Buzzirk Mobile

All of those sites run by E-Associates in Google will probably soon be going away. That would be great for this website, as I’m an independent resource and don’t have to abide by their rules for E-Associates.

Here’s what I’ve heard through the grapevine:

Mark- at this time we have a company generated website and all “rouge” websites are being asked to be taken down due to overzealous and unscupulous marketers who have been putting up some in accurate information.

This is a common practice for MLM companies. It makes it easier for them to represent themselves in the SERPs without a lot of affiliates fighting with the corporate site for high rankings. Other companies (especially ones around before the birth of the Internet) just define what their associates can and can’t do online.

A read of their rules for E-Associates does indicate the following when it comes to third-party websites:

A GLOBALVERGE e-associate may use Web banner ads created by GLOBALVERGE, that link a third party Web site to an e-associate’s Web site.

I would be willing to sell some advertising space on this site to Global Verge e-associates to help finance the operation of this site. People can decide for themselves if they want to sign up, and then enroll under someone other than me.

References:

GlobalVerge_Policies_and_Procedures

I saw another mention of Exel Communications on a website promoting Buzirk Wireless.  The quote went something like this:

projected to be larger than the Excel Communications boom of the late 90’s…

It’s actually a great comparison, and hopefully Gobal Verge will learn a lesson or two from the final phase of Excel Communications. (And avoid it’s untimely demise).

I was a college student in the early 90’s, and one of my former roommates was signed up for Excel Communications by his girlfriend’s father. Our of respect for my friend, we went to a meeting room at the local Holiday Inn (this was pre-Internet, you see) and sat through the discussion of how Excel Communications would revolutionize the long-distance telephone industry. I suggest you take some time and read through the Wikipedia article on Excel Communications, as it’s a good read, and to be honest, I didn’t know what happened with Excel.  The part that is worth noting is this:

Excel Communications was founded in 1988 by Dallas entrepreneur Kenny Troutt as a long distance reseller in the US telecom sector at the birth of telecom deregulation.

In the beginning, as the 432nd-largest long distance company in the United States, it began selling franchises through the business model of network marketing or multi-level marketing (MLM). In seven years, it became the fourth-largest long distance carrier in America and the youngest billion-dollar-annual company in history (8 years as compared to the second fastest growing, Microsoft, which took 15 years).

On May 10, 1996, Excel became the youngest company ever to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading under the symbol (ECI).

You see, Excel went from #432 to #4 in just a few years. That was astounding, and a great example of now Network Marketing is the original “viral marketing” method. Internet marketers talk a lot about how you need to make your marketing viral and use “social networking”. Excel did this largely without the benefit of the Internet. Truly amazing.

Back to my story – I didn’t enroll in Excel. I realized then (as I do now), that I’m not a natural salesman. The Internet changed that for me, because it allows me to market a product from behind a keyboard, rather than in front of my friends and neighbors

The lesson that Buzkirk needs to learn is to make sure that the growth is followed by years of nice, stable returns (Herbalife and Amway are both decades old). This will mean reaching out, pushing the envelope and staying ahead of the telecommunications curve.

I’ve been doing search engine marketing for about 10 years now, and absolutely LOVE to see a “new term” pop-up and become popular. These opportunities come along and are generally missed until it’s too late. For example, if you search Google Trends for the following keywords, drill down to the last 30 days, you’ll see an IDEAL emergence pattern:

Terms: buzzirk,  buzzirk mobile, buzzirk wireless, ZER01

Google Search Volume

The various colored lines indicate the different search terms that people are using when searching for Buzirk Mobile related terms. What I find fascinating is that in early June, there were essentially ZERO searches for these terms, but they’re now becoming increasingly popular. This tell you that there is definitely a “buzz” being generated about the new Buzz Phone.

This graph begins to dip shortly before the July 4th Holiday, which corresponds with a lower amount of traffic on the Internet during a Holiday weekend. I would imagine that the trend will begin to accelerate upwards rapidly over the next few weeks going in to the official public launch of Global Verge’s Buzzirk Wireless product on August 1. More to come…

As I write this, Buzzirk Mobile is in “pre-launch” – recruiting distributors (which they call E-Associates) but not yet allowing them to sell phones to the general market. This is a common practice for new network marketing companies. However, it can cause some people to be skeptical.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s a very good thing, and there’s nothing wrong with “counting the cost” before you jump into a new business venture. Network Marketing can be a great way to make a lot of money – if you’re good at sales and marketing. If you’re not, you may just get a nice discount on a product you were going to use anyway, or you might catch “get rich quick” fever and think you’re going to get stinking rich without lifting a finger. That won’t happen.

If you’re willing to bust your tail for 40 hours per week (minimum) you can invest a little bit of money and hope that Buzzirk Mobile goes as viral as it appears it is going to. (More on that later).

However, none of us will know for sure until people start using the phones. There are some promising signs that Buzzirk is the “real deal”. Namely, it’s won some awards at some trade shows. Clark Howard has mentioned Buzzirk/ZER01…. and Global Verge has been around for a while. I suggest you do your research, count the cost, and decide if you’re willing to lose a couple of hundred dollars. Because anytime you launch a new business, you always run the risk of losing your money. To ignore that risk is to proceed at your own peril.

As for me, I’m wading in slowly… watching the news feeds, reading the blogs, and hoping the traffic on my site begins to spike. Once I see people signing up and happily using their Buzzirk Cell Phone Of The Future, I’ll consider signing up. But not before. I will always make sure this blog remains honest and transparent.