If you read any blogs at all yesterday then you likely came across a number of posts pushing an Adsense ebook called Adsense Secrets 4.0 by Joel Comm.

Shocking I know, like that never happens.

What was different about this one was the caliber of the bloggers that were pushing this book. I assumed that if they were pushing it then it must be good right?

Wrong.

The Pump

The product that I am talking about is Joel Comm’s Adsense Secrets 4.0 ebook. You can almost tell by looking at the picture what you should have expected when you land on the infamous mile long landing page. It even has that disgustingly annoying pop up window when you try to leave.

Now I should say that I don’t know Joel Comm at all, I don’t know anything about his morals, his scruples, his integrity, what he eats for breakfast or if he kicks his dog, but I have built up a healthy level of distrust for ANY product that uses these long “landing pages.”

I despise them.

The Catch

Most of the reviews that I read went out of their way to assure you that this wasn’t a scam and that you could “trust” them because they don’t deceive you. They only push products that they have “bought personally” and they trust.

In nearly every review that I read it was mentioned a number of times how inexpensive this book was and that it was only $9.95 and what a “great bargain” that was. It would be, if there wasn’t more to the story.

What happens is this, you are automatically signed up for a recurring monthly membership of 30 dollars. You will be billed for this unless you CALL them to cancel before the fee is charged to your credit card.

To be fair they do mention this on the landing page but it’s in very small print at the bottom right after they get done mentioning the “free monthly newsletter.” It is there but in reality they are banking on you not reading the fine print.

So while the ebook is “only” $9.95 the recurring monthly membership could cost you over 300 dollars for the year. Now granted you have the option to call and cancel but let’s be up front and honest, they are banking on the laziness of people who don’t call on time.

They might not get 300 dollars out of you but they are planning on getting at least 40 dollars out of the deal. Shameful, in my opinion.

The Drama

As I mentioned, I was really surprised to see some well respected bloggers writing about the product and of course, packing the article with affiliate links. No harm there, but if they were interested in doing a comprehensive review and offering you both the pros and cons, then they certainly should have mentioned the recurring monthly fee.

Problogger at least went back and revised his article to include a footnote but only AFTER the crap hit the fan when Mark from 45n5 blew the whistle. If you want a good laugh check out the comments section on Mark’s article as Joel and his team try to blame the “shopping cart” and say they were forced to market the product this way because of the inadequacies of the shopping cart.

Garry Conn often champions himself as the “defender” of the little guy who would never take advantage of his readers and is up front and honest. He writes a post that almost slobbers over Joel Comm and never mentions the recurring fee or the fact that they could cancel it if they chose.

I like Garry’s blog and to be honest I think Joel sent him the ebook for free so Garry probably didn’t even know about the catch, right? Otherwise in the interest of writing a comprehensive review, with his readers best interest at heart, he would have presented the complete picture and let them decide right?

Wrong!

Read his comment section for his post. He knew all about the recurring fee from the way I read it. He was even arrogant enough to lash out at Mark for posting about it. Incredible! You have to ask yourself….whose interests were actually being looked out for? The readers? Not in my opinion.

Garry for a guy who often rants about the MMO niche you sure set a perfect example of what not to do yesterday.

The Aftermath

Let me be clear, it isn’t like this is the first deceptive marketing tactic to ever be pushed on a blog but that isn’t the point. My point is two fold, obviously caveat emptor or buyer beware would be one of the points but the other is this.

Be careful where you place your trust.

I think a few people were burned yesterday including Darren Rowse. I sincerely think that Darren didn’t know about “the catch” and I would like to believe that he either wouldn’t have promoted the product at all, or would have at least mentioned the catch the first time if he did.

That may be naive of me to think that and maybe I have misplaced my trust but at the same time I defend Darren, I have to say SHAME on him. His readers listen to him because he is The Problogger.

If you are going to push products then they should match the quality level of the “brand” that you are trying to build for yourself. Yaro got it right, he mentioned the subscription right from the start and didn’t have to backpedal or defend himself.

To be fair, this ebook might be GREAT and be all that Joel claims that it is, but simply based on the “neighborhood” that it comes from should make you tread lightly. If someone offered you a great deal on lakefront property in the desert, wouldn’t you be a bit suspect of the offer and check it out a little more carefully?

The Conclusion

Is this the end of the world as we know it? Of course not, but it is a perfect example of why many bloggers HATE MMO blogs. They promote products in such a sleazy and underhanded way that it taints the entire niche.

People get burned on a scheme like this and they paint the whole industry with the same brush and that is a shame. A lot of great products are probably overlooked due to sneaky tactics like this “call to cancel” scheme Joel used here.

As a blogger you need to be aware that the way you conduct yourself and how you react to controversy will become your brand. Darren owned up to his mistake and I respect him for that but I would hope that next time he will do his research first.

In closing I would love to hear your thoughts…..do probloggers have any responsibility to their readers or should they just let buyer beware?