Who can you trust? Internet Marketers claiming to make big money with no proof.

did you just figure this out? in short, dont trust anyone unless you know them personally and work with them

Oh it is really funny

I have watched someone who was trying to sell a "rag to riches" plr product then go to crying about never made money on net, then asked "do survey sites pay"?? So sad...but of course a spammer jumped in to push their own survey site ...as if taking "surveys" actually provide a living...so dishonest

Look at some of the "offers" from just months ago...notice a pattern when the "guru" leaves the building, stops supporting the "product" , stops answering questions or giving refunds...next step the domain is down

There is a totally shabby underbelly that you will see on facebook, craigslist....people so ignorant they can't spell but they post ads for "online workers"...a chain letter of cpa signups.....

and the worst - the "crowdfunding">> pure Ponzi

Fact is - many of these people have no real talent and all they do is sell "opportunity" junk to other dreamers, and probably not as much as you think

I just saw one "guru" website, a skinny guy in a tee shirt and gimmee cap....his "desk" is a white plastic folding table, like you might set up for a picnic or swap shop...and his stupid website logo is the LOGO OF THE WP THEME DESIGN NAME ..."DIVI"...HAHAH

One reason I prefer offline is that at least (some) of the people actually work with real biz owners, provide real products, web design, graphics, seo , and such ...rather than just selling more dreams to dreamers

Of course it is sad to see the pushers jump on any thread to sell whatever it is they like to sell...but all in all offline is more "real" IMHO

You certainly spend allot of time on this.

I wonder if you directed your energy on setting up a real business providing a quality product or service, is it possible that you then could be making enough money, so that you wouldnt have to be looking at adsense as your revenue model?

Well done on the "PI work"!

Watch what people DO rather than what they "claim" to do and you'll start to get a feel for who the real players are. After awhile, you'll be able to spot the "wanna bes" quickly. I know that's sort of vague but trust me.

This reminds me of a campaign I did awhile back promoting my coaching packages - I actually had people "opt in" to get a copy of my tax return - sensitive information such as my SSN redacted of course!

That's some pretty good detective work right there. Well people will do things that aren't ethical to make money I suppose. It is the internet afterall, there aren't many authorities from preventing that from happening. The only thing that we can do I suppose is either reveal them or focus on bettering ourselves. Also very good detective work, you could start an online detective agency I'd think haha.

Some good stuff has already been mentioned above that said when it comes down to make money online you should treat your efforts just as if you would be launching an offline business.

This shift in perception will allow you to see this online stuff under a different light altogether.

Receiving money is a consequence of doing specific tasks that will ultimately close you the sales.

Bottom line there is only one way to make money : Create VALUE And TRUST.

You are in business with people and for people , your products and services are only a way to bridge the gap between what you stand for and what your potential customers stand for.

In short if you are in business you should only trust yourself first and foremost.

If you don't believe in yourself first, who will support you and your company?
If you don't believe in your product and services first, who will trust you?
If you don't know what you stand for and why you are putting so much effort into doing something, who will connect with your message?

Once you have a clear vision of what you will accomplish, then you can put your message out there and start connecting with real people who truly love what they are doing online and stand behind thir products.

I have no idea. I keep going back and forth about the best religion to join.

For you though, trust yourself. You seem like a renegade person - so throw yourself into the woods and figure this thing out yourself. I think that's the real answer you're looking for.

Holding back.... so ... many.. . .. comments.. ... . because I dunwannagetbanned...

Flames expected but 99% do and have been doing this - for years. I still remember the first fawker that got me with the alias stuff when I was green to this - remember 'MarkWarren'? Mind you the people behind that did it big, but pretty much 99% or those here vying for your eyeballs - want to monetize you in some way and claim to have made it when they had a lil' spike if that.

I wouldn't trust literally ANYONE re giving them money to teach me how to make money or some 'method'. Do enough on your own and you can see through the BS like that scene putting on/off the advertising sunglasses. Trust yourself as others stated, and expect that those looking for ways to make money are going to be surrounded by others looking to take it from them. Sig clicks on posts/threads are the driving force of why people create content on this forum sans noobie q's. That's a lot of fluff for the sake of some eyeballs to some wso sig on some adsense empire builder from a nobody hahaha.

/rant

I kinda commend the detective work. Back when I got taken by the MarkWarren system, I actually reverse engineered the whole fukn thing in a few nights vs trying his 'methods'. My quick research led me to many 'aha!' moments, then I was dangerous, launching products like crack until some worked.

Only thing I'd be doing re buying any apparently 'successful IM guru' stuff or lists I'd be on (ewww picturing being on guru's lists again like back in the day hahaha yukky spammers of the worst kind, but good to learn from quick) would be to reverse engineer it AND I'd be wanting some damn proof that you've 'made it' (in which case I'd be like - why the fawk are you on some forum trying to make a lil' more, you're rich bro, go expand your biz why you hunting for noobs on wafo?!).

.02.5

EDIT: YOu know what grinds my gears even worse though? People posing as fake persona's on forums as women - THIS ONE INCLUDED - especially young, apparently pretty, know it all females with very generic names and no real business to promote/mention yet they have all your answers and post like they've been here for years (because they have, and they are dudes). Some have many accounts just to pad their activity and wso's/authority. THAT is what I'd recommend you watch out for - the social conditioning is subtle but effective on big communities like this, WAHM, blackhat forums, down to the whitest vanilla forums.

Yes this is a big problem in the community however there are a few things you can do. Check testimonials from others who have got results from what they teach. What google wealth do they have ? What reputation do they have online ?

Here is the proof:


Here is the method:
https://www.warriorforum.com/ad-netw...lot-today.html

So what excuses do you have now not to succeed with Adsense?

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If someone is stating you can earn $xxxx.xx with their guide, then they are selling a dream, not a guide. Don't buy into dreams.

Anyone still making good money from something is not going to sell their secrets. Not to mention, their are no secrets these days. Everything you need to know is out there already. Learn it and work hard. That is the only secret to success.

With that said there are still plenty of good guides out there worth buying. But they are hard to find as you will have to sort through a tonne of trash first.

Doing your task investigating that guy is the right path to take. You should do that with any mentor you would like to trust. I wrote an article in the address below you may be interested about taking care when choosing your mentor. You have given me some additional ideas to complement the list in that article if you do not mind

Good luck

Typical response from a bitter person who follows others around just to negatively reply to all their posts or opinions. Then puts them on their ignore list. #Sad

Friend, you are barking up the wrong tree. If you could really find out information like that on whoever you want, you could earn a lot of money with that service.

Due diligence is a necessity in the IM world. The anonymity of the internet brings out the bad in some people.

Of course there is absolutely no way for you to know any of this.

In other words you do NOT know how much money he/she is making, how many sites they have, etc. There is NO way for you to get this information in a reliable way and ensure you have it all without them sharing their passwords, bank account info, etc. with you.

So your accusation could be totally baseless which is ironic coming from someone complaining about all the lying going on.

Note that before anyone says I'm in bed with the scammers or whatever by defending this unknown person, you'd be wise to read my posts that are 100% against any unethical, immoral, or illegal behavior of any kind.

Mark

He could have one more site that you did not find (if you even found some of his in the first place).

He could really be making the kind of money he bragged about and maybe not.

Don't believe income claims
Don't believe income "proof".
Even if income claims are true it does not mean you can duplicate it.

You say, "I just find it annoying how many internet marketers lie". Actually, the successful ones that you want to learn from do not have to lie. They also follow ethical and legal matters so they will not jeopardize their business. It is not hard to find them if you quit looking for 1) get rich quick, 2) get rich fast or 3) get rich easy.

Anyone that makes money claims online or offline is either a liar or an idiot.

You know what....IMers don't lie (most of the times). They just tell you what you want to hear!!

If you are looking for income proof you are paving the way for scammers to show you doctored screenshots. Tell me how many people are really interested in having a business that demands their sweat and blood?

Not many!!

Most suffer from the "shiny object " syndrome and spend most of the time hopping from one idea to another without ever taking any real action. Some do start out well but get demotivated easily and throw in the towel when they hit a roadblock.

So, it's necessarily about what YOU are capable of doing and how much YOU are willing to put in.

BTW, the FTC isn't very fond of the earnings proof thingy and all major platforms including the WSO section of this forum discourage it.

So, before you point your finger know the rules.

Also, I personally wouldn't put my money on a program just because it shows earnings proof. I'd rather shy away from those. If I get back a genuine method I'm happy because I know I can work on it and even tweak it a bit to make it work big time. But then....not everyone wants to "learn" the system - many just want to know how succesful has someone been with a method and use it as a metric to judge the workability of a system!

Few consider the fact that the same system works differently for different people. At the end of the day it all boils down to what YOU are doing!!

I'm not really a fan of images showing big numbers. If you will notice the real big name in the internet marketing doesn't use these proofs.

People already know that they know what they're doing. Just for example Frank Kern, have you seen this guy posts his earnings?

But if you're to claim something big, make sure you can back it up with your work and social proofs not coming from you.

It really is a catch 22. On the one hand you want to learn and on the other hand you dont know these people from a "can of paint".

Unless you can afford a P.I. then you just have to lay in bed with some of these "coaches" and hope that the information they provide is enough to get you to the next level. There is no definitive answer. It is trial and error. Even people with credibility are duping the masses so just use your gut.

To be honest, whenever I make money with my business, I usually upload an income proof video of course with the disclaimer that "Results are not typical". To be quite honest, I could care less what someone else makes since it's really not relevant to my bank account. Before joining any business, I would do my research to see if it's legit, and join the person who provides the most value. Their earnings have no affect on me because every marketer is created different. Not everyone treats their business like a business. Not everyone is going to get the same results. In my opinion, don't worry about what other people are earning. If you don't know who to trust and are thinking of joining any program, do you research. There is never a guarantee of income for marketers unless they are treating their business like a business and not a hobby

To make money online you should try to learn everything and every step from legit online marketers. Most of them have blogs where they teach almost everything in detail, for free. Try to develop the habit of reading and doing research. Everyone has learned from this. No software can make you rich quickly.

It is against adsense terms of service to disclose your earnings anywhere to anyone

al

I.M. is littered with scammers. It's up to you to do your due diligence and research their reputation. If any body got scammed, then Google will reveal it.

Just search.

When i read your post that quote from game of thrones popped into mind: "you're either the butcher of the meat"

Hey WatchOut

Do not trust those who have no reputation and testimonials traceable online are scams!

I have learnt that when it is too good to be true, it is. There are no short cuts in internet marketing.

If you believe all the hype, it just disappoints you big time.

Everyone is attracted by what they wanna hear. Don't rely on big money talking people unless they have testimonials, reputation or an actual proof of their personal earnings. Best of luck

Look at other things, not just income earnings:

1) Reputation. That's there reputation in the industry, do people know them
2) Traffic stats - If a website is getting tens of thousands of views every month, chances are they are making great money
3) Income proof - Ask them for income proof, if they can't provide it, chances are they are scamming people

A good marketer knows value is in content.

If they do their job they'll give you free advice you can go out and use to make you want their products.

If they give you enough info to make the decision for yourself, instead of using hype to "sell" you, you know they care, and they're doing what they need to for you to be successful, because that's more important to them than selling.

So proof comes down to how pretty your screenshots are?

That's kinda like believing someone based upon whether or not they're a fancy artist.

Let me tell you there player...

Screen shots don't mean a damn thing.

(Even legit earnings... Because who knows what the real profit was or how they really obtained those goals).

To answer your question...

Trust people only as far as you can throw them.

be deeply skeptical of all IM content...merely Watch and Learn from what topsellers do, and use similar methods...

You trust whoever actually focuses on giving advice, helping you, and showing their quality up front for FREE.

You trust the person who PROVES you can trust them.

You trust the person who isn't just trying to offer you information after you pay them.

Are you saying everything on the internet isn't legit?

If it's too good to be true, then just drop it!

This thread has a lot of replies, just to add on the income proofs. A lot of marketers can show you that they are earning 5 - 7 figure per month but it is also possible that they spending more than what they've earned.

A marketer can show you a 10k income proof but the total expense of running the business is 9.9k so that means he's just earning 100k in reality.

Don't be fooled by those income proofs.

I've been involved in online business since 2002/3 and in that time, I've only ever met 1 person making any decent money.

99% of the people 'trying to make it' are failures.

The other 1% are selling big bags of hope to the other 99%.

The quickest way to make money in this game is providing services, not selling $7 ebooks.

As one of the many former moderators of this place I can answer this question.

It's simply a matter of fairness.

Imagine a forum where anyone could make a false accusation against you and then it's allowed to stay here? That forum wouldn't last very long.

Another thing to consider is that sometimes it's not a matter of one person scamming another. I can't tell you how many times I got involved with two parties who had a simple misunderstanding and it was ultimately resolved.

Sometimes it's a language issue. Sometimes it's one person not receiving an e-mail. Sometimes it's one person expecting a response in a few hours when the other person went to asleep on the other side of the world.

There's also some subjectivity at work here too. What you might think are "wild claims", another might think is completely reasonable. If the forum allowed people to name and shame people, they would need to hire a whole slew of new moderators (and probably legal counsel) to mitigate the problems that would arise.

This is one of those things that sounds good in theory, but in real-life application it's just not practical, nor is it fair to the person being accused.

There is a process in this forum, however, that everyone should be aware of. If you see someone breaking the rules or actually ripping someone off AND you have proof of this (not your gut feeling or intuition), then use the report post icon that's underneath the person's name and report it to the moderators.

RoD

Its really hard to makes heads or tails these days of who's claims to believe. Everybody pushing a product claims to be a guru on some level. From my experience I would say most marketers claiming huge annual incomes are actually making far less. Somewhere in the 25-50% of what they claim. The old adage reigns supreme...Fake it till ya make it

Whatever income claims a marketer makes, he still has to add a disclaimer
that he cannot promise you that you will do the same. So the income
claims should not be the primary motivator to get a product. Of course
you want to know that the system works, and hence the income claims
come as "proof", but the system still has to be worked by someone and
everyone doesn't get the same results.

A marketer who chooses to lie would soon find that his own conscience
catches up on him. And people who lie hate to be lied to. Ever noticed?

-Ray Edwards

The best things I learned so far is don't follow gurus and all "professionals" follow your hear test new things! That's the best thing you can do. Don't follow like a ship, be different try new things even if for some maybe won't work. Maybe they will for your.

Testing is the best thing that you can do. Following others is like copying others what they do, but being unique is something else, better, different and you'll learn by making mistakes. I'm still learning, but I'm trying new approaches even if they are weird... That may work

Good luck