Cody Moya’s AdSense Templates - Just Say No Amigo!
Edition #81
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UPDATE: I wrote this review yesterday, before the product actually launched (based on the preview sample sites, and sales page). Today (09/05) I ordered and paid for the full product and my review still stands. I am also adding some additional notes to the bottom of this review, now that I’ve had a chance to see the full product.
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Tomorrow Cody Moya launches his AdSense Templates product. It is a monthly membership site, which provides templates and pre-built sites for AdSense.
Unfortunately, I have to recommend that you do NOT buy Cody Moya’s AdSense Templates, and I’ll tell you exactly why.
First of all, you may already know that I’m looking at this through a somewhat biased lens, because I happen to be Joel Comm’s partner for his Instant AdSense Templates product.
However, I’m going to IGNORE the fact that Cody “borrowed” several key elements, design concepts, and parts of the sales letter from our product… (He even went so far as to put Joel Comm’s name and image on his squeeze page until Joel told him to take it down…)
Competition is a part of the business, and I don’t blame Cody for competing… unfortunately he just went about it the wrong way at first (and in talking to my marketing friends, it sounds like he may have a track record of doing that kind of thing). But like I said, I’m going to completely overlook that side of it and focus on the product itself to bring you as accurate and objective review as possible.
First of all, let’s look at the templates themselves. Here are the three sample templates he provided (with pre-built sites):
1) chocolate
2) love & relationships
3) mortgages
Let’s talk about the design first. It’s OK but could be better. He is using one of the basic designs that we used in the first edition of Instant AdSense Templates. The navigation is on the left side, and he’s got either an AdSense leaderboard with thumbnails above it, or an AdSense large rectangle with thumbnails to the left of it.
If the illustrations on the sales page are any indication are any indication, then ALL of Cody’s templates are based on these two variations. For the kind of volume he’s providing, it’s understandable that not every template would be a unique design, but I would have expected more than two.
Another thing I don’t like about the structure, is that it’s so graphically-based. Even the borders are images, so if you wanted to change the look of the template you’d pretty much have to be a graphic designer.
Since Cody is not an AdSense expert, he repeatedly talks about being an SEO expert throughout the sales letter. This makes it somewhat surprising that the sites are poorly optimized.
The same TITLE tag is used for each page (the most important tag for SEO). This almost ensures that not many of the pages will be indexed by the search engines. Also, he uses graphics in place of the article titles. In general, the article title is one of the most important key phrases on a page, and should be bold or even in a header tag (like H3). However, he’s got nothing, and since he doesn’t use ALT tags on his images, the search engines see nothing. This is from Google’s webmaster guidelines…
“Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn’t recognize text contained in images.”
OK, so let’s talk about the AdSense implementation. This is one area where Cody’s lack of expertise really shows. He’s got ONE AdSense block per page. This could be OK if AdSense is just one of several strategies you’re implementing on your page, but if your main objective is to get AdSense clicks, then more AdSense blocks is almost always better (compare to Instant AdSense Templates, which utilize the maximum allowable three blocks per page).
Another thing you’ll notice is that he’s got a link back to his own site at the bottom of every page. Obviously that’s not helpful to you as the user, as it would only serve to take visitors away from your site. It also creates a nice footprint for the search engines to find all of these sites and drop them from their indexes.
So those are some things I noticed about the templates… now let’s look at a couple other things that he’s including.
I’d say his implied unique selling point (USP) is his inclusion of what he calls the “White Hut Template HTML Code Randomizer“.
No that’s not a typo… he actually calls it “White Hut” about 10 times in the sales letter. I’m guessing someone may point that out to him before he launches it tomorrow. The fact that he thinks the phrase is “white hut” would indicate to me that he probably doesn’t know the meaning of “white hat” and “black hat” to begin with.
Closer inspection of the concept reveals that indeed, it is NOT a “white hat” tactic. In fact, it is a very BLACK HAT technique.
Here is what the sales letter says about it…
Each of my AdSense Templates members will receive proprietary “White Hut template randomizer/content wizard†software.
This incredible software makes random changes to a template’s HTML page code. These changes don’t make the page look any different to human eyes but do make it appear different to the search engines. This is NOT so called cloaking which show different page to search engine and different to user. This software produces your own unique to you static html page each time. Therefore this unique page code is the same to search engine and to viewer which is white hut technique.
Just to reiterate… the program does not make any visible changes, it ONLY changes what the search engine sees. In other words, it is designed to trick the search engines into thinking the content is unique.
Why do you need to be VERY concerned about using this technique? Because it could cause you to get completely dropped from Google’s index. Here are some key points from Google’s webmaster guidelines…
“Make pages for users, not for search engines.”
“Another useful test is to ask, ‘Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?’”
By the way, perhaps you’re wondering about the technical side of how someone would make their code unique without changing the look of the page. There are several ways it could be done, including…
Cody says his program is the ONLY place you can do this, but there are other places. I just listed a bunch of methods, but the point is that you shouldn’t use ANY of them.
There are other inconsistencies, and I’m not going to take the time to point them out, but one particular irony that I noticed is his bonus #2 (277,000 Article Database Plus Article Directory Script). In the sales letter he goes to great lengths to diminish the value of free distribution articles (while building up the value of PLR content), and then he includes a monster sized directory of what? Free distribution articles!
He says this about it…
“…so you will immediately have all the important content you need for your AdSense pages. You should not need to search for any other content for a very, very long time!”
This is after he specifically warned that free distribution articles should be avoided due to their duplicate content and outbound links. Hmmm…
His bonus #3 (Cookie Stuffer Software), which is another black hat technique, almost inspired me to do a little cookie stuffing of my own, LOL. I thought it might be interesting to drop an affiliate cookie for Cody’s product on all my readers just to see who buys it in spite of my warning. But I’m not going to stoop to his level. I’m not cookie-ing you for his product, so just don’t buy it, OK?
Instead, wait until October 10th so you can see what Joel and I have in store for the next generation of Instant AdSense Templates. I can tell you it’ll be worth the wait! Get the details at:
If you’ve been reading my newsletter for awhile, you know that I do not make a habit of badmouthing people, or bashing their products without warrant. Look, I’m going to see Cody in about a week at the seminar in Baltimore, and then I’m going to be hanging out with him and some other marketers later this year. I’m OK with that, because I feel that I’ve given an honest review, and I value my readers.
I’m probably burning a bridge or two with this review, and that’s OK. I hope you’ve gleaned something from it, and I wish you the best.
As always, you can leave your comments here in the blog.
Have a great day!
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Additional notes added 09/05/06, now that I’ve bought and seen the full product:
After reviewing the full product, I’m sticking by my review. One positive thing I will add, is that the graphics are excellent (particularly the first 25 templates).
One thing I was surprised about, was that there were not 100 topics covered by the 100 templates. There are exactly 51 topics covered by my count, with the rest of the templates being alternative templates about those topics. So that’s not really too big of a deal, but I thought I’d mention it because I think a lot of people would be a little surprised by it.
Also I should let you know that I’ve been dialoging with Cody, and one thing he was concerned about is that I reviewed the software as being “black hat” without having actually tried it yet.
I have now tested it, so rather than adding further comments about it, I’ll post my results and let you draw your own conclusions as to whether the software improves the site, or simply games the search engines…
I used the “chocolate” template from the sample sites:
So that’s about all I have to say about this product.
I would like to take this opportunity to address a couple of other issues though, that a few people have brought up.
I’ve received about 3 emails so far from people who think I am “the pot calling the kettle black” with this review. In other words, they think it is hypocritical of me to criticize Cody or his product, because they think I am as bad or worse.
First of all, let me say that the pot is calling the kettle black ANY time someone points out the shortfalls of another person, because everyone makes mistakes. I am the first to admit that I mess up all the time. And that’s probably the biggest reason that it is so difficult to write negative reviews. It’s gut wrenching to know that I myself have been guilty of the same things I write about.
There are two specific incidences that have been brought to my attention in this regard.
1) the fact that IAT was accused of copyright infringement
2) the theory that my Motivated Marketing System was a rip-off of Butterfly Marketing
So let me address those two issues.
The IAT issue was an honest mistake on my part, due to a misunderstanding. The fact that I didn’t intend to misuse any material does not negate the fact that it was a mistake. I admitted it, we worked it out professionally, and it will not happen again.
The MMS issue, I think is misunderstood by some people. I did not rip off Butterfly Marketing. It is true that I created a similar product and went into competition with it, but the way that I did it was very different than this scenario.
I do think Mike Filsaime was very gracious in the situation by not launching a counterattack of sorts, and I appreciate his friendship. I consider him a mentor, and he has even given me advice regarding MMS. One thing that some of the BM customers (who were upset at me for competing) probably don’t realize, is that I never stopped promoting BM or referring my readers to it.
I sold several copies of the full BM home study course both before and after launching MMS. And when Mike launched the BM manuscript I promoted it heavily, ending up 2nd in his affiliate contest (only behind Cody Moya, LOL 
). I even promoted it to my MMS customers, because I knew there were things they would learn from BM that they didn’t get from MMS.
I think another reason Mike didn’t freak out about MMS is because I took a different approach. Neither the learning materials, nor the script were based in whole or in part on the BM materials.
While the BM site builder script was revolutionary, it wasn’t the first of its kind. Some people may remember the Instant Split Commissions script, or the JV Firesale automator. We did not reverse engineer the BM script. In fact, my programmer had never even SEEN the BM script.
Ok, so all that said… hopefully most people will realize that I competed fairly. NEVERTHELESS, I will say that if I had to do it over again I would do it much differently. I am aware that my intentional riding the wake of BM’s success tarnished my reputation with some people, and I do value my reputation more than any amount of money I could have possibly made from MMS.
I have learned SO much this year, and I’m sure that by this time next year I will look back and see some foolish things that I’m doing right now.
But I don’t interpret all of this to mean that I shouldn’t TRY to help people, or that I shouldn’t speak the truth when I am able.
As I mentioned when I first started writing this review, my point was not to drag Cody’s name through the mud by making accusations. My point was to do a product review for my readers. But since some people are insisting that it become more than that, I’ll leave you with a couple of final pieces of information to help tell my side of the story.
As I mentioned a couple paragraphs ago, when we created MMS to compete with BM we did not reverse engineer it, and in fact my programmer never even saw the BM script. Cody’s situation is a little different because his programmers clearly did have access to the IAT product. Various elements of the product, sales pitch, and business strategy were copied.
Like I said before, this isn’t the point of this review, and I wasn’t even going to show any of this. But some people seem to thing it was WRONG of me to even insinuate that our product ideas were used unfairly.
I could show you several examples, but I don’t want to go overboard, so here’s a couple comparisons…
I’ll let you decide whether that was a cool thing for him to do.
I have been conversing with Cody about it, and I am ready to move on and put all this behind us. But I do hope he learns something from this experience, as I have learned from my own mistakes in the past.
Great job, Eric.
As always, always looking out for your subscribers. Your comments are welcome on what is working and what to avoid on the currents of the Internet ocean.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH ERIC FOR THAT INFO YOU E-MAILED TO ME , THAT’S A BLESSING OF YOU TO LET ME KNOW THINGS LIKE THAT. THE OTHER ONES WANT DO WHAT YOU HAVE JUST DID. I THANK YOU AGAIN, TALK TO YOU LATER.
Hi Eric, great advice! I got the free templates and was less than impressed and won’t be promoting the launch to my list. Burning boats? Nah, just being honest! Al
I think you should also point out that you and Joel had your own share of problems with Instant Adsense Templates… due to copyright issues with the content used in some of the templates.
ERIC, MY WEB HOSTING IS GOING SORT OF SLOW AND I NEED SOME HELP FORM YOU TO MAYBE YOU CAN GIVE IT A BOOST, ITS GOING ALRIGHT BUT I NEED YOUR HELP ON THIS MATTER. SO WHEN YOU GET TIME JUST E-MAIL ME, FROM LEON VINES.
Nice promo Eric…
Looking forward to review my latest ePackage…
http://www.OptinListConfessions.com
Take care,
Codrut.
Geoff- its true that we did have a few issues, but I didn’t feel it was really relevant to this review. We handled the problem, and not only will this problem be avoided in the next edition of IAT…but we have also taken steps and invested a lot to make the content much better than others out there.
Wow, Eric, thanks for pointing all this out. I was set & ready to promote this all out on Tues. Last thing I want is to start getting my List Members de-indexed from google. You made some very good points. Keep me in mind for when you launch Phase 2.
Gary
Eric,
I always dread your emails coming through to me! Why? Because I KNOW I have to stop what I’m doing and read them!! I always feel well educated and your product reviews fairly assessed. And… when you give something away, I can be sure it’s not the same rehashed “stuff.”
I am a student of Joel Comm’s so I’m waiting with anticipation for the new templates, but want to thank you for your candid review.
You have a heart of gold Eric!!
Trish Jones
Eric,
Thanks for the honest review and stepping outside the internet marketing clique, as you always seem to do.
Your intentions from writing are clear; keep up the good work!
Rex
This is a great comment. I appreciate your tips for our adsense web sites. Thank you very much. You’ve open my eyes…. I’ll be more carefull in the future.
Hi Eric,
Thankyou for your very honest reviews.
I had joined Cory’s affiliate program for this and I did it against my better
judgement,I might add. I had heard negative comments about him before,
but joined this on the recommendation of someone I trusted…and I
thought maybe this time……
After reviewing the free sites I received I decided that they were not
up to par….and I didn’t like them for the same reasons you state.
I’m not as well versed as you in these matters so I do appreciate
your honesty,even though you may be somewhat biased LOL.
Unfortunately I had already alerted my readers to this launch…
now I need to let them know that I am not the only one saying
don’t buy.
Thanks Eric…for all you do for your readers
WHOA!
What can I say, man? But…
I TOTALLY AGREE!
Ian del Carmen
http://www.ianDelCarmen.com
http://www.HostYourDaddy.com
http://www.TheOnlineBusinessProfessional.com
PS: Ok, I’m now used to putting a PS on my notes so here’s a PS…
I TOTALLY AGREE! Again, I TOTALLY AGREE!
I’m also warning my subscribers about this…
Thanks for the info. I really appreciate that. Yes, business is business.
Very well done, appreciate your caution. Indeed you know your stuff Eric!
-Travis
Hi Eric,
You are my idea of a true investigative Internet guru. I am impressed with your intestinal fortitude in exposing “defects” in Internet infrastructure like this one. Three years ago I joined Cody’s newsletter being a newbie at the time. His stuff was helpful. One day in another marketing guru’s newsletter in 2005 that guru stated that Cody had copied his material word for word and published it. I checked it out and it was true.
I then unsubscribed from Cody’s newsletter, but then found that no matter how I tried, I was not permitted to unsubscribe—I thought it was an autoresponder glitch and no way to contact him to tell him. Eventually I was unsubscribed.
During that time one of his newsletters was about himself—how he was new in this country—trying to make a go of it as best he could–and sort of pleading for understanding and tolerance by us folks.
Since then I have followed his publication efforts through those newsletters of others who support his efforts, products, and ideas. What I have found is an ongoing plagiarizing of material from other info products that I have already read in other newsletters—over and over again.
He seems to have a warped understanding of what is right and ethical. When I put together the idea that it is OK to take someone’s original article, restructure it and change 30 to 50% of the content, then publish it as one’s own piece—and that is acceptable—, he seems to be applying the same criteria to all info products on the Internet and believes it is proper and acceptable.
Hopefully someone will directly confront him and straighten it all out in his mind, instead of allowing him to keep shooting himself in the foot every day, and not understanding why he has such pain in his foot daily.
If what he does is intentional, that’s another issue, and time will sink his ship. I also unsubscribe from all newsletters who support him and his efforts, and truly feel sorry for those who really don’t understand what is happening. And how their own efforts may be hindered in the process—then wonder why it’s happening.
Keep up your investigative efforts–we all need you.
Curt
Eric
as ever
an honest and unbiased view
You should be president
Eric,
Kudos for having the “cahones” to be honest and direct, to name names and type straight about real issues, without being overtly acrimonious.
The long standing tendancy for the players in this game to behave somewhat incestuously and to avoid stepping on someone’s toes by telling others the truth about what they’ve observed or experienced needs to come to an end.
At last spring’s System Seminar, the annual event put on by Ken McCarthy, a rousing speech by Mitchell Axelrod called for an elevation of the principles and ethics of those of us marketing using this medium as a tool. He encouraged the widespread willingness to name names to start an internal, self policed cleanse before we all become branded as marketers much like multi-level marketers as a generic group have. One of his strong messages was and is to deliver genuine value, not elevated “perceived” value. I couldn’t agree more.
Ken McCarthy himself has railed against the ridiculous “guru” label so readily applied to both the recognized experts and self styled experts in this business. I got a real kick out of the No Gurus buttons (the red circle with the diagonal red line crossing it over the word Gurus) he was freely handing out.
Keep typing it straight Eric, even if it means losing a few “friends” in the business. In the long run, as long as it’s done honestly and without any “politics” involved, it will certainly garner respect.
Dear Eric,
I hope you and your family live for ever!
(And REMEMBER that you’ll be more CREATIVE & PRODUCTIVE after resting for half a day, rather than thinking under low energy for three days in a row).
Best Wishes to everyone at home.
PT
Hi Eric
If this is true:
“…but we have also taken steps and invested a lot to make the content much better than others out there.”
why did Joel send an email today, that included:
“That’s why the PLR content included with the next set of Instant AdSense Templates will be minimal. It will exist ONLY as a placeholder for you to see where your own original content will go.”
Seo Marketing - What Joel said is true… in fact I saw that email before he even sent it. The content IS minimal this time, like he said (referring only to the PLR article pages). But it is ALSO better this time, like I said.
Thank you Eric for the most HONEST review I have read by an internet marketer.
My hosting clients have asked about Cody’s templates. My initial response was to
wait and see. With your permission, I would like to send them a link to this article.
My clients can decide for themselves!
Thanks again Eric! GREAT review!
Walter Gavurnik
http://www.wmgsystems.com
http://www.newbiz4me.com
Walter - sure, feel free to send anyone a link to it
E
I would take a bit different point of view as to this. The real key is to customize. I don’t know Joel and Eric AdSense products or better templates but I’m not sure each of their templates would be unique…or?
I always try to customize the templates and I only build my own adsense websites upon them. So when you add your own aff. links, quotes, recommendations etc. it actually become unique - and there’s no problem to change, remove, delete or whatever the adsense templates link at the bottom of the pages. Many other BIG marketers do that to get backlinks to their sites :-))
And also there’s no problem with the titles - I saw 10 articles in one site - I can replace the titles very fast!
And btw that’s not a reason not to index the actual page, Eric, I think…Google sees the real content and has not built its algorithms on just titles…
I like Cody’s images
So every “providers” templates has itw own ups and downs, I’ll be happy to see Joel’s perfect in all ways :-))
I didn’t check the “back hat (or hut)” techniques involved yet - but again I see many marketers doing ‘back hat’
Conslusion: if you’re looking for the most perfect templates don’t look into this, that, those and these
I said it, it’s better to customize as much as you can and good luck!
Marian
Eric,
Great review and good to see the technical explaination too.
I am greatfull to get on your list that you never flood my email with all kind of affiliate product unless it is usefull and benefitial.
Sambath
Great honest review!! I am a “newbie” at internet marketing. Since when does Adsense have anything to do with markeing my sites, services and goods? How did Adsense creep into the marketing information world? I can’t see where the connection is unless I am the one paying for the click ads and then do I want my ads shown on cheap adsense websites? If people insist on adsense being part of the “marketing world” then at least have the deceny to build legitimate adsense sites that have original content and don’t waste my click ad compaign money.
As all can see from their email inboxes, the deluge of solicitations for CM’s outburst, I mean launch, has begun in earnest. Let the mayhem begin!
HMMMM…
I wish jeremy burns know about this… He is promote his product now…
Eric,
I read through Cory’s sales letter and was taken back by the “white hut” stuff. When he explained his “Code Randomizer,” I immediately thought “black hat.” Nice to see someone in print agree. Your partner, Joel, has hinted at such in his emails. This is not an excuse, nor an apologetic for Cody. But, he is from a different culture, and different cultures do see things differently that we do. That surely does not make it right for him to continue his practices mentioned in some of the comments, but it may help in realizing the roots of his behavior.
Not to far off the point, I once was a teaching assistant in a large SoCal seminary. Part of my job was reading papers. I found in one class that I had seven identical papers, each having a different author’s name on it. I flagged each of them and asked the professor of record what was going on since plagiarizing is not an acceptable practice in good old USAmerica. The seven student in question were not from America. He told me that in the country that they came from a joint research team would often get together and research the project and the best writer in the group was selected to write the paper and then turn it in under each student’s individual name. It was perfectly acceptable in their country.
Could it be that in Cory’s native country that plagiarizing is not plagiarizing! Again not an apologetic, just an attempt to understand why he may be doing what he is doing. On the other hand, he may just be a “marketing dirt bag” and making a quick buck may be the name of his game.
Thanks Eric
Honestly I’m amigo of the originals jobs and not amigo of the plagiarism.
Always your friend
Sincerely,
Alfonso
Eric,
I cringed when I started reading your post.
Eeeeek, he’s attacking Cody!
Naming names, and pointing out defects.
Funny, but I got an email just today about Joel’s upcoming launch
And in the back of my mind kind of went
Ahh, no big deal - that’s over a MONTH away!
NOW the penny drops
Every now and then someone gets taken to task online.
I’ve seen it in Warriors Forum, been the target once, due to “adapting” someone’s squeeze page.
LOL
Won’t do that again (knowingly)!
Anyhow, good to see the critique
Some where in there I would have liked to have seen a quick mention that:
Cody is a successful internet marketer
Has had some very helpfull and creative projects
And continues to lead the field in flat out giving stuff away
I know that English is not his first language, but he has done VERY WELL
Despite that - gotta say that the White Hut part stopped me dead
I agree with what you’ve said about the relative merits of each project
But stand behind Cody and the OTHER work he has done
Lastly, gotta say that you have a LOT of guts, to be critiqueing his work and then seeing him a week later!
Hopefully you BOTH have a successful launch
But I’ll be an affiliate of YOUR product (and Joel’s)
Andrew Larder
MarketingSharks.com
Thanks again Eric for informing on the ever evolving matrix of internet marketing laws and practices. There’s no free lunch but certainly I do owe you lunch for your help! I’ve given too much money away to no show programs on free internet home business ideas. It took me 2 years to find your site. I look forward to your next review, Skol!
I’m not going to say who I am, but I’m sure several people will figure it out. Not exactly hiding, just being careful.
I did a massive launch for a new product several months ago. Almost all of the biggest names on the new promoted for me, and Cody was one of them. Roughly two weeks after the promo, Cody had a new miracle product, can you guess what it was? It was a clone (a very poor clone) of the product I had just launched, but his ad copy was compelling, and his price was extremely low. Can you guess what happened? Right! people refunded on me to buy his clone because they thought the product was basically the same, just as Cody had intended. Eventually almost everyone came back to me and repurchased my product, but I will not forget the damage Cody caused. Don’t get me wrong, people snipe products all of the time and use dirty tricks to get it out, and I’m okay with that to a degree, but when one of the big names on the net pulls that bs, well, it just seems pathetic and desperate.
So in the beginning, as I was angry, I did a little research on Cody and found that this is actually his standard operational procedure. He will promote you to his massive list, and if he produces a good number of sales on your product, he will get someone to clone it immediately, then he snatches chunks of your ad copy, and puts a tiny price tag on it, and then mails his people again to alert them that he found a better deal (his theft/clone). Its a sad thing to see as well as experience because many people look up to that goof as a marketer, when in fact he is more accurately what is known in the real world as a hack.
No original ideas, no original products or services.
So consider yourself warned. If Cody wants to promote you, he is really telling you that he intends to rip you off.
Hi Eric…
Great assessment of yet another attempt to capitalize on the AdSense Fad. (Yes, I call it a fad, because that’s the very definition of the result of “jumping on bandwagons”).
I’ve been a member of Cody Moya’s BMT Ezine for a long time, but I unsubscribed around the end of June. I got a free pack of AdSense templates, and they were exactly these. I wasn’t impressed, for some of the same reasons you pointed out. But mostly because they just looked “schlock,” (as so many of such products do), and very much what I called them in my opening sentence. I expected better from Cody.
The fact is that I’ve lost my interest in most all “prefabricated sites” — AdSense and otherwise — because no matter what you do with them, you always know that they’re SOMEBODY ELSE’S WORK. It’s really not that hard to learn some basic HTML, use a WYSIWYG editor, and create sites that are “all you.”
Sure, you’ll make mistakes, but what you learn along the way will benefit you for life. It’s the old “teach a man to fish” parable at work
Thanks again, Eric. You’ve always been one of the “good guys.”
Than You for being honest. It will go a long way. I am thrilled to see that you, the one’s that have made it in this business, police what is ought there so so many wouldn’t think that all that is out there is a big lie. May the Lord Bless you and your family…….Pastor Dean/okbishop
Thanks for the eye-opener, Eric. I appreciate the way you look after your subscribers. More success to you!
Hi!,
When I started reading your review, I had thoughts that being a partner of Joel Comm for Adsense sites, You will definitely favour him unnecessarily.
But after reading your review 3-4 times very carefully, I totally agree with you because of your relevant logics that Cody doesn’t know the Adsense Stuff. I am surprised at the serious mistake of “White Hut…..” instead of Black Hat… used by respectable Marketer like Cody. I am also totally against Cody idea of using his own links at all the membership sites
I am subscriber to his newsletters and have now started doubting his knowledge seriously.No one should start a membership site for an area, which He/She himself doesn’t know properly.
I have also read Curt remarks for Cody doing exact duplicacy of other Marketers stuff & will investigate it. Most of the marketers today do some minor changes in the stuff & claim themselves to be an expert. I will also unsubscribe to Cody newsletters if I found them copied ones. Thanks to Curt for bringing it out.
I think Cody is pretty sure that members who will use his adsense sites & techniques will have to leave their well built houses & come to Huts as they will loose all their money paying for membership fees. (White or Black Hut - Does it Matter?)
Thanks Eric for your logical review. I did research for some part of Your review, which was not known to me and found it to be true.
Rajesh
Hi Eric,
Thank you for providing an honest and informative review of Cody Moya’s new AdSense Templates product. I know a lot of “so-called” gurus will be pitching their mailing lists on all of the “benefits” their readers will get from Cody’s new release, just so they can make a quick buck - at the possible expense of their readers’ future livelyhoods using tools that go against Google’s terms of service.
Thanks again for providing your honest opinion on this product. I’m sure you will save a lot of people a whole lot of grief.
Eric,
Y9u have done it again. Your wings are on reserved. Cody should really take a close look at what he is doing. I received his free templates and I am revising them to use with Hypervre. I have previous thoughts that he was one of the bottom feeders. I am a member of his ListCube list and I will forward a coopy of your review. Sometimes when you don’t know, you don’t know.
See ya, in B’more
Hi Curt…
You said:
“I then unsubscribed from Cody’s newsletter, but then found that no matter how I tried, I was not permitted to unsubscribe—I thought it was an autoresponder glitch and no way to contact him to tell him. Eventually I was unsubscribed.”
Actually, I’m finding this isn’t unusual. I seem to be on serveral mailing lists, from people I know I signed up “once” with, but suddenly I’m getting multiple mails, usually exact duplicate content, sometimes completely different wording, but promoting the identical links, often with slight variations in the subject line, and sometimes from different e-mail servers.
Signing up for marketers’ lists is actually granting THEM a privilege. When they appear to be abusing it, they aren’t welcome for long.
I’ve also discovered some autoresponder programs are more complicated than need be to get out of.
Eric,
Very interesting review about this product. To be honest, I hadn’t planned on buying it and was not impressed by the templates at all. The things you pointed out that this guy actually states in his sales letter is astounding and really makes me wonder if he has any clue about Internet Marketing and/or business or if he just fakes it really well. The first things that had me laughing out loud were his complete lack of knowledge regarding white “hut” hat and black hat techniques. What he is telling people that these sites will do on their own is the definition of Black Hat. Unfortunately, there will still be some people out there who will register throw away domain names they don’t necessarily care about and possibly use his software. Well, as you said, if you are looking for black hat techniques, there are way better resources, softwares, and scripts out there.
My main question to you is regarding some of his other promotions. First and foremost, his JV software giveaway and marketing sites. Ironically, I had just signed up to participate in one of these right before receiving your e-mail. Although I have not bought anything from the guy, I am wondering if there is anything useful coming from his end.
Finally, when you have a moment, would you consider taking a look and possibly even reviewing a fairly new product called “Goohay.” Yes, the folowing is my affiliate link, no hiding here: http://hjastrow.goohay.hop.clickbank.net
I just bought it myself and I am still playing around with it, but it seems like it can be some really useful software. I was curious on your take if you had indeed decided to purchase it at all. Also, any additional feedback about HyerVRE? I am a gold member and I believe that I may have even signed up through your link. The software is a great idea, but I am finding that either the software is very buggy and keeps shutting down on me or the website is down frequently, at least recently. Any word on that? I appreciate any feedback and thanks for the Butterfly Marketing Disc. I did receive it and listened to some solid information. I appreciate you getting that out to me. I’d like to get into the Baltimore event, being that I live about 20 minutes from the city, but not sure what the deal is with it. I guess it is sold out or something. Anyway, always look forward to your newsletters. Have a good one boss!
Howie J
http://www.marketingconsultations.com
http://hjastrow.goohay.hop.clickbank.net
Howie- to answer your question, I do think Cody has done some good stuff. Particularly his giveaways. The thing you need to keep in mind about those, is that Cody is the one who profits most from it. It’s part of why he has one of the biggest subscriber lists in the industry. I’ve actually joined a few of his giveaways, and added my own products, to help gain subscribers.
He’s got some good techniques too, particularly in his use of bonuses to drive affiliate sales. I’ve personally subscribed to his newsletter for a long time, and I haven’t really gotten much out of it. But I have learned some things by observing him.
As someone previously mentioned, Cody is a highly successful marketer. In fact, its an incredibale feat that he immigrated to the US, spoke very little English, and became one of the top affiliate marketers in the WORLD in a couple years.
There’s no doubt that he currently holds a lot of power as a marketer, but I also know he’s stepped on his fair share of toes on his route to the top. It will be interesting to see if he adapts himself to a straighter path in order to establish himself as a long-term player in this business with long-term partners. Or if he will continue to venture further down his own path, alienating more partners, and relying more on his internal structure to sustain his business.
People seem to go farther than you are when it comes to critizising Cody.
If you could share your thoughts about his business strategies in general that would be apprechiated.
I have purchased a couple of things through Cody’s link because of his bonuses.
He has given me two opt in lists, is it safe for me to email these lists?
Thanks,
Mathias Lebesby
Mathias - I would not email the lists. Those are co-reg leads, and I did a lengthy review of that topic earlier this year…
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/coreg-leads/
Some people would differ with me on that opinion. Obviously Cody DOES believe in co-reg leads, and he has built one of the biggest and most profitble subscriber lists in the entire industry.
However, some things I think you should keep in mind…
If these were GOOD subscriber lists, Cody wouldn’t be giving them away.
Also, even IF they are good quality co-reg leads, Cody is distributing them to multiple people…usually 8 or more, from what I’ve observed on his bonuses. I actually question whether he is over-distributing those leads, because I’ve seen his stats on sales contests where he claimed to have something like 32 sets of leads, and he made 100’s of sales, but never stopped promoting the bonus in his emails he sent out. But that’s unsubstantiated speculation on my part. We would need to hear from some people who purchased through Cody during the 2nd day of a promo (or later) and see if they still received the email list bonus.
Ok, so even if he’s doing exactly what he says, that’s still a lot of distribution. Suppose only 3 of the 8 people end up using the leads. Those leads are suddently getting 3 unsolicited emails in a short period of time. And if there are thousands of people on the list, I can almost guarantee that at least a handful of them will be mad at the sudden rash of unsolicited email, and they will report you as a spammer.
For some marketers, that’s a price they’re willing to pay. I tried it personally, and I don’t like being called a spammer, so I’ve never done it again.
Great info. I HATE it when other people include their info. in a product that I purchased. One thing though…didn’t Joel ‘borrow’ some templates?
William- No Joel didn’t borrow any templates. The issue was with some of the PLR content…and that was my misunderstanding, not Joel’s. Anyway, it was quickly resolved, and we’re doing it a better way this time.
Eric,
I always appreciate your recommendations and reviews. I find them to be pretty ‘on the mark’. I got Cody’s ‘teasers’ and have to say even after just a cursory glance I was not impressed with the product. Nice to know I was not misreading.
I do have your and Joel Comm’s ‘Instant Adsense’ package and in general have been quite pleased with it, especially the videos which show you step-by-step how to do just about anything you want with the sites, templates, site builder, etc. Very much looking forward to see what you guys come up with for the next round.
Regards,
Deanna
I have to agree with Geoff on this one, as I was one of the people who was dissapointed with IAT the first time around… You guys did not however try to add any software that would “fool” the search engines and I appreciate you cander in reviewing this package. I saw that you and Joel are also getting closer to IAT version 2, so I dearly hope that I can make a “rave review” about them this time around and that I am not making the same type of blog entry you just did about Cody’s product, about yours and Joel’s as well? I hope the same honesty comes through with IAT2! Thanks for the great review as usual.
I am glad I found all of this out before I spent any money on this program.
I had better change my autoresponder emails to warn my subscribers
before the launch. While I really need the money, I value my reputation
much more. I can always earn more money, but changing my reputation
after a big negative is much more difficult.
Eric, I should be seeing you in Baltimore, providing I can get a hotel
room.
Have an amazing day!
Micheal Savoie
http://michealsavoie.com/welcome
http://publicdomainprowler.net
Thank you Eric. You restored a small portion of my faith in the human animal - not too many folks play it straight or tell the truth. I admire and respect you for that.
Keep on, don’t stop. you’re one of the lights in the tunnel that turns out NOT to be an oncoming train wreck!
Mary
Yikes Eric,
Thanks for the “heads up” however Yikes because in an effort to get more templates I responded to Cody’s request for a testimonial without really scrutinizing the ones I received. Even at that I had to chase him for the others. Now that I better understand your points I will NOT be using or recommending Cody’s product.
Again many thanks,
There are a few things sold that have been total crap. I am glad that you find a few and publish your results. Although I have been in Cody’s giveaways I have never bought from him or sold for him. And when get the last of his 50 part course I am through with him.
Eric,
I agree with what you and most others have said regarding the importance of using original material in
the promotions and for many months now I have seen similar things and I was wondering if
anyone else noticed.
I do know when I got the instant adsense set that you made the excellent videos for there was
also a good amount of discussion about the templates used were taken from “Mr Over Deliver”.
Curious to see if I am the only one that remembers this.
R.W.
DEAR ERIC.
GOOD LABOR DAY.
I AM VERY HAPPY THAT YOU COME BACK TO YOUR WORK.
THANKS ALOT FOR YOUR INTERESTING ABOUT ME AND THE NEW PRODUCT,THAT I HAVE MANY OFFERS BUT I WAITTING YOU TO WORK TOGATHER ON YOUR PROJECT AS YOU PROMISED ME BACK .
SEE YOU SOON.
As some one rather new, I really appreciate your clear comments. I have generally skipped over your e-mails. the other day I told my husband I wished someone could just be honest and clear. Here you are! I will read all your e-mails in the future.
Thank You, Sarah
Great feedback, Eric. Thanks for your honest reporting of the good and the bad on the internet.
Thanks for the Info! It was very informing and I be turning Codys offer down……….
Ken
PS: will be looking into your template offer as I make some money from Instant AdSense !
Again Eric you’re pulling no punches when it comes to exposing the hidden scams of the web.
I’m very happy with your Instant AdSense Templates and would never invest my time or money into anything else.
Just finished putting the following IAT sites online today:
http://wholelotabout.com/creditcards/
http://wholelotabout.com/autoloan/
So far for the first week of the month of September , I’ve generated over $75 in Adsense revenue, and that’s directly attributed to your IAT sites.
I doubt if this so called black hat Adsense template pack could even come close to generating the overall income your templates have done, not only with Adsense, but 5 other different affiliate programs I’m promoting on the sites.
If you guys want a real winner, hold off until October 10 for IAT2 to be released. The first set sold out in record time and I highly urge you to sign up for any alert list or stay tuned to this blog to keep informed.
My only suggestion for IAT2 is for you guys to include some sort of video tutorial explaining how to change the thumbnail photos contained in the various Adsense image blocks. Also suggesting a good site to download more thumbnail photos to create more Adsense Niche image blocks. Photoshop layers are very hard for me to grasp, but a well thoughtout video tutorial giving steps for achieving this would be of great help.
Would love to create a Halloween and Christmas Niche site, but don’t see any image blocks for IAT1 to use in the Your Own Original Content Site Builder templates to produce the pages I want.
Thanks Eric for your hard hitting review of Cody’s product and I look forward to your opinion of similar products in the future.
Best Wishes,
Kenneth Washington
P.S. You and Joel should consider creating a membership site for your Adsense templates. I would definitely pay for such a service on a monthly basis. Heck, you could include a section for thumbnail images for use in the Adsense image blocks if people wish to create their own.
Eric, I had this feeling all along that I had hooked up with a decent bloke, You just confirmed that with the Moya’s adsense revue.
You’d get on well here in Australia. It is a thing here that you don’t say anything about someone that you wouldn’t be prepared to say to their face.
I for one am very impressed, not with the revue but with you complete honesty.
Today, we here in Oz. are mourning the loss of Steve Irwin (the Crockodile Man)
He was killed yesterday on the Great Barrier Reef. I know it hasn’t anything to do with Internet Marketing, but for us as a nation it is a profound loss.
Milton.
Milton- I was very sorry to hear about the loss of Steve Irwin. I loved that guy! My heart goes out to Irwin’s family and fans.
Thanks Eric for your review. I hadn’t planned to purchase the CM templates as I’m still working through IAT1and 2. I found your comments to be quite educational so I’ve learned something constructive for which I’m grateful. The sad side of it is that I’ll never get to know how to make the yummy sounding chocolate recipes as shown on the first sample page. Ah well..I grudgingly suppose that the waistline will be forever thankful.
Veronica
Thank you. I received one of his emails and thank you again for informing us of this matter. If you didn’t mention this, some of us might be promoting the wrong stuff to our lists…
Hi Eric,
I’m a newbie in internet marketing and had lots of wandering around in my learning. Along the way, I pick thing up here and there - quite at random and with not much focus.
I also came across Cody’s offer and thought it interesting. Then I received your Eric’s Tips with this content. I’m impressed by your honest and candid presentation, especially touching on matters of integrity. Your deep understanding of your office reflects in the manner you investigate issues. This is what makes your advise objective and unbiased (in my perspective).
Hope your comments teach other internet marketers a lesson or two on such issues as integrity and respect for proprietary rights. I learned them well myself.
Keep it up!
All is well,
ReyM
WOW! All I can say is thank you. Like my daughter always says “I want to be just like you when I grow up”. Thanks again for your honesty.
Thanks for telling the truth. I’ve bought premade sites from Cody once but never again. For example, in the one on learning disabilities, all the articles were written by some not native English speaker, and they were nearly all rants on how her son who was LD was not treated “properly” (how she wanted it done) at school. I planned originally to rewrite the articles to correct the English, but as I read them, there was almost no usable content there once I took out the rants.
Eric,
I wonder how much of the volumes of advice in I have received and investigated in Cody’s e-series is dangerous, or at least detrimental. I had always given him the benefit of the doubt despite a bit too much self-promotion.
I put GREAT stock in integrity - my own, first, and then in that of the guru/advisors whose products and advice I recommend to my subscribers. My subscribers are already anxious, excited, wanting to believe what they read. It’s shameful that ANYONE takes advantage of that.
I have no use for those who are only about making a buck at someone else’s expense.
I haven’t known you or known of you long but your wisdom and care are apparent. I’d rather have someone on my side who cares enough to risk offending some, for their protection and good, than I would 20 who might make me some money - but at the expense of my rep and the trust of those I want most to help - my subscribers and customers.
I will look forward to more from you and have no reservation now (not that I ever did) of recommending you to those who trust me.
Hey Cody,
No one is gonna blame you for being honest and telling the truth. Let’s face it, we all know you get results at whatever you persue in the internet marketing arena. That is why we are subscribers to your marketing tips filled to the brim newsletter.
Tell ya something else, we would probably hate you, IF YOU DIDN’T TELL US THE TRUTH. Keep “Spillin The Beans” , on those who seek to hoodwink us into believing that they are experts, instead of pretenders in this
fast moving field of internet marketing and adsense gurus.
http://www.bookmarkme.us
Thank you Eric- Great job-once again you are my
guru. The only thing that is missing from this brilliant review is a discount coupon or promo code so that
people like me can purchase yours and Joel’s Adsense System at a discount on the very day that
Cody is launching his half-baked rendition.
Eric,
Thanks for the review. I was getting his stuff up until 5 months ago when I lifted the sheet on his business and noticed some very strange behavior. He also got very upset when someone put some of his products on a membership and was not supposed to. He was rude. At that time it was so long for me. Thanks for being you.
Ross
Many people is aiming to obtain a lot of money from adsense. It is surprising people like Cody Moya who I’m sure already have been in business for quite some time now is trying to cheat other people. Anyway, good job Eric.
I just hope you also give a review on Website Content Wizard Software by David Watson. It is such a hot product right now. But I’m not quite sure is it worth to buy.
hi Eric,
I have come here from a newsletter I just read from someone I respect greatly online.
In