My internet passion started back in 2003. A little eBook set me on the road, it was Google Cash by Chris Carpenter. I set up a few campaigns in a relatively competition free Australia and started making money directly promoting affiliate programs.
I watched as more and more people entered the market though, forcing click bids up. I watched while Google changed their rules, time and time again making it harder for affiliates to make money with pay per click. I watched and worked up to the point where the time involved in managing pay per click campaigns as an affiliate, was no longer worth the commissions the campaigns earned.
So I left the "Google Cash" method of
internet marketing and started putting websites together, focusing on content and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. I basically learned everything there is to know. That which I learned, I applied to my websites and watched them succeed. Today I still run half a dozen of my own websites. One promotes my own product in the tourism industry, the others either sell affiliate based products or advertising space. All are successful in their own right.
Over the 6 years I have been active in
internet marketing, I have picked up quite a few clients who wanted help with their web presence. I never promoted this service, they all came to me on referral or by word of mouth. They all had two things in common. Firstly they wanted a website that sold their product. Secondly they had been ripped off by an unethical internet marketer who took their money and left them with a website that didn't work.
These clients of mine all had a pretty negative view of the internet industry when they came to me. Unfortunately they'd all been ripped off by one operator or another. That's the problem with our industry though, its unregulated and we are all, by and large, self taught. There is no standard of quality, this lets the poorly skilled earn while their clients suffer.
Every week I see these operators at work. They operate on the assumption that they know more about the internet than their clients and therefore can create sales through misdirection. They promise the world, deliver very little and once paid move onto the next unsuspecting victim.
My tourism service is a great example. Its a tiny little operation on Australia's Gold Coast, we hire surfboards to tourists. Do a search on "Gold Coast Surfboard Hire" or the less specific "Surfboard Hire", I'm pretty easy to find. My business is Gold Coast Surfboards. As you can see in the search results, its a well optimized website for the relevant terms to the business.
Despite this I get the so called "professionals" writing to me every week trying to sell me their SEO services. "We can put your business on steroids" they tell me, getting you on the first page of Google on such terms as "Surf Board Accessories" and "Holiday Rentals".
I think I've figured out what these charlatans do. I think they find a small business website and mine the search engines for "sort of" related terms, until they find one which is pretty low on Google. For my website, the type of terms that they come up with are "Surf Accessories" and "Holiday Rentals". Terms which are related but not really relevant. Once they have found one, they'll construct a sales pitch based on the traffic they'll send my website by optimizing it for those terms. Of course there is always a decent amount of scare mongering in these sales pitches, telling me how much of my business is going to my competitors, business which I can claim for my own.
If I didn't understand
internet marketing, I may have used these charlatans. I'm sure many small businesses have been convinced by their slick presentations. And at the end of their work though, I would have a website which attracts completely irrelevant visitors. People looking for surf accessories or people looking to rent a hotel room, or car for their holiday. This probably would have undermined the optimization work I did on "Surfboard Hire" and related terms as well, meaning my real clients would have gone to my competitors.
If you are a small business owner and get approached by an internet marketer who is going to "turbo boost" your business by getting it up to the top of Google, look carefully at the words they are suggesting they will do this for. There are lots of phrases which anyone can get to #1 as there is no competition for them. This is because no-one uses them to search. So before you sign up an internet marketer, try and get a good understanding of what your clients search for on Google when they are looking for your product.
If on the other hand you are not being hassled by these salesmen, yet understand the potential the internet has for your business but don't know where to start, I recommend you start asking around your circle of friends. Try and find an operator that someone will recommend first hand. Just make it clear to them though you are looking for an internet marketer, not a designer. There are plenty of students or graphic artists out there who will be happy to take your cash and build you a masterpiece. It will be such a pity no-one will be able to find it.
Finally, if you are one of those internet marketers who abuses our great industry by running around, trying to extract a pound of flesh from every business you come by regardless of the value you add, change your ways. This industry is big enough for everyone so there is a place for you. But skill yourself up and don't sell your services to businesses that don't need them. Only sell your services where the person paying for them will benefit from them. Your reputation, your business and our industry will flourish if you follow this code. (By the way, its called being ethical)
Damian Papworth, appalled by the lack of ethics displayed by todays
internet professionals, promotes honesty over greed
