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How to be a Rich Internet Marketing Guru in 4 Simple Steps

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If you are willing to be slightly deceptive, and you aren’t too concerned about your reputation long term, then you too could be the next Internet marketing superstar!

Disclaimer: While there are a lot of very honest experts in the world of Internet marketing & I do my best to surround myself with the best of the best, there are also plenty of experts that established their entire career on false income claims and other ugly tactics. Many of these “gurus” are riding a wave of affiliate sales and launches. I’m trying to show you how they did it so you can recognize it when you see it…and if you lack a moral compass, I’m about to give you the blueprint for irresponsible wealth!

Here’s How to be a Rich Internet Marketing Guru in 4 Simple Steps:

Step one: Get a picture of yourself with a big paycheck from Clickbank, Google, Commission Junction etc. It’s not that hard to do if you have some investmentment money. Simply spend as much money as it takes on pay per click ads, Facebook ads, or any other various form of online advertising. Who cares if you have to spend $15,000 in order to make $5,000. All you need is the fat check and a picture of it in your hands. SHORTCUT: If you aren’t worried about the FTC tracking you down (odds are they won’t) you can just take a fuzzy picture like this one and claim that this check is six figures “fat”.

Step two: Develop a step-by-step system revealing your top-secret strategies for raking in fast cash. Actually I’ve just given you a great title for your product. That will sell like crazy I promise. Slick graphics are very important. Be sure to put in a ton of content even if it’s just “filler”. The content doesn’t have to be all that fantastic but there needs to be a lot of it. If you make the price tag high enough you’ll have plenty of JV partners jump on the promotion of your big launch.

Step three: Entice your leads by offering to “give away” some of your best content (if it’s good or not doesn’t matter) in exchange for e-mail addresses. Make sure your claims are hard to verify and deliver your content with authority. Accuracy and honesty are of course optional. The current trend is video. It’s time to build the hype.

Step four: It’s time to put your “exploit” on autopilot! Your refund rate will probably be pretty high on your launch, but there’s no need to mention that fact when you launch your SECOND product which will be the story of how you made $XXX,XXX in one day with your first info-product launch! You are also now the proud owner of a large e-mail list full of people very willing to fall for shiny objects. Be sure to exploit them by selling (as an affiliate) all the other guru launch products.

See the comments others have left, or leave your own comment by clicking the “comment” link at the top of this article.

Comments

  1. Jim,
    Wow, you are spot on about what should NOT be done in the Internet Marketing world.

    I prefer the method of slowing building a strong reputation and providing great products to my customers just like you.

  3. Hi Jim,

    As always, very helpful and looking out for the community.

    Quick question though — #3 … where you offer good info for an email address.

    Is that really a bad thing to do? I’m confused here? I know you’ve built a list of over 100,000 people and that’s something I’d like to emulate.

    Can you clarify this point so I understand what’s wrong with building a list via offering solid info?

    Thanks

    Mark

    [reply from Jim]: I’m glad you said something…I’ve edited the article to remove the GOOD advice I accidentally gave in step 3! Of course it’s a great idea to grow a loyal following by giving them great advice and information. I stand behind that concept fully! (i.e. listbuildingclass.com)

  4. Great advice once again! Your information always makes me or saves me money. The products that I do have from you are top notch. And more than that they help me make money from home.

  5. I appreciate the humor in which this was written. It is so true though which is extremely sad. I know a couple of “one hit wonders” that really struggled after that first success. I think its so important to build your reputation first.

  6. Don’t forget to invite them to your latest seminar where all the newest and most talented gurus (namely them) will gather to hear you poor out lifelong words of wisdom as you set them up to buy into your coaching classes.

  7. Thanks again Jim, Can’t even imagine how much time & money you have just saved the innocent online business entrepreneur wanna-be. Just join offlinebiz for the real deal. I did and now can find the TRUTH anytime I want. Rich

  10. Thanks Jim
    You pointed out exactly why i didnt buy any of their courses for three years until I found you and bought your training. Your #1 and highly ethical

  11. This article is so right on, it is exactly how the big splashy launches are done. The sad part to me is, we all start out as newbies, and spend at least a year of our time and hundreds to thousands of dollars on this garbage before we wake up and realize we have been taken, over and over and over again. I really do not know how some of these “gurus” sleep at night. They steal from people, it is as simple as that.

  12. Great article Jim and so true

    Would add that it seems obligatory to have a truly awful rags to riches story, and with the less scrupulous businesses, make it very hard for your customers to communicate with you post payment!

  13. Thanks for a great post Jim.

    I have been struggling online to make even a few hundred pounds in the last couple of years. I just want to do things ethically, but I cannot seem to build a list of more than a couple of hundred names.

    Maybe I’m just too honest to be cut out for this online world.

    Dave Robus.

    [reply from Jim]: I’m not saying that DISHONESTY is required in order to succeed. I personally know of hundreds of people doing great things online. The keys to success are common though…here’s an article on that very different topic. https://www.jimcockrum.com/blog/?p=544

  14. Its good to see some honest truths about making money online and especially good that the advice is top notch. I stumbled across your page and I am very glad I did. Bookmarked and ready to come back again!
    Many thanks!

  15. Your words are exactly what I needed to read . . . (as a newbie) it is difficult to admit but I have lost thousands of dollars to the “big name gurus” . . . as one of your posters said, “How do they sleep at night?” . . . if only I had discovered you right out of the gate . . . oh, well, no regrets; but no more wasting my time and money with them . . . I am, starting today, using your information and techniques and judging from your reputation I have no doubt that I will meet success. I can’t wait to get started . . . Many thanks for sharing your knowledge at affordable prices!

  17. That is so true . Every time I see a picture of a click bank check, I never pay attention anymore. I thought  that the FTC was going to be coming down more on these dishonest marketers after the big court cases with several companies http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/03/emptypromises.shtm  I also think  people are getting more savvy and as Jim mentioned ,probably checking how much Klout the individual has. Unfortunately some people have no scruples even in a recession.

  18. Did you note that almost all the “gurus” say they have “lost a lot of dollars trying to be succesful online before finding THE SECRET”? This is the #1 technique of commercial speeching, called “identification”.

  19. The SilentSalesMachine.com book is only $5. It’s packed with great ideas from my 10 years of proven success and the success of my students. It will save you a ton of wasted time and money.

  20. I just received a terrific offer and the cost is only $79 for a “Five Click — We Do It All For You” program.  Well $79 is a bit more than my budget can stand right now so I click that little X at the top right hand corner of my screen. 
    Well whoopee, a little square box shows up that says
    “Please don’t go,  We have a discount for you today.  Just click the Cancel button to stay on this page.”  So I click the “Cancel” button and sure enough a page comes up offering me the product for a whopping 50 % discount for only $39.50. 

    Well I might be able to squeeze that much out of my budget even though it will mean no mid morning coffee for the next month.  So I order the product and pay with PayPal.  They send me to a site with a  “One Time Offer” that will put the frosting on the cake of the product I just bought and this one costs only a measley $197 for life.  If I don’t buy it now it will be gone for ever.   Well if I really want to make money with this I better get it.  So out comes my credit card, (I should know better… but)… and I buy.  Then after three or four more “One Time Offers” that I must have to make it work with just “One Click Of My Mouse” I finally find the download page for the original offer and it’s all nothing but JUNK.

    Does this story sound familiar?
    My advice:  If they try to hold you when you first exit their page, don’t click the “Cancel Button”.  Click the “Continue Button” which takes you to the exit. 

    Like Barnham said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”  I might add,  ” and two Con-men born to take him” 
    Don’t let the Cons make a sucker out of you.  And don’t be a Con-man either.  What goes around comes around.

    George Wright

  21. I am making a steady income from a Jim Cockrum course and watched a HYPE video by someone who claimed to know Jim C. I have good money in the bank from my present online business AND figured out what my RISK is-$1586- from trying a NEW venture that-after the fact-has virtually Everything Jim C. said to “watch out for”above. So now, it turns out, it takes AT LEAST $1,000 MORE to Potentially(ahem) make this step by step Coached business succeed. I wish I had finished studying the $5 Silent Jim course BEFORE buying into this “once in a lifetime” sure thing, step by step building business. Conclusion, if someone is talking fast to you take the BIG CHANCE and let this Sure Thing opportunity GO. Learn so like I did with the Jim C training.

  22. I went to Anthony Morrison seminar, a few weeks
    ago, I was not impressed over all the hype and no hard facts and I felts was
    over priced at $2000 for the Columbus, Ohio market! Compared to a similar training program
    offered by Rich Dad training at $299 and I was impressed with that training
    program. I did not buy either program because I did not have the money and Anthony
    Morrison was over priced! They called me back and wanted to speak to me about
    another offer they had for me! Well, the guy I talked to left some wise cracks
    on my voice mail. I did talk to him later and next talked to his director,
    (closer) He wanted a $1000 down payment and a $133/month for 2 years. Once
    again I just do not have the cash. And I was not impressed!! Just all hype! I
    told me that my credit card are pretty much maxed out, and I am told that
    people that just got out of school make what I making now, and your going a
    down hill spiral the rep told me!.  I am
    in the process to change my life which I told their rep! Well really professional, putting me down, because I turned you down!

  23. This is spot on. However, in one of  your YouTube videos are endorsing a Stuart Thornhill WSO Domination that talks about linking Clickbank and WF together. In the sample chapters of silent sales machines you talk about avoiding being an affiliate for other peoples stuff. So how then does that fit in with your stragtegy?

    • This does seem to be a contradiction until you realize that I classify all “affiliate marketing” into TWO distinct categories. This article best describes the difference between the two (doing aff marketing the right way and the wrong way):
      https://www.jimcockrum.com/blog/2010/12/20/do-i-love-or-hate-affiliate-marketing/
      Also- read the other articles in the “affiliate marketing” section of my blog. You’ll get plenty other examples that help clear up my position (it’s the same position that more and more responsible marketers are adapting).

  24. I have to admit that I have fallen into the guru trap and have bought several step by step systems. I purchased your silent sales machine book a few days ago and it has been a real eye opener. Thanks for the great info

  25. I arrived here from your book Silent Sales Machine. Recently I invested in training with a coach that offered a monthly program that started at $97. Soon after another program was offered for $447 per month. I joined that program and then within another month another offer came out for another program for $247 per month plus multiple products that were upsold on a continuous basis. I like how you explain in the book about following what they do and how they sell. I am still very new to the idea of Internet marketing and have seen many gurus do this exact step-by-step sales tactic. Now I know what to look out for. I am learning so much from you!

  26. I have just read the free chapters of your book silent sales machine. I cannot help but had to keep nodding my head in agreement with the truth you told. These so-called training make everything looks like a terrible complex unsolvable puzzle. I have been trying to wrap my head around the whole making money online thing for the past 7 years, but as you rightly said, there is always an unanswered question after each training. Thanks so much Jim for the eye opening book. I am off to getting the whole book now to learn more. Stay blessed.

    • The new version of Silent Sales Machine is due out very soon! You’ll get it free if you purchase version 7. Thanks for the feedback! Being well informed is key to avoiding pitfalls in this biz.

  27. Jim, you are so honest and helpful that if you ever lost all your money and needed help I’d give you my last penny…

  28. Interestingly, I just had the experience of a company I found from Forbes as a top rated, “honest” place to start. Within 36 hours, I discovered they had “upgraded” my order to VIP (unbeknownst and NOT requested that I recall!). The upgrade charged my Credit Card a tidy sum of $291.00 (odd amount, which I truly did NOT agree to pay for!!!). That was on top of the original charge which I did authorize for $97.00! I talked to a guy from Las Vegas (RED FLAG!), who asked lots of personal, “qualifying” questions-he also told me NOT to look at what I had already paid for…by Saturday morning, I was going to be “selected” as one of the lucky few who would give them a new testimonial for how great they are and promised one-on-one coaching, blah,blah,blah…For THAT, it would only cost me $2,000.00 more!!! But that’s not all! I was given the opportunity to pay them back another $3,000.00 AFTER THAT!!!
    No guarantees-the additional monies would be contractual terms and conveniently paid to them every month directly from my credit card! I didn’t do it, thankfully! All I wanted was to learn how to post links on the internet, and I ended up nearly and neatly being scammed out of over $5,000.00!!! This occured from 2/17/16-2/20/16. Of course, this is a one time offer, so if I didn’t take it, there are so many other suckers waiting in line, my chance is gone forever. Thank Goodness!

    • That has scam written all over it! I’m so sorry you went through that! The “business opportunity” world is 95% criminals. Please be VERY cautious and research those you choose to listen to thoroughly.

      I’m proud of the fact that with hundreds of thousands of readers, students and clients spread all over the world with over 15 years of experience in online education we still have only 2-3 complaints anywhere to be found online. I use my real name (have from day one), and I proudly stand behind everything we do. We have over 1,000 success stories.

      Do your homework – there are good guys out there. I’m proud of our track record.

  29. Yup, I fell for the slick crap from one of the very visible gurus. I’m still paying for it (over 3 grand that I didn’t have). All of the signs were there, but I didn’t want to see them. …expensive lesson, yet priceless somehow. And yeah, I HATED the internet for awhile, but I got over it. Onward and upward…

  31. Love it! That’s the first “kudos on the dope work” compliment I’ve ever gotten! haha

    Keep your chin up – business success is about SERVING OTHERS WELL. Keep your focus there and you’ll do incredible things!

    Happy New Year!
    Jim