It's true. My website (www.honestlotto.com) probably violates practically every known rule of style and good design.
Take the name for a start: The HONEST Lotto System.
Sheesh, who puts 'honest' in their name these days? Used car salesmen? Two-dollar shops? Warehouse bargains? Usually it's suspect and seedy schemes that need the word 'honest' to bolster their worth.
So why did I use it?
More about that in a minute.
And the website itself. Apart from the rather dashing picture of me to give it some much-needed class, it has garish colors, a pop-up, streaming type, screaming headlines, and what appears to be blatant promises of untold wealth and unrealistic odds.
OK, let me explain why I'm telling you this...
Yesterday, for the first time in my online life, I went Googling for opinions on my website. Normally I don't care about what people think of my system because the results from my multitude of buyers are proof of success. But on this occasion I had time on my hands, and I wanted to know how it looked to outsiders and if there was anything I should fix.
So I typed in my system name and along with it entered the word "scam" in Google.
I'll tell you what I found shortly.
But first I want to explain more about my website.
The name first. I chose to put "honest" in the name several years ago. For 10 years before that I had called it the Lotto Link system. But about five years ago I considered that early name didn't reflect what I wanted to put across to my buying market.
I wanted to emphasize the fact that no system can promise wins and that essentially every other system that did was dishonest. My lotto strategy was totally different - and I wanted people to know it was different because I was giving an honest viewpoint on win success. So I used that word directly in the name.
I thought it was a good idea, and still do.
But it is amazing to me that people who read my website still think I'm (dishonestedly to them) promoting a system that can produce guaranteed winners.
The Honest Lotto System does not guarantee winners or winnings.
What the system does most effectively is position the player in the best way, ready to take advantage of winning numbers when they appear.
It does that in a hugely effective manner, as you can see by the happy testimonials. (By the way, I don't make these up. Did you know the penalties for putting contrived or inaccurate information on your website include huge fines and/or jail? It's just not worth it. Every one is genuine, you can bet on that).
My system is successful because it gives many smaller wins while you wait for luck to hand you the main prize. Many players - without my system - go for years without similar wins. Yet many of my players win something almost straight away. Doesn't that tell the doubters something?
Anyway, with the huge established popularity of "Honest" in the system name, on the search engines and elsewhere, it is difficult to rebrand it. So the name stays, even as I acknowledge it is slightly tacky.
Back to the search engine results.
In my Google search I came across some instances where my system was criticized by some people in a lotto forum as being too simple, too similar to others, or just not effective.
Interested, I read further... only to find they couldn't back up their statements. For example, if other systems are similar, you can be sure they are a copy of mine. I invented mine back in 1991, all by myself, without reference to any other system. It's original and genuine. The others are not.
As I read further, I discovered all this rubbish was coming from posters who acknowledge they haven't won with any other system either.
I was astonished at the lack of impartiality and professionalism I saw here. Even with hundreds of testimonials staring them in the face, these people chose to stick to their own blinkered opinions and ignore my system entirely.
My website was starting to look pretty good.
On to the next step, I looked up the "scam" results.
There weren't many. Most of them were about a Dutch company who illegally used the Honest Lotto System name to promote their lotto activities. By the way, if you get any email saying you have won a lottery you didn't enter - even if it has our name on it - and asks you for money to claim your prize, DON'T even reply to them. Never ever reply or send money.
On Google there were a few other instances of people claiming the Honest Lotto System as a scam, but interestingly none of them gave any valid reason. They all basically said that it was impossible to predict winning numbers, and that if I did I must be a "scam artist."
Once again, it was glaringly obvious that they haven't read my website or newsletters. Nowhere do I promise wins.
Back to my website.
Sure, it looks a bit rough around the edges. Uh-huh, the colors are not that sophisticated (but nor are most government lotto websites either). Yep, it may be too long and too strident in its self-promotion.
But heck, it works to bring wins for my buyers.
And it tells you - the possible buyer - ALL about what you are getting, all about me, and everything you need to know before spending a tiny sum of money for such a huge potential gain. There's more information there than you'll ever need to make a buying decision.
That's why it is possibly the most popular lotto system on the planet, with over 6 million visitors a year and less than 2% returns - the lowest refund rate of any gaming product out there.
And I still don't promise you a win!
So work out for yourself whether my website sucks. I think it doesn't, but maybe I've explained a few things that make you a little happier about buying from me. After all, thousands of happy buyers and winners can't be all wrong.
