Marketing With Integrity On The Internet
Like most novices I am trying to establish an ethical way of making money online without resorting to writing sales letters that:
1/ Blatantly lie about income stats.
2/ Invent characters that supposedly found success with their system and hence sell their blueprint i.e. "16 year old makes $$$$$$$ in 3 months!"
3/ Sales letters that tell you what the product is not but very little as to what the product is about. How can anyone make an informed decision to buy a product or service based on this kind of sales letter.
4/ Upsells should be identified on the sales letter, perhaps not the price but certainly what is available.
5/ Pre-sell videos that go on forever with no means of pausing or fast forwarding.
6/ Emails from so called Internet Marketers stating they recommend this product because it has worked for them or it has been produced by someone they know very well. I once opted in to the lists of many of these marketers and the emails I received promoting the same offer were not very different at all, it seems everyone knows everyone else.
7/ The sites that carry many of these products have less integrity than many of these marketers by allowing these sales letters without questioning the authenticity of the content.
8/ Marketers with programming knowledge or the funds to outsource who create systems that insert different names or locations in sales letters that make it seem local to your location. I'm certain there are numerous other underhand systems created by marketers in order for them to capture a prospect.
The list goes on................................................ .............
Over the past week I have received many emails relating to the recent Google algorithm update and the effects it will have on the industry. To me it's common sense that at some point Google will get wise to most of these tactics and many marketers will lose their main livelihood. Already many of the so called money making systems that have been produced by these people are now obsolete and will not work in the US and probably the rest of the world in the not too distant future.
It's also amusing to me the number of times I see comments all over the web extolling the virtues of the Warrior forum which I wholeheartedly endorse. However, many of us log into the forum to search for reviews from people who have bought the kind of products introduced to us by these so called marketers. Why would we do that if we trusted in the integrity of the person promoting the product? We don't! That's the sad issue, we go on receiving these emails (voluntarily) and researching these products in the hope that one day there will be a genuine product from an ethical marketer that does not follow the IM crowd but considers integrity as his/her byword.
On occasions when I have thought I had found that certain internet marketer that was different from the crowd ultimately they end up down the same road as all the rest. Even some of the WSO special offers turn out to be re-hashed previous offers despite the so called favorable comments associated with them.
When Google takes action everyone in this community tends to re-visit their business models to ensure they comply with the new initiatives and yet everyone is aware of what Google is trying to achieve. Whilst I agree that they have too much power I do believe they are ethical and they do act with integrity.
These days automation is at the core of most new product launches. Whether to promote site creation, automatic posting, automatic backlinks etc. etc. all they are doing is bucking the system and will be prone to obsolescence when Google gets wise. Where will this leave the ordinary person that has bought these products once they become totally useless? Let me answer that, we will be the target for new re-hashed products that once again will try and buck the system.
Google governs most things on the internet because of their ultimate power but why does this industry not have its own regulatory body? If this exists then please steer me in the right direction so I may look out for their seal of approval on sales letters, emails etc.
These are purely personal views but I'm sure I echo the thoughts of many in this community and it would be interesting to know how other people feel including the many experienced marketers who offer these products.
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Gary Smith
PHP Developer and aging geek
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