Internet Marketing

Many years ago I worked in Yorkshire and they many had an unusual tradition. Good Friday was not a holiday but was a normal working day. That may seem strange but there was a reason for it. People got the Tuesday after Easter Monday as a holiday instead.

Now there was a reason for this and that was the cotton mills. You see the people would work Monday to Saturday for a normal week then they would close down the boilers that powered the place for Sunday. The problem that gave was it meant that they had to power the boilers off on a Thursday so that the workers could have Good Friday as a holiday. They would then have to get them working again so that the the mills could operate on the Saturday. That cost money so they came up with a solution.

The workers did a normal day right through until Saturday then they got Monday and Tuesday as a day off. I worked at one place where we would get Good Friday, Easter Monday and the Tuesday as holiday.

Now people are probably wondering what on earth the history of chess has to do with Internet Marketing. The answer is easy because the chess board reflects how a great many IM schemes work. They require recruitment and recruitment and recruitment to keep the matrix going.

Then they hit a problem because there is nobody else that they can recruit so they collapse with the most recent recruits losing all that they have put in. Of course, those at the top have creamed off the profits from their pyramid scheme and that will allow them to launch yet another one a few days later. More maxed out credit cards as people fall for this dream that is peddled where you do no work and the money just floods in

Face reality because making money needs hard graft. These people who tell you that you can make a fortune overnight are simply telling a lie. Get a site up and running and work on it so that you can begin to get the money coming in but the overnight success stories are a joke.

When signing in to my internet banking account today, I was presented with a message that told me that February 2011 was Scambusters month so I looked into what they were telling me. What I found has a UK perspective but is relevant everywhere. It comes from one of our government bodies so can be considered to be a reasonable interpretation of legal matters although it should not be seen as legal advice.

Check out the following before you sign-up for that internet marketing scheme that arrived in your email because it migh just save your credit card from maxing out.

Pyramid selling and chain gift schemes

The scam

You hear from a friend about a great new money-making venture. Once you've paid a joining fee, you can earn large amounts by recruiting new members to the scheme.

This is a pyramid-selling scheme. In reality, only a tiny minority of those involved make money.

During the recruitment process, you might be invited to a presentation about the scheme and given a brochure about it. You may come across claims such as:

• 'Your recruits do all the work for you - you just sit back and bank the money.'
• 'You and your friends can enjoy wealth together.'
• 'I was unemployed and in debt before I discovered this opportunity.'

The power of a friend's recommendation can make it difficult to resist these schemes. And it can make it harder for you to tell family and friends afterwards.

In a similar scam, a letter or email promises you an expensive high-tech gift for free. But first, you have to buy something low value which gets you on the waiting list. You will get your high-value gift only once large numbers of new members sign up - and you have to help recruit them. In reality, you're unlikely to ever get the gift you were expecting.

These sorts of schemes are almost certain to leave you out of pocket. That is because, for every participant to receive the money or gift on offer, there would have to be an endless supply of new recruits. Since this is impossible in practice, these schemes inevitably collapse and result in most people losing their money.

Protect yourself

• Avoid schemes that offer money or a gift or reward based purely on signing up new members.
• Don't agree to anything - or sign anything - at high-pressure meetings or seminars.
• Don't hand over any money or sign a contract to participate in any multi-level marketing plan until you've investigated it. Take independent professional advice.

If you think you've been a victim of this scam, call Consumer Direct for advice on 08454 04 05 06.

Trading schemes

Trading schemes (also described as direct-selling schemes, network marketing, multi-level marketing and other names) are a legitimate form of business activity offering people the opportunity to earn money by selling the scheme's goods or services from home. In some schemes, participants may earn additional commission by recruiting others to the scheme and from sales by their recruits.

However, trading schemes must comply with certain laws - provisions in Part XI of the Fair Trading Act as amended by the Trading Schemes Act 1996 and the Trading Schemes Regulations 1997.

Trading schemes become illegitimate and illegal when, while claiming that they trade in goods or services, their real purpose is to generate money by recruiting new participants. This is when they become pyramid selling.

Note that recruitment rewards are not in themselves unlawful. But it is against the law to persuade someone that the main incentive for joining a scheme is to profit from recruiting others, or to take money from someone on the basis of such a claim.

To find out more, read the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills booklet 'The Trading Scheme Guide'.

The subject really says it all because why should I write a blog? After all, the gooroos go on about doing this so it must be a 'good thing'. They always want you to sell one of their products from what is in the blog of course but that must be the price of success?

They always make it easy by providing some 'cut-and-paste' articles that you can use on your own site or in your autoresponder which is a 'must have' for all internet marketers. Get the articles onto your blog and email them to your list and the money will flood in is what they tell you.

WRONG

Problem #1

Everybody just uses the same title on the email or blog post. I simply delete when I get a message with the same subject line more than once.

Problem #2

Even changing the subject will not work. It might get the recipient to open the message but they will then see text that they have already seen.

Problem #3

Most internet marketers have never learned that email is no longer restricted to a 60 character line width. They write like that then people just copy it and it gives a very unprofessional look. Just check out the number of blog posts that only occupy the left side of the screen.

So what is the answer if you want to promote something?

The absolute best way is to get hold of the product then write about your experiences of using it but that does not work with the majority of products that you might promote as an affiliate.

So what can you do when you want to promote an affiliate product?

Answer #1

Make your initial approach a pre-sell because it is a well-known sales fact that it takes 5-7 contacts to make that sale. You want to  offer them something useful to begin so that they develop an engagement with you. Then you have a chance to build a relationship that leads to actual sales.

Answer #2

Rewrite the subject line in the email they give you. By this, I do not mean just to insert some autoresponder codes that makes it slightly different. That is easy to spot. Do a major change on the whole line so it reads totally different to the original. If the scheme that you are involved with tells you that this is wrong then leave the scheme.

Answer #3

At the very least, re-format the affiliate program message to fit modern formatting standards. It looks very unprofessional to put something into a blog and have it leave the right half of the page blank. Now the marketers who put these things out should know that and not do it but, until they do, take the approach that you have to do it.

Answer #4

Rewrite the whole message.

I am serious here because they will often tell you how they have hired a master copywriter to create it so that it sells. That may well be true but the words in there do not reflect you. You sell based on the relationship that you build with people. That means building a brand and that brand is your style.

Answer #5

Write your own message. Sure the top copywriters may get the 'copy that converts' but your own style gets the 'readers that convert'. Take the original then put it into your own words so that your readers can see *YOUR* style in there. It helps to build their trust in you and increases your chances of getting them to continue looking.

Conclusion

Blog posts are a good way to get a message out and make sales. Use them with care though because they can damage your brand and that is all important to success in any business. Build a successful blog and that can build confidence in your brand which is the biggest factor in marketing. Do it wrong and you will destroy your brand and your business with it.

I do so like it when people say that 'I  do not know what I am talking about'. It makes me laugh because I keep quiet if I have no sensible answer in a discussion.

Now you may be wondering what brought my fits of laughter on.

Well, somebody seems to think that promoting a pyramid scheme is ethical and legal. It is neither. I simply pointed that out to them and got a very negative response. They most likely have their $33 a month investment in the business which will get them out of debt. More likely scenario is that it will max out their credit card.

Many of the schemes that float around the internet are illegal pyramids. They involve recruiting an ever increasing number of people in so that the people at the top keep on earning. The result might be a short term income for a few but then it just disappears as the suckers who sign up for these things run out.

Just remember that the person who benefits most in a pyramid is the one who is at the top. Those below get the crumbs and will rarely recoup the money that they put in.  Some offer products which do give some chance to build a real business. Frequently it is simply based on recruiting people who will pay the monthly fee though.

This is not ethical internet marketing. I approach it as wanting partners that I can work with so we create a win-win situation. I suppose that my business must be unusual in doing that because so many seem to only offer win-lose. Put another way, they win and you lose.

There are so many websites around these days that only want you to pull out a credit card and type the numbers in. They promise the earth and deliver nothing except a card that is now at the credit limit.

The business that I am building will work with partners but there is one important word there. We are **PARTNERS** and that means we work for a win-win solution. If you reject that I have no problem because I simply will not work with you.