So many choices, so few that actually work well...

10 replies
I've been a member here for a few years now and have tried a number of different options in IM. But so far I've made less than $50 total.

I've tried ppa, ppc, writing articles, setting up a website for something I found on ClickBank... I even tried Fivver. The only time I made anything at all was when I sold a bunch of books I had on Craigslist and even that wasn't very profitable considering I sold almost 500 books and only got $45 for them total, and considering the original cost of those books that was NOT a profit!

Oh sure, I likely could have made decent money at any of the things I've tried "IF" I was willing to either use questionable methods or just strait out misleading ones. But I'm to honest to use grey or blackhat methods.

I am not looking for "fast money" because I know that, other than winning the lottery, it's a myth.

What I am hoping for is any ideas on something that actually is going to work. I am more than willing to do the work, I would just prefer that the next time I decide to make an effort that it is an effort worth making.
#choices #work
  • Profile picture of the author webmarke
    One thing that you left out of your list of things you have tried is building a list in your niche and promoting products to that list.

    No matter what anybody tells you...That's how most of these guys are making the big bucks!

    As long as you provide some free value to your list, there is nothing wrong with monetizing it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Y
    Webmarke has a very valid point with that suggestion.

    My own preference is a slightly different take on essentially the same thing: build a list in a niche I have good knowledge of and create my own digital products to sell. Nail down something/niche you really enjoy, identify a community or where you can potentially market, start building your list with a free gift of some sort, get feedback on what they want and make a digital product to suit.

    It's not a super fast process, but for me it works as I get to build a close community of paying and like-minded customers who I go out of my way to help.
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  • Profile picture of the author danieldesai
    Originally Posted by indalor1 View Post

    I've been a member here for a few years now and have tried a number of different options in IM. But so far I've made less than $50 total.

    I've tried ppa, ppc, writing articles, setting up a website for something I found on ClickBank... I even tried Fivver. The only time I made anything at all was when I sold a bunch of books I had on Craigslist and even that wasn't very profitable considering I sold almost 500 books and only got $45 for them total, and considering the original cost of those books that was NOT a profit!

    Oh sure, I likely could have made decent money at any of the things I've tried "IF" I was willing to either use questionable methods or just strait out misleading ones. But I'm to honest to use grey or blackhat methods.

    I am not looking for "fast money" because I know that, other than winning the lottery, it's a myth.

    What I am hoping for is any ideas on something that actually is going to work. I am more than willing to do the work, I would just prefer that the next time I decide to make an effort that it is an effort worth making.
    At this point, I would say that the most important thing you can do is figure out what viable business model you're willing to pursue.

    This should be something you can see yourself working on for the long-term.

    Take at least a month to do your research and figure out what business you're willing to make sacrifices for.

    That might be affiliate marketing, Kindle publishing, creating and selling your own product, consultation, web design, and the list goes on.

    There are a lot of legitimate businesses you can build but the thing is, you only need to get good at ONE.

    How long will it take you to get good at it?

    Who knows, some people take a few years while others take a few months.

    But you need to take a long-term approach to this.

    I wish you the best in whatever venture you pursue, and just remember this:

    Success ultimately comes from doing the right things for a long enough period of time.

    Regards,
    Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author Nico Puegher
    Originally Posted by indalor1 View Post

    I've been a member here for a few years now and have tried a number of different options in IM. But so far I've made less than $50 total.

    I've tried ppa, ppc, writing articles, setting up a website for something I found on ClickBank... I even tried Fivver. The only time I made anything at all was when I sold a bunch of books I had on Craigslist and even that wasn't very profitable considering I sold almost 500 books and only got $45 for them total, and considering the original cost of those books that was NOT a profit!

    Oh sure, I likely could have made decent money at any of the things I've tried "IF" I was willing to either use questionable methods or just strait out misleading ones. But I'm to honest to use grey or blackhat methods.

    I am not looking for "fast money" because I know that, other than winning the lottery, it's a myth.

    What I am hoping for is any ideas on something that actually is going to work. I am more than willing to do the work, I would just prefer that the next time I decide to make an effort that it is an effort worth making.
    500 books and $45 profit? You did something really bad there, you can make a TON of money selling 500 books, if you were able to sell 500 units you should give it another try, maybe with Amazon or even by your own, now you have experience selling books and if you did 500 sales you know what you are doing, do not look down on yourself and give another shot to that niche.

    Now, all you said is almost doing nothing, even if you tried hard moving from one method to another will not work, you get frustrated and probably give up. PPA, PPC if you don't know what you are doing, you will not do shit there.

    Doing a website to promote ClickBank products is exactly the same, if you don't know what you are doing, you will waste a ton of time just to get even more frustrated.

    I will share with you a new method, it will require time and effort from your side, but you said you are willing to do anything so I wish you the best of lucks, stay focus and never give up, you can do it. Other people can make money online, why you should not be able too? They are people just like you and me, they are not unique.

    Build a blog, choose a niche could be ANYTHING it doesn't matter, if you think about money from day one you will not be able to do it, think about providing value and helping people.

    You can make money from any niche, so don't be scared to pick something you like thinking "this will not do too much money" if you like it, go for it. Why do I say this? Well, you will be writing a lot of content so should be something you really like or something you are interested in learning.

    If you choose something you don't like only because of money, you will not do any money and you will get tired about because you don't give a **** about the niche.

    Writing just quality content will be the way to go, but that's not everything. Even if you write quality content, people will not read you just because you made a post. Your blog is in the middle of the desert, you need to promote it and be super active.

    When you have your blog with some life, you can start promoting your own products or someone else products, also, you can promote affiliate products such a web hosting, autoresponder for emails, space for advertising, etc.

    Don't build a website just to promote some products, build a website you want and pick a niche you love and then find products to promote.

    You need to be active, your blog will not be a real business in just 2-3 months, it will take time but trust me, that blog will be a real long term business and your main source of income if you work hard and never give up.

    Finding your audience could be a hard job too but not impossible, just think as them, where they would be talking about your niche? Be there and talk to them! Could be forums, other blogs in your niche (leaving comments and interacting with them all the users), social media (create a ton of accounts but not from 1 go you will be overwhelmed, pick 1 or 2 and stick with them, when you feel you can add more, go for more social networks to add to your strategy), SEO -> traffic from Google, Yahoo, etc and one of the best tools your business can have is email marketing.

    You can offer something for free, could be a great book about your niche since you have experience doing books, something like a free ebook where people can sign up for their emails to download your awesome ebook. You have a lead now, you should provide to them awesome content with emails and from time to time some promotions, something like 80% great content and 20% promotion, same for social media.

    On social media, focus on being fun and interacting with people, that's what social media is all about, drive them to your blog or to your email list to promote, never promote directly from social media, people are there to have fun, share awesome things not to buy things.

    SEO will take time, you need to turn your blog into an authority, you can do that just by being active, grow your traffic, create backlinks (people sharing your content on social media or you doing it by hand by posting your links on Youtube comments or even blogs but people don't like links so the best way is by other people sharing your content or if you make a good relationship with a blogger or youtuber you can ask them to leave links.

    The main key for everything is consistency, make a post each day or each week but whatever you choose, stick with it no matter what. Once people get used to your content they will expect something that DAY for example if you post each Monday, people will be looking for your content each Monday, if you are lazy and don't do shit for a month you will lose everything, finding regular readers is hard, losing them is super easy.

    Find groups related to your niche on social media and be active there as well, find forums and create a signature to promote your free gift or just leave a link to your website or blog post.

    Take action and take it seriously, this is a real business and it's your business if you are not willing to work for it, no one will give you a business by magic. Be a problem solver, think about helping instead of making money, that's the best way to make money.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Iannotti
    The concept to make money online is simple, yet difficult.

    Find a niche

    Find a problem most have within that niche

    Create product that solves that problem

    Drive traffic to your product

    That's essentially it.
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  • Profile picture of the author najibsuck
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
      Originally Posted by najibsuck View Post

      solo ads bro ...thank me later
      OP doesn't even have a product to promote.
      Signature
      Get Off The Warrior Forum Now & Don't Come Back If You Want To Succeed!
      All The Real Marketers Are Gone. There's Nothing Left But Weak, Sniveling Wanna-Bees!
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by najibsuck View Post

      solo ads bro ...thank me later
      Be careful in what you say because NOT all Solo Ads are created equal. Some real crap ones out there.

      My Advice? Tread lightly and be very selective when choosing them.

      Thank me later, bro

      - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author Sean DeSilva
    I encourage you to think of making money online as the pairing of two keys to open a vault of wealth.

    One key is the conversion equation: building a product that makes sales either because the marketing is good or the product is good, preferably both.

    The other key is the traffic equation: understanding how to get traffic organically, how to pay for it, or a blend of both.
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  • Profile picture of the author Leli
    Ask yourself two questions:
    1. What are your skills?
    2. What are you passionate about.

    All you have to do then, is to combine the above with any monetization method, being clickbank, amazon, adsense, etc...
    Signature
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    Lose Weight WITHOUT Diets or Exercise!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Tonester
    It sounds to me like you're suffering from a very common problem - moving from one method to the next to the next.

    Most people don't stick with one thing long enough to see it to success.

    Keep in mind that no matter what you try, you're rarely gonna have success right away. It usually involves testing and tweaking until you hit that sweet spot and get your method dialed in.

    The question then is, How long do you keep trying one method until you finally decided it doesn't work and move on? If you know it's a valid method because you see others making money doing it, then you never stop. Never. You keep doing it until you make money.

    Tony
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