LocalAdLink in Charlotte, NC
One the of the most annoying problems a reputable firm has to deal with is listening to the non sense that floats around in the world of ‘online marketing’. Its always hard enough to deal with the snake oil SEO scammers that are out there. They pollute potential clients with lies, unrealistic expectations, and tons more.
Well apparently theres a new breed of feeders out there as well. Its in the form of a MLM scheme. Multi Level Marketing is nothing new. The premise is to recruit someone who knows nothing and you get a cut of the profits from the person that started it.
LocalAdLink appears to be exactly that. The difference with them is their utilizing pay per click and small business owners.
I founded the Charlotte SEO Meetup Group which turned into the Search Engine Marketing Association of Charlotte over the past several months. During one of our meetups, I was approached by an individual that I never met. He shook my hand and proceeded to pitch me ‘localadlink’ in 45 seconds. He mentioned that I was “sitting on a gold mine” because what I said to my group everyone would follow me and take my advice. They would sign up under me and I’d be a millionaire.
That’s the difference where our beliefs reside. Simply because I can make hundreds or thousands of dollars off of a large group of people doesn’t make it right. Preying on the un-educated doesn’t make me sleep well at night. I told this individual that I would look into ‘localadlink’ and get back to him. I did. I researched the company and within 15 minutes I determined that you’d be wasting your time and money with them.
Here’s a recent email I received after turning him down:
Hi Keith,I wish I could make it tonight, but I’m doing an LocalAdLink presentation. I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of the internet world even close to wat you all do, so I respect the fact of you guys not approving of the company. I thought it would have been a great addition to the services you already provide and especially in the future when it officially launches.We’ve helped a lot of people market themselves online where they normally wouldn’t have ( including myself ) and that is the aim of the company. Please remember I gave your company the opportunity to be “on top” before other seo companies even heard of it. The CEO sold his Home Depot business plan and also sold shopping.com to Compaq for over 200 million, so I have to believe this is going to be something even greater!
This is my open response on this blog to him and any other localadlink MLM salesman in Charlotte, NC:
Hi xxxxxx,
I understand you are compensated for each individual you sign up underneath you. Thats why you’re very excited to ‘push’ this opportunity.
You state in your email: “I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of the internet world even close to what you all do”
This is precisely my point in a MLM scheme. We do this for a living. We do know the ins and outs of pay per click advertising and exactly how localadlink works. We are online marketing professionals. Why would Localadlink recruit people in the real estate industry (or any industry besides online marketing) to push a product on someone they know NOTHING about? You said it yourself in your email. The answer is simple….LocalAdLink makes a higher profit on un-educated individuals.
So while you’re presenting tonight in front of an audience a service that you are not an expert in (you said it yourself) to tens or hundreds of small business owners that are trying to keep their business from going under in todays economy, ask yourself (better yet, I hope they ask you!):
What is the avg cost per click for your keyphrase?
What is the total number of impressions?
What is the total number of clicks you recieved?
Are the keyphrases you selected exact match, broad match, or phrase match?
Are your ads set to run from 9am to 5pm everyday? Or do you not know?
How many times will my ad been seen in my preferred zip code?
Nameofindividual, your estimated number of searches presented by the Google Search Tool displays as “not enough searches“. In a nutshell that means no one is searching for your phrase. At least not enough to generate a lead off of it.
Without knowing your information above how can you budget each month for your spend? Last time we spoke you said its $50.00. Is your cost each month .25 cents from 3 clicks? My guess is yes. Because after all, LocalAdLink has to pay you a referral fee for your recruit and they still have to make a profit, which is big.
Should we talk about ad text and landing pages?
Sure, why not.
How often can you change your ads? Does your statics provide ad text click through rate? Can you setup multiple ads to test? Does Localadlink do this for you? For $50.00 a month, I’m betting no.
Landing pages…wow, I don’t even know where to begin. Lets take a look at an image I captured for “Italian restaurants” in Miami, Florida.
First off, where the hell is the business on this page? As a user clicks on an ad this is exactly what they are presented with above the fold. You have to scroll down just to see a business listing.
Why do you want to spend $50.00 per month to have your business listed with 20 others….that people have to scroll down to find?
Next, how many ads do you see for LocalAdlink promoting their own business? I count 5 above the fold. Five times!! You’re paying $50 per month for a directory to display your listing (not your actual website) where they heavily advertise THEIR services not yours.
Or, as a small business owner you can send them directly to a site that will give them information a user was looking for to begin with. Its called a “Positive” user experience. Do you think the conversion from a localadlink with no less than 5 of their own ’sign up ads’ and multiple business listings convert more than a site such as the one below? Its a huge difference. Online marketing is about converting visitors to customers.
Its time to stop drinking the Kool-Aid. Stop providing a disservice to small business owners in Charlotte. Our group is free to join. We hold 4 free meetings each year. They can pick our brains as much as they like and it doesn’t cost them a dime.
Of course you don’t have to take this Certified Google Advertising Professionals advice, you can simply present a service you know nothing about to an audience that knows nothing about online marketing so it can pad your wallett.
Sincerely,
Keith Schilling
So I ask my audience, what do you think this guy will do? Will he continue to market to profit on those that don’t understand how online marketing really works or will he stop? The $50 dollar sign up is just one number I used. I’ve already seen reports as high as $250.00 to sign up for service. Ouch!
I just googled their comp plan. I figured they’d (the localadlink salesrep) would make about half. Check out their comp plan here. http://www.adlinkmanager.com/?p=199
Update Number 1: An article from rip off report: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/427/ripoff0427685.htm
Update 2: For the record, I submitted a list of these questions and never recieved a response from localadlink, go figure.
Update 3: 4/7/09 – per my comments post, heres my stats from this blog posting:
So what are you saying Keith? Are you going to sign up with Local Ad Link or what?
Ha. This strikes me exactly like any other MLM scheme. For every 100 clients they sign up probably 5 of them will get a fantastic value. Another 15 might get a mediocre value, and the remaining 80% will be paying for essentially no traffic or conversions.
As with any service, use your brain. Think about what you are paying for. If they charge $50 per month and then pay $25 to a rep, that means they have $25 left each month. Take out a little cost and what you have left is equivalent to an intern spending about 3 minutes a month to help market your business. Whoopee.
I think this is a case of just making a service cheap enough that people sort of think “what the hell, its only $50″. Unfortunately there is a lot of that in the online marketing space. To that extent there are a bunch of people who charge much more and provide no value, so these guys don’t seem quite as bad with that perspective.
Interesting to see where this will go. I’ve been waiting for someone to start this conversation. One would expect to get lots of comments from people defending such an attack on their product. I know that I would fight tooth and nail if someone called me out. Unfortunately people that push localfadlink don’t understand the virtues of things like online reputation management or do I dare say blogging, thus I doubt to see much of a backlash if at all.
I like the idea of empowering the common folk…more or less leveling the playing the field. I think in many respects that’s what Google did by rolling out LBCs. However, like Keith so eloquently described, this program is not an honest representation of paid internet advertising b/c the majority of your $ isn’t going into your website. It goes to a large, stuffy, corporation …or some MLM upstream disjointed snowball guy in Milwaukee (no offense Milwaukee).
What we do as internet marketers is very complicated. It takes a long time to learn and takes even longer time to stay on top of the game. Unfortunately, what we do costs money…lots of money in some respects. Forgive us if we sound snoody but what you are selling is just not legit and in many cases downright deceptive. If you really want to help someone with their internet advertising and not just make money off of your cousins, why don’t you set up an Adwords account for them and charge them a monthly retainer to manage the account. You definitely won’t “make $13,000 in your first month” but you will bring real value to your “friends”… rather than just adding more momentum to our already down trending economy.
Thanks for the heads up – yea I get like a call a week for someone who works ‘for’ or ‘with’ google – it’s a scam all the way – but this takes it to a new level eh?
Actually what LocalAdLink does do is allow businesses that don’t have a large adwords budget to get some PPC advertising for a reasonable price and to target those ads in specific zipcodes. It’s not an end-all to a properly set up and agressive SEO Campaign, but it is in the long run less expensive for a business just starting out that does not wish to be raked over the coals by someone who would not know a true landing page if it reached up and bit them in the backside.
Business Builders make the money in ANY MLM program. Not just this one. So for your initial writer to be all in a huff over this tells me that:
a. he’s been burned by MLM because he went in and was bleary eyed and did not ask questions.
b. he’s angry that he’s losing SEO business to these people.
Get over it. Become a business builder, sell a couple of accounts and go back to your SEO business and collect a check. What’s the real problem here? Have you ever successfully managed a large PPC campaign for a company? I have and it was a pain in the backside. I can sell these all day long and let people do targeted zipcode advertising. Too cool.
Best regards,
Michael Murdock, CEO
Sounds a lot like a real estate investment scam called Foreclosuresdaily.com that was taking advantage of the uneducated at local real estate investment groups. When the scheme ended they didn’t have enough money to pay their employees for work they already did.
I applaud Keith for standing up to these scumbags and being a real person. A lot of other clubs (like certain charlotte area real estate investment clubs) did nothing even when they were warned of these scams until they imploded and millions were lost – in 2007 Foreclosuresdaily.com was listed as one of the fastest growing small businesses in the nation with sales of over $30 million or so. Now they are broke. Read up on this scam that ranged from Florida to Charlotte NC here:
http://bestbraindrain.com/2007/08/03/foreclosuresdailycom–is-it-a-real-money-making-program-or-is-it-just-another-real-estate-scam.aspx
That was written about the time I started calling them out on their scam. No one would listen to me at the real estate clubs because Foreclosuresdaily was a top sponsor. I can only imagine how many people were taken advantage of and ripped off by scams like Foreclosuresdaily.com and now this Localadlink.
These MLM and similar (aka ponzi schemes) scumbags have found these various groups and clubs (especially those with larger and more loyal memberships like this SEO club) to be virtual goldmines ripe for plundering. I am glad that you stood up to them Keith and that you called them out in this blog post! Newbies need someone to stand up and look out for them. My hat’s off to you Keith and your group – this just goes to show that this group is top notch and stands miles above the rest.
Keith,
Thanks 4 fending off these ‘nuisance’ people!! I am seriously sorry that this all happened! Yes, The Bernie ‘Madeoff’ Madoff of this world do exist. They do want to make off with your money and mine. That’s their get rich scheme.
Thanks again!!
Susan
@Michael Murdock:
As my post pointed out, a small biz owner can skip the middle man (which is LocalAdLink) and drive targeted traffic directly to their site. One number, one site. Not 20 businesses that LocalAdLink puts you on.
“Whats the real problem here?” – The fact that people are selling small business owners something they know nothing about to make money off them. Man thats just scary! Next time I want to buy a computer I’ll go ask my local farmer.
“Have you ever successfully managed a large PPC campaign for a company?” – Well does $650,000 a year count? And its not a pain in the backside when you know what you’re doing.
Well, Mr. Murdock said it all – just look at the way he ended his post – just like a shady used car salesman would. No reputable CEO of any reputable company either large or small would have made a post like that or ended it the way he did – “too cool”. In other words, “we are ripping people off and it’s just easy money…”
And I looked at localadlinks – anyone with half a brain and zero experience can go and start using Google Adwords or Yahoo ads and get far better results for your money.
Heck, for free (just a little time and effort) one could easily write and add a couple of pages of unique content to their website and get far, far better results then what they would ever get through Localadlinks.
A little SEO and SEM will go a long way and will always beat the hucksters every time.
By the way, is localadlinks related to Freeaddepot? I get tons of spam email from these clowns every day promising millions of new customers, huge downlines, guaranteed placement in the top spots on Google for the toughest keywords, etc… I think I remember seeing localadlinks being mentioned through there also.
Keith,
Thank you for speaking out about this.
I completely agree that the effectiveness of LocalAdLink is very questionable. The only thing they mention is search engine ranking and views. I respectfully challenge any LAL representative to publish their conversion rates. In other words, tell us how many of those people who visit a company’s listing page actually contact the company and become a qualified lead?
Their is a huge problem with the weakness of the “listing page” that users are directed to after they click through the paid search ad. I would be amazed if the conversion rate even approaches .5%.
Unfortunately, these listing pages are a collection of the “worst practices” in online marketing. There is no message matching, no clear call to action and they feature numerous distractions and extraneous links by the truckload.
We specialize in landing page development and have a pretty solid understanding of paid search. Even so, I generally direct clients to companies like yours for maximum PPC effectiveness. As they say, “jack of all trades, master of none.”
To anyone considering LocalAdLink: I encourage you to engage companies like Keith’s for your PPC and mine for landing pages – or do some research and launch your own campaigns. Either way, the results are almost sure to be superior to LAL.
Don’t get caught up in page views and search engine ranking. Focus on the metrics that mean something: How many of those views turn into leads and how many of those leads turn into paying customers?
Caveat Emptor!!
I think the best thing for newbies is to learn the business from the ground up. Start learning about and writing about your business and niche. The more the unique content you add to your site the more the traffic you will bring in. The long tail effect can work wonders and besides you will be seen as an expert and learn an awful lot about your industry.
Keith,
I get email spam with offers like this all of the time. As a small business owner I have had to learn about SEO just to keep from being ripped off! You are doing everyone in this group a great service.
I have been traveling a lot, so unfortunately I haven’t been able to make it to many meetings. Thanks so much for your time researching and blogging about this and for keeping all of us informed!
Kieth,
Thanks for showing your ignorance it makes your words have no value.
1) Local Adlink is not SEO or PPC.
2) Set monthly fee no contract.
3) We are in beta and still having success.
4) We own, are creating and partner with other other websites to push our customers landing sites on to these web sites. Thats how we can charge so little.
5)We believe in “naturalization” and as we grow our clients recieve the benefit of being under the Local Adlink umbrella.
6) If you dont understand networkmarketing its because its a system where you get paid what you are worth. If you do nothing… you get paid nothing..if you work hard…you are paid well. Unlike most Americans who have a job and get paid if they work or Blog on company time.
7) If you truelly cared about your community you would empower it about “naturalization” not PPC which is the real scam here.
@Scott Day
LOL. Thats some very interesting remarks you have. Now let me burst your bubble.
1. Local Adlink is a directory of businesses, period. Plan and simple. How does traffic hit Localadlink’s site Scott? Through pay per click advertising on Google. Its already scary I know more about it than a MLM salesman does.
2. No one has a set monthly fee or contract. Not Google, not Yahoo, not MSN, noone. So is this Localadlinks way of making you and everyone else feel better about their system?
3. Congrats.
4. “You push customers landing sites on to these websites” – Do you even know what a landing site is?? Let me help:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22landing+site%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Theres no such thing! Unless your going to Mars. Scott, I hate to be the one to tell you but you are exactly whats wrong with Localadlink. You know zero about internet marketing. Just to let you know, its called a landing page. And you don’t push customers landing pages to websites. Localadlink uses PPC on these websites to drive traffic to Localadlinks landing page. Its a big difference.
5. “naturalization” – ? Are you serious? I really hope you mean ‘optimization’. Or is ‘naturalization’ a new term Localadlink made up?
6. I have a lot of corporate friends that would beg to differ. They’re CEO’s and VP’s of large companies. I’d say they worked real hard to get to where they are.
7. PPC – Scott, do you know what an ROI is? We spent $650k last year on PPC and made over 2.5 million. Do you still think PPC is a scam? Its also funny how you say its a scam when Localadlink uses it for their clients.
Scott, I surely hope you do more research next time before you sign up for a service you know nothing about, then proceed to look very unintelligent by posting a comment on a blog that specializes in PPC and SEO.
Michael,
Thanks for shedding some REAL light on this issue! I agree. What’s all the huff about except that the initiator of this thread hasn’t really gotten over the fact that this is a scene stealer and really does level the playing field in many respects. Face it, the online advertising business is getting simpler and may be a little threatening to the elite ones who claim their is only one way. This IS the American dream guys. You find a service that people are willing to pay for and you provide it. Making money is not a bad thing. MLM is a proven system that when done properly, with integrity, offers many people the solution and the freedom to pursue their dreams. Don’t believe me? Look at many other MLM’s throughout history. Admittedly, some, which were not today’s MLM, were structured to only benefit those on top and the only way to make $ was to recruit. LocalAdlink isn’t like that as far as I can see, and I’ve taken an objective look. I encourage those of you who find it easy to critisize MLM’s to take an honest look and decide for yourself.
@Joe Rivera,
LocaladLink is not a scene stealer. Google has used this technology for years, as have other companies. I could care less if LocaladLink made millions of dollars (as they already do) however, what makes them (and their sales reps) so god awful is the fact they know zero about online advertising. They don’t care about click through rates (nor even understand them). They don’t care about conversions (nor even understand them). They don’t care about how a landing page can turn a visitor into a customer (nor even understand it). They don’t care that a bounce rate is two or three times as high through the service (nor do they even know what a bounce rate is). The only thing they seem to care about is making 50% of the package from their business owner.
Its the blind leading the blind just to make a quick buck. Its stealing money from local business owners in the worst possible economy and the sales reps don’t care.
As far as the last part your comment doesn’t matter and is irrelevant to the post. I’m all for making money. The problem with MLM schemes is the dumb prey on the dumb and think its a ok.
And to everyone that reads this post, you’re going to see EXACTLY the inner workings of a MLM sales rep trying to pitch this product. I’ve emailed two or three and the responses are very comical as the ignorance of marketing online truly shows through.
More to come on LocalAdLink! Stay tuned for the next post!
I have been in the network marketing industry for 3 years now and as I went through all these blogs, one repeating pattern though came up – I don’t think anyone here, really has an understanding as to what MLM rise, what it’s benefits are and why participating in it is of tremendous value. Some of the closest friendships I have with people, are those folks I met through network marketing. Whether they are my downline or cross-line. I challenge anyone in this blog to feel free to email me. Let’s make an appointment and I will educate you on the ins and outs. If MLM were a scam (and its not) it would not be offered as a major at the University of Illinois taught by Dr. Charles King, PHD in marketing from Harvard Business School. Too often, folks are quick to bash it down and be negative, when they don’t know much about it at all. Understandable!!! People are at most times against MLM because of the following reasons:
1. A friend was in it and did not succeed at it. (we call this quitting) An MLM business, especially for newbies takes 3-4 years of hard work. The first year is a process of a learning curve and dealing with rejection. So, to “fail”……everyone fails at everything before they get good.
2. You were in it and did not do well….see above.
3. The training wasn’t great and your sponsor was a louse.
#3 brings me to the topic of this email. The individual from LocalAdLink, that we are all commenting about…….the one who said, “Hey you are in a goldmine, etc” Definitely was NOT trained well and did too much convincing. BIG no, no. He cared about himself and that’s exactly what rubbed off in the eyes of the listener.
MLM is about people and making them successful. Help them get paid and their team paid, you are automatically taken care of. It’s finding a way to SERVE THE MANY. A successful MLM’er does not focus on himself. He is a go-giver. So for all you folks out there…….if you’ve had a negative experience, I can personally guarantee you had the “Wrong” network marketer approach you.
As for LocalAdlink….it is not a pay per click advertising campaign. It gives real business solutions to small business owners who can not create a web presence for themselves online, due to lack of money to put into a Google Ad campaign. ($$$) It specifically targets the local community and drives consumers to the small biz owner. It does not require pay-per-click at all.
Focus on the negative in situations, you will find nothing but negative.
I am Mike Waldron, a professional network marketer and my email is mwaldr@gmail.com Please feel free to email me, I will be happy to speak with you and provide an education on the wonderful industry of network marketing.
Keith, your opinions are uneducated. Chill out on being right for a few minutes. I can tell you’re a sharp guy, but a smart person listens, too. (to the right people) Click through rates do not apply in the model, because they don’t use them. LocalAdlink has had to date, 40 million impressions. 32 million of them are reported from Google. Email me.
@MLM Sales Reps.
It seems very clear the only thing MLM sales reps want to talk about with LocaladLink is about how network marketing works.
I will always be very lenient about approving comments on this blog (so far!). But if I get another comment about how MLM is great and doesn’t address the facts then it will be edited or not approved.
Here’s the subject in case all of the MLM folks from LocaladLink forgets it:
Show me how LocaladLink is better by improving conversion rates, click through rates, supplying local business owner with results. Thats all.
@Mike – I’m sorry, you’re flat out wrong about Pay Per Click and Localadlink. Take a look:
This image is of a LocaladLink query in Google. I don’t care if LocaladLink tells you its a flat fee. Thats all fine and dandy. However LocaladLink turns around on Google’s system and geotargets your zip codes and your ads. Thats how they get on Google. Its obvious noone over there understands how it works. In fact its mind boggling.
You stated click through rate doesn’t apply in the model. Thats my point exactly. In order to run a successful campaign you should create multiple ads and test them to find out which ones receive a higher click through rate. The same thing applies to landing pages. Which landing pages converts customers better. Localadlink reps have yet to prove to me their system can even come close to what a real online marketing professional can provide. And in my opinion, and others, people that don’t know anything about online advertising shouldn’t be signing people up just to make a quick buck. It does them a DISSERVICE. Its quite simple.
I do find your last sentence funny. One of the biggest “pitches” from Localadlink reps is the fact they place your site on hundreds/thousands of sites. Your impressions statements means that over 80% of your ad is on Google.
Here are some links for those that know very little about online marketing:
http://www.drostdesigns.com/how-to-split-test-your-google-ads/
http://www.shimonsandler.com/ab-split-testing-your-google-ads/
http://www.marketingexperiments.com/improving-website-conversion/multivariable-testing.html
Over the past several months I have spent a good deal of time and money on various platforms and list building programs. I am a far creative writer and some of content seems to be very good. For the life of me I can’t seem to get the kind of traffic I need. We spending a good deal of money on radio with little success. The Houston newspaper is half the size it used to be. The yellow pages are useless. Everything seems to be going to the web. Yet, most business’ webpages are next to useless. Except, people think it is unprofessional not to have one. Then along comes LocalAdLink.
I really am at a loss. I paid the the $349 to be a BB. However, I have spent three weeks trying to determine if I really want to sell it. I’ve read many of these blogs and there seems to be some truth and misconception in all of them. I hate MLM companies and I don’t think this company quite ha their act together. Having said that, I keep running in to business that are on the program that are very happy with the results. Frankly, most of the comments seem to come from people who have axe to grind. I wish I knew more about what “geospecfic technology” really was
Here are some links that include legal documents on LocalAdLink CEO, Robert J. McNulty and articles discussing his 4 previous bankruptcies, double digit business failures, SEC violations, forced resignation from shopping.com because of SEC violations etc etc.
If you want to see the soul of a company look at the history and character of it’s CEO. You can’t just start of business without doing a background check on the CEO…that is just insane.
It does not surprise me that LAL lacks customer service or realistic results when you look at the CEO’s history. He’s a bulldog…just get results and stop asking questions! Don’t argue with people who know internet advertising…that waste time and keeps him from paying off judgements!!! Now get back to work!
He’s got many judgments to pay off, including the millions of dollars in judgments from the BigStore.com civil suit and the foreclosure on his $1M yacht in 2004. Check out the public records in both Cali and Las Vegas. Still owes millions.
So, help him lose his liens and help his creditors out by selling like there is no tomorrow. Stop debating and keep selling.
Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Check out the links…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HWW/is_37_3/ai_66809558
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-110118.html
http://www.fool.com/EveningNews/foth/1999/foth990113.htm
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=2nd&navby=case&no=976122
http://www.legalcasedocs.com/120/243/354.html#item1
http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jun/11/business/fi-58731
Thanks for stopping by Randel. You are the perfect example of a small business owner that needs just a bit of education to help your online presence bloom.
The mere fact that you have to question the validity of a company such as LocaladLink should make you proceed with caution. However, I’m willing to bet if you find a local Certified Google Adwords Professional you’ll get a ton of personalized help from someone who cares about growing your business. What does a LocaladLink care about? Making sure you sign up under them as a Brand Builder to pad their wallets.
In a future post you’ll see exactly what I mean. When you first spoke to them about LocaladLink I’m willing to bet they spent about 15 minutes on this great technology (which isn’t theirs – everyone uses it, Google, Yahoo, others) called geotargeting and how your site gets shown everywhere. Then they spent the next 45 minutes telling you about what a great money making opportunity it would be if you sell LocaladLink on their ‘team’.
Thats just pathetic. You can’t slice it any other way. Find someone who spends the entire hour helping you grow your business and helping you understand how online marketing works and what you as a business owner needs to do to grow it.
Great post Debbie. If thats not enough to stop a potential business owner in their tracks I don’t know what is!
Sociopaths come in all forms………….
Virtually every MLM is a scam and will always be a scam….most are illegal….last hyped MLM was YTB – look at them now……its a flavor of the month bullshit where every two or three months “MLMers” push a new product or service they know nothing about. And, please don’t say you made money in MLM to justify it…..people make money selling cocaine and heroin…get my point.
“MLM’s economic scorecard is characterized by massive failure rates and financial losses for millions of people. Its structure in which positions on an endless sales chain are purchased by selling or buying goods is mathematically unsustainable, and its system of allowing unlimited numbers of distributors in any market area is inherently unstable. MLM’s espoused core business — personal retailing — is contrary to trends in communication technology, cost-effective distribution, and consumer buying preferences. The retailing activity is, in reality, only a pretext for the actual core business, which is enrolling investors in pyramid organizations that promise exponential income growth.”
http://www.mlmwatch.org/01General/10lies.html
I have never been involved in MLM and never would. Someone close to me has been for many years, so I have been “exposed” so to speak. I am a professional doctor in a very lucrative business, so I don’t need MLM. But, even if I did, I would stay away, far away…
The problem with MLM is so complex and so problematic on so many levels I am not even sure where to begin. For starters, a major paper examining all of the major MLM’s has documented quite clearly that virtually no people make money in them and that for most of them at least 50% of the money goes to those at the top:
http://www.pyramidschemealert.org/PSAMain/news/MythofIncomeReport.html
The gov’t has also created a 70% rule in which 70% of goods or services must be sold the general public, not distributors. Most MLM’s are illegal from that rule alone. The clearest and most recent example is YTB. I was approached to get involved in that scam, but of course being “naive” and “out of touch with reality” I declined as I always do. For starters, who would buy travel from some unknown personal webpage of a “distributor.” I don’t know about you, but if I am booking online travel, I am sticking with Expedia or Orbitz, or Travelocity. In any event, of course YTB is now being sued in multiple states as a ponzi scheme. Essentially, 85% of the money they report to be from “gross sales” actually comes from the very people looking to make extra money. Let me repeat that, virtually all of the money generated for the people at the top of YTB has come from the very people who were looking to make some extra money selling travel. Fancy that…so now, they are pissed. THe millions of dollars generated came from website set up fees, monthly recurring charges, etc. Only 14 % of sales revenue comes from the actual sale of travel (plus most of that was from the distributors themselves). Thus, people getting involved in MLM must always remember this one truth, the product or service is always incidental…the purpose of MLM is to sell, sell, sell, sell distributorships..get people in your “donwline.”
And, I hear the same rationlizations from people in MLM who have been brainwashed – since they are so heavily inolved they have to justify it to themselves – it is called cognitive dissonance….they say “Well, any business costs money to start up,” or “Well, if you don’t work at it, then you won’t make money”, etc. The problem is, of course that is true, that if you do not work at something, you get nowhere. The problem with MLM is not the people or the distributors, it is the PREMISE that is flawed. In others words, MLM is akin to a tread mill, you keep running, but you get nowhere. It is said best at this website, which is worth repeating:
“MLM’s economic scorecard is characterized by massive failure rates and financial losses for millions of people. Its structure in which positions on an endless sales chain are purchased by selling or buying goods is mathematically unsustainable, and its system of allowing unlimited numbers of distributors in any market area is inherently unstable. MLM’s espoused core business — personal retailing — is contrary to trends in communication technology, cost-effective distribution, and consumer buying preferences. The retailing activity is, in reality, only a pretext for the actual core business, which is enrolling investors in pyramid organizations that promise exponential income growth.”
The rest can be found here: http://www.mlmwatch.org/01General/10lies.html
This site outlines very clearly the major flaws and lies of MLM. Some of the more interesting ones includes:
Lie #4: MLM is a new way of life that offers happiness and fulfillment.
It provides a way to attain all the good things in life.
Truth: The most prominent motivational themes of the MLM industry, as shown in industry literature and presented at recruitment meetings, constitute the crassest form of materialism. Fortune 100 companies would blush at the excess of promises of wealth, luxury, and personal fulfillment put forth by MLM solicitors. These appeals actually conflicts with most people’s true desire for meaningful and fulfilling work at something in which they have special talent or interest.
***The fact is most people who are succesful in life (financially that is) are those that have a passion about something and work hard at it -it can be a plumber, electrician, doctor, lawyer, small business owner, etc. The point is, if you love to do something, stick with it, work hard and the money comes later. In MLM, it is the exact opposite morality and ethics. The goal is just to make a quick buck. One monthe the MLM’er is a travel “expert”, then the next month or two later after that fails, they are Online marketing “expert” , and then when that fails a few months later, they are a legal “expert”, and so on. The bottom line is that MLM’ers lack substance – it is a flavor of the month approach to life, which is no way to live.
Another lie that stands out:
Lie #8. MLM is a positive, supportive new business that
affirms the human spirit and personal freedom.
Truth: MLM is largely fear-driven. Solicitations inevitably include dire predictions about the impending collapse of other forms of distribution, the disintegration or insensitivity of corporate America, and the lack of opportunity in other occupations. Many occupations are routinely demeaned for not offering “unlimited income.” Working for others is cast as enslavement for “losers.” MLM is presented as the last best hope for many people. This approach, in addition to being deceptive, frequently discourages people who otherwise would pursue their own unique visions of success and happiness. A sound business opportunity does not have to base its worth on negative predictions and warnings.
I love this one because I have heard people in MLM say these things, so when I read this, I said wow, this guy is dead on. People that have jobs are demeaned, which is shameful…
Last one:
Lie #9. MLM is the best option for owning your own
business and attaining real economic independence.
Truth: MLM is not true self-employment. “Owning” an MLM distributorship is an illusion. Some MLM companies forbid distributors to carry other companies’ products. Most MLM contracts make termination of the distributorship easy and immediate for the company. Short of termination, downlines can be taken away arbitrarily. Participation requires rigid adherence to a “duplication” model, not independence and individuality. MLM distributors are not entrepreneurs but joiners in a complex hierarchical system over which they have little control.
***This is another one I like because MLM is not in any way self-employment….you do not decide what happens with the company. True self-employment means you have total control over INTERNAL decision making.
It is shameful that with the economy so bad that droves of people will continue to be suckered into the MLM scam industry – proven by history and facts. So, please tell me now how I am naive and out of touch with reality….I own my own home, have a seven figure business that will be around for the next 30 years (not 6-12 months as with MLM scams), and am very much in touch with reality…in part because I have always stayed quite clear from MLM.
Great post Joe! Thanks for stopping by and adding your thoughts.
I’m a very dissapointed customer..
1. Only one (1) paid ZIP code pulls my ad
2. You are paying for a web portal. People have to land at LocalAdlink to find you.
3. So far, ZERO conversions.
4. Tech support does not exist. A support request three weeks ago has yet to be answered.
The guy who sold me on the business was quick to point out, “We are still in soft launch.” My answer: “Then why the hell am I paying ‘hard’ money?”
One more indicator.. The stock price has dropped from 70 cents to 42 cents per share since I started watching.
Don’t waste your money. Perhaps they will get their act together, but not as of 3/22/09.
As a person that was recently under the employ of Circuit City and having relocated to Florida by way of Connecticut, I’ve been perusing craigslist, and other places for job opportunities. I had been a home entertainment sales person, and so naturally other sales venues came to mind in my job search. This job was one of the many I saw, and shot a resume out to in sheer desperation really. I didn’t exactly think much of it, but figured I’d throw myself out there to as many people as possible.
I just wanted to say thanks for confirming my suspicions that this was a less than legitimate business. It’s saved me some time that I would have been wasting. There’s nothing more valuable than that.
The guy who sold me on the business was quick to point out, “We are still in soft launch.” My answer: “Then why the hell am I paying ‘hard’ money?”
Great line dude….those people are so full of sh^&&*
http://www.google.com/sktool/#keywords?site=localadlink.com&spm=true&q=
I think that sums it up. Sorry to confuse you localadlinks guys, as you will have to figure out what you are looking at.
Here is the crib note- LocalAdLinks=Sucks
I want to know what I’m looking at. Obviously, it appears LAL is very expensive compared to a couple other sites, however, I don’t have a reference point. I’d love to understand what your link leads to. Do I have to have an account to see these results?
Keith – let’s put this to the test: I’ll chip in $100 to invest in LocalAdLink and see what results we get. You want to do the same?
We could get a few others together and throw a nice chunk of change into a pot. I have a strong feeling this will be money down the drain but I can afford to lose a few bucks to help show that there are no shortcuts to real success.
I’m open minded – prove me wrong. Any LocalAdLink reps want to take me up on my offer and show me how you can deliver qualified leads? Keep in mind we track EVERYTHING and will report our results…
It is with great regret that I find myself in disagreement with you Keith concerning LocalAdLink. I have read some of your postings and comments with regard to Network Marketing and I could not disagree more with your opinions. There are many, many fine companies that have as their foundation the exact same or very similar marketing methods. LocalAdLink is a wonderful way for small to medium size businesses to advertise and I have personally seen companies all over the country develop and benefit from this never-before-experienced presence. I have owned real estate, mortgage, appraisal and insurance businesses for close to 30 years and being able to have a company like LocalAdLink create this opportunity is refreshing and necessary in these economic times. Who it seems to harm the most is the SEO companies and “experts” in the field of the internet. In closing, I have looked far and wide as to a reason why I should not advertise my business on LocalAdLink and I cannot find one reason why not to. Business friends of mine (many with large multi-million dollar organizations) have done the same and they are now happy advertisers with the seemingly demonized, big bad networking marketing scheme known as LocalAdLink.
My best regards
Devon Crowel
Hi Devon,
Thanks for your input and email yesterday.
I don’t understand why every LocalAdLink rep dodges the questions in my post. Every rep that visits this blog post is only concerned about one thing: MLM Marketing. They’re more concerned with telling everyone how great MLM is.
Not one cares about analytics. They don’t care to talk about turning visitors into customers. Conversions is what drives a business. Web traffic does not. LocalAdLink reps still have the mind set of “Hits” for websites while marketing professionals care about “ROI” and “Conversions”.
Not one LAL rep has offered up bounce rate numbers, conversions numbers, or any web analytics to back up their statements.
Do you know why that is? Its because a LocalAdLink rep is not a marketing professional. Their careers, 99% of the time, lies in something else. Just as you are a mortgage/real estate professional, I COMPLETELY expect you to guide me in obtaining a mortgage and to work FOR ME. Why would I go to you for online marketing advice when you don’t show me analytics, conversions, CTR %’s, ROI (return on investment) for my online marketing spend?
Your statement:
“Who it seems to harm the most is the SEO companies and “experts” in the field of the internet. ”
couldn’t be more farther from the truth.
The real person it harms is the business owner your taking money from in trying to provide a service you know nothing about.
Cisco,
I can guarantee you we won’t have 1 LAL rep take us up.
You lost them at “track everything”.
Keith
@Devon – “There are many, many fine companies that have as their foundation the exact same or very similar marketing methods.”
Name one. The simple fact is that MLM benefits those at the top only.
This was pitched to me today. I took a look at the site and immediately had reservations based on the content above the fold on a business listing. Not only that, how can a company that is buying PPC ads from Google claim that you get unlimited clicks for $200/month or what ever the price is? Simple, they can’t. They make money from getting people to sign up as “Brand Builders”.
It’s only a matter of time before this company collapses under it’s unsustainable model.
@Keith – thanks for the excellent analysis. I will be forwarding anyone else who pitches LAL to me to this blog post.
Thanks Brent and thanks for stopping by to add your input.
“It’s only a matter of time before this company collapses under it’s unsustainable model.”
Yes!, and true of any MLM….
Keith
I would just like to add a comment. I am a LAL BB and just started an online business to see exactly how much traffic I could generate using the LAL platform. Just to point out one note I am ONLY going to advertise through LAL for my first month.
There are a few points I will make. I am running 2 LAL ad campaigns one 50zip and one 10zip. I am targeting the same 3 search terms for each, one that has around 100-300 competing sponsored links on Google depending on zip codes and one that has 4-5 competing sponsored links. I am saying competing sponsored links bc that’s where our advertising will pop up. I am also saying Google bc it accounts for the majority of search engine traffic. The zip codes will range from a large city ~35 zip codes and smaller cities 1-2 zip codes. So what I am not expecting is a plethora of visits from the HIGHLY competitive search terms but would expect a little from the lower ones. I will also accept hits from random sites if they lead to any sales. I also am going to track my website via Google Analytics.
I am doing this as a test to see if the traffic I do get = Sales hence to see what kind of conversion rate I will be getting from the LAL ads ALONE. I don’t care about hits or page impressions only, I want conversions. If it does which I truly hope it does then I will go balls out selling it to other businesses knowing mine has benefited from it. If not, then I know this wasn’t the right thing for me to sale.
I also have been associated with MLM and really thought this was a better platform bc you make money when people actually sell a service. I know this might sound contradictory but I hate the MLMers that have the “sign up as many people as possible” mentality and not try and sale one product. That’s not my philosophy and I know thats what gives MLM a bad name and the Ponzi stereotype.
I’m by no means on either side here %100 yet and have seen valid points from both sides. So I am putting LAL ads to the test for both sides. If it works and makes me money then I will be at ease selling this to other businesses, if not then I will move on and try out other sources for my online venture because it is something I would really want to get going anyway. I will say this I have seen other businesses use this advertising and are on top of Google each time you search for that term in that location.
Keith I see you are just down the road from me in Charlotte, I honestly would love to come to one of your meetings and pick your brain. I know the more one can educate himself on any subject the better, and I promise you don’t have to worry about me trying to sell you on LAL because there is a quote that says “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still”. I would just like to thank you for your insight. I also checked out your website and it is very impressive, I also see you are a Certified Google Advertising Professional. Congrats on that and I will keep you posted on my progress, might not be everyday but it will be sometime. You can also email me as well Keith to check on my progress. I will be more than happy to share my progress with you bc I honestly have nothing to hide. If something works great if something doesn’t then I don’t want my integrity attached to it. This sounds fair to me, the businesses I would be selling to and others I would be recruiting into my down line, what do you think?
EXCERPTS OF THE FINANCIALS OF LAL AND SISTER COMPANY:
“This company’s financial statements are prepared using generally accepted accounting principles, which contemplate the realization of assets and liquidation of liabilities in the normal course of business. However, the company has an accumulated deficit of $17,886,381 on December 31, 2008 and will need to raise additional capital, or obtain financing to continue operations”
“As a result of the above activities, we experienced a net decrease in cash of $11,161 for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2008. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on our success in obtaining additional financing from investors through the sale of its securities and through a continued increase in revenues.”
No assurance can be made that we will have access to the capital markets in future, or that financing will be available on acceptable terms to satisfy our future and on-going cash requirements that we need to implement its business strategies. Our inability to access the capital markets or obtain acceptable financing could have a material adverse affect on its results of operations and financial condition, and could severely threaten our ability to continue as a going concern.
“As shown in the accompanying consolidated financial statements, we incurred a loss of $12,857,990 for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2008. Our current liabilities less debt exceeded current assets by $3,212,306 at December 31, 2008 and negative cash flow from operating activities for the twelve months ended December 31, 2008 was $5,740,549. These factors, and our ability to meet our obligations from current operations, and the need to raise additional capital to accomplish our objectives, create a substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.”
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/090403/byoc.ob10-k.html
No wonder they are bouncing checks!
Joe,
Its funny you mention that. I thought I’d post a snapshot of my stats since writing this post.
I like the queries about the ‘checks bouncing’. Thats too funny. The rest of the queries are not exactly a shocker either.
I’ve reposted this image into the original post so everyone can see it better.
Hey guys still haven’t gotten anywhere with my sales. Only 40 visits to Hotels Around America according to google analytics. I know over half of those were from tweaking the website. Hmmm, Joe Rose it’s so funny you pointed that out bc my upline just sent me that release and thought….Oh My just like our other company that went belly up. Right now it’s not looking good for LAL. Guess that’s the down fall of being publicly traded….the reports.
Actually, the downfall from the start is that it is an MLM…why do yo think it is that so many new business opportunities advertised, start with “Not MLM”
Just a quick side note. Im not sure if it was covered in the comments but, anybody who signed up prior to MARCH 9TH, the .net side of the back office was unsecured and unencrypted = ssn and all personal info was open for anybody to see. Just a little tid bit of info for any die hard LAL folks out there. Its FACT!
Ok I’ve been doing some much needed due diligence as everyone should when they start a new venture and I found this from Market Watch. This is all anyone needs to know and read to figure this company out on their own. So if you are in doubt then just read this. Enough Said. Financial Statements don’t lie.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/10-k-beyond-commerce/story.aspx?guid={2C57D691-332C-4491-915C-030F77148083}&dist=msr_2
Wow, ReUnpack thanks for the info, now it really makes me feel safe. Hey if you don’t mind could you find a link to that and post it so I see it.
It just seems like the more I find out, the more it reminds me of a company I use to work for and lets just say they still owe me about 10K. So if I’m getting that feeling now then that should be my omen.
Oh and Keith I appreciate this write up. Made me go dig a little, which I should have done from the start.
YTB’s fate:
http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/Travel_Pyramid_Scheme_20090325
Is Local Ad Link next?
Here is an actual customers BOUNCED CHECK IMAGE – and BTW this was a small check (i.e. a little over a hundred dollars)…I love when these reps claim “growing pains”, yet they brag they have 14 million customers…a bit contradictory.
http://www.totaan.com/
I want want to thank ALL of you that have taken the time to add comments and information here, because it’s proving to be very helpful to me. I found myself here because of lack of information and too many unanswered questions at LAL!
I’m at a career crossroads (with a strong sales & marketing background) looking for a good income opportunity. Like many others, I stumbled across an ad hiring LAL sales people. I’ve been pitched all the way, was turned off by the MLM model right off the bat, but yet was also conversely intrigued by the low-cost “geo-targeted” web advertising opportunity they claim.
I went ahead & signed on as a no-investment account executive only. I was pitched the BB model which places people in the sales geneaology but turned it down. I said if I couldn’t quickly sell the required ads to the earn that rank at no cost (which is an option), then I should’t be doing this let alone recruiting other to do so. (The blind leading the blind!? What business promotes that?!) …It’s that ugly MLM numbers game!
Maybe the product is good enough to keep looking and listenling? I believe in knowing ones business inside and out all giving it ones all, but kept hitting walls every time I asked someone to please explain to me exactly HOW buying this service was better than all the other avenues available? All I have been told to date is to just go to the website and play the “educational” videos. I saw those right off the back but they’re all fluff and no real content or information; even for the sales team. Wanting and hoping this would turn out to be something promising, I kept up a forgiving attitide. Those were really designed as attention-grabber videos for the masses and not true roll-up-your-sleeves training tools for the sales team and “employees”, right? O.K., so where’s the REAL training and information for the team????
…The problem is, here I am on-line doing my OWN research because there just seems to be nothing available ANYWHERE that gives independent, objective, true nuts-and-bolts results-driven information and a layman’s explanation to accompany it! All I see is a lot of fluff with general statistics when I expected a true basic education in the industry with additional, more indepth educational opportunities (like a real company would provide). I guess it doesn’t exist!!!
I think offering small business owners a flat-rate packaged “budget” web ad is a great idea and fills a true need. Many small business owners just have NO knowledge or interest in coordinating things themselves, so a flat-rate option is great for them. It’s like paying for their internet service. It’s simple and familiar. What about a bundle? There’s another thought! LAL is just a “yellow pages ad”, nothing more. So what’s the true value & how measurable is this service? I’m just still looking for results, and you’re the first thing I’ve found that really addresses the question. Unfortunately, I still see no answers which is an answer in itself!!!
I’m a business owner myself that has taken time off and now needs to kick-start an income to get things going again. I’m not sold on LAL as a sales rep or a customer until I see concrete numbers and reports that don’t insult my intelligence.
So, I will continue my research and my job search. Someone out there (probably google) will seize the opportunity for this target audience of web advertisers if LAL fails to pull it together and get it right.
Hi Norma,
I’ve been a Brand Builder with LAL since November and have experienced the ups and downs of the business. In spite of all the obstacles that they’ve gone through, I’m still believing that it’s going to work by the time they get through beta and launch it in June. Some people might call me naive, but I really do think it’s going to be a “game changer” as far as the internet is concerned.
Before you write it off completely, give it some more time and then re-visit LAL as it gets closer to the official launch. If you’d like to discuss it further, let me know and we can contact each other privately.
Wishing you the best!
Julie
Hi Julie,
Did you read any of this post? Thats half the problem with LAL. Its not a game changer. This technology has been used for over 5 years. LAL piggy backs off of Google’s geo targeting technology, hence the fact you CAN show up in Google if all of the stars align.
The other half of the problem is its being sold by people who know zippo about online marketing TO business owners who no nothing about online marketing.
So I ask you again, did you read this post?
“I’m still believing that it’s going to work by the time they get through beta and launch it in June”
Hysterical…..the “official” launch was supposed to be May, now its June? I guess it buys them another month of excuses for bouncing checks and ads not appearing at all
Yes, Keith, I’ve read the post. The “game changer” is not because of the geo-targeting technology.
Joe, I don’t know if you’ve ever been involved in a startup company before or not, but sometimes things don’t go as planned and you need to be flexible and make adjustments. I would rather be with a company who had to postpone a launch then have them launch prematurely.
Update on the commissions – they don’t bounce now!
Hi Julie,
Then whats the ‘game changer’?
LAL is a directory. Much like Yahoo except it gets no traffic.
http://www.semrush.com/search.php?q=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fdir&x=0&y=0
http://www.semrush.com/search.php?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.localadlink.com&x=0&y=0
They have no less than 5 ads for their own co. when they’re supposed to advertise a small businesses information.
I can target as many zip codes as I want for $50.00 instead of just 5 with Google
AND in doing so I can:
Advertise my site, not LocalAdLink’s which will have ALL of your competitors information on the landing page.
I can go on for days with the BS that LAL is. Please update me on how you believe this is better for a small business owner? OR any business owner?
As far as commissions go….better think again:
http://twitter.com/kaywallace/statuses/1487707122
http://twitter.com/John__Stewart/statuses/1559310330
http://twitter.com/BNickley/statuses/1513075910
Keith,
I invite you to attend a LAL webinar so that you can get updated information on how LAL will be a game changer. You can sign up for a webinar by going to localadlinksupport.com if your intentions are really about researching. The webinar should answer most if not all of your questions.
If you are only about poking holes in a company that hasn’t even launched, then yes, the company had definitely had some issues that evidently has given you lots to work with.
Your link referring to the checks that bounced is now outdated as the current checks are not bouncing. The company has already acknowledged the source of the problem with the processor and has taken steps to prevent that from happening again. My team received checks this past week and had no problem cashing them.
Wishing you the best!
Julie
Julie,
April 9th was 11 days ago. Thats outdated?
Not a single LAL rep thats made it to this blog can tell me whats game changing. I’ve seen all of the fluff videos. I’ve seen reps make it over here and tell me there ad is pushed out to millions of websites (which is irrelevant b/c Google, Yahoo, and MSN make up 95% of the market). Its comical that not one rep knew that.
Its comical that not one rep understands how LAL uses Google’s geotargeting technology to display their ads.
Its comical that LAL reps do not know terms such as exact match, phrase match, and broad match and they have no idea which one LAL uses in its advertising system.
Its comical that a LAL rep doesn’t understand how or even what, a landing page is and how it effects user behavior.
Its comical that LAL reps don’t understand conversions and how to improve them.
Yet LAL reps are supposed to be helping business owners out right?
Its not about poking holes in a company that hasn’t launched (which is a completely different story on its own). Its about PROTECTING the best interest of a business owner.
Its about understanding how online marketing works and how a business can benefit from SEO, PPC, or any other online marketing technique. Unfortunately for LAL and their reps, they all come from different backgrounds. I’ve spent the past 7+ years in online marketing, do you think I know how it works?
I have certifications with Google and Yahoo because I have experience and expert knowledge in how the entire process works. I’ve serviced over 50 clients and managed over half a million dollars in PPC spend.
LAL reps come from all walks of life: real estate, mortgage industry, and yourself from selling medical healthcare plans to people. Someone over at LAL waved a magic wand and crowned LAL reps the Masters of Internet Marketing in less than 24 hours and said, “Go sell LAL and we’ll give you 50% of the money, wink wink”.
So once again whats this rant about Julie? Its something I say over and over. It pisses me off that LAL reps are taking business owners to the cleaners in todays economy when LAL reps know NOTHING about online marketing and how a business owner can benefit from it.
You know what analytics can reveal Julie? It can reveal alot about a visitor. Something LAL reps know nothing about.
The image below is a search you conducted for “Localadlink problems” – what do you know my sites in the top 20
.
So its begs the question, why are you ‘googling’ that search phrase? There’s only two reasons. Lets explore shall we?
1. – You’re really having problems with LAL but you’re query was way too broad. You weren’t specific enough with your ‘problem’. And according to your post your quite happy. So you’re not really having problems are you? Lets scratch number 1.
2. – You’re trolling the internet looking for post such as mine to make it look like LAL is the next best thing since sliced bread. This would make complete sense because your query was so broad. Good luck scamming folks Julie.
Keith,
Here’s the Wikipedia definition of “Trolling the Internet”
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2]
If you’ll read my posts, I have not done any of that. I was simply sharing my experience and opinion of LAL. For some reason, it seems to have really hit a nerve with you. I’m sorry if I’ve said something that has in some way offended you. I am not in any way questioning your expertise. I’m sure you are very good at what you do. This is the first time I’ve posted anything about LAL and I did not come here to argue with you. I didn’t realize that this post was only for people to complain and bash LAL. Now I know and will not continue posting anything as that is not what I am all about.
Here’s wishing you continued success in your area of expertise!
Julie
Yes thats the exact definition of Wikipedia, however it can include exactly what you did, which was search for “localadlink problems” to find sites revealing them for what they are then proceed to post a glory story.
What really hits a nerve is folks selling a service that hurts a business owners wallet with misinformation. Most people call it a scam.
If LAL was a real legit company, they’d be seeking out and hiring online marketing professionals. Instead they seek out everyone but professionals.
Keith, you are so on target it is amazing. It pisses me off that people in MLM are scammers on the whole. Virtually every MLM is nothing more than a scam to get more distributors. The product or service is always incidental. MLM’ers for the lack of a better term, will change businesses week to week or month to month. One month the MLM’er is an expert on vitamins, the next month travel services (i.e. see YTB), and then the next month internet search (i.e. see LAL), and so on.
In contrast, people in legitimate businesses have a passion about whatever it is they do, such as yourself Keith. But, people in MLM do not get it because the whole industry is built on lies, distortions, and deception. Every single MLM eventually fails or if it stays around, no one gets “excited” about them and no one makes any meaningful income (except of course the top 1% – i.e. see Amway, Herbalife.
Like I saw this video of YTB being exposed in which some woman exclaims, the gold in on the ground, you just have to pick it up…another woman claims that she made 47,000 dollars in one month…the bottom line, just a bunch of horse shit! Yeah, people are making money??? That is why they have been slapped with a major class action law suit because they barely sell travel, and no one is making any money!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I06d6WSBWiQ
I think you all should actually sign up as an account rep before you talk about things you know nothing about.
See what it offers, then form an opinion. It’s FREE.
The MLM industry scam as you call it is not the focus of the program, but a component in which the “network” and dissemination of information is distributed…effectively. With incentive to do so.
The information presented from Mr Schilling and the opinions formed by Mr Rose are so skewed, one can not help thinking there is an ulterior motive behind their rantings.
The customer service department has been on top of and correcting every glitch in the process.
The returned checks problem was addressed immediately and made right. They even paid for the bank fees.
They are a publicly traded company so therefore more of a “legitimate” company then you.
Check out the SEC regulations…
Have you been featured on National TV?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvLZu3eR7os&feature=related
Look at this NBC video about the company.
As far as only hiring marketing “professionals” who know what they are doing, that is the whole point. The outrageously expensive “professional” service you provide is unnecessary and so simplified, that you do not need to charge for “years” of knowledge and experience because it is a business model that works.
Follow the business model and everyone wins. Clients get internet presence exposure and results that otherwise would not have had that opportunity and smart reps can offer a service where all the issues and mystery has been weeded out.
Do you offer a proprietary network of outlets for the clients information to spider out to the web?
Do you have a billion dollar portfolio of businesses under your belt. Started from scratch and built through business intelligence?
Do have that billion dollar network of business experience behind you providing assistance, incentive and constant training?
Do you provide multiple streams of income for anyone but yourself?
It is too bad you see your business about to dry up and have new technology and ideas take its place.
Google adwords are expensive and not as effective for many businesses as you would lead your clients to believe.
I know many business owners who have lost on the advertising route.
It makes sense you are proudly showing off your Google and Yahoo credentials, because that is the hype you sell your clients.
LAL does not need them.
PPC click through is only trackable if the client keeps track.
LAL is trackable locally and nationally, provides impression counts, click counts, and referrer information.
LAL will be the leader in over 100 search sources “organically” and does not need paid adwords to keep it in the rankings.
With multiple sources of local ad link link backs google will post those directory ads above your sponsored ads that people pay much more money for and have way more competition for that space.
FInd out about what the process is before knocking it down. You may want to become part of it before you are left out completely.
I can tell you, I had all the problems you wave in everyone’s face, and every one has been resolved. Some quickly, some no so quickly.
With the beta phase gone, the new customer service implementation has been a different experience.
Response is with 2 days and with accurate and professional info.
I am the last person to get into something that is a scam. I may have even passed by other legitimate opportunities because I could not get enough info.
It won’t be long until you are singing a different song, big guys fall hard Keith.
Look out.
Try not to compare baseless claims with Local Ad Link. It makes you look foolish.
Jeff,
Let me start off by saying quite simply, you’re hillarious.
I love how all you LAL reps stop in for a little ‘link droppage’ on my blog. All pointing back to your little LAL website so you can try to make that quick buck. Not going to happen.
ATTENTION LAL REPS – YOU WON”T GET YOUR LINK POSTED.
Now, on to your comments.
Did you even watch the video you posted? – How many times did they mention LocalAdLink? ZERO! Is this the ‘hoorah’ video you show at your seminars and tell everyone it was on NBC? Did you tell them it was a Local News piece on social networking? Of course not. Why don’t you go count the number of times LAL was mentioned. Hilarious the title of that video is LocalAdLink on NBC. You guys are all about the ’spin’ huh?
This is an intelligent reply: “As far as only hiring marketing “professionals” who know what they are doing, that is the whole point.”
Heres a flat out lie: “Google adwords are expensive and not as effective for many businesses as you would lead your clients to believe.”
Adwords (which LAL uses – you LAL reps haven’t figured that one out yet which is comical in of itself) can be very cheap if you do it correctly. Using specific phrases and knowing when and how to use exact/phrase/or broad match eliminates large Adwords bills. Goetargeting and showing your ads are specific times of the day as well as days of the week help eliminate cost…..oh wait, nevermind, I have no idea what I’m talking about. I’ve never saved a client $$ in Adwords, silly me.
Your comment: “LAL does not need them.” – Another shining example of what a LAL rep is NOT taught. LAL uses Google Adwords. Amazing at what you guys are being told.
You make zero sense: “LAL will be the leader in over 100 search sources “organically” and does not need paid adwords to keep it in the rankings.”
Unless LAL creates BlackHat SEO techniques and gets banned, they’ll always rank for something. The question is for what? Charlotte Real Estate? I don’t think so.
Speaking of BlackHat SEO. Do you know what hidden links are? I happen to notice a LocalAdlink ‘link’ coming from this site: http://www.greatfallschamber.org/
Can you spot it? No you can’t, and neither can web visitors. But when you click on View Source and search for LocalAdLink, sure enough, theres a link. Thats known as BlackHat. I wonder if The Chamber knows this? (No) and I wonder if Google will care? (Yes)
Deceptive practices abound huh Jeff?
Comment: “PPC click through is only trackable if the client keeps track. LAL is trackable locally and nationally, provides impression counts, click counts, and referrer information.”
LAL can show all the pretty clicks it wants but does the client have tracking on their site? Or are you only referring to that listing on LAL’s site? Are you telling me you would rather have LAL provide you with statistics rather than use your own Google Analytics or StatCounter or W3Counter or any of the other bazillion Third Party Web analytics programs out there? Yeah, I’m going to depend on a company that shows me statistics that I can’t control and can only see a limited amount of data. Makes sense to me.
Finally: “With multiple sources of local ad link link backs google will post those directory ads above your sponsored ads that people pay much more money for and have way more competition for that space.”
Are you serious?? Directory ads on LocalAdLink being posted above Pay Per Click Ads? I’m sorry Jeff, thats another LIE and I’m truly sorry you are being given some VERY BAD information on how Google and online advertising works.
One more thing…
Since Keith can only post pics, of his half of a screen, screen shot, go to http://www.localadlink.com and search for something to see for yourself.
As you can see the search term used in Keith’s example was Italian Restaurants.
I do not think there is a business named “Italian Restaurants” in Miami
The search came back about with what it seems like 18 choices to decide from. Not bad?
How many ads for LAL do you see?
Only the one obvious ad for LAL.
The others are promoting a portion of the program or where to get listed for your own business.
How may do you see on any directory service?
A lot more.
FYI- to Debbie with the list of lawsuits etc against McNulty etc, try a google search for lawsuits Donald Trump and see the 30+ results for bankruptcy and lawsuits filed you get. I guess Donald Trump is a loser criminal for being sued that much. Don’t trust him. He’ll steal your money. Compare to Madoff…
Your articles are 10 yrs old.
Jeff, you’re showing your ignorance. I’m not the only that can post a pic so quit assuming I’m the ‘manipulator’ here. Use HTML code in the comments field.
Searching for Italian Restaurants, its clear you don’t understand how searches are performed. If I want to eat Italian, I go search for “Italian Restaurants”. Or if I want to be specific for a region, I search for “Miami Italian Restaurants”.
Do you want me to post a screenshot of the number of Ads for LocalAdLink for you??
Yes Keith the video is about BOOMJ.com the social networking site owned by Beyond Commerce.
Not necessarily LAL but now do you see how it is game changing???
This is precisely one of the ways LAL does it better. THE NETWORK of areas the clients ads will be posted and then spider out ORGANICALLY to the web.
Yes, you are correct it can not be physically “above” the listing of sponsored ads. I may have phrased that wrong, but it will be displayed in the results without having to pay to be there, at $1 er click, or a bid of that much for search terms etc.
You can not ever guarantee displays by anyone no matter how much you pay to be there. But with more than just google to display the ads, you get way more bang for your buck.
The LAL directory
BOOMJ.com
I-Supply network of stores
30 Partner sites
photography.com and more
plus the search engines
So in the interim Google adwords are used, and will/may continue, but at a much better result than you can even begin to offer.
And we all know what they are doing. It is open to all reps.
Your paragraph about how to “do it correctly” with adwords, phrases, time of day, et al makes the point for LAL. You don’t need to do that or know that or pay you for that.
As far as you calling me a liar about adwords not being expensive and being cost effective,
I can, but won’t, give you at least 2 of my PRINT advertising clients to repeat what they complained to me about why should they be paying for someone from 25 miles away to click on their adword for their local business and NOT get a customer.
Local Ad Link is just that LOCAL advertising.
TARGETED to where you want it.
There is no reason to not use any third party analytics. Is there? If you want. Except you don’t have to.
Open your eyes and see where it is going.
About your Great Falls Chamber web site
1st- you must not have enough to do to find this
2nd- Since this is created for and by the Chamber they probably know this or the web developer is suspect and should be reported to LAL and the Chamber as LAL has strict policies against such practices. In fact I will report it for you. To both.
3rd- Unfortunately not all is controllable
PS I wasn’t trying to get a link out of you just trying to let readers see something for themselves, but I guess you can’t allow that either
I’m done with you.
Bye
Jeff,
Comment: “I can, but won’t, give you at least 2 of my PRINT advertising clients to repeat what they complained to me about why should they be paying for someone from 25 miles away to click on their adword for their local business and NOT get a customer. Local Ad Link is just that LOCAL advertising. TARGETED to where you want it.”
Google has being doing this for years. Localadlink USES GOOGLE’s TECHNOLOGY. I don’t understand how the reps don’t understand this. Whats the numbers for LocaladLink? You can use one zip code for 5 keyphrases, 10 keyphrases? When you use Google and not LAL did you know that business can list an unlimited number of keyphrases for that zip code? Unlimited. No restrictions.
On their page for their Standard Package at $99/month:
• Target 10 zip codes.
• Add 2 search terms.
Google, as many zip codes and as many search terms as you want with whatever budget you want! $25/month or $99/month – you decide, not LAL. LAL actually restricts your ability to add phrases. PATHETIC!
Comment: “1st- you must not have enough to do to find this” – Quite the contrary, as a professional at what I do it takes me 2 seconds to find out who links to who. Quick lesson, using Yahoo, you simply use the “SITE:” command – http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/search?p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.localadlink.com&bwm=i&bwmo=d&bwmf=u and low and behold number 2 is that Chamber. Why did I choose the Chamber? Because I know a Chamber would never link to LocalAdLink and I immediately looked at their site to look at the link. Then I couldn’t find it and had to view the source code.
Sorry, its easy for me because I know what I’m doing. Years of experience pays off and protects my clients best interest to make sure they rank correctly and legitimately, not to be banned by Google.
Comment: “There is no reason to not use any third party analytics. Is there? If you want. Except you don’t have to.” – This is called transparency and controlling your data. You’re just going to let that business owner ASSUME he’s getting thousands of clicks because LocalAdLink says so right?
You’ll let that business owner spend thousands of dollars a year (to pad your wallet nonetheless) when you can set them up for free so they can see their own analytics. Yeah, sounds like a no brainer huh? Third party means they (the analytics company) doesn’t have a VESTED interested in padding statistics.
Hey Jeff (Amateur Businessman)….do you think we are stupid or something…..Alexa puts LAL at close to 20,000 as far as rank on the net- here is a cut and paste of its TRAFFIC RANK:
Alexa traffic rank for localadlink.com:
Yesterday 17,368
7 day avg 19,835
1 month avg 22,998
3 month avg 19,601
BTW, ranks of other directories that have free listings: Super Pages= 801 YellowPages=612 Google= #1 Yahoo=#2
So, please explain why anyone with half of a brain would pay 200 dollars per month to be listed on an obscure directory that is ranked 20,000????? Which btw does not take the surfer to their website, but rather to LAL’s site. You pay 200 bucks and get only 3 key terms, only 50 zip codes…..plain and simple it does not work. And, please stop claiming that by listing with LAL your ad is placed on these affiliate sites – because A) that is through Google, and many of these supposed sites are crappy sites to begin with (i.e. will not give you true exposure). The bottom line is that people who truly want to a web presence would NOT advertise with Local Ad link (at least not now when they rank 20,000!!)….so, please be honest with potential victims and go back to the primary goal of any MLM scam, get more suckers in your downline and keep up the phoney “excitement”!!
Well Keith,Rose I agree. Keith, I am sure like your portfolio shows in itself you are a professional at what you do which is greatly to be respected for. I did my little test and I only generated 40 pageviews according to my Google Analytics. So 30 days = 40 Pageviews. Lets not forget almost half of that was from when I was tweaking it. So I am a believer it doesn’t work as advertised. This is so funny, my upline had ads ran on his business and when he typed in a certain word for the city zips he picked, someone from 3 states away came up. Him being the person he is called the guy and asked him if he picked that city to run ads in and That Guys answer was “NO”….hmmmm. Geotarget a little off. Well I did my due diligence so now on to bigger and better things. Oh and just wanted to say this to Joe Rose… I totally understand you having a passion to want to voice your opinion about LAL being a scam and I respect that the only thing I would like to say is to lighten up on the name calling. “Hey Jeff (Amateur Businessman)” It really makes the information you do post seem very unreliable and in return turns people off from your point of view. I understand you hate LAL but please don’t act as if you hate the person trying to represent it.
Thanks Keith for your Honesty.
I am a BB for LaL since February. sold One ad, collected my initial commission 7 weeks later, I presume because of (soft start).I have managed pay per clicks for a few years now, using Overture back then and Google now. Lal has not payed my monthly commissions on the one ad to date. my client chooses to pay monthly. I have emailed support.No Response.My client that I sold has not had any exposure whatsoever. The gentleman who sold me on Lal has had no success with his clients being seen on Google either. of course you know 3rd party search engines aren’t guaranteed. without Google those clients will not get any hits period. I have noticed when I use my Google tools to give educated data on search terms that are being used monthly, LaL conveniently does not post those terms. I think they are depending on the Ignorance of the salespeople to sell keywords that have no traffic rate. or small traffic. I specifically set my client up with Hi volume, Hi cost pay per click search terms. There is no way in Hell He will be seen. It would cost them the farm. I was hoping this would work, but the more I wait and view the Fiasco….I know its not. they are now selling the BB packages at 99.00 which were 249.00 plus 50 fee. none one is buying or selling ads…its all being driven from BB sales. I had a hunch they were gonna drop the price on BB, to try to stimulate more income before the bust. I got in to help Mom and Pops compete against the Big pockets out there using PPC’s and now all I’m doing is hurting them by selling them a “BOGUS” product. My one client payed for a product that works. not one that doesn’t. I’m going to switch him over to Google for no amount of commission to try to regain a bit of dignity.
Thanks for the reality Check
V
Is Localadlink a SCAM?
to date for me “YES”
“It really makes the information you do post seem very unreliable and in return turns people off from your point of view. I understand you hate LAL but please don’t act as if you hate the person trying to represent it.”
I disagree…I said it like that because the guy is so full of it….what I posted was not in anyway OPINIONS….that is Keith’s point too. I posted FACTS from Alexa in which LAL ranks 20,000…..I really have no feeling one way or the other towards LAL (Why would I?, Its a website)….I am just trying to keep people informed about facts and statistics….so often people in MLM especially get caught up in hoopla, hyperbole, and sometimes blatant lying….Thus, I am just providing factual information – something LAL reps seem to ignore. And, yes phoney wannabe businessman like him, sicken me because it is the innocent business owner who thinks he or she is getting something of value when they are clearly not.
Plus if you notice, I said the following:
The bottom line is that people who truly want to a web presence would NOT advertise with Local Ad link (at least not now when they rank 20,000!!)
Thus, I added “at least not now” meaning they could improve….I can assure you have no personal feelings towards LAL and if they eventually become successful that is great….it is just the dishonest reps that sicken me.puke!
Regarding Joe Rose’s comments below:
By Joe Rose on Apr 29, 2009 | Reply
Hey Jeff (Amateur Businessman)….do you think we are stupid or something…..Alexa puts LAL at close to 20,000 as far as rank on the net- here is a cut and paste of its TRAFFIC RANK:
Alexa traffic rank for localadlink.com:
Yesterday 17,368
7 day avg 19,835
1 month avg 22,998
3 month avg 19,601
**************************
Joe,
I don’t think Jeff was insinuating that you are stupid or something. The Alexa ranking for LocalAdLink.com is indeed in the top 5,000 sites in the US. When you go to Alexa.com and search the site, you’ll see it if you scroll down and check the rankings by country. Today it was ranked 4,518. I’m a little surprised that Keith didn’t pick up on that!
Ann
Guys,
Don’t get caught up in Alexa ranking. Its a whole different story and a whole different blog post. Its well known and documented Alexa is lacking in terms of tracking sites. There are other sources that experts use to gauge a sites traffic in todays day and age.
http://ez-onlinemoney.com/blog/internet-marketing/google-pagerank-and-alexa-ranking-explained/
Heres a post back in 2006. Goes to show you how ‘out of date’ Alexa is:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/alexa-worthless-easy-to-manipulate/3847/
http://www.terencechang.com/2007/06/20/manipulating-alexa-traffic-rankings-does-it-work/
http://www.google.com/search?q=manipulate+alexa+rankings&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Marketing professionals know better to use Alexa, especially if someone is determining if a site is worth advertising on (think banner ads). They take several newer/up to date tools into consideration.
What are other ways to judge a sites traffic in 2009?
http://compete.com/
http://semrush.com
http://www.semrush.com/search.php?q=localadlink.com&x=0&y=0
Unfortunately Alexa is a ‘house hold name’ by those just getting into online marketing.
Keith, Alexa may not be perfect, but it gives people of a good rough idea. So, fine instead of ALexa I went to compete and registered. Just for a comparison, I found that “Unique” visitors to Local Ad link was 74,000 and to Yellowpages.com was 17 million. So, the analysis is essentially in line with ALexa….Local Ad link is not a place to spend money…it sucks!
“Today it was ranked 4,518.”
I assume that is US only….the overall rank from the cut and paste I provided was close to 20,000…..And, as just noted the rank at Compete.com is that LAL is getting 74,000 unique visitors whereas yellowpages.com is getting 17 million uniques visitors….now, which is more? Simple math….LAL is a waste of money right now for someone who wants to have a web presence….here is another comparison:
LAL = 74,000 unique visitors
Superpages.com=over 6 million
Google=over 135 million
So, whether it is ALexa or any other comparison, once again, LAL does not even come close to any of the other sites….now where do I sign up to throw away my 200 bucks per month
The bottom line is this: If you were truly a website marketing professional and genuinely wanted to help your potential client with advertising his or her business….you would never recommmend Local Ad Link when there are much, much, much, much better ways to advertise (even for free), which I clearly showed above with facts and statistics. Thus, when someone from LAL pushes their product on someone without providing all of the information it is with selfish motives and to build their “downline.” Tisk….
One last thing….if you pick ONLY the US Rank for LAL (i.e. the 4518 rank), as opposed to the overall rank of 20,000, then you would have to be fair to Yellowpages.com and superpages.com. Originally, I said those ranked 801 and 612, but that was their overall rank….. Using only the U.S. Rank then those sites clearly MOVE UP AND IMPROVE with a rank as follows:
Yellowpages=124
Superpages=195
LAL=4518
Not looking so hot after all. And, please do not say LAL has not been around a long time…we all know that and we are talking about NOW…no one has a crystal ball.
__________________________________
On semrush, here are the rankings:
LAL=2,201,976 (yes that is over 2 millionth in rank!)
Yellowpages.com=154
superpages.com=145
I rest my case……..
Jeff, nice try comparing McNulty to Trump. Trump was not broke in 2006 but McNuly was. LAL reps brag about McNulty selling Shopping.com for 220M when McNutly was not working for Shopping.com when Compaq bought it. McNulty was forced to resign in the summer of 1998…Shopping.com was sold in early 1999.
Hard to sell a company you don’t work for or run. He was able to keep 150K shares as he had 1/3 stake in the company. He was forced to resign because Nasdaq would not list Shopping.com because of McNulty’s past SEC violations (see links above) McNulty was later sued by Shopping.com shareholders and it was settled out of court. McNulty had his yacht foreclosed on him in 2003 and in a Nevada Dist Court in 2005 and 2006 he claimed he had no money and no assets under oath during a debtor exam for Union Bank of California.
So, don’t bs about things that happen 10 years ago. Go to Orange County Courts and type in his name. He has a collection against him filed in Jan of 2009! He has a very disturbing pattern. If you have an attorney friend, ask her to run his name on their online records data search. Check out Nev Dist courts/Union Bank of Calif. That debtor exam is scary..under oath in front of a magistrate. I’m sure Union Bank is watching this very close. Do the research…the court case numbers have been posted on various blogs such as “Forest Marie/Local AdLink Scam” Also, stop spreading the lie that he sold Shopping.com for 220M…that is a total lie.
http://www.secinfo.com/dR7Km.71m4.4.htm Here is copy of his resignation letter dated June 1, 1998 at bottom.
Here is the article when Shopping.com was sold..Jan 1999. Stop the lies.
http://www.fool.com/EveningNews/foth/1999/foth990113.htm
I hope he was not hiding any assets in 10/2005 while under oath denying he had any…the subsequent summons that he did not show up for in 2006….the judge failed to follow up on his contempt threat… And this guy is your CEO??
Also, Trump never paid fines nor did he have to plea bargin with the SEC for violating SEC laws. McNulty did. Big difference between filing bankruptcies violating SEC laws for market manipulation.
Debbie,
I’m sure the shopping.com lie is/does run rampant at LAL events. Its what the majority of reps and brand builders talk about when they mention his name. Its too bad they can’t do research themselves. Its all about making their wallets fatter.
Keith, I look at the leadership of companies, and his history is scary. If LAL reps researched the Nev Dist court records and read these records, they would be stunned. I will not post quotes from the records because people would not believe me…so, I encourage people to do the research themselves. It is crazy scary. Or, you can rent out the movie “Catch Me If You Can”.
Thanks Keith for hanging in there. I’ve just spent the better part of the last few hours conducting a bit of due diligence on LAL and Mr McNulty. Over the past two decades I made a pretty good living selling media. Times have changed and what once was clear and focused integrity selling has become “fuzzy” for many. The internet is a wonderful tool for growing a business with folks who know their businness like you. For years now I’ve watched people take shortcuts, in the process they hurt small business owners and taint legitimate professionals. Some call this “greed”. Thanks for calling out the “posers” I am now convinced LAL is not something I want my name on.
http://www.localadlinksupportsystems.com/fCMSBackend/imgRoot/final_traffic_mar_2009.pdf Here is March number for LAL. I’m sure you know how to interpet this better than I. If you divide all the supposed businesses by the unique visitors and average it daily,it does not seem what they claim…
Deb, whether it is Alexa, SemRush or Compete, they ALL clearly show that LAL is (at least now) so far behind any competition that spending money on them is clearly wasteful for business owner when there are clearly much, much better sites to list a business at. For instance, according to Compete.com Yellow pages perform over 200 times better than LAL. Plus, think of this, which the stats do not reflect (which makes the numbers even worse for LAL). How many of the “hits” that LAL have received are from actual customers genuinely searching for information vs. how much is from brand builders or advertisers looking up their business to see if it is listed or even better yet, those at LAL just clicking or “searching” for the site to artificially inflate the numbers. The latter is just a theory, but the former is definitely occurring, so even the bleak numbers listed ar probably even worse.
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who cares if they get 10 billion ppl or not
the fact is that they promote themselves MORE than the client
i would rather join the local meetup to learn about payperclick and do it myself AND have a client go to just MY PAGE
I dont want to be paying for a click that may result in the traffic finding MY COMPETITORS SITE
localadlink is a competitor
instead of branding the actual client…they’re using their client’s money to BRAND THEMSELVES!!!!!!!
Robert, i loved the video at 1:01 on the tweet. “We touched millions of people in 5 minutes”
uh…wait, aren’t they suppose to geotarget?
They even dupe their customers into saying the dumbest things.
Why are SEO companies so obsessed with LocalAdLink? Are they afraid that the technology behind the company will eventually put SEO companies out of business? If a customer can get the same results for $250 per month that SEO companies charge thousands of dollars for, who wouldn’t try it? My husband and I are Brand Builders with LocalAdLink. We’ve been with the company since November. We’ve read the blogs and the FTC reports and all the negative press. Every major corporation has some bad news going around, especially today. LocalAdLink is (1) an opportunity for small local businesses to reconnect with their clientele online and (2) an income opportunity for those looking for a way to help make ends meet. I don’t know of any SEO company willing to pay anyone to help strengthen their local economy. Do you?
Hi Debra,
I’m not sure why an SEO company would be obsessed either. LAL and SEO are two completely different beast. If you’re referring to me, we’re not an “SEO Company”. We provide SEO services, but more importantly, we provide companies knowledge and education when it comes to online marketing. We know web analytics (something LAL reps do not grasp at all), PPC, Web Design, SEO, Social Media, blogging, and tons more. Being transparent and not full of false information is exactly what I thrive upon. I love punching holes in bad information with facts and figures. It helps my clients and potential business owners see right through LAL’s junk marketing. LAL happens to be the “it” scam right now, meaning they thrive on the opposite. Filling small business owners with false information.
Pay Per Click Advertising is what LAL is/does. Being a brand builder I would hope you know and understand that, but judging by what other LAL reps know, I don’t expect you too. Its not your fault, its LAL for not conveying how they work. You would have made a better argument with an opening statement of “Why are PPC companies….”
Again, it goes to show you what LAL doesn’t tell their ’sales reps’ and allows me to show business owners that they should actually work with an online marketing professional, someone LAL has yet to produce. What industry are you in Debra?
ALERT!!! Local Ad Link admits to bouncing nearly 600 checks for over 250 thousand dollars!
Excerpts from the recent LAL Finance Report
“With the stoppage of the credit card processing and the processors holding back over $900,000 of funds due to the Company, we inadvertently had 567 checks returned totaling over $250,000 to valued employees, commissioned sales force and vendors.” (Wow, over a quarter million dollars in bounced checks!!)
“We currently do not have sufficient funds on hand to fund our current obligations until we reach our projected break-even level of operations. We do not have any bank credit lines. Accordingly, we will have to obtain additional funding in the near future in order to continue our operations until our revenues are sufficient to fund our operating expenses.”
“…we do not anticipate that we will generate sufficient cash from operations to fund our working capital needs for at least another three months. Accordingly, we intend to continue to seek additional financing from various sources, including from the sale of debt or equity securities. We have not yet identified, and cannot be sure that we will be able to obtain any additional funding from either of these sources, or that the terms under which we may be able to obtain such funding will be beneficial to us. If we do not obtain sufficient additional funds in the near future, we will have to suspend some of our operations, further scale down our current and proposed future operations or, if those actions are not sufficient, terminate our operations.”
“As a result of the above activities, we experienced a net decrease in cash of $87,596 for the three month period ended March 31, 2009. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on our success in obtaining additional financing from investors through the sale of our securities and continuing our stream of revenue through LocalAdLink.”
Entire report is here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/090515/byoc.ob10-q.html
Why bother with Local Ad Link? I just saw this great infomercial about how we can get rich buying real estate for no money down and these special loans where we only have to pay the interest. Easy money. Guaranteed.
(j/k)
@Debra
>>Why are SEO companies so obsessed with LocalAdLink? Are they afraid that the technology behind the company will eventually put SEO companies out of business? <>If a customer can get the same results for $250 per month that SEO companies charge thousands of dollars for, who wouldn’t try it?<<
That is very true. Why doesn’t the Gap use it? Why doesn’t Travelocity use it? Why doesn’t hotels.com use it? I would think even the big boys would want to benefit from this ‘new’ technology. We all want to save some money.
Heck why don’t LAL reps use it? I would think if was so wonderful and cheap then LAL reps would want to use if for their local advertising. But they don’t. Do a simple search for ‘localadlinks’ and you’ll see all of the sponsored ads by LAL reps not using the LAL service.
I encourage all LAL representative to take an online course from Google, or, even better go to one of their seminars that they hold in various cities. Get properly educated on Google’s Adwords program.
http://www.google.com/intl/gb/adwords/webinars/
Also read more about SEM and SEO from the sources and experts (not just the folks here):
http://searchenginewatch.com/
http://www.seochat.com/
** sorry I posted my earlier comment too soon **
@Debra
>>Why are SEO companies so obsessed with LocalAdLink? Are they afraid that the technology behind the company will eventually put SEO companies out of business? <>If a customer can get the same results for $250 per month that SEO companies charge thousands of dollars for, who wouldn’t try it?<<
That is very true. Why doesn’t the Gap use it? Why doesn’t Travelocity use it? Why doesn’t hotels.com use it? I would think even the big boys would want to benefit from this ‘new’ technology. We all want to save some money.
Heck why don’t LAL reps use it? I would think if was so wonderful and cheap then LAL reps would want to use if for their local advertising. But they don’t. Do a simple search for ‘localadlinks’ and you’ll see all of the sponsored ads by LAL reps not using the LAL service.
“In October 1995, McNulty settled an action brought by the SEC, consenting to a judgment providing for a civil penalty, which included disgorgementof his illegally obtained profits from a prior fraud. Defendant McNulty participated in the fraud complained of herein despite the injunction which prohibits him from violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. In fact, because of defendant McNulty’s prior shenanigans, Waldron was compelled to sell IBUY shares only to certain qualified investors, i.e., those who made certain threshold earnings and asset requirements and only after having such persons execute required documentation. Defendant McNulty prepared, reviewed and signed the false Registration Statement and Prospectus.”
http://securities.stanford.edu/1011/IBUY98/001.html
Christine, smartest comment I have seen yet! Wish I thought of it….commone sense..when searching Google, none of the “brand builders” who claim LAL is so wonderful to reach “customers” actually use Local Ad Link to achieve that goal….they won’t even use their own product? Hmmmm….
To Joe, Keith, and Christina,
What’s the big deal here? So we are “slightly skewing” the realities and intricacies of online marketing (of which I am posing as a knowledgeable professional)and charging them good money to provide a service that (barely) promotes MY company first and their company second. So what that the entire executive team of this organization has lengthy legal indiscretions ranging from multiple SEC violations to outright fraud resulting in prison time. Don’t YOU break the law by speeding every now and again? Isn’t America is the land of second (and third, and fourth) chances, as long as you have a good enough lawyer? Hey listen, times are tough and my family has to eat, too. If I can convince some local schmuck desperate to save his barely surviving business that he could get “unlimited geo-targeted hits” (using buzzwords like geo-targeted sounds impressive, right? Like I know what I am talking about?) from my “game changing” marketing program and he actually BELIEVES me without doing any research, then by the laws of “survival of the fittest” which apply to the business world too, he DESERVES to be taken. Doesn’t he? Dumb ass. And if I can sign up dozens if not hundreds of others to hoodwink the desperate, hardworking business owners in their community while slipping a hefty 50% of that business’s money into their own pocket off the top (plus even MORE money into MY pocket), why wouldn’t I? I mean, c’mon. At least we offer the promise of a FEW real clicks here and there, what do you get for all of those Nigerian lottery and phony cashier’s check scams? Maybe you three should get off your high horses of integrity, decency and good business practices, and join the rest of us down here in the trenches of scamville and denialville. I promise your bank account will get bigger. After all, isn’t that the NEW American way?
Signed, Joe Greed
Patriotic American
Dear Joe Greed:
Finally, an honest MLm’er scammer! Finally!!!
In all honesty…you are 100% right, you CAN do that Mr. Greed. But, typically when people behave the way you do, it only works in the short-run, not the long run. Eventually, it catches up to you…remember, life is not a sprint, its a marathon.
who runs a ppc campaign with 3 ad words? Keith what’s your opinion on reachlocal? I look forward to your comments.
thanks
If you really want to know about LocalAdLink you should ask someone who is devoted to educating themselves about how it works,and find out specifically what LocalAdLink does and doesn’t offer the Buisness Client.
LocalAdLink “IS NOT” a SEO as some “uneducated Reps” may presume it is. Yes LocalAdLink has had success in very prominant placement on search engines and continues to have those successes on a daily basis, BUT LocalAdLink for the “EDUCATED” Rep. is a “Total Advertising Solution” (search engines are only about 15% of the visability that we give the local advertiser)with a broad spectrum of listings,and visability through a vast array content pages,millions of high traffic websites,and LocalAdLink’s own Propriatary network for Local Advertisers all across the US,at a “Much Lower Cost” than any SEO, or Ad Agency in the marketplace.LocalAdLink does indeed have Ad Agencies worldwide either partnering or looking at partnering with them.
By the way for those of you who might not be aware….Google Loves LocalAdLink for a lot of different reasons and communicates regularly with their Corp. office…..
What does Google Know that the detractors on this blog don’t?
Check out LocalAdLink from someone who can actually answer your in depth questions or go out to Vegas and sit down with the CEO or a VP they are very accesable still.
Oh and for those you that run into an uneducated LocalAdLink Rep in the field. Please remember that in any industry you have lazy,unscrupulous,Reps who are trying to do as little as possible to maximize thier income…it’s not just LocalAdlink I’m sure you know some in your own various industries.
Thanks for your time.
I would love to have an online Professional like you in my LAL Organization…..are you up for it Keith?
Maybe you could bring what you see as organization to what you see as a totally unorganized situation….Welcome Aboard!
I see you chose to discard my post to your site……I sort of expected that since I figured you were only threatened by the competition LAL was bringing into your market….your response to LAL is similar to Yahoo’s responses in the blogs in 1998 to Google’s emergence into the search engine market….Yahoo didn’t stop Google…..and you won’t be able to halt the explosive growth of LAL…..have a great day
Isn’t that what Yellowpages did as a directory. They built their brand first and then listed busineses. Is this something new or just a new twist. You guys created buzz about the company. Someone approached me about this and I was told this.
First they list the information on
LocalAdLink.com
BoomJ.com
Then it gets pushed out to the sites.
How do you prove that its a scam. If the technology is based on geo targeting zip codes
you can’t see your ad if your IP Address is not in the area your searhcing for.
I know google has a tool to test ads but is there any tool that can test on multiple networks?
Keith, after reading the entirety of your blog on the subject, I am only more convinced that LAL is the pyrami scheme I thought it was. I have a family member who just signed up as a BB (after failed YTB try) and I can’t understad it. Why do people think that this tpe of business can work and be on the up and up. Sure if you really believe what “Joe Greed” writes it is possible to make money, but how do you sleep at night or any other time?
I think (and this is a guess here) that the “game changer” is supposed to be getting small business ad time on big engines to spur their business at an acceptable cost. Great but if the ads are seen infrequently it is of no value for that “acceptable cost”. I know I’m just nurse who works for someone else and will never be rich (because saving money and living at or below your means is such an outdated way to get rich)but this seems like a scam. and in my profession we say if it walks like a duck…
I truly wish that this was a good idea, but to all of the faithful LAL out there, WHY IF THIS PLATFORM WILL MAKE SO MUCH MONEY FOR EVERYONE, do you have to PAY to work for THEM?
THis is what I have never understood, I have always been paid by may employer not the other way around. Even pimps only take a cut after the money has been made!
Just a thought from someone who hates pyrmid schemes.
Sorry for the delay. As soon as im back sunday ill address everyones comments.
I’m back from the dead! Well, just back from vacation. I much needed one. So let me begin by addressing a few comments from the past week or so:
Jewey: You’re absolutely right. Noone should run a campaign with 3 adwords. Especially at the price point LAL does. Their plans allow advertisers to add keyphrases, for example 3 phrases at $50.00 (well, actually $25.00 because the Brand Builder forgets to tell the advertiser 25 is going to their pocket right off the bat) and the 50.00 gives you 1? 2? zip codes? If the advertisers budget is 50 or 150, they’re allowed to advertise is as many zip codes with as many keyphrases as they like.
Bill: I’m not sure why LAL reps don’t understand how their own ad system works. Many confuse SEO versus PPC and they in turn miscommunicate the differences to the advertisers. They also miscommunicate a TON of other misleading information to go along with it. Those millions of sites is also the CONTENT NETWORK from Google, which LAL reps don’t understand either.
“LocalAdLink does indeed have Ad Agencies worldwide either partnering or looking at partnering with them.” – You are correct, and a ton of the ad agencies know about LAL’s misguided information and don’t care. They just want to make money as fast as possible – (see http://ontopresultsllc.com/news/2009/03/06/localadlink-in-charlotte-nc/#comment-7 )
“Oh and for those you that run into an uneducated LocalAdLink Rep in the field. Please remember that in any industry you have lazy,unscrupulous,Reps who are trying to do as little as possible to maximize thier income…it’s not just LocalAdlink I’m sure you know some in your own various industries.” – Absolutely, but don’t you agree if LAL wanted to be successful they’d recruit ad agencies and online marketing professionals to sell their service or do you think its more important for them to recruit mortgage brokers and real estate agents as their sales force?
“I would love to have an online Professional like you in my LAL Organization…..are you up for it Keith?” – As soon as … http://www.bbsradio.com/FCKeditor/images/uploads/Image/WhenPigsFly.jpg )
“I see you chose to discard my post to your site……I sort of expected that since I figured you were only threatened by the competition LAL was bringing into your market….your response to LAL is similar to Yahoo’s responses in the blogs in 1998 to Google’s emergence into the search engine market….Yahoo didn’t stop Google…..and you won’t be able to halt the explosive growth of LAL…..have a great day” – You should have expected a slow response time due to the large postings on my blog Bill. Don’t worry, if I censor you I’ll make a direct post to you no matter what. Its hard to get censored on here, but its been done
Tina: You’ll have to reread both post. Way too many factors go into making LAL a scam for the advertiser.
Keith C: Its amazing how MLM’ers jump from one “next big thing” to other.
I have a mix feeling on MLM groups. Yes, I believe that most of them are design for you to fail and them to make more money. However, every MLM company I have been in I have made great money but I did not have a system that will work for me 24/7. And most of my downline fail-out. Now having said this the problem is really the people who are sign up for these companies who don’t understand that it is a business and you need a business plan.
I believe Keith you are a good SEO person for organic traffic. Maybe you should write a report on how we can get local traffic and let really help these local business for REAL!
Let me know and email me at mydominionlife@yahoo.com. I believe you can show us who want to really help small business and make money while we do it.
Has anyone found a link to an LAL ‘testimonial’ or outside endorsement? I found it interesting that when I googled ‘localadlink testimonials’ none showed up…maybe there are some? You would think for such a ‘brilliant’ marketing powerhouse, LAL would at least have a few ‘positive comments’ to parade as a tool for the sales force. At least in the first 10 pages of search returns, only MLMer’s and their ‘Wizard of Oz’ style promo videos. This reward senario is right up there with the ‘70 Virgins’.
Keith,
You’re right LAL is a scam. I unfortunately wasted my time trying to work with them. I started out for free Thank God! I started as an Account Rep. Never invested $1, becaue I look before I leap. So, for the last month and a half I’ve been doing the training and getting support from my up line and then one day decided to Google LAL and all this negative stuff came about. At first it upset me and I had to rebuttal on a blog or two and then I found one that talked about Rob Deboer, the former football player who was involved with Burncity pyramid scheme.I thought I know that name, yeah he’s a big dog at LAL. Then I researched them at BBB.org and found that they go by Boomj.com aka LocalAdLink. they’re rated w/a D-. Also, their business title is Discount/Department Stores. Then I called my sponsor and told her I was very distraught over this and she says to me” I can’t tell you what to do Tammy, it’s your choice to believ what you want.” That to me was another red flag. If it was a true business and not a scam, she would have assured me, with something to back it, not to say what she said to me. Also I researched them on mlm.com/it’s a directory and it shows everyones business number but theirs. Also, to the side it says DSA/no. DSA: Direct Selling Association/The cornerstone of the Direct Selling Association’s (DSA) commitment to ethical business practices and consumer service is its Code of Ethics. Every member company pledges to abide by the code’s standards and procedures as a condition of admission and continuing membership in DSA.
The DSA Code of Ethics speaks to both the consumer and the seller. It ensures that member companies will make no statements or promises that might mislead either consumers or prospective sales people. Pyramid schemes are illegal and companies operating pyramids are not permitted to be members of the DSA.
The DSA Code of Ethics is enforced by an independent code administrator who is not connected with any member company. The code administrator will do everything possible to resolve any complaints to the satisfaction of everyone involved, and has the power to decide on remedies. All member companies have agreed to honor the administrator’s decisions.
Of course they don’t belong to this because they are a scam. They are not a accredited business with the BBB because they are a scam. They don’t have a phone number because they are a scam. I have a friend in Vegas that went to their address listed and took pictures of the place. Also they claim to be partnered with HGTV.com. Well, they should be careful what they say, because my cousin is one of the Producers of HGTV and I found out different. I filed a complaint the the FTC and I’m gonna file one with the BBB. See, they think they’re invisible. My friend that took the pictures even went inside and they are not legit. It says Boomj outside of the building, but when they answer the phone they say Beyond Commerce. They should of at least figured with all the math they did to do this scam that someone out there was alot amarter thatn them and they wouldn’t make it too far past the gate.
So, with all that said, I ama stay at home mom looking for a true opportunity to work for a Great Company, with a Great Reputation. I would like to work at home. So, if you have any suggestions, let me know.
I back you on whatever you have to say about LAL. People who don’t believe just choose to not do research and don’t care who they scam. Just remember, you are selling ads in your city or town you live in and when it all crashes down, you will not be able to show your face anywhere. You will have to move. People will always know you as the person who sold them a lie. I feel sorry for you, all of you Brand Builders and hope you get some wit about you and really check out who you are working for.
http://news.localadlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/localadlink_-complaint.PDF
[...] LocalAdLink Scam in Charlotte NC – Is it a Scam? LocalAdLink News … [...]
“Our current liabilities exceeded our current assets by $9,443,091 at June 30, 2009 and negative cash flow from operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2009 was $3,403,485. Included in current liabilities is deferred revenue of $3,010,849 and notes payable of $5,350,391. These factors, and our inability to meet our obligations from current operations, and the need to raise additional capital to accomplish our objectives, create considerable doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.”
The rest here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/090814/byoc.ob10-q.html
One thing is for sure, Mr. Schilling just loves trying to discredit companies like LocalAdLink. LAL is and has been 100% upfront with their offerings and results. I have looked into them myself and found them to be accurate. All businesses go through growing pains, it’s actually a good thing because the business is GROWING. When I hear someone like Mr. Schilling being so adamant about attacking a company in particular, I have to ask myself why one would put so much effort into creating so much negative sentiment. Well, the most obvious answer is that Mr. Schilling is trying to slander LAL and presumably other businesses in an attempt to draw people to his business. This is his way of recruiting. Its shady, unethical and weak. I suggest he focus on growing his business in a legitimate way, rather than trying to steal thunder from LAL. LocalAdLink is as strong as ever and growing every day.
Yet another ‘brandbuilder’ who searches the internet looking to fix localadlinks reputation:
One thing is for sure “Mr.’ Tony, you sure love conducting searches like “localadlink scam” then making LAL seem rosy huh? By the way, did you read the post or are you making random stops at various blogs today? Regarding being adamant, CLICK HERE to find out why I love doing it. <-again, it shows me you didn't bother reading.
If you had a lick of intelligence with how internet marketing goes, what works and what doesn't, you'd address the post rather than 'trolling' a blog. LAL doesn't benefit a biz owner by restricting them to only x amount of keyphrases and x amount of zip codes. You'll figure it out Tony.
Tony – nice try there…..do you work for the PR Department for LAL? How could you possibly know his supposed ulterior motives. The bottom line is that I (and I believe Keith too) just do not like to see people scammed in a company that makes ludicrous claims and does not deliver much of anything….LAL delivers next to nothing and charges struggling business owneers for this. They also make false promises of riches, which based on THEIR own financial statements (i.e. see above post), cannot be true. Par for the course for the MLM scam industry. Tony, get a life. I can’t wait for LAL to fold. What will be next then? Trump?? LOL, LOL. The bottom line, I think our postings reflect our dissatisfaction with how many, many people (especially in MLM)conduct business.
I’d going to have to dig a little deeper on this IP address from Tony. I’m sure Metals USA woudn’t be thrilled you’re spending 14 hours on my site. I’m betting theres a link with Metals USA and Localadlink somewhere.
Hi everyone.
I agree and disagree with both sides of the story. I just signed up as an Account Executive and like an old believer in the “power” of MLMs, I don’t understand much. So I wont pretend.
Keith, your work in exposing the gray areas of LAL is great. To a certain extent all of us MLM believers need to be greatful to you for that. In my case opens my eyes to ask tougher ? before I start selling the program.
My dissagreement is based on the fact that if a small business tries out the program for three months, it will be enough to see wether LAL works or not. I know such amount may be a lot for some. But after seening some of my friends lose 100s of thusands in pyramids, and myself loosing also 100s of thousands in pyramid-based real estate deals I consider $1500.00 nothing. Now this is my personal opinion. Please don’t quote me saying it shouldn’t be for a small business owner.
I know my chiropractor pays more than $1000.00/month in advertisement. I asked him to test LAL and he agreed.
The only thing that matters is: can LAL deliver more customers, or at the very least, the same he’s getting now? If I sign ten and none get better value, then LAL is a scam. I’ll quit and join you and the others in exposing it.
Now the other issue on which I dissagree with you and many posters is concerning the legitimacy of MLM. In my opinion legality is irrelevant. Legitimacy in my opinion is based, again, in giving value to the customer. There are many MLMs which are legal but when analyzed with a “business eye” (which I don’t have), should not be consider legitimate. The only reason they grow is because people “believe” in the product. It’s hard for me, though, to agree that if I share a product with somebody and this person finds the product not only of high quality, but also more affordable than any competing product, and comes back for more, it is a scam. Specially if I don’t talk to this person for more than a year. I just don’t understand how this could be labeled a “SCAM”.
So to say every MLM is a scam, I feel is misleading and inaccurate. And you being a professional, should not allow it, or participate in it because it isn’t true.
As I said before, I don’t understand much. But why should this stop me from getting involved?
I’ve already lost a lot by getting involved in the wrong things. I’ve matured and now check everything I get involved into, throughrouly.
The reason I’m greatful to you is simply for offering a plataform for people to voice their opinions. Instead of arguining with you, I see it as an oportunity to fix whatever is wrong. This is the nature of business.
The “scam” portion of MLM has nothing to do with the products, per se….it is the premise of most MLM companies that is illegal or a scam – whatever you want to call it. First, most are illegal because the FTC has established a regulation that at least 50-70% of the product or service must be sold the GENERAL public, not to distributors. So, for instance with YTB, virtually no travel sales were made to the general public.
Also, what ends up happening with most MLM’s is that the very people looking to make extra money in the MLM business end up being the ones to fund the gross revenues through sign-up fees, being “required” to purchase products (i.e. this is typical of Herbalife), buying marketing materials at sales/distributor meetings, etc. Again, I will use YTB as an example because that is a recently exposed illegal pyramid scheme. With YTB virtually all of their gross revenues came from the initial set up fee charged to the distributor, as well as the ongoing monthly charge to “maintain” the website of the distributor. Thus, once again the very people looking to MAKE extra money end up being the ones to fund the business and ended up making no money or losing money. Then those at the “top” take the money…and then the pyramid scheme either gets shut down or those at the top just shut it down when it loses momentum.
The bottom line, this is not my opinion and I do not get emotional about it either – it is just a fact that this is how many (mb not all) MLM’s operate. If you want to keep doing it, hey, knock yourself out. What is that expression – Buyer Beware. I can almost guarantee you this – you will make no money in LAL or will lose money. And, the fact is 98-99% of those involved in MLM end up making no money or losing money:
http://www.pyramidschemealert.org/psamain/news/MythofIncomeReport.html