Can I Trust A Scam Or Legit Review Website?
3 Critical Reasons Why You Should Read Between The Lines.
Welcome to my website. My name’s Richard Brennan and I’m a professional blogger who writes reviews on companies, products and services. When I first started out doing my research I soon saw there was a minefield of information and misinformation out there, and a question I kept asking myself was ‘Can I trust a scam or legit review website’?
There are so many articles, social media accounts and YouTube videos which ask “Is xxxxxxx a scam or legit?” or “Don’t join yyyyyyyy until you’ve read this.” and in this article I will give you 3 critical reasons why you should read between the lines before taking them at face value.
Very rarely is this method of giving a review being used in good faith to actually make people aware of a real scam that they need to avoid.
A genuine scam warning would most likely have the title framed slightly differently so people would know that’s what it was.
So Why Do People Put Out This Stuff?
- Reason #1 – Because of the ‘clickbait’ nature of their headline titles, these articles feature prominently on Internet Search Engines such as Google, and they then invariably lead you to links to alternative referral pages.
Often – but not always – it is because the Author has an axe to grind. They may have previously been involved with the company they’re reviewing and they didn’t do particularly well. More often than not, this was down to their own lack of effort rather than any actual fault with the Company’s systems, etc. That’s the bit they don’t tell you!
Many People Are Using It to Promote Their Own Business
In One Of Two Ways
- Reason #2 – The first way is by writing negatively about a company, product or service and then pushing their own offering as a much better alternative.
Many of these reviews are churned out without any real prior due diligence being done by the Author and are often just vaguely disguised plagiarisms of other similar reviews.
Let’s face it, it takes far less effort to just copy and paste and run down the competition than it does to make a positive and compelling case for whatever they are promoting if what they’re promoting isn’t actually that great itself.
A prime example are those Keyboard Warriors who don’t know the many very clear and significant differences between Network Marketing and a Pyramid Scheme. Firstly, because they’re just too damn lazy to try and find out even though it’s not actually that hard to do, and secondly because they know that a lot of other people don’t know the difference either and it can be very easy to take them in by creating suspicion based on the wealth of similar misinformation out there.
- Reason #3 – The other way – and I find this quite astonishing – is that they actually suggest in their review title that the very thing they’re promoting might be a scam simply in order to ‘draw the eye’ of their Visitor and, yet again, they proceed to rubbish everything else before offering up a link to their own sales page.
The first tactic is, IMHO, somewhat immoral.
The second is just plain stupid, and here’s why.
Possible Consequences For Us All, Guilty Or Not
In doing this, Affiliates who should be helping to boost the reputation of their chosen company can actually be harming it! And they are doing so for their own personal gain.
This tactic is hugely damaging to the reputation of the company that is being named – whether it is the competition or the very one the Author is trying to promote.
I personally feel that Scam Luring is an extremely selfish ploy to use in order to attract business.
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There….that’s my preferred method of invitation!
Back To the Point
Here’s The Bit That Worries Me The Most
I feel strongly that the sheer volume of poorly researched ‘scam or legit’ reviews can be potentially very damaging to the reputations of the Affiliate Marketing and Network Marketing industries themselves.
Both of these industries are wonderfully empowering and liberating – not to mention highly lucrative for those who learn to do them right.
People look at these industries as a means of escape from their corporate existence into a better and more fulfilling place.
Just imagine, if you will, what some of them must think when they’re looking in from the outside without any experience or knowledge and they see the very things – the dog-eat-dog culture, the one-up-man-ship and the politics – that they’re so desperately seeking to get away from, all contained within these supposedly informed reviews.
The Search Engines Could And Should Be Doing More
Unfortunately, the Search Engines seem to like this stuff which is why it often ranks so highly.
In this way it’s kind of understandable why people may be tempted to use this tactic.
To be fair, there are some good quality reviews out there with these very crappy titles which let them and their otherwise well-intentioned Authors down. I fully appreciate that some of them might not like it any more than I do and they’re taking a pragmatic approach based on search engine results so there is room for a little benefit of the doubt. But only a little, let’s not get carried away!
Regular content carries at least as much weight with the Search Engines as Keywords, anyway, but I do hope that in the not too distant future Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc, will tweak their algorithms to root this click bait stuff out in favour of articles that genuinely seek to inform rather than to simply lure.
Pause For Thought –
What Goes Around Comes Around
Karma is King! Those promoting a business on the Internet need to ensure that their online presence is both effective and compliant with their company’s digital and social media policies.
Or they may just end up as EX-affiliates!
‘Ethical’ might just be a good one to throw in there as well. Otherwise, I just hope they don’t drag the rest of us down with them.
Some Little Pearls Of Wisdom
When you’re writing a review, I urge you please to try to be objective and stick to facts, whether it’s something you’re trying to promote or not.
Give both credit and criticism in both promotional and non-promotional reviews and, where there is criticism, back it up with real examples where possible and make it constructive if you can.
If something genuinely sucks, then say so! But then say WHY.
Be the person who adds value in your reviews rather than the one who sows seeds of doubt, suspicion or even fear.
Negative psychology can only have negative consequences in the end. It’s the Law of Attraction, which is governing all of our lives 24/7/365 whether we know it or believe it or not.
Mashable – A Gold Mine Of Information For Affiliates
Mashable are an established (since 2005) online review site who are a wealth of information for consumers on everything from dating sites to bathroom furniture and the latest movies, etc.
So far as I’m aware, they don’t have any promotional agenda and exist simply to inform.
That said, some of the companies they feature will of course have their own affiliate programs.
That’s a Gold Mine for you if you’re looking for companies, products and services to review which have affiliate programs attached to them.
There are over 750,000 online affiliate programs out there and finding the right one for YOU can be a bit of a nightmare. Check out the unique Affiliate Program Search facility included in my
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And So To Wrap Up
I’d love to hear your opinions on this post.
I’d really like to hear it from the points of view of both Readers and Reviewers. I understand this post could elicit some strong opinions either way, so it could make for an interesting and colourful debate!
So, whether you agree or disagree with what I’ve written here, please leave a comment below and I will do my best to respond within 24 hours.
Just keep it clean and nice, please!
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Your friend and mentor
Richard