There will be a lot of people unhappy about what I am going to
reveal in this article. However, I think it is time somebody
spoke out about what is happening on this wonderful medium we
have come to know as the internet. What I am talking about are
the "sharp" practices engaged in by people offering all sorts of
dubious marketing plans.
Confusion, deception, hype and downright dishonesty abound on
the world wide web (www). I should know. Like tens of thousands,
perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people before me - I've
been caught. And it is highly probable that so many more will
continue to be caught in the future unless something is done to
stop it.
The www is the new frontier for those who seek to make money
from inexperienced people. It's quick, it's easy and it is so
impersonal. Specifically, I am talking about the selling of high
priced junk information (often referred to as "reports") to
unsuspecting customers. It's almost the perfect robbery.
Newbie website owners beware! There are hundreds of con-artists
and specious operators lurking out there in cyber space. They
are just waiting to pull you into their clutches.
How do they do it?
OK. What is the one thing that every new website owner has to
have? Answer - traffic. Pure and simple. If you don't have
traffic, you might as well not even have a website - unless, of
course, you just enjoy looking at it yourself.
Your quest for traffic demands that you seek knowledge from
those who profess to have it. And that is the root of the
problem. It seems that every second website seems to be selling
information on how to improve your website. With so many
experts, who do you trust?
Oh you can read the sales "blurb" (yeah, I know, my site has
"blurb" too. All websites use it) and be wooed by all the
so-called "facts" but who is offering the information and does
it really work? How do you separate credible information from
useless junk? There certainly is plenty of junk out
there.
There appears to be an increasing number of self-styled gurus
professing to know exactly how to drive that precious
traffic right through your site. In fact, if you believe
everything they promise, you will need to install a set of
traffic lights on your site just to control the massive flow.
(Or so they would have you believe!)
Your quest for knowledge can very quickly send your credit card
into debt hyper-drive, or, I should say, hyper-dive! Just enter
your details and zap - here it comes. It's the answer to all
your www dreams. (You wish!)
Let's examine some of the things you need to be vigilant about:
The information you pay for might be: - - widely
known among experienced net users - but not by you. If you want
to pay for this information it might just be worth it to
"fast-track" your education. In other words, you will be paying
for fairly basic information but you will learn something
from it. In that respect, the information can be good because
you can learn from the experience of others. Many "special
reports" and "secrets revealed" fall into this category.
However, some clearly do not. (PS: What type of credit card do
you have?)
- - available FREE all over the www. All you have to do
is look. "Seek and ye shall find". If you are lazy and you need
to be spoon fed then there are any number of hunters out there
who will line you up in their sights. The information is
probably current and will work but why pay for it when it is so
abundantly available at zero cost? (PS: What is your credit card
number?)
- - "old hat" information. The internet moves at such speed
that what worked several years ago or even several months ago
now doesn't work at all. This type of information is
totally useless and should be avoided. Often this ancient
information will even contain broken hyperlinks. Now that's a
real turn off. It says so much about the quality of the
information being provided. In reality, this type of information
is just a collection of worthless old junk, like a shoe with a
hole in its sole. (PS: When does your credit card expire?)
- - a precursor to spending even more money. This little
technique will whet your appetite just enough to entice you to
spend lots more money. Some "wealth creation" seminar presenters
use this technique. It's just bait for the "real" information
which, of course, is far more expensive. "Caveat emptor" -
let the buyer beware! (PS: What are the three ID numbers
on the back of that credit card of yours?)
- - Steering you to other sites offering "fixits." This is
something like point 4 above, except the information provider
suggests you go to a third party (a "friend" - more on this in
Part 2) to purchase more programs or more specific information.
Often these recommended sites can offer expensive or time
consuming programs. (PS: Now, just press submit.)
- - credible and/or valuable. This is information of the best
kind. Usually it will contain "cutting edge" ideas that are
currently working on the www. However, your ability to source
this information from the many traps above will range from
difficult to almost impossible.
The biggest trick used by
con-artist "gurus" is their ability to "dress up" the
information they are offering to make it look like something new
or different. It's a bit like the old pyramid selling schemes
that do the rounds with monotonous regularity (or the letter
offering you millions of dollars from Nigeria just for giving
them your bank details! Can you imagine anybody doing that?
Well, plenty do!) Plenty buy the "dress-ups" too. Same old
information, different name.
Another thing you need to be aware of is the amount of "fluff"
or packing that surrounds the real subject matter. Often there
can be several pages on the main idea and several dozen pages of
near useless information to make it appear bigger.
I recently purchased a report of just 19 pages. It contained
just one dubious idea that could have been presented adequately
on about half an A4 sized page. The rest of it was pure packing
and completely useless twaddle. The cost? I hate to admit it -
$39.95 US. Ouch!
I have even heard of some training manuals on offer claiming
that they contain five hundred pages (plus) of "cutting edge"
information. You would think that represents a lot of
information. It was certainly advertised as a "definitive"
web-building and traffic steering "master" tutorial. I later
learned (from another source) that the pages are only printed on
about one-third of the available space and that the font size
would be very beneficial for extremely sight impaired readers.
That makes it a very expensive tutorial. I'm pleased to
say that I didn't buy that one.
You need to be wary of these things.
Part 2 of this article contains further hints which will
enable you to detect whether an offer of increased website
traffic will be worthy of purchase or not.
If you enjoyed Part 1, don't miss Part 2.
Part 1 and Part 2 of this article are covered by
copyright. However, both parts may be freely used providing
there are no changes whatsoever to the content and the following
resource box remains intact.
PS: If you think this information might help a friend from
falling prey to these dubious practices you can send them a copy
of this article (or any related parts) or direct them to the
website URL above. Let's get the word out and put a stop to
this.
About the author:
About the author: Gary Simpson is the author of eight
books covering a diverse range of subjects such as self esteem,
affirmations, self defense, finance and much more. His articles
appear all over the web. Gary's email address is budo@iinet.net.au. Click
here to go to his Motivation & Self Esteem
for Success website.
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