under List Building, Networking and Marketing Strategy, News, Ning Sites, SPAM, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, Web Marketing | 17 Comments
Nearly a year has passed since my first Ning article, Ning Social Networking Sites.
Since then online social networking has taken some exciting twists and turns. MySpace has lost luster, while Facebook and Twitter have become social media darlings.
Ning Still Facing Obstacles
Ning seems to be in somewhat of a holding pattern.
There have been some changes here and there, mostly for the better in my opinion, but no exciting breakthroughs. There are new apps, a new Ning central networking site, and new flexibility, but site creators and users still have their reservations.
As mentioned in Ning Social Network Controversy, the Ning management has been criticized for its policies and its tactics and, as too many people are aware, Ning sites haven’t been immune to spamming by both Ning members and by intruders.
My Ning sites now all require membership pre-approval, since I know of no better way to deal with persistent outsider spamming.
What is Right with Ning
Despite any shortcomings, I still feel as when I wrote about the Ning controversy, that Ning truly epitomizes Web 2.0. Ning sites are communities of people, and Ning is a community of community sites.
I’ve certainly written a good deal about social media list building including both List Building Paradigm Shift and List Building Using Ning Social Networks. Nevertheless communities are the essence of social media, not lists, and social marketing must therefore favor community building over list building.
Fortunately Ning can be used to build either communities or lists. There are creative ways to build communities within Facebook and Twitter, but Ning networks were designed expressly for that purpose and afford marketers a variety of useful tools and a degree of social media ownership.
Ning Still My Favorite Networks
I still use Ning social networking sites more than all others. I like them for the reasons cited above and for the many other reasons I’ve discussed in previous Ning related articles.
I have so far created four Ning sites of my own and hope to create more in the future:
- Let’s Follow Each Other - This is a fun networking site for Twitter folk who want to gain followers, share ideas, promote themselves and network with each other.
- Beyond Business Coaching - This is a site for entrepreneurs and marketing professionals who are interested in social media, customer acquisition, customer retention and CRM.
- Online Kosher Networking - This is a niche site for orthodox affiliated members of the Jewish faith to network and share their ideas about Jewish values, Israel, religious observance, charities, politics, jobs, business, etc.
- Outside the Box - If you enjoy my blog, but you don’t use Twitter, and you aren’t necessarily business oriented, this may be the right site for us to connect and network together.
In all fairness, I must tell you that Ning has competitors such as SocialGO, GROU.PS and others but admit that I haven’t yet evaluated them. If you have tried other social network platforms, I invite you to share your experiences with them.
To learn more about using Ning, please read Introduction to Using Ning Sites.
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Apr
5
Ning Social Network Controversy
Filed Under Alerts, Networking and Marketing Strategy, News, Ning Sites, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 18 Comments
A comment last week to my October 2008 blog post, Ning Social Networking Sites Update, linked back to Ning Exposed - Tech Company Scams its Clients, an article which sharply criticizes Ning’s latest business model and platform, and it alleges foul play on Ning’s part in reacting to complaints by network creators.
As a Ning social network creator and user, I happen to appreciate Ning’s recent platform improvements and tend to disagree with the article’s assessments. While the allegations of censorship are disturbing, my careful reading of Ning’s Terms of Service leaves me hopeful that Ning has acted fully within its rights.
Aggregating Ning Social Networking Sites
I have always looked at Ning as a family of social networking sites. An individual chooses to become a member one or many Ning sites.
Ning members can connect to become friends, and the friendships that they make will extend across sites. Friendships aren’t limited to the site at which they were forged.
I have found managing my Ning memberships and friendships across sites somewhat complicated, so I was pleased when Ning tied everything together for me in one place at Ning.com.
I always viewed myself as a member of the larger Ning community, not just the semi-independent sites which I created or joined, so aggregating Ning sites and Ning members made perfect sense to me. I didn’t view it at all as some kind of sinister plot.
Member Contact Across Ning Sites
The article referenced above mentions a “hole in the system, which is convenient for Ning, which allows people to gather friends across any website using Ning’s technology and then invite them all to join their website.”
The article is referring to the ability of members to share their favorite Ning social networks and content with all their friends across Ning sites as a convenient loophole, not as an intended and beneficial system feature.
I admit that this feature can be and is often abused by members, but that’s not Ning’s fault. The real problem is that people often make friendships indiscriminately. If the friendships were truly meaningful, they would naturally anticipate and welcome contact, even across sites.
Ning Social Concept Epitomizes Web 2.0
As I indicated before, I believe that Ning is true Web 2.0. It takes social collaboration a step farther than Twitter, Facebook, MySpace , LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Individual social networking sites are created and contributed by users, not just the content within these sites.
I applaud Ning for providing us with a unique social networking venue.
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Apr
1
Free Ringtones Girl Caught in the Act and Captured
Filed Under April Fools, News, Ning Sites, SPAM | 15 Comments
The title of this article is purely sensational — as you might expect on April Fools Day. However, the article itself is real and highlights the annoyances and threats that we constantly face when using the Internet and social networking sites.
Before the Net became part of our lives, we worried about pickpocketing, mugging, burglary, armed robbery and a variety of scams that include make-believe charities, phony investment schemes and identity theft.
Today we must also worry about viruses and malware, phishing and more sophisticated web-based scams including a plethora of silly business schemes, and widespread online fraud and identity theft.
Ning, Twitter and MySpace Attacked
Hundreds of Ning social networks including mine, Outside the Box and Let’s Follow Each Other, were attacked over the past week by “free ringtones” spam. Bogus users popped up everywhere and posted their free ringtones spam on as many member profiles as they could.
Network creators and administrators reacted by changing their site settings to require new member approval. This measure has stopped the free ringtones girl but not without some ongoing inconvenience to both administrators and would-be site members.
Similar spam outbreaks occur frequently on Twitter and MySpace where no simple solution is yet in sight.
Forewarned is Forearmed
Spam is only the tip of the iceberg.
Think BEFORE you click on any link or respond to any pop up including those that offer to upgrade to new versions of your existing software. It’s advisable to write down the name of the software mentioned and check the vendor’s site directly for legitimate updates.
Close pop up windows using Alt-F4 on your keyboard. Do not press ANY buttons, as labeling can be fake and malicious. Pressing buttons can initiate the downloading of some very nasty and hard-to-remove malware to your computer such as Trojans and rootkits.
The most likely places to pick up harmful malware are e-mails you receive, social networking sites, blogs and forums. Make sure you keep your system and virus protection current, but don’t rely on anti-malware programs to protect you. Use caution and common sense.
As far as make money from home schemes are concerned, most of them are time wasters if not outright ripoffs.
If you are serious about finding a legitimate work from home opportunity, contact me, and I’ll point you in the right direction. However, it’s a fact that even the best home businesses usually flop.
Very Useful Information
I found the blog PC Speed Guru very informative and helpful. Any Internet security blogs or websites that you’ve found to be useful, please post them below in a comment.
But no spam, please!
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Mar
15
When Social Networking Sites Compete
Filed Under Facebook, News, Ning Sites, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, Twitter | 14 Comments
When Twitter, Ning and Facebook Compete
Major social networking sites are constantly competing for new users and for a greater share of each user’s networking time.
When Twitter, Facebook and Ning social networks compete, you and I win. Social networking sites are forced to keep improving in order to keep us as members.
Competing Isn’t Easy
However, competing isn’t easy. Simply adding more features will not always produce better results. Added features might make a site slower, harder to comprehend or more difficult to navigate.
There are very many factors that social networking site owners need to consider and to balance when making site improvements. For example:
- Competitive Environment - What is the competition doing and not doing? How well is it working for them? Who are they targeting? How are they positioning and marketing themselves? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How can we neutralize their strengths and exploit their weaknesses?
- Functionality - What capabilities does our target market want? What can we offer? How will product enhancements be perceived?
- Design Consistency - How can we add capabilities while preserving our site’s overall look, feel and philosophy? What synergies can we achieve between new and existing functionality?
- Cost vs. Benefit - Social network owners must consider the trade off between benefit and cost of each potential site modification?
- Timing - How long will it take to roll out site modifications? Faster is generally better than slower when facing competition. Windows of opportunity can sometimes be very small.
- Monetization Strategies - How will changes affect the income social network owners derive from the site?
- Anticipating the Future - What is needed down the road? How will changes made now interact will future ones?
- Legal Issues - Any patents, trademarks, compliance, disclosures or other legal constraints to reckon with?
- Site Responsiveness - Are site response times acceptable? Can responsiveness be improved? How will social networking site modification affect responsiveness?
- Simplicity - Social networking sites and their features must be easy for members and prospective members to understand.
- Ease of Use - Sites must be easy and intuitive to navigate. Members need simple ways to achieve their online social networking objectives.
- Visual Appeal - Social networking sites need to look and feel right to members.
- Buzz - Social networking sites grow virally when members invite their friends to join. They need compelling reasons to reach out to their friends and easy-to-use mechanisms that automate the inviting process.
- Fun Factor - Members will not hang out at a site if it isn’t enjoyable. A positive user experience is critical to online social network success.
Twitter, Ning and Facebook are continually evolving. However, recent changes to Facebook seem to have been the most far reaching.
Recent Facebook Developments
Facebook changed the look and feel of the pages used by businesses, organizations and celebrities to make them more similar to personal profiles. As a result, overall Facebook design is simpler and perhaps a bit more intimate.
Furthermore, the way businesses and individuals can now both use the Facebook News Feed seems to more closely follow the Twitter model. This is especially good news for businesses, organizations and celebrities trying to communicate with their “fans” and acquire new ones.
My main Facebook complaints are: its persistent sluggishness, the deluge of quaint applications and requests, and the steep learning curve.
Recent Ning Developments
The way I see it, Ning takes the Web 2.0 concept a step farther than any of their competitors. That’s what makes Ning unique.
Not only do users create site content, they even create the individual Ning social networks themselves.
Ning encourages people to become members of multiple social networks. What has been sorely needed is a way to manage participation across these multiple networks from a central control panel. Ning has recently filled this need by creating a new super meta network at Ning.com that’s conceptually a network of networks.
I applaud Ning’s latest effort, but noticed couple of problems with the new meta social networking site:
- There isn’t yet a capability to manage outstanding friend requests across networks.
- The recent friends list isn’t correctly sorted.
Like Facebook, Ning social networks tend to be slow and quirky.
Recent Twitter Developments
The main thing I see at Twitter is a cleaner web interface with fewer rough edges.
Twitter like Facebook and Ning is doing its share to combat spam. Spam in social media is an ongoing problem.
Twitter is much faster than Facebook or Ning. I would however like to see better performance of the Twitter API as it affects the consistency of Twitter tools running on top of it. I can run Twitter Karma many times and get as many different results!
For me and others site performance can be an overriding issue. When a site is too slow, it can be emotionally too painful to endure. For that reason I spend most of my networking time on Twitter, even though conceptually I like Ning and Facebook about as much.
Don’t miss any future articles! Subscribe to my RSS feed or by e-mail. Let’s get acquainted too at my About and Connect pages.
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Dec
14
Online Social Networking Losing Its Edge?
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy, News, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 28 Comments
On a My Private Classroom private member conference call last week Diane Hochman reported a major downturn in the effectiveness of social media sites.
Diane pointed to social networking sites such as Facebook, micro-blogging sites such as Twitter and video sharing sites such as YouTube, but she inferred that all online social media were losing their edge.
Diane expressed concern that while top Web 2.0 and Internet marketing players like Mike Dillard and Frank Kern had successfully carved out huge niches and were earning millions, lower echelon marketers are hard pressed to compete with them, with the technical automate-everything gurus, and with the ever increasing online clutter of spammers and hackers.
Diane even went as far as to recommend that we focus on offline marketing.
I agree to some extent with Diane’s assessment. Certainly with most of the “low hanging fruit” gone and with the global recession in full force, a social marketing approach based on
- free information and training
- funded proposals
- back end upsell
- strong prospecting posture
- amassing and leveraging a large quantity of Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and YouTube videos
might not work as well as it did in the past and is probably not the best way to go. People are ultra-careful today about parting with money.
However, I do not believe than social media marketing is losing its edge.
Going forward social marketing will depend more upon investing long term in our relationships with the people we meet through online social networking and creative use of websites and a variety of social media.
We’ll adopt a go-giver posture, thinking about solving problems and giving more than we take, as much as we think about prospecting and the bottom line.
We’ll also rely on written content and SEO as much as we rely on social media and online social networking strategy.
And, just as Diane Hochman recommends, we’ll network and market offline too. We’ll get more personal with people.
We’ll be all around networkers and marketers… and fine compassionate human beings.
Like this article? Please subscribe to my RSS feed or by e-mail. Let’s get acquainted too at my About and Connect pages.
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Nov
2
My New Ning Social Networking Site
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy, News, Ning Sites, Outside the Box, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 10 Comments
Yet Another Ning Site?
In Ning Social Networking Sites Update I wrote about recent changes on Ning social sites and how to cope with them. One suggestion I made was that you could “start your own Ning social network“.
I knew that sooner or later I would build my own Ning social networking site. After all, the ability for anybody to create their own social networking sites is the most noteworthy feature of Ning.
I had already laid the groundwork to launch my own social network. I had many contacts who were involved in social networking whom I could invite to join. I had also received much encouragement from other site owners.
So on Wednesday, October 29, I set up my new site, and as of this writing there are 86 members from 11 countries.
Critical Thinking Outside the Box
My new Ning social network, Critical Thinking Outside the Box, “Larry Brauner’s Business and Social Network for Thinking People”, is intended as a companion site to my Online Social Networking blog.
It’s a networking site where you and I can brand ourselves. The site is of course strongly branded to me. The best way to brand yourself there is for you to start and participate in discussions on the forum.
If you participate and also bring a bunch of new members, I’ll feature you on the site.
You’re Officially Invited
Please join on Critical Thinking Outside the Box, add me as a friend, and leave a comment on my profile mentioning that you came through my blog.
Like this article? Please subscribe to my RSS feed or by e-mail. Let’s get acquainted too at my About and Connect pages.
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Oct
19
Ning Social Networking Sites Update
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy, News, Ning Sites, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 23 Comments
Coping with Recent Ning Site Changes
The Online Social Networking world will never stand still. You can count on that. Social networking sites and the culture surrounding them will always be in a state of flux.
When I wrote Ning Social Networking Sites, I anticipated that before long Ning would add features enabling business networking sites to protect members’ privacy and reduce spam.
Now that these changes are a reality, you as a Ning user may need to adjust.
New Privacy Feature
A new optional Ning feature permits individual sites to hide their members’ affiliations with other Ning sites.
You can still manage your friends on each site. In fact, it is now much simpler to do so than before. However you can no longer manage your friends across Ning sites, nor can you view the other Ning sites to which your friends belong.
Unfortunately I do not have a work around for this. It looks like Ning has plugged the holes, but if I find something, I’ll let you know.
If you want to see all the Ning sites to which you belong, that you can do. Log on to Ning and click on “My Social Networks”.
New Anti-Spam Feature
Another new Ning feature permits individual sites to limit bulk mailing to friends. You can mail to 100 of your friends at a time. If you have many more than 100 friends, this mailing restriction will be somewhat of a nuisance.
You have several options:
- Live with the restriction, as annoying as that might be.
- Participate at sites that have not implemented this restriction — if you can find any. Ning may have plugged this hole too. You can invite friends from one Ning site to join you at another Ning site using the “Invite Your Ning Friends” option.
- Start your own Ning social network. As the site administrator will be able to mail all of your members.
A strategy worth considering is joining many Ning sites and limiting yourself to 100 friends on each. When you exceed the 100 limit, prune away inactive friends and refine your targeting too as you go.
Is Ning Shooting Itself in the Foot?
You must have the ability to mail all your friends if your online social networking strategy is similar to My Online Social Networking Strategy.
I hope Ning isn’t shooting itself in the foot by eliminating group mailing and other features that are useful for serious business networking.
Like MySpace, Ning may learn the hard way that business networkers are a very fickle crowd.
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Oct
12
How to Get Featured on Top News Sites
Filed Under Best of 2008, Blogging, Networking and Marketing Strategy, News | 29 Comments
When I set up my Online Social Networking blog in November 2007, I had essentially neither blogging nor search engine optimization experience.
I did have excellent reasons for starting a blog, and I was very determined to succeed. I was ready to learn and prepared to overcome any obstacles that might come my way.
Not wanting to write without readers, I reached out to my e-mail list and to my friends at social networking sites promoting my blog.
As time went on, the quality of my articles improved, I found new ways to connect with potential readers, and I received more and more visitors from search engines.
I must admit to you I’m not a natural writer. Each post to my blog takes hours of writing and editing. Nevertheless, I reached a point this summer when I felt ready to go in a new direction.
Syndicated by BlogBurst
I submitted my blog to BlogBurst and they accepted it for national syndication once they confirmed that it conformed to their editorial standards. The whole application process was really very simple.
BlogBurst refers member articles to top news agencies including Reuters and to a variety of other online publications.
When BlogBurst accepted me for membership they advised me to post at least one well written and carefully edited article of medium-length per week, something that I was already doing as part of my blogging strategy.
Picked Up by Reuters
Reuters has picked up four of my articles so far:
- Ning Social Networking Sites
- Ning Social Networking Sites Update
- Home Based Businesses Don’t Work
- How to Get Featured on Top News Sites (this post!)
I encourage you to read them on the Reuters site and then to click through to my blog in order to view the original posts and their comments. You can also subscribe to my RSS Feed or e-mail blogcast if you haven’t already done so.
I’m hoping that my recent post, Google Reverses Recent PageRank Update, will also make its way onto Reuters.
Also Featured by Chicago Sun Times
The Chicago Sun Times has picked up three of my articles so far:
Strategic Implication
What I’m looking for more than anything else through syndication is third party validation of my work. This validation enhances my credibility with my readers, i.e. you.
Since the Internet, especially the blogosphere, is cluttered with conflicting information and advice, you need to decide for yourself what you want to believe. Hence I appreciate this opportunity to enhance my credibility with you.
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Oct
7
Google Reverses Recent PageRank Update
Filed Under News, Search Engines | 31 Comments
To the surprise of many, a Google PageRank update occurred late September, a month earlier than expected. I saw the page rank of many of my blog posts move up, and I also saw the page rank of a friend’s site move down.
A Google PageRank update hadn’t been expected until October. The previous re-evaluation took place in July according to an apparent every three months pattern. Needless to say Google’s action raised many eyebrows.
On Saturday night the 4th of October I installed the Google XML Sitemap Plugin on a client’s Wordpress blog. While in the installing mood, I also installed the Google Toolbar on my Firefox browser. That’s when I noticed that something was up.
I looked at the page rank of a bunch of my blog posts and at the ranking of my friend’s site. It appeared that Google had rolled back pagerank to July’s numbers, an action would raise even more eyebrows.
Detailed investigation revealed that Google substantially revised but did not completely reverse their September page rank update.
What is Google PageRank?
In case you’re unfamiliar with page rank and wondering why so many people are obsessed with it, I’ll try to explain.
Website owners want their web pages listed at the top of the major search engines. They want lots of targeted visitors landing on their sites, and search engines are a great way to attract them.
Keyword research and optimization are important, but the use of keywords isn’t the only determining success factor. A web page’s authority is just as important, especially with Google.
Authority is determined by the quantity and quality of backlinks, links from other pages on your site or other sites. Backlink quality depends on the authority and the relevance of the linking web page.
Google’s rating of authority is called PageRank after Larry Page, Google’s founder. Google PageRank, or PR for short, is a number between 0 and 10. A PageRank of 10 is the best, but even a PR 5 isn’t easy to obtain.
Since Google PageRank is a key component of search engine optimization, and since page rank depends on receiving favorable outside attention, website owners and SEO professionals put enormous effort into cultivating relationships with relevant and authoritative sites that can link to them.
Back on the Link Farm
A note of caution: Buying links and link exchange strategies can backfire. Search engines are on the lookout for sneaky SEO strategies.
As with keyword stuffing discussed in Keywords Demystified, link farms and other linking schemes can also incur harsh penalties including search engine delisting.
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Sep
3
My Private Classroom Opens to Public
Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Home Based Business, News, Personal Development and Success, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 22 Comments
I’m working on an in-depth business article, but I decided to take a breather to make an important announcement.
Free Social Media Marketing Training
Until now access to the leading edge Web 2.0 social media training at My Private Classroom for Marketers has been restricted to private membership. Today that has changed. My Private Classroom is now open to all absolutely free.
My Private Classroom is a regular Ning social networking site, and you can add me there as a friend just as you would at other social networking sites.You will learn online social networking strategy, video marketing, social bookmarking, personal development and much more.
A Word of Caution
Before you head over to My Private Classroom, I recommend that you carefully read The Darker Side of Funded Proposals.A word to the wise is sufficient.Don’t miss any posts. Subscribe to my RSS feed! You can also subscribe by e-mail.
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Aug
31
Orovo and Network Success Builders
Filed Under Alerts, Home Based Business, News | 36 Comments
Did Orovo Make a Major Blunder?
Reading Down to End of Comments is a MUST !
This is not so much a blog post about Orovo.
It’s a post about one man’s lack of personal and business integrity and how it is impacting a large number of people.
I have no strong opinions about Orovo products one way or the other. It seems to me that Orovo products have gained a lot of popularity, and based on that observation I can easily believe that Orovo’s products are effective.
It is not at all the purpose of this article to raise any questions or doubts about the Orovo product line or to imply in any way that Orovo is a scam or rip-off. I will however expose a recent decision that Orovo supposedly made which, if true, could jeopardize Orovo’s entire business.
Money Making Schemes
In a recent post I discussed how Radio Stations Tout Money Making Schemes. Hard times have forced mass media to carry advertising that was once taboo.
On July 10, 2008 in ASD Ad Surf Daily Cash Generator I exposed a popular money making scheme that has since received some much publicized and unwanted attention from the Office of the U.S. Attorney General.
This time my focus is on one of the people behind money making schemes. I turn my attention to Bill Arnold of Network Success Builders, the man whose unscrupulous business tactics and lack of personal integrity may in time cause tremendous damage to Orovo and to Orovo’s distributors.
The Anatomy of a Scam
It sounded too good to be true.
I met Bill Arnold a while back through Direct Matches, the online social networking site. Since springtime Bill on his Network Success Builders conference calls has promised listeners the moon.
To qualify for Bill’s money making dream a new recruit was required to join Vitamark through Network Success Builders, place a 100 point initial product order, and continue to place 100 point product orders every four weeks.
In essence here is what Bill Arnold promised Network Success Builders members:
- A team of top InterNetwork marketers who — once Bill “flicked the switch” — would supposedly build down in Vitamark under Network Success Builders members generating massive amounts of what is commonly known as “spillover” for Network Success Builders members. The plan was to “feather the nest” with as many new recruits as possible before Bill flicked the switch.
- Bill had supposedly made a deal with Internet Marketing Gorillas, LLC, the inventor of the AUMMB lead generation technology, whereby Internet Marketing Gorillas would place several dozen people into Vitamark under Network Success Builders members thereby creating even more spillover. Internet Marketing Gorillas would generate free leads for all Network Success Builders members in exchange for the spillover that they too would receive as part of the money making scheme.
- Bill had supposedly made another deal with Peter Minglis of PM Marketing / Network Leads to supply free leads and a free contact manager to Network Success Builders members in exchange for spillover they too would receive as part of the scheme.
- Network Success Builders members were to receive free marketing training and free custom search-engine friendly websites — co-branded Vitamark and Network Success Builders — as part of their membership package.
If Bill had followed through on his promises, there would be scores of happy people, and I wouldn’t be writing about his callousness and about Orovo’s possible oversight. I fully believe that he had intended at the outset deliver with Vitamark, but several obstacles got in his way.
- Bill over promised. People who lack personal integrity tend to do that.
- Bill got very sick. That was sad, poor luck and poor timing. It set him back, and made it harder to deliver on his inflated promises.
- Bill has control problems that prevented him from accepting help from people who would have pitched in and helped.
- Bill’s delay, control issues, and lack of open communication alienated people whose support was essential for the project’s success.
- Peter Minglis’ leads turned out to be really bad just as they have pretty much always been. I had very bad experiences with Peter’s brother and with PM Marketing about five years ago which left me without any desire to give them business ever again. In recent years Peter has lent support to the Distributors Rights Association. Kudos to Peter, but I still wouldn’t give PM Marketing my business.
- Bill’s training is mediocre. It’s kind of like buying a defective CD, and only the first track plays. It keeps replaying over and over. I wonder what will happen once Orovo realizes this, since they’re swinging their whole organization under Bill Arnold in order to get his training.
New Round of Promises
Bill announced that he’s quitting Vitamark. Here’s what he had to say:
Vitamark has excellent management and great products. The fact is that I was in the single best position to reap the benefits of that program. I have nothing bad to say about Vitamark.
However, I am cancelling my Vitamark position. This means I am walking away from a serious income that is already generated. True revenue that was being paid out each month…. Surprised? Me Too!
The reason is simple is that Bob Gatchel and myself have been offered an opportunity that makes the Vitamark one seem anemic. ANYONE WHO JOINS ME WILL FIND THAT THIS IS THE SINGLE BEST OPPORTUNITY TO A SIX FIGURE INCOME! The Company is OROVO!
How can I be so sure, Bob Gatchel and [I] have struck a deal with the President of Orovo. In exchange for our training programs they will put in several hundred people beneath us each and every month. They will also move over existing downline and teams. For those who sign up now, by next month you will be in a positive cash flow and on your way to very serious income very quickly. OROVO has no sign up fee, just the cost of buying the monthly auto-ship.
Too good to be true?
I don’t know what will happen when Orovo discovers that Bill Arnold is a buffoon and unable to deliver the training he promised. I can’t imagine that it will be very pretty.
I also don’t know what will happen if and when Bill quits Orovo and herds people over to his next program.
Incidentally, Bill’s Vitamark exit strategy includes taking his downline’s downline with him, not just the people he personally sponsored. This form of cross recruiting is totally unethical.
When I confronted Bill on this subject, he replied:
The fact is that I sent the email to everyone in my downline with Vitamark.
Everyone on my team deserved an equal to know that I had made a material shift and why.
I am not trying to leverage anyone to anything, But offer everyone an opportunity that is a phenomenal way to quickly earn a significant income.
Pure rationalization!
Lack of personal and business integrity is a major problem in our society.
We must work on our own integrity and that of out children. We must also seek out leaders, Go-Givers and people of noble character.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions in this article are my own based on my knowledge and experience at the time of writing. They are not to be construed as fact nor taken as business advice.
You may append your views and opinions by posting a comment to this article. Please represent them as opinion rather than fact. As blog publisher I reserve the right to edit or reject any comment for any reason but assure you that I do not do so capriciously.
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Aug
23
Radio Stations Tout Money Making Schemes
Filed Under Alerts, News | 17 Comments
Mainstream radio stations such as WCBS Radio 880 and WQXR, the radio station of the New York Times, now air spots for money making schemes. I have heard them myself while driving down to my office.
This is a fairly new phenomenon.
Home businesses and money making schemes are very much more prevalent today than when I joined Excel Communications as a representative back in March 1997.
Why do I think?
For sure there is wider access to information today through the Internet than there was a decade ago.
There is also increased economic pressure due to offshoring, mergers, acquisitions and downsizing. More and more people turn to the Internet, often out of desperation, hoping to solve their financial problems.
I am bombarded by phone and mail solicitations for anything from illegal chain letters to gifting programs to legitimate direct sales opportunities.
This is not at all new.
What is new is that so-called “mainstream” media are looking to make a quick buck or two carrying some very questionable advertising.
I recall a time when these media wouldn’t accept ads from home businesses, even legitimate ones. They were unwilling to expose themselves to complaints and criticism.
Times however have changed. A decline in ad revenue has apparently led radio stations and other mass media to relax their standards and accept almost anything, even possible scams and rip-offs.
Here’s my advice to you:
- Don’t believe any money making ads you hear on the radio.
- Throw away the home biz junk mail you receive in your mail box.
- Delete all spam from your e-mail or online social networking inboxes.
Don’t get ripped off. Only accept business advice from people you know, like and trust.
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