The Glenn Canady Gorilla Website Marketing Course Review

In one of the emails I pasted into my last post I mentioned that Glenn Canady’s Gorilla Website Marketing Course package had arrived from ABDevelopment by post. I was a box big enough to hold an A4 ring binder (because thats exactly what it contained - OK, US Letter size if you want to be picky). In the binder was Glenn Canady’s Gorilla Website Marketing book. It was the same book that I had already paid something like $39 to download only a few months prior to this. Now I was paying $8000 and getting the same thing ! I could have printed the thing off myself for next to nothing !

Despite that I was quite excited to get the package and really wanted to see what was in it that I could really get my teeth into and get started on my path to success. In particular I seized on the ‘Free Traffic in just 24 hours’ report that was included. This comes to a total of just over 3 sides of print. No I’m not joking, that is it. Your probably thinking that Glenn Canady has probably distilled his immense knowledge of driving traffic to websites and given me some pure highly concentrated, focused information. Well, maybe he did. Maybe this was the best that Glenn Canady had. Maybe he was sharing with me his best traffic generating ideas. But WEBRINGS !!!! Come on, I don’t know about you, but these were not a bad idea about 7 or 8 years ago, but now ! You have got to be joking ! I mentioned that Glenn Canady’s goldmine of quick traffic generation secrets came to just over 3 pages. Well, webrings took up just over 2 of them.

So, what was the other big secret ? Trafficswarm. That is what it was. Glenn Canady suggests signing up for Trafficswarm.

Some years ago, when the whole ’start page’ thing took off I signed up with Trafficswarm, amongst others. I did not have any success with any of them and gave all of them up as a bad job. So imagine my feelings when I’ve paid $8000, open the package and find Glenn Canady claiming that the best way to traffic in ‘24 hours’ is webrings and Trafficswarm !

Now I don’t know if you know what Trafficswarm is. If you do then bear with me while I explain it for those that don’t. A few years ago there was a rash of ’start page’ programs. The idea was that you changed the start page on your browser to be a page that Trafficswarm, or what ever program you had signed up with, had given you. So, you open up your browser, you automatically go to the page that they assigned you, and you get x number of credits. The programs varied slightly in how they worked, but the basic idea was that those credits would then be translated into exposures for your site on the network. So, you open your browser, see some site you have no interest in, and for every 2 or 3 times you do that your site then gets shown to a stranger, who has no interest in your site. Brilliant.

For a period of time desperate site owners thought these were great and would create macros, bots, anything they could to create fake ‘clicks’ or ‘browser refreshes’ to try and notch up extra credits on the network. A lot of these ‘Start page’ exchanges fell by the wayside, buried by the cheats, fake clicks and exposures. A few survived. Trafficswarm was one of the ones that did, and it did so for good reason. It was one of the best and most astute. It quickly developed systems to catch out the cheaters, and it did so without being obtrusive. It also allowed for webmasters to get targetted traffic to their web sites by allowing them to categorise their sites. As a Trafficswarm member you then say which categories you are interested in seeing when you start up your browser. This means that people should only see adverts that they are interested in. It’s clever, it’s simple, and it works.

So you are probably thinking ‘what the hell am I moaning about ? Glenn Canady has obviously delivered the goods’. Well, no, he hasn’t, there is a slight problem.

Think about it. Who signs up for Trafficswarm ? Not Joe Public. Why would they ? The whole point about the Start Page exchanges is that you sign up to help you get exposure for your web site. The average buying member of the public doesn’t have a website and therefore absolutely no need to sign up to Trafficswarm or any other Start Page scheme. In fact, the ONLY people signing up are other webmasters who are signing up simply to promote their own web sites. They couldn’t care less about your web site. Trafficswarm at least deals with this problem by making sure that you have to wait several seconds before you can click on to the next site or just go to wherever you want to go to. Lets face it, in that time, if you are forced to wait to get the credit then you might as well read the adverts in front of you. Don’t forget they are in categories you said you were interested in. You know, I’ve actually found a few good bits of software and some interesting sites through Trafficswarm while waiting for the required number of seconds to elapse.

What I’m trying to get across here is that the Trafficswarm audience is made up mostly of fellow webmasters trying to get people to buy THEIR stuff from THEIR sites. Not members of the general buying public. So if you have a site selling everyday items (lawnmowers, kitchen utensils, etc.) then I would say forget it. However, if you have a web site selling ‘opportunities’ then Trafficswarm can be a really good thing, due to the Trafficswarm audience (webmasters offering opportunities that seem to be willing to look at other webmaster ‘opportunities’).

However, I’d paid $8000 for Glenn Canady’s Gorilla Website Marketing Course and the whole point about it was that Glenn Canady was the expert. He was the guy that was going to tell me how it SHOULD be done. My ways weren’t working, so what did I know ? Despite my grave reservations I decided that I was going to implement the webrings and Trafficswarm exactly as Glenn Canady suggested. And I did.

Now one thing I would like to say to Glenn Canady is, when you create an e-book (if you can call 3 pages a ‘book’) and you have hyperlinks in it which lead to your affiliate link then that probably works great. When it is printed out it doesn’t, and it just looks stupid. You see the printed sheets I had were straight from Glenn Canady’s ebook/report. Every mention of Trafficswarm was a link to Glenn’s affiliate link, so that you signed up under him and he got money from it if you signed up as a ‘pro’, and he got free traffic out of it also. So, hardly unbiased advice, and we can see who really stands to make the most out of Glenn’s ‘free traffic in 24 hours’ report. The one guy guaranteed to get free traffic in 24 hours is Glenn Canady !

Like I said, I implemented Glenn’s ‘advice’. I signed up for all the webrings I could find that were related to the site I was eventually to create, and I dug out my old Trafficswarm ID and re-activated it. I think I got maybe half a dozen hits from the webrings over a six month period. From the logs it looked like it was the spiders they use to see if you still have the webring code active on your site, and not actual visitors.

I still use Trafficswarm, but I only use it for one site, and not the one I developed with ABDevelopment and Glenn Canady’s Gorilla Website Marketing Course, that was a waste of time. I tried Trafficswarm with all sorts of sites and didn’t get any worthwhile traffic. It DOES do well with one site that I have, which is an affiliate site where I offer webmaster opportunities. I get a tiny bit of money out of this. Well I would do if they ever paid up what they are supposed to owe me (but thats another story).

If you have a web site that offers ‘opportunities’ then it is worth signing up with Trafficswarm. If you haven’t then I’d say don’t bother. If you fit into the ‘opportunity’ category here is my blatant affiliate link for you to click on ===> Trafficswarm, give it a try for free.

I’ve just realised that it is getting late and I haven’t covered a fraction of what I was planning to cover today, so I’m going to wind up here and resume tomorrow.

On the 5th November 2003 I received an email from a guy called Terence Davis at ABDevelopment. My first assignment was to come up with a product that I was going to sell.

I’ve pasted his email below :

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Chris,

By the 1st session appointment the following assignments should be completed. If they are 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!

Assignment # 1: Deciding on a Product, and Product Research- We want to start with a product base. When you find a product you would like to promote, reply to me, and I will send you a list of drop shippers for that product. The outline attached has tips on how to focus and decide on a product to sell. This is of course the foundation we work from. A product should be decided when we have our first session.

Let me know if you have questions, and I will talk to you on Friday 11/14/03 @ 10:30PM your time.

Terence @ AB Development
GorillaWebMarketing

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The Word document that was attached gave some brief details about how to carry out the brainstorming and how to get started identifying a product to sell. The key suggestion was to focus on ‘what do I know a lot about’ and ‘what am I passionate about’ and what motivates me. I followed the brief instructions thoroughly, and at the end of the session I ran through the results with my wife. She agreed. From the brainstorming I had done, the ideal product(s) would seem to be PDA’s. I was extremely interested in them, knowledgeable about them, and had a definite passion for the technology.

However, there was a problem. The next-to-useless drop shipper list that they had sent me simply did not have anything listed that was even vaguely of any use. So I did not have the drop shipper that they had promised me that they were going to provide.

Having completed my assignment and realised that the dropshipper list WAS a problem after all, I email Terence at ABDevelopment to make home aware of the problem. Se my email below :

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Hi Terence,

I’ve completed the brainstorming session and as a result of that Iarrived at PDA’s or PDA related products as the thing (or things) that Iwould like to sell. I’ve been into PDA’s since before the Apple Newton and have a good amount of knowledge and interest in them.

However, the drop ship list I was provided with does not seem to have anyone listed who deals with these. What can I do about this ? Do you have anyone who can do drop ship for PDA products ?

Actually, I should point out that there was a lot of websites listed on the drop ship list that just don’t exist anymore. It seems to be quite out of date.

I have started doing a temporary job which involves shift work. This has NO impact on either the time I can put into this, or my commitment to it. I am mentioning this because it means that I have this coming Friday off, so it may be easier for both of us if we make Fridays call at an earlier time. Between 3pm - 4pm would be good for me. If the product choice is an issue then I am happy to reschedule to early next week if you prefer. I would rather we were both happy with the product choice and got things off to a good start (as I’m sure you are). Let me know what you would like to do about Friday.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Chris O’Connor
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BTW - my package from ABDevelopment arrived this morning.

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I would not sign myself up for a course such as this and go into it in a half hearted manner. Prior to sign-up, when I was getting grilled about whether I was going to be commited to it, and whether I was the right person, I was astounded that they should expect anything else. I really can’t see the point in anyone being presented with an opportunity like this, signing up to to it, and then not doing it properly. I had decided to take a part-time job which would allow me to dedicate more time to what I needed to do to achieve success on Glenn Canady’s Gorilla Website Marketing Course. Whatever time they wanted me to dedicate to it, I would do at least twice that. There was no way I was going to fail.

I never did get a reply from Terence. I have no idea why. I sent a further email, this time to Ashley, they person that was my initial contact at ABDevelopment.

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Hi Ashley,

I’m forwarding the email I sent to Terence on Monday about our planned session on Friday. I haven’t heard back from him and just want to make sure that he got the email. I don’t know if he is out of the office and maybe hasn’t got the email yet, or if he hasn’t had time to reply yet.

Could you maybe check with him if he got it ok ? I’m concerned it is getting closer to Friday and want to make sure we maximize the benefitof any session we have.

many thanks

Chris O’Connor
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The next day I got an email from ABDevelopment from a lady called Vicky. Here is the email :

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Chris,

Mr. Terence Davis will not be available to work with you. My name is Vicky, and Glenn assigned me you file to work with you one on one through website construction, and intense marketing. I received your email you sent to Terence about the scheduled appointment on Friday. I have an opening at 4:00PM your time on that day, unless you want to schedule for the next week. Reply to confirm, and I look forward to working with you.

Vicky @ AB Development
GorillaWebMarketing
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I was pleased that Glenn Canady was taking such a personal interest and that he had assigned Vicky to me. I’d like to point out that this is a complete contrast to the way Glenn Canady is behaving now. I’ve attempted to contact Glenn a number of times regarding the problems I have experienced with his Gorilla Website Marketing Course. Glenn does not want to know. He doesn’t want to accept ANY responsibility for it. It’s his course, in his name, and he took the money for it, but doesn’t want to take responsibility for it !

When I’ve tried to contact Glenn Canady recently all I get is emails from his people saying it is not their problem, nothing to do with them, and I should contact ABDevelopment. Well, I’ve sent numerous emails to ABDevelopment, all of which have been ignored. ABDevelopment tell Glenn Canady that they have phoned me and emailed me but I don’t respond. So how come all my email gets to me, apart from theirs ? How come there are no messages on my answering machine ? How come there are no ‘missed calls’ on the phone display ? I think the answer to those questions is pretty obvious. Glenn Canady and ABDevelopment have taken my money, misled me, failed to deliver what they said they would, left me $8000 out of pocket, and are now choosing to ignore me.

Well guys, I don’t like being ignored.

Tomorrow I’m going to cover the contents of the Gorilla Website Marketing Package that I received from ABDevelopment. As part of an $8000 package it’s got to be pretty amazing, hasn’t it ? I’m also going to be looking at how ABDevelopment handled their failure to come up with a dropshipper for me, despite the boasts that that they could find me a dropshipper for ANY product I cared to pick. Then I’ll cover the period when ABDevelopment go ‘missing in action’.

I don’t know if you have ever searched for companies that will drop ship for you. There is a lot of absolute tat out there, and most of it can be found on Ebay. You’ve maybe seen the sort of thing, ‘Ultimate Dropship List’, ‘ Dropship List 200 Dropshippers’, etc. etc.

What you are getting is a tired old list of web sites where the company either is not a drop shipper at all, or they are offering cheap and nasty stuff that nobody in their right mind would buy, or the web site just plain doesn’t exist any more. How old are some of these lists, and does anybody EVER bother checking them before they put them up for sale ?

So the same day I get my ‘Welcome’ email from Ashley at ABDevelopment, I also get another email. It’s got a Word document attached, ‘DropShipperList.doc’. I was impressed. These guys really want to get moving, this is great. I opened the doc file I’d been sent. It was 32 pages long and was categorised into sections such as ‘GIFT PRODUCTS & COLLETIBLES’ (yes, the spelling really was that bad), ‘HOBBY SUPPLIES’, etc. At first glance this didn’t seem too bad. Then I started to look a bit closer. A significant number of those listed didn’t have web sites. What was the point in listing them ? I couldn’t even see the products they had. A lot of them also had the same web site details. There would be a listing in one category for a company, a listing in a different category for a completely different company, but they had the same web site listed ! No, it wasn’t a directory, and there were a significant number listed like that. I checked through some of the rest. Sites that did not exist, companies that didn’t drop ship etc. I felt this list was every bit as bad as the garbage you would pick up on eBay for 99 cents. Except that I had just paid out $8000 to get it !!!

Ok, I decided I was going to keep calm. They had sent me a list I hadn’t even been expecting, so there was no point in saying I thought it was useless if it wasn’t even going to be relevant to me. I felt sure that ABDevelopment knew what they were doing. After all the talk I had heard over the previous few weeks I felt sure that this must a mistake. Besides, Glenn Canady obviously trusted these people. I was doing his Gorilla Website Marketing Course and he had chosen ABDevelopment as the people to do it for him.

Tomorrow I’ll cover my first assignment. The fiasco surrounding that, and further worries that maybe ABDevelopment were not as on the ball as they should be.