Amazonian Gold Rush by Frank Dang & Venkata Ramana was created to allow Internet marketers to: ‘Discover how you can easily become an Amazon super affiliate’. They stress that the quickest way to achieve this is through the power and massive reach of video sharing sites.
For a very reasonable $24.30 (current price at time of writing), you get 100 videos with the course, all promoting well-known brands on Amazon that people trust. Their sales-pitch states: ‘We’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and creating 100 HIGH quality review videos of Amazon products, with background music, designed to make you thousands of dollars in Amazon commissions’. On top of this you’ll get: all your niche research done for you; the reassurance that all products have at least 4 stars (so you know you’re onto a winner); and the fact that each product has been handpicked with 10 or more real reviews (consumers like to see real reviews for a product). All you have to do is add your affiliate link and start promoting.
Their sales-page is well written and shows screen-shots of their video promotions being very highly-ranked on Google. However, there is one piece of text that is as great a warning as an air-raid siren… Their disclaimer: ‘We at Amazonian Gold Rush strive to make the best possible videos. We however, do not recommend or endorse uploading the videos onto YouTube or any video sharing sites. Being approved or getting rejected has nothing to do with our videos. The videos are meant for your personal use and you can use them any way you want.’ Let me just state that again for you, in bold this time: ‘We do not recommend or endorse uploading the videos onto YouTube or any video sharing sites’. This is despite their entire sales-pitch being based on the nugget of truth that the most powerful way to make money being an affiliate for Amazon is by tapping into the traffic and incredible reach of video-sharing sites.
Now, if Amazonian Gold Rush was a course that taught you how to create your own original and well-crafted promotional videos, I’d have no problem whatsoever with this disclaimer. But they do not do this in their course. The unique selling point for them is the inclusion of the 100 videos – which they later disclaim advocating the use of! Also, as an aside, my other concern at this point is that with such a low price, even if the limited numbers of sales available is true, surely a good few hundred people at least (maybe even 1000s) will be using the same 100 videos to promote the same 100 products on Amazon.
The authors of Amazonian Gold Rush make a very valid point in saying: ‘By creating high quality videos you are literally immune to the latest Google updates’. But they failed to acknowledge the latest YouTube updates (perhaps as a result of Google’s acquisition of YouTube). You don’t have to look far on the Internet to find the problems users of Amazonian Gold Rush have encountered. One user began with gusto: ‘I downloaded 100 Amazon product review videos (10 zipped files) and then downloaded a viewer. These product reviews are absolutely outstanding. These reviews are ready to be uploaded to YouTube and all you need to do is add your Amazon affiliate product link. So, I spent a day or two loading the videos to my YouTube account and tested my affiliate links, all went well. On day three I checked YouTube video stats and I was getting a steady flow of views.’ So far, so good – but this wasn’t to last. Within a few days the user found his YouTube account suspended. He received this email: ‘The YouTube Community has flagged one or more of your videos as inappropriate. Once a video is flagged, it is reviewed by the YouTube Team against our Community Guidelines. Upon review, we have determined that the following video(s) contain content in violation of these guidelines, and have been disabled: Hoover Platinum Lightweight Upright Vacuum with Canister, Bagged. Your account has received one Community Guidelines warning strike, which will expire in six months. Additional violations may result in the temporary disabling of your ability to post content to YouTube and/or the permanent termination of your account.’ Further ‘strikes’ followed and his account was terminated. This is a massive deal if you have other videos on YouTube and your account is linked to your business. Other users have reported similar problems (see http://www.warriorforum.com/internet-marketing-product-reviews-ratings/584305-amazonian-gold-rush-product-videos.html).
Promotion and affiliate-marketing through video is a very valid way of making money, but it seems that unless you make your own videos for YouTube (which this course does little to instruct you in), you can only use the 100 videos they supply you with on alternative video-hosting sites and blogs. The videos you get are professional and consumer-friendly. Just do not expect to be able to use them on YouTube.