So, who do YOU trust in online marketing? That’s not an easy question to answer. It really comes down to what your perception of trust is. It’s very easy to label someone a ‘scammer’ simply because an online marketing program didn’t work for you but in most cases programs don’t work for people because people don’t work the programs.
I have some of my own guidelines that I use before I purchase products and before I put anyone in the small group of people I ‘trust’. Before I get into that I really should define what my own ‘trust’ criteria is.
Who I Trust In Online Marketing
I guess my first indicator of a trustworthy marketer is that they are genuinely interested i helping other people to become successful. There is a very distinct line that divides the successful online marketers from the marketing wannabes. I’ll be honest – I used to be one of those online marketing wannabes. I bought a load of products and, with dollar signs in my eyes I put them up on websites totally expecting to make a killing. That’s called naivety.
When I didn’t make money from those products I became very cynical about internet marketing and internet marketers in general. I believed that they were all out to take my money and some of them really were scammers. At times I actually felt a little ill when I thought of all the money I had spent on products and programs that simply didn’t work. If you had asked me twelve months ago who I thought were the scammers online I would have said ‘all of them!’ Looking back, I now realise that some of those products and programs were fine and it was me that didn’t work!
Okay, so we have the first indicator – someone who really wants to help.
The next thing I look at is how desperate they are to sell me product. If I sign up to get a free report and then start getting emails every day for all manner of products then that marketer is going to drop straight off my radar and if I’m on their mailing list I will probably unsubscribe straight away. I figure that if they are so fired up on selling products that they can’t take the time to tell me a little about themself, share some good tips or find out a little about me then they must be either really struggling or just very greedy for money. I have a couple of small mailing lists of my own but for several years I didn’t even attempt to build any mailing lists because they just seemed to me to be primarily for spamming people with worthless junk. Nowadays I’ve learned that you have to be selective about which lists you sign up for, There are a handful of lists that I’m glad that I’m on and I’ll tell you which ones and why before I finish writing here today.
The next indicator for me is how many bandwagons they jump on. There are plenty of online marketing entrepreneurs out there that are in it for the JV commissions and prizes. I don’t really have an issue with that, but it kind of relates to the first indicator – these are people who are more interested in the cold hard cash than actually helping others. Now I wouldn’t rule someone out just because they were promoting someone’s big launch. Darren Rowse, for example, is someone who I trust. He sometimes promotes affiliate products including some of the ‘big ticket’ launches. He doesn’t try to shove that stuff down your throat though. And the ratio of good useful information to affiliate products and promotions on his blog is tipped way in favour of the good useful information. That tells me that he has the attitude that Zig Ziglar talks about – help others to have what they want and you can have everything you want. His focus is on people and blogging rather than scrambling for cash.
By now you may be thinking that I’m my own worse enemy. ‘This guy doesn’t want to make money’. Au contraire dear reader. I would like to have a great fortune just as most people would. I want to make money but I don’t want it to be the primary focus of my time spent building my online business. Basically, I want to enjoy what I am doing, help others enjoy what they are doing and get paid for doing that. Surely that’s a fair and noble ambition?
Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent. So, let me summarise what I’m trying to say here in a few bullet points.
The people who I trust online:
- Are focussed on helping other people rather than just making money.
- Aren’t desperately trying to sell me everything they can get their hands on.
- Aren’t riding the JV gravy train.
- Are interested in the people who are interested in them.
- Use sales copy to sell products rather than invoke an emotion based impulse purchase.
Fortunately, when you start looking it isn’t all that hard to find online business people who fit that mold.
The People I Trust In Online Marketing
Darren Hardy – not an online marketer as such – he is the publisher of SUCCESS magazine. Amazing guy with an equally amazing blog.
Darren Rowse – the original ‘pro blogger’ with one of, if not THE, most useful information packed blog for bloggers. Darren is a blogging and online marketing expert.
Jeremy Schoemaker – an interesting guy with plenty to say about online marketing.
Paul Myers – his newsletter is easily my favourite. Paul is witty, intelligent, compelling and insightful. Besides general online marketing topics, Paul provides really excellent information on writing sales copy that converts.
There are also several other people who are business associates one way or another and people that I trust. Robert Puddy, Rob Gehring, Scott Douglas and Natalia Hawthorne are all people who are genuinely interested in sharing the success around.
Having said all that I have said, I’m not expecting you to necessarily agree with my opinions on what is honest, dishonest, good or bad. What I am saying though is that you need to be looking at things like this rather than blindly following a crowd just because they are promoting the latest fad. There are some great people out there that can help you achieve the success you are looking for. You just need to recognise them.
I’d be interested to know who you trust in online marketing and what your criteria is for sorting the wheat from the chaff 
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