Everyone wants to make money. There are literally millions of people who start an online business and do their best to market it in the hopes of earning something in return.
But while there are many honest and average people who merely want to start their own business and make it profitable, there are others who prey on those who are anxious to make money by offering various Internet Marketing Scams online.
Before you consider paying for inclusion in a program that does not pay out (and may even cost you) or any service that guarantees an exponential increase in traffic or search engine rankings, look over the below tips:
Top Internet Marketing Scams
Unless you have been hidden away in a cave for the past decade, you have surely seen such claims as these all over the internet:
• We submit your website to hundreds of search engines.
• We guarantee #1 Google page ranking.
• We submit your website to thousands of directories.
• We will find exchange links – or buy backlinks for one low cost.
The first Internet Marketing Scam claims to be able to submit your site to hundreds of search engines, yet there are only four primary companies that any internet marketer is concerned with. Not only that, search engines do not generally want submissions, their bots will find your site without you pushing its existence.
The second claim is made on the premise that you have no control over what keyword you are going to gain the number one rank. Often there is no time limit in place and details as to how the results are proven are sketchy at best.
As for directory listings, would it really be appropriate for your company to be listed in that many places? Backlinks and link exchanges are generally bad news because there is no control over association with a spam site, which is negative SEO.
Payment Processing
Payment processing is a work at home proposal that is also quite popular. These schemes offer a potential employees the opportunity to cash a check from another country, or receive payments from products sold elsewhere in exchange for keeping a percentage.
While the variations on this theme are nearly endless, the majority of these offers are simply a way to get an unsuspecting victim to send them money. The checks or money orders are fraudulent and the processing bank charges the victim’s account for the amount withdrawn.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing with a legitimate ecommerce site is one of the best ways to monetise your website. However, it is increasingly becoming one of the best ways to lose money, if you do not carefully consider the company you partner with.
There are several ways that scammers use affiliate marketing. The first one involves a company that is not legitimate. It may be in the business of selling products, but it is not ever going to pay you for a dime for your marketing efforts.
These scammers entice you with promises of great percentages but provide no telephone number for person to person contact and do not offer a web page for affiliate support. You spend your time and resources promoting their products only to find the contact email address is no longer valid.
Other Internet Marketing Scams include unwitting participation of the affiliate in an illegal pyramid scheme (where they are not selling products, but merely selling the opportunity to make money from associates farther down the pyramid).
Still other unscrupulous companies offering an affiliate marketing program ask that participants pay a fee to be included in a great opportunity. Of course, they pocket the fee and are never seen or heard from again.
Think twice before taking advantage of an opportunity that seems too good to be true. Chances are it is. Research the opportunity and the company, look for signs of longevity and being established in the industry, read unbiased reviews from others, ask your online Internet Marketing friends, and trust your gut!
About Sean Rasmussen
Yes these things are everywhere. On top of that are inflated claims of amounts being able to be made for a beginner. Obviously these people didn’t just make this overnight. It might of taken then years to get there.
Hi Sean,
Yes, I’ve seen these on the net. They prey on vulnerable people. Hopefully as social media expands, these people won’t be able to get away with this for too much longer.
Hi Sean
It is sad that in the western world where people have so much, they can be so greedy. It pays to be vigilant and articles like this pointing out internet marketing scams are valuable to those who have very little knowledge of how internet marketing works.
You have covered the top internet marketing scams well and and as the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed.
I have always checked out courses by word of mouth and researching the companies referrals.
Every day I get a ton of emails that read..attenetion beneficiary…or, Relative of the deceased estate…it is incredible what internet marketing scams people will try! This still happens offline too, just recently a friend had a phone call from “a company” that demanded her creditcard number over the phone…der!
Hi Sean,
It happened to me. I nearly lost money in an internet marketing scam. Luckily I quickly realized something was wrong and took action to get my money back.
It only takes a moment to pass credit card details over, thinking it’s a good deal. It takes weeks and a bit of luck to rectify the mistake and to get the money back. I’m much more careful now not to get caught again.
Jill
As soon as someone asks for my credit card details when I have no intention of purchasing anything I am out of there.
You know the companies who are giving a way freebies and then they want your Bankcard details? There are quite a few like that around. I have had a few interesting experiences too !