How to lose TONS of money and time with internet marketing

by dougp
17 replies
Something that I haven't thought about much recently was how do you lose all your money and time while engaging in internet marketing. I thought that this would be a good topic to talk about as this forum already has quite an agglomeration of content that deals with making money online, so I believe that "how individuals lose money online" is something that definitely needs to be discussed.

If you follow movies and read books, then you'll soon learn that individuals lose all of their fortune by self-indulging and spending it on the many luxuries that life has to offer. However, when I thought about it, this is far from the truth.

When I dug deeper, the reason that most people lose all of their fortunes is through poor investments. For example, let's look at the typical beginner in internet marketing. The reason why most of them lose money is that they build websites that are NOT profitable.

Maybe they don't pick a lucrative niche market, or are utilizing an inappropriate business model in a market, but of these can assail your funds in a dramatic fashion. Now, let's look at how internet marketers can lose a whole bunch of time.

If your business model simply doesn't work in a market, then you have to know when to pull the plug. There are a lot of methods that an individual can use to generate website traffic to their website. However, one of the quickest is by using a paid service such as Google adwords.

The problem with this is that many beginner internet marketers consider this too "risky" and opt in to use free methods such as article marketing, social bookmarking, social networking, social media, and the list goes on. These methods may not cost an individual any capital upfront, but it does require the individual to invest a generous amount of time into the process, and if your website is not profitable, then you can literally waste months of doing something for nothing.

There is no surefire method that I can tell anyone to use to make the right investments every single time, as even though I'm a seasoned internet marketer, I don't consider myself to be an oracle. What I do recommend is to study your market well and to do the proper market research/marketing plan implementation.

Learning how to make good investments in your business comes with practice as it's very counter-intuitive.

Doug
#internet #lose #marketing #money #time #tons
  • Profile picture of the author ArticlesThatRock
    It's interesting that nobody has responded to this topic. My wife failed to make money because she made a great product that's expensive, and that sells poorly during an economic depression. She bought AdWords ads, but poor results did not dissuade her because she was in love with her product.

    I think it was a good experience for her because she learned a lot. Many people do nothing and learn nothing, which I think is worse. I think you can say something similar about the people who value their labor at a low price; their labor is probably worth more now that they are experienced.
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    • Profile picture of the author Doomone
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      • Profile picture of the author naruq
        People don't have to lose a lot of money in Internet Marketing. People can test small with little or no investment out of pocket.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Henderson
      Originally Posted by ArticlesThatRock View Post

      I think it was a good experience for her because she learned a lot. Many people do nothing and learn nothing, which I think is worse.
      Agreed. I think that courses for beginners which promise big money completely miss the point; it's far better that a beginner makes next-to-nothing from, say, an eBay sale but learns how to sell something on eBay, than if they don't try at all for fear of failing to make big bucks.

      In fact, I think I've just given myself an idea for a product...
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  • Profile picture of the author billspaced
    Originally Posted by dougp View Post

    Something that I haven't thought about much recently was how do you lose all your money and time while engaging in internet marketing. I thought that this would be a good topic to talk about as this forum already has quite an agglomeration of content that deals with making money online, so I believe that "how individuals lose money online" is something that definitely needs to be discussed.

    If you follow movies and read books, then you'll soon learn that individuals lose all of their fortune by self-indulging and spending it on the many luxuries that life has to offer. However, when I thought about it, this is far from the truth.

    When I dug deeper, the reason that most people lose all of their fortunes is through poor investments. For example, let's look at the typical beginner in internet marketing. The reason why most of them lose money is that they build websites that are NOT profitable.

    Maybe they don't pick a lucrative niche market, or are utilizing an inappropriate business model in a market, but of these can assail your funds in a dramatic fashion. Now, let's look at how internet marketers can lose a whole bunch of time.

    If your business model simply doesn't work in a market, then you have to know when to pull the plug. There are a lot of methods that an individual can use to generate website traffic to their website. However, one of the quickest is by using a paid service such as Google adwords.

    The problem with this is that many beginner internet marketers consider this too "risky" and opt in to use free methods such as article marketing, social bookmarking, social networking, social media, and the list goes on. These methods may not cost an individual any capital upfront, but it does require the individual to invest a generous amount of time into the process, and if your website is not profitable, then you can literally waste months of doing something for nothing.

    There is no surefire method that I can tell anyone to use to make the right investments every single time, as even though I'm a seasoned internet marketer, I don't consider myself to be an oracle. What I do recommend is to study your market well and to do the proper market research/marketing plan implementation.

    Learning how to make good investments in your business comes with practice as it's very counter-intuitive.

    Doug
    In the "real" business world, we call what you describe as "cutting your losses." However, we also learn not to lament our "sunk costs" and simply learn from them.

    However, I will say that most people aren't adept or comfortable with letting something die on the vine. They'll water water water and watch an entire season (or more) go by while the plant withers and dies.

    Sometimes, you can simply let the site go and come back to it in a few months or a year and be pleasantly surprised at the traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author Whiplash25
      I believe in your truths, but as I am only a beginner to this stuff and having to self-teach myself all this time (before finding this site) I am probably going to run into a loss situation sooner or later. Just hope my next investment that I'm making soon on purchasing a PTC site isn't a bad one.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pandan
    However, one of the quickest is by using a paid service such as Google adwords.

    The problem with this is that many beginner internet marketers consider this too "risky" and opt in to use free methods such as article marketing, social bookmarking, social networking, social media, and the list goes on.
    Those who find Google risky could also try Yahoo PPC

    - they are cheaper
    - they don't have all these stupid rules like Google, you can link directly to your sales or squeeze page so less work for me, don't have to create an extra page for a good quality score .

    The thing is that many beginner internet marketers are broke or simply don't have money to throw at the Google beast but may have enough spare time so free methods are well justified to get the first profits which can then be reinvested.
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    • Profile picture of the author Whiplash25
      Originally Posted by Pandan View Post

      Those who find Google risky could also try Yahoo PPC

      - they are cheaper
      - they don't have all these stupid rules like Google, you can link directly to your sales or squeeze page so less work for me, don't have to create an extra page for a good quality score .

      The thing is that many beginner internet marketers are broke or simply don't have money to throw at the Google beast but may have enough spare time so free methods are well justified to get the first profits which can then be reinvested.
      I didn't even know Yahoo had one, news to me : O
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    Doug,

    Where you said, "What I do recommend is to study your market well and to do the proper market research/marketing plan implementation", well--that's the real key isn't it? But you're exactly right buddy.I won't give people here free answers, because most folks don't want answers, they want super secret, magic, ninja-Jedi secrets to become millionaires with no work. They want that one big secret that will make them into Internet millionaires overnight. So while most people are wasting a lifetime chasing that magic bullet, a few will actually do the essential research (like you said, Doug) into building a substantial business and implementing a blueprint to do that. These are the people who will succeed.
    Here are two things to think about...

    (1) Don't do what the IM gurus tell you what to do, do what they do. Those are two essentially different things. But how can I know what they really do, you're asking? You're big kids, if you can't figure that out you're not going to make any money anyway. I know it can hurt sometimes, but THINK!

    (2) Second, it's a lot of work growing crops from seeds. It much easier growing them from cuttings or seedlings. The hard work has already been done for you. The same thing is true in Internet marketing... in any niche.

    Rather than starting from scratch, with no product, with no list, with no traffic--ask yourself who out there has those things you want already. They've already done the hard work. Now ask yourself how you could tap into or leverage the products, lists, or traffic they have to your advantage.

    If you start from ground zero and try to build a business, you are taking many steps that are tough and painful (not to mention being costly). Find ways to leverage huge assets of others who are far ahead of you on the learning curve and use those assets to your advantage.

    I'm not giving you answers, I'm doing something more valuable than that--I'm trying to get you to ask yourself the right questions. Yeah, I know, it sounds like work doesn't it. Man, that sucks--I hate it when you've got to do some work to make some money! --Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
    Originally Posted by dougp View Post

    Something that I haven't thought about much recently was how do you lose all your money and time while engaging in internet marketing. I thought that this would be a good topic to talk about as this forum already has quite an agglomeration of content that deals with making money online, so I believe that "how individuals lose money online" is something that definitely needs to be discussed.

    If you follow movies and read books, then you'll soon learn that individuals lose all of their fortune by self-indulging and spending it on the many luxuries that life has to offer. However, when I thought about it, this is far from the truth.

    When I dug deeper, the reason that most people lose all of their fortunes is through poor investments. For example, let's look at the typical beginner in internet marketing. The reason why most of them lose money is that they build websites that are NOT profitable.

    Maybe they don't pick a lucrative niche market, or are utilizing an inappropriate business model in a market, but of these can assail your funds in a dramatic fashion. Now, let's look at how internet marketers can lose a whole bunch of time.

    If your business model simply doesn't work in a market, then you have to know when to pull the plug. There are a lot of methods that an individual can use to generate website traffic to their website. However, one of the quickest is by using a paid service such as Google adwords.

    The problem with this is that many beginner internet marketers consider this too "risky" and opt in to use free methods such as article marketing, social bookmarking, social networking, social media, and the list goes on. These methods may not cost an individual any capital upfront, but it does require the individual to invest a generous amount of time into the process, and if your website is not profitable, then you can literally waste months of doing something for nothing.

    There is no surefire method that I can tell anyone to use to make the right investments every single time, as even though I'm a seasoned internet marketer, I don't consider myself to be an oracle. What I do recommend is to study your market well and to do the proper market research/marketing plan implementation.

    Learning how to make good investments in your business comes with practice as it's very counter-intuitive.

    Doug
    Great post, man! Good dose of reality there.
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    • Profile picture of the author connorbringas
      You spend money to make money..thats what life is all about.
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  • Profile picture of the author theemperor
    Doug and Mike are hitting the nails of this!

    I took me a long time to over come fear of financial loss (that leads to 'stingy' decisions where you spend loads of time instead of money) and even more time to learn to get over actual losses and "Keep Calm and Carry On". Now I am treating it like a business, a perpetual string of small gambles where you try to engineer the odds in your favour.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Henderson
      Originally Posted by theemperor View Post

      Now I am treating it like a business, a perpetual string of small gambles where you try to engineer the odds in your favour.
      Wow. That's really quite a profound way of describing business, I'd never thought of it like that... Cheers, man!
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      • Profile picture of the author Whiplash25
        Originally Posted by John Henderson View Post

        Wow. That's really quite a profound way of describing business, I'd never thought of it like that... Cheers, man!
        Agreed... That is actually good advice for beginners.
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  • Profile picture of the author ukcarl
    The thing that costs me the most is testing new things (generaly paid traffic) however its also the thing that ends up making me the most.

    The truth is you just have to try stuff, you can buy all the ebooks in the world but in the end you will learn more just trying things for your self
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    • Profile picture of the author dougp
      @ArticlesThatRock: Exactly, its nothing wrong with failing, actually its expected for someone thats starting out. However, its critical to know why to prevent such events from recurring.

      @Whiplash25: Good attitude to have.

      @Pandana: Interesting point you've brought up.

      @mikemcmillan: Best post i've read around here in a while.

      Doug
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  • Profile picture of the author FusciaPhoenix
    Mikemcmillian thank you! I heard what you said by focusing on what you didn't say. I believe I'm on the right track even when I'm not actually running yet. Following a few principles that you (almost) outlined, soon I won't have to run... I think I can fly

    I know most people shout that one must take action. But mapping out and planning the RIGHT actions will save me both time and money. I'm building slow and steady, there is no magic bullet but there is some magic going on!

    Thank you again Mike.
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  • Profile picture of the author sonyakey87
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    • Profile picture of the author theemperor
      Originally Posted by sonyakey87 View Post

      incorrectly using adwords is the fast way to lose tons of money fast
      Not true. You can lose money slowly too by setting a daily spending limit
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