Why I Avoid Any Online Turnkey Business Opportunity Like The Plague
That word “turnkey” is so popular online. Websites and systems are sold with the promise that all you have to do is enter a few personal details and within minutes you have a live income stream.
But I want to show you exactly why 99% of online turnkey business opportunities are either virtually worthless or outright scams. Call them what they are … “get rich quick schemes”.
Here are 5 reasons why I say that:
1. They don’t come with traffic.
That in itself is not the problem. No site comes ready packaged with traffic. You have to drive the traffic to it. But very often these sites or programs are sold as “click the button, sit back and relax”, and that is nonsense. Worse, it lulls the buyer into thinking they don’t need to do anything at all, and this is a recipe for disappointment. If you DO purchase a “turnkey anything” online, be prepared to drive all your own traffic.
Think about it. If the site was completely hands free, why on earth would they sell it to you? Why not just propagate hundreds of them and keep all the automatic profits for themselves? No, they realize that if they set up a hundred sites, they have to set up traffic flow a hundred times. It’s a lot easier to sell you a shovel than dig for gold themselves.
2. They inevitably look second rate
I have NEVER seen a turnkey site that didn’t look like …. a turnkey site. Some are better than others, but it’s the nature of fully automated things to have very little opportunity for customization. So headings will appear where they will appear, in very ordinary fonts, with poor graphics. And another thing …
3. They are overexposed
The creator is selling these sites over and over again, and so you can see them everywhere around the internet. There is no quicker way to brand yourself as an amateur than to be the owner of a cookie cutter style site.
4. They don’t help you learn online business
Please note that word. “Business”. That’s what you should be looking to build – a real business. Like any other business in the world, there is a learning curve online. Building an online business can be fast and very inexpensive, but don’t expect it to be instant or free. Invest your time and at least some money, and build a real asset that you can leverage for a long time to come.
Turnkey programs teach you nothing about online skills, or even outsourcing skills. So ultimately they are only a very limiting distraction that will keep you from any long term or large scale success. Don’t waste your time.
5. They are often little more than traffic magnets for the creator
This is important to understand. The creators of these programs make their money in 2 ways. Firstly, the price they charge you for the product itself. Secondly, there are usually links in one way or another from the product back to their own sites. That is the strategy. So if you DO get some traffic , at least some of it will be syphoned off to the guy that sold you the “opportunity”. See how it works? You may have a very small traffic stream that can not make you more than a few pennies, but if the creator has a thousand people set these up he can get a little traffic from each which adds up to a lot of traffic for him.
I sincerely hope that I’ve convinced you that when you see that word “turnkey”, or if you realize that’s what is being offered, there’s just one thing to do. Run!
Phil
Phil
Gary Simpson
Eric Bonnici
Peter Davies
Zee Visram
I was on Yahoo and found your blog. Read a few of your other posts. Good work. I am looking forward to reading more from you in the future.
Tom Stanley
I totally agree with you. It’s always better to set up our own unique
site where branding can take place.
Cate
Phil:
Great post! Thanks for sharing this nugget of gold for those of us trying to navigate the IM mine field of users, abusers, and just plain ole losers! Sometimes I feel like I’m at the fair or carnival trying to win a prize at one of those rigged games. I know I should know better but they make it so enticing and sound so easy!
Thanks again…Larry
As the owner of one of these “turnkey” sites, I have to admit that everything you said above is true. The first point in particular. When I first saw the sales page for the site it was so full of hype it gave the impression that I didn’t have to do any work at all. But unlike most people who buy into this hype I knew I would have to market the site heavily to get any traffic. Great post by the way. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for confirming what I’ve always thought all along Phil. You hit the nail on the head. I tried a few of those turnkey sites a few years back and, Derek says, they give you the impression that you can just sit back and let the money roll in. What a waste of money and time/effort. I strongly urge anyone reading this blog post to heed Phil’s words and DO NOT invest in a hyped up turnkey website.
Nice post, Phil.
Newcomers need to realize that there really IS a process that
must be followed to become successful online, and “Yes Virginia”,
there is a learning curve. You can outsource some things if you
want, but you also need basic skills. That is the major hurdle
new people face, and quite a few don’t seem to want to ‘jump’ over it.
I don’t think I will EVER be done learning things, that’s the nature
of this IM beast…But it sure beats having a JJJJJJJJJOB!
Happy Winter!
Great post and great points. What you have said makes a lot of sense. Most of them are really hyped up and they become over-saturated. I used to invest in Turnkey sites before but now I don’t anymore. mainly for that reason you mentioned. They don’t have traffic and usually when you look at the big picture you’re pretty much left on your own. Sure some of them try to say they offer training on Traffic Generation methods but you’re still pretty much on your own where that is concerned. The lifeblood of any site is traffic. No matter what, Its what is necessary for the success of any site.
An interesting post I must say. Turnkey websites certainly are not for the experienced veterans of internet marketing, but for a newbie that needs to get in RIGHT NOW, they are a very viable vehicle.
The newbie will have a website up while learning all of the little nuances the ‘gurus’ conveniently leave out in their spiels.
As far as hype goes, 98% of the websites online utilize hype to some degree, some more than others. It’s the nature of the beast.
I have found though, that the websites that do scream hype, do so because the product/service being offered is either pure crap or an outright scam.
So yes, ‘turnkey websites’ are not the best investments in establishing VRE, but again, when a newbie is up against it, a turnkey website will allow him or her to get their feet wet.
And again, they will have a website up while learning what they need to know to get a truly polished and professional website online.
The key here is, when perusing the various ‘turnkey website’ offers, to do your due diligence and research to find out if it is truly a worthy offer or just some junk being thrown out there to take the unsuspecting sucker’s money.
wow once again awesome post. i am very glad that i come by. thanks a million, PHIL..
Phil you’ve hit the nail right on the head!
I’ve been around for quite some time and have tried some of those turnkey web sites. None really ever panned out.
From experience I suggest any new comer learn the basics starting with html, basic SEO (its easy if you can navigate through a lot of the BS out there), and basic traffic generating strategies.
And there are so many ways to drive traffic its crazy. The problem is newbies don’t know what to focus on and jump from strategy to strategy. I would suggest starting with article writing and submissions, and perhaps blog commenting or building a few web 2.0 pages on places like squidoo or hubpages. With all of those strategies you can get links back to your site. The key is to pick one or two and be persistent with it. FOCUS – Follow One Course Until Successful.
Of course, setting up an autoresponder or opt-in list is important too.
There is definitely going to be a learning curve involved. The truth is its not hard but can be time consuming. But once you pick up the basics you will be well on your way. And always learning a long the way.
I’ve been at for many years and continue to learn daily.
For everyone reading this… Phil is one of the good guys whose advice you can trust.
Just remember get started with the basics, FOCUS, and learn a little more each day.
All the best
Eric Bonnici
Hi again Phil,
I agree with and endorse all you said above. But that isn’t so surprising, is it? We think alike on a lot of these things.
Great blog post Phil – full of great info, as always.
Gary Simpson
TEMPLE
PS: Most impressive Alexa Ranking too mate – 61,194. I’m right on your hammer. Mine just dropped to 71,234. LOL!
Phil, excellent post as always. The thing that most people need to understand is that this so called gurus who seems to relentlessly push these “get rich quick schemes” are feeding on the mentality of instant gratification that our society has be overtaking with. Once you are able to address this instant gratification mentality you will not fall this get rich schemes. Thanks for sharing Phil.
Richard
Very good points there Phil – I tried one of these things a couple of years ago before I decided to get some proper coaching, and it was that, a total pile of sh*** that you get a website that you have to promote and no one is interested cos its been round the block so many times and it looks cheap……….
Need I say any more.?