Moral Dilema?

[Del]

Being new to this industry and searching for an idea of what kind of site to make, what to sell etc it suddenly occured to me that morals actually play a big part in this decision.

With all the "Get rich quick", "Turnkey Millions", Ebooks that are just links to websites etc How difficult is it to turn a site into a profitable one while trying to be on the level? As the sites I mentioned seem to be rip off's and get rich quick for the owner.

Is it naive of me to think that I could compete in this industry and turn any sort of profit with a straightforward no hidden agenda site? or is it true that when money is involved peoples morals tend to bend when it suits them?

Anyways, I wanted to share this thought with more experienced people than myself and get some better viewpoints

[Clinton]

Excellent topic for discussion, thanks for bringing this up, Del.

And you are absolutely right, there are far too many get-rich-quick products around. Most of them are rip-offs. But there are a few genuine ones out there. I'm reviewing one at the moment - I should be posting about it in due course - which seems to be one of the few exceptions.

To answer your question - yes you can still enter the online marketplace and make a profit. You aren't confusing the get-rich-quick industry with the entire internet, are you?

If you're talking about making money from teaching others to make money, I'd advise you to stay out of it unless you really are an expert in making money online yourself. I believe it's immoral of people to create ebooks and other products on making money online when they have no experience in the subject. They're passing off somebody else's expertise as their own.

when money is involved peoples morals tend to bend when it suits them?

I like to think that doesn't apply to me. I'm not driven by money. I didn't create this site for money. Nor its sister site, experienced-people.co.uk. That site is #1 in Google UK for several "make money online" and "home business" terms (trust me, a lot of people would like to have those rankings) and it gets two million odd visitors a year. Marketers see it and believe it's screaming out to be properly monetised. All I've got on that site are a few Adsense ads and once in a while I sell a banner when someone requests one (no more than one ad to a page). I get emails from marketers suggesting joint ventures and offering to dramatically improve my revenue. They're appalled that I don't even have a mailing list.

Bnd you know what, if you're genuinely not in it for the money you'll be surprised at just how much of the green stuff rolls in

I hate marketing, I hate selling stuff to people, I hate convincing anyone that they need my product/service. I own sites in various niches - from software selling sites to mortgage lead generators, and wills, cookery and dog training info sites to education and gaming sites - and on none of them do I actively market any products/services. People either find the site and make a purchase / click an ad ... or they don't. There's a school of thought that preaches maximising revenue and squeezing every drop out, about learning tricks to attract visitors and convert them to customers, and there are hundreds of books and millions of sites on the subject.

Now there's nothing wrong with marketing, but it's when people get too obsessed with the marketing and increasing revenue from their sites that the morals start to sag. I strongly believe in playing clean, taking a bit for yourself, and leaving some for the other guy.

[signic]

Money does seem to influence peoples morals. But it's a bigger problem online than offline. Take the example of Google. Every keyword has 10 listings. Who decides what 10 websites are morally the best ones to get in the top 10? Google has the solution in relevant content.It's not about morals at all in the internet.

[benitez17]

Money does seem to influence peoples morals. But it's a bigger problem online than offline. Take the example of Google. Every keyword has 10 listings. Who decides what 10 websites are morally the best ones to get in the top 10? Google has the solution in relevant content.It's not about morals at all in the internet.

I'm not sure I follow. What do morals have to do with search engine rankings and whether a business is online or offline?

The goal of any search engine should be to present the links to the 10 most relevent and useful webpages to the user for the search query provided.

[Del]

If you're talking about making money from teaching others to make money, I'd advise you to stay out of it unless you really are an expert in making money online yourself. I believe it's immoral of people to create ebooks and other products on making money online when they have no experience in the subject. They're passing off somebody else's expertise as their own.

I would in no way shape or form even try to do this, far to early and no way near enough experience to advise anyone!

I like to think that doesn't apply to me. I'm not driven by money. I didn't create this site for money. Nor its sister site, experienced-people.co.uk. That site is #1 in Google UK for several "make money online" and "home business" terms (trust me, a lot of people would like to have those rankings) and it gets two million odd visitors a year. Marketers see it and believe it's screaming out to be properly monetised. All I've got on that site are a few Adsense ads and once in a while I sell a banner when someone requests one (no more than one ad to a page). I get emails from marketers suggesting joint ventures and offering to dramatically improve my revenue. They're appalled that I don't even have a mailing list.

Please don't think my ramblings were aimed at anyone on here as I'm sure that the advice the experienced members post, they would be able to charge and receive a nice little fee!!

I strongly believe in playing clean, taking a bit for yourself, and leaving some for the other guy.

This is exactly what I hope to achieve!

[hooperman]

Take the example of Google. Every keyword has 10 listings. Who decides what 10 websites are morally the best ones to get in the top 10? Google has the solution in relevant content.It's not about morals at all in the internet.

Google isn't a moral barometer. It simply returns (or tries to) the best results for someone's search.

It's not about morals at all in the internet.

Wow, that's a sweeping statement! Yes, there are scammers out there who will take you for a ride, given half the chance. But not everyone on the internet is like that. I'm not, and I'll wager that most members here have impeccable moral standards too

[Clinton]

If he means that all sellers of make-money-online products are crooks, I've got a 3Six he'd like to meet

[3Six]

:Waving: Hi Del

[christopheravell]

I have to agree that you shouldn't build a website or product around something you have little knowledge about... I have written only one eBook and it was about a subject which I had much experience.

I think to best determine the type of site you should make you should look to what you know and love. What are your hobbies, your passions? What do you do when you're online anyhow? (aside from looking for ways to make money)

This will help guide you on where to start your online adventure. If you let others tell you what you should do there will be a long line of people ready to sell you their opportunity. But nobody can really know what is best for you -- without knowing YOU.

Let us know some of your interests, your passions, your hobbies, your skills and we can help you find the right starting point! :-)

[Del]

I took some time to reply to this because I wanted to reply with something good, unfortunately I have came up with nothing. Now I would imagine this to be the main stumbling block of anyone trying to start out in this industry, the idea!. So instead of just giving up and going home I have thought that the best thing to do is to trawl through some really low priced sites for sale until one jumps out at me that I think I can add something to and buy it. The last thing I want to do is create some site which is just a copy and paste of other sites around.

I think that by looking at something low end I get to dip my toe in the water, get some experience which is highly necessary and if I do make a mess of it(which I fully expect on my first attempt) then I have gained more than I have lost. I hope this makes sense.