The Online Abuse Of Social Evidence

What is social evidence? At it's most basic social evidence is the act of observing what other people are doing or saying and using that knowledge to determine our own actions. For example...

The easiest way to find out whether a product is any good and does what it promises, is to see what other people are saying about it. And guess what? Luckily this form of proof conveniently comes in a tried and proven formula called a testimonial. The bad news is that testimonials unfortunately aren’t the irrefutable tools of proof they once used to be.

Here’s why:

TESTIMONIALS

Once-upon-a-more-innocent-time testimonials used to be authentic reviews written by genuine customers to convey their satisfaction and appreciation to anyone willing to know about it? But alas that no longer holds true.

Okay sure...it can’t be denied, a lot of testimonials are genuine, but in a competitive field like internet marketing you can bet a good number of them are going to be manipulated...

...manipulated and tweaked just so to give you that teeeny eeeny extra bit of reassurance needed to make you reach into your wallet.

You see these days...

Testimonials Are Simply Another Internet Marketing Tool

Let me explain:

Let’s say you’ve developed some software that you wish to market, only problem is you lack the know-how or capability to promote your product.

I on the other hand have excellent promotional skills and most importantly have a large subscriber list of customers to my newsletter or ezine (online newsletter). For a percentage of the profits I agree to write a glowing testimonial for your product and even go as far as to recommend it to my extensive list of subscribers. (This by the way is an example of a JV (joint venture) partnership…a classic case of you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours). And guess what…

Eureka! You’ve got yourself a “genuine no-questions-asked” testimonial!

But there are even easier ways to get testimonials and here’s a method currently much in use that I like to refer to as cross-testimonialization.

Here’s how it works:

You write a glowing testimonial for me and in return I’ll write one for you! Once again, a case of you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. In fact it seems to me there’s a whole lotta back-scratching taking place in online marketing circles these days.

And of course let’s not forget the very low-tech method of getting testimonials by writing them yourself (yes…yes…it’s against FTC regulations, but most people know, that particular watchdog can’t police the entire web all the time let alone a fraction of the time!).

SCREENSHOTS

Ahhhh...Screenshots! They can be very persuasive can’t they? Those mind-tingling amounts...Wow! A good screenshot could be just the thing to ultimately persuade skeptical-ole-you to fork over the cash!

However they too aren’t foolproof. Here’s why:

What The Screenshot Doesn’t Tell You Is As Important As What It Does…if not more so!

The only thing that screenshot tells you with certainty is that Mr. Joe Internet Marketer (the person giving you the pitch) may indeed have made those awesome amounts of money.

But what you can’t tell is:

How long has he been internet marketing? You see his course or the words on his site are written in such a way as to give you the impression that in a few months you’ll be raking it in...but how long did it really take him to get where he is?

How many people subscribe to his newsletter list? Does he tell you that over the years he has built up a long list of subscribers? No way! After all, he is selling you the image that with effortless ease you’ll be making thousands—literally overnight! So it certainly isn’t in his interest to say anything that might suggest you’re actually going to have to do some work to make money (perish the thought).

How many sites contribute to that amount so proudly displayed on his screenshot? Do you know how many sites and other online ventures actually contribute to those tantalizing screenshot amounts?

The trick here is to make it appear as if all that revenue is from only one site (or whatever venture he is selling you)...that way it will seem all the more do-able to you!

What volume of traffic does he get? Do you think that Joe Marketer is really going to tell you the truth about how much online traffic he’s actually getting to generate that revenue? Or for that matter, do you honestly think he’s going to tell you how long it took him to develop such an impressive volume of traffic?

Remember—Joe Marketer’s game plan is to sell you the image of just how easily you can make money online...as long as you follow his advice!

Are you beginning to get the picture? Screenshots only tell you half the story! In fact giving you half the story—if that—is the ploy many in the internet marketing industry use to capitalize on your lack of knowledge. They bait you with just enough juicy details and evidence to get you salivating...but leave out the real techniques that actually make them money!

A final note about screenshots—you should also be aware that these days some sneaky marketers also photoshop their screenshots (to photoshop means to adjust/edit the image…the term comes from the popular image editing software Adobe Photoshop

Eventually with the help of those convincing marketing tools you are finally good and ready to take the plunge to buy the item. Then what?

Nine times out of ten you’re going to be disappointed. In spite of following the instructions exactly (let’s assume what you bought was a how-to marketing eCourse or eBook) you just can’t seem to make any money…let alone duplicate the amounts the author claimed to make and by proxy insinuated you would make (now you know the purpose of disclaimer notices…after all Joe Marketer certainly doesn’t want some pesky affiliate ingrate suing just because they couldn’t duplicate his earnings).

At this stage one of two things will probably happen.

Like a lot of affiliates you’ll either count your losses and give up internet marketing for good or you’ll reluctantly conclude that that particular course was full-of-it, accept the fact that your money is gone, then promptly roll up your sleeves to try again, but this time with a different how-to eBook.

After you’ve done this dance enough times it will gradually dawn on you that this is the real way that most internet marketers make their money—duping unsuspecting newbies like yourself into buying their bogus eBooks or eCourses.

Now get this…check out what most affiliates who stay the course do next.

Have you ever heard the expression if you can’t beat them join them?

That’s right! Those marketers who feel they’ve invested way too much to call it quits figure that—everybody else is duping newbies and making money off them why not me? And so that’s how yet another frustrated affiliate joins the rat race and becomes part of the problem.


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