One of the things that has always bothered me about the internet marketing space is the sleaze factor. There are too many people making unrealistic income claims, trading on people's fear, and taking advantage of people's hopes and dreams. It drove me crazy in 2010 when I first wrote about this, and it still drives me crazy in 2026.
But here is the other side of that coin: there are also internet marketers who build their entire businesses on a foundation of ethics and genuinely helping people. They exist. They are out there. You just have to know where to look.
The Real Secret of Internet Business
Everyone asks the same questions. What is the secret to making money online? What is the magical product I can promote? What is the special niche that will make me rich in two weeks?
There are no magic bullets. The closest thing to a secret I have found in over fifteen years of online business is this: focus on helping people get what they need, and the money will follow. Zig Ziglar said it best: “You can get everything you want in life by giving other people what they want.” That is as true in internet business as it is anywhere else.
Using Your Skills Beyond Your Business
But there is a deeper question here, one that my friend Nicole Dean raised years ago: what do your internet marketing skills allow you to do outside of your business to help people?
When Nicole asked that question, my honest answer was: not much. I was so focused on building my own business that I had not thought about using my skills for something bigger. Then an opportunity showed up. A musician friend needed help getting a charity Christmas CD online. All proceeds went to fund education for children in Liberia, West Africa, where just one hundred dollars could pay for a child's entire year of schooling.
I knew how to build a website, set up payment processing, and drive traffic. Those skills that I had spent years developing for my own business could be deployed in a weekend to help kids on the other side of the world get an education. That experience changed how I thought about what we do as internet marketers.
Why This Matters More Than Ever in 2026
The tools available to internet marketers today are exponentially more powerful than what we had in 2010. You can build a professional website in hours, not weeks. You can reach thousands of people through email, social media, and content marketing without spending a dime on advertising. You can set up donation processing, e-commerce, and automated fulfillment with off-the-shelf tools.
If you have these skills, you have the ability to make a real difference for causes and people who need help. A local charity that is struggling to raise money online. A nonprofit that needs a better website. A community organization that does not know how to build an email list. A friend with a passion project that could reach more people with some basic marketing knowledge applied to it.
I am not saying you should work for free all the time. Your skills have value and you deserve to be compensated for your work. But I am saying that part of building a reputation as an ethical internet marketer — and part of building a life you are proud of — is using what you know to make things better for someone other than yourself.
The internet marketing industry still has image problems. The way we fix that is not by complaining about the scammers. It is by being the example of what ethical internet marketing looks like. Help people in your business. Help people outside your business. Build things that add value to the internet instead of cluttering it with garbage.
That is how we change the reputation of this industry, one project at a time.
Mark,
Thank you for this post, it has helped me. I have been struggling to try to get into Internet Marketing, but haven’t been successful yet. I have been caught in this hype on the latest products but no success. I don’t think there is a easy way.
Thanks again for all your post. They are a great help.
Linda
You are quite welcome.
Simple recipe for you:
Pick a way to make money on line (for example, affiliate marketing). Find someone you trust that is actually making money on line that way and teaching what they do. Do what they do and ignore everyone else.
Mark,
This was a good one and struck a little chord with me. Who do you think are the scumbags? Internet Marketers that are using skills to sell products or is this more about internet marketers that are using skills to sell internet marketing courses/products that dont deliver?
Glad you liked the post.
Naming names is not really my style (unless I need to do it to help someone). I’m more of a private email guy when it comes to dealing with that sort of thing.
Oh! Yea…that didn’t come out well. Sorry. I didn’t want you to name any one. I meant just in general. I sort of ‘backed’ into some internet marketing with out really intending too and then only later stumbled onto the term ‘internet marketing’ and have been struggling with some of the ‘scuminess’ that I see too.
Ah — I see what you were getting at. Sorry.
Scumbag: Someone who intentionally delivers a product or service that is worth far less than the price charged. Usually involves deceptive marketing that preys on peoples fears and dreams.
How is that?
Mason we all as marketer try to lend an hand as needed, but sometime we fall short..I will be checking out those marketer you listed above..I always love to meet new people..
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
Thanks, TC. They are all great folks.
Great post Mark. Absolutely spot on, and I am glad to hear clarion voice sin the midst of the rabble of empty promises shouting every day telling unsuspecting visitors to buy the latest, greatest secret system to make an overnight million.
Thanks David. I really appreciate the feedback. Whenever I do a post like this, I often get some unsubscribes from people complaining about how they are not getting value from my posts. Very interesting, this blogging thing….LOL
So, your comments are very much appreciated.
My goodness Mark that’s a rare sight – I.M. as a force for good. But there have always been ethical I.M ers it’s just that they seem not to make the same degree of noise as the scumbags!
And I have a background of science education and I was and still am totally baffled by the sleeze factor.
BTW some extra names for the ethical list – Tiffany Dow, Terry Dean, Shane Melaugh. Tons of others…
I need to spend some time checking out Tiffany Dow — I keep hearing that name…
I know what you mean about these fly by night products. I have purchased a few and I am still trying to get it wright. It does seem like every day someone has created a new bigger and better something.
No doubt about that.
It’s is really important to know what you are trying to accomplish, and then ask if the new shiny thing will get you closer or further away from your goals.
No one has named Mark Mason yet as a standup guy! haha – stating the obvious. Pet peeves 1) High profile folks that market the obvious at $97. My theory is wait 90 days and you can find it for free; 2)IM’rs that state they made “$$___per day or hour or year” when they’re actually taking a very small snapshot of time and extrapolating that out to something impressive sounding. I believe that’s illegal now in investing and should be for IMing as well, not that there is any actual law for this fine industry. The old saying goes “if John Doe is making $1,000 an hour doing that – why is he selling me his system for $47?”
One more — “this used to work (last month),but it doesn’t work anymore. You need my new mega-course because it’s what works now”. Listening to a podcast that just used those exact words. 🙁
LOL — well, sometimes stuff that used to work doesn’t work anymore because it was crap in the first place….
Mark,
The list of ethical marketers you mentioned are the cream of the crop IMHO. I consider it a humble honor that you continue to produce regular content that shows a genuine concern to make the online marketing space a better place.
Thanks for all you do.
Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy.
To allude further to what Daniel says (first comment) – I see a large community of Internet marketers that base their income on Ad Swapping.
As a result email opens have dropped and people are using trickery and BS claims to get people to open their emails.
The other thing that gets me are the amount of sub standard Clickbank products with sales pages that tell you everything you want to hear but doesn’t tell you how or what the product does- then turns out to be something thats a fusion of 2 products already on the market.
I could go on ranting but I won’t
Regards
Pete
Thanks for stopping by Mark!
I really appreciate it, and I agree with what you told me, that the message the blog isn’t really clear and I will work on it!
Thanks again! Will stay tunned!