Has the Fat Lady Sung for Internet Marketing?

14 years ago

No, it won't die. There is too much money to be made in internet marketing. IMers will just have to adjust and take the punches the gov't gives us. The one who survives will be the one who will even make more money in the end. Although there isn't much regulation, I would say IM is still in it's infant stages, so of course there's a lot of people screaming scam this and that, when they just simply don't read the terms for things such as free trials.

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Kay King

14 years ago

In the offline world if an industry cannot self regulate itself effectively then control is taken out of their hands and usually replaced by draconian government measures. I for one would not want this.

IM isn't "an industry". It's a vast collection of small and large businesses, entrepreneurs, etc. There are good and back IMers and good and bad products and sites. So....?

What you must understand is that what others do isn't your problem unless you fall for a scam. Your personal IM business is what you make it - and that's where the fear is for many people.

Many practices in IM ARE regulated by the terms and conditions of various sites and by laws - expecting all of IM to be squeaky clean isn't logical. There will always be scammers and thieves online and offline - just don't be one of them.

kay

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peterbeckenham

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

IM isn't "an industry". It's a vast collection of small and large businesses, entrepreneurs, etc. There are good and back IMers and good and bad products and sites. So....?

What you must understand is that what others do isn't your problem unless you fall for a scam. Your personal IM business is what you make it - and that's where the fear is for many people.

Many practices in IM ARE regulated by the terms and conditions of various sites and by laws - expecting all of IM to be squeaky clean isn't logical. There will always be scammers and thieves online and offline - just don't be one of them.

kay

Kay I am not at all concerned about what I want to provide and I certainly don't expect our niche to be "squeaky clean".

However, you are sweeping the issue under the carpet or putting it into the "too hard" basket.

What others do should be a concern for all of us or our personal IM business will not be "what we make of it" Sure we are not an "industry" per se but the continuing occurrence of this unacceptable behavior will impact on my business as well as yours!

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peterbeckenham

14 years ago

Originally Posted by khanhdom

No, it won't die. There is too much money to be made in internet marketing. IMers will just have to adjust and take the punches the gov't gives us. The one who survives will be the one who will even make more money in the end. Although there isn't much regulation, I would say IM is still in it's infant stages, so of course there's a lot of people screaming scam this and that, when they just simply don't read the terms for things such as free trials.

I would agree with you IF the terms of the free trial were obvious which in many instances is not the case.

Please don't get me wrong I want to make money as much as the next guy but if we continue this way what is our future? It's fine for those of you who have already made your millions but spare a thought for the rest of us who are just getting established.

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tecHead

14 years ago

Due to the amount of money that does run through eCommerce on an annual basis; online Merchants do have a voice when it comes to legislation. The only draconian rules that will be imposed are those that make it safer for the average consumer to partake in eCommerce; such as the recent FTC (so-called) crack-down.

If carefully examined, the modifications that the FTC imposed aren't really "modifications", (IMHO), as much as they are "strongly suggested reminders" to those US based entities that someone is watching and will champion the Consumer should a need arise, (and there will be consequences).

Internet Marketing only gets a bad rap when unscrupulous individuals/businesses are associated with the name. Internet Marketers come in all shapes and sizes; Google could be defined as an Internet Marketing company.

As Kay King stated above, there will always be those that attempt to take shortcuts and skate around the law as well as what is deemed to be ethical. Yet, your concentration should be focused on your business and how to not be associated with that crowd. That's not a sweep it under the rug mentality; its a separatist mentality.

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CDarklock

14 years ago

Originally Posted by peterbeckenham

Every day I read about the scams and unscrupulous offers being peddled in the highly competitive and often over-hyped internet marketing niche.

Peter, does a week go by that you don't hear someone say the people in some offline business are unscrupulous scammers who rip off their customers?

Why would you expect online to be any different?

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The-English-Webmistress

14 years ago

Actually I have great hopes for the future of internet marketing, mainly because of the growing proliferation of ethically minded marketers who make so much effort to share what they've learned FOR FREE, and who give, and encourage others to give, to charities and so forth.

Resetting the standard of what it means to be a 'good marketer' makes buyers look differently at the industry and those who work within it.

Also, the internet is such a socially active place now; people talk about, blog about, warn about the scammers much more than ever before. That helps too.

Having said all that, CDarklock is absolutely correct; scamming happens offline all the time and we really shouldn't be too surprised to find it existing in the online world too.

Andrea, The English Webmistress

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AndrewCavanagh

14 years ago

Originally Posted by peterbeckenham

My passion and desire is to build an honorable business in this niche by learning as much as I can and providing the very best value I can to my subscribers.

If you do that you have nothing to worry about.

Generally speaking in every niche in every industry the businesses who go out of their way to truly serve their clients what they want and need well and do it with honesty and integrity tend to endure.

There have been and always will be dishonest people in every field of business.

They come and they go.

Those who are smart enough to adapt to a changing market and provide people with a genuinely valuable product or service will usually survive.

Remember also that ripping people off is bad business. It shows a lack of understanding of the increasing value of long term satisfied customers.

When you really look after people the amount their willing to spend with you grows.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

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George Wright

14 years ago

OP you said,

However, you are sweeping the issue under the carpet or putting it into the "too hard" basket.

What others do should be a concern for all of us or our personal IM business will not be "what we make of it" Sure we are not an "industry" per se but the continuing occurrence of this unacceptable behavior will impact on my business as well as yours!

First of all the blatant scammers don't fool us for long and we simply don't buy from them.

Secondly your definition of scammers may not be the correct definition, just your opinion.

If you keep the "We/I have to fix it" attitude rather than just making sure you keep yourself clean then you will give up in time and be very bitter.

Or perhaps you will become another hated and fanatic scam alert blogger who eventually sees anything and everything as a scam.

Just do your part by being as stellar as you can, learn from the mistakes you will make and get your daily fix of fixing things by reporting scammers and spammers via the report post button to the left of each post.

If I was as worried about this as you I'd get myself another business.

George Wright

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