What I learned in 7 Year of Internet Marketing

[MosaicDan]

Hello Warriors,

I must say I am enjoying this forum. Over the years, I have heard of this place as a haunting ground for Internet marketers, but for one reason or another, just never bothered to visit.

Well that was a mistake.

I owe it to Paul Myers because I was reading his "Need To Know" e-book a couple of days ago in which he mentioned this place. So thanks Paul for that.

In any case, I thought I'd pen a little piece here that some newer people to IM may benefit from. This post is not going to cover actual step-by-step details to make money, but will give you food for thought that may help steer you in a direction that is right for you, or liberate you from some type of fear that is holding you back.

Keep in mind, this is based on only my experiences. Nothing more or less.

My first belief: when it comes to IM, I believe there aren't many set-in-stone rules as some would have you believe.

What I mean by this is you'll often hear quips like, "If you want to succeed, you MUST do X."

Says who?

Let's take the classic one. "If you want to make any real money online, you have to build a list."

Guess what? I was making a multiple six figure a year income online without ever having built a list.

I now have a list, but I don't market it actively. It's just a vehicle for communicating with the subscribers in my training service, and there are only a little over 300 people on the list. But for the vast majority of my "career" as a full time affiliate marketer I had no list. Never stopped me from succeeding.

Now, could I have achieved more results and faster if I had built a list? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe the opportunity cost associated with the time to build and nurture that list would have been too great -- meaning, maybe I would have made less sales and income for time expended building a list than I would have just doing what I did over the years.

So, if you don't have a list, don't panic. Maybe you don't need one. Or maybe for your business, you do. Again, no set rules that apply for everyone.

My second belief: know thyself. This is a big topic but I'm just going to discuss one dimension of it.

Knowing yourself means being honest about your temperament and your risk profile as well.

Some marketers will have you believe that PPC is the only way you can make a bundle of money online. I fell for this years ago, but you know what? PPC wasn't for me. It didn't fit my temperament. I lost money doing it. Not gobs and gobs of money, but I lost money and I lost time.

When you get free traffic, like that from SEO or article marketing, you can make a lot of mistakes and still turn a profit. With PPC, that's not the case. This is not an endorsement that free traffic is better than paid. But it's an endorsement that it's better for me.

So, if I was running a campaign using PPC and a 2% conversion rate for that product was losing me 15 bucks a day, I might be able to earn $30 dollars net profit a day from that same 2% with free traffic. More room for error.

Of course, there is sweat equity you have to put in. There is always a price to be paid. But, let's face it, a lot of people, especially those just starting out, usually have a lot more time than money. I know I fit this mold years ago.

My big breakthrough was when I stopped doing what didn't fit my risk profile/temperament and started to do what did.

My third belief: master one thing. I think I just saw another poster mention this today here, but it bears repeating. After you find out what fits your risk profile and temperament, do not spread yourself too thin. Hammer away at one thing and one thing only until you are making good money at it (you define what good money is).

The great irony of Internet marketing is that there are many people out there who probably have a much broader knowledge base on various online marketing tactics making less money than people who know just one thing, but know it -- and more importantly, do it -- well consistently.

I know this probably sounds obvious but what's obvious in theory is often difficult to execute in practice. We all get excited by new products, new launches, new ways to make money that we hop from one thing to another. Try not to.

My fourth belief: If your goal currently is to make a more modest sum (say 1k, 2k, or 3k a month), you MAY BE better off learning from the guy (or gal) who is only making only, say, 5k a month than the guru who is making 5 million a year.

Look, let's not kid ourselves. A lot of people get impressed by people with money, power, or influence. And there's nothing wrong with any of these things PER SE.

However, it's a mistake to get star-struck by the guy making 85k a month if your goal is to first reach a consistent 1k a month. He may be doing things that you can't possibly be doing yet to make most of that money because of his position and influence.

By contrast, the person who is actually doing what you want to be doing and is earning 1-2k a month may be better at getting you to that level than the person who is making a vast fortune.

If you think I'm busting on "gurus" per se, I'm not. Many of them got to their position through hard work and I don't begrudge them their success whatsoever, but I see too many people get enamored by the launch from guys who plaster their 50 thousand dollar days as if that's going to be a skill-set easily transferable to the guy trying to get to his first 1k a month.

It isn't.

My fifth belief: I'll end the post here. Network. Build friends online. Your friends today may become your JV partners in the future.

Example: In the year 2004 or 2005 I was profiled in an e-book called "Niche Site Confessions." I wasn't paid anything although the book was sold. I did get some exposure, shared some advice, and perhaps built a little more of a name for myself even though I was not training anyone how to do Internet marketing at the time. I was just quietly making money myself as an affiliate.

Allan Gardyne, well regarded voice of affiliate marketing, was one person who promoted that e-book for several months, so I got to know him a bit through that. Little did I know years later (in 2008) when I decided to launch my own affiliate marketing training service that that relationship established from years ago would help open the door to my first real JV partnership.

So, network. Help people; ask for advice. People will be amazingly generous with you. And, even if you don't think you know enough to help anyone, you probably do -- you're just not giving yourself enough credit. Years later, when you get famous, these people you've gotten to know may be able to help launch you in a bigger fashion.

Then you can become a guru we'll all have fun vilifying.

Regards,
Dan Ho

[sajae102]

Yeah, I just ran across this forum and was soooo happy to find it. It is a real pleaser other than the scam forums like Digital Point. These people are SOOOOOOO helpful and they always answer your questions. I just had someone answer my question I had about selling my website content. Nice forum. Glad I found it.

[TheCren]

VERY WELL PUT!! I'm particularly happy that your first two "beliefs" (should be rules) were the first two on the list. It seems that every time I try and give what decent advice I can there's someone to come in behind me and say, "First things first. Build a list!" or "You have to start by collecting emails and building a list you can market to." Makes me sick, really.

[John Wood]

Great post Dan. I totally agree with all your points especially about mastering one thing once you know it will work for you.

It is amazingly easy to get distracted by the latest shiny new IM product that launches and I have definitely been guilty of that. I don't think it is a bad thing at all to expand your knowledge base and learn new techniques but unless you really commit then it will more than likely prove somewhat fruitless and the full potential won't be reached.

[MichaelHiles]

I agree that what works for one may not work for another -- and vice versa.

It comes down to any other competency... learn all the fundamentals. Then specialize. Whether it's playing basketball or IM, you will find that you have a natural disposition towards playing a certain kind of game. Different positions for different players.

[Raydal]

And I thought I was the only one who wasn't big into list building and
marketing to list. I was so ashamed of this that I never told nayone
until now. [Coming out of the closet].

I don't 'like' list building either. I never keep up with those emailing
schedules and I've dumped so many lists it's hard to believe.

-Ray Edwards

[MosaicDan]

Thanks for sharing that Ray!

This is a momentous day. Little did I realize that my post would allow someone to come out of the closet and shed their non-list building shame.

Damn.

You just made my day.

Dan

[peter gibson]

I agree on everything you've outlined, and essentially in my own tenure I've learned the same things. Well said my good man. One man's passion can be anothers' poison, which is why when people ask me things like "how do I make 1 000.00 per month" the answer is never set in stone.

I know people who make a killing using strategies that boggle the mind. I often sit back and wonder how in bloody hell they could have ever made their niche or technique into a profitable business model, yet they do - time and again. Which is exactly why I am starting to believe that IM has a great deal more to do with "knowing yourself" and "mastering one thing", more than any set of golden rules or technique.

[xxxskyxxx]

thanks for the advice, i used to just gather as much information as i can on new techniques, different ways of making money online.but in the end you need to pick 1 to follow and stick to