When I heard Internet Traffic Formula was made by the same guy who is notorious for running over promised, under delivered programs, I had a feeling it would happen again.
That guy is Vick Strizheus, and I’ve reviewed a previous program by him once before. In it I said I will not be buying or nor recommending it because the person has a lot of questionable history & that the program itself connected to what I consider a gigantic scam (Empower Network).
And now that in hindsight I took a look at Internet Traffic Formula, I have come to the same conclusion.
Although everything I write here is my personal opinion, I want to let you know why I’m such a skeptic of Vick’s program/s. You are certainly free to do as you please. Also at this point in time, Internet Traffic Formula is sold out and has a waiting list available which is what you’ll see if you try the visit the homepage of that site, thus the screenshot to the right.
Internet Traffic Formula in a nutshell:
It’s basically a training program that goes over various (many really) ways to accumulate traffic to your website. A lot of the methods involve paid methods of marketing as well as list building. Obviously the most important thing to a website’s success is traffic (visitors). More importantly targeted visitors. Supposedly through this program you are shown how to amass this quickly.
While I am not a fan of the program due to it’s connection to Empower Network & Vick’s past which I’ll get to later (but I detail it here), I will admit the training itself is good and there is potential. However the price tag I believe is ridiculously high (close to $1,000). Ultimately in spite of it’s benefits, I will not be recommending the program, but once again, more on that later.
What you get from this program:
Overall there are 12 training modules which cover traffic accumulation techniques. We’re talking:
- Mobile marketing.
- Social network marketing.
- Paid ads (most likely ad swaps, solo ads).
- Video marketing.
- Using CPA networks. In this program, you are shown how to use and get CPA places to send you traffic.
- Cheap traffic accumulation tactics. Supposedly you can get highly cheap, yet targeted traffic for pennies. Not sure if this is truly as good as it claims.
- PPC traffic (I honestly recommend you start here if you’ve never tried PPC before).
- And more…
Certainly there is a lot of in-depth training and opportunity if you use these techniques. One thing I will say is that a large majority of it is through paid traffic techniques.
I don’t ever recommend beginners or those who are tight on money start doing online marketing through the paid approach because it’s really a huge gamble in my experience, even though most of success has actually come from it (case study).
However, your main goal with the training in this program is to either:
- Utilize it for your own business ventures.
- Promote the program itself to other people & this is where Empower Network comes in.
Why I will not be trying Internet Traffic Formula:
Reason #1:
I believe Internet Traffic Formula, just like Vick’s previous program, Big Idea Mastermind (BIM) are all just trying to get you into Empower Network, a gigantic organization that deals with having you use it’s “viral blogging” tool to promote itself to others.
In his previous system BIM, if you joined the program, you automatically would have joined Empower Network and Vick would end up making money through this investment. Now the whole purpose of BIM in the first place was to help you succeed in marketing BIM itself and Empower Network to others.
If you did, you would be able to make gigantic commissions which would range anywhere from $25-$5,000 (in total). How much you made depended on how many referrals you got into the program and what those referrals bought. Empower Network was advertised for $25, but would then ask you buy it’s very expensive up-sells saying that if you did purchase them, you would be able to promote them and make huge commissions in the process.
Now with BIM, if you purchased the high up-sells, Vick would in many cases get a lot of that money. And if you also referred other people into BIM & Empower Network, Vick would also make a portion of your referral’s investment because eventually the money would flow upwards to people who referred YOU into Empower Network. In this case, it’s Vick.
Now I’m really getting too much into details so I’ll cut this part short and just say I’m not a fan of Empower Network because I believe it to be a HUGE scam and pyramid scheme. Though you can get full details on why, I just can’t give my thumbs up to any program which promotes this place.
Why am I saying all of this anyway? Well because Internet Traffic Academy (ITA) I believe is doing the same thing Big Idea Mastermind was/is.
When I tried to sign up to see more info on ITA, I was shown that it was sold out (screenshot above, but I could sign up to get on the “waiting list”. So I did and then it took me to an Empower Network sale’s page.
Here is the screenshot of that:
Reason #2:
A) When I reviewed Big Idea Mastermind, I found that Vick had a very questionable history. For one, he was accused and found guilty of insurance fraud. This was way before he even got started online. More serious questions on Vick Strizheus.
B) This isn’t the first program Vick has released onto the online marketing scene where he promises to teach you great traffic generating techniques. If you count Internet Traffic Formula, you’ll get at least 4 other programs Vick has made. All of thse programs from what I’ve seen have promised the same things this place does: Traffic generating secrets.
And also, there’s another one of his old programs, High Traffic Academy, which…you guessed it makes similar claims as his other programs and now in 2018, he’s got another one operating, the Four Percent Challenge.
Here are my questions & my opinions in regards to this:
- Why is there a need to create so many programs which essentially promise the same things?
- Is it because they are being updated? Could be.
- But if that’s the case, then why make a completely different program to do this? Wasn’t the first one good enough?
- Couldn’t you make a version 2.0 or something like that?
- Could it be that the previous programs he made are losing their popularity for whatever reason?
All possible scenarios and speculation really, but in my opinion, I believe this is being done to make more money. By providing new programs, he can still get old clients as well as new ones who have never heard of him to sign up and make money through them. I also wouldn’t be surprised if his other programs were also trying to get people into Empower Network which you already know can be VERY profitable for Vick.
Final Rating: Internet Traffic Formula
Red Flag
2 out of 10 stars. The techniques are good, but not for beginners or those low on money. Plus there’s Empower Network + Vick’s history which makes me VERY skeptical. Overall I will not be recommending this program. See my #1 recommendation.
My final thoughts:
There are many people who would absolutely disagree with me on Vick & Empower Network. You certainly have a right to decide, but I wanted to give you my 2 cents on this program and why I have issues with it. There’s a lot of people promoting this program right now and I doubt you’ll hear criticism from them on it.
I do want to point out that I’m not questioning the training. I’m questioning Vick Strizheus & Empower Network. I’ve seen Vick deliver previous products to the market before and in many ways Internet Traffic Formula is following along very similar methods which makes me wonder if it’s really that good or if you could actually find that info in his previous programs. And as for Empower Network, like I said before, I think it’s a huge pyramid scheme.
Either way, the price tag for Vick’s product and Empower Network are just WAY too big in my opinion. I’ve never been a fan of programs which charge you such bloated prices for services & training you could get elsewhere for way less, like my #1 recommendation.
But that’s me and I will never be giving a thumbs up to a program that’s associated with Empower Network. You can make money with it, but in my opinion, it’s not an honest way to do it. That being said, if you agree/disagree with my assessment of Internet Traffic Formula, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks for sharing. Vic’s invitations to watch his videos appeared in my inbox recently,and I had a look at the first two and took notes. The third one was just a group of people going on about how BIM had changed their lives. I am always sceptical when life style is heavily promoted in place of the product itself. In my case your warning is timely.
Yeah most of the time products are pitched to people not really explaining the product, but rather the lifestyle and how much they say you can make just like you said Jeremy. It’s a major red flag for me.
Thanks for the heads up Nathaniel. I really enjoyed reading your review. It is important for me to keep up on topics like this.
Empower Network? These guys again? You know they must be scammy when they have to keep hiding their stuff behind other names and programs. Enough said!
Great stuff Nathaniel – had me hooked there for a minute.. LOL!
I’m sorry, but telling half truths is what I call a crock of #$%^. Would you mind if I clarify?
Firstly, tell the readers the truth why you jump on the bandwagon of using Vick’s name, which is highly ranked and a popular search listing, thus it’ll grab the attention of a ton more eyeballs to your site to sell your Wealthy Affiliate University links on (which you’ve now ranked your site to #378,378 on Alexa).
Secondly, I’ve known Vick for nearly 18 months personally, and he’s acknowledged that Insurance mistake up front, which happened way back in 2003 (in his very early 20’s), that what he did was totally stupid… see here for yourself, as he never hidden from it. – my question is, that was over 10yrs ago – Most people would have let that go by now…
Thirdly, everyone knows that Big Idea Mastermind – is just that – a Big Mastermind of members who joined Empower via Vick’s Team (BIM), where he added so much more value to the offer than just what EN had directly.. and it was all highly valuable for those especially seeking to do business online.
Nothing scammy in BIM at all – my team & I use it for our own business everyday as the training inside it is 10/10!
To say he gets a share of everyone’s money, I’m sorry, but I have to call “Bullshit” on that too! Unless one was personally sponsored by him, and so many weren’t, the EN Payplan doesn’t have a ‘Vick’ Level… it’s a fair pay for fair work system
LOL – you still going on that Empower Network is a Scam too? You’ve gotta be kidding me… it’s been the most fun, best rewarding and massive personal growth for my team & I… here’s what these guys said about it(totally unnrelated to me: (link removed) – as they are calling everyone out!)
Lastly, the ITF (Internet Traffic Formula) – it’s friggen awesome! I’ve paid from $1K to over $25K to get similar material learning about Internet Traffic Tactics (Frank Kern, Traffic University, SiteScout etc) which was all highly valuable! The material and ongoing coaching that is included in this is, as I said, was friggen awesome!
What puzzles me is there is NO WAY you could have reviewed this at all, so how does your “opinion” count, unless you A/ Bought the Product & B/ You didn’t. it was for sale for over a week as they only wanted a limited number sold so they could do live elite coaching for those members who bought it, and help them through to succeed in their business venture…
At the time of writing, April 10th, Vick only released the first few modules of first 12, as the product also includes 12 weeks of group coaching that you wouldn’t have experienced, nor seen any of the other modules yet, to know just how in-depth they are.
Vick is ensuring that everyone who wants the training, gets it, through live events, Q&A’s, ongoing webinars & meetings etc. Even my own clients are so impressed with it, and didn’t care that they DIDN’T have to buy into Empower to get this product or not!
By the way, I too have some of the same Mentor’s that Vick does, and they’ve gone out of their way to really help, to give the best information there is, to ensure it’s all up to date, and it really works.
Now, ah, Nathaniel, yes, the story about the “stolen” accounts is true… it did have his name on them… LOL – but when the dust cleared, it was discovered it was an actual coding issue that caused the problem!
Instead of just running off to social media to complain, some sensible people shared what happened with Vick & EN, and it was corrected & reversed – Vick even put out several broadcasts about it to make sure everyone checked their accounts to ensure everything was right.. he didn’t plan it that way, it was all a coding error… which as the owner of the website, it defaulted to his name in case any errors happened – it could be traced & fixed. He doesn’t care about a $25 commission here or there.. why would he when he already made over $710K in his first 28 days, and then some.
In my “experienced opinion”, the services and products of both BIM & EN are on par with market value, and they give such great content that’s growing and updating. Which is why now, several other companies are copying them now…
By the way Nathaniel, I honestly do appreciate your review, as it made me realize more, just how lucky I am. All the best with your ventures and with Wealthy Affiliate University..
Cheers,
PaulN.
PS: Everyone knows that there are better ways to get more traffic to your site than using fake negative guerrilla marketing scam review like this… I thought you were better than that. If you are, take down this blog post and go do it right.
I had to remove the links on your comment because I don’t allow ANY link posting on my site, but I do value people’s opinions and thus approved your comment. Having said that, let me point out a few things:
1. You’re bragging about buying such expensive internet marketing products to the tune of $1,000’s. Why do you spend money on this? Isn’t 1 of these amazing programs enough? Or are you just making this up and having that shiny object buying mentality like so many others? To me personally, if you had a product that was truly helping you make money, you’d stick to it and stop looking for the “next best thing”.
2. You seem to be unaware of Vick’s past history and no I’m not talking about his insurance fraud. I’m talking about him releasing products over and over to the IM world, using the same methods, promising essentially the same things. How many times are you going to fall for this before you realize there’s no best thing. It’s just essentially the same idea being re-named and being resold? Maybe you’re just trying to defend a bad purchase decision, I dunno.
3. It’s a bit hypocritical to say people are using guerilla marketing tactics when you yourself are promoting another company in your msg (which I removed).
Look I could keep going, but we’re just going to have to agree to disagree. You think I’m doing this because I want to promote WA. There is truth to that, but more importantly I do this to help people save money and stop pursuing the next best thing mentality I mentioned above. It’s a waste of money in my opinion.
Thanks for the heads up, Nathaniel! I’ll be avoiding those sites, for sure!
BeckieG
Just to add fuel to the fire, I know he was accused of (and proved on video) stealing commissions from his referrals to EN. So he would bring people into the MLM program, then when those people would try to recruit others, there were some shady site-redirects happening. When the smoke cleared, Vick was the referrer, not the first guy.
And yes, he’s a serial product creator, coming out with one after the other, all purporting to be the “revolutionary” and “game changing”. I’d stay away.
Thanks for sharing this Nathaniell! I had heard of possible commission stealing and posted a video about it on my BIM review, but I didn’t know whether or not it was true.