MyViralSpiral Review
702 words | Last Updated: July 17, 2007 |
MyViralSpiral.com by Tim Brocklehurst sounds too good to be true. Imagine, you can make money while building a list, even if you don't own any listbuilding software or service? A simple test reveals that you are not really building your own list.
(Note: The following is my experience with www.AnitasViralSpiral.com which appears to be running the MyViralSpiral script.)
MyViralSpiral adds people to a mailing list, and gives them rebrandable PDF files. This means that certain affiliate links in the PDF report can be rebranded with your own affiliate link. When your readers click on your affiliate links inside that PDF ebook, you get the commission (assuming your readers purchase the product).
(The affiliate links you can set are your Clickbank ID and your Paypal email address. The Clickbank product being sold is related to listbuilding.)
So you sign up at MyViralSpiral (MVS), get your MVS affiliate link, and then send visitors to that link. Your visitors then sign up at MVS (under you), and are given the chance to input their own Clickbank ID so that they can set-up their own affiliate link.
Now here's where it gets interesting. What happens when your visitors do not have a Clickbank ID?
Remember, you sent those people to MVS, and you have a Clickbank ID. But if the people you referred to MVS do not have a Clickbank ID, the default ID used by the system is not your Clickbank ID.
(Perhaps it's the ID of the person who installed the MyViralSpiral script in their server? In my case, the default affiliate ID is ajohnson, and if there's any connection between that and anitasviralspiral.com, then I'd say they have an interesting sense of humor.)
Shouldn't the MVS system recognize who your referred sign-ups are? Afterall, you'll be able to see how many people signed up under you (although you won't have any idea who those people are).
There's also a facility where you can rebrand a PDF file, and then upload it to the system. These uploads will be seen only by those who signed up under you.
The thinking behind this is if your people do not wish to rebrand their PDFs, then the unbranded PDFs should be your uploaded PDFs. Sadly, that is not the case.
Based on experience, your sign-ups will see your uploaded PDFs only when they log into MVS for the first time. After the page containing your uploaded PDFs is replaced by another page (after they click on the "Next" link), they will not see it again.
Instead, they will be shown download links to the original PDFs. And those original PDFs no longer contain your referral ID.
It would be great if MyViralSpiral did the following for affiliates of the MyViralSpiral script owner:
1. Default downloads should carry the affiliate links and IDs of the person who referred the visitor.
2. Rebranding of PDFs should be done automatically and on the fly. How many people will take the time to download, rebrand, then upload the PDFs, right?
3. MyViralSpiral should reveal who signed up under you. Think about it. Aren't they saying that you are building your list?
Unfortunately, since MyViralSpiral does not yet do the above, then you are not truly building your own list. You're just building a list for MVS.
Should you go for MyViralSpiral?
...If you don't mind building a list for someone else, or
...if you're happy with the chance to earn a commission for the sale of a Clickbank product (offered at the end of the MVS sign-up process), or
...if the ability to email every five days (no indicator of actual deliverability performance) a list of people whose addresses you don't even see appeals to you,
...then go ahead and give MyViralSpiral.com a try.
(But please don't say I didn't warn you, okay? In the meantime, I'll continue my search for the truly win-win viral marketing and listbuilding solution.)
UPDATE: Here's the Report Bugs Here section of the MyViralSpiral forum (www.MyViralSpiralForum.com)
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"MyViralSpiral Review"
First Posted: March 26, 2007 | Filed in: Affiliate Marketing
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Hi Manuel
I'm afraid this is rather off the mark. I've no doubt you're a bright Internet Marketer, but you're off the ball on a number of points here.
If I respond with a longer explanation, will you post it?
Best wishes
Tim Brocklehurst
[From Manuel] Sure, Tim!
Thanks Manuel
First of all let me thank you for taking the time to review MyViralSpiral (MVS). Any publicity is good publicity, so they say, although I'm not sure I believe them in this particular case...!
The thing is Manuel, as a signup to Anitasviralspiral.com - a test site we put up shortly before launch, you're only really qualified to review the merits of My Viral Spiral as a free signup to someone elses Spiral.
Your experience of MVS means you are about as qualified to advise people on MyViralSpiral as a back-seat passenger is on the merits of the latest Mercedes:
You haven't even driven the car and yet you're advising people not to buy it.
You are clearly a good writer and a keen Internet Marketer - I have read much of your blog and what I have seen has been good, high value content. However, with the greatest respect to you Manuel, you have tried reviewing MVS from the wrong perspective if your intention is to provide advice on whether or not people should buy this program (which I believe it is). So please allow me to help out, and to correct some misconceptions:
To be clear, MyViralSpiral is a script, written in PHP, which you install on your server.
It provides you with a fully working website, and a database for storing, and distributing free rebrandable products - typically ebooks - to an audience in your niche.
If MVS arrived empty it would be a great deal more difficult for users to understand how to get it started. Therefore I included three of my own rebrandable ebooks with corresponding squeezepages and graphics. These are available for use, so users may use them if they want to, but I encourage them in my tutorial videos, and in the manual, to create their own products for leading signups to their paid product on their own site.
MVS enables you to build a list by recording the contact details of everyone who signs up for your products. It has a verification method so the list it builds for you is double-opt-in.
There is an in-built autoresponder so you can email your list of prospects as frequently as you like. Plus, with the next revision, an auto-sequencer module will enable you to set and forget an unlimited sequence of email messages going to all your members at pre-fixed time-intervals following signup. But please note, this and many of the other functions are available to the script-owner only, not to the free signups in his spiral.
All signups are guided through the process of rebranding their ebooks. This has to be done by downloading, rebranding and uploading at the moment, because until ViralPDF-Fusion is released in a few weeks time, the creation of rebranded pdfs online, and on the fly, without having to write them in html first, isn't available.
When ViralPDF-Fusion is released, it will be incorporated into MVS and all existing members will benefit. Listen out for more...
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The viral side of MVS means that your signups may promote and get their own signups, and build their own list underneath yours. They do this by using a unique URL which is specific to one of your stored products. Every signup they get to that URL is added to their list, and they may email them as frequently as you decide in your site-settings page.
The list is built using a 4x4 matrix, so the first people to respond to any promotion of an MVS site, will end up with the bigger list. This intensifies response rates and creates urgency. It also means that some of your users will accumulate a list of their own without doing anything, just because referrerals from layers above will trickle down.
They don't have all the functionality that you have, its not their program after all, but they can email their list as frequently as you specify in your MVS program settings. And their list is all double optins too (which means they can opt-out too, from receiving any further messages from any specific sender in their upline - including you, the script owner).
An automated email can be set too, and dispatched to them as a reminder that it is time to mail their list again. It tells them how many are in their list, and its time to mail it again.
Everyone likes a free list-builder. Sites like Gary Ambroses' TheListMachine.com and YourLuckyList among others, have proved that. With My Viral Spiral, everyone has the chance to BE Gary Ambrose - not just struggling to build your own list, day after day, but leveraging the naturally viral characteristics prevalent on the Interenet to have everyone else build it for you... It is therefore an extremely powerful script, and not something that you can review, nor realise the full potential of, as a mere signup to someone elses.
You might argue, I suppose, that your review highlighted difficulties experienced by those signing up to an MVS site. If they had trouble, then you might say that your own list will not grow as easily and as fast as you might expect... Every niche is different, and the people in it behave in different ways. In the short time since MVS was launched, there have been some people who had a quiet time trying to bring MVS through in their niche, and there are others for whom it has grown like wildfire. There's even one, who got 900 signups in a weekend! ...It depends on the niche, and on how well the MVS site is promoted.
There is a Promo Tools page, which is fully editable by the script owner, this means you can implant promotion tools like ready-writted emails, banners, text ads and pre-written forum signatures, for your signups and their signups to use in promoting for their own lists... those, and the constant reminders to mail their lists, with a note each time of what their list has grown to this week, might - you would think - be incentive enough, for Internet Marketers to promote your MVS site... But its not all.
There is one more vital incentive which I haven't mentioned yet, which is the tangible fuel to keep the momentum flowing in your automated list-building. It is the crucial incredient upon which every Internet Marketing success is built, it satisfies the age-old "what's in it for me... right now!?" question - without which most people would do nothing, these days...
So what is it?
It is, very simply, that signups to your MVS site can specify ANY url as the offer url for their squeeze page site. Not just Clickbank sites, nor Seven dollar script sites (requiring a paypal address), Manuel, but ANY url. A proven fact is that people are more likely to buy, or commit to buy, immediately after signing up for something, than before. So MVS gives its users, and subusers to capitalise on that time.
It also uses default offer urls, so for instance if you, as the script owner, has a seven dollar script site you want to promote, then all you need from your signups is their paypal email address. Their default offer URL becomes http://www.your7dollarscriptsite.com/?e=signups@paypaladdress.com and they need do nothing to it to begin earning money, which they receive to their paypal immediately.
This is the standard affiliate url for anyone wanting to promote a seven dollar script site... and with this, they will be paid 100% of the product price. You then get 100% of the upsell.
It is easy, therefore, for your list to begin making money by promoting, and building, their list under yours using the MVS system. And its important to remember, contrary to what you thought in your review, Manuel, your list may promote ANYTHING they WANT. It needn't be your default seven dollar script page, it could be their own affiliate offering, or an affiliate program they're a member of, or anything they have an affiliate url for. MVS works for everyone, those who paid for it, and those who just signed up free to someone elses.
But the point is neither they, nor you, are restricted to Clickbank nor Seven Dollar Script solutions. Everyone can put whatever they want as their offer page URL.
And remember too, when you signup free to someone elses you don't get anything like the same priviledges as the script owner. The script owner can set the default offer-page urls, see exactly who is on his list, he can search for particular members, send activation reminders to those who didn't double-opt-in, decide how frequently all list members can mail their own lists, edit all the automatic emails.. and more.
Thats why, Manuel, you were not qualified to write what you did about MVS. But I'm glad you did all the same, so I could set the record straight!...
Now let me answer your requests directly - for wanting MVS to do the following for affiliates:
1. Default downloads (rebrandable PDF's) should carry the affiliate links and ID's of the person who referred the visitor...:
They do. And if the person who referred the visitor didn't rebrand the ebook, then it looks to the level above, and uses their ebook instead, unless they didn't rebrand either in which case it goes another level up.. etc.
2. Rebranding of PDFs should be done automatically and on the fly. How many people will take the time to download, rebrand, then upload the PDFs, right?
OK - I agree, this is a desirable feature. At the time we put out MVS however, there was no solution that could do this. (as explained above). However, I am in discussion with Sean Kelly of Viral PDF, and he tells me the next version of ViralPDF is going to be able to rebrand pdf documents in this way. We will incorporate it into MVS as soon as we can.
3. MyViralSpiral should reveal who signed up under you. Think about it. Aren't they saying that you are building your list?
MVS gives the script owner full details of who signed up under him. For everyone else, it shows them how many they have on each level, and how big their list is getting. I disagree with how important it is to be able to see who your list is, unless you want to export it and use it somewhere else, but then, of course, it would no longer be a double-opt-in list.... So the thinking has been, with MVS, to give the list to the script holder, and let the others mail their own portion of it, but not 'own' it.
So as you see, there is an awful lot wrong with your apraisal of MVS. Anyone who truly wants an unbiased view, should drop by the forum: http://www.mvs-forum.com - so they can see what MVS users, and their sublists are saying about this revolutionary new software. And if you're building a list, like you should be, then MVS will give you an unrivalled competitive edge in your niche.
Thanks again Manuel, for taking the time to review MVS and for kindly publishing my response.
With best wishes to all
Tim Brocklehurst
Thank you for sharing your side, Tim.
Based on my experience as a passenger (and not the driver) of the MVS vehicle, I saw that affiliates who promote your MVS-powered business do not get maximum benefit. What's the use of driving a van, if your passengers will be unhappy with the riding experience, right?
And when other affiliates also discover that, then they will stop promoting an MVS-powered campaign.
And that will eventually kill the "viral marketing" aspect of MVS, because affiliates may feel cheated by the MVS script owner. Some may even blog about it.
For example...
I signed up, branded the ebook and uploaded it, then promoted my affiliate url. The next level signed up, but when they downloaded the ebook, it did not contain my branded links. Instead, it contained someone else's links (probably the MVS script owner's links?)
What's the point of affiliates branding and uploading a brandable ebook, if people who sign up under the affiliates end up downloading the non-branded PDF ebook, right?
Based on that experience, what happened to the promotional efforts of the affiliate? Why were referred visitors downloading the original, unbranded PDF even if the affiliate had uploaded a branded PDF?
Or am I missing something here?
At any rate here, in a nutshell, is my appraisal of MVS: My Viral Spiral is a program that does not adequately reward the efforts of the script owner's affiliates. In certain cases, MVS even allows the script owner to wittingly or unwittingly take credit for the hard work of the affiliates.
In the two-way street called "viral marketing", merchants / script owners and affiliates need to work together to succeed. So the question remains: Is My Viral Spiral "win-win" enough to for sustainable success?
I encourage you, the reader, to test and experience it yourself. Sign up for free as an affiliate, then promote your affiliate URL to your friends. See if you will get maximum credit for your affiliate marketing efforts, or if you'll also experience what I've seen firsthand.
(And no, MVS is no where near a Mercedes. Afterall, in the case of a Mercedes, the driver and the passengers are all in for a truly wonderful and enjoyable ride.)
Manuel,
You do your blog no justice. You do not offer a *GENUINE* review, as you have *NOT* purchased it, (nor have I yet for that matter). But I do ask you, how are we to believe anything else you review now?
If anything, I'm going to go and have a look for myself. It's strange someone would review something they haven't USED. It's also strange that your attitude to begin with is hostile. Did you contact the script developer to verify your reservations? It seems not.
Terri
[From Manuel] Thank you for your comment, Terri.
The My Viral System has two main users: The script owner, and the affiliate.
The review is focused on the impact of MVS on affiliates. There's no need to purchase MVS to become an affiliate.
My review is based on my actual experience as an affiliate signing up in an MVS-powered campaign, so I have gone through and used this component of the My Viral System. From what I've seen and experienced, I will not use MVS (as a script owner) because I prefer to give full and proper credit to my affiliates' promotional efforts.
I am not questioning the benefit the script owners will derive from MVS. I am, however, sharing how my affiliate marketing efforts (e.g., brandable PDF file) were not properly credited when using MVS. Since this is a "viral" system, doesn't it work to the advantage of the script owner if the partner affiliates are treated equitably?
Perhaps in the future, MVS will be adjusted so that my experience (as an affiliate) will not happen again; that affiliate marketing efforts will be properly credited by MVS.
It's good to read that you will go have a look at it yourself, Terri.
Please sign up as an affiliate, download and brand an ebook, upload it, have a friend visit your assigned affiliate url and move around the site, and then try and download the promotional ebook.
I hope that your friend will be able to download your branded ebook (and not the script owner's unbranded version), because that would mean MVS now works equitably.
(If you have additional time, please check out how MVS handles referrals who do not have Clickbank IDs. I inputted my Clickbank ID, but when a person I referred to the site did not input their Clickbank ID, the Clickbank redirect did not use my Clickbank ID even if I was the affiliate who made the referral.)
I look forward to hearing about your own experience with this.
Manuel
Well Manuel,
I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on most levels of your evaluation.
I'm not only a Viral Spiral user of a couple of other script owners, but I am now a Viral Spiral script owner.
First off.
As a user of another script owners site, there are many, many benefits available to a person for FREE.
They are given the opportunity to grow a list virally when in many cases they had no means of doing this before.
They are also given a place to make sales based on their very own pick of a OTO page.
As far as people not rebranding the pdf , well I'm sorry to say but that is a personal choice.
If the user cannot see the benefit of taking the time to rebrand a pdf with their own affiliate ID's then I'm afraid they are missing their own boat.
We hear all the time in the world of internet marketing, "which is very true by the way", you must take action. If your not willing to take the time to use what is available to you as a user, or if your the "tire kicker" type that is just to lazy, well then you live with the consequences.
If you want to take full advantage of what is available to you, completely free of charge I might add, then take the steps.
If the pdf being downloaded must go back up to the previous rebranders version, then so be it. Where else would it go? Just because a user didn't rebrand the pdf with their own version, then why shouldn't the person above that did take the time still have a way of being benefitted?
Personally, when I undertood the system and all of the benefits of being the script owner, I decided I must apply this for myself with my own marketing.
Being the script owner does have many more benefits, and so it should.
Would you say the same about your evaluation if it were referring to a Butterfly Marketing site.
Do you think as a Free user of a Butterfly Marketing site you should be given full access etc. to all the benefits. I don't think so, that's just silly!
I continue to use the lists that I have built up in two other script owners site, and these lists continue to grow virally for me, plus because I took the time to rebrand the pdf's I continue to benefit. This is only smart. In essence now I have 3 lists to work with, and 3 revenue streams, working for me continuosly.
Of course as a script owner we are stocking it with products that will give us the most benefit, our own types of products and rebrandable pdf's as this is the real power of being an owner.
Now I'm not going to insult you for your views, because everybody's view and perception will differ, as were all human.
But in this case, I just don't think you gave MVS a fair shake before you decided to write your review on it.
In my opinion and also my experience with MVS, I have never, and repeat, never had a more effective way of building my lists. There is so much benefit available to both user's and owners it's nothing short of the BEST script to come along since The Butterfly Marketing script.
And to be completely honest with you, I'm having better results than I've had ever with a subscriber actually confirming their subscription to being a member of your list.
The script gives the user more incentives to confirm thier opt in than anything previously available in the past!
Davin Ogden
http://www.davinatorbiz.com
Holly Mann and Davin Ogden
Very happy MVS site owners!
http://www.honestbrands.com
Thanks, Davin. You might wish to test your installation of MVS at HonestBrands.com, because when I tested it, affiliates were not given proper credit (as far as the rebranded pdf file is concerned), while referrals of next-tier affiliates without Clickbank IDs were not credited to the Level 1 affiliates.
Hmmm, very interesting. I will check into the installation, thanx Manuel.
That is rather strange though I must say. As far as The Davinator Clause, I had already tested this.
Davin
Hi Manuel,
I honestly do not know what you are talking about. I tested it, The clickbank Id's redirect where they are supposed to, as does the paypal, I rebranded and uploaded again my book and all seemed fine. I'm not sure what you mean,
Are you sure you are doing things properly?
Davin
[From Manuel] Hi Davin... Please try this:
1. Sign up "John" as an affiliate, download and rebrand the 20 Secrets ebook, upload the rebranded ebook, set Clickbank ID and Paypal address, then promote John's affiliate url.
(Note: The Tell-A-Friend portion of the system has problems with email delivery as far as certain email destinations are concerned. That has a negative impact on the viral feature of MVS.)
Clear cache and cookies, exit browser, restart browser, clear cache and cookies, then...
2. Send "Jane" to John's affiliate url. Let Jane sign up, but NOT rebrand the 20 Secrets ebook. Jane should also not put in any Clickbank ID or Paypal address. Promote Jane's affiliate url.
Question: How can Jane download the pdf which John previously rebranded and uploaded?
Clear cache and cookies, exit browser, restart browser, clear cache and cookies, then...
3. Send "Jack" to Jane's affiliate url. Since Jane did not set any Clickbank ID or Paypal address, and neither did she rebrand the pdf book, shouldn't Jack see a PDF with John's rebranded links? And shouldn't Jack's Clickbank purchase of the OTO be credited to John?
Question: How can Jack download the rebranded pdf which John previously rebranded and uploaded into your MVS system?
This is what Tim posted in an earlier comment:
Based on my test of the My Viral System installed in Honestbrands.com, I was not able to replicate what Tim said. I was really hoping to find an installation of MVS that is truly win-win as far as script owners and affiliates are concerned. Perhaps all that's needed is just some kind of adjustment?
Please let me know, Davin, if I was doing the test properly.
Thanks,
Manuel
This is an interesting topic which an affiliate could consider if he/she is getting the maximum credit for his/her marketing efforts in WHATEVER affiliate program.
Thank you for this post. Now, I'm going to test other affiliate links I'm into
[From Manuel] Mille gracie, Ross, for dropping by. Good luck with your affiliate marketing tests!