Cutting Through the Internet Marketing Noise
If you want to succeed in an internet business, you have to find a way to cut through the noise.
Every day you’ll be told about another big secret you can’t afford to ignore. Whether it’s the brand new product launch or the world changing social media application, someone is bound to tell you why you have to get involved in this NOW. If you don’t, you’ll miss out forever.
Of course this creates a couple of big problems. It’s easy to get into information overload and information paralysis. You’re so busy listening to all the new techniques that you don’t have time to take daily action on your business.
Or you get distracted from your proven business model.
Every week there is a new product launch going on. The hype gets totally insane in some instances where you have 50 or 100 people sending out emails about why this is the holy grail of online marketing that you’ve been missing.
Some beginners spend $30,000 or more on all these product launches before they figure it out. It’s not about how much information you know. It’s about how much information you actually apply and use in your business.
Even if you don’t buy any of these products, you still may find yourself getting distracted by whatever secrets they’re currently promising.
I can always tell there is another big launch going on because at least a few of my coaching clients either ask me if they should buy it or they ask me about techniques mentioned in the launched.
One of the most recent launches is Stompernet.
I didn’t receive a single email promoting it. Why? I’ve unsubscribed from every list that follows the herd and promotes every new product that comes down the pipe. I know they’re happening because I haven’t been able to convince all my coaching clients to unsubscribe from all those lists yet.
Rick Butts posted an article last week called, “Unsubscribe From Whomever Emailed You Stompernet.”
I agree entirely. I should also add this isn’t saying anything bad about Stompernet. I’m not a member and never have been a member. They might be an incredible program or they might not. I don’t know. What I do know is that I don’t need 20 emails about it.
And for most product launches the promoter promote the product sight unseen.
I promote other people’s products at times when I feel they’re valuable and useful to you. What I don’t do is promote products to win any affiliate contest (a normal product launch method). I also won’t promote a product I haven’t personally seen and been impressed by.
Being “impressed” is the key word here. The product can’t just be OK. It has to impress me in some way and make me say, “Wow, this is excellent.”
Just think of how much noise you could cut out today if you followed Rick Butt’s advice above. Cut those 20 newsletters you’re receiving down to 5 or less.
I hope mine is one of the few you keep, but even if I don’t make the cut with you that’s OK. It’s going to benefit you immediately to cut all the dead weight in your mailbox.
Step one to cutting the noise is to unsubscribe from every list that isn’t regularly sending you value.
Step two is to quit getting distracted by all the technology and every new thing.
For example, you’ve probably seen the rash of all the recommendations of why you HAVE TO get started with Twitter now. It’s the next big thing. Of course the problem with Twitter is it will distract you from everything else you should be doing.
Always remember this.
Everything has an opportunity cost.
Whatever time you spend using Twitter or anything else will use time that could be used somewhere else in your business.
What are the absolute highest profit activities in your business? Make sure you’re focused on those first and then testing anything else afterwards. If it doesn’t match up to the time spent doing it, either outsource it or ignore it.
Mark Butler posted earlier this month about how “Twitter is Stupid.
I signed up with a Twitter account and for now have to agree. Does this mean I won’t use it in the future? No. It only means I’m not wasting any time with it right now as I have other activities that are a much better use of my time.
To cut through the noise requires FOCUS.
Focus on what is already working for you. Focus your time on the highest profit actions. Do what you do best.
There are so many opportunities online you can’t possibly do them all. And you shouldn’t waste your time or attention on all of them either.
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23 Responses to “Cutting Through the Internet Marketing Noise”
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Great Post Terry!
I fell into that trap last year and my productivity went down the drain. Focusing on what actually is making you money, instead of the latest and greatest fad is the only way to continue to make progress.
So far, I agree with your statement about Twitter, it seems like a massive waste of time…
Absolutely spot on Terry. I fall victim to this far too often – and not just for internet marketing. It’s so easy to let the important be pushed to one side by the urgent, the interesting and the hyped-up.
Ian
Terry, thanks for this post.
Cutting through the noise and focusing has really been a challenge for me. I’m one of those who’s spent an insane amount of money in the last couple of years and bought almost every “shiny new object” product launch. I’m getting better…
I’m still on several lists that promoted Stompernet and it took some discipline to ignore them. I have more than enough to digest and implement right now without the added distraction.
Perhaps it IS time to start unsubscribing…
As far as unsubscribing from your list — no way. I only stumbled upon this blog (through Ryan Healy) a couple of months ago, and I’m very impressed by the content. The emails I receive telling me about a new post here are one of the few that I actually stop and read before filing it away for reference. I can see why your clients trust you to be their coach.
Wow, Terry… I thought you had retired, but it looks like you’re far from it. We’ve been doing this stuff for a long time, no?
As a faculty member at Stompernet, and a part of the organization for a year and a half, it’s painful to see Stompernet singled out as an example of what’s been going on in Internet Marketing circles since you and I got online:
Some people build “newsletter” mailing lists for the sole purpose of sending offer after offer after offer. What they fail to recognize (you wrote about this like 10 years ago!) is that they’re not going to win the game that way.
When a program becomes popular, you do get exposed a bit when guys who have mailed GRQ schemes for the past year suddenly pivot to your stuff, even if your promotion is 100% driven by high quality free content.
Our top affiliates are people like Frank Kern, Rich Schefren, and others who offer real value to their subscribers, and only promote things that they really think are worthwhile. They have credibility with their readers. They sell more not because they have the biggest lists, but because people actually trust them.
And yeah – Twitter is kinda stupid, but a lot of people out there would rather follow you on Twitter than get an RSS feed. I don’t know why, but… they’re out there in large numbers.
Just get a script that submits your new posts into Twitter, and let those people who want to receive information that way do so. It won’t cost you a dime for the software, it will make many of your readers happy, and I assume you’ve got “people” by now who can make stuff like that happen at the wave of a hand.
Terry,
Thanks,you always provide practical info.I have benefitted from always reading your posts.I agree with you on twitter.It’s a pure waste of time.I have an account but I don’t update often because,like you said in your article,I’ve got to focus.
Terry.
This post speaks to me. I had taken your advice a few months ago and opted out of a lot of lists. However there are still distractions (i guess I didn’t weed out enough mails). It is very hard to stay focused and to actually finish a project.
Thanks again for reminding me!
Great great post Terry..
I do subscribe to various lists but even when I receive so many emails a day, I limit the time reading emails to 30 minutes a day. And yes, most marketers keep promoting same products and it really can be annoying sometimes. But I always make a point to open up every single email you send..thanks for providing great content everytime
Hey Terry –
As usual – excellent post. I read your blog every day – which is why I am so smart. LOL
TIP: Would you look in your settings and activate your TrackBack URL so that it shows up under your post? It makes it a lot easier for bloggers to link back to you – whenever I refer to another blog I use the Trackback URL, in fact it encourages bloggers to refer to you – free links, etc.
When are you going to start doing a Ustream.tv show?
Thanks again,
Rick Butts
Excellent post Terry,
I un-subscribed to this team of vultures months ago. They prey on peoples emotions with total disregard for any pain they may inflict. As you say the programs promoted may or may not be good, but more to the point is that most new Internet users are no where near ready to apply what is offered and most do not have the financial resources to maintain the cost of adons.
Regards,
Ken Mathie
Hey Terry
I finally got around to cleaning out my inbox last week. I realized I was subscribed to about 50 different marketers lists… most of which I automatically “marked as read” without even reading them.
So I did a big cleanup and got that down to around 10.
My inbox is so much quieter and I can actually keep it open without being a distraction. Amazing.
Twitter on the other hand… I’m not one to spend much time on it, (I’ve got Twhirl on my desktop so never actually login to Twitter.com) but I have landed 2 JV’s and a copywriting gig from people I’ve never met before… simply because of the relationship formed via my tweets. So I’m not going to discount it just yet!
Cheers
Kyle
Dan: I did retire completely for a while and I still consider myself retired as I’m only part-time (but that is all that’s needed in this business). I agree it is a little unfair that Stompernet got singled out as it is nothing I have against the program. It might be an awesome program as I don’t know. It’s just the most recent big launch. No direct offense is attended as I don’t have enough info to make that judgment.
By the way, great idea on Twitter…to simply have the blog posts added to Twitter. I took your advice and that’s been added now. What I was talking about above is I’m never going to be someone who sits there constantly monitoring Twitter feeds as a total waste of time. Automatic updates of content from the blog are a great idea though.
Kyle: Just make sure you’re not monitoring Twitter all the time. You’ll waste so much attention that way. If you can control and limit your access, it will be OK as long as it is proving itself profitable for you. Not everyone has that willpower.
Everyone Else: Thank you so much for your comments.
Terry, if you ever do get sucked into watching people “Tweet” you may as well be retired all over again. Good to see you back at it, part time is more in line with your thing anyway.
Terry,
Have to agree with you with all these hypey mega product launches. They can really distract you. Having said that, I’m still subscribed to some of these gurus’ lists using another less used email address just to see what’s going on in the IM world.
Anyway great post and thanks for being so direct and honest!
Thanks Terry, Great Post, I guess what astounds me is the amount of noise that is out there today. Don’t go viral, unless you are going to use it to your advantage to promote your product. You talk about getting noise, viral networking will bring you 10 times the noise at least.
It all boils down to deciding what you want to do, choose a program, focus on that program and do what is necessary to make it successful.
Sincerely,
Richard
Great to have a search term to determine whos list to unsubscribe from. That’s done, hopefully I get some focus and get back on track.
Cheers,
Steve
When it comes to making money online, there is so much “junk” out there that a person needs to stay focused at all times and not jump into every “brand new revolutionized program” that comes their way.
I really appreciate this post because when I first started online back in 2002, I lost lots of money because of all the noise that was and still is made online.
Tal
CEO
The Work At Home Income Directory
I’m not sure who I get more emails about. Eben Pagan or Stompernet. Even Stompernet emails me about Eban Pagan!
Great post. I believe this is probably the biggest reason so many people fail online. We just get so bombarded with stuff we lose track of what we were doing in the first place. It makes it hard to keep your fingers on the pulse of what’s going on, without getting sucked into every new flavor of the month.
I’m on a lot of list to keep track of what everyone is doing. But I think I’m going to reevaluate the value of this compare to the time wasted and the mental effort I need to make to keep from jumping from one program to the next.
Thanks for the thoughts!
Rising Above The Internet Marketing Noise – A Strange Thing Happened…
Terry Dean’s Slogan: “Earn More. Work Less. Enjoy Life!” I should call this post “Email Marketing Tips – Edition 2 continued”, but that title wouldn’t tell much. Indeed a strange thing happened.
When going through the submi…
Email Marketing Tips – Edition 2…
Welcome to the second edition of email marketing tips on June 11, 2008.
I guess it is a good sign that I have received about twice the number of submission for this edition. Nevertheless I will stick with my personal
“call for quality!”…
Hi, Terry,
I am in exactly the place you describe and trying to get things set up for about 8 websites that I have.
I have a question. I have run across the dilemma of whether to set up a blog at WordPress.com or WordPress.org (and change web hosts).
Can you give me a little guidance on this?
By the web, I took your intern course and it was absolutely fantastic. I can’t thank you enough.
Hi Carole,
Whenever possible I would use Wordpress software (from wordpress.org) and install it on my own domain for full control instead of having it hosted at Wordpress.com. Having them host it is a secondary option that is free.
Terry
The most important thing you can do is to use common sense. This is the only good way to week through all of the information you come across on a daily basis!