I don’t mind people acting as joint venture brokers – matching seller with promoter – and taking a percentage of the sale for arranging it all.

In fact, I could see it as a pretty good earner if you do it correctly.

What I don’t like is this new trend of finding a series of sites in a particular niche and then spamming the email addresses listed in the WHOIS with an affiliate link for a 2-tier affiliate program.

Take, for example, this email I got to the address I have listed in the WHOIS on one of my domains:

“Subject: A Quick Question About [My Website URL]

Hi there,

My name is James Max.

I was recently reviewing forex trading sites in some of the major search engines and I came across your web site: [My Website URL]

Out of all the sites I came across yours really stood out for me and If you could please spare me just two minutes I have a business proposition for you as you are in the same market as I am. After reviewing your site I found that we are both targeting the exact same market, though we are not in competition with each other. I have been studying this target market for quite some time and would like to present you with the opportunity to increase your income for five minutes work. You will be provided with the marketing materials, all you need do is sending out an email to your ezine list or adding a graphic to your web site, and you can make money!

You can do this by signing up to the affiliate program found here: [affiliate link masked using TinyURL]. By promoting this product you can earn a commission without ever having to handle customer service or ship any products. It’s a fantastic way to make money pretty much out of thin air! By working together, we have the potential to create an additional revenue source for both of us — without investing any money or even any time. Because we share the same target market, your customers are guaranteed to be interested in the product. An affiliate arrangement is a sure-fire way to make that interest work to our mutual benefit. To sign up to this affiliate program visit: [affiliate link masked using TinyURL]

I offer this partnership very selectively, so please do act fast if you wish to go ahead with this. Also please feel free to email me if you have any questions. Finally I know you’re a busy person and I’d like to thank you for reading this email whether you choose to promote and make some extra cash or not. Keep up the good work! By the way, you’ll be paid by 10th business day of every month, for the preceding month’s earnings. [affiliate link masked using TinyURL]

Sincerely, James Max

P.S. I hope you don’t mind me emailing you it’s just your forex trading web site really stood out from the others I came across during my research.”

Unfortunately for “James Max”, I very much did mind that he sent me this email.

What really got on my nerves is that it was completely obvious that this was either an automated email or a quick edit of a template email to stuff in my email address and website address.

He couldn’t even be bothered to take 5 minutes to rewrite the email slightly to include my name or anything else even slightly personal.

I don’t actively ask for people to suggest products to promote anywhere on this website and I certainly do not expect people to just pluck my name from the WHOIS records and send this junk. It is unsolicited commercial email – it is spam.

Sadly I think that this practice is going to get worse and more and more of these emails will be received by webmasters who simply aren’t interested in the slightest.

Just last month this “technique” was provided in detail as a suggested business blueprint by a UK marketer in his new monthly “snail mail” newsletter.

I used to respect him as a good guy before he suggested to all his readers that they go out and spam people with affiliate links for 2 tier programs.

Anyway, to wrap up this rant, here’s the reply I sent to “James Max”:

“Nice “template” email.

I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try and treat me like a complete idiot. This is a well known “technique” which is likely to mark you out as somebody not to be trusted.

Have a word with whoever urged you to send emails like this and ask them why they suggested you ruin your reputation by spamming email addresses you find via WHOIS.

Tip: If you want to be taken seriously in this business, don’t try to trick people, don’t use privacy protected WHOIS records and offer value – not dodgy 2 tier affiliate programs.

Oh, and don’t use template emails.”

Just another example of so-called internet marketers trying to trick people.

Is it just me or is the whole business opportunity/internet marketing field becoming more and more seedy and dishonest?

I’ve already had:

(a) Keith Wellman go back on his promise of bonuses (see Keith Wellman of FX Marketing Inc and Everyday Wealth LLC),

(b) the Global Pension Plan slowly disappearing (bizoppsuk.com/global_pension_plan.php) and

(c) another marketer has yet to send out some DVDs I ordered from him over a month ago.

Is it any wonder that the general public sees internet marketers as a bunch of scammers?