Arthur Webster   Just plain honesty
One of the gurus whose list I am on sent a little 5 page report out today via his blog and asked for comments. The report was simply a rehash of the old idea that there might be three basic ways to transact business on the web but that newbies should try to do them all.

Here is my response:-

I think that as a statement of the bleeding obvious, this is a fine example.

The problem newbies have (and I am one, so I know) is that THEY DO NOT KNOW WHO TO TRUST. The number of times I have submitted this question to these phoney "I need your help, Arthur" surveys to receive not a single acknowledgement is part of the proof that NOBODY gives a stuffed bean about newbies - EXCEPT as a source of revenue.

Whatever a newbie gets, by way of free advice or bought advice is INCOMPLETE. Even all these wonderful "I really want to help the newbie get started" gurus do not give enough of the BASIC information that a newbie wants and needs.

Create a sales page, they say - HOW?
Create a download page, they say - HOW?
Set up your auto-responder, they say - HOW?
Make sure your payment button is linked to your account etc. etc. etc.

What newbies get, in general, is a recipe that, if it was for apple pie, would say, you need to get some apples, some flour, an egg or two and some water. Mix them all together and bake.

The newbie would then be offered an upsell that told him how to prepare the apples, another that told him what type of flour to use, yet another to tell him how to separate the eggs, yet another to tell him at what temperature to cook the pie, another to give details of "my SECRET ingredients guaranteed to make your pie better than anybody else's" - the list goes on and on and on and on and the newbie NEVER gets a complete recipe.

I don't think I am being unfair when I say that there is not a single guru out there who actually HAS a method that works (that they are prepared to teach) - but they all seem to have enough of the basic theory to be able to string newbies along until there simply is no more money to be squeezed out of them.

My comment is from the heart and it is that sort of response that I hope you were looking for.

I don't think I am being harsh.

What do you think?

This subject is so close to home that (would you believe it?) I have actually produced a video that explains the very basic process of down-loading a programme from the internet (and I've even sold a CD copy of it!) aimed at the person who has bought their first computer. The ease with which this 15 minute video was produced has absolutely staggered me - I did it in 15 minutes! It may not be brilliant - but it gets the BASICS across - and it is the BASICS that mast newbies need to know.
Apr 27th 2008 04:13