Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Data Entry Scams and Clickbank...

The data entry world came to a gigantic hault last week when Clickbank decided to pull all of its "data entry" and "type-at-home" eBooks and programs off of its electronic shelf. What happened?

Being a reviewer of online money making programs for TheWebReviewer.com, I was a bit shocked at the discovery that Clickbank had mysteriously removed all of its data entry products without warning. I am sure that to many affiliate marketers, this unannounced removal not only was a shock, but cost this niche a whole lot of money. First understand this: Data Entry and Type at Home programs were some of the highest converting products of the Clickbank line-up. So why would Clickbank pull the plug on these lucrative products?

One theory is the change of management and vision of Clickbank itself. In the last month, Clickbank has redeveloped their website and in doing so, may have chosen to revisit the types of products they sell. But again, why would a company drop such a high money making group of products?

Another more telling tale of the whole type-at-home and data entry program is it is estimated that over 25% of those who purchase the product return the product. Clickbank does offer a 60-day money back guarentee on all of their products. Getting a refund is a fairly simple thing to do. This high return rate not only hurts the revenue of the product, but type-classes the Clickbank product selection as sketchy.

So what is the problem with Data Entry programs and why are they being classified as scams and being returned at such a high rate? Recently, I have spent a lot of time reading up on a few "Data Entry" programs (such as DataEntryBank.com and Type-at-Home.com) and the answer is very simple: The name is very misleading! These data entry programs are nothing more than affiliate marketing programs (just like TheRichJerk, Wealthy Affiliate and Affiliate Cash Vault). These programs themselves are actually pretty good for affiliate marketing programs, but you would not tell that from their ad-copy. It describes "Just fill out a few Google Ads and make money today..." I suppose you are "entering data", but there is a whole lot more to this to be successful. (The eBooks go into the "more", as well, but this is not what the ad-copy told you!).

I think people go into Data Entry programs and Type-At-Home programs with the thinking that they will just need to "type" or "enter data" and presto!, I will make money. When they finally join the program and learn that it is a lot more than that, they become frustrated or disappointed. This leads to high returns and the word "Scam" labelled all over the product.

Data Entry Programs themselves are not scams. The way they are presented is what the scam is all about. These "Type-at-home" programs can profitable, but understand that they are affiliate marketing programs, not simple data entry. If you are truly looking for "data entry" kinds of programs, Paid Surveys are one option (Survey Scout, for example). There are
also "true" data entry programs that fit the criteria of typing data in for a price (the biggest and best site for this is: Freelance Work Exchange.

At the end of the day, it is kind of a shame that these so called "data entry" and "type-at-home" programs have marketed themself into the "Scam" stigma; not because of the quality of their product, but because of the way they represent and sell their product to the public.

- Matthew Bredel

To learn more about "Data Entry" Programs, Affiliate Marketing, and Paid Surveys, visit TheWebReviewer for reviews, articles, resources and more!