Getting Something for Nothing

I've got a proposition for you. You pay me $2500 and I will create a website for you, submit it to the search engines, and give you a storefront within 24 hours. You'll be pulling in thousands of dollars a week starting tomorrow, so it's a minimal investment. It's worked for thousands, are you interested? Read More

Wow! You clicked. Before I begin my rant let me say I'm glad you fell for my proposition and I hope you have not fallen for others before this one. Today I was contacted by an Investigative Reporter. His phone call began something like this. "Laura I'm investigating a company in Kansas that is scamming elderly people out of thousands of dollars and I'm wondering if you can help me." A little bit puzzled at what he is asking for I continue to listen. I asked him how I could be of assistance. He said well could you go to this website. He gave me the url which I'm not sharing in order to protect all the innocent people that fell for the scam. He continued "Laura, this is the story. This company contacts people explains that they can sell them a website, optimize it, submit it, and within hours they will be making thousands of dollars. They charge them anywhere from $1500 to $5000. Laura can you tell me why this will not work?"

As I look at the website I realize I need some time to review it. I definitely want to document this. I explained to the reporter that I would put together my comments and email them to him on why a website like this will not make a person thousands of dollars without extreme amounts of additional work. After viewing the website for 10 minutes I had already drafted a page of comments. At that time I decided that others need to know about scams like these so they do not fall prey.

It's important to realize that yes the Internet can be a great resource for making additional income or even building your business using it, however keep in mind it's a process and it takes time. It's not instantaneous.

There are two things to remember, in order for a website to be successful in being a marketing tool:

First it needs to pull in traffic. This can be done by either search engines or offline promotional and marketing material.

Second once you get the traffic there it must can convert those visitors to sales.

To be successful in both of these steps it takes a thoroughly planned out process. Do not be the next victim to fall for the "get rich quick" scams that are advertised online. Remember that the likelihood of an Internet Marketing Powerhouse that will bring you thousands of dollars being created overnight is extremely unlikely.

Have you been taken advantage of? Have a question about an online business proposition you've been faced with? Share your story in the marketing forum and help others avoid Internet marketing scams.