Tony's Thing on the Web

Unless you were on another planet you should have witnessed the slick marketing launch of Jason Potash and Marc Quarles latest product Portal Feeder.

But whilst it may have been slick marketing, perhaps it was too clever. Reading between the lines of Jason’s own words, I suspect it backfired.

Portal Feeder has been promoted as the Google Untouchable next generation of automated website creators. It is claimed to leave no footprint for Google to detect.

Therefore unlike other automated website creators, like Traffic Equalizer, Traffic Hurricane, Smart Pages and Directory Generator, it is said that Portal Feeder websites are immune from being banned by Google.

It should be noted that Google is on the warpath to eliminate websites created by such automated programs that can spew out 1000’s of web pages at the push of a button. The value of such sites to the owners is largely from Adsense Revenue and other Advertisements.

Only 375 Portal Feeder copies to be sold
During the pre-launch advertising it was being made clear that only 375 copies of Portal Feeder would ever be sold. In addition the asking price for the Portal Feeder package was $397.

At this price it would still be affordable for serious buyers. But then came the rub, the $397 was just the first payment, there was $197 per month, every month to continue using the product…….Ouch!

According to postings on the Portal Feeder blog, existing customers of Jason’s other products and his affiliates were not happy at only 375 copies being available.

With such limited numbers available affiliates did not want to promote it because they felt few of their customers and subscribers would have a chance to buy it. I suspect that they were afraid of the backlash from their own lists.

The solution arrived at by Jason and Marc was to allow anyone to purchase provided they did so within 24 hours of Portal Feeder going on sale.

2 Hours before the Sale of Portal Feeder Closed
On the day Portal Feeder went on sale Jason wrote an email to all those on his announcement list, 2 hours before the sale was to close, which said :

"Before the launch, some people were speculating (complaining) that we'd pack this thing with 2000-3000 members. This is clearly NOT the case. We are still way under 1000 members (as I suspected)."

So if you take Jason’s statement of "way under 1000 members" to be true, many people must have stayed away, because this email was only 2 hours before they were due to stop the sale.

The initial sales limit was 375 and they had lifted that to be as many as wanted to buy it within the 24 hours it was going to be on sale, so there was no limit to the number they would sell.

So where did the figure of 1000 come from ?

After the 24 hour for which Portal Feeder was on sale Jason sent out another email to those on his announcement list which read :

"In case you were not aware, the doors on Portal Feeder are now closed. As promised, there was a small 24 hour window of opportunity that has now passed.

However, many of you have been asking when/if there will be another chance to get onboard.

We haven't made any concrete decisions here about if or when this will happen, but in the meantime you can put yourself on our Priority Waiting List when you click the link below:"

So what happened to the statement Jason Potash had in the sales copy which said :

"I know that some marketers play clever "tricks", place limits on things, create scarcity, and then use some ridiculous "excuse" to re-open the program in 30 or 60 days to 500-1000 more people. It’s not going to happen here."

Now Jason is saying they have made no concrete decision as to whether Portal Feeder will be offered for sale again.

3 days after the sale finished the sales page for portal feeder has a sign-up form on it to join a waiting list. On the form an interesting line reads:

"Once the Priority Waiting List has been notified, if there are still available seats, the general public will be notified as well."

So what can we read into this, either Jason speaks with forked tongue and does not mean what he says or fewer sales were made than they expected.

Jason also said in the same after sale email :

"Since Wednesday afternoon, we already have 832 people on the waiting list and that's without me really mentioning it to anyone at all."

So why mention it, Jason.

My thoughts on this being a clever Marketing Plan that Backfired are:

1. If people rushed to buy Portal Feeder during the 24 hours they made it available, why do they feel the need to offer another chance for people to buy. Before the sale they were adamant they would not do this.

2. If they sold lots of copies of Portal Feeder, bearing in mind they originally said they only wanted to sell 375 copies why do they have 832 people on a waiting list.

3. If they already have 832 people on a waiting list why tell other people in an email that you can still sign up to join the waiting list.




4. If they have 832 people on a list still waiting to buy Portal Feeder, do they really expect this many people to ask for a refund, before any of the 832 can buy it.




5. If they have 832 people waiting to buy why would they expect to notify the general public as it says on the waiting list form on the sales page. And why do this, when they were adamant Portal Feeder would not be offered for sale again after the 24 hours was up.

One of two things has to be true

a) Jason Potash is not the squeaky clean guy he makes himself out to be on his sales page and is just another marketer like so many others who tries to play clever "tricks."

OR

b) The marketing plan backfired, the scarcity angle was overdone and people stayed away from Portal Feeder.

Tony Simpson
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