Are You on the Internet Marketing Path to Glory? December 25, 2006
Posted by Andrew Wee in : Internet Marketing , trackbackI’ve had the chance to talk to a number of new Internet Marketers recently and I’m both inspired by their enthusiasm and alarmed by a major issue that a lot of them are facing.
If left unchecked, it could lead to the situation another of my contacts faced.
They quit their regular job to focus on Internet Marketing. Just working on it for long hours every day, sometimes 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
But yet their results were underwhelming to say the least. And close to a year into Internet Marketing, their savings are severely depleted.
Let’s look at some of the issues that will stall your plans toward achieving that Million Dollar Day (that’s where Internet Marketers strive towards earning $1 million in a single day, a la John “Traffic Secrets” Reese, Jeff “Product Launch Formula” Walker and others.
- Treating Internet Marketing as “Autopilot” or “Passive” Income:
Here’s the best analogy I can think of. When you’re starting a barbeque (using coal or charcoal), you’d typically need to work hard as heck in the beginning stage, to generate a spark, light up some tinder and start heating up the coals until they reach a critical point.
It’s usually takes sometime before the coal hits the critical point where it spontaneously ignites and continues burning on its own.
Having started a barbeque about 2 days ago, the coals took the better part of half an hour to get started. But once we got them alight and burning, they burned through the night.
Likewise in Internet Marketing, I see newbie Internet Marketers spend maybe 10 hours setting up a web page.
The blog or website might generate a couple of sales.
The newbie get totally psyched, they get onto one of the Internet Marketing forums, post a whole bunch of posts about how they made their first $10 or $20. Everyone’s giving them the forum equivalent of ‘high fives’.
They make some proclamation that they’ll quit their day job if this keeps up.
They might even start giving advice.
And on more than a number of occasions, you see a follow up message that goes along the lines of I’m giving up on Internet Marketing because:
- Sales have sputtered because the Internet Marketing product wasn’t really all that good
- Even if it was a good product, everyone had already been selling it and it had reached its “sell by/expiry” date
- All the big Internet Marketing gurus are the only ones that can survive because they’re the ones with 500,000 people on their list.
Honestly, I think these are just excuses.
It’s too easy to take credit when things go right, but as you’ve read from my previous posts, it’s really what you do when the chips are down that you prove your mettle.
My thoughts on these objections:
- The product is not good/not effective: All knowledge is neutral and their value lies in how you apply that knowledge. A $9.97 product like Secret Affiliate Weapon can be as powerful as a $997 product. Here’s the kicker: If you are investing in a $997 product, you are more likely to be more committed to reading it and applying it. With that logic SecretBlogWeapon would be more widely used if it was priced at double of what it costs now.
- Products reaching a sell by/expiry date: Knowledge doesn’t exactly have an expiry date, though there are many unmotivated (lazy if you want to be 100% truthful) people out there who want things to be presented in a step-by-step manner. Ok, that adsense website template is less effective now. But what if you adapted it to a blog? Or a forum? Or a Content Management System (CMS) like Joomla? Would it work? It might, but you will never know unless you test it out.
- Only the gurus with huge lists can make a living from Internet Marketing: Just in case you haven’t figured it out already, the big guys started out as small guys, facing the same issues as everyone else. Where they broke out from the pack was either they never thought of themself as a ’small guy’, but as gradually evolving into a ‘big guy’. You are the sum of your thoughts and how you think of yourself will determine the results you get.
Some of these findings are related to a product I’m currently working on that is intended to help successful Internet Markters breakthrough to the next level. Or if you are a new Internet Marketer, it will give you a flying headstart in the game.
Stay tuned.
ps: If you have questions related to starting up, or moving to the next level, include them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.
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Hi andrew,
Yea, i posted a question to you about the niche i was considering through a PM at the digitalkeiretsu forum. I totally agree with you saying that the starting is challenging, i’m going through that now.Uncomfortable.Indeed there are alot of information on affiliate marketing that it can drown me but will persevere still.By the way, merry christmas!
Glenn
I believe that the road to sustainability for any internet or blog based venture lies in good content and building of relationships. From my analysis of the most successful blogs, they depend heavily on Word Of Mouth and personal referrals. Of course, cross publicity in Main Stream Media (MSM) helps tremendously too, and you can see that blog icons like mrbrown and xiaxue milked that to their advantage. Naturally being pioneers and first to market in the blogosphere gave them an edge too.
Glenn: You will drown only if you choose to let yourself drown.
Like I mentioned, everything starts out hard before it becomes easy. the difference is whether you choose to give up.
Walter: it’s very situational. the key is testing and seeing what works. being the first in the market may not always be the best thing.
Thanks Andrew, its very true – the so called “passive income” takes time to brew, and a lot of effort. Keeping something that is not raking in millions is indeed a hard thing to do (and tell people that you are doing!)
However, I think for any skill or endeavour on this planet, there will always be obstacles, roadblocks and pleataus… The key is to keep at it and face the challenges head on.
Great article.
[...] Are you already halfway on your Internet Marketing path to glory? Singapore’s Andrew Wee tells you to hold on, stay firm, and keep fanning your BBQ pit, because one day it will be time for your start BBQing your tasty chicken wings! [...]
Hi Kian Ann,
Success to anything always take effort and time. If it is not, then I guess everyone will be very successful already.
Any great post andrew. I like your BBQ analogy, so interesting and making people easier to understand what you are explaining.
John Tan
Well i cant say for others, I myself have been earning a living online for the last 10 or so years. I must say its getting harder to get started today than 10 years ago. I think because there are soooooo many things to keep in view now days and there are soooooo many offers. I offer just this
1. if you buy into a product or a system and want to make money out of it please note there will be 1000 – 10000 – 100000 people doing the same, while you may make some money dont quit your day job.
2. Keep the faith dont give up
3. convert brick and mortar marketing stratatgies to online ones use your common sense. your buyers will be using theirs
4. do one thing dont do 10, finish what you started set your goals do 10 programs at once you fail 10x, work on one and the worse that can happen is you fail once but your chance to succeed is 10x more.
there thats my 2 cents, from a singapoeran that made US$100k in 15 days in dec 2006. – b