If you’re looking for ways of breaking out of the corporate nine to five, then sooner or later you’ll come across Internet Marketing Training Courses on the Web.
There are a great number of such training courses now available online, of varying type and quality.
If you’re new to Internet Marketing, then doing a training course makes good sense. Here at BreakingOut.NET I also promote some of these courses.
Danger, Will Robinson!
But there’s a danger here. Not all training courses in Internet Marketing (or IM, as it’s sometimes known) are reputable. There are some schemes on the Web that use IM training courses primarily as a vehicle to promote pyramid-style, Multi-Level-Marketing or Network Marketing operations.
It can be difficult to determine exactly whether an IM training program constitutes a legitimate operation.
Pyramid selling is illegal and you should steer clear of any such schemes. But MLM or Network Marketing in itself is not illegal. MLM and pyramid-style schemes can be found in many product sectors and IM and IM training is no exception. Many legitimate training courses utilize aspects of MLM practice – and perfectly legally.
This means that a scheme can be legally in the clear, despite the fact that it contains pyramid-style features. Even if a scheme is legal, it still need not represent a worthwhile investment of your money, time and effort. I refer to such schemes as ’pyramid-style’, regardless of whether they are technically legal or illegal. In my opinion, all pyramid-style training schemes are best avoided.
I have no interest in getting involved in any legal disputes, so I’m not going to mention the names of any pyramid-style schemes here. It’s up to you do your own due diligence and make up your own mind about any particular scheme.
Why are pyramid-style IM training schemes best avoided?
Basically because pyramid-style marketing is a form of business operation that is inherently unstable and unsustainable in the long run. They may teach you Internet Marketing techniques but you will not be launching your online business on a sound foundation, nor will you be utilizing those learned techniques in an area with long-term sustainability.
It will also most likely cost you more money than the value you will get in return. Such programs benefit the members in the ‘upstream’ – the promoters and those already established higher up in the pyramid hierarchy, far more than they benefit the members located in the ‘downstream’.
What are the characteristics of pyramid-style IM training schemes?
Creating a definitive list of things to look out for is difficult, because the presence of a particular characteristic is not in itself clear evidence of an MLM or pyramid-style training scheme. Furthermore, the operators of such schemes are usually careful to try and structure their program in such a way that it can’t be classified as an illegal pyramid scheme.
The only way to assess a training scheme is to take into account the overall impression of the program. But there are some elements that are almost always found in pyramid-style training schemes.
Here are some tell-tale signs to watch out for
The program places a heavy emphasis on making money rather than marketing a service or a product. There will be a lot of talk of becoming rich, being ‘successful’ becoming ‘independent’, ‘the sky’s the limit’, it’s all down to your own ‘mindset’, determination, self belief etc. Escalation and expansion is essential to pyramid-style schemes.
High income, multi-figure earnings will be dangled in front of you, and living, breathing examples of people active in the program will be paraded on stage before you at conventions and in YouTube videos. Though all the claims they make will of course come with a disclaimer.
There is often an evangelical, almost missionary fervour about the program. There may be a ‘guru’ or a whole team of ‘gurus’ or millionaire personalities sitting at the top. There may be the feeling that you are being converted (in the sense of becoming a sales prospect and buying into the coaching program, you are).
Sometimes you encounter behaviour such as senior members of the program referring to each other as mentors, brothers, sisters, elders. There will often be stage events, conventions and seminars taking place. The atmosphere may well be that of a ‘successful’ millionaires club, of joining a brotherhood.
The price of membership is invariably high and much greater than it’s true value - whether as a one off fee, a monthly ‘continuity’ subscription, or – ideally for the promoters, a combination of both of these payment models.
As a pre-condition for joining the program you are required, or at least actively encouraged, to promote the program itself as an affiliate. There is nothing wrong with promoting a product or service in itself – and you will receive commissions for this. The give away trait here is if the scheme only permits you to continue to receive commissions in future only for as long as you continue to pay into the coaching program yourself as a paying member.
Those at the top of the scheme earn a great deal, whereas those at the lower levels earn very little. The program is primarily a money making machine for the promoters with little real practical value for the members, other than their opportunity to recruit new sign-ups for the training scheme.
There is a strong emphasis on recruiting more members. This is known as the downstream. This need not in itself indicate a pyramid-style set up, but it is usually a feature of MLM programs. With a pyramid scheme, revenue is dependent on recruiting more and more members of the scheme ‘downstream’. The product itself is largely secondary to this.
Members of the training program don’t seriously promote other products other than the training program itself. This is often a sure sign of a pyramid-style scheme.
You are encouraged or required to set up a website or blog primarily to promote the scheme itself. This is another strong tell-tale sign. Members sites will promote or sell either no or few other products or services. There may be bonuses, preferential rates, traffic competitions and prizes offered by the scheme for the ‘best’ blog that promotes the training program most effectively.
The blogs may also contain a couple of display ads for minor low-priced products such as books – but this serves more as a decoy to try and avoid any pyramid selling accusations. The content of the member site will be heavily ”wealth’ and ‘success’ oriented. The names of such websites tend to be made up of a combination of the name of the participant together with the name of the training program. The primary intention of the site is to recruit more members into the training program.
If you come across an IM training course which has spawned a very large number of course member blogs online all promoting the same IM training program itself and little else besides, then it’s highly likely that you have come across a pyramid-style program. Needless to say, in setting up websites in this manner, the members of the training program will also all effectively be competing with each other in the sector – not a good position for a new business to be in.
Another thing that especially puts me off is anyone in a suit who starts shouting and gesticulating about “success” in an auto-start video when you arrive. I give that kind of thing very short shrift and cut them off immediately.
How to assess an Internet Marketing Training Course
If you encounter an IM training program which exhibits all or most of these traits, in particular the last three:
- a strong emphasis on recruiting more members into the program,
- existing members not seriously promoting other products besides the training program itself
- and your being encouraged or required to set up a blog to promote the program
- then in this case the chances are high that it’s a pyramid-style marketing scheme. This will make it a weak foundation for starting a business. In this case you would be best advised to steer well clear.
To repeat: what counts is the overall impression. The fact that an IM training program operates an affiliate program, or charges a high membership fee, holds conventions or seminars, produces YouTube videos about it’s success stories, or talks about mindset and motivation is not an inevitable sign of disreputable marketing or evidence of a dodgy training scheme.
In my opinion, using course participants to promote the training program itself should not be part of the training. It creates a pyramid-style business operation which is is not suited to creating a viable, sustainable business – whether online or offline.
Ask yourself three key fundamental questions
1. Is this program sustainable? Consider the market for the product you will be promoting. If the market is primarily composed of recruiting other members, then it is probably not sustainable.
2. Does the course teach me how to set up and operate an online business in sectors other than promoting the program itself?
3. Does it offer me real value for money?
Those IM training programs that do not match up on these questions should be be given a wide berth.If you have doubts, then it’s best to steer clear and look elsewhere. There are plenty of reputable IM training courses on the net which are worth joining. You don’t have to get involved in a pyramid-style scheme.
Do your own due diligence!
Check carefully with Google. You can also consult a reputable crowd-review site such as IM Report Card at www.imreportcard.com. But bear in mind that not all IM training programs are featured on the site.
Note that it can also be hard to obtain a neutral perspective from existing members of the program. Those that have bought into a particular training scheme will usually be committed to it and will not wish to describe their program as a pyramid-style scheme.
You may be able to find out more factual information about the real nature of the program from those who have exited the scheme. But even here you have to beware. Some of those who quit a training program may have done so and may speak badly about the program or be disgruntled simply because it didn’t suit them. Or because they weren’t committed, made no money and felt it was a “con” – and so as a result will be more likely to bad-mouth it. Thus “bad news” from former members should not be automatically taken as gospel.
The best advice is to assess the program according to the above list of features and to form your own overall impression. Always exercise your own due diligence here just as you would with any other investment or purchase.
Remember the saying: if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck – it may not be a duck, but the chances are it most probably is. Don’t forget to always check with Google and IM Report Card and do your own due diligence before choosing and signing up for an IM training course.
How to find a reputable Internet Marketing Training Course
Fortunately there also exist some reputable Internet Marketing training schemes.
Below are some training courses that I can recommend for newcomers that are worth taking a look at. These are all 100 percent fully legit and I promote these courses here on BreakingOut.NET.
- Chris Farrell Membership is a training course with a strong focus on explaining the practicalities of setting up an Internet Marketing business – both the online marketing aspects as well as the IT technical issues. Visit www.Chris Farrell Membership.com for more information.
- The Challenge - This is an excellent free training program in the fundamentals of Internet Marketing run by IM veteran Ed Dale, called The Challenge. This course only covers the basics – but the basics are an essential part of all successful online business. Check it out at www.challenge.co (not a typo, the address is .co and not .com)
Good luck and Success with your Internet Marketing training – and avoid the pyramids!
Image: Pyramid of Khafre, Cairo, Egypt. Courtesy of Jorge-11
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Written by kevin
Topics: Entrepreneurship