Make Money On the Internet – Stop the Lies
The majority of the readers here are interested in earning an income from the Internet in one way or another, either as their primary income stream or an additional advertising source for their business. The Internet has been my primary advertising method for over 11 years now…and I’m disgusted with the way most gurus represent it!
Do a search online about “Internet marketing” and “internet business” and you’ll quickly find dozens of sites proclaiming to know the “secret” to online profits. They tell you all you have to do is give them $9.95 to $10,000, and they’ll let you in on the mysterious method to produce overnight millions online.
You buy the product, and then you’re told about seven other products that contain the “real secret.” Pay a thousand dollars to attend Internet marketing conference, and you’re subjected to a dozen or more sales pitches full of secret systems and plans to produce instant riches.
What do most new would-be Internet entrepreneurs do?
They see all the oppportunities…all the different pitches…and they leap in with gusto trying one thing after another. They hear the eBay stats and try an eBay business. Someone offers instant Adsense sites so they set those up. They set up an affiliate site to promote other people’s products. They start up a blog. They hear about a couple of guys succeeding with co-registrations, so they try that. They hear the real secret is “video” so they pay for a course on that.
They jump from opportunity to opportunity as they hear each pitch. Their credit cards get maxed out…and each step puts them in a worse position than where they started. How do I know this? Before I started online I WAS that person. I jumped from network marketing company to network marketing company. I tried direct sales, direct mail, and anything else you could imagine. I bought into the pitches about how “this opportunity was different.”
Where did I end up from all that? Broke…and in debt. Then I discovered the Internet, and I did something I had never done before. I set to work online learning, testing, and the key point: building a relationship with a list in my market. I didn’t jump around any longer. Any tests included very minor investments. When I discovered something working, I rolled it out heavy. That’s what caused a change in my life.
I work with clients every week as well. For many of them, they stumbled around in much the same haze I had. They heard all the pitches and jumped from opportunity to opportunity looking for the “Dream Life” they were constantly promised. Each road they went down was simply another step on the boulevard of broken dreams.
And here’s what upsets me most. A lot of gurus KNOW that’s where many of their customers end up. I’ve had several brag to me about how no one does the “assignments” in their class (proud that no one is doing anything so they don’t have to do any work themselves). I’ve also seen people laugh and joke about those who are stuggling buying every product. It’s sick.
Let’s cut through all the crap. The truth about Internet Marketing is that it’s hard work!
You have to be focused to succeed online. You can’t jump from opportunity to opportunity. You have to dig in and really learn whichever method is right for you. And what’s right for one person and niche may not be the right method for another one.
I remember so well that I once offered a group coaching program where I talked about “work” four times in the first several paragraphs. I told people they were going to work hard and I couldn’t promise them they would make any money online. And you know what? I had quite a few people join the program who never bought anything else expensive online. One of them even told me straight out, “You told me I’d have to work and you wouldn’t guarantee profits, for the first time in my online career, I fully believed someone.”
Now I don’t want you to get the idea that it’s hard work like digging ditches. It’s definitely not! But what it does require is for you to focus your mind and effort (and for many people that’s harder than any type of physical labor). It’s not even all that complicated of a business.
You find a hungry market and you feed it.
You test several approaches at a very low cost, and then you rollout with whatever works best.
You use a free multivariant testing solution such as Google Optimizer to track and improve your conversion. You use ad trackers to test all your advertising and you invest small amounts in the testing phase ($100 or less risk each time).
The key principle is to find the right hungry market and offer them something they want. As my friend Glenn Livingston says, “Do your freaking research!” Find a market. Spend time surveying the market, asking them what they’re looking for and want. Even get on the phone with some of your prospects and customers to get to know them and their desires the best you can.
Then begin TESTING. That’s what this business is all about. I don’t know if I’ve ever succeeded my first time out of the gate with anything (except promotions to my own email list). I can guarantee you this…I’ve never gotten it “perfect” on the first try. Tracking and testing have always improved every promotion and offer for myself…and my clients.
If you’re looking for the perfect guru who knows all the secrets and never makes mistakes, you’ve come to the wrong place. That’s not me. I see business as daily mistakes, corrections, and improvements. Keep making little improvements to every element of your game plan…and you’ll soon see the profits flow.
Jump ship looking for the new “hot” opportunity…and you’ll always be looking for the life raft.
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[...] Dean presents Cutting Through the Hype and Lies About Internet Marketing posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry [...]
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[...] By his own admission, Terry Dean went from delivering pizzas for a living to building a million dollar Internet business. “… Let’s cut through all the crap. The truth about Internet Marketing is that it’s hard word!…” Read more at Cutting through the hype and lies about Internet Marketing. [...]
NICE Post Terry!
This post really sums up what I have been doing for the past 6 months(jumping around, not taking action, not knowing what my market is).
I realized those mistakes after attending World Internet Summit Singapore ’07. That event was a BIG wake-up call to me. Succeeding in Internet Marketing is HARD WORK, and I was really not taking it seriously and wasted the last 6 months.
I told my parents that earning money is hard. LOL they were very glad to hear me say that!
Again, Excellent post of what most newbies do not realize. Really sum things up nicely.
BTW, THANKS for dropping by at BlogLog and adding my blog to your community! I have just added yours to mine too.
Nice to know you!
Kai Wei
[...] Cutting Through the Hype and Lies About Internet Marketing by Terry Dean of Integrity Business Blog. If you spend any time trying to earn a living online, eventually you’ll probably consider buying the information products of one Internet marketing company or another. Just make sure you know which claims are real and which are hype. [...]
[...] Cutting Through the Hype and Lies About Internet Marketing by Terry Dean of Integrity Business Blog. [...]
[...] Dean presents Cutting Through the Hype and Lies About Internet Marketing posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry [...]
As a newbie, i fell for this hype and spent more money than i needed to. I know the truth noww, about persistence and desire, and hard work. If i had only known before i maxed out my credit cards…
[...] Dean presents Cutting Through the Hype and Lies About Internet Marketing posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry [...]
[...] By his own admission, Terry Dean went from delivering pizzas for a living to building a million dollar Internet business. “… Let’s cut through all the crap. The truth about Internet Marketing is that it’s hard word!…” Read more at Cutting through the hype and lies about Internet Marketing. [...]
[...] Dean presents Cutting Through the Hype and Lies About Internet Marketing posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry [...]
Have you every met a successful Internet Marketer that did not go though the same pain you just described? The reason those of us that have been “at it” for years know this to be true… is that we “all” started out doing the same dumb things.
And… even though we (more experienced marketers) try to tell all newbies that we come in contact with – the reality is hard work… not following every knew hot income plan – Still it’s very hard for the “new internet marketer” to understand what they really “need to be doing”.
The fact is that their is Not just one “best” mentor to follow… actually there are a few “best” mentors to follow. Choosing which ones to believe in takes trial and error and often a lot of cash you don’t have to spare.
So what is someone just starting out… and hungry to learn (and earn) to do?
I could tell you to stop buying everything you dind – but I know from experience how hard that is to do.
I should tell you that you need to “focus” on learning the basics first… and figure out just who (and how) you want to reach your chosen market. But how will you know how to do that with our spending huge amounts of time researching?
Internet Marketing can and should be just like going to school. You should have a counselor telling you exactly what classes you need to take and in which order to take those classes… so that you will come out the other side ready to dive into the Internet Marketing business you desire.
Of course… now you have to find that perfect “school”.
Now we are back to square one – where should you start?
Sigh… I can’t tell you the answer to that question. I wish I could.
But I can tell you one thing… I’ve had several mentors. Each one was an expert in just “one thing” and they helped me focus on learning to be the best I could at that one thing. Because I have had several mentors… now I am close to being the best I can be at many “parts” of my Internet Marketing business.
So… really the answer is to “cut out the noise” and choose the One Thing that you need to learn. This will be the one thing that is keeping you from moving forward in your business. Find the “expert” and set yourself up with his coaching.
Learn as much as you can about that “One Thing” before you move on. *Cut Out All The Other Noise*. It will still be around when you get back… I promise.
Okay… I’m stepping down off the soapbox now…