Why the Majority of Online "Gurus" are Screwed

John Reese wrote a blog post recently about how the "Mr X" thing isn't working with Internet marketing anymore and how IM people have to brand themselves.

If that's the case, there will come a point when only the most dynamic, most charismatic people will prevail.

And when that happens, all the techie geeks who simply sit in front of their computer for hours at a time and really can't connect with people are going to have limited success. The bar will be raised by those who do brand themselves and people like most of the "gurus" we have now, won't be able to keep up.

It's already started to happen...  Don't believe me?  Check out some of the videos which have been released by "gurus" lately...especially the ones where two of them get together.  The inside jokes, the "template" they're all following, and how they can't relate to each other, much less people who are watching...

The "transparency in marketing" trend is going to kill these guys off, when they attempt to share their personalities, yet lack the social skills to connect to anybody.

Times are changing in online marketing.

It's kind of like when music videos started to become popular.  Suddenly, musicians like Christopher Cross had failing careers.  A great songwriter and great musician, but the business made changes he wasn't ready for.

IM will be the same.

So, if you're got charisma, be prepared...your time is coming.

Thoughts?

Comments

[Ralph Dreifus]

I have thought for years that they were all full of crap. They have never done anything that remotely related to marketing in the real world.

They were all hustlers not business types of any kind. Give me your money and I will pack sand up your ass until you cry uncle was their line of thinking. You can fool people once and your can get awy with insulting their intelligence a few times but people are actualyy very smart. If it quacks and has webbed feet it is most likely a duck, if it is some guy promising yoyu that I will show you how to make a million dollars if you give me $19.95 he not only sounds like a hustler but is a hustler.

[Larry Rivera]

Very good article and I agree with you a 100percent. If you are unable to brand yourself online you are a dead fish.

[Misato Katsuragi]

I have always thought that the general public is smarter than most internet marketing gurus give them credit for, but there is this point to make.

There are still a small percentage of internet marketing wannabes who are really just plain dumb, and these are the people that the internet marketing gurus count on.

I have seen way too many of these dufuses in internet marketing forums. You try to be helpful and relay a little bit of common sense, maybe to save them some of their hard earned money, if nothing else, and the only thing they want to do is tell you how ignorant you are and how great guru so an so is, and all of that.

Sadly enough, these people are just doomed. There are some people that you just can't help.

Also, when you ask these people if guru so an so is so great and beneficial to you, then where is your six figure income? That shuts them up for a little while, but then you get the gurus who want to counter that logic with crap like:

My customers aren't rich because they dont do anything, or they are just freebie seekers or some garbage like that. This is nothing buy a lame attempt at shifting the blame from them and the garbage they sell to the very people who put food on their table. Their customers. No matter how dumb they are, they are still customers, and it's them who help the gurus, not the other way around.

The whole 'they dont do anything / they are freebie seeker' excuse is just that. An excuse. I know because I have worked with and tried to help a few of these internet marketing wannabes personally, and believe you me when I say that they do not sit around waiting for the money to fall from the sky.

I have worked with a few of these people, where we all put in countless hours to generate realistic income, and one of the most common obsticles in those situations has always been weeding through all of the garbage, lies and deception that the internet marketing gurus had sold to them.

If the general public and internet marketing wannabes are finally waking up and smelling the coffee, then all I can say is ...

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Misato Katsuragi

[Ron Hurst]

Well it makes perfect sense that as the web evolves that the techno crowd who could leverage it to their advantage in the early days would find themselves looking at a brave new world.

Social media is exactly that social, relational in nature. This is the realm of the emotionally intelligent and has no significant bearing on technical competence. Or perhaps enough to log on and pay someone for the behind the scenes work.

No it is natural that this electronic reality will continue to evolve in the direction of more REAL interpersonal exchanges.

Ron Hurst

[mary]

I used to let myself get scammed by internet hucksters who claimed that by purchasing and following the information in their ebooks, on their dvd's and cd's you could:

1) Work at home and set your own work hours.

2) Make six figure incomes that would get you out of debt and enable you to live the financial life of your dreams.

What you are not being told is:

1) Most of the information in some of these internet marketing courses can be learned from doing internet searches.

2) Anybody can do enough research and interviews, create ebooks, cd's and dvd's and get rich from selling basic, rehashed information by convincing enough dummies to order from them.

3) Offering quality products and services that people desire, need, and are willing to part with their hard-earned cash for is the key to being a financially successful businessman. On-line or off-line. And that holds true for any product or service. I think U.S. President Abraham Lincoln made this statement. "You can fool some of the people some of the time. You can't fool all of the people all of the time." Glad I stopped being fooled all of the time.

I'm all for advertising on and off-line, blogging, social networking, posting internet videos, etc. But again you're wasting your time and money promoting and advertising something that no one wants to purchase. I've learned in recent years to first find the market. Then create the product. That's good advice. Creating and/or selling products and services that there's a demand or a need for. That's advice you won't get from someone legally robbing you.

Let's not forget about the pyramid schemes while I'm rambling here. It goes something like this. You pay such and such amount of money to join. You've got to convince about 50 to 5,000 plus people to get on board with you. Supposedly you'll make X amount of dollars after you finish begging and convincing X amount of people to join so-and-so. Supposedly you'll make X amount of dollars for everyone who signs up under everyone you've convinced to sign up and so forth. For starters I don't know 50 plus people I could convince to join anything if it means parting with cash. Secondly what or where is the tangible product or service I've invested my money in? Does a business like this pay off? Probably not. I haven't heard of any long-term or life-time financial success stories on this one. There's gotta be a better way to make a living from the internet.

Good luck to those who can make a "fortune" selling resale rights products. I'm a member of a resale rights club. I wasted about $70 bucks joining one two years ago. I wouldn't waste my time giving trying to give that junk to anyone. I'm not a businesswoman. I'm no dummy either. I'm not going to put myself in a position to have to deal with an onslaught of customer complaints and refund requests.

[Dominic Mr. Auction Rookie]

I noticed a considerable increase in business when I started using my name.

[Rodger]

There is so much dross out there now it is getting more and more difficult to know who to trust. Or it was. One Guru starts to promote another Guru's product in a big way and surprise, surprise not long after the other Guru comes out with an amazing product that is going to save us time and make us big money. We who have been around for a while recognise this rubbish, it is the new people coming into the business that I feel sorry for. They probably need the job and are desperately looking for help, instead they hand over their dwindling cash only to find they have been ripped off.