I can understand why there’s so much hype in internet marketing. The need to stand out from the crowd has become greater and harder to do and this has lead to claims getting wilder and more exaggerated.

But understanding it doesn’t mean I agree it’s the best way to go.

Unfortunately I seem to be in a minority. Positioning and ‘fake it till you make it’ seems to have spread from the sales page to how some people present themselves. Newbies get suckered into acting like experts. People with minimal traffic and small lists give out advice that just doesn’t match their achievements. Sooner or later they’re going to trip and fall from the catwalk as they strut their stuff.

It always amuses me how people can sit in front of their webcam claiming to be successful and having the sort of income and lifestyle we would dream of having when in the background you can see a cheap plywood bedroom door or budget shelving.

Have these folk never dated? If you hope to build a long term relationship isn’t it best to just be yourself? If you’re on a first date it’s no use pretending the sports car you hired for the occasion is your own if you usually drive round town in a clapped out Fiat. Or that you work for a big company in the city when a simple phone call will prove that no one there knows you. Sooner or later you’ll be found out.

A couple of weeks ago I replied to a comment on this blog and mentioned a phrase that I had recently come across: we tend to feel inferior to others because we’re comparing our blooper reel to their director’s cut. I can’t help thinking that feeling inferior is the last thing someone trying to get into internet marketing needs.

Wouldn’t it be helpful to see how someone overcomes the real challenges and setbacks they encounter? Wouldn’t honest reporting of outcomes keep expectations realistic instead of overhyped and unattainable? Wouldn’t being more transparent build more trust?

What do you think? Would you rather see the real results that someone gets online or only the edited highlights of things that appear to work outstandingly well?