I have a confession to make…a dirty one. I’m a marketer. My job is to sell things to people. I am not ashamed of that. We all have to make a living. In doing so, we try to put our products in the best light. You won’t see somebody put up a sales page with something that reads like this…

“Let me be totally honest with you. This stuff is HARD work. You will probably have many sleepless nights trying to figure it all out and getting it to work for you. It could be weeks or even months before you see one penny from your efforts. Making money online is rough. So if you’re not prepared to bust your tail, don’t buy my product.”

Be honest, have you ever seen a sales page that has read like that? Of course not. Nobody in their right mind would put up a sales page so blatantly honest. But reading in between the lines doesn’t just apply to sales pages selling you “make money” info. It applies to everything in your marketing world.

Take your search for a hosting company for your web sites. Have you ever read some of their pitches?

Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited disk space

Now let’s be reasonable about this. I don’t care how big the company itself is. There is no such thing as unlimited. They only have so many servers and can only give you so much disk space and bandwidth. I suggest that whenever you read something like that, you look for the fine print because it’s going to be there someplace.

Speaking of fine print, what about all this forced continuity stuff that the FTC is finally cracking down on. The basic premise is simple. You’re given some kind of free subscription to some magazine or something. What you don’t know, unless you look for the fine print, is that if you don’t cancel after 30 days or whatever the time period is, you end up getting charged.

What I’m trying to get across to you is this. Do not take things at face value. Learn to read in between the lines. I know it sounds like a cliche, and in fact it is, but if it sounds too good to be true, in most cases, it is. I’ve reached the point where I don’t believe anything anymore, especially if it sounds like a dream.

As for the marketing end of it, YOUR marketing end, I’m not your conscience. You have to do what you think is right. Remember, the FTC is now cracking the whip on exaggerated claims and testimonials. So tread carefully. You could end up on the wrong end of some pretty stiff fines.

Bottom line: Don’t believe everything you hear and ask for clarification on things you’re not sure of.

It will save you a lot of grief in the long run.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.