There are hundreds (if not thousands) of websites out fake id website there that are trying to ‘fake it to make it’. You have seen it before. Websites telling you how to build loads of traffic when they have about 10 uniques a day, websites telling you how to explode your RSS subscriber count who have 100 or less subscribers, websites telling you how you can make thousands and millions online who are making less than $1/day.
This was once me. When I started out I thought that was how you make money. However, I quickly learned that you cannot fake it to make it in the online world. There are many reasons for this which I am going to share with you.
My first experience trying to fake it to make it was trying to copy Darren’s problogger blog when I was on blogspot! This sounds so stupid to me now. A blogger without his own domain trying to tell others how to make loads of money by blogging! I was stupid. You will be thankful to know I have learned from my mistakes. Here are the reasons why you will fall flat on your face if you try and fake it to make it.
People can smell a liar from a mile away. More often than not it is completely obvious if you are faking it. If you are not displaying your RSS subscriber count people assume you don’t have many subscribers. If you fake it people can tell and your content will not help anyone
Who wants to be living a lie? This has health problems associated with it. Increased stress levels, decreased quality of life. Living truthfully is key.
It is a fact that people like to buy from someone they trust. If they trust you and you recommend a product to them then they are likely to buy it. This means the more that people trust you the more money you are likely to make. By being honest you are building trust with people.
Faking it to make it is a short term thing and it will never last for the long run. When it comes to blogging you are only ever going to be successful if you stick it out for the long run. I was talking to man man Joe today about how The University Kid is for sale. This is a great site and could have gone all the way to success like many other blogs if he had just stuck with it. He is instead selling it and not staying in it for the long run. He won’t see the success he could have seen. (I am not trying to say Jason ever tried to fake it to make it, just an example of not staying in it for the long run)
Don’t sell out yourself so you can try and fake it to make it. Be yourself because that is the only way you can stick with it for the long run.
Passion drives success. If you find your passion and go after it with all your heart then you are almost certain to find a way to success. If you are faking it then you will be sapped of your passion. No one is passionate about being fake, you might be able to be for a short while, but eventually your passion will fade along with your success.
If people find out that you are faking it they will not be happy and they will talk about how you have been faking it. People don’t take this stuff very well.
If you are faking it to make it and trying to teach people how to be successful like yourself then you won’t be able to deliver on your statements. This will cause people to want refunds on products if you have sold them products and cause people to stop reading because you don’t deliver the quality content that you could if you were really successful.
If you are faking it to make it your blog or website (or life) will lack originality. You will just be rehashing things other people have said. If someone can read your rehashed material on a site where someone is genuine and real which site do you think they would prefer to read?
Some time or another when you are talking about your fake success you will contradict yourself. If you are not living an honest life you are bound to get your stories mixed up and contradict yourself.
Recently a Christian preacher Michael Gugliemucci tried to fake it to make it by telling the world he had cancer and that he was believing God to heal him. He even wrote a hit song “healer” which inspired many. His story inspired thousands, if not hundreds of thousands and when the news came out that it was all a big lie many people were hurt and his reputation (and the church’s reputation) was ruined. By trying to fake it to make it you could very well lose your reputation with thousands of people as Michael did.
