After years of struggling, I'm at a loss and don't know what to do.

24 replies
Hi all, I want to take a minute and share a little bit about my story...

For years I've dreamed of having a successful online business. And I've worked very hard for it. But after trying and failing countless times, I've reached a point where I don't know what to do.

Money has been a struggle since I was a child. But I have big dreams. I want to provide my wife and six month old daughter with a life that's more than just scraping by.

My start in online business was in 2014 selling t-shirts and driving traffic with FB ads. Over the next couple years I did over a million dollars in sales. But after cost of goods, labor and ad spend, I barely made a profit.

With rising ad costs and increased competition, it became increasingly difficult to get by. I began going into debt as I continued to try and try and try to make money online. I tried dropshipping. I started an online retail shop selling clothing and other merchandise , but couldn't make a profit and ended up losing money. I started selling products on Amazon, but that ended up falling through. I tried to start a clothing line and sell wholesale but that failed.

Long story short, after years of trying and failing, I'm now 50k in debt, have creditors calling me and my family members, and working an 8-5 job; something I told myself I'd never do.

But I'm still trying. My wife is a ballet dancer, so we created an online course in the dance mom niche. I had built a small list in that niche when selling t-shirts. So we pre-sold the course to prove the concept. Then we built the course and started marketing it with a webinar funnel at $300 price point with a $100 off launch promo. We did a webinar a week for 5 weeks. Each week we'd have around 300-400 signups. 50ish attendees. 30ish people staying to hear the offer at the end. And 3-4 sales. That was enough to just about break even, but our follow up replay emails never generated ANY sales. So after 5 weeks of trying this funnel, we had lost a few hundred dollars and had to stop.

Now, we've worked on our messaging, dropped the price and are trying a different funnel. Basically, we created a 19 minutes video sales letter to convert people. Yesterday I spent $100 driving traffic to that VSL to see if it could convert cold traffic. It didn't. After over 400 page views and 0 sales I shut the ad off. Now, I don't know what to do. I started putting together a lead magnet funnel to get leads and warm them up with content before sending them to the VSL. It's just that I'm not sure if the copy in the VSL sucks, or the offer sucks, or I suck, or if its because the traffic was cold... or maybe all of the above...

But honestly, this might be my last attempt. I've put everything I have into this, I've worked my ass off for years, I've clung to the dream. It just seems that no matter what I do, I can't seem to make anything work. I want to succeed so bad and I always believe its right around the corner... so I keep pushing and trying, only to be met with more disappointment and failure.

I'll be surprised if any one reads this novel of a post, but if for some reason you did and you have any thoughts, I'll listen.
#loss #struggling #years
Avatar of Unregistered
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    I read the novel, Benjamin.

    I have a friend in this vicinity who's fond of saying that you need two things to make money online:

    1. TRAFFIC.

    2. CONVERSIONS.

    He's right, of course.

    From what I have to go on, I'm going to guess at two problems, and they directly relate to those above.

    1. You're spending too much money.

    2. Something is wrong with your funnel.

    I'm going to make another guess, and it's in regards conversions: your audience doesn't yet trust you enough.

    I'd need more to go on (all the variables) but let me make a suggestion.

    First some more guesses:

    1. Your wife is a talented ballet dancer.
    2. You know way more than average about IM.

    Now that there? That's a potentially powerful combination.

    Let me give you a model to consider.

    Step One:

    1. Stop spending money.
    2. Stop making products.
    3. Stop selling (full stop).

    Step Two:

    1. Develop a new brand.
    2. Focus on free.
    3. Forget selling.

    Step Three:

    1. YouTube Channel.
    2. Instagram.
    3. Facebook Page.
    4. Snapchap.
    5. Twitter.
    6. Google Plus Page.

    Focus on the platforms in bold.

    Step Four:

    1. Create Content.
    2. Grow your accounts.
    3. Grow your fans.

    I underline the word fans for a reason; they're more than just audience.

    Step Five:

    1. Integrate affiliate offers (articles).
    2. Grow profit.
    3. Grow fans.

    Step Six:

    1. Pre-promo your own product.
    2. Give away freebies.
    3. Get testimonials (video is best).
    4. Sell your products.
    5. Integrate affiliate program.

    You can do the above on a shoe-string budget and you're not building a business that is cost-heavy (which, I think, may have been your problem so far). The above represents the highlights, that you'll need to use as a jumping-off point for research.

    The above is a safer route than the one you've been taking, and has more potential. For instance, you can certainly sell offline classes, but I would strongly consider dropping that altogether, in favour of selling digital (unless I misunderstood the part about offline).

    The trick for you (my suggestion) is to focus on safe growth by pushing a brand that has a long-term future. A strong brand is essential. And it won't be something you can develop in a weekend, or even a week, maybe not a month. It needs to be rock-solid.

    In your shoes, I'd power a strong brand with the above. Later on you can begin spending money again (ad buying) but I wouldn't take that route until you know that you're spending the money wisely and safely.

    In the meantime, you can profit from affiliate revenue, Patreon, and endorsements, and when you're able to get onto YouTube Partners, you can then monetize with AdSense.

    Anyway! Consider the above my 2 cents.

    I hope things work out for you, mate. You'll have to excuse me now. I'm in bed here and Mrs. A is intent on torturing me with a TV show called Glow. I'd rather stay here. In fact, I'd rather have my genitals eaten by a sheep. Or a herring. Do herrings eat genitals? Well, whatever the case, I'm off!

    - Tom
    Signature

    I Coach: Learn More | My Latest WF Thread: Dead Domains/ Passive Traffic

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11430284].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author benjaminchurch44
      Hi Tom,

      I can't tell you how grateful I am for your response. I'm going to do this. I've taken the advice from others to step back and chill out for a while then approach a new strategy with a fresh mind.

      So now I'm ready to take action on this strategy. I've spoken with a couple people that have big businesses now and they've followed a similar path to the one you've outlined here.

      A few questions, if you have a moment (and can break away from binging on Glow lol):
      1. Why do you suggest developing a new brand? A new name, logo, branding, domain name, email addresses etc is a lot of work (and money), so I'd only want to do this if completely necessary. Wondering if I could just use the already existing brand...

      2. The free content we provide will probably be in the form of short videos... you mentioned focusing on these platforms, but didn't mention a website. Should these platforms be directing traffic back to our website where affiliate offers will be hosted? Or were you thinking that the website isn't as central and the affiliate offers could be presented straight from the youtube/instagram etc accounts?

      3. Why snapchat? Seems like a bit of an outlier and neither my wife or I have no experience at all on there.

      4. You suggested a google plus page... is that mainly for SEO reasons?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11435373].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    Originally Posted by benjaminchurch44 View Post

    But honestly, this might be my last attempt. I've put everything I have into this, I've worked my ass off for years, I've clung to the dream. It just seems that no matter what I do, I can't seem to make anything work. I want to succeed so bad and I always believe its right around the corner... so I keep pushing and trying, only to be met with more disappointment and failure.

    I'll be surprised if any one reads this novel of a post, but if for some reason you did and you have any thoughts, I'll listen.

    Not sure stopping now is your best call, seems like you have tried to invent the light globe 999 times, maybe at attempt 1000 it may be that you see the light glow at the end of the passage.
    Signature
    | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11430312].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    Hi Benjamin,

    Don't listen to any internet marketing advice right now buddy.

    I suggest feeling the pain and fear associated with your struggles. Find a quiet room. Feel it. Intense, and unpleasant, but clearing the fear-pain (struggles only grow when you fight/resist fear-pain) helps you:

    - feel better
    - see clearly
    - follow good advice persistently
    - allow in more money, and more money making ideas

    This is one of my secrets, to living a special life, after I was 70K in debt, suicidal and dead broke financially. Be with the fears fueling your struggles, because clearing them out feels like a weight off of your shoulders.
    Signature
    Ryan Biddulph helps you to be a successful blogger with his courses, manuals and blog at Blogging From Paradise
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11430314].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
      Originally Posted by ryanbiddulph View Post

      Hi Benjamin,

      Don't listen to any internet marketing advice right now buddy.
      Sez one of the most prolific Warriors in the IM advice dept. But, he has a point.

      You have rec'd some good advice. You have some choices to make. I suggest you pow wow with your wife over a kid free dinner out, and do some brainstorming about what you want to do.

      Where is the goal line? What is the end result you want? If income, how much? HOW does someone make that much with IM (find models to emulate).

      Don't throw out everything, keep the value of the lessons learned.

      But for right now, STOP, look and listen. THEN plan your future and the steps to get there will become more clarified.

      Keep in mind, this is IM advice, and so maybe don't take it?

      GordonJ
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11430586].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author dioni
    Hi Benjamin,

    My advice is to just take a step back & get a clear mind. Get a bit of a rest and allow your mind to recreate yourself.
    You're probably pushing yourself too hard all these years and you've exhausted all that you have especially the money that you've also worked hard on.

    Sometimes when things don't work out the way we want them to, we need a different approach or different perspective on how to deal with things.
    Allow yourself to reflect on this, give it some time, work on your 8-5 job with your heart in it (even if it's not what living the dream is), and then finally have a time to compose yourself & evaluate.

    Tom Addams over there has very good advice with marketing and all but I suggest to not rush it. Save his advice for the future and work your way through it. You can follow his advice or maybe do different, it's all up to you.

    1. Rest.
    2. Reflect.
    3. Recreate.

    Take it from Ryan as well, he's had a lot of debts as well but I believe he's managed to live a life he's not regretting and I hope you'll have one as well.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11430315].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by benjaminchurch44 View Post

    My wife is a ballet dancer, so we created an online course in the dance mom niche.

    Hey Benjamin,

    I feel for you and have been in the same boat on several of my projects. I like Tom's advice and suggest you take it (along with any other Warriors here that are trying to start with a small budget in their niche).

    One thing I would add is the importance of being in a money-flowing niche. Have you researched the online demand for "ballet dance moms"? It may or may not have good demand . . . and if it doesn't, that could be, at least, a part of your challenge. Maybe you could expand your audience to simply ballet dancers wanting help/instruction from an experienced mentor (your wife). Down the road, you might even decide you want to offer high-end personal instruction or consultations.

    Anyway, keep at it. You've got a good start and you've learned some of the approaches that don't work - that's valuable knowledge if you can learn from it.

    The very best to you,

    Steve
    Signature

    Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
    SteveBrowneDirect

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11430317].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author salele
    Hi Benjamin,
    That Tom Addam's advice is golden. Take it and I'm hundred percent sure you will succeed with it. I couldn't say more. You may need sometime to cool off. but when you start again start with that advice. Wish you success.
    Signature
    http://www.jumpstartvideos.com Download completely free Camtasia based Tutorial videos on JOOMLA, WORDPRESS, CAMTASIA, MEMBERSHIP SITES, FRONTPAGE, ETC.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11430552].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author madison_avenue
    It might be an idea to focus the niche more tightly:

    i.e ballet for weight loss? - People always want to lose weight. What about Ballet for men to lose weight? Ballet to improve your balance? Ballet to get fit? Sell an angle. What is it for? how can ballet help you?

    If you hire a small hall once a week and use your IM skills you should be able to sell it out for say 10 people a week. Get some articles into the local media. Advertise on Facebook targeting people in your area. Just get book it up with a few people once a week.

    If this works use this as the base to build digital products, rather than trying to sell a digital course straight away. You will have more testimonials, market knowledge and focus.

    Just a few ideas to consider. Good Luck.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11430562].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author zeusamun
    Originally Posted by benjaminchurch44 View Post

    Hi all, I want to take a minute and share a little bit about my story...

    For years I've dreamed of having a successful online business. And I've worked very hard for it. But after trying and failing countless times, I've reached a point where I don't know what to do.

    Money has been a struggle since I was a child. But I have big dreams. I want to provide my wife and six month old daughter with a life that's more than just scraping by.

    My start in online business was in 2014 selling t-shirts and driving traffic with FB ads. Over the next couple years I did over a million dollars in sales. But after cost of goods, labor and ad spend, I barely made a profit.

    With rising ad costs and increased competition, it became increasingly difficult to get by. I began going into debt as I continued to try and try and try to make money online. I tried dropshipping. I started an online retail shop selling clothing and other merchandise , but couldn't make a profit and ended up losing money. I started selling products on Amazon, but that ended up falling through. I tried to start a clothing line and sell wholesale but that failed.

    Long story short, after years of trying and failing, I'm now 50k in debt, have creditors calling me and my family members, and working an 8-5 job; something I told myself I'd never do.

    But I'm still trying. My wife is a ballet dancer, so we created an online course in the dance mom niche. I had built a small list in that niche when selling t-shirts. So we pre-sold the course to prove the concept. Then we built the course and started marketing it with a webinar funnel at $300 price point with a $100 off launch promo. We did a webinar a week for 5 weeks. Each week we'd have around 300-400 signups. 50ish attendees. 30ish people staying to hear the offer at the end. And 3-4 sales. That was enough to just about break even, but our follow up replay emails never generated ANY sales. So after 5 weeks of trying this funnel, we had lost a few hundred dollars and had to stop.

    Now, we've worked on our messaging, dropped the price and are trying a different funnel. Basically, we created a 19 minutes video sales letter to convert people. Yesterday I spent $100 driving traffic to that VSL to see if it could convert cold traffic. It didn't. After over 400 page views and 0 sales I shut the ad off. Now, I don't know what to do. I started putting together a lead magnet funnel to get leads and warm them up with content before sending them to the VSL. It's just that I'm not sure if the copy in the VSL sucks, or the offer sucks, or I suck, or if its because the traffic was cold... or maybe all of the above...

    But honestly, this might be my last attempt. I've put everything I have into this, I've worked my ass off for years, I've clung to the dream. It just seems that no matter what I do, I can't seem to make anything work. I want to succeed so bad and I always believe its right around the corner... so I keep pushing and trying, only to be met with more disappointment and failure.

    I'll be surprised if any one reads this novel of a post, but if for some reason you did and you have any thoughts, I'll listen.
    Ben you definitely have not failed. Over a million gross in 2014 thats nuts. I was skimming through WF when reading your Novel i actually had to long in so I could respond with a quick note on a positive light.

    Buyer intelligence online has changed in the last few years in terms of what a lead to sale format can produce from clicks. (pages and funnels also have changed)

    keyword research in any field online must be done first, Buyer conversion stats for that keyword are more than critical before you put in 60 hr weeks.

    Have you tried merchant keywords com? A lot of time saving specific data there.

    Remember the amount of (buy buttons) you have online expands your chance to track and process data. Amazon has the best data for this that can be used for any other idea you have online, create the formula by understanding (only keywords with buyer intent sell.)-proven data.

    Go broad on a massive keyword with mega search and channel down into sub areas,a million monthly searches and over. (Keywords with buyer intent always) do not waste your time on small click threads.

    1.Traffic that is using buyer intent will find a buy button especially with a million plus searches a month.

    2. focus on keyword and wrap your idea around that word with level of intent on the conversion click through stat levels.

    3. You have these skills.

    4. Do every thing else after you find the keyword with the highest conversion trend.

    5. Failure is the only true sign of intelligence succeeding by the using of a process, this is how all science works...

    6. Best work time is between 6am and noon.

    "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently"- Henry Ford
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11431315].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
      Originally Posted by zeusamun View Post

      Over a million gross in 2014 thats nuts.
      While the OP was happy to mention the gross income, nowhere was net income stated.

      Keep in mind that it's possible to have gross income of $1M and losses of $1M, or even more on that income.

      Never forget the guy that when told he was losing $100 on every sale that he made, replied with, "That's OK. I'll make it up on volume."

      Cheers.
      Signature

      "He not busy being born, is busy dying." - Bob Dylan • "I vibe with the light-dark point. Heavy." - Words that Bob Dylan wishes he had written.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11431412].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author benjaminchurch44
        Thanks for the reply! I was profitable for a while. Made a total of about 100k profit or so before things strted to tank.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11436325].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Robert Bridgen
    Get yourself a facebook page load it out with information. Friend as many people in your niche as you can but also for the market. Get your wife and make videos so people can learn at home as well. Saving money for them a one time $97 hit. or even a monthly charge. Must be better for a family who has a couple of children. worth a try.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11431523].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    My start in online business was in 2014 selling t-shirts and driving traffic with FB ads. Over the next couple years I did over a million dollars in sales. But after cost of goods, labor and ad spend, I barely made a profit.
    You are doing something way wrong.

    If the above is true then you should have stuck with it and optimized your process.

    Now you are in the worst position a marketer can be in - desperation mode.

    Like the man said, "You've got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them."

    Brent
    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!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11432031].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kevinlam
    i have a same problem
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11432055].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author superowid
    Sorry to hear your struggle, Benjamin. I can really relate my self to the situation years ago. I have no more suggestion, because I could see people here already shared their "gold" to you and others as well.

    I just post here to thank everybody with their amazing advice for Benjamin. I can see that the "real forum soul" is still living in this thread. This is how it should be.

    So, thanks to you too, Benjamin, for making them come here. This is the best thread. Have a nice day!
    Signature

    Hard time to keep promoting business? Don't worry!
    JUST USE MY GRAPHIC & VIDEO SERVICES
    . . . . . Let me help cutting your ad production cost! . . . . .
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11432086].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author marks2424
    This happens to a lot of people, you say you have tried to sell several different things with no success and tried making your own product and it didn't go well either. Now you are trying to sell a dance thing. First I agree with many comments don't spend too much money. What I have to say is something is missing as with so many others you seem to grasp im well but like so many others something is mission. It could be your marketing approach, it could be your funnel, it could be almost anything but the biggest problem is not knowing what is wrong and if you don't know what is wrong you will never know how to fix it. I suggest going back over everything and looking at it closely and see if there is something that just isn't right. Again don't spend any more money for a while look over everything maybe have others look it over as well as someone might see the one thing you are doing wrong or the one thing you are not doing. As I said earlier many do this for years as well before something happens almost like a light going on in your head and you realize what you need to do. Nothing about im is easy and many never figure it out but others keep going at it learning more and more then as I said suddenly they just get it, they figured it out and make money from then on. Like someone else said, take a break get away from it for a little bit and come back with fresh eyes. Maybe read some IM information or webinars or something to get away for a while.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11432304].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author succeedonline789
    I'm very sorry to hear of your struggles. It's awesome you've made so many sales, but it sounds like you keep trying different things without any direction and guidance. I used to be like this too, but it's all about finding what resonance with you. I also highly suggest you get a good mentor if you can. I have found one and she's helped me find my path. If I can offer you any advice, it would be to find what resonates with you, stick with that until you see success, and get a mentor if you can that will guide you to success.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11432792].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author AndreiMorariu
    I'll be throwing my 2 cents here even though previous posts had golden advice.

    Firstly, you should step out from your business for a few days, maybe a week, get some time off. This would be to fresh up your mind by relaxing and coming back with a fresh and clear mindset.

    Secondly, as a general advice you should never invest a lot of money in traffic if you are not sure your sales funnel will convert properly making you a profit. The name of the game is TESTING. Here is what I would do:

    1) Market research aka see that there is demand in the marketplace for what you are trying to sell

    2) If there is demand, research who the 'big dogs' are in this market ( the people that are already successful selling a similar product to yours ) and do the following: buy their product and study their email-followup. By buying the product you get invaluable information about how they sell and what works and you can MODEL it accordingly.

    3) Build your sales funnel by modelling the successful people in your niche ( if they are using VSL on the sales letter, use VSL/ model what kind of freebie they are offering to get peoples email etc. ). Basically see their process and model it.

    4) Test, test, test.. Now the main hard work is done and only tweaking is needed to make your sales funnel from a good one to a great one. This can be done by sending limited amount of traffic to your sales funnel and studying the conversion rates/ open rates/ click-through rates etc. You'll see where your funnel is struggling and tweak accordingly.

    5) Scale traffic and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

    Dude, I am really sorry you are in a dark place right now. It happens to most of us and I know its hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I can guarantee that with your online experience and with a systematic approach to create a profitable funnel you will crush it.

    Hope this helps man, keep going at it! Have a nice day!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11433286].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author andrew kisilu
    Hey mate, I have seen mot of the answers here and honestly they have said it all...

    You need to take a step back and as Ryan says clear your mind .Don't rush at all .

    Once you are cooled down then approach it again a little different ,the best way is exactly how Tom has put it.Build your brand (so that people know,like and trust you). Have a fanbase that enjoys and respect associating with you. It will help you out massively in the long run.

    Taking a step back isn't giving up ,don't give up you have so far already and its the only way you loose .

    All the best mate.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11433340].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Clary McClam
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11434013].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
      Originally Posted by Clary McClam View Post

      I would recommend starting with something free and start branding yourself. I've struggled with making money online for about 8 years now until I stumbled upon a few trainings and free opportunities to start making money online. You can also get started with free traffic methods until you get to where you are making a substantial amount of money then start using paid advertising to scale your business and build your brand bigger. This has helped me out a lot with making my first full-time income online in just about 3 months. Check it out and maybe it'll help you as well.
      Reported as SPAM!
      Signature

      "He not busy being born, is busy dying." - Bob Dylan • "I vibe with the light-dark point. Heavy." - Words that Bob Dylan wishes he had written.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11434045].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author karlmay1980
    As someone that got into online business with tens of thousands in the bank as security and within 2 years I had nothing left, had lost my home & was nearly as much in debt as the life savings I had squandered. I know exactly how you feel. At the time my son was just 4 months old and I felt I had completely failed him.

    I did still believe though and I am thankful my wife supported me. It would have been so easy for her to go.

    What you have that I didn't is a million in sales, maybe running at a loss but still, at that time I would have been ecstatic if I had seen that sort of numbers in sales. I barely had a thousand dollars of sales in 2 years. If I had what you have then I would know I was doing some part right!

    People thought I was crazy continuing to try. I had to have 2 part-time jobs, one, cleaning on a building site, the other delivering takeaways. Every spare penny went on trying new things that usually failed.

    Eventually, things clicked and things worked... Very quickly I then could ditch the part-time work and just work full time online. Now nearly 8 years on I still do. I don't make millions, but I live a life free from restrictions, working when I want, from where I want. I see my kids every day and haven't missed a thing while they grow up. That's worth more than any money. One day I am sure the earnings will be what I originally dreamed of too but I won't put my families security at risk again chasing them.

    All I can say to you though is don't give up. Try and work out where your businesses seem to drain your money away. Much of your business is probably just fine. You seem to understand you can't do this for "FREE" on your own and need to invest. But you need to invest wisely. You are probably so close to making things a success and know so much more than most. I wish you every bit of luck, you deserve it!
    Signature
    Want To Make Your First £10,000 Online?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11434089].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author sscot
    The problem is, you've done marketing without knowing marketing. Marketing isn't what you see or what you feel or mostly what you believe as right. So, to find it out the right marketing model for an exclusive product or service, you must TEST, TEST and TEST. I see one con side inside your character (sorry if i'm wrong) You give up so quickly. That's very bad, you must stick with one method at least for 6 months and put your best effort on it. Don't follow paid adverting method at first if you aren't a millionaire since paid advertising is a disaster if you'd done wrong advertising. There're lots of free traffic generation methods out there. Stick with them and go ahead. YOU REALLY HAVE A FUTURE AS A SUCCESSFUL INTERNET MARKETER. I'm predicting it through the experience depends upon what I've seen), Even after 4 failures since 2014, you're still trying it (To be successful on the internet). That's a master feature of a successful internet marketer. Avoid your misdoing (instant give up) and go forward.... Good luck!
    Signature



    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11434435].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    Originally Posted by benjaminchurch44

    Hi Tom,

    I can't tell you how grateful I am for your response. I'm going to do this. I've taken the advice from others to step back and chill out for a while then approach a new strategy with a fresh mind.
    No worries, mate. Glad to help.

    Originally Posted by benjaminchurch44

    1. Why do you suggest developing a new brand? A new name, logo, branding, domain name, email addresses etc is a lot of work (and money), so I'd only want to do this if completely necessary. Wondering if I could just use the already existing brand...
    A new brand is more than likely essential.

    Nutshell: you need the right vehicle (brand) to efficiently tap into the correct niches and micro-niches. These niches and MCs will have weak entry points and possess fast growth combined with evergreen demand characteristics.

    If a real trick exists to IM then - no question - it's about targeting the right niches and MCs with the right brand. What I personally prefer to do is seek out sectors with explosive growth, but where the potential is evergreen.

    Now, in terms of costs? It depends how much you can do on your own. In all honesty, most of the branding work (at this stage) is intellectual and, therefore, free (if we overlook opportunity cost). Most of your time will be spent researching the market and designing the most efficient brand to succeed in the market.

    Monetary costs? We're just talking domain, logo, website design, social branding, decent hosting.

    Originally Posted by benjaminchurch44

    2. The free content we provide will probably be in the form of short videos... you mentioned focusing on these platforms, but didn't mention a website. Should these platforms be directing traffic back to our website where affiliate offers will be hosted? Or were you thinking that the website isn't as central and the affiliate offers could be presented straight from the youtube/instagram etc accounts?
    Stick to short videos on socials:

    - Instagram.
    - Twitter.
    - Facebook.
    - SnapChat.

    Publish longer videos on YouTube.

    Only direct-link to affiliate offers through your own website. You need to use those platforms above (and others) to feed your website. Think of your website as being your "money site." You'll earn money on those mentioned platforms (AdSense, Patreon, Merch, etc.) but your website is your centre for linking to affiliate landers.

    Now, why link only through your website?

    4 main reasons:

    - Some affiliate networks don't like/ allow direct linking on socials.

    - Some socials don't like it, either.

    - You can collect audience (social followers) on your website.

    - You can warm up potential leads by sending them, first, through your website (conversion optimisation).

    Originally Posted by benjaminchurch44

    3. Why snapchat? Seems like a bit of an outlier and neither my wife or I have no experience at all on there.
    It's insane for traffic.

    In 23 years, SC may well be the easiest growth platform that I've used. The traffic is immense. The functionality is ideal for content creators/ marketers. The users are engaged and loyal. Even newbies should have no trouble growing on SC.

    Tip: what you want to do is use SC to fuel your YouTube channel.

    Originally Posted by benjaminchurch44

    4. You suggested a google plus page... is that mainly for SEO reasons?
    Just been reading the news this morning. G-Plus is dead. So ignore that part of my post, because, in the last few hours, it's become outdated.

    All the best, mate!

    - Tom
    Signature

    I Coach: Learn More | My Latest WF Thread: Dead Domains/ Passive Traffic

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11435579].message }}
Avatar of Unregistered

Trending Topics