Why is everybody a guru on the internet these days?

Okay, so maybe everybody is a bit of an exaggeration, but if your Facebook news feed is anything like mine you will know exactly what I mean.

In between the obligatory ‘airport pint’ pics, on the beach selfies and ubiquitous images of various culinary creations, there seems to be more and more FB ads from marketing gurus, self-help gurus and ‘how to make your first million’ gurus infiltrating the increasingly busy feeds.

Now, whilst these are probably more welcome than the incoming £100m Boris ‘No Deal’ propaganda campaign, or for that matter, the ‘Can’t believe it’s my little cherub’s first day at nursery/pre-school/infants/juniors/secondary school’ pics that will flood the feeds in the first week of September, it still begs the question:

Why are there so many gurus on the internet?

And, more importantly:

Can you trust them?

What do internet gurus all have in common?

I’m not going to name names – hopefully I’ve got a touch more class than that - but a quick scroll through my Facebook feed shows a clear pattern:

'How to grow a one-man agency into a six-figure business'

'Secrets that will change your business and your life'

'How to generate consistently high-paying leads'

All the gurus seem to be offering their secret to success – a flawless formula or fool-proof process - that will guarantee your business will rocket to almost FTSE100 proportions in mega-quick time.

My first thought is: Why?

Sharing is caring and all that but why, if you have discovered an infallible and unfailing secret formula for success in your field, would you then go and tell everybody about it?

Which means that my second thought is, almost inevitably: Bulls**t!

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is

Call me cynical, but I’m a firm believer in the idiom – if something looks too good to be true then it, invariably, is too good to be true!

I don’t believe there is ever a secret formula for success in anything.The internet gurus who promise otherwise are kidding you.

I’d stop short of calling them con merchants or outright liars though. After all, it’s a classic marketing ploy to sell an idea and an aspiration.

What’s more, the notion of providing a lead magnet as ‘bait’ is an accepted and acceptable tactic.

No, you just need to take what the gurus have to say with a pinch of salt.

Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?

So, don’t believe the hype and don’t believe the truth – just take the good bits from what you see. That’s the best approach to take when it comes to internet gurus.

When you see promises of ‘fool-proof methods’ and ‘secret formulas’, remember that they are false and fake promises.

Because such methods and formulas simply don’t exist.

However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t something that can be taken from what the guru is offering.

Recently, in time-honoured Cranberries fashion, I thought it was high time I joined the Internet Guru Fraternity… well, sort of…

My version simply offered a lead magnet that I thought would be useful to small businesses.

Rather than boasting that I have a fool-proof formula for success, I just suggested 7 Steps To Growing Your Business Through Blogging.

There were no bold claims that the process could turn Wanda’s Fish Food Cornershop into Wal-Mart, just honest tips (that I know work) for businesses to use to launch or re-launch their marketing efforts.

My thinking was this: If a business likes what they see and think I’m a good fit for them, we can work together.

If not, they can just take these tips and use them as they see fit.

I don’t think I could be fairer than that.

If you’d like a copy of 7 Steps To Growing Your Business Through Blogging yourself, just get in touch here.