I posted a link to my detailed article, “A Beginner’s Guide to StumbleUpon Traffic“, on a private forum inside Jack Humphrey’s new Social Power Linking membership site.

A reader asked me if, even though the effort was likely to get more traffic, it would be useful to generate ‘passive income’.

I replied, sharing some data on how many visitors StumbleUpon brought me. He responded again, asking if this traffic was “really useful to you”.

Here’s the thing. There are 2 issues with this experience.

#1. This is a private PAID membership site devoted exclusively to the topic of social media marketing and using it to drive targeted traffic to one’s site.

Now, if you have any doubt about the validity of social media driven traffic, surely the time to question its efficacy is BEFORE signing up to a monthly membership that’s entirely about doing just that very thing?

#2. He is curious about how effective the traffic driven from StumbleUpon was FOR ME.

Truth is, it doesn’t really matter. Whether it was useful to ME or not has very little value for YOU.

My audience and desired end actions are likely different from yours. And for my specific needs, the traffic (and the small effort to attract it) is most certainly worthwhile.

I sell a ‘Social Media Marketing Blueprint‘ which is a step by step 21-day guide to creating a social marketing campaign designed to get targeted visitors to your site or blog.

While explaining what’s in it, I show how the ‘plan’ brought me almost 5,000 page views, 100+ inbound links, and better search engine ranking benefits.

But I did NOT mention that this extra traffic brought me a little over $500.

Why not?

Because by reproducing the steps outlined in the blueprint, anyone can reasonably be expected to drive that amount of traffic to their sites. But the $500 I made was NOT related to what’s in the report - it’s related to what I did on my website!

And unless you replicate exactly what I did on my website, you may not experience the same results from the exact same traffic sources.

Now I could teach that bit also - but if I did, the program won’t cost $97 - it will cost $4,997.

Why?

1. Because you will have knowledge and a system that can earn you $500 in a month - and can be repeated over and over again. That’s worth paying a multiple in price.

2. Because there’s a cap to how many people I can (or want to) share such specialized knowledge with - and to do it well takes time. There’s an ‘opportunity cost’ involved for me, and the price I charge should compensate me for that cost.

So we get to the crunch… the ‘Use Your Brain’ part.

If someone promises to teach you a system - a COMPLETE system - that will let you earn $XYZ a month… isn’t it logical that they price it at a modest multiple of that amount?

And if they do NOT, isn’t it just as logical that what is being taught may or may not deliver the financial return you may expect?

That it would depend upon how well YOU implement the other related bits and pieces of the process?

That nothing is ‘guaranteed’ - and that you’ll have to test and adapt?

I asked this question once before, in a post provocatively titled “Who Is The Sucker?”

I’m asking it now in a more toned-down fashion, but one that I hope will spur you to start thinking critically before purchasing any how-to information.

Over the next few days, I’m going to be applying the lessons I learn about Social Power Linking to a new niche site I’m launching - and will blog about my progress right here.

Stay tuned for more. It just might help you decide to join up to Social Power Linking too.