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I made almost 6 figures a year on an affiliate website promoting natural health products, when they were extremely popular back in 2006. I would stay awake som

I made almost 6 figures a year on an affiliate website promoting natural health products, when they were extremely popular back in 2006. I would stay awake some nights and jot down every product mentioned in overnight infomercials (before I knew what TiVo was). then write a review on them the next day. Thousands of people would search for “X review” in the days after watching those infomercials and I would rank #1 because some of them were brand new products.

criddell 6y ago
Where the reviews entirely fiction?
- jfk13 6y ago
  Naturally. You don't think they actually got hold of (and tried) the products in between seeing the infomercial on TV and posting the "review"?
wetmore 6y ago
Sounds unethical
- XCSme 6y ago
  Isn't this what this post is all about?
  - akudha 6y ago
    How did you reach this conclusion? OP never asked for unethical ideas. I interpreted "but you'd not talk about them" as "not to attract competition", not "unethical or illegal" BTW, writing fictional reviews for money is not only unethical, it can be illegal too
    - AznHisoka 6y ago
      I decided to put it out there because it was exactly what the OP asked. It’s something I would rather not talk about. Whether you think it’s unethical/illegal is up to you of course. For what it’s worth, i am no longer involved with this today.
    - M5x7wI3CmbEem10 6y ago
      how/why illegal?
- amelius 6y ago
  Google Search should be smarter about these kinds of practices.
  - Minor49er 6y ago
    Unfortunately, this is a very hard problem to solve. Google would have to be aware of GP in advance, would have to know their nature, and would have to know that they weren't someone who was given access to the new products early to review. If anything, it would have to be up to those companies selling the product to look for early reviews but even then, they'd have to make sure that GP wasn't a legitimate reviewer
- ta17711771 6y ago
  Why?
  - thanksforfish 6y ago
    A product review for something they only heard about? They didn't actually buy the product, try it out. Its lying and misleading visitors.
M5x7wI3CmbEem10 6y ago
what’s TiVo and how do you find products to review now? do you just look up the most recent trends on the news?
- brightball 6y ago
  TiVo = First major DVR Product. Still quite an excellent platform today.

criddell 6y ago

Where the reviews entirely fiction?

jfk13 6y ago
Naturally. You don't think they actually got hold of (and tried) the products in between seeing the infomercial on TV and posting the "review"?

wetmore 6y ago

Sounds unethical

XCSme 6y ago
Isn't this what this post is all about?
- akudha 6y ago
  How did you reach this conclusion? OP never asked for unethical ideas. I interpreted "but you'd not talk about them" as "not to attract competition", not "unethical or illegal" BTW, writing fictional reviews for money is not only unethical, it can be illegal too
  - AznHisoka 6y ago
    I decided to put it out there because it was exactly what the OP asked. It’s something I would rather not talk about. Whether you think it’s unethical/illegal is up to you of course. For what it’s worth, i am no longer involved with this today.
  - M5x7wI3CmbEem10 6y ago
    how/why illegal?
amelius 6y ago
Google Search should be smarter about these kinds of practices.
- Minor49er 6y ago
  Unfortunately, this is a very hard problem to solve. Google would have to be aware of GP in advance, would have to know their nature, and would have to know that they weren't someone who was given access to the new products early to review. If anything, it would have to be up to those companies selling the product to look for early reviews but even then, they'd have to make sure that GP wasn't a legitimate reviewer
ta17711771 6y ago
Why?
- thanksforfish 6y ago
  A product review for something they only heard about? They didn't actually buy the product, try it out. Its lying and misleading visitors.

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 6y ago

what’s TiVo and how do you find products to review now? do you just look up the most recent trends on the news?

brightball 6y ago
TiVo = First major DVR Product. Still quite an excellent platform today.