“How do I even approach web site promotion, faced with such statistics?”
This is a question asked with increasing frequency by frustrated webmasters and online business owners, especially in Google’s webmaster help forum, where I help out on a regular basis.
Trawling around the web in search of a solution to their promotional issues, most of these individuals will eventually run across one of the many Internet Marketing Gurus promising that: “My Gee-Goog 3000 program allow you to grow your web site and earn BIG $$$ while you sleep, for only $149.99!”
Often backed by implied guarantees, these offers seem to be the answer to every webmaster’s prayer, a residual income with very little effort. Throwing caution to the wind, many frustrated entrepreneurs get out their credit card, pay up and download the ‘solid-gold’ web site promotion course. After reading a few pages, however, it becomes abundantly clear that the ‘hot web promotion success program’ which has been so dearly bought is nothing of the sort. Instead, of providing the promised insider information, it is merely a rehashing of old online marketing tips, interspaced with occasional buzzwords.
The fact is that, although there are of course a number of genuine web site promotion gurus out there, the vast majority of the expert courses and tutorials on offer are simply compilations of (often outdated) Internet marketing methods and strategies, which can be found free of charge in most SEO forums. Let me illustrate the point with something I ran across very recently.
“Get a FREE Blog, and make up to $1,500 per month in advertising revenue!”
“Hmmm…” thought I, “So where’s the catch?”
As it turned out, the guru in question was offering free blogs, provided you were subscribed to his ‘Get rich Blogging’ success e-zine ($44.99 + Tax per month), and in return for providing you with a 'free' blog you were effectively renting for $600 per year, he also got to keep 50% of any advertising revenue you happened to make with the damn thing, up to $3,000 per month, after which he got to keep it all.
There are thousands of scams like this out there, with more being launched each and every week. What you should always remember before taking up any buzzword laden offer, is that these are mainly aimed at exploiting new users trying to find their feet on the web.
Before you get out your credit card, bear in mind the old adage; “When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”
If it was that easy, we'd all be rich...
After all, if there were a simple approach to successful web site promotion, everyone would be doing it. And of course, no matter what a particular guru-package promises you, there will still only ever be ten spots on that coveted first Google results page, so the overall success would greatly depend on your market sector’s level of competition.
When it comes to web site promotion, there is no substitute for hard work, regardless of what gurus and buzzwords, or at least their buzzword-laden success-programs, may claim. Ultimately the combination of great content, clean website and navigation structure, and high-quality inbound links is a winner every time.
If Internet marketing is a strange concept to you, spend some time in Google’s webmaster support forum with me, and you’ll soon learn a thing or two. There's also more information about common promotional cons by the industry's shady operators in our article about SEO Scam Artists.
