Don't Buy Holly Mann's Honest Riches Until You Know The Facts!!!


by Jackson Call - Date: 2007-02-15 - Word Count: 1340 Share This!

Nowadays it seems there's a new self proclaimed internet marketing "guru" popping up online every minute. If they're not teaching you how to finance the down payment on your first yacht through some obscure loophole in Google's Ad Sense program, then they're instructing you on the best ways to retire off of some crazy niche website like selling socks to three legged dogs. So it was with some - nay, strike that, much - incredulity with which I approached Holly Mann's Honest Riches program. After reading her original Honest Riches volume published back in the fall of 2005, as well as the most recently released (and unimaginatively titled) Honest Riches, Volume 2 I've found myself pleasantly surprised both by the depth of her research and the scope of her ingenuity. Before I go too far, however, let's start with a little background on the author.

According to her bio, Holly Mann is a retired Army officer and veteran of the Iraq War. Her background reads like that of most other internet marketing svenghali's - she went from dirt poor to considerably well off in a relatively short period of time and all by her 24th birthday. Her heart wrenching story includes - but is not limited to - selling all her belongings and moving to inexpensive Thailand to start her life over. She claims her first major earnings came four months after getting interested in internet marketing. Whether you believe her claim of pulling in between $12,000-$20,000 a month it's at least clear to me she's making some good money off her e-books, as nearly every thing she links to in it gets her some referral commission (and a quick count finds approximately five links per page of the most recent 95 page volume). Some may be skeptical of this claim but after reading and analyzing her many theories, concepts and stratagem I find myself forced to believe she's "low-balling" that number so as to perhaps seem more convincing when marketing her book. Whatever the case, one thing is clear: Holly Mann knows what she's talking about.

First off, Honest Riches is incredibly well researched. Miss Mann claims that the four months it took her to turn her first profit was a time of little money, obsessive research and great hope and when you read her book you come to believe that all three of these claims are true as it seems she knows every possible tactic and trick that the internet will allow. What's even more impressive about Holly Mann's writing is that she's able to deconstruct some very esoteric concepts and techniques and make them accessible to the 'newbies' who are just getting started. Take for instance her chapters on creating a website. In the hands of less sympathetic authors this would be over the heads of 90% of the people who buy Honest Riches. But with Holly Mann, not only does she take time to address to pros and cons of Blogger, WordPress, Dreamweaver and Joomla (amongst others) but she does side by side comparisons of each. Then, she does a corresponding explanation of how to best optimize your experiences with all of them, going into some fairly impressive step-by-step instructions. This is a dense, rich chapter of details which will both overwhelm and excite the reader but it's not the most impressive. That title goes to her chapter on Search Engine Optimization which provides a similarly well researched and detailed "how to" guide instructing the reader on the best ways to get their web site to the first page of Google Search and in turn make said webmaster some handsome profits.

Another thing that impresses me about Holly Mann's Honest Riches is the way in which she's able to relate to a first time reader and internet marketer. She knows that those who've purchased her book have done so only partially convinced that any of it will actually work. She knows they just spent money to buy something the little voice inside their heads told them not to, and she understands that not everyone has a couple hundred dollars to invest in something which (in the skeptical first time reader's mind) may or may not work (ahem, Rich Jerk!). This is why, in the first few chapters, she teaches the reader how to make money without spending any more money. While these are not the most profitable techniques in her book they're excellent "baby steps" for beginners which can help establish a financial base from which to operate and make future profits. Furthermore, Holly Mann also seems to have spent a great deal of time researching how to best accomplish for free what other programs charge you over a hundred dollars to do. As a person who's read a number of these internet marketing books I was surprised to learn how many things I'd spent money on that Holly Mann found for free. Similarly, she also makes it easy for first timers by laying out very detailed instructions on things like web site design. That's an intimidating concept to many affiliates just starting out, but she manages to make the material very reader friendly.

Finally, the most impressive aspect of Holly Mann's Honest Riches program is that she provides a forum for readers to go and discuss their experiences and ask questions and delve further. In other words, those just starting out are not forced to make it on their own, there's an entire support system of other "Mann-iacs" (I'm coining that term) who are also struggling and succeeding with the same issues. This provides the type of tangible proof that those who are willing to start from scratch but who don't want to waste their time require when venturing into the world of affiliate sales and internet marketing. Essentially it's proof that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Holly Mann claims to make herself available through these message boards. I figured there was no way this could possibly be true as there seemed to be so many members on the forum and so little time in a day. I decided to test it by writing her an e-mail asking a question about one of the concepts she discuses in her book. Not only did I receive a response within a day, but I received a DETAILED response. That's some customer service for you!

In closing, if there's one complaint I have about the book it comes in a chapter that deals with the benefits of Joomla. Miss Mann speaks very highly of the program and you can tell that she's in fact quite genuine in her endorsement. But when she goes on to show examples of websites created with the program she characterizes as "the most user friendly" you find yourself more than a little underwhelmed. Perhaps I'm a graphic design snob, but are these really the best looking websites this software can create? Ehh, I'm not feeling inspired. Also, the book is in need of a stronger editor. At ninety five pages it proves to be a quick read and a constant page turner, but there are some very obvious parts where it's clear Miss Mann simply copied and pasted things she'd written somewhere else (perhaps in her online forum) into the book with little thought to redundancy or doubling back on things already reviewed. In short, she could have finessed it a little better.

With all that said, Holly Mann's Honest Riches is certainly one of best internet marketing programs I've come across in my years of reading and researching. It may not net you between $12,000 and $20,000 a month (as even the author admits that's a level of entrepreneurial gusto that only a select few have) but I do believe it's possible to find very real success with it if not a whole new source of income. If you don't believe me, check back in a few months when I have my socks-for-three-legged-dogs web site up and running.

To learn more about Holly Mann's Honest Riches program, visit her website Here.

Related Tags: affiliate program, marketing, internet marketing, holly mann, honest riches, holly manns honest riches

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