Ralph
Wilson
Overview:
Ralph
Wilson is among my favorite Internet Marketing Gurus. In fact
in an issue of Guru Nuggets I cited him as my favorite. But
it is not because of his teaching or great software or great
influence or breakthrough methods. Ralph Wilson offers none
of those. It is because of his humble and quiet spirit.
It
is a testament to the fact that you don't have to use brash,
boastful, self-hyped techniques to be successful. He makes
a very nice living with affiliate marketing with his low-key
humble style. In fact Ken Evoy of Sitesell states that Ralph
Wilson regularly sells the most SiteBuildIt packages month
after month.
Ralph Wilson simply teaches the basics of marketing in his
books, and offers reviews of marketing tools on his Web site
along with tons and tons of articles on every marketing topic
imaginable.
One
thing Wilson does against the grain of the others is to put
links to some of his other interests on his marketing site.
If you look down to the bottom left of his home page at Wilsonweb.com
you'll find links to Bible Studies and other ministries he
is involved with or supports.
Positive:
Ralph
Wilson has a site that doesn't quit. It is massive. In fact
I believe it is the biggest Internet marketing resource site
on the Net.
Over
2500 pages and and over 17,000 products listed or reviewed
makes wilsonweb.com an invaluable place to find information
on almost any topic, from writing ad copy, to using Google,
to finding keywords, to payment processing, and on and on.
I don't think there is a topic not covered.
Ralph
Wilson's methodology is clear. By building a massive site
he gets huge search engine traffic. Then by building affiliate
links into his articles and ebooks, and reviews he pockets
a nice profit. It is clearly an example of the megasite model
of affiliate marketing.
Even
if you don't avail yourself of the free information on his
many pages, it is worth studying Ralph Wilson's wilsonweb.com
for no other reason than to analyze his methods.
There
is no encryption of his Web pages so you can easily see how
he uses keyword and other SEO techniques to build his traffic.
I highly recommend spending some time there.
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Negative:
There is unfortunately a downside to Ralph Wilson's megasite
model - and that is obsolescence of information. It is impossible
to keep up 2500 pages of information and 17,000 product links.
In
many of Wilson's ebooks and articles there are links to very
interesting products that you click only to find they are
no longer available.
Besides
being a bit outdated, I also find Ralph Wilson's eBook a little
simplistic. They are clearly for the absolute beginner. There
is little depth in the methods he gives. For example, his
eBook on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) gives some of the
basic ideas, like using keywords and meta tags, but if you
have already have a basic start in marketing, his eBooks will
have little to offer on advancing your business to the the
next level - the profit level. There are no tricks to "launch
your traffic rate to huge proportions today" or other
such hard hitting information.
Not
that this is all bad, of course. If you are an absolute beginner
you might do well to join his premium newsletter (so that
you get most of his eBooks free) and to browse through them.
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Affiliate
Program
I
was very disappointed when at the end of November 2007 Ralph
Wilson discontinued his affiliate program.
To
be honest I'm not sure why he did this. After all, his eBooks
and his premium newsletter all do even more to present his
affiliate links, so it would seem that all the distributors
would only make his more profitable, but I'm sure he has his
reasons.
Even
when he did offer an affiliate program I was disappointed
that he didn't include consultation. I had referred clients
to him for consultation (which is quite reasonably priced)
and it's unfortunate that there is no profit sharing for the
referral.
Mr.
Wilson - I beg you to bring your affiliate program back!!
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Site
Popups
Occasionally I've found little audio clips on some of Wilson's
pages but I generally do not get hit with popups. It seems
to me I have seem a couple but they are very sparsely used.
Ralph
Wilson does have some articles on the topic and he takes the
position that pop-ups are effective but should be used responsibly.
It is a refreshing point of view. (top)
Valuable
Free Content
Ralph Wilson's Website is a plethora
of valuable free information. Article after article exists
on just about every Web marketing topic you can imagine. Very
nice.
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Newsletter
Ralph
Wilson run's two newsletters. There is a free version called
"Web marketing Today" and a premium version by the
same name for about $50/year. I
have been a paying member of the premium version and it is
excellent. You have access to a member's only page full of
hundreds of articles. Both are worth while.
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Money-Back
Guarantee
Ralph Wilson offers a 90-day money back policy on his eBooks.
He has a contact form and a published phone number to call
for a claim.
Wilson
is scrupulously honest and will honor his money-back
guarantee.
The
last I knew, when I was a member of the premium newsletter,
he had a pro-rated money-back policy which he had to put into
place due to the many unscrupulous people who would sign up
just to get the free publications, then immediately quit.
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Support
I
have written to Ralph Wilson on several occasions, his replies
are always timely and courteous. I give Wilson a huge thumbs-up
on the support front.
On
one occasion I asked about a specific product that had been
discontinued from one of his eBooks. Wilson took the time
to look up the product (out of the 17,000 he lists) and give
me a specific response.
I
applaud Ralph Wilson for his personal and thorough support..
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