Smart Money Websites - A Newbie Review
The following review is the entire commentary from the author regarding Smart Money Websites. It spans a period of 2 months. Enjoy. Please add your comments by contacting skato51@gmail.com. We'll add you to the list. Thanks!
Today’s online review is about Smart Money Websites, a home business trademarked as the "Internet-Business-In-A-Box”. You know what I think? I think there's a lot of good stuff here. But not all… I’ve read through the material a couple of times and I bought the product with my own money. Here is a beginning review. I’ll be adding more as the days go by.
Start March 19, 2008
I bought the $1 - 14 day Trial Subscription to Smart Money Websites today! Now I have some work to do including a lot of reading! I like the way Wayne presents his product and I especially appreciate the video that goes through the whole process (admittedly, pretty quickly, but it all looks so EASY!)
April 2
This is the first day that my paid subscription begins. Until today I was not able to use my own domain.com names. I was required to use name.smmsite.com sites.
The Good Part - The feeling I get from home based business owner Wayne Van Dyck is one of integrity and genuine interest in helping us newbies succeed. An example of this is in his e-book How To Make Your First $50,000 Online (which comes with the $1 introductory segment of his program). He talks about goals and commitments. “If you don’t know where you’re going, the chances are you’ll never get there”. This is the stuff I struggle with, for sure. Making a plan and sticking with it isn’t easy. Wayne gives us a platform to work from (p.39 in his $50K book) under Goals and Commitment. It’s similar to the goals I entered on my blog http://www.onlineproductreviewsfornewbies.blogspot.com/.
The reality, as Wayne states is that his program “is NOT a get-rich-quick program”. I have to accept this and be patient but it’s not easy. Of course he is right. I’ve worked with computers since 1980 and feel like I should know a heck of a lot more than I do! My problem…
The Bad Part - I have found the Customer Service process extremely frustrating. The process makes you subscribe to a different company Six Degrees Media, then
- Log-in to your SMM Account
- Click on the “Contact Support” tab at the top of the page
- Click on the RED link “Ticket System”
- Click on Submit Ticket (You do need to register for the ticket system before you can use it, if you have not previously registered)
- Select the type of issue and its importance (Low, medium, high, urgent)
- Enter how you bought the product (EVERY TIME) you enter a new request
- Submit the entry
- Wait for a response that can take hours or even a day (in my experience) When you get a response, it is through your E-mail but the message comes as a “do not reply” so you have to go through the whole ticket process again to continue the dialogue. I find this inefficient and frustrating. I admit to good answers once they come but, sometimes to get to a resolved problem we are talking a few days! I am already frustrated when I request help so, waiting for hours or days really bugs me.
April 7 - SPAM!! So today I get an E-mail message from Six Degrees (the customer service segment of Smart Money Websites) that my last mass e-mailing has produced more than a dozen spam complaints. I didn't even know that I had mailed out a message! Last week I imported 200+ names from a list of personal E-mail contacts. Somehow this list was mailed to. I honestly had not wanted, nor was I aware that this mailing had occurred. So, the question for customer service now is why and how this happened. The last thing I want to do is offend my prized list of current, personal E-mail addresses! Obviously I have a lot to learn... I need stress relief!! 300 Breakthrough Stress Relief Tips or Conquer Stress Depression, and Anxiety Naturally in Just 90 Days
April 8 - SPAM 2 Now I know that I do not import names into my site mailing lists unless I am ready to have those E-mail addresses automatically sent an "opt-in" message. I did not know what an "opt-in" message was before so this is something I've learned. It has made me re-think the process of importing mailing lists as I now believe that this method is expected to be used when you buy a mailing list, rather than when you import a pre-qualified list, already nurtured through other business relationships. April 9 I am a slow but steady learner. My confidence is diminished a bit as I find myself struggling with getting the free report E-mail part of the site to work. How do I offer a free report that somebody clicks on while also directing them to a sales page where I can ultimately give them the report and sell them something? There is a sign-up "squeeze" page (just for getting someone's E-mail address, even if they don't buy the product) and a sales page. These are supposed to be attached to each other. When you introduce the reader to the "squeeze" they usually move on to the sales page by leaving their E-mail. I'm having a heck of a time getting them to work cooperatively and realize I have limited patience. Without easy access to customer service one doesn't know where the problem lies so, I have turned off my computer and am going for a run...
April 10 - Panic Attack - Wayne says that 90% of our time should be spent on conversions (sales). I had a panic attack today because, if I get the traffic to my sites and they don't want to buy and/or don't even leave their E-mail address then I have wasted a mailing and all the effort (and possible expense) that goes in to it. In my case, because I want to do a mailing with the 1500 or so, pre-qualified names I have from Yahoo contacts, I want to give that list something I'm proud of when they follow the link. I realized I have to feel positive about the capability of the copy to SELL! I'm also not entirely comfortable with the quality of the copy on many of the websites or the "used car salesperson" techniques. I absolutely HATE the misspellings and am tired of Bold Red and Black letters! What I'm learning is that there is an element, an ongoing thread of "who you are and how you want to be represented" in cyberspace. I really don't want to be The Used Car Salesman". I want to look classy, sincere, and well informed. I want to make people see the sincerity and integrity in the author and owner of these sited. I also want to MAKE MONEY, no doubt about it. April 16 - Cookies I've been re-reading, listening to webinars, and going through tutorials. This has helped immensely. The tutorials are dry as heck but they do give useful information in small batches. This is what I need or I get overwhelmed, really quickly. I learned that, once you review your own site; and click on the E-mail button to take you from one page (squeeze) to the other (sales page); a cookie is placed that will automatically keep you from going back to the squeeze page. I don't understand the technology here but now I know WHY I can't get back into the previous page to look at it "live". There is a lot to learn. Be sure to keep looking at the tutorials. Overall, I feel like I'm making progress. Michelle D at Six Degrees Customer Service hasn't heard from me for at least 2 days in a row!
April 23 - Mass Mailing - I now have 2 sites up and ready to the point that I am going to do a mailing from my Yahoo E-mail List. I'm excited about this because I believe I have enough pieces together to get some sales from it. http://www.helpingwomentrade.com/ and http://www.smartmoneysmartyou.smmsitecom/
April 24 – Testing I really feel like I’m making progress. In part this comes from being better at describing the help I need when contacting Customer Service at Six Degrees. I’m learning that testing everything is essential. Last night I had a friend test my 2 sites above and, lo and behold! the site for Helping Women Trade did not click through from squeeze page to sales page! This means that, if I get someone far enough along in the cyber process to be interested in buying, they can’t get to the product! NOT GOOD. So, I contacted customer support this A.M. and will work on it after this post. The Smart Money testing and editing process seems a bit tedious to me. This may be my own impatience rearing its ugly head or, it may be that, to accommodate ignorant technocrats, there must be a great deal of redundancy? I don’t know enough yet to be able to judge. I’m only able to comment!
April 29 – Mass Mailing and Transfer of Domain Names - I have a few observations but one stands out – I really wish there were someone to talk to! For example, today I had to restart my site for TheWeeklyPepTalk.com. I deleted everything and started over. Not a big deal. I hadn’t entered much but here’s where it became an issue. Because the domain is my own domain and does not belong to Smart Money Websites I can’t enter the name without waiting for them. They have to do it for me. This means I have to send a message to Customer Service and ask them to re-direct the name to the site. It also means that, if I owned the domain name before coming to SMMSITE they would charge me $10.95 to make the transfer! Most companies don’t do this if they get to host the name so I’m not sure why Smart Money charges, but they do!
As I’ve said before, I don’t like to wait for this indirect chat line customer service because there is always some lag time. And you know, when I have one question, I usually have more once that first one is answered. I’d love to see live help but I believe that cost is what prohibits this. Anybody know for sure?
Regarding the Mass Mailing, I have started a systematic mailing to my personal Yahoo list. This is a list that has evolved over several years of various contacts so it is important to me that I mail to them only once, unsolicited. Unlike my mistake with the SPAM on April 7 I prepared a mailing that came directly from the Yahoo Mailbox rather than transferring the names over to SMMSITE first. I’m using the auto responder system for anyone who leaves an E-mail address directly on the site. So far that part has worked very nicely. Oh yes, be sure you test your auto responder first, (as SMMSITE recommends). Send yourself a test message. I’ve made several mistakes that have been fixed before those mailings went to my precious “clickers”!
May 6 - I have a tendency to want to reinvent the wheel. Here’s what I’m learning in regards to online business. I’m a newbie, I need to follow directions and keep it simple. I have gotten myself into more formatting issues than I care to tell. The latest was based on trying to put Adsense ads (Google fee advertising) into the Smart Money site. BAD! As Wayne says, “Since you have a limited amount of time to spend on your business, where and how you spend that time determines your success”. OK, that means accepting my limited knowledge and listening to the pros. JUST DO IT! OK, I’m trying…
May 15 – Read and Read Again I started my mailing on April 29, mailing to 50 people a day. In 2 weeks I have had one conversion. This feels a bit discouraging but I think my expectations may be too high. I guess I felt that if I took my time to get my site together and learn a few things about the Smart Money System that I could be more successful in 2 weeks. Well, that is only 14 days! Stick with me; I’ll fill you in as things start to get better.
Today I started reading from the beginning of the sign-up material, once again. This is a third or fourth time for some of the material... There is so much to take in! I am impressed by how much I have learned to date and humbled by how much more there is to learn. Wayne talks over and over about going simple with your first site (Smart Money Websites) and getting it up and running quickly. I chose not to do it this way but, in hindsight, I think he’s 100% right. The satisfaction of making even a little money right away can be a great motivator. I’m already feeling a bit discouraged. However, I am not a quitter!
May 16 - Auto Responder Letters Today I reviewed my letters and adjusted them slightly. I also decided to add more of them. At present I have one immediate response (0 days) prepared (that includes this review), a 2 day follow-up, a 4 day follow-up, and that’s it. I think I read somewhere that it can take up to 7 reminders for folks to follow through and actually purchase something. So, on my list of things to do is to write some additional letters, and change the timing. I’m going to do the immediate response (0 days), 1 day, 3 days, 6 days, 9 days, 13 days, and 17 days. I don’t want to pester but I guess I should believe the pros and do what they say. More to come ….
May 22 - Time to Move On
This is my final review for Smart Money Websites. I am not even close to being finished working with this web hosting "business in a box". However, except for the success rate that I will keep posted, I'm ready to review something new.
Here is a recap of what I've gotten out of this program...
Stay Simple. I have learned that Smart Money Websites is truly designed for marketing digital affiliate products. THAT'S IT IN A NUTSHELL. They have done a great job of putting all the pieces together to work with Clickbank and sell digital products that return a high commission with each sale. When you try to deviate from this, you start to run into problems.
No Adsense. No, it's not that you can't use Adsense ads but you cannot get indexed by Google, and you can't put metatags or load html for verification that you own the website. As you know, I am a newbie so, if this is not the case, or if it doesn't matter, I don't know! I have asked Smart Money Customer Service and their rather lame reason, why they don't allow indexing, just leaves me wondering what I'm not getting from having them host my domain names. By the way, this is true with "mydomainnames.com" as well as sub-domains that have the smmsite.com ending. And, if you haven't gotten involved with Google Adsense, you may be blessed...who knows!
Responsive Customer Service. I have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly I get a response from Customer Service. Except for the initial set-up call that took a while, there has been reasonable response time. Two issues are still outstanding however.
One, I would still love to be able to speak to someone - a live body because one answer almost always leads to another question. This still bothers me.
Two, the answers I've gotten are often more technical than I am. I read them and think, D...! now what do I do. Often I just wait a while and try to re-read the answer and make sense of it. Sometimes it helps.
Wayne VanDyck is Long-Winded and Redundant on the Seminar/Webinar Calls. I learn well by listening and want to commend Smart Money Websites on producing audio programs. My complaint is that I have to sit through long periods of redundant material before owner and creator VanDyck gets to the "new stuff" or the questions, or lets others speak. I have read through the material in my binder several times (five or six times) and, when I use an hour or two of time to listen to a webinar, I would like more substance, please.
Every webinar that I have listened to has included a major amount of time on the basics. I promise, I've listened to several of them. Now, I approach the experience as one of trepidation. I hate wasting time listening to what I already know when the title of the webinar indicates something different.
No Clinics, Workshops as Indicated. I read in the sign-up material that we would be getting Wednesday evening webinars on a regular basis. I either got dropped off the list or these are not happening. I looked through my E-mails and have not seen these notifications. As indicated above, I like listening to learn. I would like to hear other people ask questions and see what our similar issues are. I would even ask some of my own questions now that I know more. I signed up in March and am aware of only 2 webinars. Did I get deleted from some list or what?
Limited Income but Going Cheap. The income I've received speaks for itself. It's posted on my site at http://onlineproductreviewsfornewbies.blogspot.com .
For promotion, I am cutting out pieces of these reviews and using them as articles. I've only published on Go Articles thus far. I also did a mailing to my personal list in Yahoo and have an "opt-in" list of 1200 free names that came from some site on the internet. It's slow going. It's been a month and I have one conversion. I can see that the number of people through your site makes a huge difference and, if you don't buy key words (or any other type of pay-per-click sales promoters) it's slow going.
Now that I've got all the pieces in place I may try some paid advertising. Truthfully, I am thankful that I didn't waste money before I knew enough to feel I have a complet product to offer. I've made a lot of mistakes but I've been able to correct most of them. Some big, like not putting in my affiliate code, some little, like correcting spelling on my autresponder letters.
So, all in all. I want to thank Wayne Van Dyck for his contribution to my ability to make money online. There has never been an inkling of a feeling that Smart Money Websites doesn't care. I believe Wayne and staff truly want each of us to succeed. Keep perfecting the product Wayne. I'll try to do my part to promote it.
Here's to our mutual success!
