Where's the future of Internet Marketing?

I am having a slight problem with all these.

First, I cannot even image myself becoming involved in something to make money from, NOW, only to see it obsolete in the next 2 months to 5 years. Just wake up one morning and see 3 months of work gone just because a hippie in Google, decided to turn one of the screws on their algo slightly to the right or slightly to the left. I think that this will be resolved somehow in the end, in a Legal manner- I give it a year or two, because they are after them for Tax reasons, and it will be easy to grab them and drag them on the negotiation table.

Second, after experiencing affiliate marketing for a decade, reading all the fluff that was current back then, going through ups and downs, I find it having more drawbacks than positives. It is a huge discussion to start; but to make it short: if you don't shake hands, and stay behind a laptop all the time, chances are you will be a victim of the continuous evolution of the concept, and you will loose. Why? because in the end, you will get tired keeping up with changes.

The only 2 ways to really experience this, is remarkably a) just by growing older in line with the aff. mkt and IM concepts and see it yourself or b) Time Travel: having someone like myself, coming from the Future to your Present, telling you how it will ultimately be for you. Like now. After 10 years in real Marketing and 12 years in IM, please allow me to be your Time Traveler.

Anyway, as you will be promoting something online, others from every corner of the planet will also be able to do so, making competition fierce. And for Goodness, enough with affiliate links; everyone nowdays can spot an affiliate link from a mile-even my 11 year old niece.

Third, the thing is: online marketing is more than just promotion; the rules of marketing still apply online: the four Ps. I also understand there are people out there that made it online simply by promoting affiliate products, and they still do. But I see that people are stuck in the "make a site-throw traffic to it-and it converts-a dollar a day per site- 100 sites how many?".

And-now that I know more about this really dirty ball game than ever, it makes me furious. Online marketing is more than that: you need good pricing, staying competitive, use various promotion techniques and stop chasing Google's b*tt all the time, etc etc. Iin affiliate marketing, how many from all these factors do you have under your control? Food for thought.

The question is this: how many from those who started affiliate marketing in 2002 are still afloat? Does it worth the effort of buidling all these sites and pages, if you are uncertain on how it will be in the near or distant future for both the platforms you use and the promotion techniques you use?

Remember this, as your most precious rule: the "clock" is ticking-for all of us; as you grow older, chances for manuovering are getting less in case you take the wrong turn. You will feel "heavier" as you grow, and less prone to change-ANY change.

Scenario: Maybe is it just better to do "something" that needs your online marketing knowledge and is non-tangible?

Like, renting speedboats in Florida for their owners who know ziltch about online marketing, and grab 20% of every rental you send them by email, after making a revenue share agreement with them.

What do you need to make something like this "tick"? 5-6 clients. In 2 years they will be making you 30-50K a year. You will be building a real clientelle, that will always be there. Your feet on solid ground! Not throwing your man hours in joining aff. programs that stop working because their aff. manager died. Or to find that all your efforts were in vein because the company cannot staff the affiliate managers position again for 3 months, thus dropping the program, and put you in a postion to find a similar aff product which-sadly!-pays so much less... Or because they disqualify you after changing your site's appearance. Some mercy, please!

You will be making a Name quite quickly-can you make a name for yourself in aff. programs nowdays, I wonder- especially if you are good in online marketing, and the clients will soon come and find you themselves; the number of clients will grow-surely-if you are good. You will be competing only with other owners, not people from other countries, simply because there are no affiliate progs for renting speedboats. And because making it work involves YOU going locally, shaking hands, making agreements, talk to people- so, some more communication skills other than 'tick the box to select the aff. prog of your choice'-you will feel no threats from faceless guys from the other side of the globe.

You will be bringing clients to your clients' speedboats from all over the world-year after year, season after season. You will have some great speedboat holidays for free-take my word for it. And you will be resting in the winter, or if you like it that much, do affiliate marketing cr*p. Whatever; I for instance spend the Winter in making new clients. You can do otherwise. What else do you want from Life, except maybe stay healthy?

This is just one example of the thousands of things you can do if you follow this kind of approach, and not the totalitarian "behind a laptop", "join our affiliate program" etc. etc.

I used to be blind in all this when I started doing aff. marketing; I remember I was promoting magazine subscriptions for m*g*zine.com, and in one December alone I made $30,000-tax free-because I was no 1 in google for 'people magazine subscription' and' usa today subscription'. Try and repeat that now; you won't make even 5% of that. I was still young, but now time is getting a bit more precious at 40, and I can see now what they are doing with all these aff. programs, and all these young guys chasing clients online through online marketing. Oh yes. Its crystal clear now.

I made some good money, I can't say. But if I balance the total effort spent against the money made in the past decade or so, my hourly work profit would probably be $0,00001/hour. I also have nothing in my hands from this period; not even one contact person, no rolodex filled with names and people who I can contact again and do something different.

And in the end, all this becomes evident with big portals like Amazon, or affiliate programs like adsense-would you ever sign a contract where you don't know your exact revenue share? I did; never again. I am not saying that you will not sell, or it does not worh the effort; maybe it does.

But then again maybe the equation needs revamping and has to be a bit different to work for you, like deciding between working for the 'quick buck', or alternatively build something that will not be affected by changes in the way Web promotion methods evolve. If you try to quit your FT job, picking the first...mmm... it may be wise, it may not: it has the risk of throwing you back in the rat race. Alternatively, you carry on working full time and simulataneously start building something more solid that will last longer.

I don't think that an email list will do this; I mean seriously, if you could find a mail list of 1m. people, would you be quitting your day job? OR try the list first, then quitting? and what would you be doing if it stops working after a couple of rounds? Start building another? Sell it? Will you be able to? Would it be enough to compensate for your job quitting? Can you imagine building the list for 5 years, only to discover it does not convert well more than a couple of times? What a Nightmare!

So: to sum it up. This is my gem for you. Remember; You only have one Tank. Use it wisely. Build things that last and that will stay in your backpocket as you traverse Life.

PM me if you have any questions!

I see internetmarketing changing hugely over the next decade and more so into main stream smart tv where you may start to see ads related to what your watching on cable pop up .
I do think people are getting tired from the shiny button syndrome and will stick. With the more honest marketers who over deliver .

Was going through reading these responses and getting kind of depressed then I read yours and it gave me a smile. I always liked the positive attitude.