The Rich Jerk
Review Of The
Rich Jerk (Reviewed - December 2005)
Quick Summary
Internet Marketing Course
Overall rating - highly recommended - Editor's Choice
The Rich
Jerk
Review
Not too long ago there was a big buzz on many forums when
somebody (going under the nickname "kellyandsummer") was selling
a ClickBank affiliate site on eBay for $379,000. According to
the figures given in the auction, the site had made over
$500,000 of profit since inception, and over $1,000,000 of
ClickBank sales.
As you might expect, a lot of people (me included) were
skeptical of the site's income claims. But having researched the
site and carefully followed the discussion threads, while I have
no way to verify the numbers, I did eventually come round to the
belief that they probably are genuine. (And, of course, just
because The Rich Jerk says that they were able to make a certain
amount of money, there is absolutely no guarantee, that you or
anybody else will).
So what happened next?
kellyandsummer made an eBook, "The Rich Jerk" describing the
strategies that they use on this and other sites - and as you
can imagine this also generated a big buzz on the forums -
especially since the sales letter is very unusual and in your
face (some people might even say slightly obnoxious).
Now, while I thought the sales letter was clever, at first I
wasn't sure that it was for me, but after reading all the
discussions, I eventually decided that I just had to find out.
So what did I think?
First off, let me tell you what's in the package, and who it's
for, and who it's not for: After you pay, you get access to a
fairly short (40 pages) PDF eBook. It's nicely written and
clearly formatted. I also can say that I only spotted one very
minor error and one typo when reading, so the editing is up to a
good standard.
The eBook is intended for people who have web sites, maybe
dabbled in affiliate programs or selling online, but just aren't
getting the results they hope for.
As the sales letter explains, there isn't a lot of fluff, and
there isn't a lot of unnecessary background explanation (it's
assumed you know how to build a web site, what affiliate
programs are, what pay per click search engines are, etc. - so
if you don't already the basics of building a web site and
Internet marketing, get some experience, or read an introductory
guide like Insider Secrets first).
For me, and I expect most people with a little Internet
experience, this brevity is a good thing. I don't want to slog
my way through hundreds of pages of fluff in order to pick up
some good tips. But, that said, I do realize that there are
people who won't like this approach.
So, in short: Do NOT buy this eBook if you are complete novice,
or need to be hand-holded every tiny step of the way. So what's
in the eBook?
Let's do a quick review of the chapters: Chapter 1: Creating an
Affiliate Website that Sells like Crazy
In this chapter, the author recommends a number of affiliate
programs, and presents some information on how to achieve best
results with affiliate programs, including some copywriting
tips, and some other tips.
I guess you could find good affiliate programs yourself, for
example by looking at free sites like AffiliateCavern.com,
however the other tips, particularly the copywriting tips are
valuable and presented in a way that I hadn't seen before.
Chapter 2: Unique Search Engine PPC Strategies - that Kill your
Competition
This chapter begins with some brief recommendations of some pay
per click search engines, but the meat of the chapter is about
making money with Google AdSense and advertising using Google
AdWords.
The AdSense strategy is based around a very simple and
easy-to-implement idea, one that after reading you will probably
slap yourself on your head and say "why didn't I think of
that?", but one that I bet 99% or more of people trying to make
money with AdSense have never discovered (although I have to
admit that I had ran across it before).
The AdWords section deals with advertising your own web site or
product/service, and presents a simple idea (along with many
examples) for creating AdWords ads that will achieve a high
response. Again, once you've seen the idea, it may strike you as
obvious, but looking at Google ads, it's also obvious that the
overwhelming majority of Google advertisers never even think
along these lines.
Chapter 3: Search Engine Optimization Strategies
This chapter deals with Search Engine Optimization, and getting
the best results from spider-based search engines. The chapter
presents some good ideas (both free and paid) for increasing the
number of incoming links to your site (and thus your Google PR
and hopefully ranking), and discusses page-design factors, a few
miscellaneous tips (including a useful Apache configuration
script), as well as discussing search engine cloaking.
Chapter 4: Creating Your Own Informational Product
This chapter discusses the marketing aspects of creating your
own info-product, be it an eBook, member's web site, or
whatever.
The chapter does NOT focus on the nitty gritty of editing,
compiling an eBook and what not - but rather is about marketing
strategies. Again, as with previous chapters there are some very
good ideas here, and many that I bet even experienced marketers
will not have heard of.
If you have already made an eBook and are not getting good
sales, then this chapter alone could be worth the money. Put it
together with the AdWords ideas in Chapter 2, and the
information in Chapter 3, and for struggling eBook authors, I
think it's a no brainer: get it now.
Chapter 5: Buying & Selling Wholesale Goods
In this chapter you get some good information about buying and
selling wholesale goods on eBay. This includes excellent
information about how to avoid getting defrauded or scammed, as
well as sources where you can buy stuff to resell.
I got the impression the author probably does not do this
anymore (he even goes so far as to say that he despises the
associated manual labor, shipping, packaging, etc. that is
necessary for this type of business).
The chapter does NOT deal with the basics of writing eBay ads,
and so on, so if you don't already know that, you might want to
also read something like eBay Marketing MegaPack
Chapter 6: Websites you can Make Profitable Right Now
This chapter returns to the theme of making money through
affiliate web sites, including selecting ClickBank affiliate
products to promote. The author also gives some examples of web
sites that the author says have made him (I'm assuming
"kellyandsummer" is a him) over $1 million dollars.
Chapter 7: Other Online Ventures to Consider
Chapter 7 is a very brief chapter dealing with two ways the
author says that he has invested money and made returns.
Chapter 8: Quality Products/Services I Highly Recommend
This is a one page list of resources the author recommends, some
of which have already been mentioned in previous chapters of the
eBook.
Click here to visit The Rich Jerk
Conclusion Overall, I thought this was excellent eBook. I
certainly think it deserves an Editor's Choice award.
However, as I said do NOT buy this eBook if you are complete
novice and need somebody to hold your hand every step of the
way.
Additionally, while I don't want to put you off, in the
interests of full disclosure (as stated earlier in the review),
I must add two small notes of caution: While I have no reason to
doubt the author's claims of their own success, I have no way to
verify these details either.
Just because the author of a particular book or eBook may have
been successful, it does not automatically follow, that just by
reading it, that you will be successful too.
Success in business depends on numerous factors (business
acumen, access to capital, skill, ability to adapt good
strategies to your particular business, actually taking action,
etc., etc.). Therefore, realistically, the most you should
expect from this type of business book is new ideas, insights
and perspectives - which you can then hopefully adapt to your
particular business. ...And personally, I believed that I gained
many new ideas, insights and perspectives from reading The Rich
Jerk.
To summarize: I think, this eBook is really for people who
already had some online experience, but want to achieve a
breakthrough to the next level. If you've already bought other
marketing courses and are getting no where, you need this eBook.
I certainly think with that in mind, even if you already know
some of the ideas, almost all readers will receive more than
their money's worth from the eBook.
Go to The
Rich Jerk and buy a copy of this eBook