Beware Of Magic Beans – A Warning To Newbie Internet Marketers
Copyright (c) 2008-2009 Bill Platt
the Phantom Writers
http://thePhantomWriters.com

John (and other newbie online marketers),

Let me ask you a question. Why would you ever send out an email
that destroys your own credibility? Credibility is absolutely
essential to the success of any company on the Internet. And yet,
you lied to me in your email, multiple times.

Lies? Yes, that is a strong word. Would you prefer me to suggest
that you exhibited “extreme ignorance”?

I know that you likely have some very clever software that you
are using to construct and mail your sales offers to folks.

Your only salvation here is that I know you likely made only one
mistake. You trusted your handy-dandy software package to take
good care of your business interests.

But your software has failed you.

The first problem in your mailing appears in the first and second
paragraphs.

“I was recently reviewing automobiles ezine sites in some of
the major search engines and I came across your web site:
www.thephantomwriters.com.”

“After reviewing your site I found that we are both targeting
the exact same market, though we are not in competition with each
other.”

It is obvious that you really did not review my website, or you
would not have written your sales message as you did. But then
again, I also know that your nifty little software package wrote
the actual sales script for you.

Later in your message, you also said,

“I offer this partnership very selectively, so please do act
fast if you wish to go ahead with this.”

Here is another lie that your software’s nifty little sales
script tagged to “your reputation”. If you were selective about
who you offered this too, you would never have contacted me.
After all, I only have about 20 pages related to the automotive
industry – in more than 6000 pages on The Phantom Writers
website.

The truth is that ThePhantomWriters.com is not an automotive
website!!! It does not even have its own ezine!!!

But, you know what? I decided to check out your offer anyway,
because I actually do own an automotive website at a different
URL. I am always on the search for monetization offers for my
various websites, so I gave you a shot.

At the beginning and end of your message, you referred to my
“automotive website”, and you offered an affiliate program to
enable my “automotive ezine” to earn money.

The biggest disappointment I found in your message is that your
affiliate program has absolutely nothing to do with automobiles
or the automotive industry. Nope. You are soliciting me to sign
up for an affiliate program, to sell web hosting services to my
visitors!!! Yes, it is true that most website owners own cars,
but not all car owners own websites!

John H. (last name withheld for obvious reasons), I have news for
you. My company specializes in the creation of informational and
tutorial-style articles and in the distribution of those articles
to publishers on the World Wide Web, for the purpose of promoting
my clients’ websites.

You know what else John? In responding to your email, I just
wrote my newest article. The good news is that you are going to
be famous!!! The bad news is that you are going to be famous for
all of the wrong reasons…

———————————————————-
Bill Platt has owned and operated http://thePhantomWriters.com/
since 2001. If you would like to learn more about his article
distribution service, visit his website. To read 100′s of Bill’s
Tweet-sized tips for article marketing, SEO, and more, visit:
http://thephantomwriters.com/tips/index.php
Bill is also active on Twitter @
http://twitter.com/contentmanager