by smiket
40 replies
How much do you care about selling quality products on the rocky road of IM? Are you just matching the consumer with his desires and it's his fault he doesn't know what he wants and what he should wish for? Is your ethics dictated by the niche you chose? Do you dislike goody two shoes that think they're better than anyone else or ambitious people that see the consumer as just another obstacle between them and their first million? Throw a stone at them here, they deserve it!
#affiliate #ethics #marketing #opinions #selling 101
  • Profile picture of the author Fazal Mayar
    Ethics are the most important for me. I don't care about $$ if ethics aren't involved. Internet marketing is just like any other business out there.
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    Blogger at RicherOrNot.com (Make Money online blog but also promoting ethical internet marketing)

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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      Ethics dictate what I will and will not do. They can make or break a person/business regardless if it is IM or not.

      Also, by saying this:

      Do you dislike goody two shoes that think they're better than anyone else or ambitious people that see the consumer as just another obstacle between them and their first million? Throw a stone at them here, they deserve it!
      Are you striving for creating a thread full of controversy? Just wondering, lol!

      Anyway, I find a flaw in part of what you said in the quoted portion of your post above. I don't believe that all "goody two shoes" think they are better than everybody else. When a person chooses to live their life walking the straight and narrow, it simply is a matter of them having to live with themselves and/or their conscience. It doesn't mean they think they are better than everyone else at all.

      Terra
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      • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
        Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post


        Anyway, I find a flaw in part of what you said in the quoted portion of your post above. I don't believe that all "goody two shoes" think they are better than everybody else. When a person chooses to live their life walking the straight and narrow, it simply is a matter of them having to live with themselves and/or their conscience. It doesn't mean they think they are better than everyone else at all.
        One of my favorite teachers had a way that you knew up front that you are no better or worse than he as you will be just as informed once the informational gap had been felled through his teaching.
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        • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
          Originally Posted by Clint Faber View Post

          One of my favorite teachers had a way that you knew up front that you are no better or worse than he as you will be just as informed once the informational gap had been felled through his teaching.
          He sounds like a very smart man.

          Terra
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          • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
            Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post

            He sounds like a very smart man.

            Terra
            Humble intelligence. I would agree.
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      • Profile picture of the author smiket
        Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post


        Are you striving for creating a thread full of controversy? Just wondering, lol!
        Terra
        Yes.
        Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post

        I don't believe that all "goody two shoes" think they are better than everybody else.
        Terra
        I know where I stand. I am just presenting different perceptions.
        Micah Medina : Ha
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        • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
          Originally Posted by smiket View Post

          Yes.
          Ha! I admire your honesty!

          Originally Posted by smiket View Post

          I know where I stand. I am just presenting different perceptions.
          Micah Medina : Ha
          Yes, I see.
          Perceptions to invoke controversy.

          Whoops! I didn't mean to rhyme. I think I've been reading too much Dr. Seuss to the little kiddies, lol!

          Terra
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  • Profile picture of the author Micah Medina
    I'm ethical. It might be so controversial to say this and I know I'm going to get in trouble for saying that I'm ethical but blah blah blah pffffft

    /cue 40 other people saying variations of this
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    • Profile picture of the author Ryan David
      If I can't deposit ethics in the bank, then I'm not interested.
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      • Profile picture of the author smiket
        Dr. Seuss rocks!

        Originally Posted by Ryan David View Post

        If I can't deposit ethics in the bank, then I'm not interested.
        Still, the other side is slacking!
        Or maybe they are, you know, ...intimidated?
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  • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
    I was looking at videos about ethics in the workplace the other day because someone refer to me as very ethical.

    Here is an entertaining one I came across.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Originally Posted by smiket View Post

    How much do you care about selling quality products on the rocky road of IM? Are you just matching the consumer with his desires and it's his fault he doesn't know what he wants and what he should wish for? Is your ethics dictated by the niche you chose? Do you dislike goody two shoes that think they're better than anyone else or ambitious people that see the consumer as just another obstacle between them and their first million? Throw a stone at them here, they deserve it!
    When I offer products, I do so as honestly and accurately as possible. If a consumer insists on ignoring my recommendations and stuffing money in my pockets, who am I to argue?

    As far as ethics depending on the niche, for me, it's the other way around. There are niches I avoid because I don't want to wrestle with ethical questions - for example, any of the health niches.

    And while I don't know RyanDavid well enough to make personal judgments, I find statements like his about ethics you can't deposit not mattering both troubling and distasteful...
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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

      And while I don't know RyanDavid well enough to make personal judgments, I find statements like his about ethics you can't deposit not mattering both troubling and distasteful...
      I hear you. It kind of negates the image his avatar is trying to convey, I think.

      Terra
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      • Profile picture of the author richardalveranga
        Put yourself in your consumer's shoes. How does it feel when you need REAL help and when you get half way through their content expecting your question to be answered, all you get is a box form to enter your name and email for more information just to be sold something that supposed to guarantee to solve your problem.

        Most would click out of the site or leave feeling disappointed.

        In most cases choosing one or the other will reveal a person's TRUE character and MOTIVE. Do you care about your Pockets or the People?
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        • Profile picture of the author IM Inc
          In general higher ethical standards are needed in IM arena. One may make a quick buck in the interim but without ethics and value it won't last for long.

          "A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world..."
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        • Profile picture of the author Jasmin27
          Originally Posted by richardalveranga View Post

          Put yourself in your consumer's shoes. How does it feel when you need REAL help and when you get half way through their content expecting your question to be answered, all you get is a box form to enter your name and email for more information just to be sold something that supposed to guarantee to solve your problem.

          Most would click out of the site or leave feeling disappointed.

          In most cases choosing one or the other will reveal a person's TRUE character and MOTIVE. Do you care about your Pockets or the People?
          I agree. If you give real value to people and you make money doing it, all the better. Ethics do count, otherwise it's just dishonesty and manipulation.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ryan David
        Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post

        I hear you. It kind of negates the image his avatar is trying to convey, I think.

        Terra
        Well I was joking to combat all the typical responses, but I was only HALF joking.

        Because from a business standpoint, it's easier to sell a quality product and treat customers right. If a customer says that a product broke on them, I could be a real PITA and ask them to send it back to me on their dime and I'll replace it. That would certainly limit the number of times I've probably been taken advantage of on my generous refund/replacement policy. However, I figure that instead of pissing off a customer that is already pissed off, I might as well win them back by doing more than what is expected by just sending a new one for free and letting them keep the original. I don't know if that's being ethical or just making my business stronger in the long-run.

        There are other things I do that may or may not be ethical, including spying on competition and keeping an eye on them. Nothing completely nefarious like trashing them online or anything, but maybe people would consider some of my moves unethical.
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    You have to respect your customers if you want to keep selling them your products or services. It’s a silly idea to be unethical and lose a customer who could keep giving you money, besides being something negative in general terms.

    Why should you treat your customers as if they were your victims?

    You should treat your customers as if they were your bosses, and make them feel that they can trust you. You should always try to make them happy.


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  • Profile picture of the author troy23
    It works both ways surely.
    What about the ethics of your customer?
    Some people just like to purchase, refund and still use the product.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Rosmer
    I really believe true ethics and profits go together in the long run. What i mean is you can sell people crap that doesn't work...for a while, but it will result in a poor reputation and that means in the long run your profits will suffer. High quality content and products are super important to me in part because I believe it's what's best for the business in the long run. Playing win-win is what works best if you intend to play for any period of time. i have a massive distaste for what doesn't work for people and wouldn't sell it, but I also believe this is a practical view for my companies, finally, I think there's an element of personal choice in what the clients choose to buy and I'm not going to hand hold them if they insist on something I wouldn't recommend.
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  • Profile picture of the author maddyy
    Ethics is an important part of this industry for a number of reasons.
    The first is morality and what comes around goes around...
    If you don't give quality how do you expect quality returns (In form of traffic, profit, customers, etc)
    The second is reputation, if you don't produce quality, your reputation can be harmed, not as in reputation in the world or on a big scale like "famous" but in terms of quality reputation, it is always best to be known for what you do good than what you do bad
    Another reason is you need to treat your business as real business, even if you do it as apart time or little bit of cash, ethics are something that will help you maintain a long term business and respect.

    Respect, Renown, Reputation, Reliablility.

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  • Profile picture of the author Alex P Abraham
    If i make money with a product or a strategy, then I know others can be also benefited using that. When you have a killer product, the buyers will promote it and brings more customers. Simple rule of karma
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  • Profile picture of the author SunilTanna
    Ethics is important.

    But it goes both ways: we need to draw a line between ethics and patronizing people.

    Ethics is being honest and fair in your dealing with others. Treating other people how you would like to be treated yourself. And yes everybody should do that!


    However a lot of people confuse ethics with protecting people from themselves. That is just plain patronizing. What I mean by this, is some people (oddly enough a lot of techies have this attitude) say things like:

    "I would completely understand this advert or sales pitch, and make an informed decision, but some stupid people might not, and it's unethical to therefore offer the product in this way"

    or "I don't like this product and/or have no need of it, it is therefore safe to assume that no intelligent person would want it, and therefore everybody who buys it is stupid and has been tricked, and the seller is a conman."

    To give an example, I've heard people say things

    "I wouldn't buy that tutorial because I could do the research myself online for free, and so could anybody else, so therefore the tutorial is a con", {error is to assume others have the time and ability and motivation to do their own reseaerch}

    or "I wouldn't buy this tool because I could create up my own solution, and anybody who buys has been tricked", {error is that anybody has the same skills and time - plus the person saying this frequently overestimates their own skills}

    or "I don't like X, therefore no sensible person would, and anybody who buys it has been tricked" {error is to assume everybody is the same. I don't like Mexican food myself... so nobody does?}
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    • Profile picture of the author smiket
      Originally Posted by SunilTanna View Post

      Ethics is important.

      But it goes both ways: we need to draw a line between ethics and patronizing people.

      Ethics is being honest and fair in your dealing with others. Treating other people how you would like to be treated yourself. And yes everybody should do that!


      However a lot of people confuse ethics with protecting people from themselves. That is just plain patronizing. What I mean by this, is some people (oddly enough a lot of techies have this attitude) say things like:

      "I would completely understand this advert or sales pitch, and make an informed decision, but some stupid people might not, and it's unethical to therefore offer the product in this way"

      or "I don't like this product and/or have no need of it, it is therefore safe to assume that no intelligent person would want it, and therefore everybody who buys it is stupid and has been tricked, and the seller is a conman."

      To give an example, I've heard people say things

      "I wouldn't buy that tutorial because I could do the research myself online for free, and so could anybody else, so therefore the tutorial is a con", {error is to assume others have the time and ability and motivation to do their own reseaerch}

      or "I wouldn't buy this tool because I could create up my own solution, and anybody who buys has been tricked", {error is that anybody has the same skills and time - plus the person saying this frequently overestimates their own skills}

      or "I don't like X, therefore no sensible person would, and anybody who buys it has been tricked" {error is to assume everybody is the same. I don't like Mexican food myself... so nobody does?}
      Your post clears up a lot of confusion, thank you. Being ethical means not knowingly, or even unknowingly(put your back into researching the product), selling junk.The first step is clearly defining "junk".
      There definitely are gray areas, though. I guess that staying away or not from those areas are a personal decision.
      I wonder how the marketers that work for Pepsi view what they do. Just out of curiosity, not because I'm judging.
      • it's tasty and it stimulates the brain's pleasure centers.
      • it packs a whooping 40g of sugar per serving, if I'm not mistaken, and it makes people fat.
      Is it the consumer's fault for misusing the product, drinking it in large quantities, in this case. Does it really matter whose fault is it, if the long-term use end result is almost always the same?
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        I'm a bit fed up of discussing it here, to be honest. It seems to me that the main problem is that in every single Warrior Forum thread on this subject (of which there are many - and this one's certainly no exception), there's a great deal of talking at cross purposes, because half the people posting are mistakenly using the word "ethics" to refer to something that's actually "morality" and not "ethics" at all.

        These are, of course, two different things, though some people apparently use the words almost interchangeably.

        Call me a churlish skepchick, but it really doesn't make for very productive or even communicative discussions.
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      • Profile picture of the author SunilTanna
        Originally Posted by smiket View Post

        Is it the consumer's fault for misusing the product, drinking it in large quantities, in this case. Does it really matter whose fault is it, if the long-term use end result is almost always the same?
        So you think it's immoral to sell a product which makes some people fat? Let's say cake. Since that seems a more straightforward case than soft drinks which bring in all sorts of other points, making the debate more complex.

        Eating too much cake makes people fat. So is it immoral to sell cake?

        If people go into the purchasing decision properly informed, I don't believe it is:

        Yes too much cake makes you fat

        But people enjoy eating cake.

        Other people like having cake for social events, such as birthday parties.

        Some people don't care that cakes make them fat. They are going to eat too much anyway, and choose to eat cake rather than say cookies or fried lard.

        The point is -- assuming that person has access to all the information -- it is up to them to make their own decision. If you think it is immoral, you are denying these people personal autonomy and effectively patronizing them. That might be okay, when talking about 5 year old kids, but when selling to adults, treat them like adults.

        In summary, I would say that denial of personal autonomy is fundamentally more immoral, than letting people make decisions (informed decisions by the way) that you might disagree with.
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        • Profile picture of the author Darrin Bentley
          You can have business ethics but be morally bankrupt. Morality is more based on our own personal belief system (i.e. what we believe to be right or wrong) vs ethics being more society based (i.e. follow these rules, etc).
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          A sucker MAY be born every minute, but that don't mean you have to take advantage of them.

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          • Profile picture of the author smiket
            Originally Posted by SunilTanna View Post

            In summary, I would say that denial of personal autonomy is fundamentally more immoral, than letting people make decisions (informed decisions by the way) that you might disagree with.
            Thank you yet again. When you target a specific segment of the population and aim to increase sales you actually know that someone is going to overindulge. The alternative to that is not optimizing further, leaving sales at the level that still provides them with choice. And your answer to this will be that is still limiting personal autonomy, if you try to limit their intake. These are murky waters.

            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            It seems to me that the main problem is that in every single Warrior Forum thread on this subject (of which there are many - and this one's certainly no exception), there's a great deal of talking at cross purposes, because half the people posting are mistakenly using the word "ethics" to refer to something that's actually "morality" and not "ethics" at all.
            Originally Posted by Darrin Bentley View Post

            You can have business ethics but be morally bankrupt. Morality is more based on our own personal belief system (i.e. what we believe to be right or wrong) vs ethics being more society based (i.e. follow these rules, etc).
            Now I see the difference. I should've followed the thread title ethics with a question about what I can and can't get away with. Or I should've titled it "morality".
            So, it would be ethical to sell suicide kits as long as they are legal in the country where you are selling them, they work as advertised, you supply the consumer with good quality instructions and maybe some possible side effects information.
            Still, the majority's morality forces us to adopt certain business ethics.
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            • Profile picture of the author SunilTanna
              Originally Posted by smiket View Post

              Thank you yet again. When you target a specific segment of the population and aim to increase sales you actually know that someone is going to overindulge. The alternative to that is not optimizing further, leaving sales at the level that still provides them with choice. And your answer to this will be that is still limiting personal autonomy, if you try to limit their intake. These are murky waters.
              Other people may make all sorts of decisions in their lives that I may disapprove of. I do not see it as my role in life - nor even possible - to stop them doing it, if they are able to make a free and informed decision.

              Likewise, I also may make all sorts of decisions in my life that others may disapprove of. And I do not want other people interfering with my free and informed decisions.

              Nobody is forcing people to buy cake (in my example).

              (1) If I describe the cake as delicious (and it is), then I do not think I have done anything unethical or immoral.

              (2) If I describe the cake as delicious (and it isn't), or I force people to eat cake, or I lie about the nutritional content of the cake - then I have done something improper.


              The reason why (1) is proper is that I did not decrease other people's personal autonomy. In fact, I actually increased it (by providing accurate information by helping them making a decision).

              The reason why (2) is improper is that by deception or force, I removed other people's personal autonomy.
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  • Profile picture of the author smiket
    Thank you for clearing that up. I'm a noob and I'm at the "how do I do it" stage. This thread is definitely helping me refine my selection process and thus it is productive for me
    But, excuse me for asking, maybe it is a stupid question: Why does it matter where your code of conduct comes from(religion, law, instinct, logic, etc.)? And one more: morality and ethics are so deeply interconnected; can you discuss one without the other?
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  • Profile picture of the author thedorchannel
    I agree with the many comments that say that if you want to be successful in the long run, you want to use good ethics. Scamming and tricking customers are a good way to get a few customers and a few transactions, but you'll have to work hard to get more after those customers leave frustrated and angry with you. However if the customer is satisfied with your product/service, they'll not only repeat, but refer others to you as well. This is how a good business grows.

    Being unethical ends up hurting you in the long run and for me, if you're not in it for the long run why be in it at all?
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  • Profile picture of the author brentb
    I personally follow these two rules:

    1. Don't lie to the consumer
    2. Provide appropriate information up front

    Other than that, people need to take some personal responsibility for their actions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ecommerce Advice
    Good ethics is a must - treat people how you would like to be treated. Your customers are king - without them you're nothing. You should look after each and every customer. Treat them as best you can - great service, great product = happy customer (and who knows they might recommend you and then your business grows)
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  • Profile picture of the author FraggleJ78
    Originally Posted by smiket View Post

    How much do you care about selling quality products on the rocky road of IM? Are you just matching the consumer with his desires and it's his fault he doesn't know what he wants and what he should wish for? Is your ethics dictated by the niche you chose? Do you dislike goody two shoes that think they're better than anyone else or ambitious people that see the consumer as just another obstacle between them and their first million? Throw a stone at them here, they deserve it!
    This is an AWESOME question. One that I bet will have a ton of different types of answers.

    Personally I would much prefer selling people products that will actually be useful to them.

    Now obviously in the world of IM there is way to many products, with the hundreds of new launches or products coming out on the market every single week. So it's clear a lot of people are more concerned with churning out low quality products, rather than focusing on what's truly important which is actually helping people find success.

    The numbers won't lie. Over 90% of people who start out online looking for ways to earn money from the internet, never make a single dime.

    Now is that because they don't have the skills? Or is it because the products actually don't show them how to really make money?

    From my experience, and having been around for a while, I've come to realize that most product creators truly understand how to make money online. But their products aren't actually teaching people what they know.

    Usually the products are only teaching a small portion of what it takes. And leave people left more clueless and chasing their tail than they were before.

    They'll buy a product on SEO and start working for months on getting stuff to rank, only to find out they have no idea how to build a list. Or how to get conversions from their website visitors.

    People just need to stop buying products. That probably goes against conventional wisdom because people need to "learn the skills" on how to market on the internet.

    What you're actually starting to see, is the big time marketers are realizing that people just aren't ever really going to be able to develop those skills without investing a sizable amount of time on trial and error. And a large amount of money.

    So they are starting to build done for your packages that allows new people to plugin to systems and start seeing results. Ones that provide the traffic, sales funnels, and conversions in order for someone to start seeing some actual results. Rather than chasing their tail learning the newest SEO tips and tricks that will end up netting them about .01 cents per hour if they don't know how to convert.

    So my opinion is to promote and sell only products that will truly help people see results. And to tell them to.... STOP BUYING CRAPPY PRODUCTS THAT TEACH YOU NOTHING USEFUL..
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by FraggleJ78 View Post

      From my experience, and having been around for a while, I've come to realize that most product creators truly understand how to make money online. But their products aren't actually teaching people what they know.

      Usually the products are only teaching a small portion of what it takes. And leave people left more clueless and chasing their tail than they were before.

      They'll buy a product on SEO and start working for months on getting stuff to rank, only to find out they have no idea how to build a list. Or how to get conversions from their website visitors.
      If I bought a product on SEO, and it actually worked to improve my rankings without jeopardizing my site, as promised, I'm a happy camper even if there's no material on list building or conversions.

      The best product creators tend to be specialists in some area as far as teaching goes, regardless of their competence in other areas.

      If I have a toothache, I'm going to a dentist rather than a proctologist, even though both deal with the digestive tract.:p

      In business, if I wanted to learn SEO, I'd go to a SEO specialist.

      If I wanted to learn list building, I'd go to a list building specialist, preferably one who operates in a similar market to my own.

      If I wanted to learn conversions, I'd go to a conversion specialist.

      In fact, that is how I went about it.

      I'm extremely wary of anyone who tells me they offer the whole enchilada, especially at the bargain basement prices most WSOs seem to go for these days.
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      • Profile picture of the author smiket
        Originally Posted by FraggleJ78 View Post

        .


        From my experience, and having been around for a while, I've come to realize that most product creators truly understand how to make money online. But their products aren't actually teaching people what they know.

        Usually the products are only teaching a small portion of what it takes. And leave people left more clueless and chasing their tail than they were before.
        This is not the only aspect that I was talking about, but you are right. So many products, plugins, themes, courses, gurus and strategies that turn out to be the result of half-baked ideas in the end and they are time consuming bumps on my road to success. Add to that the fact that most of them have upsales and further plans for your time and money, you can get lost in the confusion they create. And, regarding courses and gurus, maybe some of them are going to read this: teach me how to think, not what to think.

        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        If I bought a product on SEO, and it actually worked to improve my rankings without jeopardizing my site, as promised, I'm a happy camper even if there's no material on list building or conversions.

        The best product creators tend to be specialists in some area as far as teaching goes, regardless of their competence in other areas.
        I do agree with you, too, sir. But you are looking at things from a different perspective than mine, as a startup. I have 2 jobs and I do not have the time or the resources to go to a lot of specialists. I am absolutely certain, in fact I know, that there are people out there that have even a harder time at it than I do.
        I have decided that I want to learn my way into the business, not to buy my way into it. And, yes, I have a nagging suspicion that the process of the said business fragmenting into complex, specialized areas has started long ago and pretty soon it will be a lot more time consuming to learn the whole of it and it's going to be that much harder to get in if you're starting from scratch. But that is another topic.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by smiket View Post

          I do agree with you, too, sir. But you are looking at things from a different perspective than mine, as a startup. I have 2 jobs and I do not have the time or the resources to go to a lot of specialists. I am absolutely certain, in fact I know, that there are people out there that have even a harder time at it than I do.
          I have decided that I want to learn my way into the business, not to buy my way into it. And, yes, I have a nagging suspicion that the process of the said business fragmenting into complex, specialized areas has started long ago and pretty soon it will be a lot more time consuming to learn the whole of it and it's going to be that much harder to get in if you're starting from scratch. But that is another topic.
          No one is saying that you have to learn everything before you can start.

          Learn one method in its most basic form. Gain some experience so that you know which specialty you need to tap next to progress.

          Let's take one specific model many here follow:

          Traffic --> Landing page --> Email list --> Affiliate sales

          You don't need to be an expert in any of these areas to start. You just need to learn enough to get started:

          One traffic method that works for you
          One way to create a landing page and make it available
          One way to manage an email list
          One way to generate affiliate sales

          You may find all of those things in one product, or it may take as many as four. For that matter, you can learn all of those things here and by asking questions in some of the specialty sections.

          Maybe you find that your landing page does a pretty good job of converting visitors to subscribers, but you are struggling to get enough people to that page.

          That's when you leave the all-in-one solutions behind and find yourself a good traffic specialist to learn from. Again, if you pay attention to the people on this forum, you'll learn who to listen to and who is only interested in picking your pocket.

          Or maybe you decide that this model was a good learning experience and you want to sell your own products. You find yourself people who excel at teaching product development and learn to apply your affiliate experience to selling your own stuff.

          The problem with trying to learn everything as a newbie is that you don't know what you don't know. You'll find yourself needing to learn things you never would have considered until you've gone a few rounds with competitors.

          Learn to make money online the same way you eat an elephant, one bite at a time...
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          • Profile picture of the author smiket
            Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

            The problem with trying to learn everything as a newbie is that you don't know what you don't know. You'll find yourself needing to learn things you never would have considered until you've gone a few rounds with competitors.

            Learn to make money online the same way you eat an elephant, one bite at a time...
            Thank you. We could use more people like you.
            I did study on my own. Not nearly as much as I would like,or it is necessary, but a lot. Dropshipping, e-commerce, some SEO, switched to PPC, WP, landing pages(elements), keyword bidding, calls to action, relevance, value, keyword grouping, copywriting, persuasive and authoritative writing, list building, email marketing, some analytics, took my first peek at a color wheel and found out about heatmaps, although I didn't know how useful they would be, etc. I ran couple of campaigns and learned (learnt) even more. The whole learning process was chaotic, not structured, made of bits and pieces that I picked up here in there and were hard to put together. On the other hand, no one told me how things "have to be". Maybe I can exploit that to my own advantage.
            Now I am trying to find some networks with products that offer good quality stats and that I wouldn't feel bad about promoting. I believe in making the world a better place, especially when you have the power to do so; maybe I watched too much Star Trek when I was a kid.
            I figured out that I don't know !@!!@, so I determined that the only way to getting quality answers is asking quality questions. To ask quality questions I needed to do 2 things: let go of my ego and follow a well defined logical process. Getting back to finding products, I need to establish a set of criteria that sift through the wide selection. Ethics AND morality are definitely part of that set. That's why you get the pleasure of experiencing this thread .
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  • Profile picture of the author ImtheBrilliantest
    Without a doubt, ethics are the most important part. In my opinion, if you go about unethically, it'll catch up to you. Especially if it's somewhere on the internet, seeing how the internet never forgets, it'll come back bite you.
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