How To Outwit A Den of Thieves
September 25, 2009 by admin
So many people these days are trying to run “Internet Businesses.” That is, they’re putting their products and/or services on a website, trying to drive traffic to the site, and working from home with the idea that they can keep expenses to a minimum, replace the income they derive from their jobs, and create a lifestyle that will give them a better lifestyle than they had “working for the man.”
But beware, the Internet is largely a “Den of Thieves”. Here’s what I mean. Let’s say you come up with a great idea based on your personal experience and/or research and develop an incredible product or service hoping to capitalize on and profit from your work. Then you build a website, spend countless dollars on generating traffic, make a killer compelling offer, and wait for the orders to come in. But for some reason either nothing or very little happens.
So you do a little more research and find that someone has seen what you’ve done, 
knocked you off, and is offering an “enhanced” version of your product or service for less money than you’re charging. Worse yet, they’ve found a way to “steal” or somehow divert the traffic that either has gone to your site previously, or that should be going there.
In many cases, this “thief” has no real-world experience or background in your subject. What they have in their corner is the ability to, 1) find someone who can rewrite your program (elance, scriptlance, etc., are good places to start); 2) write a better sales letter than you have (again, elance, scriptlance, or perhaps a copywriting course they’ve bought); and 3) bundle some other products with their offer that boost the “value” of their offer. I put “value” in quotes, because oftentimes, the add-on products are nothing more than products that may or may not be related, but they get affiliate commissions for promoting.
In other words, if you put your product or service on the Internet, be prepared to be ripped off sooner or later. If you go into this market that’s the game you play. As they say, “It comes with the territory.”
Want proof? Look at the latest courses that some of the so-called, self-proclaimed “gurus” are marketing. They tell you to go to ClickBank, see what the top selling products are, buy the product, rewrite it in your own words, write a better sales letter, ad on some additional products as “bonuses”, put up a website, find out what keywords are being using to drive traffic, and then promote the heck out of it. Some of the biggest names in Internet Marketing are openly and blatantly promoting this method.
So the question arises… Is that what you want people to do to you? If not, consider this alternative. Find the ideal target market for your product or service… who is already pre-qualified (based on past buying behavior), pre-disposed to buy (because they have a problem that you can solve with your product/service), pre-motivated (they are actively looking for a solution), and pre-sold (they’ve bought similar products/services in the past hoping to solve their problem. If they’ve bought more than one product/service, that’s even better… it shows that they still have the problem and are still looking).
How do you find this market? You turn to the SRDS (Standard Rate and Data Service). It’s a catalog that can be found in most large city libraries or online at www.SRDS.com, and is collection of lists of lists. In other words, it lists companies that have lists of customers that they are willing to rent to other marketers.
You know the little “Registration” card that comes with your blender that asks for all the personal information, and if you don’t fill it out and return it, and the blender blows up, you’re out of luck? (Hey, it’s a $20 blender… it’s a throw-away item… so what if you can’t get it fixed!)
Well, that Registration Card does more than activate your warranty. It collects data that can then be sold (or rented) to other marketers for a price. In other words, the blender company is collecting data from you that they can monetize.
So, you want a list of red-headed, one-legged, single women who have purchased a hub cap for a 1979 Ford Escort and used a Visa card? (That’s a little over the top, but you get the idea), you can get it. A good list broker (you can do it yourself if you know how), can “merge-purge” several lists until you get exactly the match you want.
Now you go offline via postcard, letter, or some type of special mailing and drive them to your website. NOBODY knows what you’re doing… what your product or service is, who you’re contacting, or what your offer is… except the people who are getting your mailings. In other words, you’re working behind the scenes and bypassing the Internet Thieves that I mentioned earlier.
Compare the cost of getting a list (usually around 80 cents a name) and sending a CASS-Certified, personalized postcard to a highly targeted prospect. Betcha it’s comparable or even less than PPC… and it’s stealth. That is, no one knows what you’re doing except the prospect that gets the mailing.
And the people you’re mailing to? Since they’re responding to your postcard, and not doing a Google search, they’re exposed to ONE offer… YOURS!… and not to all the other organic listings and paid ads that come up when they type in what they’re looking for. So in essence, you have pretty much a “captive” audience. Yes, some may continue to do research online and check out other offers, but since you’re generating a list using offline methods, your audience, for the most part, won’t go any further than just checking you out.
Think about yourself. When you see an ad in the newspaper, a magazine, Val-Pak, or some other type of mailing, and you’re interested in the offer, what do you do? If you’re like most people you contact the vendor that placed the ad directly. You don’t go online and check out all the other companies. In some cases you may, depending on what you’re looking for. But carpet cleaners, pool companies, garage floor resurfacing companies, storage cabinets in the garage, granite kitchen counter tops, and tons more businesses depend on Val-Pak, Money Mailer, and other offline methods to generate business, and many don’t have websites.
So if you’re looking for a way to jump ahead of your competition and keep from getting ripped off in the process, combining offline lead generation with a non-publicized website that does the selling, is certainly something you should check out. It’s an area that we cover in detail in our TopLine Business Solutions Consultant’s training.
Martin Howey
CEO and Founder
TopLine Business Solutions
Excellent post. And you’re right… create a product online and it won’t be long before you’re knocked off by an unscrupulous competitor.
Ryan
Thanks Ryan…
I’m honored that you took the time to comment and appreciate your remarks very much. There’s no question that a lot of money can be made online if you know what you’re doing… and it can be made very quickly. But many of the online “gurus” don’t have real businesses… they run from launch to launch, and very often with products that they have no real-life or practical experience with, but they have “borrowed” from others.
It’s sad that “marketing” can out-trump “expertise”. But that’s the name of the game, and the best way to beat it is to market under the radar.
Martin Howey
CEO and Founder
TopLine Business Solutions
It takes both a good product AND good marketing to build a sustainable business.
And a little good ol’ fashioned work never hurts, either.
Great post, Martin.
Ray Edwards
Founder and CEO
Ray Edwards International, Inc
You’re absolutely right, Ray. The best product can’t do anyone any good unless they know that first of all it exists, and secondly, how it can benefit them. And that’s what marketing is all about. It doesn’t surprise me that you you would mention marketing… that’s what you’re a master at. Anyone who wants to take their business to another level – and do it with lightening speed – should definitely contact you!
I haven’t seen anyone actually pushing to rewrite the product, just to rewrite the sales letter and link back to the clickbank sales page of the original author so you get the affiliate sale. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, since the original author still gets their cut. Clickbank does have some pretty crappy sales pages.
I don’t doubt that there are people out there that are unscrupulous enough to advocate stealing other peoples’ work and passing it off as your own. But are you sure that’s what these ‘gurus’ are actually advocating and not just rewriting the sales letter?
Hi Stacy,
Thanks for your comments and observation. And you’re absolutely right, there’s nothing wrong with rewriting a sales letter that links back to a product so the original author gets their cut. That’s the ethical thing to do.
Unfortunately, there are very few absolutes in the business world. And when times get tough, when people are lazy and look for shortcuts, when they don’t have the knowledge or skill to develop their own product, or when someone has less than stellar morals or standards, all kinds of things happen.
In a perfect world, operating the way you described would be the standard and everyone would benefit as intended. But this isn’t a perfect world and everyone doesn’t have the same ethics.
I agree with you that some of the sales letters on Clickbank are “pretty crappy.” There’s no question about that. And if someone can rewrite one of those and help the creator of the product sell more, that’s great. And if someone can take an existing product and make it better, that’s also great. That’s what business and free enterprise is all about. It happens in all kinds of businesses, in all kinds of industries and with major companies and corporations. That’s how new styles are developed, comforts are improved, fuel efficiency increases, and the free market flourishes and our lives are enhanced.
Please understand, I wasn’t saying that it’s wrong to see what’s out there and try to improve it. If that never happened, we’d still be living in caves and eating Saber Tooth Tiger meat. The point I was trying to make is, be aware. Here is my direct quote, “…if you put your product or service on the Internet, be prepared to be ripped off sooner or later. If you go into this market that’s the game you play. As they say, ‘It comes with the territory.’”
Look, if you have an inferior product and people aren’t getting the full benefit from it that they should or could be getting, and someone can make it better, then more power to them. The marketplace deserves what they can give it; they’ll benefit and so will the person who delivers the improved product. And if you and your product gets beat, then you, too, deserve it. You shouldn’t be rewarded for providing the market an inferior product.
In the copywriting world (which is where you operate), one key component has to do with “beating the control.” Someone writes an ad or sales letter, and another copywriter tries to improve it. If he or she succeeds, they get the business. There’s nothing wrong with that. As I said earlier, it comes with the territory… it’s the name of the game.
My whole point of the article was to say that there are other, alternative ways to market a product, including offline. The Internet is not a “business,” it is simply a marketing tool. It has it’s place in marketing or promoting a tool, but it isn’t the only way to do so. Unfortunately, so many people are promoting the Internet as THE way to build a business. But the reality is, the Internet is ONE way to do it… there are many ways to do so, and to ignore, overlook or downplay them may not be in a person’s best interest if they want to maximize their success.
Now let me address the last sentence in your response with one clarification… Yes, I’m sure that’s what SOME of these ‘gurus’ are doing. Not all… SOME. Again, this isn’t an absolute. Not all copywriters or “gurus” are guilty of “stealing other peoples’ work and passing it off as [their] own.” I didn’t say that and I didn’t mean that.
Business is business… and business includes competition. Improvements are made and lives are enhanced because someone saw something better in an existing product and changed it… and as a result profited from their work. Nothing wrong with that. Just be aware that there are other ways to market a product “stealthfully,” secretely, and under the radar so the only people who know what you are doing are those who get your message, ads or letters.
Martin Howey
Founder and CEO
TopLine Business Solutions
Wow! Jack, those were great comments, and I’m blushing! Thank you very much!
Just yesterday, Sukuma Avery, another TopLine consultant called me for some ideas and advice on a new market he is considering entering. We had a great conversation (as we always do). And during our chat, he mentioned that the two of you got together in Las Vegas recently and had some good conversations.
Sukuma’s one of my favorites… always out there, always trying, and is having some good success.
He spoke highly of you, Jack, and said you’re doing well. I’m so excited for you and Karen, and really appreciate your comments. As always, please let me know if there’s anything I can help you with or do for you.
Martin Howey
Founder and CEO
TopLine Business Solutions