GDI Review

In the computer world, a GDI was always an acronym for ‘Graphics Device Interface’. The same letters are now shared with a company called Global Domains International and its .ws domain suffix.

The owners of GDI are two self-made millionaires, Mike Reed and Alan Ezeir, who saw an opportunity to meet the growing demand for Internet domains around the world. They searched for a marketable domain suffix and found a small country in the Pacific Ocean called Samoa (occasionally spelled Somoa) that owned the rights to domain names ending in ‘.ws’. After talks with his government, an agreement was drafted. Samoans were shocked to see 15,000 new registrations in the first month, particularly as they take a percentage of all .ws sales. This was in November 2000, since then .ws has become a familiar expression in the Internet world.

Mike and Alan then proceeded to market their success as an MLM internet business that is being successfully used by thousands of people all over the world. The cost of $10 per month is an attractive proposition. You get all the usual accessories for an online business: your own custom “.ws” domain name, up to 10 email addresses, hosting for your domain, an autoresponder, a sophisticated back office, including marketing videos.

The compensation plan consists of 2 parts and both go down to 5 levels. There is a 10% payout for your direct sales and those of your qualified affiliates. Additionally, there is a $100 bonus for signing 5 new affiliates in a weekly period, and more for every additional 5 in that week. The downline diagrams are well illustrated, with much emphasis on the small monthly fee and income that can be earned if all goes according to the plan of a 5 by 5 series of downlines, yielding $3005 per month. The marketing video is produced in an engaging, compelling, and persuasive manner. Plus, there’s a 7-day free trial and cancellation at any time. All deposits and payments are made through PayPal, and the information and websites are available in several different languages.

Are there any drawbacks? Well, it is an MLM system that is often perceived in people’s minds with negativity, frequently because they have tried one or more in the past and, as most like it, have failed. Unfortunately, low cost, while an attractive selling point, can backfire by attracting non-active members without the motivation to work hard and recoup their payout. There is no mention of marketing costs which can be prohibitive if you don’t have a resource budget.

It is a well known fact that there will be a 70-80% rejection rate from your prospects, which the new affiliate will have to deal with. Like all internet businesses, advertising your business is never as easy as it gets, and success takes a lot longer than new members think. Being prepared to spend much more than you earn, which will be the case for most when starting out, is not an easy situation to tackle.

The compensation plan with its small commissions based on big numbers does not foster a good sponsorship mentoring relationship. The advice is available free of charge and at any time, so I feel that its value and that of the formation of the company will be discounted.

In conclusion, this is an attractive well thought out and marketed business proposition. There is no doubt that experienced internet marketers who have a good list of contacts can earn huge amounts of money. For those with little or no experience in this form of business, the chances of success will be small; but maybe $10 a month is worth the gamble!