Old and New at Wellington Queens Wharf, New Zealand
Third Tribe Marketing has just launched their affiliate program! Wow that was a surprise! Yes I am being Sarcastic! In fact if I had been a smart arse I could have predicted this when they announced the price increase from $27 to $47 – because if you offer an affiliate program that pays 33% of $47 – that equates to $31.50 to the Third Tribe founders – i.e. you put up the fee to pay for the affiliates, you end up making the same or more anyways.
Old and New at Wellington Queens Wharf, New Zealand
Meanwhile the affiliates do all the the traffic generation for you – they send their own followers over, or they rank their own Third Tribe reviews in the search engines and send the resultant search traffic.
Some one in the Third Tribe forums was surprised that they hadn’t launched with an affiliate program. That wasn’t an oversight – it was deliberate. Initially they wanted to milk their own audience. If they had had an affiliate program at the stage they would have been paying for buyers they already had access to. The initial “lower price” allowed them to get the maximum sign up from the curious – who then have the incentive to stay subscribed because if they drop their subscription and then later return they will pay the higher fee. Along the way the achieved the social proof of having thousands of subscribers and active forums.
Oh and they haven’t released the affiliate program yet – they are just building the buzz for it.
Third Tribe Marketing Forum Statistics
Here are some stats from the Third Tribe Forums. – these cover the first approximately 23 days of the forums:
Chris Brogan: 59 posts total (2.4 posts/day) 5 threads started
Darren Rowse 74 posts total (3.4 posts/day) 1 thread started
Brian Clark: 142 posts total (5.27 posts/day) 7 threads started including 2 administrative threads and two threads promoting other offers
Sonia Simone: 284 posts (10.09 posts/day) 3 threads started all admin related.
Total forum threads: 796,; total posts: 10,572
So the owners of the forum started 0.02% of the threads in the forum which according to their own copy:
The true lasting value of this private community comes from the networking, deal-making, support and insights that come from the interaction among members. … and you’ll see people like Chris Brogan and Brian Clark being much more candid than they ever would on the outside.
You might want to think about that – if you are considering signing up for them – you are pretty much paying $47/month for a single seminar and two Q&A sessions and to network with a bunch of other people who also don’t know how to make money online – otherwise why would they have signed up?
My main takeaway is that people really will pay to provide most of their own content and pay you while they do it! Watching what Third Tribe is doing – rather than listening to what they are saying. My pick is that over the coming months Third Tribe will be doing a lot more of marketing additional tools (at additional cost) – to the now captive audience. I suspect that basically a forum provides a better marketing platform than a blog – my prediction is though that the churn factor will be quite high unless they figure out a way for people to provide meaningful results in their bottom line from their Third Tribe Marketing membership.
Sorry guys this is probably gonna be an odd rambling personal post. My Third Tribe review is honest – I do indeed think the Third Tribe Marketing service is over priced and won’t help most beginners make money online and yes I knew I could rank for the relevant keywords. But it was a fundamental – emotional “yuck” response which I got first – well Cat confirmed that maybe t wasn’t just me …
70's Fashion at Wellington 7s 2010
Cat left a comment on my followup Third Tribe Marketing review which made me realise perhaps I should admit the real reason I made the original review post. Cat said in part:
And that’s an example of what bothers me about this whole notion of being in a ‘tribe’ – there’s this impression of forced conformity – that you’re either on their side, in agreement with their whole philosophy, or not.
Frankensteins at the Wellington 7s Costume Parade
And that is something that has bothered me my whole life. I don’t know where it comes from either . When I was about 13 I was at a holiday camp run by a somewhat Evangelical Christian group – at the end of the week there was a big wrap up meeting – and towards the end we were invited to come forward and “pledge our lives for Christ” or similar – I was sitting towards the back – as people went forward they were hugged and kissed and welcomed to the group – after about 15 minutes there were a handful of us still sitting down – the vast majority were up in the “in” group at the front – I remember feeling terrified and cornered but physically holding the chair I was sitting on so I wouldn’t go up (I was there without my parents by the way) – it was the hardest thing I’d ever done NOT to go up – I so WANTED to be part of that group- but I knew I was an atheist, I knew that wasn’t my group up there – but it was bloody hard to not become part of it – because the majority were.
"Rodney Hyde" and Maori Activist - Wellington 7s 2010
I was yesterday to a friend and we somehow got to subject of Amway and Landmark Education came up, all of us had had friendships damaged with friends and relatives who had joined these programs and who in turn and pressured us to become part of them. My friend (who’s a bit older than me) knows exactly why she doesn’t like “tribal” marketing – she had childhood memories of her parents talking about Hitler Youth (they were displaced persons from Austria and Holland) – because of that she’s always hated any marketing which involves you becoming part of the “in” crowd at the exclusion of the “others”.
Hot Cops - Wellington Rugby 7s 2010
Went I went to Brett McFall seminar I saw the same thing at work – on group a lot older than 13! At the end of the day the sales pitch was – go to the back and sign up in the next 15 minutes for a product which cost around $10k (!) – some people went – as he kept talking he dropped the price down – after 20 minutes my head count was that he had got at least 50% of the room to sign up for something … And the more people signed up – the more the people left became uncomfortable, many left the room rather than stay as the minority.
I thought I was only me that has an instinctive run the other way reaction when I am pitched to do something as part of a group which will make me “different” from another a group – and often better.
I think most people who are trying to make money online are a little “odd” anyways – which probably makes the call to be part of a new “tribe” even more seductive – don’t fall for it.
The supreme irony should be obvious in this classic clip from Monty Python …
The photos? Wellington was very tribal this weekend with the Annual Wellington Rugby 7’s in town …
I recently posted a Third Tribe Review and I’ve made no secret that I am a fan and a member of The Keyword Academy – both are membership sites which cost less than $50/month and claim to help you make money online – one I thoroughly recommend – one I don’t why?
First off lets be clear: do you want a work at home job or a business built on passive income? Personally I have no more desire to be at the beck and call of clients than I liked answering to a boss. In fact I could see it could conceivably worse. I am looking to make income online which keeps happening even while I am not there.
Third Tribe Marketing
Hmmm guys you might want to take a second look at your copy – and fix up some of the missing elements such as Privacy Policy, contact details etc, etc Andy Beard has pointed them out here : Agressive Hype and Obnoxious Tactics. According to Chris Brogan they are about Internet marketing not making money online – that’s pretty confusing cause I thought the whole point of marketing was to make sales and sales are supposed to make your money surely?
Cost: Currently $27 a month- but the price will be rising next week to $47/month. No free or reduced cost first month – but you cancel at any time via Paypal. Apparently you can get a refund of the first month – but you have to request it – I’d suggest using the forums if you can’t find the contact form …
Core Content:. Doesn’t seem to be a defined core course – maybe that will evolve…From what I can gather the theory is that you if you hang with enough like-minded people money will evolve itself into your bank account – call me anal but I’d rather have a business plan. Obviously this is a membership on the Teaching Sells model – so you may well learn something on WHAT they do not what they SAY they are doing. If I am spending money for a forum I want to know what the defined benefits are from it.
Questions and Answers Sessions: Twice a month is planned
Forum: Nothing that special that I can see – could easily become a wonderful hand holding environment – which is unlikely to be of any use except for networking. One of the longest threads at the moment is about what it is to be a “cool blogger” …
Who Would I recommend the Third Tribe to
Its extremely hard to recommend a product which has no clear definition of what it is they are selling and whom they are selling it to…
Seriously if you want to watch WHAT they do not what they SAY they do – this is a very interesting in offering not very much and making people happy to pay for it – the bit that is missing is whether people will stay subscribed – or whether they will have to keep on getting new fodder into the pipeline.
Update on Thrid Tribe Affiliate Program
Along with the price rise there is now the expected announcement of an affiliate program. Of coure Brian Clark is doing it because everyone insisted on it – yeah right – so reluctantly he’s offering 33% of sale price – recurring – so that’s $15.50/month per a sign-up. Expect to see a flood of “second tribe” type gushing reviews of Third Tribe coming to a blog near you.
The Keyword Academy:
The concept is so simple it fits on a one page diagram:
Cost: $33 /month(premium) $29/month $29 (basic). First month $1 – you can cancel at any time via Paypal and that’s the most you will pay. (In fact if you sign up through my link and decide not to continue after the first month drop me a message via the contact form and I will refund your $1 to your paypal account). The price has been the same since the launched in April 09 – there is no threat that it will go up soon as far as I know. Other costs involved will including domains and hosting.
Core Content:10 videos with transcripts describing in detail how to make money using the above model. Plus at least previous 6 monthly webinars are available.
Question and Answer Sessions – 3 times a month including one for European time zone members and one for advanced members. All Q&A’s are recorded and available for download.(premium only)
Content Webinar. There is a content webinar each month – topics include everything from new developments with the Google algorithm to new developments at The Keyword Academy site itself. Available for download (premium only).
Forum (premium only) a forum with a twist. No sigs allowed and mamembers can only sell to other members in one specific area. However members can apply for badges which reflect their online earnings (as verified by management) – which gives an idea to newcomer as to who is walking the talk and who is not.
Who Would I recommend the Keyword Academy to
Anyone who wants to develop a passive online business where they get paid for work they did years or months ago;
Anyone who wants more traffic to their site – maybe you are tired of the social blogging “write great content and they will come” – its not an either or, I think I write competently here – but the site gets most of its visitors from search engines and that’s all about keywords and backlinks and TKA will teach you both.
If you are more experienced and are looking for cost effective access to some useful link building resources – sign up and check it out. You may be pleasently surprised. As an affiliate I’ve been surprised just how “sticky” this membership is – people stay long after they’ve learnt the basics – because of the value add.
If you want to develop a work at home job – be it a freelance writer or something else – check out the TKA anyways – first off there are always members looking for writers and second you will understand how to really write SEO copy- and no its not necessary to go to the dark side (hint this site is fairly well optimised SEO copy).
Who Would I NOT recommend the Keyword Academy to:
Anyone who thinks they will be making thousands or even hundreds in their first month without doing much work – get a job – its one of the easiest ways to make fast reliable cash 🙂 ;
Anyone who is dreaming about starting a business – this is about WORKING;
Anyone who can genuinely not afford the cash – there is enough free information here and over at Grizz’s free blog to get you earning.
Look I’ve been called cynical and rude (and that’s my friends) – but I really, really don’t like people getting ripped off – and just because they may feel good about being ripped off doesn’t mean that they aren’t being so. Even if the people who are running the rip-off scheme (and sorry, bottom-line that’s my opinion of Third Tribe Marketing) – there an awful lot of ernst, good people out there under the illusion that they can make money about blogging about their passions. The bottom line is that most of them won’t make a cent profit.
Membership sites are a fantastic way to make money online – if people keep renewing you make great cash and its an ongoing fairly stable income – that’s the holy grail online I can assure you. But it has to be providing excellent value to the customer as well in my view.
From what I have seen so far from Third Tribe Marketing -this site is an online cocktail hour for the cool dudes – after all business people having been paying through the nose for networking events off-line for years – so why not online? Doesn’t make it any more likely that joiningill make a beginner money though.
If you are a beginner and you are trying to make money online, you have no special skills, no cool tribe to hang out with but you aren’t afraid of a bit of hard work then, I believe that the Keyword Academy should more than pay for its self within several months. Maybe it will 3 months or, 6 months – but from the details provided in the program and the details provided by members in the forum most who stick around seem to hit at least $200/month within 6 months. That’s not a fortune – but it seems a typical result – that’s called no bullshite marketing as far as I am concerned.
You need accurate road maps in Internet Marketing - and the Northern Territory, Australia
Which Tribe do you belong to? Apparently – according to Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Chris Brogan, Sonia Simone – you really should be in the Third Tribe. Up until now there has only been two tribes: the sleazy, scum-bag Internet Marketers who promises the earth, or usually $14,449 plus a Lamborghini, while you sleep, and then there are the nice social media folks – they hang around singing kumbaya making lots of friends and making no money.
I couldn’t stand a kumbaya video – so here’s a video of my aspirational Lamborghini – from my favourite car reviewer –
Apparently there was no middle ground – which was bit of a surprise to me as I have been doing it for a couple of years and so have a whole bunch of other people I know online – but no apparently there has been a vacuum… and Darren Rowse has decided to fill it. There is apparently a third way – oops I mean a third tribe (apologies to Eastern Religions there) – Internet Marketing Strategies That Work (Without Being Obnoxious) – as they like to subtitle themselves.
What Exactly is Darren Rowse’s Third Tribe – and How Will It Make Me Money?
Well first off its a membership site -built around the concept of “teaching sells“. I might have been a little sarcastic on that one – but I still stand by it. Now I didn’t put the nearly $2000 into joining Teaching Sells- but the Third Tribe was an affordable $27/month (but if you join now you’ll pay $47/month)- but its going up soon so hurry – so I “invested” $27 – note that is what its going to cost you – you cancel the sub immediately via Paypal – but you will sink the $27 to check this out – but its OK I can handle the expense – business tax deductions are beautiful things!
What did I get for my $27 (Its now $47 – to pay for the affiliate program no doubt) – I was promised:
“An Education” – well personally I got a lot of education when I first started working underground in Australia as a fairly naive 21-year-old – but I digress. Darren’s Third Tribe Marketing offers me the chance to attend a webinar or listen to an audio class each month. In the first month the sales copy promises me three “education seminars”. One is an interview by Johnny Truant who went from making pennies on Adsense to “5-figures a month” – titled “The Quick Start to Making Money Online”. Then later on in the month – haven’t seen this yet – there is promised a three-hour-long (yeah – bring the popcorn) self-congratulatory talk-fest on how Darren, Brian, Sonia, Chris et al build a “Strong Business Around a Blog” . The third event is mysteriously titled “Interaction” – about building a community of learning – probably something about not writing critical stuff on your blog cause you may upset IMPORTANT PEOPLE – oops…
“Live Q & A” – at least twice a month – where you can ask questions about your business with at least two of the founders of Third Tribe. Hmm – cool – perhaps I can ask some questions when it comes up…Well maybe it will work better than getting any of these guys to actually respond to comments on their own blogs …
“Interactive Forum” – really as opposed to the static, non-interactive type?
So how exactly is the Third Tribe exactly going to make me money? Well…
Johnny Truant spent 9 months doing what everyone says you’re supposed to do to make money online, and made a whopping $111. Then he changed his strategy to a Third Tribe model, and quickly started having 5-figure months. Johnny gives all the real-life details in this hour-long seminar hosted by Sonia Simone, along with concrete steps you can take immediately. You get instant access to it when you join.
Now how “Johnny” made his Adsense payout was the highlight of this post recently – his business model was “write funny blog posts and generally just hanging out online,” – and he managed to make over $100 in Adsaense, in less than a year, – in fact I am absolutely astounded he made that much! The mind boggles as to what Adsense ads were showing up on funny wity posts, but I’m pretty darn sure they were far from relevant. So the take away from that is that Adsense sucks – its not a “real business model” – well I’d agree – Adsense certainly isn’t a good monetization method for a humour blog!
Obviously hanging out online your friends is a real business model – maybe. But its OK Johnny is going to reveal his big secret: how to quickly make money online. I can’t tell you exactly what that is – as it part of the $27 $47 Third Tribe membership program – but from his published post on copyblogger:
One that you can stand behind publicly. Hmmm right – I have a few issues with this – after all this is from a guy calling himself “Johnny B Truant” – now I not one to assume that anyone is making up a name on the Internet- people have weird names I should know! So checked the whois on his website – that’s not his name. Its his brand – I know the maketing geeks will rush over and tell me that’s OK – I know according to the marketing game it is, in the context of a blog, written in the first person – its not honest IMHO.
One that’s based on helping others in exchange for pay. Oh you mean running an Internet-based consultancy – OK that will work – especially if you have skills that other people want to pay for and can be delivered online (anyone want a dance lesson?). Regrettably this is the same problem as Teaching Sells – most begineers don’t have those skills – that’s why they are prepared to join a membership stie and give you money in the hope they can learn the secret!
One that benefits from being a real, authentic person. Well I personally am unreal inauthentic person – except when I am being real on this blog. Is Amazon a real authentic person ? I buy from them all the time – same with trademe.co.nz New Zealand’s very own eBay. I don’t know or care who runs these companies they have blue widgets in stock and I need blue widgets at 2am – I buy from the website.
One that matches your best abilities to the needs of others. Yeah you seriously shouldn’t take marketing lessons from me – I am telling you that now! My point is as above though – you need to play to your strengths sure – or hire talent to fill the gap. Or just be at the top of the search engines when someone asks the question – “where do I buy blue widgets at 2am?”
So how exactly is this going to give a beginner a “quick start to making money online”? Well to be honest I’m completely unclear. I understand how it will make Darren, Brian et al money. I understand how Johnny makes money – he gets to plug his blog setup service amongst other things – but how its going to make a newbie money online – someone who is new to business, new to being online and basically desperate to make money in months not years – I have no idea – and paying my $27 $47 didn’t clear things up.
After the first “educational event” with Johnny I was left pondering what my online skills were. That’s OK for me I have been playing around on the online sewer of fake Internet Marketers for a couple of years now – I do have some skills – but the program isn’t designed for me – its designed for beginners …
Who Do I recommend the Third Tribe Memberhip Site For?
Frankly no one at the moment – well not unless you just feel you need to give Brian Clark or Darren Rowse a donation. Its early days the site has just launched – maybe it will improve. But at first glance its a lot of waffle dressed up with a slick site design and convincing sales copy. Actually on second thoughts I do recommend it to anyone wondering how you go about selling a little for a quite a lot of nice recurring income – watch what they do don’t listen to what they say though.
In fact I’m pissed off for many of the good meaning folks who will join – and who will really get a warm cuddly feeling being part of a supportive online community. There is one part of the sales copy I agree with – paid communities do have a lot less trolls in them and can be very helpful in learning this business. Is this worth $27 $47 /month – well its cheaper than cable I guess – as a form of entertainment, but in terms of teaching you to make money online, its not just a waste of money its a waste of something even more critical – time.
Darren, Brian, Chris and hangers on – I think you guys make a nice living online – I just think its complete crap that you do so setting up schemes like this to milk your followers and send them off down dead ends. Now a lot of the people in the community will be quite happy but I really think you need to be upfront that this is a community for people who want to talk about making money online – not for those who actually want or need to be making soon.
You need accurate road maps in Internet Marketing - and the Northern Territory, Australia
So Smart Arse Lissie How Do You Make Money Online Quickly?
If you are reading this because you were hoping that the The Third Tribe was going to make you money quickly – I’m sorry in my opinion – worth exactly what you paid for it- -t won’t. The following will definitely make you money though:
sell stuff on eBay and cragislist – no not as a flipping affiliate. Sell the stuff in you yard that you never use, sell the toys the kids grew out of, sell the clothes you grew out of;
sign up for some of the writing sites which pay – this is a lot easier if you live in the US – start with places such as Demand Studios, Suite101 – the pay is low and the work is boring but they will pay you regularly. If you want the details on how to launch a freelancing career in around 6 months check out Monika’ Freelance Superstar e-book.
sign up on freelance brokerage sites such as odesk and elance – there are lots of jobs, the pay is low – but again you are likely to get paid in a short time frame.
Oh that’s not what you had in mind- you want to start a blog and hang with the cool chics? Well then the Third Tribe by Darren Rowse is perfect for you – you probably won’t make you much money but you will feel part of the tribe, the community – that counts – doesn’t it? The reality is that is room at the top of the “famous A-lister” blog set for very few – if you areading this and haven’t got a popular blog – you are probably too late! In contrast all the suggestions I just gave you are sustainable low-cost business models which you can start on the kitchen table today without any connections, online or otherwise.
How to Really Learn Internet Marketing Strategies That Work
Well you learn from some real experts who have actually done it. Josh over at Unconventional Marketing has good information and Leo Dimilo is well worth reading everything and subscribing to his newsletter on Internet Marketing. These guys don’t have super pretty blogs – but they do have solid advice based on experience – and can give you information which you can apply. der:
I’d also suggest you join up with HubPages (free) and write around 100 hubs – for each hub pick a phrase which you think people might search for – something you might have searched for in Google perhaps – ask you friends – just try it. Odds are at least some of those hubs will get search traffic and those will make you money from Adsense, eBay or Amazon;
Finally if you are determined to spend some money join The Keyword Academy (honking great ad below) – its a membership stie too. But you can join for only $1 – on going $33/month – I haven’t space here to say why its so much better than this Third Tribe review (subsribe to the RSS feed to be automateically notifed) – some of you will assume its because I get a commission if you sign up. You’d be wrong – but I will leave that for another post. Suffice to say – its entirely predictable and relatively easy to get your blog to rank for something people are searching for – people who are searching are potential customers – if you connect to customers (not friends – customers) then you can make money.
UPDATE: Thrid Tribe Marketing Affiliate Program
There is a now an affiliate program for Third Tribe Marketing – and it now pays affiliates 33% – or $15.50 a month per a sign up – thought I would mention it if you were wondering about all the new Third Tribe Marketing Reviews you are seeing!
DISCLAIMER
The Third Tribe doesn’t have an affiliate program – yet (watch for that when the price goes up) – but even if it didn’t you wouldn’t find the link for it. If you are determined to join do someone a favour and Google “Third tribe affiliate” and sign up using their link and you will make someone a little cash – and cost yourself nothing extra.
I am however a member of The KeyWord Academy – if you sign up with the any of the links on this blog I will make 33% of the commission. If you are not happy you can cancel within the first month and pay Mark and Court only that $1. In fact drop me a line via the contact form at the top of the page using the same email address and I will happily refund your $1 so there is no risk with joining. What’s the worst that could happen – you might learn something useful …
