So Jimmy the Smythe has a pimpin new product called 29 days to faster fat loss (well it might be called that and his name might be Jimmy) but according to the site:
Quote:
Q: Who is Jimmy Smith ? Answer:
Jimmy Smith, CSCS, ., is a highly sought after fitness expert and consultant for Men's Fitness magazine - one of the most popular fitness publications in the world, Maximum Fitness magazine, Best Body magazine and Natural Bodybuilding And Fitness magazine.
Jimmy's fat loss and workout tips are featured every month in Men's Fitness and his articles, advice and workouts can be found on a number of websites and in many other magazines such as Maximum Fitness, Best Body and and Natural Bodybuilding And Fitness magazine.
Jimmy’s specializes in helping busy men and women lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean and achieve their best body in minimal time. Craig also has an extensive background and keeps up to date on the latest scientific findings that will help improve your health, mind, and body. Jimmy's advice is often called on by various sports teams including the United States Men's National Squash team.
Then theres this gem:
Quote:
How to Make Money as a 29 Days To Faster Fat Loss Affiliate
Thanks to the Internet, there are many, many ways to promote 29 Days To Faster Fat Loss and earn money as a 29 Days affiliate. Here are some of the best ways to promote 29 Days as an affiliate…
But don’t forget, one of the easiest ways to start promoting Turbulence Training as an affiliate is to simply replace regular links (i.e. anywhere you have listed Fat Loss Secrets - Fat Burning Workouts-Burn Fat-29 Days To Faster Fat Loss on your site) with your special affiliate link that contains your nickname. (If you don’t have an affiliate link, read the instructions in the How to Start column to get going). Make sure that every time you have 29daystofasterfatloss.com listed on your site that the link is actually your affiliate link – including your links page.
Here are the testimonials from Craigs site:
Quote:
“I lost 14 pounds this month and the weight is just falling off me. My wife says I now look like when we first met and I still have more to go. I can fit into my old jeans again which is a big deal for me. I just cut back on starches and bread and do your routine 2-3 times a week. I never thought in a million years that just 10-20 minutes of weight training followed by some cardio would get me such steady results. I even cheat a bit on the weekends." Billy Williams Quote:
"I wanted to let you know that I dropped 5lbs based on your articles and programs and kept it off for 3 weeks now (I'm 5'7 and now a strong 130lbs)... I am a health-knowledge "junkie" and have bought hundreds of e-books and print books and bought at least a dozen workout programs but this is the best structured and planned program I have come across to date. The simplicity and organization of the programs make the workouts manageble and fun and because you get results fast and you are motivated to continue on - changing and progressing day after day. It is an addiction to workout now and feel healthy... On behalf of so many afraid or too lazy to speak up I would like to say thank you!!” Nadia Dedic
Here are two from Jimmy/Craig:
Quote:
“I lost 17 pounds this month and I’ve never had weight loss like this. My wife says I’m hotter than I ever was. I can fit into my old clothes and don’t have to worry about only buying clothes that hide my stomach. I just slightly cut back on the sugar and starches and did your routine for 29 days. I never thought in a million years that just 20-30 minutes of weight training and only a few cardio sessions a week could be this powerful". McKay Whelan Santa Cruz, California Quote:
“I wanted to let you know that I dropped 7lbs based on your articles and programs and kept it off for 2 weeks now. I’ve bought over a dozen fat loss manuals and this is without a doubt the best one. It’s simple and organized which allows all of us regular people to the most from our fat loss workouts. THANK YOU" Diana Stevenson
This is also interesting. On the testimonials page, his site has this testimonial:
Quote:
Best of all, since I implemented all the strategies in the manual, I've dropped my body fat to 12%! Thank you so much Jimmy!!!"
-- Tammy Skrob
The Female Fitness Queen
But then in main page:
Quote:
Since I implemented all the strategies in the manual, I've dropped my body fat to 9%! Thank you so much Jimmy!!!"
-- Tammy Skrob
The Female Fitness Queen
Then hes got the snappy title for his upsell order form:
You have to wonder if these gurus really think about what theyre putting and why they can easily be scorned by professionals in this industry, especially when they rip off shit from others and try to sell it as their own new gift to the fitness world.
__________________
"The strongest steel goes through the hottest fires."-Anonymous
"When you begin to believe nothing is heavy, all weights become light." -Rossbow
"Just remember, somewhere there is a little Chinese girl warming up with your max."-Jim Convroy
"It's a round hole, dammit. Everyone fits."--Anonymous Mod at Strengthmill
Wow, so are we saying that Craig and Jimmy are one and the same? And, further, are we saying that these "testimonials" are fake? And, here I was thinking of trying one of Craig's programs this year. I believe I will rethink that.
Wow, so are we saying that Craig and Jimmy are one and the same? And, further, are we saying that these "testimonials" are fake? And, here I was thinking of trying one of Craig's programs this year. I believe I will rethink that.
I think its more Jimmy being too damn lazy to create and edit his own website and make his own testimonials. It does make you wonder about those that choose to have his testimonial on their site and vice versa. Thats what sucks about the circle jerk, you prop each other up and its very easy to fall together.
Not that testimonials are that hard to make on your own, though for the supremely lazy, they can generate their own testimonials:
__________________
"The strongest steel goes through the hottest fires."-Anonymous
"When you begin to believe nothing is heavy, all weights become light." -Rossbow
"Just remember, somewhere there is a little Chinese girl warming up with your max."-Jim Convroy
"It's a round hole, dammit. Everyone fits."--Anonymous Mod at Strengthmill
What is with the advertising/marketing approach for fitness programs?? Even high quality programs have such cheesy, bad-infomercial copy that I shy away completely from it. A major re-think towards a more professional, classy, informed, educated approach would serve a lot of these folks really well.
Sorry to rant, just my two cents as a novice looking in at the industry...
Good pickup! I usually never even read the testimonials on these sites.
Susan, I agree.
I feel like every fitness website is filled with testimonials that are a mile long...some of them not supporting the product but the person. Personally I know what I want to buy, so I don't really pay attention to them....Not only that, but all of these sites are POORLY laid out!
He is much taller and has a shorter haircut. He is also American. I am from Canada.
Also, all of the testimonials on my site are legit. I save each and every testimonial email I receive.
Thanks!
craig
Craig arent you kinda pissed that someone is ripping off your stuff and passing it as their own?
__________________
"The strongest steel goes through the hottest fires."-Anonymous
"When you begin to believe nothing is heavy, all weights become light." -Rossbow
"Just remember, somewhere there is a little Chinese girl warming up with your max."-Jim Convroy
"It's a round hole, dammit. Everyone fits."--Anonymous Mod at Strengthmill
That is ridiculous. Here I am working on some products, working hard with clients for testimonials, figuring out the best way to make a sales letter that a) works and b) tells the truth, and this is what I should have done all along!
Damn!
This isn't quite the same thing, but:
There's a big thing in the Internet Marketing world (and other businesses, too) called PLR - Private Label Rights. Basically what that means is that someone writes X number of articles, ebooks, whatever and then sells them. They give PLR with it. Sooooo you're supposed to take these and put your name on them as if you'd written them. However, they've sold these things to a bunch of people. So now you're all putting your name on them as the author.
This is so that people who don't have the knowledge to write their own shit can sound like experts, or they can pump out huge websites/books in minutes or hours. It's common in a lot of industries, including the fitness industry. It's always made me sick to my stomach. If I don't know much about a topic, what right do I have to try to teach it? That's the ultimate in laziness and cheating as far as I'm concerned.
__________________
Isaac Wilkins, M.Ed, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, and who cares what other letters?
Maybe Jimmy had some adrenal fatigue and couldnt write his own stuff or make his product?
__________________
"The strongest steel goes through the hottest fires."-Anonymous
"When you begin to believe nothing is heavy, all weights become light." -Rossbow
"Just remember, somewhere there is a little Chinese girl warming up with your max."-Jim Convroy
"It's a round hole, dammit. Everyone fits."--Anonymous Mod at Strengthmill
Wow, so are we saying that Craig and Jimmy are one and the same? And, further, are we saying that these "testimonials" are fake? And, here I was thinking of trying one of Craig's programs this year. I believe I will rethink that.
I'm going to jump in here and say that I have used Craig's programs and have always found them to be excellent.
__________________ 'I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. ' ~Frank Sinatra
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher,
smarter, faster and better looking than most people.
I don't have a problem with most of the stuff I've read that Craig's written. I've not bought any of his products, so take that for what it is.
For Craig's target market which consists of young to middle-aged men trying to look decent for the beach with a minimum of time invested his stuff is pretty good.
The problem is the marketing. Craig is a pretty aggressive marketer, but there are some of his mentees that are WAY out of hand.
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Isaac Wilkins, M.Ed, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, and who cares what other letters?
People do what works, right? And your average, lazyman soccer mom or whatever who wants to lose weight with 4 minute abz is the target market, right?
Besides, if you use too much tech talk and jargon and whatnot lingo, people think you're getting all pretentious and crap. It's best to market to the lowest common denominator to get the highest possible roi.
Truth doesn't tend to sell well in our current flashy times.
People do what works, right? And your average, lazyman soccer mom or whatever who wants to lose weight with 4 minute abz is the target market, right?
Besides, if you use too much tech talk and jargon and whatnot lingo, people think you're getting all pretentious and crap. It's best to market to the lowest common denominator to get the highest possible roi.
Truth doesn't tend to sell well in our current flashy times.
Probably this should go into a new thread, but:
True, but also that's important for an effectiveness point of view. That's one of the problems with boards like this (and plenty of others). The readers (us) are people who are fitness professionals or very interested in fitness. So much so that we want to talk about it, debate it, and write about it. All of that is great. I'm obviously a fan.
However... Most people don't give a shit. They simply don't care. Some of my clients soak up information from me like a sponge. That's great and it appeals to the teacher in me. Others want the bare minimum of info. They just want results.
Today I'm training a 34 year old new(ish) mother (also an executive in a furniture company) looking to drop some weight and a 38 year old real estate professional who wants to look good for his upcoming wedding and for the beach. These two are very intelligent, focused, and successful people. They're also busy as hell. They are interested in fitness knowledge, but if it's much over a page long they're not reading it. They also don't have a big knowledge base. They hired me to direct, motivate, and focus them towards their goals.
When we as fitness professionals write a product it's important to know who you're writing it for. Are you writing it for very focused, somewhat anal, and reasonably advanced dieters as in Lyle McD's UD2.0? Or are you writing it for people like my two clients mentioned above? The writing is going to be VERY different.
A lot of fitness professionals and enthusiasts will read something written for my two clients and start tearing it up because it makes generalizations or makes rules that shouldn't be rules (no fruit on Sunday or something). The product isn't written for the hardcore science geek, however. It's written for the results-motivated person who doesn't have the interest or time to roll around in the details.
I'm not advocating bad or vague information, by any means. Just keep in mind what the product was designed to do.
__________________
Isaac Wilkins, M.Ed, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, and who cares what other letters?
I have at least three of Craig's products. All are excellent.
Which is more reason for him to be pissed about someone ripping off his stuff. That is, unless Craig let Jimmy the Smythe cut and paste from his own site which is also a douchebag thing to do and gives less credence to the gurus.
__________________
"The strongest steel goes through the hottest fires."-Anonymous
"When you begin to believe nothing is heavy, all weights become light." -Rossbow
"Just remember, somewhere there is a little Chinese girl warming up with your max."-Jim Convroy
"It's a round hole, dammit. Everyone fits."--Anonymous Mod at Strengthmill
Guru Laziness
That comment ranks among the top ten or so funniest lines I've read here. LMAO
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