Internet Marketers Have No Class...you may agree after reading this

Well she explained that she really was seeking more info like the link was suggesting...she just didn't get it after she clicked...or at least felt she didn't.

I too agree that she wouldn't have bought anyway.

What she said was just a way for her to put the blame for not
purchasing on someone else. Next time, she'll say that car salesmen are
serial murderers the way they try to sell you on HumVees

Igor

P.S: money has no conscious or ethics. It will come to those who know
how to attract it. We-internet marketers-attract money by selling stuff.

Now, if she has a problem with that-it's HER problem... Internet marketers (for the most
part) are really nice people!

Excellent advice. So many people think that you should aim to please the masses. That is absolutely wrong. You should target and aim to please the buyers. The rest can kiss your ...

Most people think that hoards of traffic is the key to success. Ok, that is one way to achieve some success, I guess. The better way is to get traffic that wants to buy your products. It will be much less, but more effective. Focus on more money, not more traffic.

LOL Walmart is a big plot, huh? And Ray thanks for pointing that out. I just thought this one lady had an interesting point, whether I'll swich my way of doing business to adjust to her suggestion is another thing.

HILARIOUS, but ABSOLUTELY true

Kingsley

That sums it up perfectly.

That's not to say that there aren't loads of scummy people in IM, but I'm thinking more of people who lie about their background to claim expertise in subjects that they know little or nothing about and other dishonest stuff like that.

I really think the woman had a very valid point. Although, we may not entirely go by her suggestion but to put in mind what she is talking about when building sales pages may be a great idea. No body wants to click on something and not get the info they're looking for.

I wouldn't base any business decisions on the fact that one woman judges an entire industry by a one time unsatisfactory experience. At least, that is the way it sounds by the story you related.

Tina

I can't believe you haven't taken the time to learn MRML - Mind Reading Markup Language. :rolleyes:

Absolutely agree.

It's amazing at just how many times most IMers accept positive feedback, but dismiss any other (negative) feedback completely.

In order to be successful, you need to give the customers what they want, not what you want ...

Enjoy what you do, provide real value and the rewards will present themselves to you ten-fold.

I totally agree with you Nahar, trust is a very essential ingredient in being a successful marketer.
If the woman was told to "click here for more info", then more info should have been provided and not a sales letter. The marketer should have taken her to a presell site first where she would get more info as earlier informed and then told to buy if she wanted more. It's all in the choice of words:
"Click here for more info" is different from "Click here to Buy Now"

Maybe it would be best to split test with headline that correlate with articles that link to it. For example, an article discusses how to whiten one's teeth naturally. Then you're taken to a sales page selling a product that list 101 ways to decrease your dental expenses. Instead of the Headline focusing so much on just 101 ways to decrease your dental expenses, maybe it can say something more like, How Naturally Whitening Your Teeth Can Save You a Bundle Along with 100 Other Tips for Saving Money on Dental Care. Something along those lines.

Eric,

I usually say I run an online business, but I've really been proud of my marketing lately, but maybe you're right...keeping it to myself and the people that need to know will spare me some humilation. LOL

__________________________________________________ _______________

This guy has a point.... I mean why share insights to people who does not understand you or what you do....? It would all be just a waste of time and effort..... But you can spend time to people who are inline with your point of view....

Am I right saying this? lol...

Don't you just love how they have the simple things all the way in the back. Like eggs and milk. I go into walmart for something like bread and come out with a t-shirt, a cd, some new juice in a pretty bottle and not to mention I forget the bread.

Maybe sales letter are loosing their impact, I mean, its apparent they still work, but maybe not as good as they used to. Thanks for pointing that out...any suggestions on how we can make a sales letter look less like a sales letter (maybe thats impossible, maybe we should focus on sales page versus sales letter)??

So, basically, she wants web pages to read her mind and take her only to the parts of the page she really wants to read. Sure, piece of cake.

I'm getting a kick out of some of the replies here. A woman giving her honest opinion that she didn't like an experience she had, and many of you are ready to label her as a wretched, freebie-seeking whiner.

Without seeing the article or the sales page she landed on.

Wow...

> She may have been hit with a type of "bait and switch", where the product was only marginally related to the article subject.

> She may have been ready to buy something that matched her specific concerns, as identified by the content of the article she clicked from, but either didn't or couldn't find something that matched what she was led to expect.

> The sales letter she was directed to could have been tacky, over-hyped nonsense. Don't tell me you never see that online...

I think it would make an interesting test.

Create a sales letter that includes anchors for the benefits related to articles promoting the letter page, and link directly to the anchor. See if the conversion changes. There might just be a surprise waiting on the other side of the test, who knows?

I know that, from a personal standpoint, I'm more open to the message at the end of a link if it a) delivers on the promise of the origin and/or b) doesn't break the flow of my stream of consciousness.

Thanks for sharing...that's what I love about this forum, you always run across a great tidbit of info you can take, apply, and succeed with...or hopefully succeed with.

If you draw conclusions from one person's comment - you'll end up with a lot of conclusions and totally confused.

If you have quite a few people who click your article link to the sales page and then quickly leave the site - you might want to look at your methods.

An article which promises one thing and leads to something else won't be effective. I've seen that frequently and neither the article nor the site was especially bad - but they weren't properly connected.

In this case, if an article claims to click for full information...it might work better if it leads into a sales page that starts with that expanded information. In marketing, your article, opt-in page, sales pages, etc are pieces of a puzzle you are putting together. If they don't fit well, they won't be as effective.

It happens with people building lists, too. They offer a freebie - or have signup claiming to provide tips or solutions - and then they blast their list with one promotion after another instead of planning an email campaign where the messages relate in some way.

kay

When I try to make sense of it all I agree with your assumption...still no need to associate me with the "tacky" marketer LOL. And Costa, you shouldn't care...I just wanted to know the thoughts of my fellow warriors. The comment got me to thinking and I was hoping by sharing this incident someone could make sense of it all or maybe even point out something I missed.

Hi Shaun (post# 37),

...and presumeably, absolutely nothing else matters whatsoever in business?

Not pride, integrity, honesty, etc. You can be as spiteful, arrogant, loathesome, dishonest, cowardly, bullying etc as you like - as long as the bottom line is good, nothing else matters?

What kind of business are you in? Is no-one looking up to you as an example? Would you be more profitable (long-term) if your customers/prospects did?

Hi Costa (post# 56),

It seems to me to be a bit of a black or white extreme to think that you have to be either completely tacky or completely penniless.

Is it not possible to achieve a middle-ground where one can be successful whilst also maintaining integrity?

Amongst this present company, it would appear that some would consider me a fool for placing importance on such a seemingly unnecessary trait. But despite all of the power-talk about bank accounts and bread on tables, in my experience genuine integrity is the one thing that opens more doors than anything else, and pertinent to the point - more than anything else it reduces the amount of convincing and selling that needs to be done.

For example - many successful people that I encounter consider pushiness as neediness, whereas they consider someone who maintains their integrity at all costs and is willing to turn down financial gain when 'other' costs are too high as the mark of real class and real success.

So is the level of 'tackiness' projected completely irrelevant after all, around here?

Hypothetically - if someone offers you a deal that obviously compromises your integrity to a degree but the rewards are high - do you decide that to refuse it shows a lack of ambition?

Or do you consider that the person making the offer may have success, business smarts AND integrity - and they are making the offer to you purely as a test in order to establish whether you would sell THEM out to a higher bidder?

Again - are you sure that the level of tackiness that you project is of absolutely no detrimental consequence or worthy of any kind of consideration, whilst pursuing a more profitable business?

Is this not possibly short-sightedness? Is a sensible balance between the two not preferrable in terms of long term success and exponential growth?

Never, ever, ever, ever...go by what ONE person says to you.

I would KILL for a 10% conversion rate on all my products.

That means 90% of the people who went to your offer thought it sucked.

You will never please everybody and listening to one person as if it's the
gospel, is the kiss of death in this business.

Gah, I really hate those dehumanizing work-badges. The second people spot you wearing one, the second they stop treating you like a regular human being.

You want the Kin, which does indeed have Zune capability. There was a great deal of upheaval around the question of which platform would be used on it, exactly, and while I can't give any details... it's the closest you can get to a WM7 phone right now.

We have a small army of those in the western Washington area (and another in the QA department at Red West). If you drop by the Redmond campus, they can give you a form to fill out, and you'll usually get to test one or two games a year on the average. There's no cash payment for it, but you'll generally get to select one of several software packages as compensation - and there's usually at least one you can easily flip on Craigslist for $300-$500.

Oh, and I "retired" from Microsoft 53 weeks ago tomorrow. So the Kin isn't quite what it could have been, since it spent several critical months without my guidance...

I like that answer, mind if I use it? LOL

I hate em' too. I mean I understand representing the company, but people should note we (the badge wearers) are NOT the company.

But of course, I just thought she made an interesting point and wanted to share with the forum.

Ya those RE:'s that aren't RE:s are super "tacky" Especially when its from someone I know I would never email...I have no interest in Viagra thank you, nor did I email anyone inquiring about it LOL

Online or Offline anyone whose doing marketing has to be fast on their feet and think outside the box, marketers are a ruthless bunch. But they are what make any business a success or failure.

The people that don't understand that are the people that will always be working for someone else.

This lady sounds like a hamburger flipper to me.

Aside from being a somewhat loaded term, as some people mentioned above, saying you're an "internet marketer" isn't even that great a description of what you do. Sure, you market yourself on the internet, but so do Google and Target and that new pizza shop downtown. Yet, those are all three very different businesses.

Like if you have an offline business, and someone asks what you do for a living, you don't say "I'm an offline marketer", despite the fact that your business may rely on offline marketing as a way of attracting customers. Saying you're an offline marketer would be true, but it doesn't really describe what you do.

I think the term "internet marketing" should be reserved for the actual process of promoting your product or service online and kept distinct from the main of what you really do (ie: create/sell information products, blogging, sell physical products, etc.), so when asked you would reply "I sell educational products and coaching online", or "I have a business selling products on Ebay/Amazon/wherever". Not only is it more accurate, but it avoids some of the negative associations attached to the term "internet marketer".

King, it may not be just one woman. How many business classes teach you that if one person complains, there may be many more with the same complain but choose to voice it with their feet, taking their trade elsewhere?

Do you, or any of the rest of the naysayers, really believe that she is thoe only person on the planet who may have formed a less than flattering picture of IMers because of the tactics they've experienced?

I'm not saying she's right. I'm saying that she may raise a point worth testing to find out for sure.

To denigrate her like many here have because she doesn't sing in the "numbers game" choir is unfair and may just be unprofitable.

After 20 years in the software industry, I'll tell you exactly what you can learn from user comments.

Users are stupid.

They don't know what they want, and will happily tell you to waste time and money doing something they will hate. And rather than admit they're a bunch of idiots who didn't know what they wanted, they'll go buy your competitor's product and claim it was for some other reason.

Does anyone here remember Microsoft Bob? All the user tests went great. They brought people in who nodded excitedly and talked about how wonderful the software was and how much they liked it. The technical press ridiculed the whole idea, of course, but all of those people said the software was awesome and they absolutely loved it.

Well, it turned out they didn't love the software for themselves. They loved it as a way to be condescending and insulting to other people. This software would be great for their grandmother, or their kids, or their idiot siblings. But nobody wanted it for themselves.

And that product actually made it all the way to store shelves. It's quite possibly the biggest software failure of all time. The only thing that made its way out of that failure was... Clippit. The little talking paperclip in Microsoft Office. Which, for years, people ridiculed and insulted - until it disappeared.

So, yeah. Ask me how much I listen to customers when they tell me how to market stuff.