Watch Out — Avoid all of These Problems in Info Marketing

Dear Info Marketers,

Sorry to not update. Was away for Easter weekend. Lots of kids, chocolate eggs, food,...it was pretty fun.

My blog entries have all been about the recent bad news in the media. I am now going to address that some pitfalls that are to be absolutely avoided. These all come from a good friend and colleague, so feel free to take notes.

My colleague is a constant surfer. Both on the waves of a South Sea Island someplace and on the Internet when he isn’t doing the former. He’s hilarious: to look at him, you’d think he was just another globetrotting bum complete with dreadlocks and Aztec sun tattoos. It is hard to believe he is one of the most professional information marketers I have ever met. He is honest and his clients love him for the information he provides – travel and surfing tips – and he does very well as a result.

I get bi-weekly e-mails from him with CHECK THIS OUT written in the subject line. It usually contains a link to another information marketing site that is less than great. I saved all the messages he sent and went through them all. He and I both noted the big mistakes in all of the sites and think it’s high time we shared them with you.

--Over-investment in Certain Products: A lot of the sites and their respective publications are a lot like Hollywood epics: way too overproduced. There is obvious heavy expenditure in graphic design and oversaturation of content. You don’t need to do this. Keep your products looking simple, well constructed, and, above all, informative. Save your money and just do a good job.

--Plagiarism: my friend found one site with the phrase “…getting good travel tips is vital whether you are traveling in Thailand, Tennessee, Timbuktu…” and another with “…getting great travel advice is vital whether you are in Buena Vista, Benin, or Boston…”. Very similar, no? This is flat out copying and there are laws in place to prevent this. Be smart, avoid lawsuits, and create your own original copy.

--Scamming or Being Scammed: Some sites use coercion in their sites like “Be the First on Your Block…”, “Do This Now Or…!”, or other such methods to hook their clients in. You don’t need to. Be professional and use confident, meaningful grammar in your products to attract clients. As well, be wary of people who want to promote your product for hefty fees. One of the sites we saw were “endorsed” but a well known con artist who has since made his way to the Internet black list.

--Making Outlandish Claims: A lot of products claim the world. “See your bank account increase overnight…”, “Get the girl of your dreams every time…”, or even “Watch your cancer disappear…”. If your product can really do this, fine. You have likely received a Nobel Prize or Guggenheim Fellowship in the process. But if it cannot, don’t make the claim. Clients want results and if they don’t get them, they will take action to get financial results instead.

It should be noted that there are only a few sites out of the millions in existence that engage in the practices above. Most people are pretty professional. Regardless, use this list as a checklist to ensure you do not fall into any traps that might hamper your information marketing business from being the best it could be.

Take care and more to come,

J.