Cheap AND EASY Does Not Exist New Internet Marketers

It would be helpful if some of the course providers didn't advertise their wares as a way to make money with little investment.

No wonder there is an expectation of free and easy. And then, of course, the whole niche gets targeted with the 'scam' brush.

Caveat Emptor and take responsibility for your own decisions

In addition, no one can know everything there is to know about IM. There are thousands of ways to make money online . . . but you don't need to know them all.



If you want to be successful, follow Ryan's lead and lay the foundation for your own success by choosing one thing to focus your efforts on. You can make a good living with IM by doing one thing very well and sticking with it.


Too many new marketers try too many different niches and business models without devoting all their effort to just one thing for an extended time.


Thanks Ryan for your insight and long-time sharing on this forum.


Steve

Ryan, don't forget FAST. Cheap, easy and fast. Sounds like a porno flick. (That wasn't necessary but I thought I'd say it anyway.)

I'm still surprised by how many people want content written for pennies and they want it by tomorrow.

Or they want to set up a blog on a free site, pay nothing for advertising, and see results the next day.

Building a business takes time and money. The less you have of one requires more effort in the other.

Rose

Is there any growth hacking/fast growth principles? I don't disagree with your post. but my background is from tech start ups where we are always focused on rapid growth.

My question to you is, is there any way of growth hacking in internet marketing for say, building an audience? (Eg. Partnering with existing Authorities to get them to sell to their audience in exchange for an awesome offer to that Authority/Affiliate?)

I'm focusing on building an Info Product and selling it. I have no audience and I am building my audience as I go.. But I just wanted to know if there's a way to grow fast?

Again, I understand that patience is key and that it takes time. But surely there's some sort of "rapid growth" principles in IM like there is in Tech Start Ups?

Not true in my opinion.... It depends by the strategies that you use.

Some people got 70% profits last weeks without going crazy with internet mark.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
Happy 10 years

I get what you mean about having to invest SOMETHING whether it be time or money. IT's always either or but I do believe with the hosting and domain you can start out cheap and then staircase - just like you did.

I've never in my life paid for hosting before and I've run a lot of websites in my time. I currently have about 4 different sites and they're all free.
I only started paying for domain names in the past 5 years. I started out getting free domains through affiliate marketing site ezyrewards.com (which doesnt exist anymore) and got people to sign up through my free blog to collect points lol. This was a good 14 years ago though when I wasnt old enough to have a debit card to purchase stuff online. Not having the option to purchase things lead me to find alternative routes.
And you say its through greed or wanting a 'fast track' cheap option but that's not necessarily the case. When you start out sometimes you might not have the funds to do so or the knowledge in what you require in terms of bandwidth, hosting space, whatever it is you need. It takes time to learn the ropes and discover these things.
As you have expressed yourself you started out the cheap way too and look at where you are now! It took having to make the mistakes yourself to learn from them and move forward.
I think it's hard to start right off the boat knowing what to do. Getting it right in all aspects is HARD just like any newbie we all make mistakes but it helps us to learn from them. I think it helps us doing the budget way, investing, being scared or not being scared because the results speak for itself. A lot of people learn from actions and consequences.

I can spend HOURS and HOURS reading advice from many people online but the best advice is to just get out there and try every thing and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't but for everyone it's a different route.

I think you need a mix of both of investing but also being resourceful - that doesn't mean being proper budget it just means using what you know and have at hand because theres always opportunity to grow, change, expand, go a different route. You can't just throw money at things sometimes there's other more economical ways of going about with things if you think harder.

But yes I do agree it takes a lot of elbow grease to get anywhere. Its the same with Celebrities and singers and bands that miraculously pop up in the charts form no where. They spent hours dedicated to fine tuning their music, putting it out there, gigging for free and all sorts before they reached fame. But in terms of investments I think starting off frugal is up to the person and yeah there defo is no 'fast track' to anything unless you pay an experienced web master or marketer to do everything for you.. but where's the fun in that?

This is some of the best advise, that you are ever going to get online, or offline for that matter. Makes me think of the saying, "Some people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing."

Two things a lot of people don't want to invest is effort and time. Like anything else in life, earning money online takes work. Laying down a good foundation is very important, but you need to keep building upon it.

There's really no getting around it. You have to invest time and money to get things started. There are no shortcuts and you can't automate your way to success. What most new internet marketers don't realize it it only looks easy after tweaking your business model and your processes to make it more efficient. You get more done with less work because you've put a lot of work in the beginning and you're now reaping the rewards.

Hi Ryan,

Great post and congratulations on making it 10 years.

Sadly, you are so right and it's even worse when you head over to Facebook where I do most of my marketing.

Just go over and check all the post from people saying they want to make money online but "don't want to invest, don't want to sell, and don't want to refer".

A lot of them don't even want to work!

I believe that under any conditions, you can do good marketing.

I completely agree with you. I have wasted 3-4 years of my precious time looking for cheap / Free ways to achieve something BIG. Anyway, better late than never, Now I precisely know where to spend and where to save..

The information you provide is very insightful. I think there is no cheap and easy way to get started but there is a method and tool that make the experience fun, as you can see result from the efforts you put in. So one of the challenges is to find the right method and tool early.
The cost for the newbie is either TIME or CASH.

Wow! This is great information for upcoming marketing interested individuals or non marketing folks. I really do agree that you have to invest dollar amounts in oder to have a consistant online business.

"You have to pay up to play up. " <- THIS

Don't expect to make money without an investment of time and money.

And it requires patience!! People expect results in days

Cheap and Easy is like a magic pill. I guess that's how everyone wants it today, everyone wants a magic pill (cheap and easy) to do it.

With that in mind - when selling to people remember that. Remember what people are looking for (cheap and easy).

In my opinion, if you want to succeed, be ready for the long run. Set yourself up for success, it might be slow and painful, but that's the way to succeed.

Thank you for the sharing. And I have this experience too.

Being cheap or so called Overly "Cost Conscious" only making our business journey becoming more difficult.

I'm from Malaysia where our currency is 4x weaker than the US Dollar. Everything we bought, theme, hosting, email marketing services always looks so much more expensive for me.

But if I were to being overly cost conscious -- I could pay a big price in the long run.

My lesson here is -- Cheap is Costly.

I think ppl who think cheap (not easy, absolutely) ways to get something on IM isn't wrong at all. In my opinion when they think about IM that way, it'll get them curious and had to study everywhere-literally. And doing it that way, beginners IM will get more and more experienced.

If they begin to think pay for play in the first place, i'm sure they will spend unnecessary expenses. Like you've experienced, let the investment going along with the experience.
CMIIW

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for sharing your story of how it took you ten years to become an overnight success at blogging.
Your story is the real deal of putting in work and constantly improving yourself to be successful at what you do.
I've learned to replace the word easy with necessary because there is nothing easy about being in business or living life in general but it is always necessary to do certain things to be successful in any endeavor.
I replaced thinking about getting things for cheap with the thought of making an investment in myself or my business. Who wants to be cheap with themselves? Make an investment in your success!

-Enjoy your outcome

Depends on what New Internet Marketers consider Cheap AND Easy wouldn't you say?

Likewise, depends on what New Internet Marketers "with a Proven Plan" considers Cheap AND Easy wouldn't you say?

The difference is a New Internet Marketer that follows a Proven Plan has an advantage to make a Return on Investment (ROI) compared to no plan at all.

'The Proven Plan' is the key-phrase. Many Proven Plans exist and are based on a formal system. Likewise, subsets of a formal system can be modified to be a Proven Plan that is Cheap AND EASY. They are available if you know where to source them and more importantly the New Internet Marketer actually follows the plan on a consistent basis or in other words Takes Action on a consistent basis.

Most New Internet Marketers just need a "Keep It Simple Proven Plan", implement it on a consistent schedule and remain dedicated to the simplicity of the plan.

Now there are people new to marketing, but they are not new to business. And they may also be new to marketing, but they are not new to using computers on the internet and so forth. New marketers that already have some of the needed skills usually do better or are faster. However, a "Keep It simple Proven Plan" usually is enough for a dedicated person to realize success be it small in the beginning or even large in the beginning.

The Keep It Simple Proven Plan usually "starts with research" in terms of will the product earn money. To Keep It Simple one only has to do some simple marketing research and some simple fiscal math wherein the goal is the profit exceeds the overhead..

.. example:

[Overhead] 30 days = $109.88
Product Sells for = $19.98
Product Sales minus refunds: 30 sales
================================
Total Profit 30 days = $599.40

That is only one product earning $19.98 a day. Never the less it is a "good start" to scale-up the business when the time is right. And it is enough to put
away a portion of it to put back into the business and pay some bills, 80/20. Well, for most people anyway.

Overhead will make or break the Keep It Simple Proven Plan. Online overhead can be looked at in different ways, but the bottom line is the sum total of doing
business online per product sale.

Breaking the overhead down and more importantly Keeping It Simple. In this particular plan which is pretty close to passive profit we have the following:

[Plan 1]
4.88 mo. Hosting
.92 mo Domain Name Registration (.com) or $10.98 yr.
5.00 mo. Instabuilder (Outsourced One-time expense per website, i.e. two websites=$10.00 etc.)
100.00 mo. Traffic (soloadsx works fine for this plan)
15.00 mo. Get Response Autoresponder
======
$125.80

Seasoned Internet Marketers will quickly see that the overhead entails pushing paid traffic to an affiliate product on our own websites where we collect subscribers to build a list. Conversely, overhead can be reduced to:

[Plan 2]
4.88 mo. Hosting
.92 mo Domain Name Registration (.com) or $10.98 yr.
5.00 Instabuilder (Outsourced One-time expense per website, i.e. two websites=$10.00 etc.)
======
$10.80

Side-note: The second method has proven to make money, but it is slow to realize the ROI because of free traffic and no List Building which is a big minus.

Also, a website is not mandatory, but that would be a different method and involves a completely different overhead.

Regarding the two plans - both Keep It Simple - and both produce an income.

THE PRODUCT? (YES, CAPS)

THE PRODUCT is what produces the income! Your own product produces the biggest income, but that is a different plan altogether. To Keep It simple and produce an online income month after month we only need to resell other people's products aka affiliate marketing.

Sourcing the Affiliate Products (yes plural)..

+ ClickBank.com More niche oriented (Free to join)
+ WarriorPlus.com More MMO oriented (Free to join)
+ JVZoo.com More software oriented (Free to join)

Those are your bread and butter resources! How? Keep It simple by choosing products that actually sale and other important factors..

[Product Sales] 250 or better, [Important Factors] has a 10% or better conversion rate, Visitor Value: $1.00 or better and a refund rate (it happens) of less than 3%.

Lets use Plan 1 as it has a higher overhead and higher ROI compared to Plan 2. Cost to do business on the internet: Initial investment: $125.80.

1. Select the affiliate product
+ ClickBank.com
+ WarriorPlus.com
+ JVZoo.com


2. Autoresponder. Create a campaign.

3. Fiver, select an Instabuilder Gig and when contacted give the WordPress credentials and Campaign ID. Be sure to change the WordPress credentials after the gig is complete and scan the site for hacks.

4. Double check Steps 2 and 3 for accuracy.

5. Traffic (soloadsx works fine for this plan).

Give it 24 - 48 hours, wake up to money when you login into PayPal (fingers crossed).
Login into GetResponse and see how may subscribers joined your List (fingers crossed). Side note: 100 subs is a simple test figure.

The average time from start to finish (A to Z) for a beginner averages between 4 hours and 8 hours. Done on a consistent basis reduces the time significantly. When automation is applied my own time averages 30 minutes.

Conclusion.

No doubt, there are better ways to earn money on the internet, there are ways that cost more to start and earn a better ROI. but this is Cheap AND EASY to learn for most people and when all is done right you will make bank as long as you promote quality products and remain dedicated to the plan and are honest to your subscribers.

Agreed with the original post. Cheap and easy does not exist...

Creative and skilled content is not free, its rare on internet, expenses for all kind of marketing is quiet high, strategies matters too for the IM, which can leads you to play a higher without paying high...

Congratulations for your 10 years of blogging.

Coincidentially, I have been involved in IM for exactly 10 years.

Though I don't just focus on info products but physical and CPA offers as well.

If I could quickly ask, what are a couple of other things that shouldn't be overlooked when it comes to something that you really should invest in when creating a business for a website, specifically a small local business if i may add?

Thank you!

Couldn't agree more. As soon as someone talks to me about 10x or growth hacking, I shudder. Real, lasting success takes hard work, grit, determination and luck. If there really was just "one quick trick" to win, everybody would be doing it. Generally the "trick" is that some consultant has just sold you a pup.

Truth. No legitimate type of business is fast, free or easy. I've been at the make money online for almost 10 years. The first five years were like a science experiment gone bad. The second five years were pretty good, and I expect the next five years to be magnificent.

There is something I heard a long time ago called the 10,000 hour rule. Not sure what it is based on, but I believe it to be true. You basically have to invest 10,000 hours of your time to truly master a skill.

Many of the folks getting online today are looking for fast, free and easy. Even worse, they try something for a month or two and if they haven't made money yet, they go on to the next shiny thing.

Could you imagine if a traditional business owner thought this way? Most traditional owners EXPECT to lose money their first two to three years in business while they learn and get established.

Ultimately, you have to pick something with a DEMAND in the marketplace. And, you have to stick with your chose business model for minimum five years.

That's just how I see it.

Great advise for newbies

It's true, CHEAP and EASY does not exist 99% of the time...

I agree. Like many top marketers say: either you sacrifice your time or money. More money spent doesn't necessarily mean better but in most cases when more money is invested, we learn better from our mistakes of testing and tweaking, which in turn will result in better performance in the long run... provided one has still the money and time to invest LOL..

Totally agree.

It's like people who want to have "all in one" tools for spending less money, ending up with nothing in return after some time.

YOU HAVE WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Hey Ryan,

Your advice is spot on for most NEW (and old) Internet Marketers.

It's also fair warning to anyone thinking that the MMO market is the easy way to riches.



Having said that, I do think that it has never been EASIER to make money online than it is today and I'd like to explain why.

Let's start with EASY.

The old paradigm stresses that you need to establish yourself as an Authority which takes time. You need to learn the many steps that it takes to create a system that generates predictable long-term revenue.

This is never easy to do, there's are just too many moving parts that you can screw up (I'm speaking as an EXPERT screw up myself here).

These two things alone, establishing your authority (or brand) and setting up systems, are enough to get most people who do make an attempt to take action to give up after having suffered much frustration with no monetary reward.

Combine that with that fact that most people are not sales oriented. Most people actually dislike salespeople and, whether they know it or not, this negative feeling is affecting their efforts to succeed.

All of this is a recipe for failure.

In the past, you needed to take massive action, forget your misgivings about selling and be willing to fail a lot if you're going to make it.

What has changed, however, is today there are numerous DFY systems available where someone else has done all the hard work for you. There are many of them that are quite good. These systems eliminate the learning curve, the frustration and the need to fail. In addition, you can have many of them working for you at one time. Most of them are designed to build you a list which you can them develop as well.

While it isn't a walk in the woods, it's much, much easier to "fake it till you make it" and be generating income very quickly.

With DFY systems then CHEAP would be the problem...

But is it?

The easiest, quickest way to build a thriving online business is by building a list of buyers who know, like and trust you (or someone selling for you). This costs money - or does it?

When you sign up for these DFY systems, your ONLY job is to drive traffic. You have one task which is to learn how to drive traffic in the cheapest way possible.

I regard BUYING traffic to be the cheapest way as long as my ROI ultimately pays me back and more for my efforts. Notice I said ultimately.

So, my advice would be to find a GOOD program that does the hard stuff for you and spend your time learning how to buy traffic cheaply to send through your DFY system(s).

That will make it a WHOLE LOT easier for you.

Great thread, keep it up

There is a wise saying that says on an easy head wears the crown, good things does not come easily,as a new affiliate marketer prepare for mistakes and make up your mind not to quit.Do some research on google and ask question on forum and platform like of like minded.

Everybody cannot be an Entrepreneur, you need to find out whom you are and what is your passion all about.Simultaneously don't underestimate the importance of a mentor for a professional guide and training so that you can get to your destination with ease.

Cool, thank you!

Yes, it takes work day in and day out. Consistency is what people need.

love to read your history my friend, and you are right i have many years here as well and i agree 100% with you!

Very true, Ryan.

I completely agreed with you.

But let me ask you and others as well.

Have you ever heard this term called Value Exchange?

If you haven't, I don't blame you because I came up with this term after watching videos of successful marketers like Eben Pagan, Ryan Deiss and Tony Robbins.

While this basically means is that if you want people to do things for you, you have to do the same for them.

Either by spending your money or your time.

Here is my interesting discovery.

If you are poor and keep asking or hussling people for money, most will get turned off unless you are their friend they know, like and trust.

But if you are rich and have an open heart to give, learn and help others, that will be a different ball game completely.