I Thought It Was Just Newbies

[Stephen Meyer]

I visit and post on a few forums and I continually see people new and experienced asking for different ways to make money online. The answer always seems to be some new product that just launched or is about to launch.

I've got friends who have been at this online stuff for a couple years and they constantly buy new programs. That's probably OK if it fits in with your marketing plan. Unfortunately it's usually some new business model that's completely different than what they've been using.

For anyone, and especially newbies it's important to have a business plan and stick to it. Don't waste time and money on every new thing that comes along making claims you'll get rich.

For newbies who might be low on cash Article marketing is a number one choice, heck it’s a number one choice for many seasoned IM’rs. It can build your backlinks, bring visitors to your site, establish you as an Authority Figure in your market and make you money.

You'll never make a dime bouncing around.

[David McAnulty]

[QUOTE=
You'll never make a dime bouncing around. [/QUOTE]
Unless of course your niche is "How to Bouce Around". It would then seem you could make money bouncing around!

[Stephen Meyer]

Hmmm, bouncing around might just be a good niche

[satrap]

hey Stephen, thanks for the reminder. its good to hear people talk truth and not just bs that will benefit them tomorrow. what i figured out with the past 3 months that i started learning about affiliate marketing and making money online in general is that probably each and every method that you hear, can make you money but unfortunately most people don't stick with it and aren't persistence. like you said as soon as a new product comes out, they are out to get it. and that's why many people are making money selling the information that you can find for free on the internet. i don't what goes through some peoples head, if making money was easy and could be achieved over night, don't you think more people would be doing it and if the new product that claims to make you reach was real, then why the seller needs to make money selling you the product? why doesn't he use his own method to make money instead, if its as easy as he says is.
i have never bought any such product ever, and thanks to this great forum and great people who participate in it, i have learned many things since last month or so that i have joined WF. which i know and i have seen people pay to get the same information.
find one niche and stick with it. you make it good for you, do it again. you don't make it, again good for you, take the experience and use it to succeed next time or in another niche.

[bryanps]

For anyone, and especially newbies it's important to have a business plan and stick to it. Don't waste time and money on every new thing that comes along making claims you'll get rich.

Hi Stephen, I've been in IM just a few months. You can say I've been with it for like maybe 3 months. I really do believe that there is really no shortcut way to making money online.

And I totally agree with you there is no point joining every single thing on the internet which claims to make money for you. Its best to stick with a single business plan and make it successful. I think different business models fits different ppl. Right now I own a PIPS site. Still learning quite a bit about IM and how to succeed.

I think to head into IM, you must take away the rosy picture and work hard for it. I'm sure the experienced or the "gurus" start somewhere.


Cheers



Bryan

[chrisgarrett]

My "thing" has been blogging for quite some time but the one thing that I think is common in 90% of those who are successful is building a list.

Building a list is hard, and I guess that is why so many people want to avoid it and buy those products that scream "you do not need a website or a list!!!111"

You can build a list with article marketing, blogs, even forum posting. So if you don't have one, my suggestion is you start building one even if it is just one new subscriber a day.

I have a list of 1200 that made me $10k in my last launch a couple weeks back. My smallest list (just 40 people, not even buyers) made me $700 yesterday.

You can build a list of 40 people right?? Sure you can, just build it one subscriber at a time and treat them right.

[donnahtud]

I'm a newbie because I don't even have a website or a list yet.. and all the jargons just confuses me. But I really want an online business of some sort so I'm willing to learn.

I just recently purchased Michael Rasmussen's Affiliate Launch Blueprint and it left me more discouraged. Although it was only $197, it was over my budget. I didn't intend to spend more than $100 on learning materials because a lot of these things could be found for free on the Internet. But Michael's sales pitch was that it's a "step-by-step" video course with blueprints and case studies that would show you exactly what to do. I was hooked by his offer to show you exactly step 1, do this, step 2 do that... but I didn't find it as detailed or thorough as I hoped it would be for someone new to implement right away. It would really help if he added templates so that I could see exactly what a sales page and a bonus page should look like... for instance, the layout, the wording, etc.

I guess I just have to go through it again and again until it starts to click and I'm able to picture what he's talking about. For now, I'm not at that level yet.

The next product I'm looking at is Blogger's Payback from Jason Gazaway. For some reason I think blogging may be a good place to start for a beginner like me in the making-money-online pursuit. Am I wrong? I would greatly appreciate your advice on this. Should I purchase this product and should I start off my exploration with making money online or starting an online business through blogging? Thank you all sooo much in advance for your advice and guidance

[chrisgarrett]

If the affiliate product was not what you wanted get your money back. Always match the product to what you need right now, don't think "I will keep it for when I am ready" because believe me you will not use it. Only buy what you can use RIGHT NOW.

Blogging is a great place to start and you do not need to spend a lot of money on courses and stuff.

If you want to buy a blogging book, get the Problogger book from Amazon for $15 or $11 used or even your library (ProBlogger Book - Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income) (full disclosure, I wrote it with Darren Rowse of ProBlogger )

[tommen]

I agree, if you are jumping around from one strategy to another you will never learn to do one marketing strategy properly.

There are 3 marketing tactics that work 100%: Blogging, writing/submitting articles to directories and forums.

If you stick to these free marketing tactics and learn how to do them properly, you will make money online.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by donnahtud

I'm a newbie because I don't even have a website or a list yet.. and all the jargons just confuses me. But I really want an online business of some sort so I'm willing to learn.

I just recently purchased Michael Rasmussen's Affiliate Launch Blueprint and it left me more discouraged. Although it was only $197, it was over my budget. I didn't intend to spend more than $100 on learning materials because a lot of these things could be found for free on the Internet. But Michael's sales pitch was that it's a "step-by-step" video course with blueprints and case studies that would show you exactly what to do. I was hooked by his offer to show you exactly step 1, do this, step 2 do that... but I didn't find it as detailed or thorough as I hoped it would be for someone new to implement right away. It would really help if he added templates so that I could see exactly what a sales page and a bonus page should look like... for instance, the layout, the wording, etc.

I guess I just have to go through it again and again until it starts to click and I'm able to picture what he's talking about. For now, I'm not at that level yet.

The next product I'm looking at is Blogger's Payback from Jason Gazaway. For some reason I think blogging may be a good place to start for a beginner like me in the making-money-online pursuit. Am I wrong? I would greatly appreciate your advice on this. Should I purchase this product and should I start off my exploration with making money online or starting an online business through blogging? Thank you all sooo much in advance for your advice and guidance

Sounds like you're more into spending money online rather than making money online. There's a lot of free information in this forum. I seriously doubt that any of the info products you are buying are going to give you the exact blueprint that you are looking for.

I long ago stopped seeking the secrets to making money online in info products and made my own blueprint. I can honestly say that I have never bought an info product that met my expectations or gave me the secret that was promised. The best info products in my opinion are products that would teach you how to do things that you don't know how to do ... basic skills that you will need for Internet marketing, but even then, you can usually find that info free online if you look hard enough.

[bretski]

I agree somewhat that if you "bounce around" from one method to another and never really put that method to full use that all of your efforts are going to be in vain.

On the other hand, in spite of what everyone says about treating this like it's a business and work...if I wanted to work I'd get another job. This is why I like to mix things up. If I am dreading writing articles it's going to show in my productivity and also in the quality of my articles. So instead, I'll work on another project for that night if that is what strikes my fancy. Maybe work on a book that I've been writing or a sales page or research new niches or products or keyword research.

As far as spending money on IM products? Sorry...there is too much free information out there and money is tight with me. Maybe someday but I don't see any time in the near future where I'll be spending money on anything more than WP templates or money for a web designer. I've bought a few products in the past and was a little disappointed. I want simple, easy to implement, "slash and burn" tactics that very few people are using. If everyone is doing link wheels I'm heading in another direction. The "latest and greatest" becomes google's whipping boy way too quickly.

Everything that I've ever learned that actually works I have learned from these forums and from just a few select people...and they're not gurus and I'm not going to say who they are. I never really thanked her for her advice but maybe I will today!

[Kay King]

I didn't find it as detailed or thorough as I hoped it would be

The next product I'm looking at is

STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!

What are you doing???????

You aren't "learning IM" - you are just purchasing products!!!

Nothing will be as detailed as you want because you haven't learned the basics. No product is going to hold your hand for every little detail and most "method" or "blueprint" products you buy wil have a list steps to follow - and you won't know how to do any of those steps until you learn the basics!

"The next product" means you are jumping from affiliate marketing to blogging - and you don't know anything about it either.

Stop and think - if you can't resist a sales page, don't read sales pages. If you don't know how to build a site or blog, learn for free. Choose a niche, buy a domain, build a site or blog, get it hosted.

If you treat getting started online as one big shopping spree you'll be thousands behind and struggling a year from now. Anything you need to learn as a new marketer can be found for free!

I guess I just have to go through it again and again until it starts to click and I'm able to picture what he's talking about. For now, I'm not at that level yet.

Let me ask you this: If you read a report in French and you don't speak French....if you go through it again and again, does it help??? Of course not - stop buying products and start learning marketing.

kay

[opportunites]

.... and take action! The only way you can change your dream into reality!

[Jenb]

I am a member of the wealthy affiliate forum, and have spent the last 6 months learning and making lenses using squidoo. I have certainly looked at many ways of making money online, but it was a great way to learn. I could simply not make any real money with squidoo as my 'website'. I may have had luck if I stuck with it, but I moved on and I am very glad I did. Sometimes we have to accept that something won't work.

I believe all the ideas out there can work, but the truth is, not everything will work for you. If you don't want to stick with something for months, don't bother. Hopping from one thing to the next is useless.

Find what you like to do, find a niche and a way to monetize it. Buy a domain, and learn to use Wordpress. If was not easy for me, really sucked actually, but I finally 'see the light'. And all the stuff that did not work, it's just part of getting there.

[donnahtud]

Thank you everyone sooo much for your sincere and informative advices. I greatly appreciate them very much. They've helped me get a grip on what I should be doing.

@Kay King... I agree... I should learn more about online marketing... learn the basics, like you said. Then I'd be in a better position to determine which method would be more feasible for me.

Having said that though, I think I'm gonna read up more on blogging since most people here agree that it's a good place to start. Although, I don't think I'm much of a writer and I don't really have anything interesting to write about at the moment. Sigh, I've got a lot of work ahead of me huh?

[pcpupil]

@ donnahtud,
First,get your money back from AffL Blprint.
Go sighn up for the [thirtydaychallenge].As its written.
Im taking it now.You get a free course,plus keyword software.
This will also show you how to setup a Wordpress blog or site.
If you download the toolbar you can go through the days faster.
Sighnup for the course first,then download the MarketSamurai software through the link in the course or on the toolbar.
Some will disagree with me probably but its free and a really great course.
Im going to send ya a pm,watch for it.
Can i send him a PM?
Matt

[tommygunn]

I couldn't agree more. Another thing I see a lot of people doing is trying to build a business model around something they know nothing about. This usually makes it more difficult and tough to build the trust of your customers.