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By Chris Small

Does honesty Sell? Is it still the best policy?

Surely on the Internet of all places you can get away with some indiscretions. I’ll just copy and paste this couple of lines and call them my own After all, who’s going to know the truth anyway? A little white lie here, and an exaggeration there, maybe an out and out boldface lie about a minor point.... come on it’s no big deal. Everybody does it, don't they. If I get caught plagiarizing I’ll just say that it was meant as a form of flattery.

You can find all kinds of ways to justify improper presentation of the facts, and you can even get away with it - some of the time. We all know the old saying - "You can fool some of the people all of the time..., and you can fool all of the people some of the time..., but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

In this enlightened day and age with World Wide communications happening at the speed of email, is it really wise to take a chance on "some of the people" finding out on you? When it comes to the Internet, people tend to look at your words even more skeptically. The "some of the people" that you CAN'T fool represent a much bigger portion of the Internet population.

The truth is, that it is actually in your own best interest to be honest. If you are planning to maintain a long term successful presence as an Internet Marketer the only real asset that you can depend on is your credibility. Without credibility, you’re finished.

Let me give you a real example.

Many months ago I subscribed to a newsletter that was put out by a successful marketer. Let’s call him M. I always looked forward to receiving M’s e-zine every week (and still do) because of the valuable content that is in it. So do many other people. At the time that I started subscribing M had maybe 1,000 subscribers, or so.

Recently another marketer came out with an info product, and launched it very successfully. we’ll call him K. You may have even seen some of the ads for it. The only problem was that K didn't use all original material. He freely copied some of M’s early work and forgot to give the credit to M. He tried to pass it off as his own work. Not a wise idea K.

You see M eventually found out and published an article about it to his readers (now 20,000 plus) showing his words from previous work, side by side with K’s words (including page and chapter numbers). The words were identical. We’re not talking about a couple of sentences either. These were full paragraphs containing M’s opinions and personal views.

Since then I haven't seen K’s product promoted anywhere.

Honest, is something that you have to decide to be BEFORE you launch your marketing campaign. K might have forgotten that he even copied M’s work and inadvertently put it out as his own. He may have intended to change the message and put it into his own words... but he didn't... and now must pay the consequences.

There are some people who seem to break the rules and still get away with it. Or do they?

Do you think that Bill Clinton would like to take back a few moments of time when he thought the World wasn't looking? Uh huh! When some of his indiscretions were originally revealed to the world, do you think that he regrets not coming clean and admitting to the truth right then? Uh huh! To this day, one of the most highly read pieces in the history of the Internet was the Monica Lewinski testimonial.

But in spite of all this he still managed to hang on to his job and marriage. Did he get away with it? Hardly! He has become the butt of more jokes than the day is long. How many times has he appeared in Lettermans’ top 10 list? The office of the Presidency has become tarnished irreparably. And his marriage is certainly not one to model. Yeah, he’s still got the top job, but was it worth it? I don't think so, do you?

Yes, honesty does sell, and yes it is still the best policy.