The Lottery Mentality is pervasive in Internet Marketing. Flashing big paychecks and penning catchy headlines can still - in the modern age - separate a fool from his/her money.

No, it’s one damn sale and then another.  For most people online, lots of money – called investment in the future – flows out to buy this program, that software, or the ultimate coaching program that could and should put you over the top.  But it isn’t and doesn’t.

My daughter once bought me a shirt saying, “No money, no honey.”  Such stark truths make us desperate for money.

So when your sitting in front of the PC, pounding out your specifics to buy the newest and best program that will absolutely make you Bill Gate’s neighbor in a New-York minute, if an email comes across your desktop saying

“Congrats – You Made Another Sale”…

The temptation to open such bogus mail is often too much, even though you may be sure it is a come on or an outright scam.  The lottery mentality is easy bait to fish with when your prospect has had little to no success in online marketing and the bills are mounting.  We want to make sales or have Godly intervention!

Most of us are smart enough to smell a pedigree Nigerian scam:

“Hello, respected sir/madam.  This message may come to you as a great surprise.  My late brother-in-law, Abdulah Ben Goldfarb, recently died in disgrace in an underground cavern and left behind a small fortune of gold bullion used by the decrepit government of Sierra Leone to finance a drug ring.  Fortunately, he smuggled a map to me pinpointing the location of this stolen property of the people of my beloved country.  But I need your help to make things right…”

About 12 years ago, I got scammed on a lottery win that I couldn’t remember entering.  But I was so hungry to have instant riches, that I deluded myself to believing I had entered that phantom contest.  I was humiliated and embarrassed when I shared this story of imminent wealth with a few people.  They laughed at me and mocked me for my gullibility.  That memory doesn’t sit well with me.

When I received an email from a highly respected marketer, let’s call him B.E., with a subject title, “Congrats – You Made A Sale!” – I could feel my blood boiling.

From this point forward, please note, I will name names and print the gist of any verminous email like this.

There is abundance in this world sufficient to feed the teeming masses of malnourished, starving human beings.  It is never necessary to  scam anyone to get money or booty undeserved.  Those people resorting to  such lowest-common-denominator deception should be tarred and feathered.  I’ll do my best to smoke these vultures out.

********************

Discovered GVO hosting this week and switched servers in a blink.  Why?  It’s a marketer-focused service which has autoresponders, meeting rooms, unlimited storage space for videos and the ability to make a video on the fly, in addition to standard, expected services of a webhost…all for one low price and with a profit-sharing mechanism.  Service is used by many well-known and respected marketers.

CHECK OUT  GVO NOW

“Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person.” ~Tennessee Williams~

There is no telling what other people have in store for you, especially when you haven’t anything in store for yourself. You may get the Fillet Mignon of life or a can of vermin instead. Whichever one is handed to you, you own it because you chose to be led rather than choosing to lead.

Many people live as victims’ of circumstance. Reactive rather than proactive, they cling to the notion of inevitability, fate, and the evilness or unfairness of the world out there.

Most of us – at some time in our life or throughout it – have thrown up our hands in surrender and screamed bloody murder at a forsaking God,

“Why me? I’m good. I’m kind. I mean well. I work myself to the bone to move up the ladder. Why, Lord, am I in limbo, despite my valiant efforts and an ocean of good intentions?”

There are people in this world who do seem to learn from their mistakes and grow. Instead of taking the “poor me” attitude which can lead to drowning in a flood of bitter tears, they wipe their eyes and redouble their efforts. They resolve to be the the leader rather than the victim, from this moment forward.

Such an individual is billionaire entrepreneur, Bill Bartmann. Like many very successful people, he hit rock bottom and thought the end of the world was at hand. But then he shook off his wounded ego and miserable financial struggles and proceeded to the top of the economic and spiritual mountain – a summit where he has perched from for over 20 years.

The time for bitching and moaning has passed. It is time to grab back the reigns of your life and soar or soar once again. No excuses allowed at this altitude, OK? Get intrigued with possibility thinking (again). But don’t just pray for divine intervention, start rowing for shore.

Your Holy Grail does exist, as surely as you do.

This is not what I said this week.  That is the sentiment of a respected online marketing publisher, Paul Myers, of  Talk Biz News (highly recommended).  But I will say that I have said this all along.

Here are a couple of key points he mentions in his recent newsletter:

“Do not believe anything you read in a testimonial unless you know the person giving it, or the person selling the product,  well enough that the testimonial doesn’t matter anyway.”

“When you see Joe, Bob and Jim promoting Jerry’s product one week, and then Jerry, Joe and Bob plugging Jim’s product the  next week… Well, there may be a little quid pro quo going on.”

“There’s a ton of promo trading going on that has nothing to do with product quality at all.”

“You might also be surprised to know how many of the  testimonials you see aren’t from paying customers at all. A lot of them are nice things people say about the product in return.”

“A whole other discussion is the question of proof of income.  Forget it. It means absolutely nothing. The screenshots you see  with Paypal and Clickbank sales numbers could be easily faked -  and many are  for getting a free copy.”

“Just choose your teachers wisely.  And, as I tell the guys when they come over to play cards, “Never bet what you can’t afford to lose.“”

Paul also states that most marketers are generally honest, but then caveats again and again to not believe most of what you hear and see.  Nobody can guarantee minimum – or God forbid – maximum results.  In other words, he’s conflicted due to long-standing relationships with many of these duplicitous gurus.

As I write this, I hear another mega-successful marketer saying in an audio that “I sometimes exchange promotions with other marketers.  If I promote it twice or if it has been stated I promote it to my inner circle members, get it without a blink.  Otherwise, be extremely careful about spending your money.”  Unfortunately, he doesn’t give this caveat to his casual subscribers.

Nobody wants to be negative or over-critical of marketers.  Marketing is an essential part of every business and an art.  Yet beware that most marketers try to get in your head, so they can get in your wallet.

That’s their job.  Yours is to buy with your intellect more than with your emotion.  The best way to do that is to know who you are and what you need to accomplish in your business and life.

Despite the subtle and blatant attempts by government and e-commerce giants such as Google to reign in the hype and false endorsements, the gurus and their gaggle continue to use dubious marketing messages to lure in the gullible.

Case in point:  M.F.’s crony sends an email with this header:  “[VIDEO] $78,239.83 A Month With No Google…‏”

Implying that YOU WILL -not can – do it too, if you buy Marketer X’s doodad.

Case in Point:  “Copy This $78K Insider Blueprint‏”

Implying that a $78K Cracker Jack Prize awaits You Inside the genie’s bottle.

Case in Point:   “Over the couple of years his blogs have generated a huge profit of $1, 107 ,693… And now he’s sharing his exact blueprint.”

Implying that his exact blueprint will put you in seven figures in no time, as well.

Maybe in Lalaland, with candy-cane houses and chocolate-covered nymphs, there is a one-size-fits-all money puzzle piece.   But on planet earth there is nothing but rainbow-chasing gimmicks designed to lure in losers with their skinny wallets and then spit them out like a chaw of tobacky.

Imagine former NBA star Michael Jordan as an Internet  marketer.  Using the headlines above for reference, maybe his advert would read:  “M.J. spills the beans…on his no-brain, slam-dunk method foro averaging 34 points per game in the Pros.”

Consider a NASA engineer as an online marketer:  “Rebel NASA rocket scientist shares secret, simple rocket-ship design that put his family on the moon in less than a season.”

These last two fictitious headlines are no less absurd and blatantly deceitful than the first two.  The trouble is that the first two draw unearned money to the  crafty marketers behind them by playing on  buyer’s greed and laziness.

They – the deceivers who make you take your eye off the ball with false implications — should be behind bars or at least sentenced to helping the poorest, rural villagers around the globe to set up non-profits using the conniving marketer’s knowledge and marketing savvy for the higher good.

We should stop buying shortcuts and quick-riches schemes and realize that each one of us has the God-given chance to excel without buying into someone else’s dreams and methodology.

Promoting another is really a matter of trust more than product.

Indian guru Sai Baba was quoted as saying, “The joy one gets while promoting another’s joy is incomparable.”  Undoubtedly, he was a man who could have been writing for the Internet Age of  affiliate programs, read email schemes and such.

There is a growing cluster of high-value entrepreneurs working online who value-add every day they live.  Their products are in demand and their character is anchored in integrity.  Who wouldn’t want to hang around with such divine people?

Yes, if we look into the checkered past of some of these esteemed individuals, we can find justification for hesitation in handing over greenbacks to them.  They charm, critics may say, because they relish lucrative and frequent paydays.

So when we get an affiliate link to some product that these people are flogging, we can trust that it is good, though we may not have the funds nor interest to first try it ourselves.

They – whoever they are –  always get rave attention and stellar results.  They have the Midas Touch, and we commoners can catch some loose change by promoting them.

Perry Marshall is a great example of  a stellar marketer with a down-to-earth attitude towards everyone he encounters.  His site content is rich in ideas on Adwords, Adsense and SEO-related materials.  His life philosophy is well-grounded.

Yet what sets him apart is that he really seems to care  about over-delivering to clients and prospects.  I have virtually no hesitation in promoting him as an affiliate.  He knows his stuff and his content stuff can make you a bundle of money, even if it bores you to death.

Perry just announced that he’s hosting a free teletraining on

- Bionic ad technique for breaking out of an ad writing rut that gets your ads to stand out from the crowd (and get higher click through rates)

- Facebook PPC bidding tactic from a mysterious Mr. R

- Shelley Ellis’ top tool for zeroing in on placements

What Perry’s going to share is a really powerful tactic that can be used right away. So I suspect the response to this is going to be very very positive.

If you are into those nerdy activities on PPC, Adwords, PPA, yada yada…then Perry is going to open up new vistas for your online business in this webinar…guaranteed!

Register to be there at http://tinyurl.com/ykpzmnc