Internet marketing scams - How WA is completely different
I've seen recently some new members asking if WA is a scam? That is something you wil have to decide for yourself, but I will say that there are lots of tactics used by people on the net which you will never see here.
Tactics used by scammers:
Emotional connections- they understand 'your pain' eg what it's like not to have enough money, be stuck in a boring job, be worried about your financial future...This sort of emotional sort of heart tugging is humbug!
'Fantastic' intial product offer - the offer will always be very cheap. After all they understand you don't have much money - so they make you an offer which would normally cost several thousand dollars but you can have it for $97 dollars or less. How could you miss out on this bargain?
You could it's rubbish!
They sell a lifestyle- They show you pictures of their fabulous houses, their up-to-date sports car and the 20 holidays a year. They have all this for only working 4 hrs a day. Who could resist?
You can and should.
They offer to be your friend - They tell you what a bargain this opportunity. After all you're getting it so cheaply despite their accountants advice. And they want to give it to you at this price because they want you to experience what they have. They also want to stick up two fingers up to the internet gurus and let you in on the 'secret of making money'. Now don't you feel special?
They don't care about you, they care about taking your money off you.
An offer that you will pay only once - And you feel like this is true until they tell you that actually although this product is very good an you can make money quickly you could actually do it much more quickly if you upgraded
The bargain that you thought was bargain is not as good as it first seemed
They make you feel stupid or mean - When you're waivering about spending more money - they tell you you'd be stupid or it's a no brainer not to take part. 60 day guarantee will make it worth it.
By this time you're beginning to think you might be missing out on an opportunity of a lifetime. You're not - ever!
Last minute offer - Oh yes -the last minute offers are always there. Just incase you thought the price was a bit much they will knock $10 dollars off and you'll probably get a special bonus - not just 1 - probably 5. Now that's a real bargain isn't it?
No! No! No! It isn't
Rubbish other gurus - this is becoming very common practice for gurus to state that they're different from other internet experts.
They're not diffrent. Don't fall for it.
Time limited offers - if you don't act immediately you will never see this page again. -. After all you don't want to miss out on an opportunity of a life-time do you?
Yes you will - it will be there for months and months. However, their idea is to make you feel absolutely desparate
Get all your personal details including phone number - if they can ring you up even when you have already signed up they they have the opportunity to make you part with even more money.
Don't give your telephone details away.
So how is WA different?
1. There is no upselling. You can sample the 10 day programme and then you can take out monthly or yearly membership. There are no hidden costs. And they certainly won't be ringing you up.2. No extra programmes - Some newbies resent seeing any suggestions that they should try out Jaaxy (the keyword tool). You don't have to if you don't want to and there are plenty of members who don't. It's not compulsory or conditional on your success. It's just a great tool if you want to use it.
3. No promises about money - So many people want to start IM to make quick money. Kyle and Carson never ever claim this - so don't get resentful when you haven't made your first 10,000 in 30 days.
4. No claims about being successful with minimum effort. - IM is hard work and if you're starting from a base of nothing it will take time. WA always promote that your IM activities should be the long term.
5. If WA isn't for you ... No one will try and emotionally blackmail you into staying.
Is Wealthy Affiliate a scam?
No it isn't. Some people think it is when they haven't made the money they wanted but that's generally because they're not open to learning, they don't ask for help, they don't work hard at it, they give up too easily, they look to blame someone else when things don't go to plan and they don't accept that success happens at different times for people.
Recent Comments
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You created such an effective and wonderful graphic to go with this blog--I just love it! And I have been through all of the scam methods you describe and then some in the months before I joined WA. They never let up and I have learned to just wipe the offers off my computer screen without faltering. Thanks for writing the blog, Beverly--WA will get anyone who wants to do the work on a successful path, as you say, and in such a positive, honest, and fulfilling way!
Thanks Lisa. Glad you like the infographic. Sensible approach to delete these offers immediately.
Thank you for writing what many people are thinking. I too have seen many internet scams and get rich quick scams. I appreciate that WA constantly reminds it's members that it takes dedication and hard work to become successful in this business. Like anything, hard work is necessary in order to do well. I believe that in order for anyone to do well, they need to put 100% into the business. We all have busy lives, but dedicating at least an hour a day to learning, researching, watching the webinars and learning from one another is what is needed in order to thrive in this market.
Thanks Cynthia. You're right it can be quite a challenge to fit in IM activities with the rest of your life, but consistency in the key. It just might take a bit longer.
I am glad you raise the subject .ever since I start getting mails from Steve iv'trythat I had a feeling that here, it is some thing diffrent ,honest and real. I do learn alot, but in very hard way and waisting tons of time on simple thing because of instruction that may be undrestood by young computer trained people .but for me with English as as second language and with two years using computer of which the first year was 10 yaers ago on even much older program I need clear cut instruction no essumption, I need a reader for Acronym and terminology for example I dont know what is permalink thered time asking now.
ALSO I dont get answeres to most off my question finally solve by me self after hours...
But what start to realy pis me off ((spelling corection take time)) I get email that I cannot read i dont get to see it or the the top ten training .Why I paid from August 6 for One month acording to option given. Now they block me by dark screen .First it show that I should pay the full year. than I got the old offer month or a year Interesting a few minute after I send email to Kyle & Carson about it I got new mail with your article on the this specific topic. and more amazing I could see it no problem .so what going on here.
and by the way the Wbinar yesturday nuuu..... it is another discussion to open.
have a nice weekend you all SHABBAT-SHALOM
Ronit-Drora
Hi Ronit
I'm sorry that you are experiencing some difficulty in understanding some of the terminology.
"A permalink is a URL (uniform resource locator) that points to a specific blog or forum entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives. Because a permalink remains unchanged indefinitely, it is less susceptible to link rot. " - (Link rot - are links that become unavailable)
Hope that answers your question about permalinks. It's not always possible to simplify languge if someone doesn't have a certain level of understanding.
If you have issues with your membership then you do need to raise these with Kyle or Carson.
Best wishes
Beverley
Ugh! Beverley, that's exactly what they do. What bothers me more than anything is that I sometimes read through their offers which is a complete waste of time. Curiosity overtakes me, even though I don't bite anymore. I think the only recourse is to unsubscribe. Adding to what you already said, these bozos add confusion and
feelings of overload. Get rid of them. WA rocks!.
Oh, just one more thing. Warrior Forum is pretty good at calling the scams. Enter the program name, then warrior and watch what comes up. Even if it's not a blatant scam, you'll hear from people who have tested the program and say save your money.
Thanks Jean
I still read through their offers not because I am going to bite either but I am curious to see what people will say and how the way they're trying to scam keeps changing in subtle ways.
I was interested by what you say about warrior forum because I would say there's quite a few scams pass through there, The one example I used at the top of the infographic was from there.
Yes, I know many of their members are guilty of scams too, but they try out different programs, and tend to be candid with each other. Maybe it's honor among thieves, but they're not shy about blowing the whistle. At any rate, you'll learn more about these offers that expect a person to lay down money without knowing what the heck they're buying. It's good for insight.
Very, very true. But I have to say when I first joined I wasn't really sure if it was legit or just another scam. What got me is all learning tools including the wabinars. I couldn't believe how much I was learning just by watching them (and still learning).
I don't think anyone can be sure until they've tried. I agree with you the webinars are very special indeed.
I was caught by a Guy named John Raygoza (PushTraffic) for about $1000.If you google his name along with scam you'll find a lot of dirt.It all started with a pop up - enter your details and within minutes you have a sales guy ringing you full of promise.You do get the service of a tutor helping you setting up a landing page and they ring you for 3 sessions - if you want more training you pay more.I pulled the plug as I got nowhere and never heard from them again? It's guys like this that should be behind bars.Thanks for the this Beverley.
I must have missed out on him - because he's new to me. It wouldn't be polite to say what I would like to do to them - not even in here!
Beverly, after spending my first few hours here, I knew that WA was very, very different to anything else out there. If it is a scam, it's the most cleverly disguised one ever :)
I've now unsubscribed from every IM list that I was on. I don't need the latest offering from the 'Gurus', everything that I need is right here.
Training, support and a community that feels like home.
Super info graphic by the way, you've totally nailed the scammers tactics!
You're sensible to unsubscribe. Everything you want is available here. Glad you liked the infographic. It's one of my obsessions!
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I built an older website on this topic. This stuff only has gotten worse as I can see from this post. In that site I really ripped into the sliding sense of urgency scales and all those insidious things! Selling the lifestyle is one of the first things I discovered about the world of unscrupulous marketers. It all started in the 1970s when I noticed a Fingerhut advertisement had our name and location slightly a different color font and offset a bit from the rest of the text. I said "Hmmm." It led to an investigation into that so-called "personal" letter. It later led to learning about critical thinking and eventually served to protect me from many many scams that would come my way. This is a very good post (why wouldn't it be for who wrote it?)
I hope you don't mind that what you've written here has given me some ideas for promoting WA, that I may "borrow" some of the concepts from posts like this. They will certainly be mixed with my own findings on this topic.
Hi Daniel
Worrying to think just how long these scams have been going on. Things have got worse and I have no doubt they will continue to do so.
Feel free to borrow any ideas you want.