livingonanarrowboat.co.uk "guide" Is it legit?

[Jenza]

after a bit of searching i found this http://guides.livingonanarrowboat.co.uk

 

Now while i have heard quite a bit about the website and sometimes get their newsletter, but everything on that site makes it look like a scam.

 

The phony limited offer countdown, the "100% authentic one time offer" Everything on this site screams to me to be some kind of con but i would love to hear what some people have to say about it.

[Beaker]

£19.97, you'll get the same or better info on here for nothing!

[Ex- Member]

Well it's not a scam, he's produced information about living on a n/b and selling it. I would suggest some softer marketing, but hey if it's working I suspect he'll sit back and watch the pennies rolling in.

[Daiboy]

I get the weekly/monthly email from this site enclosing a newsletter. I visit the website and it looks kosher. I have never seen this advert however, even though I had a newsletter email today. You are able to purchase the aforementioned software from the legit site. I, like you, don't fancy this advert. Don't do it!!

[sueb]

Rboa publish a book on living on a boat and the money goes to a good cause

[Guest]

Twenty quid might get you something that with a bit of research and searching on here you could get for nowt...

[Ex- Member]

£19.97, you'll get the same or better info on here for nothing!

 

That's if they're brave enough to come on here the way some new members are treated by certain members on here, I reckon parting with £20 quid might just seem a wiser option

[Guest]

That's if they're brave enough to come on here the way some new members are treated by certain members on here, I reckon parting with £20 quid might just seem a wiser option

We keep hearing this but yet there seems to very little actual evidence of it...certainly of late.

 

The new members who seem to get the hardest time are the blatant spammers and rightly so.

Edited December 22, 2013 by The Dog House

[ditchcrawler]

 

That's if they're brave enough to come on here the way some new members are treated by certain members on here, I reckon parting with £20 quid might just seem a wiser option

I go along with that

[harve90]

Hi Jenza i am aware that the guy is trying to make some money and would go along with the countdown thing being a marketing gimick, its all a bit in your face stuff but i would not write him off just yet. Check this out first. Living-on-a-Narrowboat-101-Essential-Narrowboat-Articles-V20130902

copy and paste that into google it will bring a pdf download as the first result or it should do, its written by the same person and its free and very interesting. I have read it and would consider buying some of the books he is selling. The download satisfied my lust for knowledge for now anyhow. I hope it will do the same for you. This Paul c smith seems to be honest enough to me. Let me know what you think. Good luck and Merry Christmas.

[deckhand]

As a member of Paul's site, along with a few others on this site, his forum has been helpful to me and I have been given a lot of help when I have asked for it. I have also been given a lot of help from members of this site too.

 

Paul runs his site as a business and does have books for sale although being a member of his site does not cost anything and also, he does not push you into buying his books either.

 

This forum and his are very different but I enjoy being a member of both.

[Jenza]

good to get some responses. I have seen many popup pages like that one for various things, and they all looked like scams to me. Just thought it would be wise to check.

[Beaker]

As a member of Paul's site, along with a few others on this site, his forum has been helpful to me and I have been given a lot of help when I have asked for it. I have also been given a lot of help from members of this site too.

 

Paul runs his site as a business and does have books for sale although being a member of his site does not cost anything and also, he does not push you into buying his books either.

 

This forum and his are very different but I enjoy being a member of both.

 

Fair enough, I've downloaded the pdf mentioned by harve90, looks good.

 

I couldn't get more than a few lines down the webpage though, that type of blurb does my head in.

[originalsmoothie]

after a bit of searching i found this http://guides.livingonanarrowboat.co.uk

 

Now while i have heard quite a bit about the website and sometimes get their newsletter, but everything on that site makes it look like a scam.

 

The phony limited offer countdown, the "100% authentic one time offer" Everything on this site screams to me to be some kind of con but i would love to hear what some people have to say about it.

Hi Jenza,

 

I didn't realise that the countdown timer put people off so much. I'll look into that.

 

No, the site or the content I'm selling isn't a scam. The information is a distillation of three and a half years of living on board and four years experience living and working at - in my view - one of better marinas in the country. The package you're talking about also includes a bells and whistles version of a bespoke narrowboat budget calculator. The calculator allows you to plug in any expense catagory you like, including running costs for your bricks and mortar home if you have one, to see if you can afford to live afloat. As most boat owners are aware, owning and maintaining a floating home costs far more than people imagine.

 

Ninety nine per cent of the information on the site is free. I've spent literally thousands of hours researching and adding content to the site so far and I will continue to spend twenty to thirty hours of my free time each week working on the site for the forseeable future. The products I have for sale on the site don't earn me a fortune but they do help pay for the site maintenance and development.

 

I agree that much of the information available in the guides I sell is available somewhere on the web but not everyone has the time, energy or skill to find it.

 

This forum is an excellent source of information. I refer to it all of the time. However, I have to agree with some of the comments in this thread. It takes a very brave newbie to post questions on here and be on the receiving end of what can be very caustic comments. I know they only come from a few forum members, but they are enough to put many people off.

 

If someone is considering living afloat and completely changing their lifestyle - including burning their bridges and jumping off the property ladder - and making what will probably be their most expensive purchase ever after the cost of their dry land home, surely paying £20 to receive a comprehensive insight into all the costs they can expect to pay - instantly and without effort on their part - is a worthwhile investment?

 

As a matter of interest, the URL mentioned in the initial post was to a sub domain on the site which I just use for sales pages. The main part of the site containing over 4,500 posts and pages is here. And before anyone else point it out, I know there are in excess of 750,000 posts on this, the world's most popular narrowboat site. However, you do have a ten year head start on me.

Edited December 23, 2013 by originalsmoothie

[Bettie Boo]

 

That's if they're brave enough to come on here the way some new members are treated by certain members on here, I reckon parting with £20 quid might just seem a wiser option

Greenie from me - couldn't have put it better myself

 

B~

[mayalld]

 

I agree that much of the information available in the guides I sell is available somewhere on the web but not everyone has the time, energy or skill to find it.

 

 

So, the large bold type on your website that says;

“The Information I Was Looking For Didn’t Exist!”

 

Isn't actually true then?

 

I'm sure that your guide contains some interesting information, but marketing it as if you were writing for late nigh teleshopping isn't doing your credibility any good whatsoever

[Dominic M]

Hi Jenza,

 

I didn't realise that the countdown timer put people off so much. I'll look into that.

 

No, the site or the content I'm selling isn't a scam. The information is a distillation of three and a half years of living on board and four years experience living and working at - in my view - one of better marinas in the country. The package you're talking about also includes a bells and whistles version of a bespoke narrowboat budget calculator. The calculator allows you to plug in any expense catagory you like, including running costs for your bricks and mortar home if you have one, to see if you can afford to live afloat. As most boat owners are aware, owning and maintaining a floating home costs far more than people imagine.

 

Ninety nine per cent of the information on the site is free. I've spent literally thousands of hours researching and adding content to the site so far and I will continue to spend twenty to thirty hours of my free time each week working on the site for the forseeable future. The products I have for sale on the site don't earn me a fortune but they do help pay for the site maintenance and development.

 

I agree that much of the information available in the guides I sell is available somewhere on the web but not everyone has the time, energy or skill to find it.

 

This forum is an excellent source of information. I refer to it all of the time. However, I have to agree with some of the comments in this thread. It takes a very brave newbie to post questions on here and be on the receiving end of what can be very caustic comments. I know they only come from a few forum members, but they are enough to put many people off.

 

If someone is considering living afloat and completely changing their lifestyle - including burning their bridges and jumping off the property ladder - and making what will probably be their most expensive purchase ever after the cost of their dry land home, surely paying £20 to receive a comprehensive insight into all the costs they can expect to pay - instantly and without effort on their part - is a worthwhile investment?

 

As a matter of interest, the URL mentioned in the initial post was to a sub domain on the site which I just use for sales pages. The main part of the site containing over 4,500 posts and pages is here. And before anyone else point it out, I know there are in excess of 750,000 posts on this, the world's most popular narrowboat site. However, you do have a ten year head start on me.

I'd like to add that I think Paul's site is very good, and it is obvious that he has put a lot of time and effort into it. You don't HAVE to buy his book, but he is fully entitled to try and make a living. For the time he has invested I very much doubt that his return on selling this would come anywhere the hourly rate set down in law as the minimum wage. He should take himself to an industrial tribunal Good luck to him, I say. If he is not genuine then he is a brilliant actor.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Dominic M

[Ray T]

I have met Paul and can vouch that he and his site are legit. I have posted a couple of times there myself.

[pearley]

As a member of Paul's site, along with a few others on this site, his forum has been helpful to me and I have been given a lot of help when I have asked for it. I have also been given a lot of help from members of this site too.

 

Paul runs his site as a business and does have books for sale although being a member of his site does not cost anything and also, he does not push you into buying his books either.

 

This forum and his are very different but I enjoy being a member of both.

As another member of Pauls site I can second that.

 

Regards

Pete

[Bettie Boo]

Hi Jenza,

 

I didn't realise that the countdown timer put people off so much. I'll look into that.

 

 

If someone is considering living afloat and completely changing their lifestyle - including burning their bridges and jumping off the property ladder - and making what will probably be their most expensive purchase ever after the cost of their dry land home, surely paying £20 to receive a comprehensive insight into all the costs they can expect to pay - instantly and without effort on their part - is a worthwhile investment?

 

As a matter of interest, the URL mentioned in the initial post was to a sub domain on the site which I just use for sales pages. The main part of the site containing over 4,500 posts and pages is here. And before anyone else point it out, I know there are in excess of 750,000 posts on this, the world's most popular narrowboat site. However, you do have a ten year head start on me.

Hi Paul,

 

Very interested in your site, have sent you an email regarding relevance to a WB in relation to the cost calculator.

 

Ta

 

B~

[originalsmoothie]

 

 

So, the large bold type on your website that says;

“The Information I Was Looking For Didn’t Exist!”

 

Isn't actually true then?

 

I'm sure that your guide contains some interesting information, but marketing it as if you were writing for late nigh teleshopping isn't doing your credibility any good whatsoever

 

I'll refer to the comment I made... "I agree that much of the information is available" much, not all, and if it is available elsewhere it's pretty hard to find. Isn't that what guides are all about, collecting information and presenting it in one easy to find place? People have a choice. They can spend days, weeks probably, trawling the web searching for the information or they can part with a small amount of cash to have it delivered instantly to them.

 

I agree that the sales copy isn't perfect but it cost me an extortionate amount to have a copy writer do it for me and the results are better than they were from my own poor efforts. As far as my credibility goes, most of the visitors to the sales page arrive via adverts on the main part of the site. I think I've done a reasonable job of establishing my credibility there over the last three years.

 

Whether people can find the information elsewhere or not, those who have bought the product seem more than happy. I offer an unconditional money back guarantee on any sales. To date, after a year of having this particular product for sale, I have only had two people asking for refunds. In both cases they were very apologetic because they had thought that they were buying physical rather than digital products.

[Jenza]

Okay, good to know, its just that that page looked very typical of a "OMG amazing limited offer with loats of information and bulletpoints!" Scam that i have seen many times on many popups on my journey round the internet, not just the countdown. The page itself tries too hard to get a sell with the wild claims and fake looking "100% authentic gold star" whatsit and quotes that cannot be cited that makes the page seem like, to internet vets like myself, suspicious.

 

Honestly if your product is as good as you and other people say it is you probably dont need to try so hard. Why not sell it on amazon or the iBook store and get it published? That in itself will add more to makeing it look legit than a maaaaaaassive long page that makes it seem like its trying so hard. knowing that it is safe I probably will buy it,

[Dorlan]

I have met Paul and can vouch that he and his site are legit.

I'll second that!

 

Especially as he has a photo of my boat on the marina's page!

[originalsmoothie]

I'll second that!

 

Especially as he has a photo of my boat on the marina's page!

Which marina page is that? (there are 100+ marinas listed)

Okay, good to know, its just that that page looked very typical of a "OMG amazing limited offer with loats of information and bulletpoints!" Scam that i have seen many times on many popups on my journey round the internet, not just the countdown. The page itself tries too hard to get a sell with the wild claims and fake looking "100% authentic gold star" whatsit and quotes that cannot be cited that makes the page seem like, to internet vets like myself, suspicious.

 

Honestly if your product is as good as you and other people say it is you probably dont need to try so hard. Why not sell it on amazon or the iBook store and get it published? That in itself will add more to makeing it look legit than a maaaaaaassive long page that makes it seem like its trying so hard. knowing that it is safe I probably will buy it,

It's difficult to know which way to go with the sales copy. I know what you mean about the hype but at the end of the day it comes down to results. When I had much shorter copy, written in what I hoped was a personal and friendly "none American" style, the results weren't as good as they are now.

 

I do sell via Amazon. I have three guides on there at the moment. I'm in the process of rewriting one of them because there have been quite a few comments that it's too short. Mind you, there have been just as many comments that it's very useful. The package you're talking about can't go on Amazon because it includes the bespoke browser based budget calculator.

[MtB]

Unfortunate that you spent so much on professional copywriting, as in my opinion it's a double-edged sword. Website content that obviously ISN'T professionally written but knocked together by someone who obviously knows and loves their subject can be far more powerful as punters are not stupid. As evidenced by this thread, slick professional copy makes people suspicious rather than trusting.

 

I make my living from websites I've written myself and my clearly explained technical and factual content delivered in a plain text-only format has my phone jumping off the hook most of the time.

 

MtB

 

 

P.S. To Jenza, there also is a hard copy book called The Liveaboard Guide" available, by Tony Jones, also a forum member here. Username TonyReptiles. (Guess what his other area of expertise is, lol!)

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Liveaboard-Guide-Living-Waterways/dp/1408145553