This review is about 'Traffic Takeover' by Glynn Kosky and I'm going to tell you if you should use it when driving traffic to your CPA offers, affiliate links and e-commerce websites.
This method uses a plug-in which replicates, or clones, an authority website such as CNN or Huffington Post and dupes your readers into thinking they are going to one of these websites when in actual fact they are being redirected to your website.
The following post is my opinion only and in this instance, I am basing my opinion on the 2 demo tutorials made by the creator of Traffic Takeover where he demonstrates what the software can do.
I am not a lawyer and the following is my opinion only. I base my opinions on my experience as an affiliate marketer and blogger.
I think it goes without saying that the software is extremely unethical and could land you in hot water with the DMCA and other copyright infringement laws. Check out this ultimate guide to Copyright Laws.
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How Does Traffic Takeover Work?
Essentially this is a plug-in which allows you to copy a page on somebody else's website and display it as your own.
The plugin works by using iframes where they essentially hijack somebody else's website with the purpose of duping the readers into thinking that they are actually going to the authority website.
- Step 1 - Choose the action you want the plugin to take, for example, a URL redirect.
- Step 2 - Choose which affiliate offer you want to redirect to.
- Step 3 - Choose when and how you want the offer to appear on the cloned page, for example, after a certain time or on exit intent.
- Step 4 - Take the URL from the authority website, such as CNN, and copy it into the plugin to integrate it with your own domain/URL.
- Step 5 - Share the new link which will send people to the fake page.
There are a variety of different options and features you can choose from when it comes to how the affiliate links or promotions appear on the new fake page.
Here is a live DEMO of the software in action:
In the video below you can see that's the author shows an example where they copy a page on CNN and display it on their own website.
You can choose one of the following actions to take when somebody visits that page:
- display an image
- display a video
- display an opt-in form
- redirect to another domain
- display Facebook Messenger
- display social sharing buttons
The idea is that when someone sees that page, either on social media or through an email campaign, they think they are going to the CNN website.
Once the page loads they are then presented with some sort of product promotion in the form of a pop-up, and opt-in form, or any other method I mentioned above.
This gives the illusion that the product promotion or the opt-in form comes from CNN which means you are effectively stealing their authority.
From there it is simply a numbers game...
Some people will instantly see that they are not on CNN and will exit the page but, unfortunately, some will not realise they are on a cloned website and they are quite likely to buy or opt into a product promotion because they think they are on the CNN website.
Here is a quote from the Traffic Takeover sales page itself, this gives you an idea of the unethical nature of this product.
Quote from the Traffic Takeover sales page!
“This is a proven piece of software that works over and over again, as the visitor is sneakily tricked into thinking you are sending them to CNN.COM”
As you can see even the sales page says that they are “sneakily tricking”.
Does that sound like something you want to be involved in?
Screenshot from the sales page/affiliate offer page
Why This Method Is Unethical
This method is very unethical because you are stealing somebody else's work.
The content which you are claiming to be yours is not, it belongs to somebody else.
How would you feel if you knew somebody was copying your content and displaying it as if it was theirs?
In the process, the person copying your content is making money based on your authority, your hard work and promoting content as if they are you.
Not only are your posts and pages being copied illegally but they are pretending to be you. They are pretending to sell products on your behalf as if you are selling them.
This makes this product extremely unethical because if you choose to use this plugin you do not have the permission from the author and creator of that website to used their content.
By using it without their permission you are effectively stealing and stealing is unethical, regardless of what, where, how and when.
Stealing is stealing.
Screenshot from sales page - they want you to copy high authority pages. Not a good idea!
Why You May Get In Trouble When Using This Method
As I said before I am not a lawyer and this is purely my own personal opinion but I would think that using a service like this would infringe every copyright law there is.
Laws like the DMCA are in place to prevent this exact method from happening.
Whether or not the 'Traffic Takeover' plugin is actually breaking any direct laws, I do not know, but you do not need to be a lawyer to feel a personal obligation not to lie and steal other people's content.
Should the owner of one of these websites become aware of what you are doing, should you choose to use this plugin, you are putting yourself in the position where the owner of the content you copied is very likely to take legal action against you.
Given the fact that most of the pages you will be copying have extremely high authority, not to mention a huge legal department, means you are completely isolated and outgunned by a dedicated legal department which is there to fight plagiarism and copyright infringements.
Do you really think multi billion dollar behemoths like CNN or BBC would allow you to blatantly copy and monetize their content without taking action?
Why Would You Want To Dupe People?
On a more personal note I would like to suggest you ask yourself these questions:
- Why do you want to lie to your readers and pretend you're somebody else?
- Why would you want to steal somebody else's hard work in order to benefit from it?
- Do you not have more pride and self-respect?
- Do you not want to give your readers the best value for money with honesty and integrity?
If you are serious about making money online and about building a future for yourself with a real honest and sustainable business model, then blatantly stealing content from other people is not the way to go.
By using methods like the one suggested, with 'Traffic Takeover', forgetting the legal implications for a minute, I suggest you think about what you are doing here and ask yourself this:
Do I really want to be the person who lies to my readers in order to make money?
I think the majority of us are honest and do want to make money online and an honest and simple way so I would implore you to think twice before using these types of strategies.
Is Traffic Takeover A Scam?
I do not like to use the word scam and I do not enjoy writing negative reviews.
In my opinion, services like 'Traffic Takeover' skirt around the edges of legal boundaries by using ethically questionable methods in order to gain an upper hand on the competition and the try and make money.
They use these methods to:
- capture emails
- collect personal information
- promote low-quality products
- promote CPA offers
- and any other methods they can think of to make money
With this method, in particular, it is unusually murky because you are skirting around some very hot waters in relation to copyright laws.
Whether or not there are laws actually broken, I do not want to speculate, but I think anybody can see that the ethical boundaries here are definitely broken and morally you are stealing other people's content by using this service.
This is not an opinion or I guess, this is fact. They even state this on their own sales page.
Quote from the Traffic Takeover sales page
"Traffic Takeover is an easy-to-use software plugin that lets you takeover any website online with just a few clicks of your mouse in a bid to generate more traffic, leads and sales into your online business.
By taking over the authority of huge websites such as BBC, CNN, Daily Mail and similar, you will easily convert the visitor into a sale due to the high level of trust the visitor has for that high authority site."
The authority you are 'Taking Over', as they say on their sales page, is not yours to take. The visitors you are 'tricking', are not your visitors to trick.
If you want to use the plugin then, by all means, you are more than welcome to but please be aware of the moral and legal implications that you are exposing yourself to.
Hi Philip,
Well at least you provided tangible and worded evidence that anyone foolish enough to take part in this unethical scheme that makes up Traffic Takeover could be in for in the future, and one not all that pleasant. Therefore should anyone reading your great article decide to take part in the opportunity with Traffic Takeover anyway, then it would have been this person’s choice, (in all likelihood he/she being an adult) should he/she have to eventually pay the consequences – such as going to jail as well as potentially being fined a lot of money!
Anyone having the audacity to create a website, (through a plug-in) that purportedly comes directly from a highly visible site such as CNN, (but instead is only a duplicate) and expect to get away with it when that well-known cable news station has well paid lawyers on their payroll to act in legal matters protecting the station is just, plain stupid!
This entire method’s online business venture is a complete scam. And in a way, it’s sad that whoever created this program as a way for naive individuals to make money online even came up with the idea.
It’s almost as if Traffic Takeover is the culmination of 20+ years of scams that have existed on the Internet. The creators of this fraud program, (no doubt nameless to protect their identities) took the worst part of every previous fraud business opportunity and like making a soup dish, threw in all the ingredients together in a hodge-podge fashion and out came Traffic Takeover.
Seriously, I do hope anyone even entertaining the notion of joining this program takes the time to carefully read your article. Especially the top part of your review and the link which stated the legalise of copying the website of a well-known company such as CNN – or The Huffington Post as you also mentioned. That person would be saving him/herself a whole world of hurt compared to if he/she had made the reckless decision anyway to join and then implement all of Traffic Takeover’s criminal methods in order to make money online!
Great review, Philip!
Jeff
Thanks for the comprehensive comment Jeff!
I would not necessarily word it quite as strongly and call it an outright “scam”, as you say, but I agree that this product has a great potential for causing irreparable damage to it’s customers who are too naive to understand what they are doing.
Copyright infringements are no joke and should be taken very seriously.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and hopefully my review will help others stay informed about services such as this.
Phillip thank you for this information. I am not sure I would use this program. I would be too afraid of being caught. Plus, if you are caught doesn’t it lower your authority? I need all the positive help I can get for my site not the negative. I hope that you are not using this as well.
Hi Eden,
I am not using this plugin, no. I would never use something like this. The method they teach is not up my street and prefer to get my leads in a natural and genuine way.
Tricking people into thinking they are signing up to one website, when they are actually joining someone else, is against all terms and conditions of any website and with the addition of the new GDPR laws coming into effect, this becomes even more important.
Thanks for this great review about traffic takeover. Your correct as this is very unethical, and i personally would never want to buy a product they tried to trick people into buying something.
2nd of all I can’t imagine the conversions would be all that good since people are expecting one thing, then later find out it’s something totally didfferent.
Yeah I would be intrigued to understand how this service gets past the Privacy policy and data protection acts out there because i am sure it is illegal to collect email addresses under the disguise of someone else.
When someone submits their details here they think they are opting in for an authority website’s mailing list, not the sneaky people using this plug in.
I am sure this product will not be for sale very long, in my opinion.
Hi Philip
Many thanks for your illuminating review of Traffic Takeover.
You hesitate to call it a scam, but in my mind there is no doubt at all that that is just what it is!
But whether it is a scam or not, and whether or not it works, it is obviously completely unethical, and I for one would not wish to be associated with it. The legality of it is also very much in question.
Very many thanks for alerting us to this company – one to be well avoided.
Chrissie 🙂
I am glad you found my review helpful. it is important to consider all the angles before you buy any product. Just because t has a shiny sales page and promises easy money you still need to consider the ethical sides to it.
I thought the same dang thing. It’s awful. So, not only criminals in the friggin streets taking whats not earned from people, we have to contend with them online too? Reprehensible. I am surprised at JVZOO. Dropping from them immediately.
Although I agree that the whole premise of this software is borderline unethical, there are some corrections that need to be made. The software is not copying the content into another site. What the software does is create an overlaying popup to the existing site. The way I understand it and, after going over the demo video again, the software overlays your popup over an existing page. whether it is a page from CNN, BBC, CNN, or whichever page you choose. At no point does the user leaves CNN, BBC, CNN, or whatever to go to the offer unless they choose to do so.
Where the software is deceiving and maybe even unethical is in the fact that people visiting those sites think this advertisement from the site when indeed it isn’t. Since there is no copying of the content and the content continues to reside in the hosting website, I don’t think there are any copyright violations. At no point the user of this software is claiming that the material is theirs, original, or literally stealing it from the original site. As for the “free advertising” that you get from the websites in question, that is where the unethical side of it comes to play. I don’t know enough about the law to say whether this type of overlay is or isn’t legal, I do think it is unethical though and wouldn’t want anybody installing their popups on my website or fan pages. The bottom line is that since you are in no way, shape, or form copying or migrating the original material, no copyright laws seem to be broken.
With all of that said, I see other applications for this software and plan to use it myself. I will be buying the software for use with my own work as a better option than Clickfunnels for several applications. I think the transition and ability to integrate to your websites is smoother, but will be able to better comment on that after I implement it. I am also an article publisher for Ezinearticles. I can see this window showing at the bottom of my own articles. This option is much better than providing a link to show that same option. I see this software also working in my Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest accounts. While I wouldn’t consider putting this popup on any other person’s fan pages, I would absolutely use it in my own. Again, this is much smoother than having an arrow pointing at your link or just showing a link.
Since I have intellectual ownership over all the articles that I write and all the sites I create, I don’t see anything unethical in using a tool that I believe provides a better interface and user experience for my subscribers, visitors, and followers.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Means a lot to me! 🙂
I agree with what you are saying and I do understand that technically they are not physically copying anything to their website but they are infringing on other people’s brand names and that does break copyright laws – it does not matter how/where or when – if you use someone else brand name or likeness without their permission then you are going to get in trouble.
However, I would like to say that they are promoting it with this purpose. They are promoting it as “take other people’s content and use their hard work to make money”
That is the very essence of plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Also, if you look at the URL in the demo when they “temporarily” steal the content, they are still on their domain, not the brand names.
Even though the actual content is still on CNN’s website, and when the visitor click on something it will redirect to CNN, regardless of how an iframe acts as a pop-under/over is irrelevant here. You are manipulating someone else’s brand name to make money.
I totally see where you are coming from and I really hope other people have the common sense you have and use this for something useful and sensible. However, this is unlikely.
The product itself is being promoted to with one purpose – to take other people’s content. If you read the sales page you can see that is what it has been created for.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and I hope others follow your example!!
This definitely smacks of precarious ethical standards in my mind. Call it plagiarism, call it content piracy, call it what you will. This just seem s wrong.
Now, if you were to ask for permission from the given site to promote your page so as to let them know in advance of your intentions first and they granted approval, that would be the only way i could see using this software reasonably and responsibly.
Otherwise i would stay away from this product.
Thanks for this review, Brad