The Press Club of Dallas is involved in a mini-scandal involving alleged rigging of its 2006 Katie Awards. The public is already skeptical. Don’t make your prospects think you’re not trustworthy by bolstering your “credibility” with fake awards.

Too often, one reads advertisements or views websites that contain trophy and ribbon logos with words like “Voted Best Widget 2007″ and “Top 10 Website.” If a legitimate third party actually bestowed that honor on your business or website without you paying compensation for it, then by all means use the award to market your business. If money changed hands or something else shady led to your being the recipient of the award, don’t jeopardize your reputation for honesty and integrity. It only takes one prospect or client to discover what really happened. The risk isn’t worth the reward…plus you’ll sleep better at night.

Hat tip to Jeff Carlton at the Associated Press.

About the Author

With an advanced international law degree from Georgetown University and more than 13 years of real world legal experience, Attorney Mike Young shows entrepreneurs how to protect and grow their businesses online. He's the author of Internet Marketing Legal Secrets Revealed. Not just a lawyer who focuses exclusively on Internet and marketing law, Mike’s been working with computers for more than 27 years (his first computer was an Atari 400 with 8 KiB RAM) and started representing Internet businesses back in 1996.