If you’re marketing in the make money online niche, you know that showing proof of income is one of the most important things to closing the deal. Like it or not, prospects want to see that you’ve actually made money doing what you’re doing. Unfortunately, because of the advances in graphics technology, income proof is about as reliable as a 100 year old TV starting up after having an axe taken to its insides. This article explains why this is so and what we can do about it.

Let’s start with why we have such a big problem these days. Well, one of the biggest problems is a little document-write function in JavaScript that actually allows you to edit a page and place whatever dollar values you want on it. I’ve seen videos of marketers actually demonstrating how this works and it’s downright scary. You don’t even need Photoshop or any graphics program to do this. So income proof can be totally doctored without anybody being the wiser.

The bigger problem is that word of this has gotten around. It’s not like this is some deep dark secret. After all, as you were reading this, you were probably saying to yourself, “Yeah, I already knew this”, which proves my point. Almost everybody knows that income can be faked and faked well. In fact, most of my latest sales pages don’t even have income proof on them. What’s the point since nobody believes that stuff anymore anyway?

Okay, so how do we solve this problem? We solve it through something more powerful than any income proof ever was. We solve it through the kind of social proof that works like gangbusters…and that’s having people actually rave about your product. I’m not talking about your cronies who send you their testimonials because they owed you a favor. I’m talking about people who have actually used the product and were pleased with the results.

What’s that you say? Can’t sell the product without the income proof or the social proof first? Yes, that is a catch 22. So what you do is give a few copies away. Tell the person that IF they liked it and wanted to give a testimonial, you’d appreciate it. But DON’T make it a condition because paid for testimonials are against the law. In fact, you should fully disclose in your copy that you let a few people try your product and this is what they had to say. Be up front. Your prospects will appreciate it.

Income proof may not be dead yet. Certainly video, while it can be faked, is still more reliable. And yes, there are some people who don’t know about all the faked screen prints. But even if it’s not dead yet, it is certainly on life support and going fast.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of spinning your wheels trying to get your marketing off the ground? Haven’t got a clue what you’re doing and sick of being dead broke? Why not get some solid mentoring from somebody who has been EXACTLY where you are today? Check out my mentoring program at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/mentoring/mentoring.html and finally get yourself the one on one education that can FINALLY give you the success that you’ve been looking for.