Archive for August, 2007

The Conflict of the Internet Marketer

Monday, August 27th, 2007

Yaro Starak has been producing a wonderful series of in-depth posts titled: How to Launch a Membership Site.

What caught my attention was Part 5 in the series where Yaro talks a little bit about the ‘triggers” internet marketers use to get prospects to sign up.

… the major triggers you are attempting to elicit in people. It’s these triggers that create the right conditions for people to feel comfortable making the decision to join your membership site - in fact they should feel an overwhelming compulsion to join if you use these triggers well.

Note that many of these elements are going to feel like you are “tricking” people, that you are attempting to force them into a decision that isn’t necessarily in their best interest by manipulating their emotions. Guess what - it’s true!

I sense a certain unease in Yaro discussing this because internet marketing has a poor reputation amongst many people … and often times, it’s justified.

Yaro continues …

The problem is - and this is where the agitation many people feel towards marketing arises from - that we use our understanding of human behavior to manipulate people into making purchasing decisions for things they don’t need, purely in the interest of profit.

Sobering thoughts for a internet marketer to speak and that’s what sets Yaro apart from the rest in my opinion.

Obviously, the guy has a conscience and you can sense he’s dealing with it while writing the post. I just hope that when the real money comes rolling in (and with information products, 6 and 7 figures are quite common) he doesn’t become jaded and just another “internet marketer” using all the trick in the book without much of a conscience.

Somehow, I doubt he’ll end up that way (fingers crossed).

I wonder how many other well-known internet marketers take the time to think through their actions in amassing customers in such a way?

Hence, that the triggers that can be used in internet marketing are powerful tools, tools that play heavily on the emotions of a prospective buyer. These tools (triggers) are finely-tuned devices that can be easily abused to the unsuspecting.

No wonder internet marketing has a bad name in many circles.