Plenty. But do not take my word for it. Mashable, a popular social networking news blog, reveals following information:

ePerks is a site that offers consumers cash-back incentives, and businesses with a way to get their products in front of potential customers.

Launched by Ben Behrouzi, who also founded Reply.com, ePerks was funded with his own venture fund.

I have to admit. Every time I read the above two sentences I can’t help but wonder if the coward who posted on Yahoo! Answers was paid and who paid him? I may never find answer… But then again, I may just get lucky. There are a lot of good people out there.

But the venture capital and the founder are not only things these to company have in common. They both shared good amount of criticism. One round of criticism took place on my blog. Which, as many of you know, lead to cease and desist notice which eventually misfired- my blog ranks #2 on Google for the term “eperks”.

Reply.com received a share of negative reviews as well. But it was almost two years ago. Reply.com just underwent a major “face lift”, and even embraced the new social media element into their new website- a blog, even though my comments did not stand a chance to survive there. But I don’t blame them. I might have deleted many comments by the “fans” leaving suspiciously positive comments on one of my posts. It this respect I can call it “fair enough”.

I have spoken, if you have anything “juicy” on either company- be my guest help yourself to the comment form below. Positive (if there is any) feedback is also welcomed.

UPDATE: I have had a pleasure of speaking with Mr. Payam Zamani, the Chairman and CEO of Relpy.com. Mr. Zamani had clarified to me that Reply.com has nothing to do with ePerks and that Benham Behrouzi had left the Reply.com back in 2006. I appreciate Mr. Zamani’s transparency, and felt it was my duty to update this post for my readers.

Disclosure: I do not pretend to be fair nor objective when I write about either company- they don’t deserve it as far as I am concerned. Everything written above is my sole opinion. Everything written above is for my own amusement and your entertainment- please don’t take me too seriously. Neither of the company had paid me to write this post- I made that mistake once. I fully reserve the right to pursue legal actions against either of the companies….. blah blah blah blah. You get the picture.

Posted in Lead Generating

BidEup, a newly launched website, claims to bring innovation to real estate industry, through “patent-pending methodology” (or did they mean technology?). Only real estate agents are welcomed to list properties on the website- at a minimum rate of $120 per 30 day listing. If you would like to list your property with all possible bells and whistles, it will set you back by about $300.

The innovation apparently lies in, as claimed by the website, being “first legally binding virtual market place”. However it is not clear what exactly this “legally binding virtual marketplace” is.

It may very well be that bidEup.com has some outstanding marketing plan in place. However, from a quick glimpse it looks like another “lead generating” website.

Posted in Lead Generating, Real Estate

One thing is clear, a crappy lead generating company will not be able to survive in the face of new social media. One day one blogger will write about your services and his blog will open a can of warms.

I can’t help myself but wonder if there is any good lead generating company out there. Or all they all full of it? Again, I am not talking about the crappy companies that promise to give you hundreds of leads each month, just to scam you out of your money without delivering on their promise.

What I have in mind are the companies that would not charge you a penny unless they provide you with a lead that eventually converts into sale. No sale would mean a not qualified lead and therefore you don’t have to pay a penny for it.

Many of my readers here are familiar that I am an affiliate marketer. While there are different business models within affiliate marketing, at the end of the day my pay is based on my performance. If I send a visitor to Amazon.com and he or she does not by anything, I do not get paid. If I send a visitor to Lending Tree and he or she does not fill out a certain form, I do not get pain. In other words in order for me to get paid, I need to perform- not just promise. What do you think would happen if I asked Amazon: “I promise to send 100 byers each month to your website. Would you pay me $10 per each buyer?” Well Amzon may agree to pay me $1000 the first month around, but I doubt they would go along with my crap month after month, unless I have sent them 100 buyers each month. Well, people at Amazon and other companies were smarter. You can make money with Amazon, but only if you deliver the goods.

I have heard plenty about one crappy lead generating company. But I also believe that not every lead generating company is worthless. If you have come across a good lead generating company, please share it in the comments. I would be more than happy to write about such companies.

Posted in Articles, Lead Generating