More Zeus problems on the Gorilla Website Marketing Course
I mentioned that I was having all sorts of problems with Zeus (the free version). I forgot to mention that I emailed Vicky at ABDevelopment about this. She was going to be doing the upcoming marketing part of the Gorilla Website Marketing Course and she was supposed to be something of an expert in using Zeus. I figured she would probably be the best person to get to the bottom of the problems, as I was getting nowhere with the official Zeus helpdesk.
This is what I emailed to Vicky :
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Hi Vicky,
I have my final site building session with Scott Dimmick next Monday, or sooner. After that I believe you are still going to be doing the mentoring with me for the marketing of my site.
When I spoke to Scott last night I mentioned something that I wanted to flag early on as a likely problem. Obviously Zeus is going to be a basic part of the marketing strategy, so I downloaded the free copy and thought I would try it out with one of my other web sites so that I could get a feel for how it worked.
I have had nothing but problems with it since I downloaded it ! I have tried it on 3 seperate PC’s now and still cannot get it to work properly,consistently, or with stability. I’m not going to catalogue the list of problems here. I can point you to the Cyber Robotics helpdesk entry where I logged the problems and you can read the issues for yourself.
As this is going to be so key to the marketing efforts, I am raising this with you now as I am getting nowhere with Cyber Robotics support,and I assume Glenn Canady’s name must carry some weight with thesepeople.
The Cyber Robotics helpdesk is at :http://www.cyber-robotics.com/cgi-bin/pdesk.cgi
The userid to login is : xxxxxx
The password is : xxxxxx
The call id is 9136
I haven’t heard from them in 4 days (ok, there was the weekend) and since then I have discovered that if I crank up the number in the LoadFault Countdown in the Tools->Options->Advanced tab then I can get it work for longer before the problem hits. It still keeps failing though.
I need our marketing efforts to be a success and would be grateful if you are able to do something to get this resolved before it becomes a major issue.
Many thanks
– Chris O’Connor
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Note - I’ve editted out the sensitive bits - password etc.
Vicky didn’t seem perturbed by the problems at all and replied with this :
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Chris,
Don’t worry,the problems you are referring to is because you are using the free version.
How we solve this is you will receive the PRO version download along with a registration code that will secure your Zeus. The free trial period is like a demo, and will not work properly until you register it.
After Zeus is registered, it will work just fine. I will send you a registration code before our first session. Email me when you are ready to schedule, and please notify jason@abdevelopment.com when your sessions with Scott have concluded, so he is also aware of your change to me.
Look forward to working with you again.
Vicky @ AB Development
GorillaWebMarketing
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This didn’t ring true to me. From what I’d read on the Zeus forums there were a good number of people out there using the free version of Zeus as their main linking software. They also didn’t seem to be experiencing problems. And what about the fact that to go from the free version to the pro version you just had to buy a licence key and then enter it. In other words it was the same software.
I got back to Vicky with my concerns :
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Hi Vicky,
Are you sure about the free vs Pro version ? The free version becomes the pro version just by entering the registration code into it. So it is the same software, and I guess, with the same problems.
Chris
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Vicky was obviously quite confident in the Zeus software and replied with the following :
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Chris,
In our training sessions I will show you everything you need to do with Zeus. It probably didn’t work properly because it wasn’t properly trained.If you don’t have certain things right in the program, it won’t work. Ihave worked with hundred’s of different Zeus’, and I haven’t heard of any of them experiencing the problems you describe.
I will work with you every step with the program, so it will operate correctly on your website.
Talk to you soon,
Vicky @ AB Development
GorillaWebMarketing
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There wasn’t much more I could do. Getting the free version of Zeus to work had proven to be frustrating and ultimately fruitless. I had about another week to go before I started my marketing sessions with Vicky so I didn’t see any point in continuing to email her about Zeus. I did keep trying, but got nowhere. I’ve used all sorts of software over the years and never had the amount of problems that I encountered with this.
I got to the end of my site building sessions with Scott, and despite some tweaking on it that I was doing right up to the end, I felt my site was looking good.
As I had been asked to do, I emailed Vicky to tell her that my sessions with Scott were at an end, so that she could schedule in our marketing sessions.
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Vicky / Jason,
Just wanted to let you both know that I have just had my last session
with Scott and am ready to be scheduled in with Vicky.
My sessions with Scott were at 9.30pm GMT each Monday. I don’t know if
that slot is a possibility ? The only day that is not good for me is
Friday. Otherwise, I can do Mon-Thu 18.00 - 22.00.
Let me know what you want to do with the schedule and if there is
anything you want me to be doing or looking at in preparation for our
first session.
thanks
Chris
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I had signed up to Glenn Canady’s Gorilla Website Marketing Course back in the end of October / beginning of November 2003. I had been told that I would be getting money coming in by the time the first credit card bill came in. Well, the first credit card bill had come in and I was paying off my first installment on the $8000 plus interest. I still hadn’t even started my marketing sessions yet.
Understandably, my wife was starting to get very concerned. My big concern was that ABDevelopment seemed pretty laid back about the whole thing (well it wasn’t their money that was at risk !). Christmas was coming up and I really did not want my sessions slipping into the New Year before they started. I NEEDED to start earning some of that $8000 back.
Vicky replied to my email where I stated I could do Mon - Thu 18.00 - 22.00 by offering me a 4pm slot !?
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Chris,
Thanks for the update, and I look forward to working with you again. By the 1st session appointment the following assignments should be completed. If NOT we don’t want to waste a session, so let me know 24 hours ahead of time and we can reschedule. If you need to reschedule for any reason, a 24 hour notice is required!
-Download the GOOGLE Toolbar-
-Another tip is to look up your domain at altavista.com view your website’s reciprocal linking partners.
-Download the ALEXA Toolbar. Type in your domain and you can view your traffic rank. When you do Click the box to allow popups.
-Bookmark http://www.zeuscollective.com/ for future research of categories, andcompetitor’s link directories.
-Traffic Swarm sign up, and get free traffic in 24 hours, email me your ID #once assigned.
-Bookmark http://www.gorillawebsitemarketing.com/, click on resources, and scroll down to “Search Engine Tools” Overture Suggestion Tool.
-Bookmark http://www.wordtracker.com/
The next available appointment I have is this Thursday 12/18/03 @ 4:00PM your time.
Reply to confirm.
Vicky @ AB Development
GorillaWebMarketing
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So, nearly 2 months after starting this I am about to start my marketing sessions, which will take another 4 weeks. And how soon did they tell me it would be before I started getting money back from Glenn Canady’s Gorilla Website Marketing Course ? And more to the point, how the hell was I supposed to get my $8000 back within 6 months if it was going to be 3 months before I had even finished the training sessions ?
I was getting concerned. I’d already given up one temporary job to concentrate on this and now I was faced with another dillema. Luckily the 18th was the last work day before Christmas for the place I was working. They shut for 2 weeks over Christmas, so I figured it would probably be OK if I left a few hours early. I HAD to do whatever I could to get these marketing sessions going so I could start recouping my money. After all, I knew how to build web sites, I’d been doing it for years. What I needed to know was the latest and most effective ways of marketing the site. That was what was going to get my money back, and a lot more hopefully.
I emailed Vicky :
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Hi Vicky,
I normally don’t get back from work until after 6pm (GMT), so normally the earliest appointment would have to be after 6.30pm. But, I realise that it is probably going to get difficult fitting me in around Christmas and I don’t want our first appointment to end up drifting into the new year. So, I will finish work early this Thursday and I will be available for 4pm.
After Thursday can we make our subsequent appointments for after 6.30pm ? Is that OK with you ? Friday being the only difficult day for me.
I have done all of the assignments. I already had an account at Trafficswarm (id=153633). I’ve already got sites listed with them. Do I need to disable these ?
I have also had an account with Wordtracker for some time. My toolbars and bookmarks are ready to go !
look forward to speaking with you on Thursday.
Chris
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My marketing sessions were about to begin !