Selling leads has been a part of online marketing for a long time now and from Ads
circulating through the surf rotators I use everyday, the "lead purchase" niche seems
to be getting more popular lately.

What do I think of buying leads? A waste of money.

The winners here are the companies that are doing very well selling "Guaranteed
Signups" and "Premium Leads". The newcomers to the online business world are
the prime target for these "lead" sellers. Mainly...because I was one...stuck in a
rut in one of those Matrix compensations plans. You know...where you need three
and they need three..yada yada yada.

Join the Coop and get leads from a reputable company. OK.....sounds good...several
days later and several dollars spent and I was still looking for my "3". It was only
later I found out the majority of these "leads" are recycled...bought from one company
at a discounted price and resold again at a "marked up" price. Guaranteed Signups
are paid to join your program but not guaranteed to "upgrade". I even had a monthly
subscription to an autoresponder with leads going in there at a steady rate. Perhaps
1% or more did eventually signup and leave again within a month or two.



This brings me to Ad Ventures 4U. The manual surf sells Coop leads, almost from
the start, but I didn't bite. No thanks...been there and done that. It is a source of income
for the Profit Share and it involves selling a "real" product which is a good thing but
I think members should know what they are getting into.

Don't get me wrong...AV4U is an excellent program and has paid me well and on time
but I learned my lesson a long time ago and It's unfortunate the majority of members
who are buying "leads" will go through the same "learning" process. Let's look at some
"stats"...over 16,000 members but the number of upgraded members is over 3,000.

Tells the story right there...usually the ratio is around 25% of the members in a given
program actually upgrade. Wonder how many of those "free" members are "store bought"
leads? Oh yes...a lot of money spent for sure but that's the basis of building a downline.
Keep bringing them in and a percentage will upgrade in your programs.

In conclusion...I don't buy leads or join coops...I tell it like it is via my Blog here and it's
the most enjoyable part of my Biz. Blogging is an excellent marketing tool as well as
a "release" for me to write about what I feel about programs and give readers a personal
insight instead of trying to read between the lines of a splashpage or a program's Homepage.