I've been in internet marketing a long time, or at least a long time for the internet. I've seen some crazy things.
Although some people are too ignorant, too greedy, or sometimes just too lazy to do what needs to be done, if you're involved in internet marketing, you may want to reconsider what you're doing. If what you're doing isn't working, or you don't have the requisite skills to to get the job done, maybe you need to either learn the skills or simply get out of internet marketing.
Here are some of the things I've seen that are just plain abusive. If you're doing any of these things, you're sabotaging your efforts at success.
If you're a site owner who's dealing with this kind of abuse, I've provided some tips to help you cope more effectively.
1. The customer orders a product, but doesn't read the instructions, and then claims the product doesn't work.
Often, when this happens, the person who purchased the product doesn't have the requisite skills to use the product. This is pretty common with installing scripts.
If you're having trouble, learn the terminology first. If you don't know what something means, don't remain ignorant. Go over to Wikipedia and look it up.
If you're a site owner, make sure the product is a finished product before sending it to market. Include step by step instructions for installation and make sure the instructions work.
2. The customer orders the product and then doesn't receive the confirmation email immediately. The customer then proceeds to call the owner of the product at home after business hours and then wonders why the product owner is upset.
For customers, prior to contacting the business by phone, try email. A professional business will have contact procedures in place, as well as some type of support desk. Use respect with site owners.
Tolerance is about showing respect for others. It isn't about agreement, and no one has the right to abuse someone else's time or life.
When and how you choose to work is your business, but don't impose on others because you want to be catered to.
3. The freebie seeker/tire kicker demands that a marketer teach his/her secrets for free, usually through a phone consultation or having the marketer do the work for the customer for free.
Recently I had two requests just like this one. The way to handle it is to state your rates for consulting, as well as doing the work up front. People like this will go away and stop wasting your time.
4. The visitor subscribes to a list where the owner has made it abundantly clear he/she will receive follow up emails. Instead of simply scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking the unsubscribe link, the visitor writes the site owner and asks to be unsubscribed.
I get that one a lot. Seems some people just don't understand that professional business owners use autoresponders so the process is automated. It's unnecessary to hit reply and send an email to have the site owner click the link for you.
5. The visitor subscribes to a list as in the example above. Instead of simply clicking the unsubscribe link, he/she sends a threatening email to the site owner.
These are the people I have learned to block from my system, as well as block from my email. I don't allow them to contact me anymore. There's no excuse for being abusive.
If you are someone who does this, be careful. You could find yourself facing law enforcement if the site owner believes the threat to be real.
6. The visitor subscribes to the list and then turns on his/her autoresponse to send messages to the site owner to make a sale.
Unless you're on vacation or out of the office, turn it off!
If you're a site owner, hit the delete key. It's been my experience that people like this won't answer you if you have a question about the person's offer anyway. He/she will only send you another autoresponse with the same information.
7. The new internet marketer signs up for a program where he/she can send 100,000,000 emails a day.
This type of marketing is not only a complete waste of time, it's illegal. It's called spam, and it's not targeted anyway.
I don't use male enhancement, I'm not looking to pick up a woman, and I don't believe that pills do anything for you except treat the symptoms. I don't buy from people I don't know, and I certainly wouldn't buy prescription drugs from someone who uses spam.
Again, hit the delete key!
The bottom line is this: we all have to put up with a certain amount of ignorance on the internet. It's expected. However, there's a limit to what is considered good business practice. If you don't want the same thing done to you, don't do it to someone else.
It takes patience and commitment to build a business online. If it didn't, we'd all be millionaires. Do your due diligence, treat others with respect, and build a rock solid foundation for your business. You will succeed.
