The Verge Controversy: Scamworld

There is a lot of controversy in the “Internet Marketing” world since yesterday thanks to a post fromTheVerge.com The article brings up some very good points in relation to unethical boiler rooms but goes a step further to tarnish the entire Internet Marketing industry as a scam. As anyone with even the slightest amount of success in the industry can tell you this is most definitely not the case.

The first thing to do is separate the practices of illegal or unethical boiler rooms from Internet Marketing. They are each entirely different things and I know from personal experience how annoying boiler rooms can be. I’ve been contacted by them before after interacting with certain marketers, none of whom are listed in the article, but I’ve also been a customer of some of the marketers listed in the article and had only positive experiences.

If you’ve been caught up in the hype surrounding this article it’s important to remember that Internet Marketing is at it’s core, a method of promotion, and for some that work with business, it’s also a legitimate career. It can be used to promote any business, both good and bad, so always perform due diligence before making any purchase or investment but you already knew that. Blanket labelling an entire industry as a scam, as The Verge have done, because of the commercial links of a few is definitely not an appropriate way to respond and does little to actually protect consumers.

I have no doubt that the main purpose of this article was to cause a stir and bring attention to their blog with a little controversy (which is an internet marketing tactic in itself) but it’s always important to take a balanced view of a situation and for that I refer you to official responses from bothMarketing Land and Frank Kern who are both prominent figures in this discussion.