Idiot Male #1: I earn six figures a year.
Idiot Male #2: Yeah? Well my wife is a supermodel.
Idiot Male #1: Big deal, I drive a Ferrari!
Idiot Male #2: I could bench press your Ferrari!

In today’s Internet Marketing world, it’s no longer just a matter of having the longest *cough* sales letter, the flashiest graphics or even a video! No, in order to convert that list to profit, you need to show them you have the biggest… bonus! (Yeah I know where your mind was going…)

Can you offer a complimentary product or perhaps training on the actual product you’re pushing? What about some interviews with leaders in the field this product covers? What can you possibly offer me that will not only “one-up” your competition, but entice me enough to clear my cookies and purchase through your link instead?

Personally, I like seeing the bonuses offered. Why? Because it gives me a clear indication of a large commission and as such, a large price tag. Or worse, ten up-sell / back end offers. I’ve yet to see very many bonus packages being offered for a $27 ebook…

I haven’t decided what I dislike more, finding a product I really like only to be set back by the high cost, or getting it at a price I can afford and then wrestling through a gazillion  ‘one time offer’ pages that you see three times in a row. Some people really need to be re-educated on the meaning of “one time”. And not only do you see them three times at different prices, they’re always so dramatic!

You know how they go!

Thanks for your purchase! But wait!! DON’T CLOSE THIS PAGE or your lungs will stop functioning from shock that you missed this absolutely, super fantastic, once in a life time, you’ll never see it again deal!

*Scroll to the bottom and clicks not interested*

Oh my god, you clicked no?! You must be INSANE! Well, that absolutely, super fantastic, once in a life time, you’ll never see it again deal is being offered to you one more time, only at a lower price! THIS time however, you won’t see it again!! I promise…

*Scroll to the bottom and clicks not interested*

Seriously? You didn’t like that price? Ok, what about for 99c? Would you take it for 99c?

*clicks no*

Hrm… you’re a tough one. Ok, what about this deal? Nothing to do with the original product but I’m sure you’re harbouring more money on that credit card somewhere…

*clicks no*

Ok, fine. You win. Just click seven more times, turn around three times, tap yourself on the forehead, jump on one foot fifty-eight times, drink three glasses of water backwards and upside down… by the time you’re done, I’ll have found your download link. Sound good?

Yes I realise that may be a tad over dramatised, but you get my point.

Just as the after sales messages can be over the top, so too can the “check out my bonus” emails. Never usually quite as bad, but when it is a product dishing out a nice commission, you just have to serve up just as juicy a bonus package to ensure you get all the buyers.

On Tuesday the 12th, the emails literally poured in for the Magic Bullet System. A training course and software system for making money with CPA offers which will set you back a hefty $2997… that is, if you got in. The doors were slammed shut at 9pm Easter time which marked the end of the 500 copies made available. At just under three grand a pop, that’s a nice $1,498,500 in sales. Yikes! And that’s if they stuck to their 500 seat limit, goodness knows I’ve seen others use the tactic of limited spots only to sell more.

You’ll also notice I said sales and not profit. That’s because there must have been some really sweet commissions going out to affiliates.

Example one: Blitzian’s $1000 cash back if you purchase through his link as offered on the Warrior Forums. A great saving for the buyer, taking the $2997 price down to only $1997. But of course we know no one is silly enough to give out their entire commission just to make sales… or at least we hope no one is, so we can guess that it’s higher than that.

A decent commission means one main thing: nearly all of the big guns are going to jump on its promotion and my inbox can so attest to that!

I had already looked at the Magic Bullet System when I got the first couple of emails, however I’m not in the right place to consider learning a new money making method right now, so decided it wasn’t for me. However, when I got out of bed on launch day and saw that every second email was trying to grab my attention about it, I took another look. (Actually, I had kinda forgotten what it was so popped back in to take a reminder look…pregnancy brain is kicking in early this time!)

With the “oh that’s right” moment hitting as I saw the videos again, I started deleting all the emails related to the Magic Bullet System. As I opened each one to check it was in fact about this launch or not something else, I was noticing a theme. Bonus this, bonus that, have you seen my bonus, check out my bonus, can I show you my bonus. It was enough to make a girl blush!

Very rarely will I purchase through someone just because of any bonuses they can offer me, in fact, most times I clear all my cookies once I have the sales page address and make sure my full purchase price goes to the creator. Only if someone I really like happens to be promoting it will I bother to make sure they get my commission… and only if they brought it to my attention. I’m fickle like that.

Or more to the point I’m so over the hyped up sales letters, pushy emails and “you must read this now / go now / buy now” car salesmen like attitudes a lot of affiliates develop that I just don’t really want to see them make any extra money off me. And yes I realise that’s the equivalent of a millionaire losing a $2 coin down the back of the couch.

But keep the bonus offers coming, it’s always good to see just how much extras people will throw at you to get you to buy, and especially the value they place on them. I think Chris Carpenter comes in the winner of this round offering $15,032 worth of bonuses. Of course he’d be the last person I’d buy from even if he was offering me a Ferrari so it doesn’t really make much of a difference.

What is the biggest or more outrageous bonus you’ve seen offered by an affiliate?

We all know by now that I’m not the sort of blogger to sit back and rave about product after product, right? I don’t post fake claims or hold anything back. I only have one way of doing things, and that’s saying exactly what I see. I’m not here to try and pull the wool over your eyes so I can raid your wallet.

That said, I never go out of my way to bash a particular product either. It’s more a case of there being enough emails, sales pages and marketers out there that need to lift their game just a little bit so I don’t have a reason to notice it. There are a lot of marketers that try to trick buyers, or wording things just right so as not to be a flat out lie, but still sound better than the truth.

The good news (for everyone really), is that for every item that ends up as a blog post, there’s ten that are passed over. Generally speaking, most stuff I see isn’t that bad.

The example for today is a product called Niche Blueprint 2.0. It was released yesterday (the 11th of January) and as such, I have a couple emails about it. As I’m clearing through my inbox and realising how many times I am seeing one about this product, I stop to investigate a little further. Being “2.0″, I figure there has to be lots of information out there about the first release so that’s where I start. Frustratingly all I can find are the many fake review sites – aka the affiliates trying to promote it and using the “Don’t buy until you read this / I have the REAL review” tactic. For me, they are nothing but time wasters.

(Random Tip: Googling for Niche Blueprint actually brings up nothing but Niche Blueprint 2 sites, so you need to Google the term Niche Blueprint -2.0 to work, notice the minus sign there? That’s how you do it)

Realising that Google is more hassle than help for this particular topic, I decide to head on over to a community that’s helped so much recently, the Warrior Forums. Being able to do a single search and find a seven page thread on a product that, at the time the thread was created wasn’t even released yet is awesome. For those wanting to know as much as possible before they purchase, I bring you… the Niche Blueprint thread! Note: That’s a thread on the original Niche Blueprint, not the updated 2.0 version.

I haven’t read through all of it because I already know it’s not going to be a product for me. In fact, a huge thank you goes out to member ad2012 for giving me the absolute basic lowdown on what exactly the Niche Blueprint method is and helping me realise immediately that I’m not at a stage yet where I would be able to make a proper go of it.

I will try to explain what Niche Blueprint is all about. Nothing held back!

Niche Blueprint is an e-commerce course. It teaches how to build an e-commerce store around a niche market by selling physical products. Laid out in a form of 23 videos and 26 manuals. Basically, niche blueprint will show…

- How to research a niche market,
- How to find a good domain for the purpose of branding and SEO,
- How to find suppliers for your store,
- How to setup catalog, shopping cart, payment gateway, and toll-free number, brand logo, and store template,
- How to promote online store using free marketing techniques, and shopping portals,
- How to manage your store for daily routines,
- How to outsource your store,
- How to sell your store for quick cash rather than keeping it.

For $497, it also includes e-commerce platform, large selection of online store templates, free hosting for a year, keyword tool, and live coaching via UStream. No upsell or one time offer.

That’s what niche blueprint is all about. It’s about building and run a profitable online store. You see that e-commerce is a proven business model uses by hundreds companies. So, Niche Blueprint is not for everyone and only for serious person who are ready to build a REAL online business. If your aren’t ready to build an online store, you don’t have to buy it.

Steven Clayton and Tim Godfrey got helped by the Hermansen brothers. You may have heard about how Dave Hermansen sold a ‘bird-cage’ store for $173,000.

Here’s the proof and it’s on the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/te…p.html?_r=2&em

And here’s the actual ‘train horns’ store owned by the Hermansen brothers:
http://www.pbmissions.com/

Look, I will not hide the fact that I’m one of Niche Blueprint JV but I’m not trying to promote Niche Blueprint here. I just one to make this clear so everyone can have the knowledge about Niche Blueprint. I mean, when some gurus launch their new product, you cash is at stake because they’re trying to hide the fact. So just read this post carefully and you can skip the sales talk.

As you can see, I’m not trying to hide anything and the fact about Niche Blueprint, it’s all laid out here.

That’s straight from reply #25 of the thread I linked. I love that response for a couple of reasons, mostly that it tells me right away that it’s not going to be a product for me and I can now skip past any emails advertising version 2.0. If it was something that interested me, or I thought capable of doing, then I would purchase it from this guy purely because he gets right to the point on what it is, who it’s for and what’s involved. The fact that he adds the disclaimed at the end that he’s a promoter of the product itself doesn’t change a thing.

And this is something I think a lot of the more shady marketers could learn from. Internet Marketing has been going for a while now, and more and more people are becoming aware of what exactly it is. This means that they are learning to pick the real from the fake and those outlandish claims aren’t going to do you any favours now. Especially since the FTC is cracking down.

Regardless of their involvement however, I know I’d personally buy from a real review of a product over the flashy sales letter any day. And someone that can openly say “this product may not be for you” is someone I am more likely to listen to in the future when they do discuss a product that might be.

Outside of that particular “to the point” post in the Warrior Forum thread, there’s an absolute heap of other information in that thread on what exactly is involved with this sort of business. Again, that’s a thread on the original launch of Niche Blueprint back in January of 2009, but version 2.0 is the same methods to make money, so knowing what it is, regardless of the version is immensely helpful. If you are getting any emails promoting Niche Blueprint 2.0, then I’d take a look at the thread linked to learn what it’s all about. Post #267 on page 6 is from January of this year and discusses version 2.0.

My blog post today isn’t about the product as much as it is an example of how a short, to the point post by someone promoting it can be so helpful and more influential to the sale of a product that someone trying to say a lot without actually saying anything at all. I see so many over the top sales pages, or marketers promising so much without giving you any real idea of what example their promises relate to exactly, that it’s such a nice change to be able to see someone promoting the product and still being able to say “look, here’s the deal…”

After being screwed over three major times last year myself by unscrupulous marketers claiming to be Gurus, I’d like to see more people taking a leaf out of ad2012’s book. More real,less spiel! Oooh, that could be my 2010 slogan!

For those interested, you can check out Niche Blueprint 2.0 here. It’s released by the same people who did Commission Blueprint.