I sent out the following in an email last week and since I received some very good comments that others may be interested in reading so I've decided to share the information through the blog.
Here's the email with the reader's comments are below it. If you have any additional comments please feel free to post them to this blog.
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By now you may have heard of the new viral downline builder DesktopLightning. (I know I had several announcements in my inbox.) Well, today I took the time to sign up and see what makes this one different because I received a message giving it 4 1/2 stars in a 5 star rating system. (I didn't know this was a pre-written message since I hadn't seen it before. - It pays to be 1st sometimes!)
So now that I've signed up I am going to add my comments to the rating email I received to see if it really gets 4 1/2 stars.
In A Nutshell
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A catchy new viral marketing tool, capable of broadcasting
messages directly to people's desktops. Easy to use, and
caters primarily to those who have something they want to
promote and are looking for a better way to do it.
1. Initial Impressions
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When I was first introduced to DesktopLightning.com, I wasn't
quite sure exactly what to think. Everyone was saying it was
going to be more powerful than e-mail marketing, but this
seemed like too bold of a claim.
I signed up anyway, since I usually give things a chance --
that's how I have found the several sites I do really trust
and rely on.
The signup process did take about 60 seconds, as advertised,
and their software program downloaded and installed in about
30 seconds. No long, tedious install processes here. If you
own downloadable software, you might want to take a look at
how quick their install process is.
Right after installing the software, it ran immediately, and
I was quickly presented with a tool to invite my friends.
Within one-click's access was my Inbox, the tool to send
broadcasts, a statistics page, and my favorite, the "Build
Your Network" page.
My experience was the same so it get's 1 star for this.
2. Viral Growth
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This is where the site really shines, in my opinion. The
purpose of a viral marketing site is that you should be able
to invite just a few people, and then it will start growing
on its own.
Many sites claim to work like this, but few actually work as
advertised.
I'm not sure if it's because of their unique concept or the
slick implementation, but this site is REALLY viral. Here's
some of the testimonials they got, which I think sum it up
pretty well:
"I haven't ever seen a system build a downline so
fast. I joined your program just to try something
new. Four days later I had a downline of 43 people.
This is unbelievable."
~ Harry Joseph
"I invited just a handful of people only a few days
ago and I already have 48 members on 5 levels below
me. I am going to keep promoting this, but I see it
has a life of it's own now. I couldn't stop my
network from expanding if I wanted to!"
~ David Parton
"This website is so viral - I received over 100
sign-ups and my network is already 5 levels deep in
less than 48 hours."
~ Rene Keiser
Although they obviously can't guarantee results for anyone,
the general consesus is that most people who do get those
initial few people in are experiencing results similar to
these.
I give DesktopLightning.com an A+ for spreading like wildfire.
Can't give a rating on this since I haven't told anybody until now so I'll have to "wait and see".
3. Direct-To-Desktop Broadcasts
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So, once you have the people in your network from the direct
invitations and the viral growth, then it really gets cool.
Now is when you get to broadcast whatever message you want
directly to their desktops.
Gone are the days of sending out emails and wondering if
they were received due to spam filters and crowded inboxes.
If you upgrade to their Platinum membership, then you can even
get exact statistics on the percentage of your broadcasts that
were opened, but the Platinum membership is not the subject
of this review.
Here's how it works -- the DesktopLightning.com software is
what allows the direct-to-desktop communication to be
received. Since everyone in your network will have the
DesktopLightning.com application installed, just as you do,
this is what allows such smooth and instant communication
to occur.
Within one hour of your sending the message, everyone in your
network who is online will receive a notification on their
desktop that they can click to read your message.
Anyone who isn't online at the time will receive it when they
log on next.
I'm sure you can see why this type of communication has been
more successful than email as of late, so I won't get into
it too much here. The basic point though is that there's no
way your message can be lost, overlooked, or blocked by any
filters.
If you upgrade to their Platinum service you can do things
like embed video and sound right into the broadcast, but
again, I'll save the Platinum service for another review.
I signed up for Platinum service also but again, since I have used it yet, I can't give it a whole star. However because it looks so easy and provides both stats and HTML capability I'll give it 1/2 a star. (I am considering offering it as an option for the newsletter - what do you think of that idea?)
4. Building Your Network
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Most sites out there nowadays don't really help you build a
network of people below you. They just throw you a URL and
tell you to run with it.
While this works for most advanced people, it's not something
that's very easy for people who are just starting out.
DesktopLightning.com went really far this time to make sure
that everyone has a way to bring people into their network,
regardless of skill level.
When you click on the "Build Your Network" link from within
their application, you'll be presented with a surprising
number of tools to help you build your downline.
Everything from banners, to popups, to text ads, to invitation
tools, to emails to send out, etc.
Then, they continue to offer something which I haven't seen on
any Internet Marketing site yet -- they have a "Starting From
Scratch" section, designed specifically for people who have
no list and no website with traffic.
If you're in that position, then you'll love this section,
since they detail specific strategies you can use to promote
DesktopLightning.com (or anything for that matter), even if
you don't have anything to start with.
They do offer these resouces but must admit I haven't read the "Starting From Scratch" section yet. However from just installing it and looking at it, it's so easy I think everyone could figure out how to use it to send broadcast messages. So even though I haven't checked out the 1 section I'll still give it 1 star for this.
5. Not For Everyone
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With all that said, the only downside to DesktopLightning.com
is that it's not for everyone.
Of course, some might see that as an upside, since it's a more
targetted opportunity.
Basically, the bottom line is that DesktopLightning.com is a
promotional tool. You need to have something you want to
promote or advertise before you can really make use of the
site.
This is all due to the fact that the basic concept is that
you build a viral network of people, and then broadcast
something to it.
But, this "something" is whatever you want, so you must
already have something you'd want to send to a lot of people.
If you don't have something yet, you could start building your
network first, and then once you get something to promote
you'll be ready to launch it immediately.
If you do have something to promote, that's when the site
really shines.
I agree, if you don't have something to send to anyone then you can't use this. However, if you place ads for anything then you do have something to send. I give a rating of 1 star to this because everyone with an online business should have something to send.
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My Conclusion
Although I don't usually like downline builders because of the extra email and they don't provide some of the extras of an autoresponder system I am recommending this one.
The direct-to-desktop broadcasts are a great way to get your message through in today's online climate, where emails are getting blocked a lot.
The only reason I give it 3 1/2 stars and not 4 1/2 or 5 is because I just got it and haven't started building a downline yet. At any rate, it's so quick to set up and try, if you have something you want to promote you should check it out - especially if you aren't using an autoresponder and building a list.
***
Pam, this is a direct hint to you since you have so much to offer and aren't building a list.
***
If you're like Pam and not building a list then start today. While DesktopLightning may not offer everything found in an autoresponder and you may be exposed to a few extra offers, you will have an easy to use way to send either text or HTML broadcast messages to other peoples' desktops. And if you decide you don't like it for you can always remove it.
This is a great opportunity to start building a list. And if they like your broadcast messages you can move them to an autoresponder list later. It's up to you what you're going to do with your business.
Here's the link where you can sign up:
Desktoplightning.com
To Your Success,
Susan
PS BTW, I've got a list and I signed up since there's lots of ways to use a system like this to promote both products and your current list. Think about how a system like this could help you with your business, even if you already have a list and then sign up and start using it.
Desktoplightning.com
Reader's Comments
Hi Susan,
I signed up for this 4 days ago and got the upgrade. I do see several draw backs to this system though. One is that anyone above you or even on the upgrade list can message your downline. Depending on what those above you are promoting this can be good but I see a lot of bad happening. If those above me are promoting junk my list can get it. With the addition of 77 random free messagel addresses they give the upgraded members this increases the chance of your downline getting junk messages. I've already received a few.
The list you build is never really your private list because of the observations above.
To send and receive replys you have to step outside the system to send email messages back.
This would be a geat system if you could use it solely in house for your own list and not outside messages entering your downline. In fact for membership sites like yours it would be ideal if all your members where on it. It would be even better if they could send messages to each other and vice versa. members would only be allowed to send and reply to single messages. Admin could message the whole list.
Dan
www.seanaturally.com
My Response:
Dan has pointed out some of the disadvantages to Desktoplighning however I think these same disadvantages are true for all downline systems. That's why I haven't really promoted any of the other ones I've joined before and I've joined several.
When you use a downline builder you are not building your own "private" list because others do have the ability to send email to your downline. But I think they are better than "safelists" that a lot of people use because "safelists" put a lot of extra email in your inbox just so you have the ability to send messages. With this downline builder you will get extra messages however they don't fill your inbox and as with other downline builders you there is a limit to how many you will recieve.
In addition to having the messages delivered to your desktop rather than to your inbox, this downline builder allows both text and html messages - this is something most don't offer. Also, they do offer some training information which is not available with many of the others.
Now if you don't have a private list, sending ads via any method won't usually get results as good as those sent to your private list however they will get better results than not sending anything to anybody. The trick is finding both a good subject line and message. With Desktoplightning you are pretty much assured that your message will get opened since they have to open it to delete it. However, if your subject line isn't good, they still won't read it unless you can catch their attention in the message (the use of html helps in this area).
If you're looking for a way to get traffic to your site or add people to your list, I still recommend you consider trying Desktoplighning.
Susan