Design. SEO. PPC.

Last week, I pointed out how almost every ‘Make Money Online’ site is run by scammy scamming scammers. This is not to say that everyone who purports to teach you some Internet Marketing techniques is scamming — there are definitely legitimate experts out there. Fortunately, there are crystal-clear differences between the scammy scammer’s scams and the real stuff. What follows is a list of surefire signs that the make-money-online site you landed on — whether it’s a standalone site or a sales thread on an Internet Marketing website like the Warrior Forum — is straight-up scammy.

• Scammers surround themselves in a (fake) aura of affluence. If you click through to some marketer’s website and the banner at the top shows a Lamborghini parked in front of a tile-roofed stucco villa, you can be guaranteed you’re looking at a scammer. Real marketers don’t imply how rich they are — most don’t even talk about it.
• Scammers use high-pressure sales techniques. If the website you clicked through to has features on it like…
  • A timer showing how long ‘this deal’ will last (notice how they all end today?),
  • An X-day money-back guarantee,
  • Several different ‘buy now’ buttons scattered along a sales letter,
  • Testimonials from people with initials or usernames instead of full names and business names,
  • A P.S. after the last ‘buy now’ button that exhorts you to pay attention to all of the above features, or
  • Any form of redirect or popup that tries to sell you something when you try to leave the site or sell you something else after you just made a single purchase,

…you’re looking at a website that’s more interested in getting your money than they are in                           giving you information you can use.

• Scammers release new products often, using screenshots from the sales of their previous release to show how good their products are. Legitimate Internet marketing experts publish a product, and it lasts for years (at least, until Google makes a significant update.) If your guru of choice releases a new product every 3-6 months, he’s scamming. If the website your on shows a screenshot of PayPal or Clickbank sales numbers at all, he’s scamming. Sorry, it’s true.
• Scammers hide behind “joint ventures,” “think tanks,” and/or “partnerships.” These ideas serve two purposes: first, they make people like you think that a product is more legitimate. But just as importantly, they shield the scammer from having to explain anything about their product, because they can always either claim a non-disclosure agreement or they can claim that some other (unnamed!) person in their JV is responsible for ‘that part.’ A legitimate marketer will be able to answer all of your questions directly.
• Scammers use a long list of psychologically-charged words to encourage you to act on your emotions, not your rational faculties. These are words like:
  • Millionaire (/Rich/Money/Cash)
  • Instant (/Fast/Quick/Overnight)
  • Turnkey (/Push-button/Easy Setup/Lazy-man’s)
  • Commission (/Profit/Cashflow/Paycheck)
  • Strategy (/System/Project/Hack)
  • Super (/Crusher/Dropjaw/Beast)

The real experts don’t make promises outside of ‘by the time you’re done with my product, you’ll understand how you can use these Internet marketing techniques to get a job or start a business. In short, they don’t promise anything except an opportunity to work. Because that’s all the Internet actually has to offer — basically the same stuff that the real world does.