Confusion, deception, hype and downright dishonesty abound on world wide web (www). I should know. Like tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people before me - I've been caught. And it is highly probable that so many more will continue to be caught in future unless something is done to stop it.

The www is new frontier for those who seek to make money from inexperienced people. It's quick, it's easy and it is so impersonal. Specifically, I am talking about selling of high priced junk information (often referred to as "reports") to unsuspecting customers. It's almost perfect robbery.

Newbie website owners beware! There are hundreds of con-artists and specious operators lurking out there in cyber space. They are just waiting to pull you into their clutches.

How do they do it?

OK. What is one thing that every new website owner has to have? Answer - traffic. Pure and simple. If you don't have traffic, you might as well not even have a website - unless, of course, you just enjoy looking at it yourself.

Your quest for traffic demands that you seek knowledge from those who profess to have it. And that is root of problem. It seems that every second website seems to be selling information on how to improve your website. With so many experts, who do you trust?

Oh you can read sales "blurb" (yeah, I know, my site has "blurb" too. All websites use it) and be wooed by all so-called "facts" but who is offering information and does it really work? How do you separate credible information from useless junk? There certainly is plenty of junk out there.

There appears to be an increasing number of self-styled gurus professing to know exactly how to drive that precious traffic right through your site. In fact, if you believe everything they promise, you will need to install a set of traffic lights on your site just to control massive flow. (Or so they would have you believe!)

Your quest for knowledge can very quickly send your credit card into debt hyper-drive, or, I should say, hyper-dive! Just enter your details and zap - here it comes. It's answer to all your www dreams. (You wish!)

Let's examine some of things you need to be vigilant about:

The information you pay for might be:

1. - widely known among experienced net users - but not by you. If you want to pay for this information it might just be worth it to "fast-track" your education. In other words, you will be paying for fairly basic information but you will learn something from it. In that respect, information can be good because you can learn from experience of others. Many "special reports" and "secrets revealed" fall into this category. However, some clearly do not. (PS: What type of credit card do you have?)

2. - available FREE all over www. All you have to do is look. "Seek and ye shall find". If you are lazy and you need to be spoon fed then there are any number of hunters out there who will line you up in their sights. The information is probably current and will work but why pay for it when it is so abundantly available at zero cost? (PS: What is your credit card number?)

3. - "old hat" information. The internet moves at such speed that what worked several years ago or even several months ago now doesn't work at all. This type of information is totally useless and should be avoided. Often this ancient information will even contain broken hyperlinks. Now that's a real turn off. It says so much about quality of information being provided. In reality, this type of information is just a collection of worthless old junk, like a shoe with a hole in its sole. (PS: When does your credit card expire?)

4. - a precursor to spending even more money. This little technique will whet your appetite just enough to entice you to spend lots more money. Some "wealth creation" seminar presenters use this technique. It's just bait for "real" information which, of course, is far more expensive. "Caveat emptor" - let buyer beware! (PS: What are three ID numbers on back of that credit card of yours?)

5. - Steering you to other sites offering "fixits." This is something like point 4 above, except information provider suggests you go to a third party (a "friend" - more on this in Part 2) to purchase more programs or more specific information. Often these recommended sites can offer expensive or time consuming programs. (PS: Now, just press submit.)

6. - credible and/or valuable. This is information of best kind. Usually it will contain "cutting edge" ideas that are currently working on www. However, your ability to source this information from many traps above will range from difficult to almost impossible.

It would seem from all comments and attention I have received so far, that I have struck on a common complaint from website owners. So much so, that I have decided to write Part 3, which wasn't originally intended.

Yes, all website owners are looking for that magic formula which will give them added traffic to their sites.

You have created a brilliant site, full of wonderful information. You know people will just love it. However, there is one major problem. Nobody knows that it exists. Sound familiar? You are Michelangelo and you are confined to Sistine Chapel where there is not a web-cam in sight for you to show your work to world.

Enough joking around! This is meant to be serious.

You have already submitted to all free search engines and directories. You wait. Weeks pass and your site is still not listed. You need traffic. You're desperate for traffic! So you do what thousands of others do, you submit to temptation of all clever marketeers who are out there waiting for people just like you (and me).

"Welcome to my parlor said spider to fly..." (er, sorry to inform you but you are six-legged one here)

Have you noticed a few things about "professors" of website traffic techniques? They all huddle together. They all refer to one another. They are all "cyber-friends." And, why shouldn't they be?

They are using one of best marketing techniques since day dot! Word of mouth, or in this case, word of click. They are in business of referral. What better way to generate leads? It's a nice cosy little arrangement.

Marketer A promotes marketer B who promotes C who promotes D who promotes A. Hey presto! What do we have? We have a marketing web-ring of referring "experts" and "gurus." If you stumble into this web-ring you might just find yourself wanting to buy all those seemingly fabulous and heavily cross-referred products they offer. A, B, C and D all win. But what about you? I'm reckoning that four "information" products at an average price of US$39.95 each will set you back a cool US$159.80. Then of course, you will be bombarded with all manner of emails encouraging you to buy latest "cutting edge" techniques as word goes out (via email) that you are hungry for information. Get yourself ready for a SPAM attack!

Here's a hint - when you get those ezines full of junk and forty lines of boring advertising links, simply go to your email settings and do following. Highlight line containing offending email, go to toolbar at top of your screen, open up "Message" then come down and highlight "Block Sender."