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What was your first failed project in internet marketing?

by kazimuhith
81 replies
Hi Warriors,

It is common in warrior forum for people to share their success stories . And if it is their first success, the sharing becomes even more sweeter - which raises the moral of many folks in the forum starting off online- seeing others succeed.

But what about the failed projects? Only one in every 10 business succeed. The remaining 9 turns out to be a failure whilst teaching us great lessons. Nobody seems to talk about those 9 failed attempts. Why those failed and what were the lessons learned?

My first ever failed attempt in IM was creating a website through excitement. Did not have the patience to do market research, keyword analysis and other stuffs. I was enthusiastic to be the owner of a website! That was a dream for me. But soon I lost interest in that niche . I could not optimize the site for any profit and it failed.

Lesson Learned: It is ok start with enthusiasm, but never forget to do the planning first and then follow through . It is a business after all.

What was your first failed project in internet marketing? Why it failed ? What were the lessons learned?
#failed #internet #marketing #project
  • Profile picture of the author Profit Traveler
    Banned
    Hey kazimuhith,

    You remind me of my first online contribution, charitable donation, faith offering....OK I was scammed.

    There was a site called MoreThanTraffic.com that promised no matter what your niche....that was huge red flag right there but sometimes we want it to be true so the brain gets in on the joke at our expense.

    So the scam was you give them advance payment and they deliver a freight train of never ending traffic to that website in 3 months time. OMG I was not even on drugs or alcohol!

    But must have sipped some stupid without knowing it.

    It only taught me to never look for the lazy route again.

    Also I would like to share be careful what you wish for.

    I made an offer for personalized service once and had no idea I would get hit like a hurricane with so many orders.

    Was not prepared...would never let that happen again ever.
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  • Profile picture of the author ANDREIS
    When I just started with affiliate marketing I've spent money and time promoting offers by unreliable companies and they never paid me commissions I earned. I spent months and couple of thousands of dollars and they simply dissapeared from an affiliate network and didn't return any calls. That taught me a lesson - stay with proven and reliable companies! Since then I have never missed a check!
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    • Profile picture of the author hynds
      Originally Posted by ANDREIS View Post

      When I just started with affiliate marketing I've spent money and time promoting offers by unreliable companies and they never paid me commissions I earned. I spent months and couple of thousands of dollars and they simply dissapeared from an affiliate network and didn't return any calls. That taught me a lesson - stay with proven and reliable companies! Since then I have never missed a check!
      Like me, it's takes me about 4,5 months to promo a product, doing many SEO, website, traffic to sell and trying to get commission, but finally I don't get anything from the company. They scammed me
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      • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
        Originally Posted by hynds View Post

        Like me, it's takes me about 4,5 months to promo a product, doing many SEO, website, traffic to sell and trying to get commission, but finally I don't get anything from the company. They scammed me
        Hynds, sorry to hear that. Every struggle/failure/tribulation is another great lesson learnt. Thanks for your share..
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    About 6 or 7 years ago and it was some Craigslist scheme. Yeah I was young and dumb. And it was something I learned from and made my wiser on what is legit and what is not


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  • Profile picture of the author EPoltrack77
    I try not to think of my failures but thats is easy! Thinking I could just send traffic straight to an offer and make money. Took me over two years to start to get it...
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by EPoltrack77 View Post

      I try not to think of my failures but thats is easy! Thinking I could just send traffic straight to an offer and make money. Took me over two years to start to get it...
      Hi EPoltrack77 ,

      Nice share. When I started out with PPC, I made that mistake ,too. I used to lose a lot of money with PPC..
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  • Profile picture of the author nwik
    My first ever experience was an absolute disaster.

    As a beginner I have no idea how Internet marketing works. All that is clear to me is that I want to earn money.

    I wasn't paid the commission that I should get.
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  • Profile picture of the author worksandworks
    It is common, every one wants to share his or, her happiness. Most of us wants to hide the failure. It is true that if I share the failure, everyone will be able to learn why I failed. Firstly I tried to earn money from blogging. After writing some article I applied for Adsense, but the authority of Adsense rejected my application. They mentioned due to insufficient content, they refused my application. Then I tried hard by writing more & more content. Finally I success. Thanks a lot.
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by worksandworks View Post

      It is common, every one wants to share his or, her happiness. Most of us wants to hide the failure. It is true that if I share the failure, everyone will be able to learn why I failed. Firstly I tried to earn money from blogging. After writing some article I applied for Adsense, but the authority of Adsense rejected my application. They mentioned due to insufficient content, they refused my application. Then I tried hard by writing more & more content. Finally I success. Thanks a lot.
      Hi worksandworks ,

      Nice share indeed. That never-give-up spirit took you through. It really does in most of the cases. Having the positive attitude is 80% of the battle won.
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  • Profile picture of the author zakirnaik
    luckily i was never fail before ... all went ok ...
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  • Profile picture of the author 3wCorner
    Promoting website is the hardest because I use the wrong keywords to start with.
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  • Profile picture of the author wikiklix
    An affiliate travel site that didn't get any traffic. That was a valuable lesson
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Here is a mistake I made and many, many others make(especially those new to IM): it is simply that they put up a business, a product, or an offer online and never actually do anything to promote it. In almost every case, it is going to be a failure. No marketing and promotion usually means no money.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Originally Posted by kazimuhith View Post

    What was your first failed project in internet marketing?
    I created an ugly site promoting 30 ebooks, all on random different topics.

    My bonuses were 36 more ebooks, all on random different topics.

    I didn't make any money, and my sales copy sucked tremendously. I didn't know what the heck i was doing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
    My question is WHY?? why would you want to know this ? what does it matter most people move on and does nothing but remind people who have not yet made it IMHO this is a worthless thread
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  • Profile picture of the author Candi198
    I learnt from my failures and it only taught me how to go about it the right way, I started out with just a landing page and offered a free ebook download to gain email addresses but I did not gain one subscriber haha I've learnt that you do need to put the time in at first but once you have you notice a massive difference
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  • Profile picture of the author jootawan
    i failed miserably in adsense those years

    using black hat ....huhu
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  • Profile picture of the author Eagle07
    My first failed project in internet marketing was way back 2000 as an agent promoting netadvisor.com's web packages. I got the emails of businesses from the yellow pages and send promotional emails until I got my account banned. I did not take much heart on SPAM and that was it.
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  • Profile picture of the author katrim
    I emailed 5k people the wrong email.

    I had 2 different sets of lists of different niches in the same Aweber account and by mistake I selected them both for a broadcast.

    I realized it right as I sent it, got up from my chair and had a mini panic attack...

    My failure doesn't stop here.

    The links inside the email were also broken so not even the right lists got a proper email...I found out because some kind lady from the wrong list, emailed me back and told me she got a weird message from me and the links don't even work.

    In 2 minutes I was back on my chair sending 2 new emails to each of the lists apologizing and explaining my mistake. They forgave me and I wasn't fired
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  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    Nothing was ever a failure, because I learned something from everything I ever tried, success or not.

    al
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  • Profile picture of the author MValmont
    My first
    Project was a short Ebook that I wrote... Paid someone to make a sales page, paid someone for the website, paid someone for SEO... Made around $100 per month, which is nothing compared to what I invested.

    This made
    Me realize that this way of making money is way too complicated and takes way too much time...

    I put that same book on kindle and I made the same amount of money per month.... This made me realize that I wasted all this money.

    Amazon was bringing the traffic for me for free and I didn't need a payment processor, sales page etc...

    I was hooked and quit my job after only a few months... I have published over 100 books to this date and I didn't write most of them
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  • Profile picture of the author Quede
    I don't call it failure, I call it "small success"

    My only fault is that I thought I can trust others and wanted to hire others and build a company.

    I forgot that I'm a lone wolf by nature...

    I thought by sharing my "secrets" and by attempting to help others I would benefit while benefiting others, My company is still going on but it only has me in it, and its better this way...

    I made the mistake of thinking that all people are like me when they're NOT.
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  • Profile picture of the author amranfans
    dont have any failure so far but regret not building list so far
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  • Profile picture of the author assadok
    my failure was on my first blog

    i don't know what my target are

    i just wrote without any solid plan
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeAmbrosio
    Failure = quitting. Since I never quit, I have never failed

    Ok, well I had many false starts, but they all related to one thing - something I think keeps MANY people from success...

    They tell themselves they are building a "business" when they do nothing more than try to make money. There is a huge difference between the 2. When I figure that out, many things changed for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
    LOL! I've had so many failed projects, websites, ventures, etc. My first failed project was probably a comedy website I tried starting up back when I was 13. It never took off but I learned a lot of valuable lessons.
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  • Profile picture of the author emzi
    Mine was - buying a million email addresses online - at a price which was a loan - did not think straight - did not make a cent.
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    • Profile picture of the author celente
      Originally Posted by emzi View Post

      Mine was - buying a million email addresses online - at a price which was a loan - did not think straight - did not make a cent.
      ouch! I remember those days. I guess you had the right idea, about having a DATABASE or a LIST.....but a costly lesson.

      MY guess is you are a kick ass email marketer these days, by building fresh rosy lists youself [which is pretty much the best thing you can do in your daily business activities]


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  • Profile picture of the author assadok
    i failed miserably in IM in affiliate marketing a few years back

    then i try solo ads ..got lucky bro
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  • Profile picture of the author T S Chan
    Originally Posted by kazimuhith View Post

    Hi Warriors,

    It is common in warrior forum for people to share their success stories . And if it is their first success, the sharing becomes even more sweeter - which raises the moral of many folks in the forum starting off online- seeing others succeed.

    But what about the failed projects? Only one in every 10 business succeed. The remaining 9 turns out to be a failure whilst teaching us great lessons. Nobody seems to talk about those 9 failed attempts. Why those failed and what were the lessons learned?

    My first ever failed attempt in IM was creating a website through excitement. Did not have the patience to do market research, keyword analysis and other stuffs. I was enthusiastic to be the owner of a website! That was a dream for me. But soon I lost interest in that niche . I could not optimize the site for any profit and it failed.

    Lesson Learned: It is ok start with enthusiasm, but never forget to do the planning first and then follow through . It is a business after all.

    What was your first failed project in internet marketing? Why it failed ? What were the lessons learned?
    My story quite similar with yours...

    Started my 1st minisite way back in 2008, didn't know how to drive traffic and it just die off eventually...
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  • Profile picture of the author paknil
    i have failed miserably in affiliate marketing until i try email marketing ..

    but you need to funnel the traffic first
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  • Profile picture of the author fredi
    Wow, that was long time ago :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    i use to think you get a page up online, and all this traffic would come!!!

    well, since then, and spending thousands on PAID TRAFFIC, I know how far I have come. LOL.

    I think, traffic is the life blood of the internet, and without it you fail..... pretty much.

    Still I see people think they have this good blog, or site, or FB page and they think they will be rich in 6 months, and do not realise, to really do well online you have to drive massive amounts of traffic each day, and each month to your pages, and especially spend lots of time and money on BUILDING A LIST.

    So, I did not do this for my first 2 years online. When I finally did do these things, well, I was able to quit my job and do lots of stuff.....

    I do not see failures are a bad thing but. Because there will be this one person out there right now reading this ready to give up. Most of the time, people who are failing are not dumb, they are just spending their time buying stuff, and not implementing it over the long haul.

    So if you are reading this, and saying you suck at all this stuff, you do not you are just not doing that right things to get where you want to be. You can TURN failure into success.....ITS TRUE.....

    some of the wealthiest men & women, have always had the biggest failures before their biggest and earth shattering successes.

    The good thing about failing online, is its cheap, you do not need inventory, an office, rent, stationary, a car...... so FAIL FAST and work out what NOT to do, and then you will see what you WILL NEED to do.

    Some of the biggest baddest and richest marketers online are not here, and instant successes!! They have gone through a hard slog and LOTS OF HARD work day in DAY OUT to get where they are today.
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by celente View Post

      i use to think you get a page up online, and all this traffic would come!!!

      well, since then, and spending thousands on PAID TRAFFIC, I know how far I have come. LOL.

      I think, traffic is the life blood of the internet, and without it you fail..... pretty much.

      Still I see people think they have this good blog, or site, or FB page and they think they will be rich in 6 months, and do not realise, to really do well online you have to drive massive amounts of traffic each day, and each month to your pages, and especially spend lots of time and money on BUILDING A LIST.

      So, I did not do this for my first 2 years online. When I finally did do these things, well, I was able to quit my job and do lots of stuff.....

      I do not see failures are a bad thing but. Because there will be this one person out there right now reading this ready to give up. Most of the time, people who are failing are not dumb, they are just spending their time buying stuff, and not implementing it over the long haul.

      So if you are reading this, and saying you suck at all this stuff, you do not you are just not doing that right things to get where you want to be. You can TURN failure into success.....ITS TRUE.....

      some of the wealthiest men & women, have always had the biggest failures before their biggest and earth shattering successes.

      The good thing about failing online, is its cheap, you do not need inventory, an office, rent, stationary, a car...... so FAIL FAST and work out what NOT to do, and then you will see what you WILL NEED to do.

      Some of the biggest baddest and richest marketers online are not here, and instant successes!! They have gone through a hard slog and LOTS OF HARD work day in DAY OUT to get where they are today.
      Great share , celente .

      I liked your point that it is relatively cheaper to fail online. Not much inventory, office, land, rent, employee salary etc are required to start. However, when the success comes, it is often big with huge scale up opportunity.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ralph83
    No failed projects, only learned lessons
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  • Profile picture of the author togun880
    I'm still struggling soooo haha it's hard to remember, I'm learning as I go is all I can say
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  • Profile picture of the author TheGMa
    The one I didn't follow through on.

    I only started 3 enterprises. Two were successful, and one I got bored with and dropped. But that was back when this was all a piece of cake, so my successes can't be measured against the work required in today's industry.

    Still, the basics are the same. Happy customers buy. Interested customers buy. Informed customers buy. Customers who are actively looking for a particular product buy.

    - Annie
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by TheGMa View Post

      The one I didn't follow through on.

      I only started 3 enterprises. Two were successful, and one I got bored with and dropped. But that was back when this was all a piece of cake, so my successes can't be measured against the work required in today's industry.

      Still, the basics are the same. Happy customers buy. Interested customers buy. Informed customers buy. Customers who are actively looking for a particular product buy.

      - Annie
      Thanks for that insightful share , Annie. Indeed it is all about the happy customers and the relationship built with them.

      I remember when I first built one website, I placed a banner of a nice $130 chandelier on the sidebar - hoping that someone will magically drop in , buy the chandelier and I will get the commission from Amazon! No preselling, no relationship building, nothing!

      Of course , that did not happen..
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  • Profile picture of the author bluemotion
    Originally Posted by kazimuhith View Post

    Hi Warriors,

    It is common in warrior forum for people to share their success stories . And if it is their first success, the sharing becomes even more sweeter - which raises the moral of many folks in the forum starting off online- seeing others succeed.

    But what about the failed projects? Only one in every 10 business succeed. The remaining 9 turns out to be a failure whilst teaching us great lessons. Nobody seems to talk about those 9 failed attempts. Why those failed and what were the lessons learned?

    My first ever failed attempt in IM was creating a website through excitement. Did not have the patience to do market research, keyword analysis and other stuffs. I was enthusiastic to be the owner of a website! That was a dream for me. But soon I lost interest in that niche . I could not optimize the site for any profit and it failed.

    Lesson Learned: It is ok start with enthusiasm, but never forget to do the planning first and then follow through . It is a business after all.

    What was your first failed project in internet marketing? Why it failed ? What were the lessons learned?
    I don't know about first failure. I've failed at everything in relation to internet marketing. Think it's time I tried something completely different.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheGMa
    Major grin here, kazimuhith. Been there, done that.

    Mine were authority sites using AdSense and Amazon.

    AdSense was great and provided a steady, reliable income; but Amazon didn't pick up until I learned to write around the product - obliquely.

    By that I mean that content wasn't obviously product driven; however the product would be referred to in the article using AdSense text, plus the product image link would be featured in a nice tidy box in the article space. It was a "build the interest" technique without using in your face advertising.

    That worked quite well for me then, and I'll be using the oblique method and the more direct method in my testing to see what works best for my chosen markets in today's cyberworld.

    - Annie
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  • Profile picture of the author silverb78
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    • Profile picture of the author TheGMa
      Originally Posted by silverb78 View Post

      I purchased webinars, software, books... all for not, at least for me didn't seem to find the trick to the systems they were promoting. I did try buying traffic to my websites with www.trafficcentral.net and that seems to work the best right now, until I find something better and cheaper that is...
      silverb, your site needs a lot of work - it's not a pleasant experience. I would say that the look of your site is the major source of your problem. You might want to hire a Warrior to repair it for you.

      Why don't you pop on down to the Web Design forum and ask for opinions? You can even open such a thread in the Main Discussion.

      Hugs,

      - Annie
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  • Profile picture of the author FGS Technologies
    me from pakistan.. i remember that when i got my first experience...
    before 3 years i start making sketches of new style dresses . and offers online on facebook for sale and for to hair me ... i got my first order from a person . i completed and in tha duration i got hard experience ,how to work as a designer and how to hair a tailor and all about ... i wasn't fail but i think my first exp was much practical for me i didn't earn much money but i learned many things which are very precious for me..........
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by FGS Technologies View Post

      me from pakistan.. i remember that when i got my first experience...
      before 3 years i start making sketches of new style dresses . and offers online on facebook for sale and for to hair me ... i got my first order from a person . i completed and in tha duration i got hard experience ,how to work as a designer and how to hair a tailor and all about ... i wasn't fail but i think my first exp was much practical for me i didn't earn much money but i learned many things which are very precious for me..........
      Nice share. The experience you get by getting your feet wet is invaluable in the context of future endeavors. That's how one becomes an entrepreneur....
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    What was your first failed project in internet marketing?
    I fail to recall.
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  • Profile picture of the author ZaiAkbar
    HI,

    To be completely honest, my first fail was attempting to use a friend's list! I ended up falling from 1500+ subscribers to about 200 in a week! I was extremely young when I started off and I didn't take the time to check product reviews or be friendly with my subscribers.
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by ZaiAkbar View Post

      HI,

      To be completely honest, my first fail was attempting to use a friend's list! I ended up falling from 1500+ subscribers to about 200 in a week! I was extremely young when I started off and I didn't take the time to check product reviews or be friendly with my subscribers.
      Nice share ZaiAkbar. The plus point is you learnt the importance of list building very early on.
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    • Profile picture of the author ajbarnes777
      My biggest failed project was also my most successful.

      In 2010 I was writing articles, putting them on Ezinearticles, and I was promoting popular Clickbank products. This brought in enough money from Clickbank commissions to make a living just simply writing 4-5 (250-500 word) articles every morning (yes, these articles were thin and really didn't offer much value).

      Life was great! I would get up at 5 am, go the gym, get home at about 6:30 am, write these articles real quick, and that was it. It would only take me about an hour and a half writing a few articles, do some spell check on them, and placed them up on EZA for approval. I signed up for the EZA premium membership so my articles got approved the same day. By 8 am, I would have my workout finished, my work finished, showered and dressed and ready to enjoy the rest of my day doing errands, having fun, and enjoying life.

      I would just watch the sales pour in. I even had one week in January 2011, where I had my most successful week with online marketing earning around $1200. I thought I had finally made it. I even proudly told my wife that in about a few months, she would no longer have to work, and we should be able to start shopping around for our first house.

      But then...

      The following month in February 2011, the big G unleashed Panda, EzineArticles was decimated, traffic disappeared, my sales plummeted, I developed anxiety, and I'm still recovering from that disaster 5 years later.

      Moral of this story... DO NOT put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify, have a backup plan, focus on more secure and solid avenues of earning online (such as building QUALITY lists, creating your own products, having membership sites, etc.), and treat earning money online as a business.

      As months and years went on, I was slowly able to recover somewhat. Fortunately, I have an offline business that at the time of me earning big online, I neglected, but never shut down. So, I was able to return to that to help me bounce back a little quicker.

      But that disaster lead to some serious financial woes that I'm still dealing with today.

      But there is some good news...

      These days I'm busy with online video creation and marketing, and because of the big boom with all things video, I'm finally fully recovering from that disaster 5 years ago. I've become more wise since that debacle, and I have more security, more stability, and a more professional online business that I expect to be around for years to come. I create my own products, I promote affiliate products, I have several email lists in different niches, I'm a partner with a membership service, and I'm getting ready to launch a video service soon.

      Bottom line, don't give up on your dreams to earn a living online, just always remember that this is a business... and you have to treat it as such in order to even have the slightest chance to make it.

      >>> AND DO NOT PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET!
       <<<
      Good luck.
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      • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
        Originally Posted by ajbarnes777 View Post

        My biggest failed project was also my most successful.

        In 2010 I was writing articles, putting them on Ezinearticles, and I was promoting popular Clickbank products. This brought in enough money from Clickbank commissions to make a living just simply writing 4-5 (250-500 word) articles every morning (yes, these articles were thin and really didn't offer much value).

        Life was great! I would get up at 5 am, go the gym, get home at about 6:30 am, write these articles real quick, and that was it. It would only take me about an hour and a half writing a few articles, do some spell check on them, and placed them up on EZA for approval. I signed up for the EZA premium membership so my articles got approved the same day. By 8 am, I would have my workout finished, my work finished, showered and dressed and ready to enjoy the rest of my day doing errands, having fun, and enjoying life.

        I would just watch the sales pour in. I even had one week in January 2011, where I had my most successful week with online marketing earning around $1200. I thought I had finally made it. I even proudly told my wife that in about a few months, she would no longer have to work, and we should be able to start shopping around for our first house.

        But then...

        The following month in February 2011, the big G unleashed Panda, EzineArticles was decimated, traffic disappeared, my sales plummeted, I developed anxiety, and I'm still recovering from that disaster 5 years later.

        Moral of this story... DO NOT put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify, have a backup plan, focus on more secure and solid avenues of earning online (such as building QUALITY lists, creating your own products, having membership sites, etc.), and treat earning money online as a business.

        As months and years went on, I was slowly able to recover somewhat. Fortunately, I have an offline business that at the time of me earning big online, I neglected, but never shut down. So, I was able to return to that to help me bounce back a little quicker.

        But that disaster lead to some serious financial woes that I'm still dealing with today.

        But there is some good news...

        These days I'm busy with online video creation and marketing, and because of the big boom with all things video, I'm finally fully recovering from that disaster 5 years ago. I've become more wise since that debacle, and I have more security, more stability, and a more professional online business that I expect to be around for years to come. I create my own products, I promote affiliate products, I have several email lists in different niches, I'm a partner with a membership service, and I'm getting ready to launch a video service soon.

        Bottom line, don't give up on your dreams to earn a living online, just always remember that this is a business... and you have to treat it as such in order to even have the slightest chance to make it.

        >>> AND DO NOT PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET!
         <<<
        Good luck.
        What a great share , ajbarnes777. Thanks man. This is a great lesson for each and every business.

        DO NOT PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET!

        DIVERSIFY.

        It is hard to do, but trust me it pays off. I have diversified with product creation, affiliate marketing, app development and kindle publishing. And it is already starting to reap rewards for me..
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  • Profile picture of the author maxsi
    Agree about list-building.

    my first failure was "sending traffic to a partner's list". After we got 15K subs, my biz partner escaped with the list
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Jackman
    my vendor changed a product name, so disappointed.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicenet
    I got my hands burnt with rocketcashcycler.I lost seven hundred dollars.
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  • Profile picture of the author najibsuck
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
    Any other warriors who want to share their first failed projects in IM ?
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  • Profile picture of the author djoudi
    help me 4 hack facebook please
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  • Profile picture of the author weboledge
    Neither get a big success nor a big failure so for...
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  • Profile picture of the author MarketingQuotes101
    I was a teenager and the moment my parents got me hooked up with an internet connection, I started searching for ways to make money.

    The first thing I fell for was clicking on ads and browsing pages for money. Money never came. Only time spent and a lesson learned.

    The second time around I was smarter and found a guy on a forum posting about hitting it big with this thing called AdWords. With no real understanding of what I was doing and 300$ later, I realized that one has to actually learn how things work VS thinking that you can push a button and become a millionaire overnight. Oh, the dreams I had of owning fancy cars(it did not matter that I did not have a drivers licence yet) and toys after running my first campaigns.
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by MarketingQuotes101 View Post

      I was a teenager and the moment my parents got me hooked up with an internet connection, I started searching for ways to make money.

      The first thing I fell for was clicking on ads and browsing pages for money. Money never came. Only time spent and a lesson learned.

      The second time around I was smarter and found a guy on a forum posting about hitting it big with this thing called AdWords. With no real understanding of what I was doing and 300$ later, I realized that one has to actually learn how things work VS thinking that you can push a button and become a millionaire overnight. Oh, the dreams I had of owning fancy cars(it did not matter that I did not have a drivers licence yet) and toys after running my first campaigns.
      It was great that you had opportunity for MMO field from very early age. It is all about making errors and learning from them... Nice share , MarketingQuotes101..
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      • Profile picture of the author MarketingQuotes101
        Originally Posted by kazimuhith View Post

        It was great that you had opportunity for MMO field from very early age. It is all about making errors and learning from them... Nice share , MarketingQuotes101..
        Couldn't agree more! Before all that, while still at a very young age I would ask my grandfather for some money for video games. He showed me 20-liter cans filled with petrol, told me for how much I should sell them and off I went riding around a garage complex offering people petrol. I was making a lot of money for a little kid. And being the awesome grandfather that he was, I got to keep like 60% of my earnings

        Because of my experiences, I think that it's paramount to teach kids things like that from an early age. Put them on an entrepreneurial path.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sean DeSilva
    I affiliate marketed online pharmacies before they developed the lousy reputation they have today. WordPress wasn't even available back then, at least not to my knowledge!
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by Sean DeSilva View Post

      I affiliate marketed online pharmacies before they developed the lousy reputation they have today. WordPress wasn't even available back then, at least not to my knowledge!
      Hmm, affiliate for online pharmacy ? Do they work now? I have not heard about these types of affiliate programs.

      Nice share, Sean.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Nguyen
    My first IM experience was buying a package of eBay where the seller (sold ebooks on ebay via digital delivery) taught us to sell information products. He asked us to build our own ebook store with PLR material and there it is. Didn't have a clue about the next step which was to gain traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by Michael Nguyen View Post

      My first IM experience was buying a package of eBay where the seller (sold ebooks on ebay via digital delivery) taught us to sell information products. He asked us to build our own ebook store with PLR material and there it is. Didn't have a clue about the next step which was to gain traffic.
      Nice share Michael. I am interested to know what traffic did you try ? And what worked?
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Nguyen
        Originally Posted by kazimuhith View Post

        Nice share Michael. I am interested to know what traffic did you try ? And what worked?
        Nothing worked because I didn't understand that the fuel for any online business is acquiring traffic. I was pretty much sold a website but it wasn't drilled into me that traffic is what makes this all work. Spending money was scary so I relied on free methods only which still didn't work.

        Then I jumped from one thing to another until I landed the help with a mentor on WF who taught me to build amazon affiliate websites, got those sites ranking back in 09/10. Traffic came via SEO which was great. Different niches requires different traffic methods. I played around with solo ads, which was a good education in paid advertising.

        My real success is using my skills for offline businesses and using paid traffic to generate customers for them. IMO, paid traffic is fast and great if you know how. I'm an SEO by trade but slowly leaning towards paid media now.
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        • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
          Originally Posted by Michael Nguyen View Post

          Nothing worked because I didn't understand that the fuel for any online business is acquiring traffic. I was pretty much sold a website but it wasn't drilled into me that traffic is what makes this all work. Spending money was scary so I relied on free methods only which still didn't work.

          Then I jumped from one thing to another until I landed the help with a mentor on WF who taught me to build amazon affiliate websites, got those sites ranking back in 09/10. Traffic came via SEO which was great. Different niches requires different traffic methods. I played around with solo ads, which was a good education in paid advertising.

          My real success is using my skills for offline businesses and using paid traffic to generate customers for them. IMO, paid traffic is fast and great if you know how. I'm an SEO by trade but slowly leaning towards paid media now.
          Thanks Michael Nguyen for sharing your story. Indeed traffic is the lifeblood of any business. My experience with Pad Traffic and SEO has been 50-50, nothing fancy. Both of them worked - although nothing fancy with SEO yet. Great share...
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  • Profile picture of the author harryenty
    Oh, I remember my first failed project very well It was a while ago and I was new to affiliate marketing, I was trying to discover my 'perfect' niche. That did not happen.

    I developed a whole website on 'Tech Reviews' Hoping that this would be the one! I was so into technology that all I wanted to do was review it. But it did not work out.

    After a couple of months of pretty much zero traffic and no conversions, I realised that it was just one big FAIL. HaHa.

    Anyway, you have yo fall down to learn.
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    • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
      Originally Posted by harryenty View Post

      Oh, I remember my first failed project very well It was a while ago and I was new to affiliate marketing, I was trying to discover my 'perfect' niche. That did not happen.

      I developed a whole website on 'Tech Reviews' Hoping that this would be the one! I was so into technology that all I wanted to do was review it. But it did not work out.

      After a couple of months of pretty much zero traffic and no conversions, I realised that it was just one big FAIL. HaHa.

      Anyway, you have yo fall down to learn.
      Nice share harryenty, . I had a somewhat similar experience with several niche sites. It did not work out for those sites. And I learnt a lot ..
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  • Profile picture of the author dozohsokmo
    adsense using third party traffic

    massive failure
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  • Profile picture of the author kazimuhith
    Great response. Any other stories of first failures?
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