Have Things Changed On The Net? Is it now a Dead Horse?

Things are great and continue to get better each year.

Making money is easier than it ever has been.

Email isn't dead and it's not going anywhere. It still produces the highest engagement rate of any channel, and will for a long time to come.

How we use it has changed a bit - we need to deliver more value to increase trust.

That's a good thing.

If somebody tells you that X is dead, ask yourself; what are they trying to scare you into buying?

It's true that prospects become immune to certain marketing messages.

And you need to adapt. Or perish.

How is it you post about $12k/month profit last summer and now ask if things are 'dead'?



It doesn't 'compute'...

Good catch by Kay. I'll give my thoughts for those who may be interested.

When I see the term newsletter, I think a routine email with news that comes out every week or month. I think that was the most basic early 'lead magnet' there was and I do agree that a 'sign up' for my newsletter approach is outdated in most situations- for example, if you're well know with a following.

Lead magnets and targeting have advanced to a far beyond newsletters.

There is no chance that email becomes defunct by 2020. People have been saying this for 10+ years. Email was going to be replaced by social media and/or text message marketing. It hasn't happened yet. Every adult I know needs email to sign up for basic services like TV or phone. As long as companies require emails, people will have emails.

With that said, the advancement of social media platforms has changed how/where companies interact with customers/potential customers.

I'd argue that people are more inclined to use the internet for information and software. The problem is, the internet is flooded with free information which makes it slightly harder to stand out or to get a paying customer. SAAS, on the other hand, has become wildly popular over the last few years and will continue to do so.

I doubt there is anyone that has access to the internet and doesn't read websites in 2019.

However, I would say that I'm in the group of people that don't buy info products anymore. My first decent online success sold an ebook priced at over $97. It was a system on 'how to do' something. I'm not sure if it would be successful today. And it certainly wouldn't sell for $97+.

Most of what I buy is 'how to do' something like Facebook targeting in the form of video courses. Or software/services that help me do something.

I'm sure there are people out there that sell info products successfully. I'm not one of them. I think the sustainable, 'low hanging fruit' are physical products, services and 'how to do' something courses.

Just my 2 cents.

Since 2000 - 2010 a lot of things have changed. The Wild Wild West Days of Internet Marketing are long gone. We used to discuss and implement different ways to build and market online businesses.


These days a lot of those online businesses are Fortune 1,000 Companies or have been sold to fortune 500 companies. The end result is a Corporation Mindset and 2018 or there about started the Digital Agency Businesses.


The Wild Wild West Days > Fortune 500/1000 Companies > Digital Agency


Nothing is dead.. just changed in ways to keep up with the changing times.

For as long as there are People, they will always need solutions to their problems (etc., etc.) Entertainment (etc.) ... And for as long as there is The Internet ... There will always be a medium for that.

2C

People market on the Internet for a whole range of different products or services. The response people get will depend entirely upon what they are offering and how they are doing it.

What's changing is the popularity of video and audio which is growing at an exponential rate. Now only does this allow people to connect with their audience better on a personal level, it gives the author the initial opportunity to do exactly that because people are less inclined to just read.

What that translates to is; the anonymous Joes who sit and fire out emails pretending to be other people to sell ebooks - their days are numbered.

The future is about connecting, being forthcoming, honest and valuable as the person we are.


Then with that rule adhered to, the dividends we receive aren't just finanical....

Which is what will happen with these guys:

Same shit - different day!

Brent

Maybe your list is old and irrelevant?

It's easier to make money now than ever. Yes, the competition is fierce, but so are there way more users of the internet.

It sounds like you're just used to the way it was and haven't really adapted.

This industry changes so fast. We all need to change with it or we will be obsolete.

Someone told me 10 years ago that my businesses will never work because of a high competition
Lol
Now we have more than 2000+ clients worldwide and more than 10businesses online

Impossible? Yes only if you limit yourself because of others

till human marries and giving birth to babies than internet will not change, may be some improvement only.

You must think outside the box! For instance using Amazon Alexa to build a skill for your huge subscriber base so it gets added into its daily news updates people use around the globe. I found emails to be great however your a brand/individual you should be everywhere your customers or email lists are i.e facebook pixels leading them into a free product. You may simple of lost trust.

The above is just a few samples of what I think could work for you.

Doesn't seem that people are inclined to reply to mass emails unless it is addressed personally to them. You need to provide some trustworthy links and valuable content for users to engage in a different manner like a poll.

I like to recall that the one's who really made the money during the California Gold Rush were those who sold the picks and shovels.

The story used to be that more and more people were discovering the internet. Now it's almost as ubiquitous as radio and TV.

As long as folks are interested in learning the ropes on how to best use the internet to their advantage, they will be buy courses to show them how. If you have a good product and can afford to advertise you will eventually succeed.

You need to take a different approach.

Way years back people use to say that email was going to die. Maybe, but today still works. Not as five years ago because social media has opt in into the internet marketing sphere.

Websites are not going to die either because it gives credibility to a business. If we think about it's quite odd purchasing from someone who hasn't a site. All known business have one. Also, a website helps you get exposure so you can get leads.

These are tools for getting exposure so you can get leads that people are using it through all these years. The things that have changed are the strategies.

Now social media it has been a powerful tool for advertising and get leads. But you need to get it right. One of the things to get it done is to create incredible content and much better if it is video. Creating content that people what actually want to see, something entertaining or informative that solves their problems and answer their questions. ask: What can we create that our perfect customer would actually love to see? These help to get leads.

Thing is, we gotta consider what is worse here in any kinda DEAD HORSE scenario.


We talkin' 'bout the same dead horse, been passed around ovah an' ovah to zilcho effect?


Or sum random frickin' chancer jus' been slaughtered who figures ... hell, yeah -- for sure ima up for that might pass for "still alive" loser deal?


Stoopidest thing 'bout dead horses is how they a meme whinnies true ovah an' ovah.


So I would wanna seek out always this kinda quadruped truth, whack it outta its slumber kinda 180 degrees, see where it bolts.

Yeah it's dying for us little guys really. I started a forum but these days people would rather be on Reddit or Facebook.


Google's algorithms just mean that the big guys get bigger.


Thank goodness I invested all my previous online income. Now my website income is down to 15% of my total non-day job income.

Maybe if your income depends on chasing Google traffic.

As far as I can tell, business is booming...for people who have control of their traffic.

I gave up chasing search traffic years ago, but then, I can see around corners.

Brent

Listen to that Mick guy He's been through more internet alleged booms and busts than a '49er, LOL! Your skills determine your success. Be all in, and generous, and like Mick and me, you will succeed.

Because more people are understanding the earning potential of internet marketing and are also immune to the usual tactics used a few years ago.

They are also more online saavy and selective these days.

They don't just look at the sites but apps and headlines through their phones.

Before judging it was worth their time let alone money -

to browse through the content.

Let alone buy what you and others recommend.

I think that the from a marketing perspective some of yesterdays techniques are either obsolete or less effective .

The buying habits and likes of the modern day consumer has changed .I think that email marketing is a good tool but it is not at the fore front. These days people watch youtube videos or read blogs and make purchasing decisions.I have seen people drive traffic to landing pages on twitter and collect emails and make sales.

Looks like you got in when the iron was still hot. Yea, things have changed a lot. Its tougher than ever. I know that much...

Yes, things have changed.

But some people are still doing VERY well with an email list . . . for example, I recently bought an IM course for over $1,000, and it comes with a private FaceBook Group for buyers, and that group today has 706 members !!

I bought that course from a webinar promoted by an email list. I was one of the first buyers, but that was only 6 months ago, so not a bad income for 6 months, for someone working with his own webinar on his own list and other people's lists (and of course he's promoted a different webinar every week since then, so the above is only a small fraction of his profits).

Chris

E-Mail list selling or using that to promote will surely die!!! As the email services are becoming smarter and better every hour.

But email as a service is going to be better and will have more people using it.

Yeah i see social media is huge now compared to the old long sales letter and email blasts.

Youtube.....just not for me.

I remember when articles were a superb way to bring traffic in. Now it's dead.

Ranking top of google was so easy. Then it got harder and harder. Now, it seems to favour big companies only.

Also, another point no one discusses here....The economy 2000-2007 was a lot better than it was after 2008 till today. Money is a lot tighter and a lot more scared these days.

I was surprised to read the article that said people simply do not read emails anymore. I also talked to bunch of business people last week and they all said the same. "who the hell reads email anymore.."? I was like ..Me. In fact a few of these people said they hardly go on the net anymore except for amazon, paying bills, etc.. Again it was a little surprising to me

Any way thank you for the constructive replies. That is what a forum is for. The old 90/10 rule.

YouTube and general video media, needn't be considered as showing your soul on camera.

We've naturally got the option to use voice alone, complimenting some relevant images and screen captures.

If we wish to evolve from there (which is sometimes inevitable), we can introduce ourselves as talking head in a corner. Green / blue screens being an added bonus.

Evolving more, we can do a full screen talking head.

Evolving again, we can do multipe cam / angle full screen talking heads alternated with screen captures. A trick is to show the monitor (in the environment, if it's a nice studio / office), then the screen capture itself.

That's not to say, those formats are everyones favourite. Ultimately, people want to receive the information in the most compelling way, in accordance with their preferences, but that covers the steps and options we might consider as creators.


As mentioned, the process of evolving video media tends to be inevitable since it can pay dividends with regards to encouragament and confidence. It often works as a perpetual, productive cycle.

It's not dead, just things that used to work aren't as effective.

The thing its that its get way more competitive day by day and people they want more and more value as they seen so many scams etc . You need to diferentiate yourself and to bring as much value as you can

Internet marketing has changed since 2010 now the online competition is higher. Back in 2010 is was easier to rank on google but now you have to work a lot to get your keywords ranked.

nowadays making money is much more simple. we need to provide more value to increase trust.

If you can string words that hit a nerve, you'll no longer have a problem writing your own paycheck.

HA!

Reminds me of 1986, long before www, when someone posted at a usenet group, that email was dead.

Who has given up on web site, Internet for information and software? You are talking to the wrong people.

It is the BEST time in the last 35 years to start an ONLINE and especially a web based business.

If your horse is dead, it is because of the rider. Not the track he was running on.

GordonJ

PS. The BEST time ever to start an online business.

I have just come back to IM since a hiatus that started in 2012. I am eager to find out what is new.

Internet marketing and make money online are not dead. They are really competitive, if anything, and growing in popularity.

YouTube is not dead.

Affiliate marketing is not dead.

Email marketing is not dead.

Blogging is not dead.

We just have to adapt and change. I've been doing this full-time for about 10-years now and my biggest takeaway is that we have to adapt and evolve with the time.

Technology changes. People do not.

Our strategies may change from time to time, but that is okay. Just my two cents.

How long of a gap did you have since talking with your email subscribers last? Also do you just promote or do you provide value? Also as far as your opt in rate is the trend dead now?


It is a different crowd then say ten years ago but there is more money today online then there ever was! Today its all about providing that value up front and asking for the sale later. People catch on and you had a lot of marketers that were simply promoting junk. Today people want to know why they should pay for your services or buy something from you.

1% of something is better than nothing

I think it depends on your market. If you are marketting to 30+ year olds than e-mail is a great option.

Under 30s are using email less and less. In fact under 20 don't use it at all, I've had to be creative in how I connect with them.

Of course this is from my experience as I work with a wide range of ages.

It could be the exception and not the rule.

Never dead just have to be creative and actually target your audience with unique products or services. Marketing is key.

As someone that was hanging out on this forum years back when it was free there was so much money just waiting, all you had to do was cash the checks. Between promoting other products, mainly clickbank, writing some ebooks and developing web scripts, myself and a few friends made a killing. We had scripts that skirted the rules on search engines and were getting top placement on google fast. Of course googlebots started figuring out what we were doing and the sites would get removed after a few months, by that time we already were laughing and flush with cash. So we'd burn those sites, buy new domains, change the scripts and do it again.

Hell, I remember way back when search engines were more or less stupid, you could cram keywords onto your page and set the fonts to the same color as the background and search engines would eat that up and give you great rankings.

The truth is, anyone smarter than average that applies themselves to IM can and will succeed, study the masters. I never once bought any so-called guru's course, I did something better - I studied their sales copy, line by line, learning what each sentence made me think, made me feel, made me desire. - that was my IM training.

IM is better than ever! BUT, things have changed and they will continue to change.


We don't travel by horse and buggy anymore.
We don't develop film anymore.
We don't have answering machines anymore.


You get the idea.


We now have better technologies, much more automation, and new opportunities that did not exist before.


-Scott

The truth is the internet is extremely dynamic. Terms on most sites that might be critical to your business success can change overnight, and your business can die right there and then. I have had three business online over the years that were making me a lot of money and are all dead now, from changes in my autoresponders policies or the platforms I was driving traffic from, and affiliate platforms I worked with. Email marketing still works good, but you have to keep in touch with your prospects or it will dry up.

Ah, the good ol' days when FB was ripe for the picking. Now they want you to pay.

I started in 2008-9 part-time and 2010 onwards full-time.

Yes a lot has changed.

First in terms of how Google ranked sites through their multiple algorthirm updates.

And secondly the rise of social media, in particular Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.

Same for websites with many more choices for blogs, landing pages, salesletters and membership sites.

And mobile apps has also become a worldwide phenomenon.

Interesting tropic, i'd like also to hear so,e advice

I started IM in 1997 and had about 18 good years out of it.

These days it's a very difficult game.

10 years ago and today, that's a huge gap right there. IM has been evolving, the same is true with other marketing methods. You will also need to evolve and adapt to the current trend, that's the only way.

You are asking people who still are in the Make Money Online niche if make money online still works?

What are they going to tell you - no? (so don't buy anything I sell). The game has changed.

Look at how dead this forum is compared to a decade ago. The diehards will tell you thats all the fault of Freelancer. It isn't. Very few marketing forums have not seen a significant online decline (thats not to say FL didn't have their contribution). With every year that passes the populace gets more savvy and technically advanced. Who but a newb gives their primary email address to a MMO website anymore? So of course you are talking to an empty audience? secondary email addresses seldom get read.

More importantly the little tricks that were never going to last WSO type - make money online strategies - have with each year closed. technology grows. It happens with all new frontiers. For years there are little loopholes and niches that can still be filled in but much later as the frontier matures the gaps get closed and slapping up a website no longer means anything.

To be honest, even 7 years ago I would pay a little bit of coin for a good strategy. Its been at least that since I have had any need to. the web grows in knowledge published every year and I wouldn't buy anything from anyone in this thread offering either coaching or a pdf.

No insult to anyone in this thread but the value proposition is not there for the kind of info they have and I say that as a course seller from a few years back. I couldn't now sell training for what I sold back then. In good conscience its all out there for free now.

In the affiliate world - the easy monetization systems ALWAYS grow if they are any good and then they ALWAYS lower the income or up the requirement for participation when they do . It happened with adwords, its happened and is happening with Amazon affiliates, That's the world and how it works.


You want to make money online today? Up your game with programing, get inventory funds to sell a REAL product or offer a killer service - something that makes you REALLY stand out not the illusion that your wordpress site has really really good unique content. the odds of that are vanishingly small as the web grows. Most marketers just kid themselves otherwise.



You can still make money in the affiliate space but be on the lookout for new opportunities because as they age they will inevitably change toward lower income.

Ignore the shills here....they are a dime a dozen. You are in fact correct. The damage is permanent, the well is dry, the party is over, the last dance has been had. Centralization, advertising fatigue, advertising blockers, the list goes on.

Anyone that says otherwise is either too fresh, too foolish, or attempting to play you for a fool. Save your capital for better opportunities.

I know what I say is heresy around here, but truth hurts and is often misconstrued as being sour grapes or seditious to the "make money online gods".

Anyone with real experience knows that what I say is true. Real, established companies barely turn a positive ROI with their digital marketing/advertising efforts. After all, I work for one of these large corporations. Tech giants struggle to make a profit.

Joe schmo wanna-be guru here doesn't make more than a freshly minted college graduate. But on a forum, anyone can be pretend to be anybody. Reminds me of Alexa Smith...ahem. I've said too much.

Things have definitely changed but nothing is dead. I think the time when you could just do anything online and convince people to buy any course is gone. Now people are more enlightened and can't be scammed like way back.



Email marketing is still the best as far as conversion is concerned. You just need to know what people are responding to these days. Now there is social media ads and all that. Nothing like that pre-2010.



Things change, you just have to change with it.

Just checking in again; we're still good. The net is what you make of it; it gives you, whatever you put into it, business-wise.

These days on the net.You see a lot of blogs. People making videos on youtube. Sharing videos on Facebook .Facebook has changed to before you had more contact with friends. Then there is Twitter and Instagram. I don't think instagram was around back then. Now a days people use squeeze pages to collect emails. Not back then.

You better let Matt Furey know that email will die next year.

The web is always changing and you better be ready to adapt every year with new innovations as they come. The email marketing boom of the early 2000's has been replaced with the digital and social media boom. This is not to say email marketing isnt still viable or that a quality email list doesn't still have value. It does...Just not in the spammy low quality "buy my email list" way of the 90's/early 2000's.

The internet is not dead it is just evolving. Infographic, Pay Per Click, You Tube, text message advertising, and Social Media is where you can find plenty of customers. If you want survive you can not be a one trick pony.

Have you considered the possibility your conversation rate had dropped due your emails being marked as spam more often, have your checked your mail server IP(s) on blacklists?

They're changing for sure, but for the better imo

HOLD ON!

Everything you've read here above is NOT true and, well it IS true as well...

Yes, of course the Internet has changed, as well has the World! The Internet changes day-by-day as well as the technology and the people using it. And, it's only that much that it changes. No more. No less.

What's really changing is the people, their mentality and their values which is nowadays constantly manipulated by the mass media. Then you put powerful communication technologies and social platforms in the hands of the people who are being socially engineered and in the middle of a worldwide revolution which is connecting potentially each and everyone of us to each and everyone directly wherever we are on this planet.

The only thing that's not changed is human nature. And, so besides using modern powerful marketing technology tools, what will never change as well is Marketing and Sales. And, that means it is the MESSAGE that you propagate that will DO ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.

So, when you keep that in mind, the only truth is in the message, the RIGHT MESSAGE, from the beginning to the end, in front of the RIGHT AUDIENCE-and of course taking action about it-you can never fail whether it is 20 or so years ago when it all really started, or right now or even in 20 years.

At the end, once you have that knowledge and start thinking about it you might realize that there can never be any kind of saturation for anything which has a crowd in constant need for what you want to offer, because once you are connected to the world, a new customer is born every second... Markets are larger and easier to reach than ever for anyone willing to will if you see what I mean!

The only obstacle in reality is YOUR MINDSET! (and listening to those who say there's less opps)

Andy

its the way you do it. you need to adapt new trends of market. analyze , regroup and present.
2010 things cant work now , also if you dont intract with your email list for a while then cosider it dead . and now warm it again.

LEVERAGE Socialmedia is pretty simple stuff....
Create videos is very easy and you do not need to put your face in front of the camera.

Create a Brand of you (in person) + relationships = $$$$$$$

I really don't think that in 2020 (next year) nobody will read emails. I think that now even more people are using emails and it's growing. Just look at yourself, do you still read emails and use them to communicate? I am.

I see that things are changing, what worked in 5 years back, may not work now or it need just few changes and to adapt. But business like email marketing, affiliate marketing, creating and selling own digital products won't die. As I said, maybe some adaptation required, maybe some changes needed to be done in order to get the same results (5% optin rate).

Don't worry about such things, just try different approach if same strategy doesn't work anymore.

I don't think it is dead. It has always been about the quality of relationship with your fans

I was doing tremendous things with IM route back 2000-2010 Then sort of went into different things for some time before venturing back.

Internet is not dead just evolving everything is now geared towards YouTube, Text Messaging, and social media. Times change marketers have to Adopt to survive.

I love the way Internet Marketing has evolved in last 10 years. I started way back in 2009 and was fairly successful with niche based websites. In those days, $2000 a month used to feel like $10000 a month since I had no real expenses and was saving almost 70% of my earnings.
Nowadays, things have got more interesting. I am making much more money but my expenses are much more as compared to 10 years back.
Things have changed for the better atleast for me.

I understand what you're saying. But I disagree. It's all the same. It's a bit more competitive that's all. And no more buying quality cheap traffic from solid PPC sites. That's all over. Or if I'm wrong let me know right now (pm me). But most other stuff is the same as it was before. Anything you pay attention to grows, so if you work on your stuff long enough it will start to gain some traction. It takes time though as now you sort of have lay out tons of astroturf. That's something you never had to do before. It's just a lot more competitive out there.

Now a day make much money way is very simple. Just we need to increase trust.

This was an inevitable outcome as markets become more sophisticated.

Those who know the deepest needs and wants of their prospects will shine and succeed even more whereas the followers who stagnate and put out cookie cutter messages will fall behind.

IM is doing much much better than 10 or 20 years ago. More consumers online, more stuff to sell, better technologies etc.

With all the tools and training available, the barrier to entry is lower than ever before. The flip side to that is increased competition and market sophistication.


To stand out from the crowd you need to come up with your own identity and USP instead of following the herd.


More emphasis should be put on understanding the true, deep desires of your target audience and giving them what they truly want. Businesses that provide real value will thrive, and the lazy (minded) marketers will fall behind.

It has become more competitive, that's for sure. Everybody and their aunt wants to make money from their laptop. Which, while being great for the end consumer, has made things tougher for marketers. Or, more real, shall we say.

The amount of value you need to provide to create trust has grown around 10 times. Customers are becoming more internet savy, the simple infomercial landing page where you are promised the world for only $39.95 has drastically smaller chance of making profit today. Try selling a low value product to a millenial, usually they can smell it a mile away. Kids grow up with tablets in their faces and learn these things quickly. So there are fewer opportunities for an easy buck as there was back in the old days.

But I believe that is good news for the true hustlers out there. If you deliver, you will still get results, maybe even more so, because success seems to get concentrated into fewer and fewer entities.

It's just becoming more of a 'winner takes all' type of game.

Internet marketing like any other business is changing day out and day in.
If you want to master it, all you have to do is to keep testing and keeping what's working while throwing away what's not.
I wish you good luck and more success!

...or listening to people who don't know the difference between an Amazon affiliate link and an S3 PDF link? Or who tell people a landing page goes "somewhere near the end" of a sales funnel?

Do you mean "those" people?

I am sure people are still making money but INMHO some methods are dead. Read this prophecy by Mike Filsaime written several yrs ago http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php...11063748937718

Branch out to new opportunities and most importantly new methods. What worked in the past, may not be as effective today. Test X 3. And do your homework.

For example: I had Master Resale Rights to products that were sitting on my disk. I slapped a one page letter and made a leap to a safelist. Long story short, I crafted a new income stream allocating my "unused time slots" (read: wasted time), to money in the pot. And it roughly takes me 15 minutes a day. Just an example.

Its pretty much the same rule . If you can provide value and solve people problem , you will easily make money online.

Its getting harder and more competitive these day than 10 years ago , because a lot of people now are getting smarter and asking for more value.

With the growing market , i think its still possible to get nice revenue , but you gotta build real business and services for your audience .

This place is no-where near as busy as it was 10 years ago.

Wow! Interesting tropic, i'd like also to hear so, that advice.
Thank you.

absolutely no way email is gonna be defunct by 2020, pple still wake up and check their inboxes in the mornings...problem is, if u get an average of 100 emails per day, you are gonna delete the ones whose headlines don't grab your attention.

with 7 billion pple on planet earth, the current 3 billion that are active users of the internet might be experiencing information overload fatigue. But looking on the bright side, there's another 3 billion still to come...so the horse still have a few more furlongs to run before its dead.

You can still make money online. I witnessed a $39k-plus affiliate commission only months ago for someone.

Interesting tropic, i'd like also to hear so,e advice