Duped: The Dark Side of Online Business

If there's one place on the internet it's all too easy to get tripped up and make an impulsive decision, it's sales pages.

Yes, sales pages are designed to draw you in and pique your interest, but in many cases, these pages are cross the line from persuasion to straight-up manipulation.

So how do you spot the red flags?

In part one of this two-part series on sales pages, we're covering program promises, pain points, and the solution. We discuss:

• The psychology behind using long-form sales pages.

• Examples of the empty promises we often see from group programs.

• How to identify headlines designed to suck you in,

• The difference between pressing on pain points versus agitating them.

• How to identify red flags when reviewing offered solutions.

• Key takeaways to keep in mind when reading sales pages.

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online. For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.

Is the state of ethical business actually improving in 2024? Are we actually making some progress?

Well, it's a good news/bad news kind of story.

The good is that we're finally starting to see more and more people reject the status quo business practices, including manipulative marketing and scammy sales practices.

The bad is that this industry is very fickle, and while it's good to hear more discussions about ethical business, certain topics have fallen off the radar. And whether these conversations translate into change still remains to be seen.

In this episode, we're digging into the state of ethical business in 2024 and having a raw conversation about where things really stand.

We discuss:

• The monetization of burnout and why hustling isn't what it's cracked up to be.

• The sudden pivot from people who used to talk about "the right way to market" to now preaching the opposite.

• The predictable patterns in the industry and why it's often easy to see what's coming as things shift.

• What we recommend you watch for in the coming months.

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online. For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon

In a world where we're connected to people across the globe, it's nearly impossible for us NOT to create parasocial relationships.

If you publish content or have an audience filled with people you don't know personally, you create parasocial relationships. And that's totally fine

The trouble starts with ensuring everyone understands that we're in these relationships and that they can make us more vulnerable to predatory tactics.

In this episode, we're answering the questions of what parasocial relationships are, how they affect us, and how they're being weaponized against us? We discuss:

• What are parasocial relationships?

• The evolution of parasocial relationships.

• How we create these relationships with online content creators.

• The deliberate cultivation of parasocial relationships by celebrities and online business owners.

• The impact of parasocial relationships on consumer behavior.

• What consumers need to be aware of with their parasocial relationships and how it influences buying decisions.

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online. For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.

You're excited about signing up for a new program, and you're just about to check out, then you decide to read the terms and conditions…but maybe they're super long and you're in a rush.

Fast forward three weeks later and you realize this was a terrible choice and the program is hot garbage.

So, what now?

In this episode, we're looking at the fine print of T&Cs, guarantees and refunds so you can save yourself this exact headache and not waste your time or money with people who don't live up to their marketing hype. We discuss:

• The power dynamics around payments

• Why clear and balanced payment-related policies are essential to protect both buyers and sellers.

• Why understanding terms and conditions is crucial.

• Key questions to ask when reviewing terms and conditions.

• Why guarantees can be a slippery slope.

• What to watch for as a consumer.

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online. For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.

This week we're giving you a little teaser of what's going on over the Duped Patreon. Our January episode offered a grab bag of topics as we dove into all the things happening in cults, documentaries, and online business.

In this teaser, we discuss the current conversation about "degrowth" and our feelings on the matter.

Want to hear the rest of the conversation? Join the Patreon and you can listen to the January episode in full where we also cover:

• More thoughts on the Netflix Twin Flame docuseries.
• The Bitconned documentary and how it's so much like online business.
• Did season 3 of The Dream podcast get it right? What did they miss?
• A high-profile example of a business shutdown, and is it legit?
• What we see on Threads, and why are there so many "your coach first name" accounts?

Affiliates, JVs, and Summits…oh my! These collaborations can be spectacular for sales and growing an audience, but they also have a dark side that can take advantage of business owners and ultimately lead to getting Duped

In this episode, we're diving into the HIGHLY nuanced topic of summits and JVs and decoding deceptive tactics that can leave you holding the bag.

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online.

For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.

Have you heard of something called neurolinguistic programming or NLP? It's everywhere in online business, but no one seems to be able to explain what it is or why we use it. In this episode, we tackle everything from its controversial history to its widespread online influence to answer the question: are you being manipulated by NLP? And would you even know if you were?

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online. For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.

As 2023 comes to a close, we wanted to reflect on the year that was and make some predictions about what lies ahead in 2024.

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online.

For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.

Online business sells the dream of being financially free to women from all walks of life. And that with a certain amount of money, each of us will have the power to change the world.

Welcome to the fakery of financial feminism, where we're being pushed to play bigger, but are we actually even benefiting?

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online.

For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.

Truth time: Growing your audience in 2023 is hard. Yet, the web celebs who are selling you courses about how to create courses, memberships, or programs want you to believe that it is easy. No audience, no problem!

This is why we wanted to dive into the grift of audience growth on this episode of Duped.

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online. For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.