So you want to make money online do ya? But how do you know the best ways to spot an online marketing scam?
Let me ask you a personal question…
Have you looked into getting some training or using an online course to help learn from the best and minimise the mistakes you make?
If you have then CONGRATS!
Some people think they can just “figure it out” themselves.
Everyone knows that 99% of the time these people that are still in the same spot 10 years down the line.
Ask any successful person how they got to where they are today and they will tell you 2 things:
- “I’ve learnt a lot (and continue to learn)”
- “I have mentors or a support team
As you pay close attention to this page, remember that most of these people will have paid for both of these things at some stage in their journey.
Of course you’ve heard that 90% of people that buy a product related to internet marketing feel they were “ripped off” at some point.
The further on you read you’ll begin to understand the best 8 ways to spot an online marketing SCAM!!
#1 Video ONLY Sales Page
Now, let me ask you this… Have you ever been forced to sit through a video before you even see any other information? i.e. what the product does, the cost etc.
Well do you see the red cross in the top corner of your screen?
If you are asked to wait for the video to finish before you see what to do next…
- Click that cross and continue with your life!
Any respectable program will provide you with the information you WANT and NEED from the start.
Let’s face the harsh reality that we are more likely to invest in something if we have spent time on it. This is exactly WHY some programs will force you to watch a 15-30 minute video FIRST!
This leads onto the next point to look out for…
#2 Upsell, Upsell, Upsell
PROVEN FACT!!
If you invest some money in something, you are likely to spend MORE money on it.
Now, let me ask you another question…
Have you ever seen an internet marketing product offered for under $10? Maybe even some random number like $6.87?
That’s because the people selling the product know the fact above. Once you dip your hand into your pocket (or PayPal account) you are more likely to do it again.
This is another key ways to spot an online marketing SCAM!
This is why they make it look like it’s a very cheap product but then have an upsell straight away ranging from $30-$1,000’s.
Have you ever seen an upsell for $97?
You click “no thanks”
The next page is the same product for $47 at a ONE TIME offer!
Chances are this is a SCAM!
Any legit product will offer you a “try before you buy” free trial or it will just be a ONE-TIME payment.
If you see upsell after upsell it’ll be likely the company won’t be honest and up-front with you in the future.
Note there are definitely legitimate products that don’t offer a free trial. Some products may actually give you certain things that they can’t guarantee they can get back (such as a download).
#3 No Contact Details
If you can’t even find a way to contact the company do you really think they have nothing to hide?
If something goes wrong with the product or you are not happy about something there will be no way to actually fix this.
AVOID it like the plague as it’s a ways to spot an online marketing SCAM!
#4 Way to Spot an Online Marketing SCAM- Terrible Support
Now imagine you’ve just forked out some dollar for a course. You have a technical issue with it, so you send an email. How would you feel if you don’t hear back from them for 3 days?
Your feeling of frustration and disappointment only grows when their response doesn’t really answer your question.
It’s another sign of things to come if they can’t even support you at the start.
A legit training program will have different ways of contact and often has a platform you can ask questions to the community and the existing members.
#5 Pay $27 Today for an instant $357 a day Online ATM Machine
Have you ever seen an outrageous claim like this before?
Of course you have!
You probably know there may be some people who do really well using this program. But to get these kind’ve results these people will almost definately have one or more of the following:
- TIME (to spend working on it all day)
- MONEY (to spend driving traffic or buying the upsells)
- TRAFFIC (already have a large following)
If they are using a rediculous overnight success story or $10,000’s of income in the first month, you need to understand one thing:
This is NOT possible… so they are lying.
It’s another way to spot an online marketing SCAM!!
NEXT!
#6 Some Guy in a Lamboghini & Mansion
If you see the owner of a product in a picture of his
Just think… it’s possible to test drive a car, visit a national trust mansion and get a friend to take a photo on their phone. This proves NOTHING!
It’s a classic case of short man syndrome!
They are usually show boating and flaunting these things because they know their product lacks credibility or any actual quality.
#7 Run for the Hills if there are Hundreds of Complaints
If you’re like me you like to find out about a company before buying. There are a few ways to check whether a company recieves a lot of complaints but here are my favourite 2:
- Mention (a social media tracking keywords website)
- BBB (Better Business Bureau
It’s important to remember that a lot of GOOD companies will receive some complaints. In fact the better the company, the more customers it will have, the more likely someone will have a compaint.
For instance, someone may be annoyed that their product was delivered late, or maybe they didn’t use it how it was intended to be used.
However, if a company is receiving hundreds of complaints then your “
#8 Training from when Dinosaurs were Alive
In the online world using updated techniques can be the difference between doing something illegal and making a bigger difference that Nelson Mandela.
Tinternet (in Peter Kay’s Northern accent) changes all the time.
Google, Facebook, Twitter all have these weird techie things called algorithms. If you are like me you have no idea (or really care) how these work. But what is important, if you’re serious about your online business, is what these changes means to YOU.
For example, some old school backlinking techniques (a link to your website) are banned from Google and won’t let your website rank at all now. Some older training programs may still tell you to do this!
Make sure the program you want to use gets updated more than Lady Gaga!
Make Time Online Summary
As this page ends you have realised that finding ways to spot an online marketing scam are easy like Sunday morning.
If you see any one of these 8 ways then…
STOP!
You really should consider whether the program will be honest and reliable.
Use the tools in #7 to see what other people have said about the product as this will help you know what to expect.
Keep changing for the better
Mike
p.s. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, have a look at my #1 recommended program here, which I am currently using.
p.p.s. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to drop a comment below… or send me a message on WA here
Hi, I've been reading your articles on Herbalife and Purium. Both are good and similar. I wonder if that's because there's a load of similar companies out there doing the exact same thing, and so you just tweaked the messaging on each one instead of doing a whole new paragraph, to save you time.
Also from a skeptics' perspective, it may seem like you're writing this as a biased to highlight your affiliate marketing technique. Obviously this is the case but I know you've put in good research in the companies to make such a stance, was just wondering if you could answer what's your reasoning for doing all the research and writing all the articles?
Are you a writer and blogging on these specific topics?
Hey Jamie, I appreciate the kind words.
Yes MLM’s are all very similar and many of them rely heavily on recruiting to make good money. They do work for some people but many people join without knowing what is actually involved… I was VERY nearly one of them and it was only through seeing friends lose thousands of dollars and become so needy and pushy to sell this to others (and lose friends in the process) that I did more research.
A ton of stuff I found wasn’t very helpful and it was really hard to find the specific answers I wanted.
So after figuring our how MLMs worked I just wanted to share the word. I also stumbled into affiliate marketing and if anyone buys a product I recommend through any of my affiliate links, I earn a commission (at no extra cost to them).
I now get over 100,000 visitors to this site purely from SEO (people typing things into Google). A small per cent of them buy through my links and my affiliate income grows over time. I actually have a writer on this site now so I spend most of my time growing my health affiliate site in a similar way and am looking to create some courses for that to grow this income further. I spend most of my time on this site sharing my podcast chatting to normal people who have quit the 9-5 to build an online business and share how they did it.
P.S. Have you read Russel Brunson’s free book “Network Marketing Secrets“? I’m not a huge fan of MLM but if I was going down the MLM route this is 100% the approach I’d take today.