It may be time to revive an old blog of mine called Stupid Marketer Tricks.

Internet Marketing has become increasingly ridiculous in its approach to sucking money from people online.

For those of you who might have followed blogs of mine in the past, yeah… I’m the guy. A few Internet Marketers have read my posts before, and have figured out ways to blast me without mentioning my name or my blog URL. That’s interesting. They think I’m full of crap, but they won’t point you to my blog.

Maybe that’s because something I posted hit home. Maybe something I posted characterized them a little too close to home. Censorship isn’t dead on the Internet. Those who don’t want you to know the truth still have ways to make sure you don’t hear it.

Simple truth is: There is no single, foolproof way to make money online. But some Internet Marketers, and their followers, will keep trying to get your money claiming they have that Utopian formula, system or blueprint.

I’ve built up a credit card debt over $10,000 believing in these charlatans.

It may be time to resurrect the Stupid Marketer Tricks blog, so others don’t follow my lead.

Spelling on the Internet is atrocious.

I’ve been online since 1996. I’ve been in chatrooms, discussion boards, Usenet newsgroups, instant messengers, and thousands of webpages. Make that millions of webpages.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Take offense if you will, but don’t get me wrong.

I was just an average student in high school. I failed World History twice, and had to go to summer school twice because of it.  I had a 1.0 grade average in Algebra, although I passed Geometry with flying colors. Go figure. But I had a 3.8 GPA in “English.” That included spelling, grammar and literature.

I still can’t write for beans, and thank heavens for Firefox Spell Checker!

But what I’m talking about is the common words that ANYONE should know how to spell and use correctly. Examples:

“Their going to visit they’re relatives.”

“Star Wars is better then Avatar.”

“This is rediculous!”

“I can teach you how to make more profit that anyone else.”

Typo’s? Maybe. In too much of a hurry? Perhaps. But come on… I’m LMFAOAPMP!

Gosh, Firefox doesn’t know acronyms! LOL!

Well, the Internet has become all about Entertainment, hasn’t it?

I’m entertained

Internet Marketers, I have a question for you.

How do I end up receiving multiple duplicate e-mails from you on a single e-mail address?

I’m serious here. I buy a product and during the purchase process, or perhaps during the insipid OTO process, I have to give you my e-mail address. That’s fine. It’s the S.O.P. these days.

You have my e-mail address, given to you voluntarily ONCE.

So how is it my e-mail box is chock full of your duplicate messages day after day?

One mail per day is already too much, but several, all to the same address is ludicrous. How does that happen? And how willing are you to make it stop?

I’ll post examples, in full, with all pertinent mailing info here, if I have to. You won’t like it.

I get a kick out of celebrities on Twitter.

You see them on TV, saying “You can become my follower!”

And everyone gets excited.

Why?

There isn’t a snowball’s chance in Hell that they’re going to follow you back. They’re concerned only about you getting their messages. They don’t give a rat’s ass about you or what you might have to say.

Huh… especially if what you have to say is “Join my MLM program and learn how to make money!”

Is there really something weird here?

Check out some celebrities on Twitter. Look at their folloing to followers ratio. If they have millions of followers and are only following a few hundred, check out those few hundred. Who are they, and why is that celebrity following them?

You might be surprised.

Well, as it turns out, many Internet marketers selling Clickbank-related “how-to” and (ahem) educational materals are selling them on the cheap. The products are either sloppily thrown together videos or e-books, or products that Clickbank itself would never approve for sale on their network.

Clickbank, after all, has a sterling reputation to uphold. They don’t let just anybody sell just anything using their system.

Clickbank operates a sophisticated affiliate program. If you offer up your product to be sold through, and thereby represented by, Clickbank, it has to meet their standards. If you’re running a 7-dollar script or a dime sale, they might not let you do it through their system

Hence, a lot of marketers looking to make a quick buck sell their (ahem) Clickbank Tutorials outside of Clickbank itself.

That should be a clue, folks.

Don’t get me wrong. Just because a Clickbank Tute isn’t sold through Clickbank itself doesn’t mean it might not contain good material. It just means it’s not necessarily up to Clickbanks normal product standards.

Think about it.

If you wanted to “expose” a politician’s indiscretions, would you do it through his publicist?

Sometimes I talk too much.

Well, phooey. What is a blog for, ferpetesake?

I just got a check from Clickbank, and I don’t know what I did right, but I’m sure as heck gonna find out!

Why don’t many marketers actually USE Clickbank as their payment processor when selling a product that teaches how to USE Clickbank? Well, maybe it’s just because they have their preferred affiliate program set up to use Paypal or some other.

Simple fact is that Clickbank works. You should set yourself up there, if you haven’t already.

Clickbank is touted by internet marketers as being a virtual “cash cow” for people looking to earn money online. But is it, really?

For those of you who don’t know, Clickbank is a payment gateway that handles the distribution of downloadable products (ebooks, software and other digital materials). It is also an affiliate program that allows sellers to offer commissions to “affiliates” who promote those same products.

Thus, Clickbank is an all-in-one website, allowing people to sell products online, offer commissions to others who help promote their products, and handles all sales records and payouts in one simple web interface.

It sounds wonderful!

Certain internet marketing “gurus” have been making a fortune using Clickbank. It’s easy — Create a downloadable product, submit it to Clickbank, put a simple payment button on your sales site, and… voila! Instant sales. AND, other people, without products of their own can become your “instant sales force,” promoting your product and making money while doing it!

Sounds great…

But, here’s my problem with it.

Seems that hundreds of “gurus” or “wannabe gurus” have been making their fortunes selling products that teach how to use Clickbank to make “thousands of dollars a month” in Clickbank commissions.

Wait a minute!!

If Clickbank is the perfect system for sellers, buyers and affiliates… Why is it necessary for so many internet marketers to profit from selling “HOW-TO PROFIT FROM CLICKBANK” videos and manuals?

ON CLICKBANK?

Well, the truth is that many of them don’t use Clickbank as their payment processor for these “tutorials.” Most use Paypal as their payment gateway to sell Clickbank-related materials. That raises my eyebrows.

I’m going to delve into this, so stay tuned over the next few days and weeks.

I found this on someone else’s blog. I’m reposting it because I think it’s worth reading, without permission.

A Thanksgiving Prayer
(read with caution, and don’t flame me until you look up “irony” in the dictionary)
Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts. Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison. Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger. Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the carcasses to rot. Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes. Thanks for the American dream, to vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through. Thanks for the KKK. For nigger-killin’ lawmen, feelin’ their notches. For decent church-goin’ women,with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces. Thanks for “Kill a Queer for Christ” stickers. Thanks for laboratory AIDS. Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs. Thanks for a country where nobody’s allowed to mind the own business. Thanks for a nation of finks. Yes, thanks for all the memories–all right let’s see your arms! You always were a headache and you always were a bore. Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.
xxxxx–William S. Burroughs (1914-1997)

Reposted from: http://www.redsugar.com/quotes.html

Alligator Allegory:
The objective of all dedicated product support employees should be to thoroughly analyze all situations, anticipate all problems prior to their occurrence, have answers for these problems, and move swiftly to solve these problems when called upon. However, when you are up to your ass in alligators, it is difficult to remind yourself that your initial objective was to drain the swamp.

There’s an old school of thought that when people get drunk, they say things they don’t mean. Many a wife has awakened to her husband saying “I’m sorry about what I said last night.” The wife responds, “It’s OK. I know you didn’t mean it.”

I’ve learned that such forgiveness is unwarranted. The fact is that he DID mean it. Every word of it.

You see, alcohol reduces our inhibitions. It affects that portion of our brain that tells us when something is better left unsaid. It clouds our judgment. It actually lets us say what is truly on our minds, without thoughts of the consequences of having said it.

Truth be known, when you’re under the influence you will say and do whatever it is in your mind and heart to say and/or do.

Alcohol just may be the perfect trutth serum.

Right now, I’m in trouble with my brother, and he’s in trouble with me. I’m in trouble with his wife, and she’s in trouble with him and me. She’s in trouble with him. We’re all in trouble with one another. Why?

We had a few beers and Jaegermeisters and we all said what we meant.

Even though most of it was better left unsaid.

For now.

There’s one in every crowd.

It’s the guy who seems to think that what he has to say is more important than anything else anyone might be interested in, or trying to listen to. For example, the other night we were watching a news report about the terrorist attack on the Taj Mahal and other hotels in India. This guy announces, “I’ll tell you something about terrorists,” … and launches into his pontification on the subject. Others in the room are inching closer to the television, perking their ears and rolling their eyes. Yet he goes on for a good ten minutes
about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

On another occasion, while watching a football game, he decided it was time to get on his pulpit and preach about what he would do if he owned a football team. Yet another time he picked the middle of a good western movie to tell us all the history of Jon Ford, the renowned movie director.

You can’t tell a guy like this to pipe down, or wait for a commercial. He has no concept of courtesy. He has something to say and, by gum, he’s going to say it. Tick him off, and his speech turns into a lengthy tirade on how ignorant you are for not wanting to know what he’s going on about.

I’m sure everyone knows someone like that.

I watch the local news, usually at 11:00 PM before going to bed. This is the news presented on the local Network Affiliates in my area — KABC Channel 7, KNBC Channel 4, and KCBS Channel 2.

So much for background.

I’ve seen this thousands of times, or so it seems. I saw it the other night (Friday). During the commercial break, the announcer comes on, with images and video, proclaiming something like this:

“Something you have in your home that you use every day is slowly killing you, and you don’t know it! Don’t miss our exclusive special investigative report on Tuesday at 5 and 6 AM!”

I’m sorry. What was that? I’m watching the news, and you’re PROMOTING an upcoming broadcast, next week, at 5 in the freaking morning, about something I should know about RIGHT NOW??!! If something I’m using right now is killing me, don’t you think that’s NEWS?

Apparently not.

I don’t know what happened to news. I remember the day when a certain newscaster in my area signed off with the phrase, “That’s the up to the minute news, up to the minute that’s all the news.” News that affected people was important, and it was presented as it happened. If something could harm you, they told you.

Nowadays, it seems to be all about the ratings. They’ve gone to teasers and “coming up next.” They spend enough time telling you what’s coming up after the commercial to have presented two more stories. That’s especially infuriating when they tell you to watch next Tuesday.

I dunno. What do you think?

Is anybody ready yet to take action to stop the killing of innocent children on the streets of Los Angeles?

I was just watching a news report this morning about an 8 year old girl shot dead yesterday in yet another gang-related random shooting gone wrong. It seems that two known gang members fired shots into a crowd. They missed their intended target entirely, but shot and killed this innocent little girl.

When is somebody going to do something to stop this madness once and for all?

While the Bush-man and his cohorts are screaming about “terrorists” in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, children in THIS country are being MURDERED daily by people who should actually be considered, and treated as, DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.

It’s time to demand legislation at the highest levels that formally classifies street-gangs in U. S. cities as terrorists, and allows the full force and power of the Federal Law Enforcement Agencies to act and assist in combating and ending gang activities permanently.

Street gangs in cities like Log Angeles, New York, Miami and many others have been linked to activities that help fund world terrorism. Gun-running, drug-dealing and related activities are linked to known terrorist organizations. Street gangs are not a local problem anymore. They are a gonorrhea spreading across the country and the world.

How can we, in all good conscience, ask world leaders to end the violence in their countries, when we cant, or won’t, end it in our own? Do you think the murder of a single child in this country is any less atrocious than the morder of a child in another country? I think it’s time we all take a hard look at our priorities.

With the election of a new president coming up in November, we all have a chance NOW to ask the tough questions and make the unmistakable demands necessary to ensure that the safety of ourselves and our children is among the top priorities of the newly-elected president.

Make it so!

Russian tennis player Mikhail Youzhny’s recent bizarre show of tantrum during a tennis match versus Nicolas Almagro was shocking, nay, terrifying even for the court officials who have witnessed how Youzhny bashed his racket against his head several times and ended up bloodied right in the middle of the court. I have seen Agassi’s temper before, but never in the history of professional tennis has this display of self inflicted violence occurred on the court.

Imagine how Almagro felt while trying to serve a match while at the same time seeing his opponent’s bloodied forehead. Even Youzhny was shocked and embarrassed as well as the trainers who had no choice but to stall the game since blood was dripping on the court.

Not to mention the three reporters who interviewed Youzhny were scared seeing the wound. Instead of asking the appropriate questions for their articles, one of them asked if Youzhny was alright. He also looked scared about what happened and his behavior claiming he has not done anything this violent before.

Sportsmanship is supposed to be the rule for all athletes, even for basketball players who play pretty physically. Seeing something like this happen in tennis is a pretty shocking thing.

What is scary though is if such behavior becomes a rule and not the exemption among young tennis players. It really smacks of immaturity and sportslessness if you can call it that. It’s a bad example to set for kids who were probably watching the game. The scenario gets to be not only scary but bizarre if kids who idolize these tennis players think of the violent act as pretty cool and start hitting themselves in the heads as well. I am not going to lie though, I would laugh a little bit at that. This moment for this player though definitely made him a bit scary.

Source: Scary Celebs

Finally!

A new law goes into effect in July ‘08 in California. It will be illegal to drive with a cell phone to your ear.

There have been thousands of accidents on the road in California since the advent of cell phones. Hundreds have been injured or killed because idiots think they can walk and chew gum at the same time. Well, that ain’t really so hard, but trying to dial a cell phone and hold a conversation while maneuvering through traffic and PAYING ATTENTION to both is not so easy a task.

I had a 1988 Thunderbird totalled because of a cell phone driver. It wasn’t pretty. Thank heavens I’m still here to post about it.

Anyway, this is a step in the right direction. It needs to be done universally. I mean, like moonwalkers, even. Get that freakin’ thing off your face! You’re an accident waiting to happen, ferpetesake.

Well, now you gotta. At least in California

Thousands, if not millions of people in the world are scared of flying.  And can you blame them?    You are in a giant piece of machinery filled with jet engine fuel about 35,000 feet in the air.  But even if you are not afraid of flying, there is something about flying that can scare just about all of us… Airplane Turbulence.

Anytime I have been flying, there is nothing that makes my heart beat jump more than a sudden jolt of the entire airplane.  It is almost like the airplane is having an earthquake…  at 35,000 feet in the air.  And often times it does not stop after just one jolt.  The jolts keep coming and they get bigger!  If you get it real bad, you may even be lifted out of your seat by the strength of the turbulence.  Add on top of this a mob mentality of fear on the plane, and the turbulence can cause a few very scary moments.

Statistically airplane turbulence virtually never lead to an airplane crash, but it definitely feels like it could  when the plane begins to jerk and jolt and move violently in the air.  Despite it’s relative harmlessness, airplane turbulence is a scary thing.

Source: that

Some people are lacking in old-fashioned common courtesy.

I have a friend. She’s really a wonderful woman, and I often feel privileged to be counted among her friends. But she is sometimes totally frustrating.

Her life is a whirlwind of activity. She’s a real estate agent, an airline flight attendant, a notary public, a single mom, and an environmental activist. She’s into practicing yoga and working out at the gym. How she finds time for all of this, I’ll never know.

She’s mature, patient, understanding, helpful in many different ways, and a joy to be around.

When she’s around, that is. She has one flaw that drives me nuts.

She’ll go out of her way to call and ask if I’ll be around for a while. Well, if she wants to come by, of course I’ll be here. She says she’ll be over “in a bit.” Hours later, I’m wondering where she is. No call and no show.

Now, I’ve got two major character flaws myself. I tend to worry too much, and I’m somewhat demanding of others. I realize that. So when someone I care about is “missing in action,” I tend first to worry, then to get a little angry. Like a phone call would be a major inconvenience if a person has a change of plans?

Then I get mad at myself for being mad at her. What if something really did happen?

There’s a bright side in the end. When she finally does call or show up, I’m just so happy to see or hear from her that anger, frustration, worry and everything else flies out the window.

Then it happens again next time.

A little old-fashioned common courtesy would save me a lot of emotional wear and tear.

And what kind of fool do they take me for?

What kind of idiot puts up a website GUARANTEEING I’ll make hundreds, thousands, or tens-of-thousands of dollars if I join their p-p-program for free?

I’ve been surfing the Internet I don’t usually visit, thanks to having joined a traffic exchange to get a little exposure for a couple of my personal websites. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. No, I mean that — “I Can’t Believe It.” There are lovely-looking website (some of them, anyway), with pretty music, flasshy flash graphics, enticing videos and words that just drip and ooze with unbelievable promises of wealth and fortune.

And there are thousands of people promoting these sites, in the futile hope that they’ll get rich from sucking people into these money pits.

It’s just downright disgusting, yet people are apparently falling for it left and right. The pity is that they might get a referral or two, earn $10 or $20 and think they’re on their way to becoming independently wealthy.

It’s sad.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Hobo’s and Tramps…

Cross-eyed Fleas, and Bow-Legged Ants…

I’m here before you, to stand behind you,

And tell you something I know nothing about.

There’s a meeting on Wednesday, held on Thursday

For men only, but women may come.

Bring no fee, pay at the door,

Pull up a chair, and sit on the floor.

We’ll be duscussing the four corners of the Round Table.

…..

Well, with a name like NetWedgie, what do you expect?

I don’t know what all I’ll be doing here. Guess you’ll just have to visit once in a while and see what’s going on. I figure a little of this, a little of that, and some Tabasco thrown in. I get interested in all kinds of things, and I’m pretty vocal when it’s, ahem, “intersting” enough.

So stick around, and know that you’re always invited to comment.

My name is Steve.

So there.