Archive for September, 2007
Every week at least one well-known marketer holds a live webinar. A minimum of one week before that webinar, their entire email subscriber list is notified multiple times of the up-coming event. More often than not, that marketer will introduce an unknown name, claiming they are so successful, but doing it behind the scenes.
The more webinars of this type I attend, the less interested I am in attending any of the future ones, especially those offered by the same people. I am losing respect for an increasing number of those marketers that I have been following through their email newsletters, blog articles and offers on their websites. After 45 minutes of bragging out of an hour-long webinar, I hang up.
Why? Because the little time remaining on those webinars will be used to get the sales. Those products are just being promoted as something that is supposed to give you the ability to create your own bragging rights.
Those promotional webinars are little more than hour-long bragging sessions where the attendees are supposed to be impressed by the amount of money the hosts make online. Apparently those webinar hosts make so much money that they feel we do not deserve to know how that success was created without paying for it. At least they CLAIM to make that much. I am sure the IRS is interested in those figures, IF they hold any truth to them.
The unknown guest is merely a newcomer to Internet Marketing who thought up a great idea, got a great Joint Venture deal with the host and is getting a jump start on their business. While that in itself is a good way to start out, it is the lack of information and waste of time that really annoys me.
Maybe I am going about this all wrong. My ego does not have to be fed by claiming outrageous income. I prefer to guide my webinar attendees through the actual process of marketing, showing them exactly how it is done. At some point during or at the end of the call, I will offer a software package or other program that will help my students perform the tasks I teach them and achieve the results they want.
That could mean I could make a few less sales, but I know my students will be back to give me repeat business. They will also tell others about the training they receive. If that means I will earn less, then so be it. At least I am providing training that can be used immediately without additional cost just to find out how it is done.
If the promotional webinars continue with the self-promoting, lame content structures the so-called marketing gurus are offering now, then webinars will surely die as more people get disgusted and stop showing up for them. However, people will still show up to the webinars that offer real content and training because that is why they attend.
The handful of people that come to mind when I think of quality training, without being required to purchase anything up front, include Jim Daniels (high-powered sales pages), Tellman Knutson (building your mailing list), Gary Ruplinger (social bookmarking), Russell Brunson (membership sites) and Shawn Casey (Creating Better Ads).
Final Note: Someone will probably pick up on this article, create an eBook about it and try to sell it to you. Just remember to check out their training before buying anything to make sure it is not just more worthless fluff.
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Jim Hutchinson is the Project Manager for Website Managers, home of the Power of 7 Website hosting Plan. He has studied Internet Marketing from some of the most influential leaders and now trains new marketers how to build a business online. Many of those resources are available on Affiliate Referral Sources.
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Copyright © 2007 Website Managers, LLC. You may reprint this article providing that this copyright notice and resource links all remain intact.
