Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Why I think ViperChill is some sort of scam


Disclaimer: I think ViperChill has an amazing writing talent and some of his posts are magnificent but some of his examples are more or less faked.

Update: ViperChill is now in the comments with his version.

Although I’m a marketing noob, I’m not a SEO noob and I think I have more than average knowledge in this matter. Thus I really get pissed off when someone tries to preach how 3 months old site can receive 1,000,000 unique visits from Google in a month being only white hat (I guess about the last but with 98% probability). I’m watching ViperChill from some time as I really suspect he is just another “get rich by teaching others how to get rich” person.

The basic plot: he claims that in Feb 2010 he hit nearly 1,000,000 unique visits from Google to one of his sites, which was only 3 months old by that time. He even points some of the main keywords that brought that traffic:
  • Vancouver 2010: 41,270
  • Super bowl 2010: 32,836
  • Olympics 2010: 6,216
  • Valentines day ideas: 5,688
Here's a screenshot provided by ViperChill himself that really proves he landed that traffic


Problem is that I’m trying to prove only that getting 1,000,000 organic visits with a 3 month brand new site is impossible. Obviously it's possible but not for that young site.

    Later he describes his technique (nothing new though, in fact really exploited topic from at least 4-5 years), mentioning that he achieved #1 ranking in Google with one of his sites for $10 paid for directory links. Now this one is possible. Considering the term is some long tail with minor traffic, yes why not although few hundred a day really seem quite impossible for a 5 page site promoted with directory links. For the time being I say this is "plausible".

    However, the whole post is written in a way that suggests that following those advice anyone can get 1,000,000 organic visits with a brand new 3 months old website. Now this is a shameless lie.  ViperChill is either not telling the whole picture or he is just a fantast. However when looking into the comments below the post I see that he got what he aimed for - people praise him and want to be like him. There's no easy money on the Internet, remember!

    Let’s accept that he really got that number of visits and did not fake the Analytics screenshot. In order to achieve any ranking on the cited keywords the site has to be 3 months old but for him only - meaning that he bought an established site, at least few years old with massive amount of content and trust. Judging from the different topics it is probably a content mill that covers immense amounts of topics.

    As I really don’t want to talk without proof, I followed his advices and decided to take a quick look at the competition for 3 terms. Remember I’m trying to prove only that getting 1,000,000 organic visits with a 3 month brand new site is impossible.  The tools I use in my research are OpenSiteExplorer and SEO Quake. The keywords he cited at the beginning are pretty major ones so I decided my first search term to be London 2012 – this matches all his requirements. You can see the screenshot of the result page below:



    Just a fast look is enough to see that there’s no space for amateurs in this topic. Official event pages, Wikipedia, youtube channel, newspapers and some Google News take the majority of the spots. The only result that looked suspicious is spot #11:

    http://www.londonolympics2012.com/
    Domain authority: 62/100, Linking domains: 53, Yahoo backlinks: 305, Directory backlinks: Yahoo, Domain age: 7 years

    Damn, this is nowhere close to a 3 month old site. I was thinking of checking few more results but that would be a waste of time – all are well established and trusted domains. The Google News case is highly unlikely also because there the “query deserve freshness” also comes into play and content changes frequently enough. However I decided to check the Google News domains and you can see the results here.

    Ok, as its obvious that ranking with a 3 month old website is impossible for such a major term, I decided to test with 2 more events – chose them on random, looking for something less popular to the general public but still not a family gathering so it has some traffic after all. Thus I ended with roger waters the wall 2011 and Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival 2010. I don’t want to go into details (you can find them here) but the youngest ranking site was 7 years old, the one with less domain trust 51/100, the one with less linking domains – 9, the one with less Yahoo backlinks – 283.

    Damn again! This is not even close to 3 months old site and we tested for a local beer fest in Stockholm while he claims ranking and traffic for Vancouver 2010. I think anyone with a head on his shoulders can make his conclusion if Viper Chill is to be believed or not all the time. I made mine long time ago – since he claimed unbelievable results and I was able to find few of his "highly successful" affiliate sites: (what I surprise – when I tried to open Glen’s profile on ezinearticles where he wrote and linked to his affiliate sites, I get an error. The profile is deleted. Smart move, Glen. How can anyone believe you if they saw your old sites…)

    Still I was able to find some of his lesser known sites following the link patterns, domain name patterns and whois info. You can also notice those sites are not than old and there was activity on them in May and June 2009 (I'm mentioning this 'cos according to his own resume at that time he had 4 years experience in the online market. Enjoy ;)

    bluehosthq.com
    hostgatorhq.com
    dreamhosthq.com
    bookmarkingdemonhq.com
    afterburnt.com
    tattooideashq.com

    He is also somehow related to sixpackhq.com (matches all the patterns and registered in Cape Town)... short research revealed that this site is operated by his friend Dirk "Diggy" de Bruin that he mentions from time to time. You can see Diggy's twitter profile selling health products http://twitter.com/sixpackhq

    Now I think I spent more than enough time on Viper Chill and his affiliate empire. My advice to you - never trust people that boast about their success proudly and claim they just want to share their knowledge for free. 

    What do you think, who has the right in this situation?

    21 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    You can make as many false allegations about me as you like, but please remove my name and site from the title?

    I doubt you will update the post based on what I say, but here's a quick summary:

    1. ViperChill.com was registered in 2006 and I was featured in DJing for Dummies in 2006/2007 (buy the book) so that proves how long I have been online.

    2. In Cloud Living I mention how I helped my friends with affiliate marketing. Well, the african guy you see on the twitter account is one of them (I live in South Africa). There's lots of pictures of us together on Facebook if you want proof.

    3. I own in excess of 40 websites now. The websites you mentioned are no secrets and I've even mentioned them in my eBook Cloud Living as examples.

    4. Sadly, because of people like yourself, I have to use pen-names online to protect the sites that make me a living online. I hope you find the time to work on your own projects instead of trying to out people who do nothing but try to help others.

    Again, I doubt you will post this, but there we go.

    Martokus said...

    About 1) Well I don't speculate how long you've been online. I talk about the quality of the websites you've produced after 3-4 years of experience online.

    About 2) Whatever. That's not my point.

    About 3) Whatever. That's not my point.

    About 4) No. You have to hide only if you're ashamed by something. Viperchill, pluginid, cloud living are examples - good, reputable projects that you're not ashamed to back up with your name.

    P.S. In a few moments I'll replace the "scam" with a softer version, however as stated in our private communication your name will not be removed. I still want your fans to see it and think about it for a moment.

    Anonymous said...

    As you asked on Twitter:

    However the whole post is written in a way that suggests that following those advice anyone can get 1,000,000 organic visits with a brand new 3 months old website. Now this is a shameless lie. Viper Chill is either not telling the whole picture or he is just a fantast. However when looking into the comments below the post I see that he got what he aimed for - people praise him and want to be like him. There's no easy money on the Internet, remember!

    1. There is a *ton* of easy money on the internet. When I was also a marketing noob (your words in your title) I thought the same. However, experience and my own results show me otherwise.

    2. Technically, yes, anyone can achieve these results. How do I know? Because I did it. That's the best proof I have.

    3. You seem to be really angry that people like my blog. Fantasist? Wanting praise? Sorry you feel that way.

    About 4) No. You have to hide only if you're ashamed by something. Viperchill, pluginid, cloud living are examples - good, reputable projects that you're not ashamed to back up with your name.

    Ah, that's definitely not the case. It's just that anytime I mention a website I work on, I get tons of competition straight away.

    When a large part of my income comes from sites that need very little links to rank, I would just create a ton of competition for myself if I had my name on or they were easier to find.

    I'm happy to show you some examples, but you didn't want to add me to Skype. I suggest you re-read the post if you wish as you missed a really important part of it.

    It's a shame that trying your best to help people results in things like this.

    Otherwise, have a great day :)

    Anonymous said...

    OK, I'll bite.

    Your example was totally not what I was talking about in the post. Building a static site is for unique terms / smaller phrases that are less competitive. Such as my world cup phrase, which gets thousands of searches per month, but had no competition.

    I obviously could not rank for '2010 fifa world cup' but I'm ranking for very popular world cup phrases. Using Google trends to see what kind of terms people searched for, and analytics from other competition based websites (for that example).

    Getting traffic for the likes of 'vancouver 2010' is nothing to do with building a static site. It's about leveraging universal search for blog results and news results.

    Also realise that these tend to be further up and more prominent when an event is actually happening. When London 2012 is actually taking place, there will be blog results high up and the news results may even be the first result (this happens a lot).

    So

    Static sites = smaller / less well known phrases

    Huge volume for generic competition phrases = blog and news integration

    This is why you found no sites so young. Oh, and another reason you wouldn't find them is because I never heard this technique from anyone so don't think many people try to utilise it. That's great if you knew about it 4-5 years ago, you're way more ahead of the curve than me then.

    Oh, and as you asked for examples. let's talk about easy money on the internet. This example is easily worth $10k, so best of luck to you.

    Farmville = 80 million players, 1.6m google searches. 450k searches for farmville cheats. 50k searches for farmville tips.

    The creators of Farmville yesterday launched Frontierville, which is going to be huge. It shouldnt be hard to build a static site with a guide to frontierville and make a tonne of money.

    Easily :)

    Martokus said...

    I really got lost in your explanations. To make it simple:

    Did you receive 41270 unique visits from referring word "Vancouver 2010" as stated in your post? Asking because in the comments you say "I obviously could not rank for '2010 fifa world cup' but I'm ranking for very popular world cup phrases."

    Did you land 1,000,000 unique visits/month on a 3 month old website? From your comments I infer that you obviously cannot rank in the normal results, you rely appearing for blog and news results, right?
    Asking because I also checked the news sites appearing and if the competition is way weaker there, the domain age still plays a huge role. The youngest domain appearing for News that I've seen in 1 years old (with 50k links though). Also I'm not an expert in google news but claiming 1,000,000 visits mainly from google news on a site that young looks way impossible. If you confirm that's what happened I'll have to research on the topic.

    Anonymous said...

    Yes

    Here is image proof:

    http://i.imgur.com/jTAwI.png

    I meant that I could not rank for that with a static website, which you seemed to be looking for in your post.

    Yes, correct on your following point as well.

    If you don't want to believe me that's fine, but I have no reason to lie. It's not like I'm selling a product at the bottom of the post, nor are there any ads or affiliate links.

    I'm just showing people what is possible, and hoping to help them make more money online.

    It's a shame you had to resort to posting this instead of just leaving me a comment.

    Now I have answered your questions, can you at least remove my name from the title. How would you feel if someone wrote things about you in this way?

    Martokus said...

    Your name removed as you really cooperated on that matter.

    As for the 3 months old site getting that organic traffic - my position has not changed. Impossible, especially leveraging google news/blogs.

    One more thing - you say you don't sell anything so you don't have reasons to lie. Wrong.

    You sell your name. You get fans by boasting with amazing results then you offer them coaching for $200/hour or sell them your next ebook. If you weren't offering those services I wouldn't care to write anything at all. The moment you try to cash in your name I'm getting suspicious.

    One more thing - I'm big fan of Seth Godin. Smart guy, no 2 opinions. He also sells books. Have you ever seen him bragging with his amazing achievements?

    George said...

    Great post and I am very glad you published it and not changed any of it. I have felt the same about the Viperchill blog all along. I would even go so far to say that he is a total fraud, this may sound harsh but there is so much evidence.

    All the quotes you here about Glen are produced by him. "6 figures per month income" blah blah, yet he posts images of his tiny one bed flat in south africa??

    The quotes of "master seo" - I've been in SEO for years and nobody had ever heard of Glen until he said he was famous?!!

    "at the age of 17, he was recruited to leave Newcastle, England and re-locate to Cape Town, South Africa to work on big brands, such as Nissan, Hewlett Packard and Land Rover, as a social media manager"

    Rubbish...when, for how long. why hasn't he blogged about these campaigns. Oh NDAS, yer right.

    He has done some good stuff admittedly, but his whole readership has been built on bullshit. Why would he not comment on this post with his real name??

    Why does he insist of answering a tweet back with a DM, he thinks he is too important to @ you public. LOL

    Glen Allsop you are a fraud.

    Glen Allsopp said...

    Hi George,

    It's probably not worth responding to this but I'll try anyway.

    First of all, I left South Africa almost two years ago. I actually lived in a 2 bedroom apartment in the heart of the city center, not that it matters. I had a one bedroom apartment maybe for my first year. I could only wish even that was cheap.

    When did I ever say I was famous? Oh, you can't, because I didn't. This is a pretty odd comment.

    I have blogged about these campaigns actually, multiple times. I won't post a link here but Google my site name and Bacardi or Land Rover and you have your answer.

    George, you are a poor troll.

    Cayle Maxwell said...

    Whoever you are, you sound like a bitter, jealous prick. George from the comments does too.

    You should maybe take some advice from Glen and his friends and make money online instead of name calling and throwing out random accusations.

    You really should change your approach man. Your blog or website or whatever looks like crap and your writing is awful. Why not fix that up before railing on someone for their success?

    Caleb M.

    Anonymous said...

    You've got it!

    “get rich by teaching others how to get rich”

    That's it!

    Who got rich during the California gold rush era?

    Answer: The people who sold the miners and other gold rush followers the tools and supplies they needed (i.e Levi Strauss).



    Anonymous said...

    Just read this and you can get an answer

    http://www.selfmadebusinessman.com/2014/07/13/sell-shovels-gold-rush/

    Anonymous said...

    Play great games at kilance.com

    Best Belt Sander said...

    I think Glen is a good bloke and the real deal.
    There are too many bullers claiming they can turn you into a seo genius with no work but after a good research on Glen and ViperChill i can't find many with any bad comments and i can't find any one who's had a bad experience with him or his training program.
    I think by now these would be vizable so for me he's worth my time and when its possible my cash.
    Regards John

    nekraj said...

    I dont think Glen is a scme .He has great knowledge about SEO and other things.

    Anonymous said...

    If Glen is a millionaire from his SEO Marketing Inc business, then why is he selling Marketing Inc for $997 dollars? And affiliates earn $500 dollars a sale.

    Glen, how can ANYONE be honest about your Marketing Inc when they have the chance to earn $500 dollars a sale? You've captured the fly and dropped it into the soup.

    Lower the price of your Marketing Inc to $97 dollars. Drop the affiliates. And let the market determine if your Marketing Inc is truly useful.

    To sell something for $997 dollars and offer affiliates $500 dollars indicates that anyone who "pushes" and "promotes" your product just wants the $500 dollar commission.

    Also, all the video testimonials on the site look completely fake. These bored looking and nervous looking guys in rooms that have plain white background talking nervously about how good the product is, how much money it is they are making. Where'd you buy these testimonials--Fiverr? For $5 dollars each.

    Michael

    Somyapatel said...

    Did you receive 41270 unique visits from referring word "Vancouver 2010" as stated in your post? Asking because in the comments you say " Counselling 2017I obviously could not rank for '2010 fifa world cup' but I'm ranking for very popular world cup phrases.

    Village Talkies said...

    Great with detailed information. It is really very helpful for us.
    Village Talkies a top-quality professional corporate video production company in Bangalore and also best explainer video company in Bangalore & animation video makers in Bangalore, Chennai, India & Maryland, Baltimore, USA provides Corporate & Brand films, Promotional, Marketing videos & Training videos, Product demo videos, Employee videos, Product video explainers, eLearning videos, 2d Animation, 3d Animation, Motion Graphics, Whiteboard Explainer videos Client Testimonial Videos, Video Presentation and more for all start-ups, industries, and corporate companies. From scripting to corporate video production services, explainer & 3d, 2d animation video production , our solutions are customized to your budget, timeline, and to meet the company goals and objectives.
    As a best video production company in Bangalore, we produce quality and creative videos to our clients.

    Shoppinggali said...

    Thanks for posting. Its a Important topic to be read..Great Job, Keep it up..

    fire fighting equipment near me
    access control system installation near me
    location tracking system
    cctv camera for business
    location tracking device for car
    hydraulic lift manufacturers

    sonayainterior said...

    Thanks for sharing your Great Blog! Nice!.

    Office Interior Design in Coimbatore | Kitchen Interior Design in Coimbatore

    DO 365 Technology said...

    I am very Happy when I read this post. Keep Posting! I am eager to see your next post
    Mop Mobile App Development Companies in India