In the past, I have reviewed what are called "Data-Entry" programs (or in some cases, they are called "Type At Home" programs). My feelings have been quite two-fold. Let me explain:
1) Is it fair to review (and even recommend) a program that is misleading from the beginning?
2) In some cases, I thought that the programs were OK, so should that be enough to recommend them?
I have relied on my second notion on the topic and provided reviews of Data Entry Programs...until now.
First of all, if you type "data entry" into any search engine, you will get a lot of programs that will tell you that if you just fill out a few advertising forms, you will make hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of dollars. This sounds a little too good to be true, right?
Believe it or not, just two or three years ago, this was very true! What these programs are suggesting is essentially affiliate marketing in its primitive state. At the infancy of search engines and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) programs (like Google Adwords), one could sign up for an affiliate program and then directly promote that product on a PPC. You will fill out an Adwords ad ("data enter") and then send the clicker directly to your product's true home page. This is called direct affiliate marketing. There are no intermediate landing pages, no web page designs, nothing!
This no longer works any more. Search engines have wised up. First, they only allow one ad per URL. This means that if people want to promote Sirius radios (for example), only one person will be able to bid for this specific website address on Adwords. Placement of this ad usually goes to the highest bidders. For newbies, this price is usually not within a profitable budget. Secondly, companies like Google also adjust the bids by the quality of the landing page. This prevents re-directing websites and dummy landing pages.
So if direct affiliate marketing no longer works, what are data entry programs really selling you? Good question! Some are actually hip with the times and are really just affiliate marketing programs (teaching you about landing pages, etc. Read more about
affiliate marketing). Others still promote exactly what I just wrote about, and this does NOT work any more.
Over the last few months, I reviewed a few programs that I thought that were OK. Then, mega-eBook distributor Clickbank decided to pull the plug on all data entry products: Too many returns. I Still, I held strong with my reviews. Then Google decided to disapprove any ads related to Data Entry. I contacted them and asked them why? Here is what they said:
"Please know that at this time, due to multiple complaints, Google policy
does not permit advertisements for data entry affiliate programs. This
includes ads which direct users to sites that promote the creation or data
entry of other ads directing users to the same site. It has come to our
attention that some of these sites fail to disclose that there may be
significant costs to advertisers associated with these programs, such as
the costs incurred in creating Pay-Per-Click accounts with programs like AdWords." -
Wow! These misleading programs must really be making people mad. But what did they do to finally make me pull them from my site? Simple: Bad Business! In the few months that I promoted these programs, I did have some visitors who were not happy with the product. This happens. All of these products had money back guarantees. However, getting these companies to respond to our emails and requests was virtually impossible. As someone who supported these programs, I was literally embarrassed and very upset. These programs were a reflection of me and my review. They did not even give me nor my visitors the common courtesy of a response. Since my "Data Entry" problems, I now spend time contacting the authors prior to actually reviewing the programs.
Are "Data Entry" programs a scam? In most cases, yes. They no longer work. For the few cases that are just poorly named products disguised as affiliate marketing programs, I found the service and the support so dreadful that I can no longer even give them the privilege of having their link appear on my site
