What is truly sad is that in his standing up for what he feels is right he does not like it when people openly criticize disagree with him but does not mind using libelous terms when he lashes out against others.

When the argument first started he used or supported terms such as criminal when referring to program owners that were using mailing offers to their membership and his most recent personal attack was directed towards me.

……If I have to see Mr. Rushings propellor(sic him not me) of lies one more time I’m going to be sick……

He knows I will not tolerate his personal attacks but, I will not use this blog as a sounding board to show you how Mr Gerhing has taken advantage of his membership in the past, because it will denigrate the integrity of my message here and many of my readers really do not have a clue about the argument that is taking place.

If you are truly serious about wanting to make money online then subscribing to the whole argument of Downline Integrity is really a silly proposition. If you are wanting to fight for a cause there are many worthwhile ones to fight for. This is just not one of them. Take the energy that you wish to expend backing the Downline Integrity Brigade and direct it towards making money, a worthwhile charity, your family or even cleaning out your closet and you will find a greater reward.

But now that Rob Gerhing has made it personal once again with me I will make small efforts to put him in his place. Sir you will need to grow some thick skin before this is over. You like to dish it out now learn to take it like a man.

If you wish to follow how he has taken advantage of his membership in the past you can follow it at Downline Integrity a Propeller of Lies.

Because the Forum at GJW is Moderated and I am not sure that my post will be approved I have copied it verbatim minus a quote where Rob Gerhing was asking others to post.

I have fallen squarely in the middle of it. I have stepped on toes on both side of the argument. It is purely comedic at this point knowing what I do.

And You are right Rob. You want to take the SERPS back for the search term Downline Integrity it would be easy to do. Really though it does not matter unless your message is clear when the surfer finds you. But the only searchers looking for that term are a part of the argument. You better have your selling shoes on. The only Google searches are from people admiring their handy work and those on the defense. The only thing it does it allow those on opposite side of the fence to try to persuade others to switch sides

I am fortunate. I have people yelling at me from both directions and really don’t care. As witnessed by the comments on my blog. But hey that is a fun blog anyway that only brings in a few hundred per month. So it does not get the love it deserves.

I did not truly start making the money indicative of the input of my time until I stopped worrying about downlines, traffic exchanges and member programs. People need to realize that if they are expecting others to make them successful online marketers they are in for a huge letdown and no amount of downline integrity is going to make them successful. What is going to make them successful is finding their niche and the best way to market it. Then find another niche and market it. Rinse wash repeat.

If people do not have an aptitude of some sort of business as a whole and are bombarded continuously with hype and argument chances are they would enjoy other activities online more and realize a profit a lot sooner just by authoring a simple blog that they are in control of and stay away from the make money niche all together. Let’s face it why would anyone new or experienced in online marketing want to follow a newbie around. That is why they see limited results and only have principles to defend versus getting outside of the box and making some cash.

If you just want to socialize and make friends there are less confrontational avenues to do it and they do not cost any money.

I author several blogs and only have one that relates to online marketing. One thing I do know is that I have several list over 10,000 subscribers not in the make money niche and I don’t have to beg via IM to receive commissions from Google, CJ, Azoogle, Neverblueads and other affiliate networks. They just wire the money to my bank account(s) on time every time.

Content is King and Traffic is Supreme I can manipulate them both!!

Paul Rushing

(link back to here)

Another thing that I found Humerous over at Mr Gerhing’s Forum is:

Oh, and Ms. Norwood is #6 in Yahoo with her 11/28 post. Great fix Gary………works fast! Now, can we please just shut me up and dominate all 10 Positions and beyond. If I have to see Mr. Rushings propellor of lies one more time I’m going to be sick.

Rob

P.S. Take a hard look at this issue by Googleing, Yahooing, or MSNing (Search Engine) the keywords downline integrity. Yeah, see, I knew you’d me mad. So, take those keywords back team!

Rob

Now I have just decided not only is it time to own the top entries for the search terms he is whining about but also his program names. Even though there really is no money in it it will be fun to watch him wiggle!!

I too am a full time Internet Marketer, but my business is different from his. I use search engines to drive traffic to websites that display affiliate offers outside of the Make Money Niche. I don’t sell make money products as my primary business, for now. Yes in the very near future I will be jumping back into the Make Money Niche to market products and services to Internet Marketers desiring to learn to make money outside and inside the Make Money Online Niche. Personally, I did not feel I was ready to carry that message until I was really making a full time income online.

Traffic exchanges do provide a cheap form of advertising for people to build a list. Downline builders also will help people to build a downline in traffic exchanges and with all of the recent hoopla about downline integrity and the launch of the Downline Integrity Brigade I am sure that there has been a recent spike in activity in both venues.

I think that traffic exchanges do provide a good way for you to carry your message to the make money online niche. If you are already making money. It boils down to credibility. Why would a successful online marketer wish to get on Susie newbies list? Then again why would a successful online marketer even be surfing a traffic exchange? The time value versus credits earned negate each other.

Traffic exchanges are a good place to bring people onto a list if you have something to offer them. If you are just pushing a downline builder program or affiliate urls it is a poor marketing strategy. While over time it may bring benefit if done consistently for a long period of time. But at what cost? Time is money and spending several hours a day surfing traffic exchanges is counter productive unless you have a genuine message to carry with limited resources.

Traffic exchanges are an advertising medium for internet marketers, they are a tool in your box. To concentrate on using them to drive signups in a downline builder program is counter productive if that is the only reason you are using them. You may over time build huge traffic exchange downlines and referrals to a downline builder program. Neither should be your primary business unless you own the program.

Yes traffic exchanges do serve a purpose but clicking for credits for newbie internet marketers is like a rat running in a wheel.

In my opinion a newbie internet marketer is better off to spend the time that they would spend clicking traffic exchanges networking, learning how to make money online, developing a product or service, creating content and looking for a primary niche outside of the make money online niche. Steering clear of programs that spout downline integrity is probably not a bad idea either, but that is a story for another day..

The time and energy needed to be an active traffic exchange participant to justify the reward is nil. Yes you can create a huge downline in traffic exchanges and downline builder programs the key is to capture their attention and make the either a paying customer or a real team member to build an army of affiliates. Let’s face it what is 100 free credits for referring someone to a traffic exchange and the life long credits you receive for their activity? Seeing how most traffic exchanges have less than 10% active membership it really is a poor waste of ones time to refer others to traffic exchanges anyway. The best value of your time is to pull people out of traffic exchanges and build a relationship and use that networking opportunity or add them to your marketing list.

Spend the time you would use to surf exchanges and develop ways to make money and network. Let the traffic exchanges do their thing spend a little money buy some credits, build your list and work on making some money. I found this article about a 17 year old girl that built a million dollar website in three years. It is doubtful that she even know what a traffic exchange is and I don’t know of a single million dollar traffic exchange out there.

As far as Traffic Exchange owners marketing other products and services to the members it is their business let them do it. All the hoopla about the issue is retarded. Let the traffic exchange owners that preach downline integrity take away the marketing aspect of their business to the point that they cannot even market upgrades to their free member and see what happens. As far as worrying about downline integrity in a traffic exchange who cares. Surfing traffic exchanges is like masturbation anyway. It is redundant, self serving and addictive.

Here is the rest of the story about the 17 year old millionaire read it at Yahoo

I should probably stop right there. Using traffic exchanges to build your list and brand yourself is the number one best use of them. In the past when I was real active in a member program I used traffic exchanges as a primary way to generate referrals for the member program. Even then I did not click the exchanges other than the occasional test to see what the competition was up to.

I was able to generate a massive amount of “credits” using a system that many call “The Traffic Laundry”. I was using this type of system even before I knew that there was a member site geared around the concept. I am not sure how much value it would bring today. It was still leveraging my time to utilize traffic exchanges.

Unfortunately the average “clicker” at traffic exchanges are doing so because some “Program Owner” convinces people to drive traffic for their downline builder program to build referrals in other traffic exchanges and program components. This in theory is a good idea it does give a clicker a direction of purpose and can build downlines in traffic exchanges and member programs.

What is the personal cost of these types of activities? Using the example in article one of this series 10 hours a week of clicking traffic exchanges cost the clicker $58.50 if they value their time at minimum wage. Are the results that you receive from this activity worth $58.50? They can be if you have a way to capture the lead and have a direct marketing plan set out. It can be worth even more than this if you think of the outcome prior to the activity. Unfortunately most new online marketers utilizing traffic exchanges don’t even have an end result in mind they blindly follow the advice of program owners and listen to the cheerleaders. It fosters a community of Sheeples that blindly follow the heard.

Fire-Ready-Aim

How dumb does that look? We all know that it should be Ready Aim Fire. How many times have you heard follow the system and everything will be ok? Following the system does have its benefits, but whose system you gonna follow? If you are not following your own system and following someone else’s you are making a huge mistake. There is nothing wrong with taking from someone else’s game plan and adapting it to your own with your goals in mid first. Let’s face it you are doing the clicking and the grunt work don’t you think you should receive the most benefit and not the program owner?

I know not everyone entering the online marketing arena can afford to spend money on advertising to offset the cost of their time. I also know that traffic exchanges can be a valuable tool if used properly with the end result in mind. If you are happy building other peoples list and building their business and not your own keep driving traffic to referral URLs and clicking mindlessly. If you want to build your business subscribe to My RSS Feed and stay updated on ways to build your own business. It does not matter to me of your decision because I will make money online regardless.

Part One – Part Three – Available on 9/18/07

Many people are members of Traffic Exchanges and think that they are the be all end all of website promotion. For certain niches that is correct.

Niches worth targeting in Traffic Exchanges:

• Traffic Exchanges – If you are opening a new traffic exchange and want to get the word out there is no better place to promote it than on other traffic exchanges. Using a referral url in a traffic to build a downline in traffic exchanges is a waste of time.
• Make Money Products – Many people use traffic exchanges to drive traffic to a make money opportunity or member program. Unless you own the program this is akin to promoting traffic exchange referral urls in a traffic exchange.
• Marketing tools – If you use marketing tools to promote your online business and you wish to promote them to others for referral commissions a traffic exchange may be a good place to market these products if you can do it in a unique fashion.
• Your own products or services – This is the reason that the average traffic exchange user should be there to drive people to their own list. Lead with your first then promote your products and services, unless you have a totally unique product then lead with the product first.
• List Building – The most Important Use of a Traffic Exchange.

Most people that use traffic exchanges do so because they have joined some member program that has a downline builder and are told to drive traffic to their referral url for the program and back end traffic exchange referrals. This is an admirable way to utilize traffic exchanges to build the list of the program owner, with your return on time negligible and the most benefit going to the program owner.

Yep I said it. Using traffic exchanges to build referrals in a member program such as 10Khits, Mpam, Yorgoo, Traffic Hoopla or any other downline builder is an abuse of your efforts in using a traffic exchange. By using traffic exchanges for this purpose you are wasting your time and efforts. All you are doing is building the list of the program owner with them relieving the most benefit. They are using your labors to build their list.

I have heard and preached the argument for downline integrity. I know one person who preaches this endlessly and is even vocal about it in various forums and takes a soap box mentality about it. To me when I hear this diatribe I chuckle because I have personal first hand knowledge of him violating this trust he holds so dear. I now personally don’t care about downlines in any program nor will join any program where that is the key component.

Does this mean I don’t use traffic exchange? I currently don’t have any active campaigns on traffic exchanges at this time, but I am working on a traffic exchange marketing blitz in the near future. Will I click to advertise this blitz? Absolutely not. I will either buy traffic or offer a co-op to traffic exchange owners, but clicking traffic exchanges is a poor use use of ones time if you want to be a successful online marketer.

You need to look at it like this. If you spend 2 hours a day 5 days a week clicking traffic exchange you have used 10 hours of your time that can be better used to make money. Multiply that time by 52 weeks a year and you have used 520 hours of your time clicking looking at advertising. If you put a value on your time and using minimum wage in the USA your weekly traffic exchange task at two hours a day is costing you 10 x $5.85 = $58.50 a week multiply that times 52 weeks for $3042 a year!

I can buy a lot of advertising using these rates for $250 a month you can get the word out a lot faster about your product or service than by clicking for credits. Plus you should value your time at more than minimum wage I rate my time at $40 an hour and at this rate I look at ROI on my activities. If I spend $40 I need to make a return of $160 for my efforts for it to be justified.

So using the example above of $58.50 as a weekly value of your time at two hours a day clicking traffic exchanges if you are not making at least $117 dollars a week for your efforts you are wasting your time! See you have already spent $58.50 in your lost time that is gone. Even if you make $58.50 for your efforts all you have done is broke even you really have not made any money. You can get a job at McDonald’s that will pay you better than that. If you are not doubling your investment for your time or are valuing your time at $5.85 an hour you probably are not serious about making money online.

Part Two  Subscribe to My RSS Feed to Monitor this Series.