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Rating:
This has not been an easy review. I still have mixed feelings
about it, but upgraded it based on niche application.
Level of Review:
Researched several times.
Overview:
MLM or Affiliate program, depending on how you
describe it.
Product:
Domain names, and other web services,
descriptions are sometimes vague. Details about what is offered are hard to get
prior to signing up.
Costs: $10
per month.
Compensation:
$1 per subscription from any one you sign, and $1
per subscription for anyone they sign, several
levels deep. You get the commission every month
that the subscriptions last. There are also various
bonuses, incentives, and perks for different
performance achievements. Get 10 signups accumulated in your
downline and it pays for itself.
Conclusion:
I have been studying this one for quite some
time. I hear good things about it from some
sources, negative from others. Unfortunately, the
only sources I can get enthusiastic reports from
are those who stand something to gain from saying
so, and the only negative ones are from disgruntled people
who have their own agenda too. The cost is fairly small in comparison to other
programs, so it is affordable for someone who does not have
much to invest.
The program works
like this: You receive an email, click a link, or
otherwise are introduced to a website with an
image of a sports car and a sign up box. It is
accompanied by significant hype. That is the first
thing that makes me uneasy... you cannot learn
anything about what it is until you give them your
information, all you get is hype. At this point, it
feels like an outright scam, and anyone who feels
that will run, meaning that many people will not continue past this
point.
You are also
instructed to enter the ID of the person who
referred you. No referral, no entrance. Originally, I was
introduced to this through a program that was
supposed to sign me up for autoresponder emails.
That system did not work, and I lost the original
email so I was unable to go back later to recheck
or get more details. The system does not use cookies
or any other method of tracking referrals -
no ID number, no credit. GDI promoters can put their affiliate
URL into a web page or email for referral purposes,
and I recommend this method instead of
relying on a username referral.
Once in, the
presentation is long on promises, light on
statistics, and heavy on the hype and glitzy
images. It shows a $10 per month cost for a domain
name, website builder, an unspecified amount of
webspace, and the ability to resell the product. On
the surface, it sounds ok to some
people.
I have issues with the value
of the product. Without the potential to earn
from it thrown in, it is not a spectacular web value.
You can get the same web builder and far superior
hosting for much less per month. It also makes me uneasy that even
people with successful websites use the same
line, "I am so excited to have my own personal
website!" As though they could not build
a personal website until GDI came along, even
though they have been operating highly successful
business websites for years! It may in fact
be easier for some people, I just wish those
promoting it would be honest about it!
Global Domains
International is a company that registers only a
single domain name extension. ".ws" They claim it
stands for "website", but it actually stands for
Western Samoa (this is in fact stated in the FAQ). It is not a popular domain though it is becoming
more common - I am finally seeing a business
or two with this domain.
Now, people who are
selling this will tell you that McDonalds, Yahoo,
and a bunch of other huge name brands have
purchased from GDI, and they ask you if such
companies would buy from a fraudulent company.
They are comparing apples to oranges. EVERY big name
company buys EVERY version of their domain
name, with EVERY extension. They have to, or
otherwise someone can set up a counterfeit site in
their name, and wreak havoc with their customers.
They do it to protect their tradenames and company
reputation, and they did NOT buy a $10 per month
program like the affiliates are making it sound
like. They bought strictly the domain name, and you
can bet they didn't pay the same price for it that
you or I would.
I have also read
several reports of poor customer service from the
company, and of failure of their automated
cancellation system to actually work - people
continue to be billed even though they have
cancelled (you can stop automatic payments by contacting your credit card company, so I don't know why these people continued to let it happen). Telephone support is reportedly poor, and the web
support does not function correctly all the time,
and there is no way to effectively reach anyone who
can do anything about it. Because of this, I have
to say that their "7 day free trial" is something
you should not count on. Previously you could sign up without
giving billing info, but that is no
longer an option - if you do this, you need
to be ready to commit, and you need a plan to use that webspace in a constructive manner - it is your product, and you need to know how to use it.
The program is
supposedly an affiliate program. But a true
affiliate program will never require you to pay to
join. The only way you can get into this affiliate
program is to buy the product.... and continue to
pay your $10 per month dues. And I get the
feeling that they charge $10 per month because
people will often let that amount ride on a credit
card and not complain if they don't make much from
it. The MLM description is more accurate for this system. Many people will feel very uneasy about the way
this is presented.
There are well
known names out there in the Work at Home world who
are raving about this. But many of them have
suspect credibility. And I cannot completely
trust them when they are raving about what
THEY are selling. They talk about their incredible success
with it - well, let me tell you, it is a different
thing to hawk something from an established
customer base of 20,000 people than it is to
start cold and build from scratch! Your ability
to succeed at this would be QUITE different
than theirs would be if you are starting with
nothing.
I have upgraded this
from a rating of 3 to a rating of 4, because
of getting some details about how it works and
what is included. I do not think that the domain
and hosting is a ravingly good value, but I
do believe that there may be a niche market
for it. Here is what you
get:
100 MB space
10
GB bandwidth
Limit of 10 pages with the site
builder
Site builder is entirely template
driven
If you choose Advanced Hosting (no
increase in cost) you can upload pages you designed
in another program. You are not forced to use
the web builder, and you can upload as many pages as you like, so long as you do not overrun the available space (it would take a pretty big site to do that).
.ws domain name
Ok, advantages
are, it is easy to use, and easy to pass from
one person to another if you have an organization
where regular turnover is common.
Disadvantages
are that the web builder does NOT allow you
to build a quality site. It builds one that
does not look too bad, but it is not in any
way personal, and will not be suitable for any
business except to just get a website up there as a temporary placeholder.
In this market, you have to carve out a niche,
and unique personality is necessary to do that.
The site builder won't allow you to do that
effectively, so cannot be considered anything
more than a temporary solution for any business.
May be suitable for some organizations or personal
sites, but will lack individuality - fine if
you don't need to make money from it, but fatal
if you do.
Further, 100MB
of space and 10 GB of bandwidth is not a huge
amount. You can put a decent sized business
site in it, and you can handle between 5000
and 20,000 visitors a month with that capacity,
BUT, that will depend on how efficiently your
pages are designed, and how quickly they download.
The limit of
10 pages is also significant, because if you
don't want pages a mile long, you'll need more
than that to make a site that functions for
a small business. Fine for a family or personal
site, but limited for anything else - This limit
does not apply if you choose Advanced Hosting
and upload your pages remotely - I know of some
fairly extensive sites in their space.
The problem
with domain names other than .com is that browsers,
and PEOPLE default to .com. This is not a reason
not to use another domain name type (I started
with a .us because that is what I could afford!), it just
means that there are some built in annoyances,
including that you'll have to write down the
URL any time you give it to anyone. The .ws
domain has a little bit of stigma with it as
being slightly lower quality because many people
produce low quality sites in that domain - this is gradually improving as the domain becomes more common though.
I also feel
that the presentation for selling the product
will drive off many people who could be the
most valuable downline in this. Those with real
power to market well in it will be very suspicious
of the hype.
Now, having
said that, the company does not have an unsound
reputation as some do. I am not hearing rumblings
of fraud or anything other than the issues regarding
signup, and if that can be handled, that is
one major issue out of the way. I think that
if you have a group that you can market to,
or if you can identify with the people to whom
this would be marketed, then it can be a viable
option. The jury is still out...
but then, it is still out on all businesses
that I review, because if I ever hear information
that conflicts with my review I will carefully
consider it and make adjustments if necessary.
I am still not
real happy with the value of the product, but
value and perceived value are a different thing.
There are people to whom this will have a good
perceived value, and if you can market to them,
I believe it is a good risk for a business as
long as you treat it like a business and do
not expect it to be easy money. Nothing that
works is easy, and this won't be either. You'll
have to learn how to sell, and you'll have to
learn how to be a real business owner, not just
someone who plays at it. You'll have to learn
how to market effectively to your target customer,
and put some honest and hard work behind it.
The company does
not have a bad reputation. If you do a net
search on "GDI Scam", you'll not come up with much.
Oh, some of the usual wrangling and name calling on forums
where people say "I love this", and
others say "I hate it", with no way
of substantiating the positions, but nothing
from any reliable source that raises issues
of deliberate fraud. That is a point in their favor.
This review is difficult each
time I revisit it. I think it can work for
some people. I think the earnings potential is
there, if you work at it. But understand when you
join that there will be problems with a good many
of your prospects, and that you will have to be
committed to $10 a month for an indefinite time
period. And, as with all ventures, you'll have to
work at it, and if you want to make anything,
you'll have to market, market, market - it WON'T be easy money.
You can view the FAQ
from GDI, here: http://www.website.ws/faq/index.dhtml
Update:
The web builder
is definitely limited. Templates only, and very
little ability to customize. The formatting
features appear to not work if you are using
FireFox as your browser (this is a common limitation
in web builders).
The company sends
out emails and has many "get started"
resources. Many are in video format, so they
tend to be slow on dialup connections. They
have good step by step instructions to introduce
you to the services though, and regular emails
to keep you motivated.
The email account
can be forwarded so if you already have email
you don't have to maintain multiple email accounts
directly.
There is still
a lot to learn about the services and products.
The ads say no selling, but the fact is that
any business you have requires you to do some
kind of selling. You have to market, or you
don't get anywhere. Their system can make it
simpler for some people though. I think this
may be easier to market if you are able to answer
questions of people who are too skeptical to
even get past the flash presentation... People
who have a little understanding of web hosting
and domain values and want to know what they'll
get for the money. You'll not be able to pay
your $10 a month and sit back and let it roll
in, you'll have to work at it.
You can purchase
leads, at a rate of about $1 each, with a minimum
order of 50. I do not know whether the leads
will result in sales or not.
GDI can meet the following four criteria:
1. It is workable by someone who does not have specialized skills - marketing can be done through placement of text ads, business cards, and other simple marketing methods.
(Reports from people who succeed at this
are that they market actively.)
2. When honestly described, people do sign up. Not a flood, but solid downline will develop. This has been a major question with this program.
3. A growth trend can be established within a couple of months. Growth is more important than the actual numbers in any business.
4. If you work the business consistently, it can produce reasonable growth. Since the results are mostly cumulative (you continue to get paid each month for each account, as long as they do not drop out), even if there is SLOW growth, it will eventually grow to a significant amount.
I'd recommend
that anyone who does this use the Advanced Hosting
option and build a custom website instead of
using the Site Builder (you can download NVU
for free, and get
instructions to use NVU to build a website here). And be prepared to learn
to market online - I suggest you read my Quick Start eBook
for starters (its free) -
Tactical Website Marketing on a Skinny Shoestring. You can also visit a few of my other marketing and website building sites:
http://www.contentcupboard.com - how to build an advertising supported site, fast, even with no experience.
http://www.badmarketingideas.com - How to avoid the tactics that won't work, why they won't work, and what to do instead. Should be required reading for every online marketer!
http://www.badwebsiteideas.com - Avoid the most common web design errors. Explains what is bad and why, and does not get picky about technical stuff, just the important stuff.
http://www.effectivefreemarketing.com/ - Just the good free stuff, no gimmicks, no time wasters, no scams. Instructions, not signup links!
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