Any online marketer (regardless of experience) will often say that one of the biggest mistakes they’ve made is spending money on digital products which are hyped up – but just don’t work.
In fact, the ‘make money online’ scene is awash with so many low-quality info-products and rehashed courses that one could almost consider it the norm.
The average decent person just getting started in the business struggles to come to terms with the fact that many unscrupulous marketers will sell products that are built on false promises and untested theories.
These sellers have NO qualms lying to get a sale.
Just wrapping one’s head around this fact is a monumental feat. But yes, many marketers will take your money and take you for a ride – but only if you let them.
If you wish to steer clear of these scams and save your money, here are a few pointers to take note of BEFORE you buy any digital products/training.
Do your research on the vendor of the digital products
This is the MOST important point of the lot. Join a few Facebook groups dedicated to online marketing and ask around there. Very often, you’ll find people mentioning bad experiences they may have had with the vendor.
You’ll also want to see what other products the vendor has created.
- Do all their sales pages look similar with hyped up claims?
- Are the domains for their previous products still in existence?
- What’s their ranking in the marketplace?
- Are there negative reviews for their products?
It’s important to remember that just because other marketers are hyping up the vendor’s product that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s good.
Very often, the vendor’s friends will be promoting the product and telling you what you want to hear… or they may be part of a ‘back-scratching cabal’ where everyone praises everyone else in the group just to appear legit.
You need to be sharper than that. Do your research on the vendor thoroughly.
Analyze the sales page
The next step will be to take a logical, unemotional approach to the sales page. Very often, sales copy is designed to play on your emotions – to hook you in with the promise of quick and easy money – without any work on your part.
You’re told about ‘push button profits’ and ‘million-dollar loopholes’… and you end up believing that it’s really possible for you to be making 5 figures a month within 2 weeks.
Really?
Do you really believe that?
Doesn’t that sound too good to be true?
Yes, it does… and it is.
Almost all of these hyped up products do not work
If it was possible, why would these vendors be sharing their loopholes with you?
They’d be laughing all the way to the bank. Not trying to get you to buy their products. Do not be misled by their fancy sales pages and sugar-coated sales copy. The brighter the picture, the darker the negative.
Making money online is hard work – and anyone who tells you otherwise has something to sell you.
Look out for blatant signs
When you’re on a sales page, go ahead and try closing the page. If you see a pop-up box suddenly appear and it’s offering you a discount of a few dollars, that’s a sure sign that the product is best avoided.
This is not generosity on the vendor’s part. It’s a last-ditch attempt to hook you in. Don’t eagerly grab the product just because you got $3 off and think you got a deal.
You didn’t. You really didn’t. You got scammed.
If you stopped for a second to think about it, you’d realize that people who didn’t try closing the page wouldn’t have gotten the discount and would have paid more for the product.
Does that seem legitimate to you? After all, you could have been one of them.
If that doesn’t sit right with you… then do you think the product will be any better than the disreputable tactics on the sales page?
Sure, there are attention-grabbing income stats on the sales page – but whose stats are these and where are they coming from?
You may see a bunch of smiling faces on the sales page, supposedly of satisfied customers – but why do they all look like stock photos? Who are these people anyway?
So many questions… so few answers.
See, it’s these questions that you should be asking yourself before you buy any product. You need to be a cynic par excellence.
This is NOT one area where you want to be overly optimistic. Scan the sales page like a hawk. Ask around about the vendor.
Exercise due diligence before buying. You could spend years and thousands of dollars spinning your wheels and going nowhere – trapped in a vicious cycle of buying products that are all foam and no beer.
Or you could stop buying products on a whim and proceed cautiously. There’s no need to kiss so many frogs to find a prince.
There are many good products out there that will help you in your online marketing. You just need to ask around for recommendations. If you follow the pointers in this article, you’ll most probably make an informed decision.
Caveat emptor.
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Mike Gaudreau is the owner of The Wealthy Boomers, a site devoted to helping seniors make money online. Mike resides in Montreal Canada.
You should assume the owner of this website probably has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection, to any suppliers of goods and services that may be discussed here and may be compensated for showing advertisements or recommending products or services, or linking to the supplier’s website.
