The Ugly Truth About Affiliate Marketing & Crypto

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I've been doing this affiliate marketing and online business thing for over 20 years now...

Remember those old 'Punch The Monkey' banners from the late 90's and early 2000's?

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(That was the banner I might have actually 'clicked' to begin my journey years ago...)

Yeah, that's how long I've been doing this stuff lol

And I've seen a lot of schemes, scams, false promises, fake claims, threats... Yeah I've seen it all...

And sometimes I rub people the wrong way in this industry because I have a very hard time shutting my mouth when I see things that continue to plague this industry in the form of...

'Experts' - And I'm using the bunny ears when I say that!

You know the type...

"If you don't join this opportunity now, it'll be gone forever!"

Or

"This opportunity will change your life, buy it now!"

The newest thing, because of the crypto excitement happening now, are the 'crypto experts' that seem to be popping up on Facebook, on Twitter and basically everywhere they can to lure unsuspecting newbies to their fold...

I recently came across a 'crypto opportunity' that had this in it's ad copy.....

"Unlimited Income & Unlimited Bitcoin!"

So....

Here's the thing. @blainjones and I have spent the better part of 3 years now, trying to bring the 'affiliate marketer and online entrepreneur' to the blockchain.

During this time we've built countless training platforms including but not limited to...

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StartEarning.Today - A free introduction for the beginner. The aim is to switch them from using centralized social media platforms for their business and bring them over to crypto and blockchain options.

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The Hive Guide - A complete A to Z guide for new members of the Hive blockchain. 100% free as well, and we even tell people that join that we'll delegate Hive Power to them whenever they need it.

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Click Track Profit - Our training hub with an entire module dedicated to blockchain and crypto currency education!

And you know what we learned so many years ago, when we first started dabbling in crypto and the blockchains....

"THERE'S ONLY 21 MILLION BITCOINS!!!! EVER!!!!"

So when I read on these websites that they are promising 'unlimited Bitcoins' if you join their opportuntiy....It tells me the 'expert' hasn't even done Bitcoin 101 when it comes to supply.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

You are seeing 'MLM models', 'HYIPs' and every scheme and scam you can imagine start labeling itself...A crypto opportunity and it just kills me man...

Because I know some poor soul, who has been waiting to learn about crypto will get suckered in by one of these scoundrels...And end up losing so much because of it.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Do your due diligence when it comes to ANY 'opportunity' especially when it comes to crypto...

Heck, don't put a dime into this stuff until you learn it yourself!

Geeez I mean Coinbase will PAY YOU to learn about it!

Heck, we'll upvote you here on Hive and CTPtalk when you start diving in.

It's gone too far folks...These things need to be called out and STOPPED because the masses are coming...And if they see these fake promises when they start joining things, it'll just be another punch in the gut for real world adoption and the reputation of crypto currency.

If you are new to crypto...PLEASE, don't spend a DIME until you know the basics! And if you need any help, ask around in the @LeoFinance community, the CTP community...Or the HIVE community in general!


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52 comments
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Coinbase used to pay a lot more, but like you, I've been in the same game and seen all kinds of shiny objects floating around and had my share of foolery bitter my tastebuds. It's why I started in on crypto full time. Good points up there bud.

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Thanks man. And I feel it's just going to get worse. Because of the hype and hoopla with BTC prices, people will be coming onboard more to poke around...Sadly, the predators will be out in full force.

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I'll have to put out a mirror for this and hope others do the same because we need to protect people man. I know most people here are fairly educated but getting it spread around will keep that notion in their brains to also help look out for others as they migrate to the cryptospace.

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Yeah man, slow and steady for sure...Push in the right direction. Hopefully more people see the suspect stuff and steer clear!

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Very well said, there are new scam sites popping up all the time. There have be so many sites over the years scamming people out of their money and now they have moved to crypto to do the same thing. If only people wouldn't fall for the Get Rich Quick schemes.

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It's like a natural progression. They started on centralized sites, they are just going to figure out more ways to scheme over here on the blockchains.

I hope more people do their homework compared to 2017 and the ICO madness lol

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Great post . Its good to have someone with not only so much passion but also so much of experience .

On another note , @jongolson can I know how you are raising money right now for funding INDEX ? I mean all the INDEX right now on Hive-Engine is open market orders right ? How are you raising HIVE to invest in the tokens ?

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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We take every single Hive that is sent, and we buy the tokens with it.

There might be a few hundred Hive here and there as buy orders are filled, but every thing goes into buying the tokens inside of INDEX.

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I've rebolgged to make sure a more people get to know about this. But I have a feeling most Hive users aren't dumb enough for most of these scams and most clueless users aren't even on Hive. With better signups in place I really hope these trends will change.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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Yeah that's one of the best parts about this blockchain...People here get VERY well versed in crypto quickly. Its a great learning platform!

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I think I learned (directly & indirectly) at least 50% of everything I know about crypto from engaging here. That's the power of having a community.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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Yeah, once I see "Unlimited Bitcoin" in an ad, I just ignore the rest...

I wasn't like that in the beginning, as I mentioned in my experience with HYIP my logical side of brain know that something is off but they make the process seems so easy that you tell that part of your brain to shut up!

We do need to help new people...

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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Hey believe me...I've fallen for a few schemes in my day too. I think experience is a great teacher and maybe sometimes people need to fall down before they stand up and crush it...I just hate seeing that term thrown around...Unlimited bitcoin lol

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Haha, we must be on the same wavelength as I just posted with the title "is crypto dodgy". Could have gone on for ages but it is all about education and glad to see you have focused on providing educational tools to newcomers, that's something that's close to my heart too!

But the most important thing is do not invest a penny unless you have done some due diligence and know what you're spending on! Especially now there's more mainstream reporting going on, there will be more scams for sure!

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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So true man!

That's the beauty of Hive...You can poke around here and earn a few tokens before ever dropping a penny into crypto.

I think the greatest teacher is experience. This is the place to get familiar :)

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hehe i call them wannabe crypto influencers and i've seen this type all the years i am into crypto but especially during the previous btc/steem pump.

Those people are one of the reasons we don't have more new users. They mislead people, people lose money and the blame cryptos in general as a scam

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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that's a really good point.

a lot of the people that got suckered into the scams last pump, won't be around again to learn how to do it the right way.

sad but so true.

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Many people are coming for fast money without realizing there is no fast money. You gotta educate yourself every single day and have these experiences on your own skin!

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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One of my ex-business partners used to always say...

The quickest way to make money online...Is to take your time!

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Oh yes, that's what I love about social media chains: You learn by investing time. And the same is true for MLM!

So nice to see some of your other training programs. I've been into The Hive Guide and like it very much! Just wished it would be multi-language. You may not think about this much from being first language English, but many even missed this, and the same might be true for many major and even minor languages.

Happy holidays! @tipu curate !invest_vote !PUREWATER

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thanks so much

lol yeah i have a hard enough trouble with english myself, and it's my native tongue LOL

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Uggggghhhh. I'd really like to say I've never clicked on any of those. But I can say I've never clicked on one today. Of course I haven't been up long, either.

I too have seen more 'offers' in the last couple of weeks. My spam filter is mostly holding but the number per day/week/month is going up pretty fast right now.

I'm going to reHive this so that maybe a few more folks will see it. It's really the right thing at the right time.

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Appreciate that sir, thank you!

BTW, random...Just got the new Seth Godin book in the mail...The Practice.

You get it yet?

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Yeah. I got it a few days ago. I believe you will like it :)

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nice! my over the holidays reading lol

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Learning before jumping into the cryptocurrency world and making some bad decisions should be a premise. Nice to see many projects trying to take those first steps and share them with new comers as if people understand in what they are investing, they will put more energy, time and money into it!

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i think people will be so much more receptive to this stuff if they knew they didn't need to send some 'scam artist' 100 bucks to get into this crypto space.

teach them, they can earn while they learn...and then look into things after they get a feel for it all.

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Hey bro,
Sorry to jump in a bit off-topic.
I am very grateful that you currently support the HiveBuzz proposal, but it will expire in a few days.
Do you mind to cast your vote for the renewal proposal we made for 2021 so we can continue with our work?
Thank you. Wish you a happy Xmas 🎅

https://peakd.com/me/proposals/147

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I have seen many of these annoying ads on youtube, where a guy with a gold chain goes up on a yacht or a jet and says he got all that thanks to bitcoin, but I wonder, other great players in the crypto world who have thousands of bitcoins and hundreds of millions of dollars have never seen them in an ad giving pity to buy their supposed winning method.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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yeah...the famous 'you can do it too' speech...except to do it like them, you'll need to spend 10k in consulting fees LOL

It's all a joke.

There is no secret to this stuff, literally just roll up your sleeves and learn it every day!

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Wow thanks for those tutorials, i will surely check them out.

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I once heard that marketers kill everything.
And you see it over and over.
Here we are again with the spillovers, the pass ups, the never ending earnings by doing nothing.
Same dance, different music.
Bitcoin is just a currency, until one understands that do not spend ANY currency on the other crap making promises.

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So true...Same song and dance, just a different time in history.

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Yeah, quite a bit of the stuff out there is basically disgusting, and typically designed to separate the most desperate and/or most gullible from their hard-earned funds in the most odious of ways.

It's both interesting and a little alarming to see these new "income opportunities" in crypto, and they are very little different (structurally) from many of the bullshit MLMs of the early 1990s. I'm usually the most alarmed by the "and well do all the WORK for you!" claims... just not true.

Thanks for warning people!

=^..^=

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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Can you make money doing that stuff? The legit stuff? Absolutely.

The lie is when people think it's going to just happen overnight and these poor souls fall for it.

Such a shame.

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Ho Ho Ho! @jongolson, one of your Hive friends wishes you a Merry Christmas and asked me to give you a new badge!

HiveBuzz wish you a Merry Christmas!
May you have good health, abundance and everlasting joy in your life.

To find out who wanted you to receive this special gift, click here!

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking

Do not miss the last post from @hivebuzz:

Offer a gift to your friends for Christmas
HiveFest⁵ feedback and contest results
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Surely get your point there and it's good advice and I think I don't want them doing but I'm kind of stressed on that too much and this is really good and I'm glad that you got this into this

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Great to have you on Hive and CTP :)

Things are going to get very exciting in 2021!

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But problem is that one who is clicking for "infinite Bitcoin" is also not checking.

There are complicated scams but falling for scam like "Infinite Bitcoin" , "Give one, take two" etc. , I have no idea whom to blame.

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Yeah I mean that's like Bitcoin 101...Pretty much the first thing you learn about it is that it's limited supply lol

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You are absolutely right, life on the web has taught us a lot about this, and like other colleagues my spam tray is never empty. I want to believe that those of us at Hive are already cured against these scams and we know how to detect them easily. Good post. I congratulate you and your team for their work and the effort to continue educating the community.

By the way, I can hardly find the button to reblog in clear mode, it is hardly visible, or I am very blind hahaha. luck.

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Appreciate that :)

Yeah we've got even more plans to help bridge the gap in 2021...But still trying to steer clear of these schemes and people promoting them as such.

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Being new to crypto, these words can change my perspective... Thanks a lot!👍.

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