For my first blog post, I wanted to share a piece of personal experience with all of the Twitter fans out there and generally people who come across “Buy this!” websites every day and struggle to determine if it is worth their hard-earned money.
The anonymous beneficiary
A month ago, after being “followed” by an individual on Twitter, he contacted me promoting his website that was about a Twitter marketing e-book. The e-book was completely free, as the website said on numerous banners and flashy-text and the person suggested that it would really help me.
At that point I was quite amazed because it was the first time someone personally approached me via Twitter PM and offered a friendly suggestion, for free even.
So I went for it and clicked on his website link. Got to the website, scrolled down a couple of miles and found the 300 x 500 pixel download button and as it usually works, entered my name and e-mail after clicking the download button.
The download started and finished in a few seconds and after seeing the PDF file size I asked myself – “How could anyone fit anything useful into a 15KB PDF file?”. Boy was I surprised when I opened that PDF file. There where only a few pages, most of them blank and one with a short introductory text and a Pay-Pal “BUY” button.
The realization
After realizing that I have just almost been tricked into buying something that was firstly presented to me as being free – I closed up the website, deleted the PDF file and blocked the person who so nicely offered to help me out for free.
There is one thing I want to make clear here: It was not a problem for me spending those $5 or $10 on that book that might have good content in it but the fact that the website was just a big lie really insulted me.
I guess the owner thought people would get to the “BUY” part and think to themselves “Ah well, if I came along this far in the process of getting the e-book, I might as well pay the money.”
Conclusion
If you are doing Internet marketing, affiliate marketing or just selling your own product on the street next to a hot-dog stand somewhere, the most important thing is credibility (would like to give props to Lisa Irby of “2 Create A Website” for all her texts and videos about credibility in affiliate marketing, it has taught me a great deal). How highly do your potential customers think of you and your opinions (or of your company if you present one)? Always try to play fair and don’t mislead your customers because a few failed sales can hurt you a lot less than one disgruntled or insulted customer.
Thank you for reading and I would like to know what YOU think about my experience and other similar situations. If you have personally had a similar experience I would love if you would share it in the comments.
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@sequencehosting
says
Really nice article!
@Ileane
says
Hey Gordon,
Thanks for the post.
I see people like this all the time, offering the useless free ebook just to get your purchase. The best thing to do when considering if you are going to follow someone is to look at their tweet stream. Every tweet they send is about their guaranteed tips to make you earn money or get thousands of followers. After about a month or two you’ll be able to spot them a mile away.
Good luck with your blog.
@ileane
ileane´s last blog ..Searching For The Perfect Tweet
@McKnightikus
says
I love your comment ileane! Thank you for stopping by.
You are right about learning how to spot the “bad apples”. What amazed me the most that this person that I talked about in my post above was actually a well known online business man (from the looks of his websites and blogs). I guess you have to have your eyes open wide even if the person seems legit.
Hi Gordon,
I totally know how you feel, I’ve actually got an eBook done myself (not related to Twitter) but I took the time to ensure nothing which I said would guarantee any success. I also only mention it’s a free download IF you sign up to my weekly newsletter. I try my hardest to assure users my newsletter only really contains updates on my blog, and original articles which are relevant to them.
My ebook strategy is simple, to keep people interested in my blog and what it has to offer. I don’t want people thinking they’ll get rich from it, nor will they ever have to pay anything for it.
People on Twitter, and many other websites constantly lie to try to sell you something, this in itself harms the marketing industry. It’s pretty sad when you see Ebooks telling you how to promote and make money from making an Ebook and selling it online (which is what most everyone is doing)
@McKnightikus
says
Very well said Justin. Another thing I really don’t like is that when people lie like that, they like to call their method “tactics” and being a “marketing pro”. It really is true that people like that are harming the marketing community because customers don’t like being manipulated.
Next time, the customer will think twice before buying a product like that (even if it’s $5) and might not even end up buying because of skepticism.
Thank you for your great comment and come back soon!
I am very wary on twitter. I haven’t really figured out how to deal with it yet. I use it to promote my own blog posts and that’s about it. The whole things seems like its a big commercial.
Thanks for the info you give in this post.
Casey´s last blog ..A Fantasy, Fixing MMA with European Soccer
@McKnightikus
says
What do you mean like a big commercial? It’s supposed to be a social marketing tool, hehe. Well maybe not initially but not a lot of people use Twitter to tweet with friends. It’s mostly just like another version of RSS in my opinion. If you want pure socialization without any profit, you use Facebook.
I still have no idea how to use Facebook for promotion, everything except direct advertising is so transparent. Thank you for your comment anyway!
Sad, but true. It happens and today’s world, if there is something that is of extreme importance, that is most definitely your credibility. It takes years to build it up and seconds to flush it down the drain. Go figure..
@McKnightikus
says
I love how you said “It takes years to build it up and seconds to flush it down the drain” because that is very true. It’s not worth the risk of trying to trick someone. People think because it’s over the Internet and nobody really knows who you are, it’s ok to trick people but it shouldn’t. Thanks for sharing your opinion DiTesco!
@element321
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I see this all of the time, but recently it has not been to bad at least for DMs. But what is getting bad is the @ mention spammers. Because of this, if I am not following a user or at least know who they are, I will not click their link/add. I have been burned several times . If they repeat them more than once and I see it in my stream, I will block/report, no questions asked.
The worse part is, I am having an issue with one marketer that I have blocked / reported several times and they keep coming back at least 3 or 4 times a day with a new name. Anyone else with this problem?
James´s last blog ..11 Useful Online Tools for Better CSS Development | Web Design Ledger
@McKnightikus
says
I have to say, I’ve been lucky enough not to receive any DM spam for my few months of using Twitter. I’ve gotten a few @ spams and also the Britney Spears spam account likes to follow me now and then but I try to block it as much as possible.
So far I have reported 2 accounts and blocked 3 real people. One of them kept constantly un-following then following me over and over.
You said you’ve been burned several times James, what’s the worst burn you’ve experienced on Twitter?
Also, thanks for stopping by and sharing!
I hate it when that happens! It really hurts those who may actually have something good to offer without any strings. Of course, now my interest it piqued by your 300 followers related post. {hits post comment and quickly clicks new link}
Anne´s last blog ..Bath & Body Works ~ $1 Shipping Today Only
@ConnieFoggles
says
Credibility is so important on Twitter, just as much as on our blogs. Good post.
I also find this sort of thing when I search for free bits of software and come across ‘FREE’ in clear encouragement, only to find that after downloading it’s free to try and something to buy. This wastes a lot of time. I’d much rather know up-front what is expected.
@McKnightikus
says
That’s the standard marketing tactic. They are counting on the fact that you will go ahead and pay for the software so that don’t feel like you’ve wasted your time. Shame thought, because there are many software and services I would rather buy but after a “scam” like that, I just don’t feel like trusting them anymore. It’s a good way to lose customers.
Thank you for your comment!