An SEOBook member by the name of Giovanna expressed her feelings regarding my blog post Wealthy Affiliate Stands In Stark Contrast To Rich Jerk And SEOBook. You can view her opinions on her blog here.
Now, if someone wants to disagree with me, or make me aware that I am misinformed, I will gladly welcome an amicable discussion. However, what disturbs me about Ms. Giovanna’s blog post is the way she comes across like a middle school girl in a cat fight. Yes, Ms. Giovanna clearly enjoys the sport of mud slinging. I’m not going to encourage her further by mirroring her “tit for tat” approach, but I certainly am going to take the opportunity to respond to her allegations.
Ms. Giovanna says that I failed to convince her that Wealthy Affiliate, Rich Jerk, and SEOBook were from the same category.
My Response: Well, since I wasn’t trying to convince anyone that WA, RJ, and SEOBook are from the “same category” I guess it’s really not a failure. Although I believe that the three have some things in common and deal with much of the same industry, actually I was trying to point out their differences. That’s why I used the words “Stark Contrast” in the title of my blog post.
She says that she doesn’t see how Wealthy Affiliate is different from “hundreds of sites like it”.
My Response: To begin with, there are not “hundreds” of sites like Wealthy Affiliate. To my knowledge there are only two other membership sites that come remotely close. I don’t believe that there are “hundreds of sites” like Wealthy Affiliate, and even if there were, I would never believe that Ms. Giovanna has evaluated them all thus making her qualified to say they are all the same. If she has, then she is indeed an impressive researcher. I think we can safely throw this remark of hers into the “mud slinging” category.
She states that the “pop up” that “attacked her screen” prevented her from clicking on the Wealthy Affiliate link to review Wealthy Affiliate further.
My Response: I don’t have any pop ups on my website. Perhaps Ms. Giovanna has some malicious adware on her PC.
She claims that I “dismissed” SEOBook with just a short paragraph.
My Response: I didn’t dismiss anything. All I said was that I could not provide a review of SEOBook because I can’t afford to join up for $100 a month. It’s that simple. And, yes, I’ve heard lots of positive things about SEOBook. As a matter of fact, I’m very much interested in the material and would welcome the opportunity to be a member. However, that kind of monthly membership fee does not fit into my cashflow right now. And besides, Wealthy Affiliate only costs me $29 a month and provides me with more educational resources than I know what to do with.
She says that she doesn’t know where I got the information that SEOBook was free.
My Response: I realize that I may not have been very clear on that point, so allow me to clarify. According to what I was told on an online forum, there is an actual ebook called SEOBook. It is my understanding that for quite some time this ebook had been available for free. The forum post continued to say that the ebook could no longer be had for free because it was now part of material that was included in a membership site at SEOBook.com. Ms. Giovanna, if I’m misinformed please just tell me that I’m misinformed. I will willingly retract and correct any information I may have posted that is incorrect.
She claims that I was “hard-selling” my readers, that I related that the other products were “terrible”, and failed to say anything positive about the subject that I was “lambasting and destroying”. She claimed that my attempt to call the reader to action was all wrong.
My Response: The only “call to action” that I had was to recommend to my readers that they compare the three for themselves. So confident am I that Wealthy Affiliate is most likely going to be a great resource for your average person looking to make money online, that when people evaluate the three for themselves, they will come to the same conclusion that I came to.
I never said that any of the other products were “terrible”. Regarding SEOBook, I only commented that I have heard good things about it. Although in my opinion it’s probably a little pricey for your average internet marketer. Maybe the Fortune 500 companies find it useful, but Wealthy Affiliate is a resource that will be much more cost effective for most people.
She claims that because I am a Wealthy Affiliate member that my opinion is biased.
My Response: Well of course I am biased! I’ve done the evaluation for myself and determined which product was the best fit for me personally and that is Wealthy Affiliate. Since that is the conclusion I arrived at, I strongly suspect that Wealthy Affiliate will be a good fit for others as well. That’s why I recommend it. If you’re going to get a recommendation on a product, wouldn’t you prefer to get it from someone who has tried the product for themselves? That would probably be better than someone who has never tried the product.
OK, so let me just stop and address this issue. Those of us that promote Wealthy Affiliate get this thrown in our faces from time to time. Basically the idea is that because we are WA members and since we earn commissions from promoting the program, our opinions must be totally invalid because we are only promoting it for the money. Well, like I’ve said before, that’s just an attitude that I will have to tolerate for promoting a product I believe in.
The reason I promote Wealthy Affiliate is simple. It works for me. I’m learning a lot and it is helping me begin to make money online. I am not interested in making money by promoting digital “snake oil”. Since I am personally confident that Wealthy Affiliate offers a good value, I can promote it with a clear conscience. As a matter of fact, I have a blog post dealing with that very issue.
She claims I failed as an internet marketer because I made absolutely false statements.
My Response: Like I said, if I am misinformed, please tell me. I will retract anything I said that was incorrect. For the most part my blog post was an opinion piece. The only factoid I provided that could prove to be false was that the SEOBook ebook used to be free. If that was never the case, then I have definitely been misinformed.
She claims that my comparison of three different products “further dimmed my substandard ability to determine relevancy”.
My Response: I intentionally chose three products that are very different. As of right now, I’m not interested in comparing products that are nearly identical.
Following Giovanna’s blog post two people (as of this writing) have posted comments. The first comment is from a person that states that he wants the link so he can take a look at my “POS”. He then sarcastically corrects himself by saying “piece of work”. He then indicated that he was writing this before he ever had a chance to read my blog post. The second person made a comment stating that I am a “frigtard”.
My Response: Pretty classy friends you have there Ms. Giovanna. I hope that the rest of the SEOBook members aren’t like them or you.
Now I have to direct a statement to Mr. Aaron Wall. I realize that the comment I made about you being proud of your product because you charge $100 a month for it may have come across a bit snide. That was not my intention, and if you feel that way, please accept my apology. I know that I would be pretty proud if I had a membership product that I could sell for $100 a month. Additionally, I’ve seen some of your videos and you seem to be a very intelligent and amicable person. Maybe we’ll get the chance to meet someday.
I’m not going to hold Giovanna’s comments against Mr. Wall, nor am I going to assume that they reflect the opinions and attitudes of all SEOBook members. Just like we have all learned recently that Barak Obama cannot be held accountable for the remarks made by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, likewise Aaron Wall and all SEOBook members cannot be held accountable for the comments of Giovanna. Mr. Wall, I’m sure that Giovanna meant well, but I hope the rest of your faithful followers are a bit nicer.
