So, am I a sucker or do you think I will see real results???
I received a call this morning from one of the sales people at www.Leapfish.com. I think she called an agent at my company and that agent suggested she call me instead.
They sell rights to search terms for 1-2-3 placement. You then own the search term, so anytime someone types in the term on the LeapFish search, you have placement.
The lady on the phone was quite nice, knowledgeable and patient. There was no push, just some good information and examples.
Arizona Real Estate was available. I purchased it.
Just looking for thoughts and feedback...
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For these kind of services, see what their traffic is in general and for your keyword. Sometimes thought the service may be well it just does not pay to be on that site.
I think that, if you can purchase position in the organic results, then it is a service that is not going to make it. On the other hand, if you bought ads, then maybe it is okay. I checked it out and thought it okay but it has a long way to go to reach google.
Leapfish contacted me as well. I wanted to sign, but really didn't have excess budget to test the waters with a new product. Had they had a proven track record I'm quite certain I would have signed.
I once bought leads that came through a website based off of zip codes. They were total garbage. I lean towards working on free SEO, but would surely consider paying for things if the internet was a main form of your lead generation.
All I would have to say is "who the heck uses leapfish to do their internet searches?"
Second question would have been, "when the consumer understands that they are being directed in a paid fashion, how long will anyone actually use LeapFish?".
I had a similar thing come up with a guy from "up and coming" search engine REDZEE.com and he couldn't really answer two important questions:
1. How much traffic does his search engine get
2. How many of those people actually searched for "XXXXXXX" search term?
You can get some general idea of the historic trens as far as their traffic goes at Compete.com.
Here is how LeapFish squares in terms of their traffic:
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/leapfish.com/
However if you compare them to Yahoo! and Google on the same chart LeapFish is barely noticeable:
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/leapfish.com+yahoo.com+google.com/
In my opinion Ron Travin nailed it on the head when he wrote: "who the heck uses leapfish to do their internet searches?"
I am sitting on the phone with the sales rep right now listening to her babble about this this woman isnt even taking breath long enough for me to stop her :)
"who the heck uses leapfish to do their internet searches?" That's funny. I said the same thing when Google got started and everyone was using Yahoo.
Derek,
Google did not start with "cold calling" to get advertisers into their system. They have decided to "index" the web, the advertising model (aka AdWords) came in later.
Google did not base their model on anyone, including Yahoo! nor were they aggregating data from other sources.
The fact that LeapFish is trying to get in advertisers before their get any traction among avarage internet user is a bad indicator, in my opinion.
Whether you hate Google or love it- we all can agree that their success lies in innovation.
But as you said, history can prove us wrong. We just have to wait and see.
Hello Everyone,
Great to see the LeapFish discussions! We have submitted some of the questions posed on this post to management with their responses provided below. Thank you for the discussions and feedback. If you have more questions, always feel free to contact us at Media {@} LeapFish.com or visit http://blog.leapfish.com
- How much traffic does his search engine get?
"Since the LeapFish search engine has not yet officially launched and only just released its soft beta on November 3rd of 2008, the traffic numbers will not be much. LeapFish has a time horizon of several months and even years for its full development and maturation. Additionally, comparing LeapFish traffic from over the least year versus Yahoo or Google will create an unfair comparison since LeapFish did not exist as a search engine prior to November 3rd 2008. A more realistic comparison can be made in the coming months and quarters, but if one looks at Alexa's current statistics one will find that the engine's recent traffic has begun edging in the desirable direction while the company's marketing initiatives have not yet begun."
See http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/leapfish.com
- How many of those people actually searched for "XXXXXXX" search term?
"All LeapFish Advertisers receive a LeapFish Adcenter account that will communicate the number of impressions and clicks a particular ad and/or campaign receives. Given the fact that the engine only released its soft beta a few weeks ago, the expectations around traffic at a keyword level must be more appropriate. As LeapFish progresses and matures over the coming months and years, advertisers will find a proportional increase in traffic."
- Why is LeapFish signing up advertisers so soon?
"The LeapFish advertising model is very different than what is currently available online. We understand some advertisers rather wait for the engine to progress before looking to purchase what may be left, but most would agree that LeapFish prices will be very different months and years from now versus what they are today. LeapFish is currently catering to those advertisers that desire to get in early on such a model and pick up the limited number of positions that LeapFish offers prior to its growth and maturation."
Thanks again for the feedback. Feel free to contact us at Media {@} LeapFish.com
LeapFish Media
I actually like the leapfish platform, my blogs are showing up at #1 in blog section when typing in my area keywords. (thanks to ActiveRain). It is neat to search all the major search engines in one place.
The sales rep also called me, the #1 spot is $4000.00. My thoughts are what about new start-ups that will offer the same thing as Leapfish for a lower price. Leapfish certainly does not have a monopoly on what they are doing. This is a gamble that may or may not pay off. Where is their marketing that will entice internet users to try them instead of Google? If no marketing now, then when, where, budget, etc ?
TechCrunch just wrote about the LeapFish:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/20/leapfish-launches-another-meta-search-engine-no-one-will-ever-use/
I am sure lively discussion is going to take place there.
Update after about 1 week....
Actually the results are a bit better than I would have expected. To keep the results correct, I will not disclose the keyword I entered, but will report the following.
I have had 50 Impressions with 2 Clicks. A few impressions and one click was me, but regardless there are people searching on Leapfish!!!
Being the skeptic I am, there is a chance the sales people are using my keyword as an example for others they are trying to sell terms to, but that is OK.... Meaning I want to be clear that Solutions Real Estate plans on always utilizing technology to the fullest and maybe they will help us attract a few agents that understand and appreciate what we are trying to do at Solutions Real Estate.
Hey David, do keep us updated on the results, impressions and clicks.
interesting they also do domain appraisals again. if you type in a domain name in the search box they give you a value at the top like they use to. back from the dead ey.
also saw this article out there : http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/LeapFishcom-Unveils-Most-Convenient-Search/story.aspx?guid=%7BE080A00E-A9EB-4BD5-9FF6-73349E886FE3%7D
this is what leapfish used to be :
http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2006/05/leapfish-free-domain-name-appraisal-find-domain-worth/
http://artfulwriter.com/archives/2007/07/leapfish-okaaaa.html
http://www.namepros.com/industry-news/396810-the-death-of-leapfish-com.html
http://digg.com/tech_news/LeapFish.com_-_How_valuable_is_your_domain_name_
Reading in other places I see extensive reference to Leapfish not being rindexed by Google. I search Google myself last week and found it to be true. Leapfish was nowhere to be found.
Today I searched Google again and there it was!!! Obviously it has not been blacklisted by Google and many other people had claimed.
Regardless, the proof will be in the clicks...
David Dion,
You look like a smart guy. Heck, you look a lot smarter than me. So I'm sure that before you committed to purchase the _exact_ key phrase "Arizona Real Estate" from leapfish, you opened up leapfish.com and clicked on "About Leapfish" (http://leapfish.com/AboutUs.aspx) and clicked on "Management" and found that Leapfish is one of three companies owned by DotNext. Clicking on "Management" again, I'm sure you saw that DotNext's CEO Behnam Behrouzi was formerly CTO and "mastermind" of technology at Reply.com, which (as you found out through various leapfish searches) he co-founded with his uncle. (And you wondered... who gave him the CTO title?) You then noticed that DotNext's "Director of Product" Behzad Behrouzi, bearing a resemblance to Behnam, is in fact Behnam's brother. Okay, you thought, well... that's good, family-owned business. Work ethic. All that. Besides, Behzad has "deep product development and management experience" so, well, you're in good hands. This is the guy who is "responsible for the strategic planning and development of all software, applications, and websites" for Leapfish and the other DotNext companies, so that's good. He has "deep" experience. Searching on leapfish, you found Behzad was a student at SDSU in October 2005: http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/mcnair/pdf_docs/Issues/issue85.pdf, and you noticed "Hey, there he is, tallest guy in the picture. In October 2005." But wait, you thought, Behzad has "been with DotNext since the inception of the company" which, as you read in Behnam's bio, was "founded in 2006". But wait, you thought, when did Behzad get his "deep" experience? Not to be undone, you searched some more, and found
Behzad's website, including his bio
http://www.geocities.com/behzadbehrouzi/
his cv
http://www.geocities.com/behzadbehrouzi/cv.html
his research interests
http://www.geocities.com/behzadbehrouzi/researchi
his research abstracts
http://www.geocities.com/behzadbehrouzi/researcha
his research abstracts contd
http://www.geocities.com/behzadbehrouzi/researcha2
and his contact info
http://www.geocities.com/behzadbehrouzi/contact.html
and you observed "Oh! He did a school project!"
And then you went back to Behzad's bio on DotNext and saw "most recently developing innovative products and applications in the technology space of neurosurgery. As head of product development and research for the thermodynamics arm of the department of neurosurgery at San Diego Children's Hospital, Behrouzi lead the development of ground-breaking applications in safety, data analysis and efficacy of various new procedures" ... and now, you were really impressed. Because between being at SDSU in October 2005 and the inception of DotNext in 2006, Behzad amassed so much experience that... well, heck, he never clearly named or identified any of the _actual_ products he developed, but heck, this isn't neurosurgery, you thought, as you recited your Visa number on the phone...
Because, regardless, the proof will be in the clicks...
Another thing not mentioned on their http://www.dotnextinc.com/Management.aspx bio page is the fact that Ben was the man person behind eperks, you know the lead generation company that has ripped off so unethically treated many real estate agents.
Try this BEFORE spending money with Leapfish; Google Ben Behrouzi or eperks and then decide if you want to invest in anything they have a hand in, and if you still decide to waste your hard earned money on them, all I have for you is an old quote.
A fool and his money are soon parted!
PS: Oh and don't be surprised to see a lot of anonymous praises for them (like Derek above), that is how Ben Behrouzi manufactures PR for his businesses (self praise is not only worthless, it is despicable when meant to deceive others). Read ALL the comments at the TechCrunch article Vlad posted above. They are caught red handed shilling comments. Another great place to read up on this scam artist business owner is at BloodHoundBlog.
I purchased also in Charlotte............just took a big risk. I actually think the site is great! Noticed some of your feeback comments stated "Who the heck uses leapfish for their search?" Well, that's almost like saying...Who the heck uses Google, Yahoo, & MSN? because that's what you're getting if you use leapfish. Because it's in the start up stage of course there is risk, but it's the only search I use now, because you get all three majors search engines on one nicely laid out user friendly page with lots of extra content as well.
I just hope the word gets out and it takes off, or we both are suckers. Guess it's best that we tell others to start using it......what's great is that you can add the search box to your browser like the other main ones so you don't have to go find the website to utilize it.
Guess I'll keep crossing my fingers............
I just got a call from the LeapFish sales staff and found this blog very helpful in understanding the risks involved in buying a term (they want to charge me $4,400 for 1st position!). There is one aspect of the business model that is especially suspicious to me: The renewal fee is only 5% of the original fee. Given that they plan on selling most of the spots within a year, this means that their revenues will plummet about 95% in their second year. Where will the money come from for maintenance and marketing in the out years? And for those who are thinking that there are countless search terms to be sold, I would say: not really, not at these prices.
Apparently in response to my comment above or to my Nov 26 comment here(http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=2798), DotNext/Leapfish (a.k.a. Eperks, Brabus Ventures) "Director of Product" Behzad Behrouzi's geocities website http://www.geocities.com/behzadbehrouzi/ has been disabled/removed. Looks like post-October 2005 San Diego State University graduate Behzad didn't really want us checking up on his "deep" experience. So far, Behzad's Dotnext bio here http://www.dotnextinc.com/Management.aspx hasn't changed, so let's dig a little deeper:
As of today, it reads "As head of product development and research for the thermodynamics arm of the department of neurosurgery at San Diego Children's Hospital, Behrouzi lead the development of ground-breaking applications in safety, data analysis and efficacy of various new procedures." Breaking that down into its hierarchical components...
Level 1: San Diego Children's Hospital: http://www.chsd.org/ EXISTENCE VERIFIED
Level 2: Dept. of Neurosurgery: http://www.chsd.org/body.cfm?id=2015 EXISTENCE VERIFIED
Now, the uncertainties start...
Level 3: Thermodynamics arm: ??? Does such an arm exist ??? Does a dept. of neurosurgery containing _two_ doctors really have a thermodynamics arm?
Level 4: "Head of Product Development and Research": ??? Does such a position exist ???
What we are able to confirm here (http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/mcnair/pdf_docs/Issues/issue84.pdf) is that Behzad did a school project in which he was mentored by Dr. Michael Levy, as part of SDSU's McNair Scholars program. The program as described here (http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/mcnair/requirements.html) has a low income (http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/incomelevels.html) requirement, as well as requiring that participants be "in pursuit of a Ph.D.". Looks like Behzad abandoned his pursuit and joined Dotnext instead, as he is not listed among the McNair program's successes here: http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/mcnair/successtories_july.html.
Though you can't see Behzad's geocities curriculum vita (http://www.geocities.com/behzadbehrouzi/cv.html)anymore, it stated experience as "Next Phase Media's Vice President of Sales for all of Southern California, 2000-2003." I guess that job didn't pay very well.
We await further clarification of Behzad's "deep product development and management" experience...
Google did not start with "cold calling" to get advertisers into their system. They have decided to "index" the web, the advertising model (aka AdWords) came in later.
Vlad -
You are probably correct. Google did it differently. So what? Times have changed all over the globe. Read the papers. We need to get people working again with companies that have innovative ideas. We should applaud any entrepreneur who starts something new and we should support them for trying to make it work. You don't seem to think so. I've poked around the web and read many of your comments and opinions on other sites. It seems like you have an axe to grind. I like to think things out for myself. I support anybody who makes an effort to try something new. If they have made mistakes in the past, then I will continue to support them because their failure puts them closer to sucssess.
You and Robert are spending alot of time protecting us from these bad guys. What's in it for you?
Derek,
Google provides an unmatched services.... Does LeapFish plan to offer video chant soon? No? What about e-mail and other services that Google offers??? My point is that LeapFish is a sorry excuse for a search engine with a management that stinks at marketing. Astroturifng on TechCrunch??? Come one, a 6 year old can do better than that.
I have never hidden the fact that dislike everything about Leapfish, DotNext, ePerks or whatever else they will call themselves in the future. Readers of this blog should take my comments with a grain of salt- but at least they know where I stand.
What about you Derek? Are you here to astroturf? Is Derek even your real name? Or shall we call you Mike Morris? :)
What's in there for me? - I take delight in exposing dishonest marketing.
Quote by Derek (another anonymous supporter of Behrouzi) "We should applaud any entrepreneur who starts something new and we should support them for trying to make it work"
LMAO There are so many criminal scam artists out there that call themselves an "entrepreneur" and of course we should support them, right? Before you jump on-board with ANY entrepreneur look at their background for Gods sake. Are you a lemming? You just want to follow to follow? God gave you a brain to use for crying out loud.
God Bless Behrouzi, hopefully he will straighten his life out someday, but only an idiot would follow him.
Vlad's quote "I take delight in exposing dishonest marketing."
Spare me Vlad. Where are your negative blog sites on diet pills, sub-prime loans, and male enhancement? Why do you only trash this ONE company? You have made it clear that you do have another agenda. Do you have any constructive hobbies? Try exposing misguided bloggers instead. My neighbor told me about Leapfish. They like using it and continue to use it. They like Google but also think independently and like trying new things. I like Leapfish because it gives me alternative search results that are relevant. Personally, I don't need video chat or another email service that I won't use. Maybe some people feel that Google is becoming too old and bloated and would like to use a search tool that is fresh? Leapfish will fill the void. Looking at their latest web traffic, they may already be at doing that. Sorry, I know this upsets you. As you said earlier, readers of your blogs should take your comments with a grain of salt. Readers should also be aware that your relationship with this company has pushed your opinion, and the opinions of your supporters, past the point of fairness and credibility.
Quote from Dennis "only an idiot would follow him"
Dennis (another one of Vald's supporters) has desperately resorted to name calling. Wow Dennis. LMAO. Step it up a notch. No response is needed.
Fair enough let's talk about statistics and traffic. But let us compare them to Google, Yahoo if you wish. As you see in the chart below Google and Yahoo are averagin 140 Million unique monthly visitors, compared with LeapFish blue line just aligned with... What is it???? Can it be 0 (zero) millions? There you go the "LeapFish filling the void".
<!-- Alexa Graph Widget from http://www.alexa.com/site/site_stats/signup --> <!-- end Alexa Graph Widget -->
Not sure why I am explaining myself to part of this group, but "desperatly name calling", Not hardly. If you know the history of this situation I was called an idiot (on several occasions) by Presideny-Broker and Compliance Director, of Brabus Ventures/eperks Mr Birla, why? Because I chose not to join eperks! So by calling another (annonymous = to ashamed to come out of hiding) member of this group an idiot is in jest.
I do still have the Active Rain posts showing those emails from Mr Birla (Ben's Boy) calling me an idiot because I didn't fall for the scam. If you would like to start this all up again I wouldn't mind taking that post out of Draft Status and make that post live again, exposing just what a lowlife business operation this is. I did them a favor taking the post down, so BEN BEHROUZI call off your idiots before I bring it all back out of draft.
Speaking of traffic ActiveRain beats Leapfish by some margin. Way to go ActiveRain!!!
Thanks for all of the feedback, both good and bad, critical or not...
So far -
146 Impressions
10 Clicks
since I started. At least 2 of the clicks were mine and probably more than one initiated from the blog. Regardless, my cost per click at this point will only come down!!! My money is spent, the investment is made.
I will continue to post updates. In reality, it will only take one deal to be ahead. If Leapfish has any legs or longevity, I will benefit.
The ratio I work off of is 1000 visitors - 10 leads - 1 deal. These are very conservative, but ac=t as my minimum expectation. 990 more vistors for my:)
Derek,
Just ignore the 2007 and go straight to Nov 2008. The website did exist for your information way before Nov 08- I am working on a post for my blogs in this regard. I will let you know when I am done.
@David Dion
How can you be certain that none of those clicks are by LeapFish employees? I would suspect any click comeing out of San Francisco to be by their employees- just my opinion.
Good Lord!
Try sifting the wheat from the chaff with this saga...took me awhile!
So...
A friend of mine bought into this company ($12k) and told me about it. She was very excited and I was very skeptical. I decided to go on line to do some research on it. I have since gotten very excited about this product as well. I then continue to do more research and find that a bunch of, "wanna be" writers are trashing this company left and right and swaying misguided people like regular con men.
I have decided I am going to call this company, first thing in the morning and invest as much as they will let me. I hope they don't have a maximum amount of words that I can purchase.
Vald;
You and your cronies are really a sad lot. I felt bad for you as I read what you wrote in the beginning of all of this. Then I began to cringe as I saw the alliances you were making and misinterpreting facts, bending them to justify your apparent con. You have become worse than what you set out to attack in the first place. Your allies are revolting and every statement I have read from them has made me want to take the next 3 days and comment on every one of the blogs I have read, but I simply do not have the vested interest.
In case any of you are wondering;
Yes, I have a residence in the SF area.
No, I am not afraid of making money with this company.
Vlad, I do have one question for you;
Are you going to give the hundreds of thousands of dollars back to the people that lost their houses from the loans you led them to believe they could afford?
Okay, make that 2 questions...
Why haven't you written an article like this about Google.com if you, "take delight in exposing dishonest marketing." http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/12/googlewashing_revisited/ ?
This company, looks like it could be leading an innovation that I will be a part of. I will cross my fingers that this is indeed the DOTCOM 2.0.
David, I am sorry if your blog became my soapbox for a moment. This just happened to be the last stop of my reading for the night on this subject and I figured I would just get this off my chest so I could sleep tonight with a clear mind. That, and I am not a blogger and do not know where the best place to put my comments would be.
This seemed like a good place to leave my comment.
Thank you,
Eric
Eric,
You are clearly have some issues. What loans are you talking about???
Do you guys discuss me on your "hump days" or do you have a briefing every day about me.
You know I still have an option to reopen the ePerks post to comments on my blog.
Good luck! And you guys better learn how to astroturf without being so obvious.
Vlad,
You are not going to answer my questions? I see.
I will answer yours.
I had NEVER hear of you or this until yesterday. I am not impressed with your tactics.
Do I have issues?
Yes.
I am a published writer that truly despises the fact that people like you take advantage of the words I use to make a living with.
See that little button at the top of the box? It is there for people like you that clearly do not spell properly. It will not fix your terrible grammar, but at least I would be able to read the words and guess what you are trying to say. For someone who, "writes" so much, I would expect you to have some grasp ofmy language.
Do you mean to tell me that you really did not understand the questions I had asked?
Eric
Eric,
I have nothing to prove to you.
I spell terribly but I never deceive anyone.
Good luck making millions withe the "innovation" that Leapfish is offering.
My last word.
I have noticed an interesting issue happening here.
I do not write in this field, I actually import it from word processing document. Some characters get displaced or deleted altogether.
Is that common for blogs?
Wow, clearly this Vlad Zablotskyy is a loser and half. Go do something useful with youself instead of trying to become popular. Id also recommend getting your head checked bud.
Obviously Derek, Eric & now Ted, probably all one person and also work for Leapfish. If anyone here has followed the story of Ben Behrouzi and his business dealings you will see that his game plan is playing out here, this is how this man runs his businesses. I'm sure all 3 of those IP Addresses are the same.
Beware Agents - there are Scam Artists like Behrouzi (google his name to learn more) ready to swindle you out of your hard earned money. These clowns are here to give the impression that this company is Legit, don't be fooled or you WILL loose.
Followed Story,
I assure you, I am simply following this specific thread for my own personal gain.
You are, "sure all three IP addresses are the same?" I defy you to run my IP address, although, if your idea of investigating someone is google.com, I would say you sound like someone that uses a wiki page as reference material and will get nowhere fast in my book.
My IP address is 76.247.107.99
I do own property in the SF area, as I have already stated.
This, "scam" business started over 2 years ago when they did not even own the name, "Leapfish.com"...
Referenced from; http://digg.com/tech_news/LeapFish.com_-_How_valuable_is_your_domain_name_
An interesting fact for the evening; using your special investigating tool (google.com) I find 8 results for the term, "Leapfish scam" yet, when I search, "google scam" I get 4,480 returned results.
Those results against leapfish are from a very select group of people and only 4 of them are even relevent to the actual search.
Which one of the other four are you, "Followed"?
Eric
What an interesting discussion. Most interesting is that most of the commentors here do not have Active Rain accounts. In general, an AR blog mainly has comments from members.... Got a call yesterday, but clearly there is more research to be done. Sounds much more expensive than Google Adwords, Yahoo paid advertising, etc without factoring in the other considerations.
WOW, I would really like an honest opinion of this product, we are all adults and name calling and accusations are just distractions from the subject. If anyone out there has tried leap fish and can give some fed back that would be great.
I just got the call and actually did a search while this kid was rambling. I too noticed through out this thread that most of the comments were coming from non-members. Thanks but I will trust the truested at AR!
I received a call as well and have been doing some research, thanks to the comments here and my own thinking. There is not enough information at this time to convince me this is a good place and time to spendwell over a thousand dollars.
Jeff
I am sure many might find interesting the following post:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/03/the-leapfish-chronicles-admitting-to-click-fraud-is-an-interesting-business-model/
It might explain who has been clicking your Google Ads, if you advertise on Google that is.
THIS THE SECOND SET OF COMMENTS I HAVE READ ABOUT LEAPFISH. iT SEEMS STRANGE TO ME THAT SOME FOLKS GET VERY EMOTIONAL AND PERSONAL ABOUT THIS BUSINESS. i WAS CONTACTED BY THEM AND THE SALESPERSON GAVE ME THE INFORMATION HE HAD, WHICH WASN'T QUITE AS MUCH AS I WANTED OR NEEDED WHICH WHY I AM READING THESE COMMENTS. HOWEVER THESE COMMENTS DO ME LITTLE GOOD BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS TAKE ON A PERSONAL NOTE WHICH HAS NO PLACE IN BUSINESS DISCUSSIONS. i HAVE READ A LOT ABOUT GOOGLE'S START UP AND IT WASN'T THE IMMEDIATE SUCCESS THAT MANY PEOPLE THINK. THERE WERE A SEVERAL TWIST AND TURNS BEFORE IT CAUGHT ON AND SOARED TO THE TOP. i DON'T KNOW IF LEAPFISH WILL EVER BE IN THAT CATEGORY OR NOT. THEY LAUNCH THIS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ECONOMIC CRISIS WHEN MOST OF US IN THE SALES BUSINESS ARE IN SALES DOWNTURN. CONSUMERS SIMPLY ARE NOT BUYING LIKE THEY WERE EVEN A YEAR AGO. IN ANY EVENT, IF YOU THINK LEAPFISH IS NOT A SOLID COMPANY AND YOU FEEL COMPELLED TO WARN OTHER THEM SIMPLY STATE THAT AND WHY IN BUSINESS TERMS WITHOUT THE NAME CALLING. IF SOMEONE CHOOSES TO TRY THEM THAT IS A BUSINESS DECISION THAY MAKE WITH THEIR MONEY. YOU DID YOUR PUBLIC SERVICE WITH YOUR WARNING AND INFORMATION. WISH YOUR FELLOW ENTREPERNUERS WELL AND MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE. YOUR ATTEMPTS TO DEMONIZE LEAP FISH OR ANY OTHER ASPIRING COMPANY ONLY CAUSES OTHERS TO HAVE WADE THROUGH A BUNCH OF GARBAGE LOOKING FOR INFORMATION.
Hello LeapFish Bill, nice of you to stop by and spin the story a little. We have all heard Leapfish on several occasions compare their startup to Google's, lol. Dream On.
How funny I heard from them this AM and twittered and got links to the articles about the sales tactics and what and who it is.
This is an interesting discussion. I received a voicemail today from a salesperson. I can see I need to do some research prior to calling him back. (If I do call him back...)
I had a rough day with Leapfish.com. A salesperson named Derek - same one I suppose as commented here before spent time trying to convince me that keywords beneficial to my business were available but would be gone in the next 24 to 48 hours. Caught up in the hype and urgency I almost paid $1,750 for the 2nd placement position (3rd place was sold out but not showing up on their search as a sponsored result). They were even willing to throw in a second keyword 3rd position for free. I tenatively agreed to the deal subject to checking with my wife and owner of our business. She is Japanese and did not want to say an immediate yes and wanted to do research on the business (how we found this website). When I called Derek back with a counter proposal - we'll buy if the keywords are still for sale and the deal is still the same on May 5th (about 1 week from today) - he kept trying to get money from us to secure the words. When he realized the answer was no, he said he would sell the keywords to someone else and don't bother to call him back. I understand his frustration in trying to put the deal together - but at the same time it must be a bitch to work in a job where you have to convince your customers to buy like it was the last day before the end of the world. His parting comments however, have prejudiced us against leapfish.com - it feels too much like a boiler room sales strategy.
By the way, any individuals out there that really want to help our small balloon ride business climb the organic search engine charts - we are interested in talking with you.
Denni Barrett, Magical Adventure Balloon Rides, www.hotairfun.com, denni@hotairfun.com
If Leapfish does get serious traction against the major players of search their system is based on simply rebranding the results that the major search engines provide without an overt way for those search engines to get paid. If they did become a threat to any of the major search engines those search engines could either charge fees which were prohibitive for Leapfish to rebrand or simply not allow Leapfish to use the results. So unless Leapfish is hiring a bunch of engineers as well as building out their own search engine which provides more relevant results then the big 3 leapfish is still too risky.
As far as search volume aggregated across all terms that consumers might be searching for there is virtually zero traffic for the types of keywords we would be looking to dominate so IMHO its a safer strategy to wait and see if they ultimately make it, which I believe is unlikely, rather then buying keywords hoping they make it.
I was contacted by very high pressure salesmen from leapfish and after several nagging calls and voicemails I finally gave in and let him walk me threw the site over the phone for a demo. The concept seemed sound and as we toured the site I was impressed. Very high pressure sales to make a commitment right then and there, he involved the manager to approve a special 'discount' for me on 4 level three keywords with two more thrown in for free. I gave in and signed up. My mistake. The concept is sound but I think it will take a very long time before the search volume can garnish the hits to make the investment worth while. I called them back and asked to cancel apparently all sales are final and no refunds. I spoke to my credit card company to pursue a chargeback, there on-line policy is very iron clad. Of course there was no mention or even any signed paperwork on terms and conditions or refund policy. Buyer beware. You may be impressed by the sales pitch and all the publicity and news reels but do you homework first. SpyCamMan.com
Think it through, folks:
1. Their business model is derivative. They only show *other* engine's results. Google can drop them in a heartbeat should they so choose. How much would your permanent links be worth then?
2. Their CEO quotes Alexa traffic statistics... Well, Alexa is easily gamed--get all your employees to install it at home and wow, your Alexa numbers really skyrocket... why? Because Alexa extrapolates measured traffic it gathers from its toolbar to a guess at how much "real" traffic a site gets. I gamed Alexa myself once as a test, and it worked.
Your best bet? Ask your customers how many use leapfish.com. I'm thinking the answer will almost always be zero.
3. Their business model is also a perfect "quick money" play... sell a ton of those permanent links and then fire the sales people and let the site languish.
Combined with no refunds, high pressure sales pitches, the dubious past of the CEO, and the "used car sales" approach where the sales guy gets a special deal approved by the manager just for you... This just doesn't pass the stink test.
== Ross ==
Ross W. Lambert
http://digitalprovisioners.com
Yesterday my husband's cell phone rang. He was walking the dog, so I picked it up. It was a bubbly young woman named Kristin wanting to talk to him. I asked if I could take a message and she gave me her name, number and extension. I should have known right away because her number was a toll free # and few real estate customers have their own toll free #. She continued to say she was searching for property on the big island of Hawaii (where my husband is an agent) and asked me all kinds of questions about it and him in real estate. she had read his blog and mine (both are linked to his web site). The only strange thing is that when I asked her what areas on the big island she was interested in, she drew a complete blank and said that she wasn't sure, she had just started interviewing brokers.
My husband talked to her later in the day and then scheduled a conference call with both of us when he found out she was "selling" not buying, as I do his marketing. I protested a bit because I felt I had already been misled. But I agreed to it. Talk about high pressure sales! This woman was over the top. Every time I said something she barraged me with boiler plate speeches that she had obviously been coached to use. when my husband finally told her that we wanted to think about it and do some research, she asked the old,"What is it that is keeping you from getting in on this today?" I almost answered, "YOU!".
The concept sounds good, and they seem to be semi-legit in what they are doing. I know that there are a lot of tech firms that are going to grow. There are many others that will fail and some who will be snatched up just because someone bigger does not want their competition.
So, this is July 9th. David, what are the results in actual leads?
~mahalo,
Devany Vickery-Davidson, Hilo, HI
wwww.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
OOPS, one too many "w's" on my blog address! Sorry
should be www.MyHawaiianHome.blogspot.com
Hello all...
I was contacted by someone today who wanted to see my results so far with leapfish.
I have probably been a member for 9 months now and purchased "Arizona Real Estate". I paid a good price for it.
As of yesterday or the day before, I had 117 impressions and 15 clicks!!!!!!
Of the 117 impressions, i assume at least 20 were from me. Of the 15 clicks, I would say 5 were from me.
So, I am averageing over $200 per click. Makes me feel good. The funny part is I will probably renew for the nominal fee when the time comes.
Not much success here, but I do like seeing myself in first position. It sure is a good thing most everything else I do does work...
I consider myself the research and development department for our brokerage... Keep an eye open for Solutions Real Estate. We should be coming to a city near you sometime soon... Like in the next 5 years...
Dave
Leapfish.com is a sales "Boiler Room" scam!
My friend used to work for them and he quit because he felt that Leapfish.com "keywords" ad revenue model is shady (base on potential future web traffic that might not exist, goto http://www.compete.com and checkout leapfish.com unique visitor which is only 166,398).
To sell overpriced ad keywords without website traffics to back them up are worthless and is a scam. In short, they are selling a product that don't exist........
The Leapfish sales team environment is just like a scene of that "Boiler Room" movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbIRedOqDwE
Fast talking telesales people calling on real estate agents, insurance agents
and scam these people into buying worthless keyword ads......
Leapfish does not even have a CRM system to manage the sales team. Red flag.
Scott Leese, VP of Sales is a fake and incompetent because what kind of company
that has 50 salespeople or more that do not use a CRM system? A "Boiler Room" salesteam.
So that's why you hear Leapfish victims complaint that they get multiple sales
call from several Leapfish salespeople because their is no way to keep track of
all the sales calls.
Leapfish.com and Behnam Behrouzi give Silicon Valley and startups a bad name.....
Leapfish.com and Behnam Behrouzi should be put of of business immediately before
Leapfish will scam million of dollars out of the public and goes bankrupt just like ePerks.com (Another Behnam Behrouzi's startup that went bankrupt and scammed millions from real estate and insurance agents....probably took the money from that scam to start Leapfish.com, sames office location in Pleasanton, CA and they even changed their company name from Brabus Ventures to DotNext to hide their scamming past)
At Google, type "leapfish scam", "eperks scam", "Behnam Behrouzi scam" and you will see a long history of scam, deceits against the public.........
Stay way from Leapfish.com and tell the public about it.
The video is awesome, and in my opinion Leapfish is running a boiler room. They only WISH they were as smooth as Van Damme.
@David "I consider myself the research and development department for our brokerage... Keep an eye open for Solutions Real Estate. We should be coming to a city near you sometime soon... Like in the next 5 years..."
I can only assume you are joking!!! Anyone that falls for something like this and would do it again can not be relied upon to make sound business decisions IMHO... Hey, I've got some good friends in Vegas that will clean you out and make you feel good about it too, lol.
OMG. I can not believe that the author of this blog would renew after receiving such minimal results.
Holy crap.
Karen,
If you are referring to me, I DID NOT renew. I told them I would renew for $1.00 and they rejected my offer.
Funny
so glad i read this. im so gullable yet smart for doing my research. My keyword would have cost 220.00 which is affordable for me as a student adn a partime dental assistant. I wanted to get more customers as a childrens entertainer. i had never heard of Leapfish until i recieved a randonm call that lasted like 2 hours . Luckly the guy was very nice but, i was slightly turned off by the noisy telemarketers in the backround. i was gonna let them run my card today but didnt call back, Dont think i'm going to. i'm 23 yrs old and vulnerable to handing out my hard earned money to scammy things. Thanks you smart bussiness professionals, i will soon be one of you one day !
Lucia lots of smart real estate agents were sucked in by this I am sure. Or the one before this? ePerks?
best of luck with all your endeavors.