Can you actually make money online? This post is going to OFFEND many people, so don't say you were not warned.
I want to show some reasons why 95% of internet marketers fail online. Over and over again.
If you read to the end, I will teach you exactly what I would do if I was starting over from scratch.
Let's go... I have to be blunt in order for you to get the gist of this concept. You need to know this.
Unlike many internet marketers, I am easy to get a hold of. I spend part of each day answering email questions. I don't avoid getting personal with people on my email lists. I am happy to help out when I can.
Most marketers avoid getting to know their customers. The last thing they want is having to answer a bunch of emails. They dread customer emails because they know they are selling crappy products that don't get people results. They are very hard to get a hold of.
They want everything to be automated. They outsource customer support to India. When you have a support question do you want to get answers from a $3/hour VA? Or get a quick answer from the product creator? These vendors want to sell, get your money and then hide forever.
Marketing has been going on for thousands of years. The internet has been going strong for the last 20 years. Even though all the work can be automated, in my opinion it should not be. Marketing has always been person to person. You aren't selling to "people who want to make money online" You are selling to Jack Brown. An individual who has his own story and needs.
While your niche is everyone who is interested. Your customer/visitor is always only one person. You need to appeal to the individual. If you want the most sales, get to know your customers. Be easy for people to reach when marketing. Use video so they can get to know the real you. That is always what they are buying. You.
Are you friendly, know what you are talking about and easy going? Are you helping first? Just giving a little free help can increase your sales, as you build a relationship.
Now I'm not saying to give hours of free help. Just spend 5 minutes writing a helpful note and hit send. It builds reciprocity and good feelings for both you and your prospect.
After doing marketing for 20 years, I have gathered a lot of inside information from emailing my customers and leads.
Some people are so desperate, they demand instant results and will do anything for a quick buck.
Others bitch about every email that even mentions an offer that will help them move forward. They don't see what it can do.
People are at both extremes.
Here is the thing you need to know. Even though all my subscribers and every single internet marketer wants to succeed at this, not even 5% are ready to do all it takes. That 5% is the group that actually gets a successful business running online.
It's hard and it's a grind being a marketer. As a beginner you have to learn and do everything or hire it out.
Here are some statements that will stop your progress as an online business owner...
1. "I want success, but I don't want to invest much money to be a better business owner"
2. "I want to succeed, but I don't have the time to learn new things regularly"
3. "I want success, but I have nothing of value and don't want to learn a valuable skill to teach others"
4. "I want to become a success and will do what it takes to succeed but only if there is nothing hard required"
5. "I want to become successful but nothing works, it's all a scam"
You see the pattern...
It's human nature to take the easy road. To avoid pain and learning is painful for many. The vast majority is looking for easy, cheap, and fast with no hard work. This stops them because that doesn't exist.
There is no easy path. If it was easy, 95% of people would be making money online this week. There would be no room for newcomers. Everything would have already been found and taken advantage of.
Being hard makes marketing a skilled trade. Not every one can do it. Only the right attitudes and discipline can get you to the point of success. It's going to take a lot of pain, failures and learning to make it.
See you could go out there and just copy someone else but you don't see the whole picture. You wont know why it works. Success requires learning why, how and what actually works for you. It's different for each marketer.
You can't just take a pro writer and let him start whipping out videos. They need to learn new skills to be any good at video.
All businesses are a pain to start. You need to be able to get over the hump. The hump separates you from success. The hump stops most people. They give up right before it starts falling into place and working.
You will be excited in the beginning and then you get tired of not seeing results from all your hard work. You will start having doubts, you will be looking for an easy way out. Most people will give in and see something new that looks more promising. They will move on too soon.
In The Internet Marketing World, One Thing Is Constant
The only way to succeed is to do the work and give it your all every day for 12 months. 12 months on one project, focus all your energy onto finding a great niche, finding a problem to solve, creating the best content possible and creating the best product you can.
After that you spend the next 6 months marketing that product. Full time marketing mode. Learn all you can about marketing. If you spend 30 days tweaking your squeeze page, you will have a better squeeze page than 90% of people out there. If you spend 30 full days doing nothing but making a better sales page, it will be better than 90% of the sales pages out there.
If you spend 30 days on headlines, graphics, videos and promo emails, you will have better ones. Most people put up one squeeze page, one sales page and one offer and that is it. They think they are done. No no no. You have to make them better until you can't squeeze another conversion out of them.
Your first 10 of anything is going to suck. It's a learning experience. If you keep working on it, it will get better and better. And each time you improve you are moving ahead of your competition.
So get that product done. Then switch to marketing mode for the next 12 months. The product doesn't have to be perfect. You need it to do what you said it does. That's all. You can make it prettier later. Add new features later after you sell a few copies and have some feedback from actual buyers.
This email is getting long so lets end it here .