The Guru Versus The Newbie In The 21st Century
When trying one's hand at internet marketing the first thing that mostly comes to mind is the idea of a guru.
And by "guru" is meant someone who knows the internet well enough to have acquired some level of expertise in online selling, let alone website creation and development.
A real definition of guru means a person who is adept at something.
An expert.
However, the term guru is rather more descriptive of a honorific title bestowed upon a person of significance usually associated with the political history and development of a nation.
And it is because of the way that the person has lived and influenced the lives of whole groups of people.
The most common example of this definition of a guru is Jesus Christ whose teachings on the right way to live are at the core of humanity's consciousness.
There are other similar figures like Buddha, Horus, Mohammed and scores of others who lived at different times and places but whose messages are essentially similar.
They change people's thinking about themselves and others.
More recent examples of these are Winston Churchill, John F.
Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
But other figures have followed certain paths too, although quite differently.
And some of these persons have become notorious in that regard.
And yet, they led people to follow their mindset and do their bidding in some terrible ways.
Some of the well-known examples are Adolf Hitler, Jim Jones, Pol Pot, Khomeini, Milosevic, etc.
These people could fall into the definition of "guru" because of their expertise, in this case, of causing the deaths of large populations of innocent human beings with the way they did it through their misleading statements that made people believe and even worship them.
Bill Gates is a guru in the world of cyber business although we're not speaking of him in the character of those we've mentioned earlier at this point.
We're more interested in the online entrepreneurs who are adept at persuading struggling online marketers to buy their products, usually websites.
What's so amazing is that the online gurus make presentations that are so strikingly similar whether they're promoting this type of product or the other, and whether they're doing it by accident or design.
For example, the ad copies are predictable, having the same formats, headlines and sub-headlines that have uniform font types, sizes and colors, same or similar page tone, color and background and the same blurb patterns about how they had invented some script with which they had opened some "loophole" or glitch that made them earn thousands in commissions in just days, even hours of work with the computer.
We are not interested in trying to know if these online gurus could really hoodwink the digital giants that have covered much ground in these areas, I suppose.
We can only watch and marvel as these webmasters spin their ad promos with masterful persuasive talent.
The gurus spend whole pages of text and video taking care to explain how they had been in the pits some years back and struggling to pay rent, driving a beat-up car and being hopelessly rejected, sick and had nearly died but somehow had survived, inspired by those terrific scripts that had their affiliate sales soaring like Iron Man in the stratosphere.
Trading laws anywhere can certainly allow for some limits of exaggerated claims in adverts and that's perfectly normal for business.
Some people don't buy even things they actually need except at certain times and when properly motivated.
Hence, most countries allow such extended claims of having good products for sale.
In promoting digitally downloadable products, gurus consistently emphasize that they are selling stuff for newbies.
And that the buyer doesn't have to know a thing about computers; doesn't need to know how an admin page looks like and what it does.
The prospective buyer is happy to find out that in this system being talked a lot about in the video of the improbable guru, there's no promoting involved, no selling, no advertising, no experience needed and that the newbie can make money even without a product or website of his own.
No wonder how a little old lady--newbie is supposed to have been so misled into thinking there was nothing left for her to do after the purchase that she wondered saying "I've joined and paid with my credit card, and nothing happened"? The poor woman had probably dreamed about paying $67 for the product and instantly getting an email saying she had a million dollars sent to her PayPal account pronto! This is just unfortunate.
Gurus proclaim that the newbie doesn't need a website to make money.
But, of course he/she does.
And what makes it real awful for the hopeful newbie is when he's reassured that no such website is needed--that's what the guru says-- only to end up being asked to buy domains, pay for registration and website hosting and get lost setting up his/her affiliate website with error-plagued file transfer protocols.
At this point, the newbie's health and finances are probably draining even before he starts looking for traffic to sell his/her product(s) which is the stage or level where success in marketing is measured.
Well, this observation is not to be intended as a brief for the newbie.
Commerce and business are a dynamics, let alone a necessity, in any economy.
And mercantile practices are as real in the online world as in the physical world.
This is the 21st century where the market is the entire world, after all.
And by "guru" is meant someone who knows the internet well enough to have acquired some level of expertise in online selling, let alone website creation and development.
A real definition of guru means a person who is adept at something.
An expert.
However, the term guru is rather more descriptive of a honorific title bestowed upon a person of significance usually associated with the political history and development of a nation.
And it is because of the way that the person has lived and influenced the lives of whole groups of people.
The most common example of this definition of a guru is Jesus Christ whose teachings on the right way to live are at the core of humanity's consciousness.
There are other similar figures like Buddha, Horus, Mohammed and scores of others who lived at different times and places but whose messages are essentially similar.
They change people's thinking about themselves and others.
More recent examples of these are Winston Churchill, John F.
Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
But other figures have followed certain paths too, although quite differently.
And some of these persons have become notorious in that regard.
And yet, they led people to follow their mindset and do their bidding in some terrible ways.
Some of the well-known examples are Adolf Hitler, Jim Jones, Pol Pot, Khomeini, Milosevic, etc.
These people could fall into the definition of "guru" because of their expertise, in this case, of causing the deaths of large populations of innocent human beings with the way they did it through their misleading statements that made people believe and even worship them.
Bill Gates is a guru in the world of cyber business although we're not speaking of him in the character of those we've mentioned earlier at this point.
We're more interested in the online entrepreneurs who are adept at persuading struggling online marketers to buy their products, usually websites.
What's so amazing is that the online gurus make presentations that are so strikingly similar whether they're promoting this type of product or the other, and whether they're doing it by accident or design.
For example, the ad copies are predictable, having the same formats, headlines and sub-headlines that have uniform font types, sizes and colors, same or similar page tone, color and background and the same blurb patterns about how they had invented some script with which they had opened some "loophole" or glitch that made them earn thousands in commissions in just days, even hours of work with the computer.
We are not interested in trying to know if these online gurus could really hoodwink the digital giants that have covered much ground in these areas, I suppose.
We can only watch and marvel as these webmasters spin their ad promos with masterful persuasive talent.
The gurus spend whole pages of text and video taking care to explain how they had been in the pits some years back and struggling to pay rent, driving a beat-up car and being hopelessly rejected, sick and had nearly died but somehow had survived, inspired by those terrific scripts that had their affiliate sales soaring like Iron Man in the stratosphere.
Trading laws anywhere can certainly allow for some limits of exaggerated claims in adverts and that's perfectly normal for business.
Some people don't buy even things they actually need except at certain times and when properly motivated.
Hence, most countries allow such extended claims of having good products for sale.
In promoting digitally downloadable products, gurus consistently emphasize that they are selling stuff for newbies.
And that the buyer doesn't have to know a thing about computers; doesn't need to know how an admin page looks like and what it does.
The prospective buyer is happy to find out that in this system being talked a lot about in the video of the improbable guru, there's no promoting involved, no selling, no advertising, no experience needed and that the newbie can make money even without a product or website of his own.
No wonder how a little old lady--newbie is supposed to have been so misled into thinking there was nothing left for her to do after the purchase that she wondered saying "I've joined and paid with my credit card, and nothing happened"? The poor woman had probably dreamed about paying $67 for the product and instantly getting an email saying she had a million dollars sent to her PayPal account pronto! This is just unfortunate.
Gurus proclaim that the newbie doesn't need a website to make money.
But, of course he/she does.
And what makes it real awful for the hopeful newbie is when he's reassured that no such website is needed--that's what the guru says-- only to end up being asked to buy domains, pay for registration and website hosting and get lost setting up his/her affiliate website with error-plagued file transfer protocols.
At this point, the newbie's health and finances are probably draining even before he starts looking for traffic to sell his/her product(s) which is the stage or level where success in marketing is measured.
Well, this observation is not to be intended as a brief for the newbie.
Commerce and business are a dynamics, let alone a necessity, in any economy.
And mercantile practices are as real in the online world as in the physical world.
This is the 21st century where the market is the entire world, after all.