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Splinterbiz's Profile About me ... |
Member since: 7/23/2009 Last login: 3/16/2011 |
My reviews here at IMRC are all based on my personal experience with the product.
Unfortunately, seeing where this site is going, I have chosen not to spend any more of my time adding my comments in here. The so-called reviews are mostly extremely biased and/or fake, copied from other users reviews.
I write short reviews in my blog(s) as well, and even though it is difficult to stay 100\% unbiased when I own and use the product on a regular basis, I do my best. IMRC is a nice website, although the whole get-paid-to-write-review thing was not doing much good for it.
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Send a Private Message to Splinterbiz
Location: Norway Interests: Computers, Internet, books, writing, DVD & Blu-Ray movies, Photography, Nature, Drawing My site: N/A My blog: http://www.easymoneycentral.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/Splinterbiz |
Splinterbiz has posted 19 comments with an overall 97.0% helpful rating...
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Splinterbiz's comment on Traffic Travis ...
Like having your own personal SEO coach
When compared to numerous SEO solutions, one of Traffic Travis's biggest strengths is it's ease of use, for example:
Upon analysing one of my websites with TT's Page Analysis tool, the front page's SEO score went from D+ to A+ in a couple of minutes, with minimal effort. TT pointed out the weak spots and suggested ways to improve it, and all I had to do was fixing it as per suggestion then re-upload it.
One of the things that triggers TT is the lack of a H1 tag, which is important for better SEO in page titles. Many WordPress themes lack it, but it's easily rectified by editing the theme's CSS file in the Dashboard.
Traffic Travis is not perfect and it has a few quirks, such as:
The SEO Analysis tools is unreliable, supposedly showing the top 20 competition for a given keyword combination, but one of my websites listed on Page 2 in Google is not found at all (proxy search).
Likewise, zero back-links reported for my test domain which has several back-links registered recently, though not too recent. Yahoo! Site explorer found most of the links. Running the back-link check for another website of mine, Yahoo! Site Explorer reported nearly 300 back-links whereas Traffic Travis found 17.
Traffic Travis is like having your own personal SEO coach. It is a userfriendly and feature-rich tool to aid in your SEO efforts and make sure your website gets the attention it needs from the search engines. But it's not quite good enough at everything.
Combine Traffic Travis with other tools such as Market Samurai for SE competition analysis and Micro Niche Finder for finding those golden nugget SEO keywords, and you'll have a killer tool combo, one that will contribute to your Internet Marketing success.
Splinterbiz's comment on HubHits ...
Use the top ranking T. E. sites instead
HubHits. net is a new Traffic Exchange site with only 4 backlinks registered in Yahoo! Site Explorer. The domain was created by the end of November 2009. The stats on the sidebar speaks for itself: Total banners: 65, Yesterday's surf: 2918, e. t. c. Consider this before paying for a membership upgrade or e-mail promotions.
With a 20 second surf timer for free members, HubHits is a rather slow Traffic Exchange site. A solid black background in the site surf window helps the surfer avoid distractions. The Ad Clicker doesn't work at all in Opera, and the referral tracker shows members I have never recruited, most likely remains from initial testing rounds.
HubHits uses a popular T. E. script for their website. It has proven to work pretty well with other T. E. websites, and despite some issues with Opera I believe it will work well with HubHits too.
There is nothing about HubHits that makes me want to stay with it, leave alone upgrading. There are other, top-ranking T. E. websites out there offering more value for your time and money. Use it as a free member for a while to see whether you like it or not.
Splinterbiz's comment on Yola ...
Fast, easy to use, affordable
Yola doesn't work very well with Opera, but I have no issues when using it with with FireFox.
This is an excellent website/blog builder with a slew of useful tools to help create a dynamic and exciting website and/or blog (you can mix both). It supports AdSense, YouTube, Flickr, Skype, you can add a chat room and much more. And with all of these features neatly arranged in easy to navigate menus, it doesn't get too much for even inexperienced users.
Yola requires a link to their own website on your pages, however you can have it removed for $9.95 per year, which is a nice option if you don't want to pay for a full Premium membership at $49.95.
The HTML code for the main body content can be edited and the page headers are given the H1 tag automatically, which is good for SEO. The text editor is the usual WYSIWYG and it does the job as expected.
The HTML templates look good for the most part, and I found a clean, professional looking template that I wanted to use right away.
Yola offers an exhaustive list of options, and it suffice to say that it is an excellent, efficient and easy to use website builder. I prefer building my sites myself, but I have added Yola to my list of tools I recommend my referrals when they need to build their own website but don't have the skills necessary.
Splinterbiz's comment on Wix ...
Feature-rich and easy to use
The Wix website creation tools feel heavy in the Opera browser, something which detracts from the overall experience as far as I am concerned. Everything from the menu options to page updates and file uploads feels laggy, in lack of a better word. But clearly, the interface is designed to help those not familiar with HTML or web design. In that regard it works well, providing everything they need with a click and without cluttering the screen.
Wix is not too bad if you lack experience with HTML, Flash or web design, don't need an e-mail account included and are willing to pay almost ten dollars per month to remove their links in the sidebar and footer. Wix offers decent tools to easily create and customize your own Flash website, gallery and more.
Moreover, other than it being a bit slow on my side, it is a joy to use, and putting together a Flash site is fun.
Splinterbiz's comment on NameCheap ...
My preferred domain registrar
Having registered domain names with GoDaddy and NameCheap, I must say the latter has become my favorite for several reasons such as their affordable prices when using discount codes, the free domain pushing which is excellent when flipping domains, and last but not least: their excellent customer service.
Customer support:
I contacted NameCheap's support team today, asking them to verify my last domain renewal, as the domain in question was due in two more days and I felt uncertain about the process. They responded within half an hour with a confirmation that they had charged my card first and everything is in order. I had added sufficient credits in my NC account, and was wondering why the domain showed as renewed but my credits had not been charged.
For domain name registration, NameCheap has become my first choice. The user interface is easy to navigate and evidently, their support team are helpful and respond in a timely manner.
Splinterbiz's comment on InfoLinks ...
I started earning money the very first day with Infolinks
Although I had heard about InfoLinks before, I did some scouting and preliminary research before signing up with them.
I use AdSense with some of my other blogs and websites, but wanted to use something different in my main blog, and so I signed up with InfoLinks on January 24.
Much to my surprise, when I checked the log today it reported consistent page views and some paid clicks since my blog was approved on January 24. Not much, but CTR is higher with InfoLinks than when I used AdSense with the same blog.
I like how I can easily customize the way the InfoLinks are shown: double or dotted underline, maximum number of links per page and a web palette, from which you can choose the preferred link highlight color. When changing the InfoLinks settings, the script reflects the changes in the blog/website. Easy and convenient.
My only problem with InfoLinks is the comment tags for activating and de-activating the link code being ignored by the script. I have notified their support about this and look forward to find a way for us to solve it.
InfoLinks is free to join, supports Paypal, blends in with the blog content and I earned money with it from the first day, so what's not to like? Other than the $100 minimum threshold, anyway.
Definitely worth trying out, especially if you don't have an AdSense account, but also if you are looking for alternatives.
Splinterbiz's comment on EasyHits4U ...
My first Traffic Exchange experience
Easy Hits 4 you was the first Traffic Exchange I joined. I was anything but lazy with it, with more than 23,000 sites surfed since the end of 2008. I earned a couple of dollars and even got paid. The resources offered for free and Premium members are decent quality and user-friendly.
Talk to T. E. addicts and they will tell you to spend at least two to four hours every day surfing a number of T. E. websites side by side in your web browser. This can create Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and mouse arm, which is common for T. E. surfers and computer users spending a lot of time with a keyboard and mouse. Try to limit it to one or two hours daily, and take breaks often.
I was a Premium member for six months, recruiting new users on top of receiving "free random referrals" from Easy Hits 4 U. Most of my referrals never went past the first 100 sites despite my efforts to assist and encourage them. I still get new sign-ups in my downline, and I like to think that at least some of my referrals appreciated my efforts helping them get started.
The only way to find out whether this is something for you is by trying it yourself. If you are going to use Easy Hits 4 U, or any other T. E. , have this in mind:
- Use/create catchy, nice looking squeeze pages.
- Never use affiliate site sign-up pages as links in a T. E.
- Make sure your squeeze page loads fast.
- Use it to build an opt-in list.
- Understand that very few people using T. E. will spend money.
If you want to try your hand on T. E. for free traffic, I consider Easy Hits 4 you to still be among the best in this market.
Splinterbiz's comment on Bookmarkwiz ...
Not perfect, but great value for the money
I already had my eyes on BookmarkWiz as a Warrior Forum member, and when the owner offered a significant discount around Christmas, I followed through and bought it.
When purchasing a license for BMW, you are required to submit your system ID to the owner Koen, who will then approve it manually and send you the activation code later. I received mine within the next 24 hours. The license is valid for only one computer station, but you can ask Koen for a free second license if you have a desktop and a laptop, and want to use it with both.
I have received at least three updates of this software since I bought it, and it keeps improving for each successive update. In the 1.14 version, an Automatic Update feature has been added, which should make it easier to update BMW now.
I, as well as many other BMW users, have some issues registering with many of the 33 social bookmarking sites it includes. This is when using the automated account registration feature, however, and manual registration is recommended. Whenever the automated account registration feature doesn't work, it hangs and shows an error message, saying to contact the developer.
With the current (1.14) version you can register up to 33 bookmarks every time. Enough for most basic users, but as their efforts grow, as will the need to register an increasing number of social bookmarks. This is where BMW starts to shine: it comes with the ability to import your own proxies. 33 bookmarks not enough? Import 10 proxies, and you can register 330 bookmarks every time. In short, you can turn BMW into a very efficient bookmarking machine.
Avoid using free, public proxies; they are overused, and most social bookmarking services have blacklisted them due to abuse. Either that, or they are unreliable, and using them pose a risk in itself.
Although you can type in the Captcha codes by hand when submitting bookmarks, BMW supports three different third party Captcha solving tools. Automatic Captcha-solving is not free; expect to pay minimum $10 for one of the services, which includes 1,000 Captcha images. How long it will last depends entirely on how many links you publish.
There are other features included as well, such as Quick Indexing and Blog Pinging, and together all of it's features makes BMW a resourceful tool for marketers.
I have only exchanged a few messages with Koen, and he was polite and forthcoming. Koen and his team are working around the clock to improve this product, and with all future updates included in the one-time fee, I am not complaining.
If you use free services such as OnlyWire, and you want to scale up and drive more traffic to your links, I would say it is a good choice. BMW is not cheap, but still costs less than several of it's competitors, and it adds some unique features that makes it stand out. This is not a «must have» product, but makes a nice addition in any marketer's toolset.
Splinterbiz's comment on Global Domains International ...
Sold as a newbie-friendly opportunity, but requires a lot of work
I have been a member with GDI since the beginning of 2009, and I have yet to earn a significant amount, but I am happy to say that my downline is pretty persistent, if nothing more.
I felt disheartened for a while, when virtually not-one of my referrals could be bothered to answer any of my messages, but I let them alone when they seemed to not want to talk to anyone in their upline. I also stopped moving new sign-ups into their downlines, when they did not seem to care in the first place.
Most GDI affiliates lack Internet Marketing skills, have no idea how to build a simple website or start a blog, and most come to GDI looking for a quick fix to patch the holes in their economy created by the recession, or they have been told by desperate affiliates it is FREE to join and EASY to monetize with. When they finally learn the truth, they usually drop out.
You will have to work hard to make your GDI referrals do anything on their own, but words of inspiration and encouragement always helps, and it shows them you are a fellow GDI member, one who really wants to help them get started.
When promoting GDI, I suggest not to mention the words "free" or "easy". Also do not put emphasis on their web hosting solution, because it is almost a joke. I use Host Gator for my hosting needs, and GDI's hosting cannot compare in any conceivable way. It is enough for a super-simple website with absolutely no sophisticated features, and it can work pretty well for product reviews, or perhaps your personalized GDI sign-up page.
I have not given up on GDI. In fact, look around at other affiliate companies, and what do you see? Almost all of them disappear after a year or two. GDI has been here since 2001 and they will most likely stay for much longer.
If you are interested in joining an MLM opportunity, I see no reason why that opportunity should not be GDI. I give them an B because they have been around for a while and are still going strong. I dislike how they keep harping on the "free to join" slogan, otherwise I would probably have given them an A.
Splinterbiz's comment on Market Samurai ...
Slow and a bit expensive, but dedicated team
Like many others, I got to try out this product for free as part of the 30 Day Challenge project, and I was both blown away and totally confused as to how it works, although I found great help in the video tutorials. The M. S. team must be one of the most dedicated SEO software developers out there; they communicate well with their users and I received new updates almost daily, during the 30 Day Challenge period.
Market Samurai is based on Adobe's Air platform, which is not the best choice for this kind of applications and has been criticized for running slowly on many systems. I noticed it too, although my system is obsolete by today's standards, and it still didn't bother me much.
The software has a steep learning curve, but once I understood the basics (again: the tutorials were excellent) I found many strong keywords that helped producing more traffic with my articles, and I felt comfortable with it within the first couple of days.
As you probably have noticed, Market Samurai comes with a slew of fancy tools. This will likely intimidate many new users (I know I was intimidated at first), but when they go through the tutorials they will soon learn how to take advantage of it.
Kudos to the team on their efforts, though I also noticed comments from other users during the 30 Day Challenge, that they would much rather have it re-programmed in C++ or other, much more efficient programming languages.
There are other, cheaper keyword research tools out there, some of which are free. I suggest looking around before you pay $149 for Market Samurai, but on the other hand: if you enjoy using the trial and you feel it improves your work flow, I see no reason not to buy it. And then there's the future updates included bonus.
Splinterbiz's comment on PLR Articles Daily ...
Beggars cannot be choosers - or so I thought
I have no idea how many PLR articles I have received and downloaded since I started with Internet and Article Marketing, but probably more than 200,000, and it was mostly junk.
This team provides decent content that I can rewrite and use to build new back-links for increasing the PR and feed more traffic to my domains and CPA offers. Also, I don't find their ad mails inconvenient at all. I have received much more advertising from several IM gurus than these guys send out.
I enjoyed the bonus download containing 100 PLR articles, even though I only used one of the niches. That particular folder contained more than twenty articles I could use. In my opinion, it was worth the download alone. Header graphics files are included for creating mini-websites, together with the PSD (Photoshop) files.
This service is nice for monetizing Adsense and CPA sites. It is not an all-in-one PLR solution, but most of the niches are not too saturated and most people receiving PLR articles never take action anyway. Write e-books with it, add articles in your blogs to attract traffic, etc. The only limitation is your own imagination.
Splinterbiz's comment on Bill McRea ...
Good information and honest marketer, outdated websites
I am still waiting for the first affiliate commission payout that should have been sent to my PayPal account weeks ago. The offer in question was a CPA offer that was exploited by dishonest affiliates, which could explain why it still takes a while for him to filter the fake information, so that us honest affiliates can get paid.
Other than the affiliate programs, McRea provides good information on marketing, and I have no doubt he is a honest marketer and knows what he is doing (even though I was puzzled by his statement in the Warrior Forum recently: "SEO is dead", although it was a clever way to attract attention).
With a business full of dishonest guru-wannabes, it is refreshing to have someone like Bill McRea around, to teach beginners as well as experienced Internet users how to get started with earning money online.
Splinterbiz's comment on TrafficTaxis ...
They sure love to send me offers by e-mail
I do enjoy using Traffic Taxis mainly because it's part of Super Surf, a joint effort involving some of the most popular Traffic Exchanges. Click the Bonus link in the surf bar when you are logged in with either site connected via Super Surf, and current status (whether the bonus is activated for each site) is shown on a new page / web tab.
What I do not enjoy as much is the e-mails they send me every day, sharing news on competitions and product offers. The other day, Oct. 16 I received eight e-mails from Traffic Taxis alone. As much as I appreciate being updated on things, that's just too much. You better set up a filter to sort out their messages, or they will pile up in your main folder.
Traffic Taxi's F. A. Q. only covers very few questions, but you are free to contact them with any further questions.
I appreciated being able add my blog with Traffic Taxis; add the name of your blog, URL and a short description and the admin will check it before adding it. More free traffic is always good.
Traffic Taxis's Downline builder is the usual type with the common, popular opportunities. You will most likely find that you already belong to many of the sites in the list.
As for results: this is a Traffic Exchange. Most people surfing T. E. sites usually cannot afford PPC or other means of paid advertising, and even giving away something for free has become a challenge. T. E. traffic is useful for name branding and list building, though.
I've had a mostly positive experience with Traffic Taxis, and the numerous e-mails is not much of an issue, as I receive hundreds from Safelists, opt-in lists e. t. c. , anyway. Without Super Surf I wouldn't have bothered with Traffic Taxis, but with it I don't mind surfing it for an hour or two now and then.
Splinterbiz's comment on Get Ref ...
I joined Get Ref a year ago
When I signed up with Get Ref, my initial impression was confusion; it takes a little while to get used to the Earn and Spend system, but it is not difficult to grasp and get used to.
The idea of buying referrals is not new, though I appreciate not having to spend real money on non-targeted traffic leads, which is the least valuable kind of traffic.
The quality of the sites promoted by Get Ref members is not very consistent, but many of them are solid, ACME People Search being one. Many of the sites offer instant payouts via PayPal with no minimum earnings required. I even received a PayPal e-mail before I was done setting up my profile with one of them.
I promote several of the sites listed by Get Ref, some of which I found for the very first time at their website.
You can buy Get Ref credits for real money, but I would not advise it unless money is not an issue. Use your blog, Twitter account etc. for driving traffic to your Get Ref affiliate link, then use the credits you earn for free with your referrals to promote the links.
Building a big downline with Get Ref requires just as much time and effort as when building a downline elsewhere. Whether it is worth it is depends on how you use it, but unless you are going to spend hours signing up for programs to (maybe) earn one credit or two each, I see no reason not to join Get Ref and promote it.
Splinterbiz's comment on Top Tier Traffic ...
Mixed feelings
I joined TopTier Traffic when it was still in beta. It was lacking in many areas and I gave up on it after a while. I upgraded my account but didn't feel it was worth it. But, then again, it is a Traffic Exchange; normally you'd achieve better results creating an interesting squeeze page and not using the same old log-in pages and squeeze pages as everybody else.
Other than that, I don't know what's so special about it, other than a nice way to entice the surfers to build bigger downlines, and it was something different at the time. I did not get better or worse results with this T. E.compared to other sites.
With TopTier Traffic, Matthew Graves certainly did contribute with something different, and I respect that.
Splinterbiz's comment on Free SafeList Mailer ...
Safelists are not magic money-making machines
When I signed up with Free SafeList Mailer, they added $10 in commissions in my account right away, and I took advantage of the 1-month free Master Pro account upgrade at FreeTrafficBar as well. This offer is probably the best I have seen from any Safelist so far.
So far, so good.
I am satisfied with and almost overwhelmed by everything Free SafeList Mailer has to offer, and I look forward to take advantage of all the tools provided in my account.
Splinterbiz's comment on ILoveHits ...
Easy to use, lacking in some areas
I have used ILoveHits lately because it's part of the "Super Surf" ring. Especially when using Super Surf, traffic credits adds up fast. You need tons of T. E. traffic to get any results in the first place, so the more the better.
The ILoveHits membership comes with some perks, such as free bonus gifts. Not exactly brand new products, but still it's free and definitely a nice bonus when putting it to good use.
ILoveHits is, after all, just another T. E. site; surf ads and earn traffic credits. They have a forum link leading to a marketing forum that covers several other opportunities as well.
The main reason I recommend ILoveHits is the Super Surf ring. There is nothing about the site that makes it stand out otherwise, but it is worth using with Super Surf.
Also, I want to mention that, upon adding two new websites in my account, they were not checked for the next couple of days. I contacted the support team and it was taken care of promptly. Kudos to them for solving the issue quickly.
I will continue using ILoveHits, at least as long as they support Super Surf.
Splinterbiz's comment on Tim Linden ...
Tim does a good job managing one of the best T. E. sites
I don't know how "techy" Tim is, but the only problems I have experienced when navigating my user account at StartXchange was when creating custom banners. It seemed pretty random whether my profile picture would be added or not. However, I suspect it was a browser problem and not his fault.
I enjoyed reading his blog in the beginning, although it wore off soon and I know of better blogs to spend my time reading rather than his. I am used to T. E. owners pushing new opportunities all the time, it comes with the turf and I won't give him a bad rating for it.
The surf timer is quick on TrafficXchange and the surf rewards are many. Tim did an excellent job with his site and at least used to be supportive toward the user base.
I have never met Tim in real life, but if he is anything in real life like we have witnessed him being as the owner of TrafficXchange, I can only imagine he must be a very nice person to be around.
Splinterbiz's comment on Yuwie PayDay ...
Yuwie was not my cup of tea
I joined Yuwie for a little extra income and to learn more about Internet Marketing, but did neither. Even if I could stomach all the layers of advertising on their website and all the newbies doing anything to make money, the website is poorly thought out and put together, causing issues with my main browser, Opera.
I went with a group at Yuwie. The leader kept talking about all the traffic and money we would make being part of her team. I earned a few dollars, mainly from my own efforts, then without notice my earnings were reset. I am not a cheater and I have no idea what happened. I was tired of it and quit at that point, anyway.
There are many other and better earn-money-doing-anything communities out there. To me, Yuwie feels like leftovers from 2005.