Just came across internet marketing 2 weeks ago, and I feel absolutely hopeless, here's why.

Hi A,

Here's what you do

Treat internet marketing like going back to school.

For example; if you walked into freshmen, beginner's Physics would you expect to become a PhD in 2 or 3 days? Would you be insanely jealous of PhDs? Would you want to quit after 2 weeks in the Physics class, because you weren't a PhD? LOL!

See, offline this stuff sounds ridiculous, but online, emotions like fear, greed, envy and jealously cloud your judgment and lead to rash, snap decisions.

Stay on board for a while!

Let being free be your motivator; Eff that money goal, it kinda sucks

I am blogging from paradise, living in Bali, publishing eBooks by the week.

7 years ago I didn't know SEO from CEO, and I knew not what a blog was.

What I DID do, was treat blogging like going back to school, reading, studying, taking notes, acting.

Find a moving motivator, something you want more than anything....and it ain't money!

It's something much bigger than that: freedom.

Onward and upward, A

Tweeting from Bali!

Ryan

It's just 2 weeks. Do not give up for just 2 weeks but years. Many of successful internet marketer already fail but they never give up.

It definitely takes time.

It also takes focus - if you flit from one idea to the next, you're a lot less likely to succeed than if you keep at it.

If there was true saturation then there would never be another diet book or soft drink or anything else released.

As long as people are searching for an answer - and ideally some of them are prepared to pay for that answer - then there's space for another person in the market.

Just look for gaps: the bigger the market, the more gaps there are to fill. In "saturated" markets there more gaps if you delve around and get into people's mindsets by reading forum questions, etc.

There are also gaps in advertising. We're no longer at a time when a TV show could reach half the population. It's fragmented. Think creatively: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Read or re-read some of the suggested books on here. Maybe starting with Think and Grow Rich, then Scientific Advertising. They were written a long time ago but still apply big time.

Thanks guys. Well, I am still contuing to study this industry deeper by the day in hopes that there'll be a time where that proverbial light bulb will click.

One thing I still don't understand is, HOW do you build an email/subscriber list as a newbie (with barely any connections obviously) if you're just driving traffic to an affiliate page? Or do you actually need a blog for that?

Thanks again guys.

If you're just sending traffic direct to an affiliate page then you can't build up your own list as you don't control the site.

Lots of answers in the main internet marketing section of the forum but if you're not ready to create your own website yet you could build a YouTube channel and encourage people to subscribe; create a Facebook page and build up followers; Tweet and build up followers; etc. Just do it properly - buying views/likes doesn't work long term and could get your account banned. Slow but steady is a better approach.

You have a lot to learn if you just got interested in IM only 2 weeks ago.

I suggest spending time looking around the internet for free information shared by internet marketers and absorbing it all. There are tons of guys out there who give out free info as a lead capture mechanism. Even if you don't buy their products, you can learn from the free info.

I know it can be very overwhelming to study and do affiliate marketing. However like everyone here suggested- it will definitely take a lot of your time and effort. The key is to be always positive, determined, and stay focused all the time.

Now do not over think things. This will only stray you away from your goal. I suggest you pick a good affiliate marketing blog to follow and read. There are tons of blogs on affiliate marketing out there. Some blogs and sites share valuable content on affiliate marketing. It's better if you can also find free lessons on affiliate marketing (shameless plug: Affilorama offers you free lessons). Start by reading related blog sites and following experts.

You’re just into it for 2 weeks and already you feel hopeless? If that is your frame of mind then you’re not going to succeed. It’s important for every person to have a positive outlook in life and try continuously without giving up. You venture into internet marketing to make money and get yourself out of poverty yes, but you need to invest time, money and effort to be able to learn everything you need to learn in order to become successful internet marketer. I suggest you look for helpful resources and master your craft. While at it, you should venture into other means of earning money like blogging and article writing or even offering VA services to get supplemental income.

Don't be so harsh on your self after just 2 weeks, I am on the same boat but whatever advice you read and get, the fundamental is that it always takes time and dedication, persistence is key!

You can just become an affiliate and still can make a few thousands per month.

The first thing that you want to master is how to effectively market online. You can learn this on your own or you can buy a few courses that teach this. Then it will come down to testing what works best for you.

Next thing I want to mention is that if you are going to invest your time and money by promoting affiliate programs, it is critical to know what are the best programs to promote that will move you forward pretty fast.

If you are going to promote affiliate offers that pay you $10 per ebook, you will need to sell 100's of them per month to reach your goal of a few $1000's of dollars.

Now, if you take a look at this from a different angle:

What if you only promoted products that paid you high ticket offers and paid you anywhere between $300-$3,000 per sale? Even if you only made $300 commission per sale at a minimum, you would only need 10-20 of these sales to reach your goal.

So it all depends what kinds of affiliate programs you promote.

I think the main problem is you may have a dabbling approach instead of a business approach. LOTS of people are making lots of money online but few have the approach of dabbling and trying to make money. Instead they have the approach of building a business, serving a need, filling a gap, etc. Unfortunately most of the sales pages selling "make money" stuff lead people down the path you seem to have taken...so stop trying to make money and start trying to build a business. A business makes money. A business serves a need, provides value, etc.

As for most people here doing affiliate marketing...

I'll let you in on a little secret. And this is coming from somebody (myself) who started online as a CPA marketer only (affiliate marketing). There are VERY VERY few affiliate marketers I've ever met who are arbitrage marketers...who do the little campaigns you probably read about in the make money sales letters.

Almost everybody I know doing well with affiliate marketing have some underlying business. They aren't buying traffic or pushing buttons and sending traffic to affiliate offers. That's what I did when I started and for every success story, there are probably 10,000 people doing $10/year or less.

The people making lots of money with affiliate marketing (which is very alive and very well, and very legitimate, and lots of upside) are product vendors, site owners, blog owners, software owners, etc etc.

They have underlying businesses that serve some value. They use affiliate marketing to monetize...they aren't arbitrage affiliate marketers who get traffic in one place and send it to the affiliate offers and don't add any value or have any asset in the middle.

Again, there are lots of exceptions to every rule, but I guess my goal is to help you start approaching this like a business as opposed to a dabbling hobby where you're going to find some easy way to press buttons or do a few articles and magically set up a little passive money tree for yourself.

Either way, good luck on your journey...having an online business is amazing and I hope you start, build, and scale yours to whatever you want it to be!!

Am I missing something? You have a day job now
and you are eating 3 pieces of bread a day?

I think you should start from where you are now.

How do you spend money now?

If you can't take care of the money you have now,
why do think you can solve that problem by trying
to earn a few thousand per month in internet
marketing? Because you saw an advert?

A lot of things don't add up. Please get your
mind straight... before you hurt yourself.