Beware of the Get Rich Quick Schemes of the Noughties

25 October 2010

I felt it was about time to write about this new scheme which seems to be popping up all over the place and tempting people into something which I've termed as the new "Get Rich Schemes of the Noughties".

This is not a new idea, if you remember back in the 90s, this became a popular marketing ploy which promised that people can attain massive wealth by working from home with these schemes that have high return rates, little risk and low investment of effort and time.

Legal and some questionably legal programs were often advertised in magazines, newspapers and the famous infomercials. Other less legitimate schemes would operate through cold calling or spam post.

Does this sound familiar to you? Have you ever been caught out by one? If so, drop us a mail or post a comment below about your experiences so that others can be warned. Feel free to name names, the sooner the scan artists are exposed, the better off everyone will be.

I guess it is the massive promise of such riches in such a short period of time which draws the allure to people who truly believe that they deserve all the rewards without the effort. Trust me, that is never the case. Anyone who is successful in their lives, business, career or otherwise, will tell you that hard work is part of the formula for success, and if you are not prepared to put that in, you will not reap the rewards.

Economic theory suggests that these risk-free ventures are not stable, because they will very soon be exploited by arbitragers, these are people who specifically take advantage of a price difference between 2 or more markets, striking a combinations of matching deals that capitalize on the imbalance.

You won't be surprised to know that the Noughties version of these schemes are now in full flow operation, and these come in the form of "Secret Formulas" to affiliate marketing and affiliate advertising.

Now I'm pretty sure you've come across these already! If you haven't you'll soon hear about them.

These schemes will typically claim that without any expert knowledge of IT, marketing or internet technologies, you can implement and easy step by step system that will eventually lead to thousands of leads and thousands of sales of "other people's products".

Is that really the case? Think about it for a second, where else in life does such systems really exist?

Schemes like these are popping up literally on a daily basis now and it's really a minefield of what's bad and what's worse!

I'm particularly annoyed at these schemes because it gives affiliate marketing a bad name, which in all fairness, is not true. After all, Amazon.com, the innovator behind the internet affiliate marketing models, has made a huge success from it, and affiliate marketing, when done properly is an extremely effective tool for businesses and affiliates alike.

Here are the things to look out for when you hear of a new scheme:
- The will often say that signing up will get you rich within months.
- They will imply that they have the secret which when applied will give you the advantage.
- They will use implied endorsement via associative claims through YouTube, Google or other known brands.
- They will use pressure tactics to enforce a quick, almost immediate signup, claiming scarcity of time or limited supply, or discount prices.
- They will use testimonials from other previous users, often times made up.
- They will use multiple popup windows to upsell/cross sell or pressure sell before you leave their focus.

Making money online is absolutely possible. With the right dedication, treatment and application of the correct knowledge and business understandings, you can build a solid business online which generates long term passive revenue. We should know, we've generated over $5m of turnover for our clients using REAL affiliate marketing methods and legitimate working internet marketing principles.

There are also information products out there which do deliver genuine value to the end user. If the products do not claim to make you rich, just to educate you, then chances are they are genuine good value educational products. Several great marketers who are genuinely teaching fabulous material include Eben Pagan, James Schramko, Frank Kern and several other prominent geniuses.

I don't need to list though the number of people who are creating a load of scams. Remember, clickbank selling is not that easy, it's a portal for self made scam artists where the only people making the money are those who are selling the scams!

I wanted to get this out there so that our readers can beware of the wolves that are now roaming cyberspace. Sooner or later, they will all get exposed one by one, and recently we've been hearing stories of several high profile fall outs from these schemes, so the word is finally getting out about the scams!

Remember, beware, if you are unsure, drop us an email and ask us whether something you are looking to invest in is a completely scam, or something that perhaps does deliver the value it promises.

Eddie Yu

Have you been caught out by an internet scam? Tell us your story below.