Can You Make Money By Telling The Truth?

probably not very easily, another issue you will run into...even if you could be successful selling truth is how you monetize it on the backend.

you would almost be forced into selling hype products for commissions because how many truth products can be created.

this stuff is not rocket science...but is sure not click and cash either.

Can You Make Money By Telling The Truth?

Only when you are honest by nature.

Yeah... Something like that. I mean the new comer on the web, but i think previous comment here gives a wider view and I see it the way it is. That means you can't re-invent the wheel,right?

If you flat out try to sell an e-book about telling the truth about making money online, my guess is that you probably won't be successful. Why should people believe that some random guy tells the truth.

The reason that a lot of offers sell on hype, is that many decisions in this business is based on feelings. Try to watch some of the advertisements, both video and emails that builds on hype. The go after those who have not succeeded yet online, but most importantly they play on peoples emotions. That those who watch the videos or read the ads might be unemployed and do they really have all what they want. What if they could make $40.000/month with just one click.

It's a bit harder to sell a product like yours. To sell the product you want to sell you have to build up a relationship with the people you want to sell it to. The need to know that you are a reliable and trustworthy person. So you could use the book in many different ways. You could have people opt into your autoresponder and build up trust that way and generally offer your help and support. You could also try to sell the book without that but then offer your full support in whichever program that they are doing.

Personally I would think that the e-book would be a good solution to offer people who opt into your list, as a gift. So when you send out solo ads for a program you are part of or other things you name it, you could offer people this e-book when they opt in. As long as you are offering some value in the e-book, I definitely believe that it could work.

The truth is that you need to learn a lot and work really hard to become successful. The truth is that most people can't accept this simple fact, that's why the hype sells waaaay better.

What jonasgr said is right. By the end of the day, how many ebooks that you sell will be determined by how good you are at marketing yourself. This rule apply to every marketer, online or offline, regardless if they are honest or not.

After talking to a friend today about our IM businesses, we both agreed that we will not resort to the get rich quick schemes.

We talked about the possibility of making a lot of money touting an easy, push the button mentality of get rich quick. However, we agreed we will not compromise our integrity nor our reputation by promoting such a scheme.

I believe you can be successful being completely honest.

I have been successful for decades and I have no intention of compromising my principles now or in the future.

In answer to question, "Can you make money telling the truth?" Absolutely.

Honestly, I started like 2 months ago with a recommendation to a SEO membership program to just get my feet wet first. And didn't buy any e-books or anything.

The program was like a "coach" for me, although it didn't of course teach me anything besides basics of SEO . (Guess why I'm on these forums now .) However, what they taught me was 100% honesty. It is possible to create successful business with great honest content.

Well, I could even give you examples of websites and e-book that weren't in money-making world. Heh.

Well, $250 a month now + some KWs ranking #1 (although they were fluke and aren't converting), but at least I'm smarter about IM and kinda "know stuff a bit", so I will not buy stuff just because of hype.

I think if you go around believing people are liars you won't be dissapointed.
The same works in reverse, if you believe people are honest, in time that will become your reality. You attract what you expect.

I earn money every day by telling the truth and the back
end monetization is astounding... and ongoing.

In fact, I find that the less hype I use the more money I earn.

The truth... It's an ass-kicking business model!

I would venture to say you could make a killing by telling the truth. The millionaire next door did quite well.

Anyway,

Your product would actually be unique, and, outlast the garbage. No need to rehash because your work would be classic, solid, and, hopefully entertaining.

I always say, if you can sell a lie you can sell the truth. Make your copy strong, and, the product even stronger. Put just as much time into your product as you do the copy.

People buy dreams, and, it don't matter what the path to the dream is, as along as the outcome is success they will buy it. Sell the possibility of success through the true path.

Looking forward to your product.

The heart of this issue reminds me of ta line in the Jack Nicholson/Tom Cruise movie, "A Few Good Men" which was "YOU can not handle the truth!". The truth is more than important but it will not sell because people will keep buying hype as long as they believe there is a magic product. Unfortunately, people choose to prey on this group of people as they are the majority.

People have to realize on their own whether they are really being helped by buying hype the the hype sellers have to learn to have a conscious (for those that do not have one now). At that point buyers have to make an active decision to "handle the truth" and then they will be ready for it and only buy something they know will help them work towards their goal (yes work)

Personally I can not only handle the truth but expect and appreciate it. Those type of people will get the repeat customers and the respect they have earned.

Good post and more thought provoking then usual.

Personally I think hype should only be used for a competitive advantage that you have this is legitimate and doesn't harm the consumer.

I think you're on the right track to be honest and transparent with people and your sales will reflect that.

Of course like I said, the only thing you should hype is why you are different from the next internet marketer and how you will help not harm.

Treat people like people with awesome customer service and the sales will follow...

Yes, I have to agree with that and you can make money by telling the truth. Honesty will also play a vital role in promoting your business or sales, the more transparent you are, the more credible is your name. As what others would say, Truth is more strange than fiction, since people sometimes cannot handle or accepts the truth. I will also have to agree with what fellow warriors have stated from Tom Cruise's movie, "A Few Good Men" the line blurted by Jack Nicholson when Tom Cruise's character demanded that he wants the truth, Nicholson answered back "You can't handle the truth". Continue to be honest and transparent in your work.
People who are using hype mostly will try to do anything to make money. Although we cannot really blame why these people prefers to use hype, but actually clients and customers nowadays prefers to listen and read an honest presentation of products and not just the typical hype style just to persuade people for their product.

Yes, you can sell while telling the truth, you just have to build a list first. I came into this market thinking you have to sell using hype but you don't. I've learned from a few guys that use ALMOST no HYPE and no big red letters on their sales letters. They make over 100k to 300k per year. I had one client sign up for my one year coaching program for 15k to 30k while telling them that there were risks involved with signing up etc.. I was also the Rep of The Year at Time Life Libraries when I was 21. I told my customers the truth while the script had a "white lie" in it. I made over 5100 sales over the phone while telling the truth. If you believe in telling the truth and are confident, you can still make lots of money. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

There is a saying that honesty is the best policy but nowadays this is not really a big issue that one has to deal with in terms of making your business sold.

This question has come up many times here over the years.

The unfortunate situation is that because of all the hype and false claims - people have been trained to expect unrealistic results and therefore also are 'hoping' that the hyped up claims are real and will work for them.

Therefore - you won't get your message above the noise without adding a little sizzle to the way you describe it.

It's been said here before that while people buy the sizzle - you can still provide the juicy steak. But if you don't provide sizzle then they won't care how great the steak is.

Hype sells to people who are desperate and want an easy answer - hard work is not the answer most people want, so trying to tell them that the hype is false and hard work is needed will get you ignored by that market.

So - if you want to help those people you need to offer what they want but give them what they need.

This is why I don't make many IM products - because I can't bring myself to juice-up the language just so they'll listen to information that is much more powerful than what they're being fed elsewhere.

It's a bit of a catch-22 situation. If you want to help them you need to meet them at their level in order to get their attention.

There are plenty of people who don't know their ass from their elbow as far as marketing is concerned that are making great money selling rehashed stuff to people and always trying to make every marketing element sound like some new strategy.

Good luck to you if you want to go up against them.


Andy

It really depends on your view of marketing and the goals you have set for your business.
If you are thinking about building a business which is going to be a stayer and you want to establish yourself as an authority of some kind then you have only one choice.
On the web, communications pass rapidly from one person to the next and it is too easy to shoot yourself in the foot before you have even begun. A hyped product may or may not be true but you will only know this by researching it properly.
If claims made in the hype prove to be untrue or the product turns out to be a scam then you as a promoter of the product may be tarred with the same brush as the creator.This may damage your reputation which in the long run affects your business.
Decide then; are you in the business to stay or to make a quick killing, that will dictate your choice.
Remember however that reputation and integrity are easily lost by a wrong decision if you value these then there is really only one choice.

Excellent topic above Hi everyone, my first post....lol

I am currently building my own website for the niche of "Making Money Online".

My plan of attack is to bring honesty back to the market by promoting the tried and tested, no scam programs, softwares and websites that are out there.

High on my list will be to promote "Warrior Forum & Warrior Plus" as the first port of call for customers to review the many tried and tested products here before getting scammed.

There are many great Free Affiliate Programs and List Building options around atm. Newbies just need to be pointed in the right direction

I am putting my career on this, to build a network like WP giving people all I possible can for Free to gain Trust & Build a Friendship Building a mega list in the process of like minded people who want to make an honest income online.

Imagine if you had a customer base like that of WP supporting you!
(but will will take a fair amount of work to achieve)

I am only one man and open to any offers of JV, partnering, or just working together with others to achieve this goal. One will build such a reputation as WP have here, that one can't go wrong. As we all are aware, there are no get rich quick stints!

I aim to build a free member base of thousands to start with, promoting several Free opportunities! Ideas central for online money making

Affiliate Marketing is the Best, and can be done Free! AND HONESTLY......

Look forward to meeting all here

Regards,

Making Money Downunder
(yes i'm from OZ....lol)

You have to decide who your market is. I make money by telling the truth, but I don't sell Get Rich Quick schemes.

That market is not interested in the truth. They won't even look at your sales page if it doesn't promise riches beyond your imagination without skills or work involved. That's the dreamer market.

I personally don't market to them, and they wouldn't be interested in my products if I did.

being truthful works better in the end, but only for those who have a relationship with you and know that you dont recommend crap products.

you have to gain their trust so they know that when you mention a product or a service that it is probably in their best interest to take a long hard look at it. You have to behaviourly train your list to not respond to the hype. that part can be done.

the problem you will run into is that many of the IMers behaviourly train their list TO respond to hype. .They push these over hyped products consistently.

what happens is that when you use truth marketing and get traffic from a JV with a list that is used to buying over hyped get rich quick type of products, your conversion rates will be awful.

but i do believe that if you provide real value to your customers you can make a decent living and build a solid business you can be proud of.

but doing jv's for quick traffic (which is the norm for product launches in the IM market) is probably not going to work very well.

In my opinion you will make money long term ONLY if you tell the truth.

Lies can get you easy quick cash but you won't be building a proper online business.

A proper working online business is not about lies or scam but works when you give out real and useful information/service :rolleyes:

It's not easy, but yes, it is possible. People like it. It takes longer to build your audience, but that audience is easy to keep.

It's also much easier to tell that list you f!#ked up. If you tell people that you're going to do X and Y and Z to make money, and you lose a bunch of money trying it, you can go "that totally did not work" and they nod their heads and say "right on, honesty and transparency, good on ya."

But if you've got a list built on hype, and you go "that totally did not work," your audience is more likely to go "you are a tard ball, you don't know how to make money, you lied to us you butt-humping sonnamabitch."

It's all about perception, I think. If you use hype to sell, they expect NEVER to hear anything negative. If you use honesty, they expect to get a mixed bag, so you can give them one. You can actually say "you know, this product kind of sucks, but it's really cheap and I guess it's worth it for the price - so here's my affiliate link" and people will buy it. Hypemeisters can't do that.

Here is the thing: you have to tell the TRUTH.

What you need to consider is that truth is relative to both the "teller" and the "observer".

There are also parts of the TRUTH that do not fit into the "listner's" paradigm. The reality, as I know it, means that you will have to omit certain things until the listener is ready.

There are moralists out there who will judge me on that statement. Well, that doesn't change the reality that we are all at different stages, and we are only able to learn in proportion to our experience.

That's why ACTION is so important, you gain more experience, and you get access to a greater amount of TRUTH.

Of course you can make money by telling the truth. Admittedly, the **** buzz generated a lot of sales from less than truthful advertising, but then again weight loss remains a rather healthy market. As for IM, I am convinced people are placing higher value on the truth than ever before, as many hopefuls are becoming more jaded that much faster nowadays.

I feel making money is getting easier all the time, but largely and almost exclusively due to my increased education and experience - not some gaudy course.

~J

You can make money by telling the truth, but, depending on what you are selling, not as much as you might want. It primarily depends on your niche.

If you are selling How-To titles in physical niches (nearly anything but IM) and have good products, you can make good money by telling the truth. Some niches have a lot of hype that prospects need to wade through, but you can still eventually do pretty well. (Think "lose 100 lbs. and get into a bikini for summer" kind of titles for possible problems.) However, there are still a lot of less-than-truthful vendors in these niches, so it can sometimes take a while to be recognized as one of the "good guys".

If you are selling into the IM niches, my experience is "not so much".

Far too many folks are looking for the easy button, or some automatic way to get rich without any effort on their part, and there is still an incessant flow of vendors that are madly trying to fill the emotional hole these folks are sitting in. It would seem the vast majority of folks interested in IM are looking for free and easy, so some vendors have stepped in to give them what they are looking for. Unfortunately, little, if any of the "promises" of over hyped product sales pages are ever met, so the folks keep searching, and buying...

If you are trying to sell into that mess, you are going to have a hard time getting any attention, and without attention, you can't expect to see the sales.

I know it is possible to make money in IM by telling the truth, but it is a slow, arduous process that is frustrating if you aren't willing to compromise your personal ethics to pay the bills.

Why is it this way?

I think there are a lot of factors, not the least of which is the exposure to media at an early age. In the U.S. at least, kids spend a ton of time watching television and absorbing advertisements that are all focused on instant gratification of one sort or another. Many, if not most commercials portray their product as the answer to their dreams, in one way or another. Guys, want women to hang all over you? Buy this after-shave, or drink this beer, or brand of scotch. Gals, want to have guys lined up for dates? Buy this Perfume, or line of clothing...

It's not just commercials, it's television shows and movies too. Everything is instant. Got a problem? It is solved by the end of the 17 minutes of the television show (plus commercials), just like magic.

We have been training our folks to expect, even in some cases, demand instant gratification. With this, it is getting increasingly difficult to be completely honest and sell into this demographic. Yes, there are still discerning folks out there, and there are even more that will listen, if you can get their attention.

Why do folks continue to buy crap that doesn't meet the hype?

Partly from hope. Partly to blame someone else. There is a subset of folks that will purchase a product that they KNOW can't possibly work, on the HOPE that perhaps it can, and solve all of their problems. There are others that continue to buy (over and over) and get burned every time, because they can then say "I tried, but it didn't work, it's not MY fault." By blaming it on someone else that ripped them off, they live happily ignoring their own lack of real action in improving their life. Fortunately, not all folks are wired this way.

The answer (finally).

Yes, you can make money by telling the truth, you are just selling into a smaller market (folks that want to be told the truth, or are willing to work)...

Some people have stated that you can't make "a lot" of money in IM without the hype, I agree. But hype doesn't MEAN lies. There is a difference between the two.

I know several people that are VERY transparent in the Make Money niche that make over 200k per year PROFIT. That may not be a lot of money to you but it's a lot to most people.

I've seen it done in the weight loss niche as well.

It CAN be done, if that is your goal and you stick to it. I've seen "straight up" lies on clickbank make money sales pages but I had to buy the product to "see". I couldn't believe it! If that's what you think you have to do to sell, you're mistaken. But if you want the top 50 clickbank super affiliates to promote your product you BETTER have a high EPC. I think that's when people started pushing the lies.

I made more sales as a sales man telling the truth and made MORE MONEY. This requires skill though.

You have to HAVE SKILL to sell without lying. You have to be "creative" and use some "hype" because most people buy what they want online not what they NEED.

Hi,

See attached. It is the famous optical illusion of a young lady or an old hag.
Same thing but different truths because people see it differently.

And the truth is, everyone has different realities as well.

Hype to someone is reality to another. Hard to someone, easy to another.

Some WSOs are selling their "practical experience" in making $XXX amount.
When implemented by buyers, they get varying results.

Varying results are caused by different levels of focus, different quality of implementation, different depth of efforts, difference in environment and different amount of resources.... as well as different understanding of the same thing.

Thus THE SAME METHOD will always give varying Results => different Realities.

Therefore, your report has to cut across a lot of "different realities".

IMHO, a good route would be creating a List of How-To's with a pair of interesting case studies for each.

Would be covering different realities but you're still telling the truth.

Its the only way to build true wealth, not disposable riches.

If you want to stick to your convictions and always tell the truth, then get into a market or devise a strategy in which the truth is essential.

Yes you can make a lot of money without hype and telling the truth. I have since 2004 online. My main site is completely anti-hype and I think that's why it's still around since launching in 2007. 4 years is an eternity online for a membership site and I've seen a lot of sites come and go.

I think mine has lasted because I've never used hype to push it. Sure it doesn't bring in a big flood of traffic initially but i've found that I get members signing up, quitting, coming back 2 or 3 or 4 times because they always tell me that they like that I don't hype things and I do not spam them with offer after offer after offer like everyone else does.

So yeah it's possible, but it's a whole different way and I think I'm in the minority in my style of no hype.

jideofor,

Over the past 10 years i have created many ways to make extra money and for each idea i have wrote an ebook on it that i sell online and on all my website sales pages, forum post, etc. i always tell the truth as there is no reason to lie as the customer is either going to like what you have to offer and buy it or not buy it, it's that simple, so i see no reason to lie to try and get a sale, because you will just have a high refund rate.

Just my 2 cents,

Martin

Yes. You can make money by telling the truth. I believe that by telling the truth you gain a good reputation. Good reputation is necessary in building a good relationship with your target clients.

I always Tell Truth But there is no worth no value and no money at all. even my truth pull myself in a digg. this is just a joke which is taking by people against my truth.

Hype and being truthful are not - or atleast shouldnt be - two different things.

People talk about hype like its a bad thing. Without hype , nobody would have bought the iPhone. When it was released it was not the best mobile device available - it couldnt even send MMS! And there are lots of other examples too..

IMO hype is just a way of portraying the features of your product(s) as actual benefits people can relate to.

When people here talk about hype, I think they are refering to outright lies, which of course is a different thing and I agree, not good.

Most people are looking for the quick fix. They want the money without the work. I couldn't agree more with you. I have purchased the domain infoproductreports.com and plan to start doing what you mentioned. The only twist, is that I won't sell a report, I will just give it to them for an opt-in. Please PM me I would love to chat with you.

Thanks;

Brian.

Just explain how the truth is what is REAL, and if they want to make REAL money, they should pay attention.

@ jideofor - What are you really selling here? I see a lot of value in a report on which product is the real deal and which is just hype. Having experienced the tricks and the gimmicks and the ethically sold products - you can deffinitely help a lot of people with this knowledge.

In my opinion - buzz and marketing tactics sell really well. And - better be an honest seller and sell a lot of good stuff than let the "others" who are good at marketing and sell not as much value in their products as you do win the clients. I mean - there are $997 products that are only 4 teleclasses and that's all there is in their program. For me this is uber expensive.

Do you have a business already? You can have such report as a low cost ebook or report. Then - you can make reviews of the good programs and the bad programs. Anyways - affiliate commissions are awesome.

And, additionally in your email you'll be sharing your love for the truth.What do you think?

I make my living by telling the truth, so yes, it can be done. Grab the latest copy of Seth Godin's updated classic, ALL MARKETERS ARE LIERS (Tell Stories) and it will give you some great insight on how to use the power of telling a story to sell virtually any product or service.

RoD

Why do you think that scam directories rank so high in the search engines? People love the truth, or at least what they think is truth.

But to answer your question "can you make money telling the truth?"
Yes and lots of it. If a product is bad, tell the world. If it is great, do the same. People, especially in IM, are not dumb. 90% of people can tell when something is up.

The best benefit of telling the truth is not the money (even though it is great), but being able to lay in bed at night knowing that you're actually helping people.

I actually tested out being 100% transparent/truthful with a recent site (no hype or BS). That site has been the most profitable I have ever created in the shortest amount of time. Proof that you should always use truth in all of your marketing.

Look at some of the most sold WSOs, there sales copy is all lies, but some of the quality and honest products fail.

I totally get where you are coming from. The MLM business is just the same.

I totally agree. Tell the truth, and tell it well. I have lived my life ethically up to now and I don't intend to change that.

TELL THE TRUTH, AND TELL IT WELL. Great Motto for IM success!

There is no money in selling the "truth." Because, and I'm sorry to burst your bubble here, but there is no such thing as "truth". It's all interpretation and perspective. You might be busting your ass for a year before you make your first sale online or you might make it tomorrow and be a millionaire by next year. What's the truth here?

Money is made selling SOLUTIONS. Forget the truth. Truth doesn't feed me. Truth doesn't get me laid. Truth doesn't solve my back pain. Truth doesn't pay my mortgage. I don't care about the truth, if I was interested in hearing that I would go to church and have it handed to me for free (or their version of the truth at least)

No, people pay for solutions. In the end, the only real "truth" is: Did you help them get what they wanted or did you not?

And the truth is, if you really cared about the truth that much you'd be giving it away for free anyway.

Trust me you will make more money if you tell the truth because your customers will always believe you and buy from you again

if you used hype, they will only buy from you once, sure you can make a lot of money from new customers everyday but in the long term telling the truth is the key..

Ya i can make money, thought its not so easy in today's world but also its not like impossible. A real success can be get able only via truth. Money which has made from liar way has no longer use or benefit.

Some good responses.

Let me put it a different way. How can you not make money being honest?

It gives you a much more solid platform to stand on and gives people the confidence they can deal with you.

That then can/does lead to return customers because being honest means you stand behind your product communicate with your buyers and that gives them more reason to go back to you.

Of course... You would also have to be this way naturally people don't like to be lied to and if you pretend to be nice or honest it will bite you in the butt, so it is best to consider the fact the people you are appealing to inevitably are the ones who make or break you.
Honesty it's what's demanded.
-WD

Scams annoy me. They really annoy me.

If it really only cost $29.97 to become a millionaire, everybody would be doing it.

Thing is, there are already lots of websites out there telling people the truth about online money making.

But they seem to be hidden beneath all the scams...

For all of you who think that you cannot be successful and make money -- I don't want your products. They have to be pure crap. I don't want to do business with you -- I don't want you for neighbors. It's people like you who make it difficult for those with integrity....but only for awhile. Reputation sells, too - but not the kind you are developing.