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Few questions/obeservations from a IM newbie

by xIllumination
22 replies
Hey there,

I have been reading a lot on this and other forums for past few weeks and after going thought a lot of different ways of how to make money online I have few questions to which I can't seem to find the answer for.

There a really A LOT guides on how to make money online, where people tell you how they made 15k or more $ a month.

One of the guides I got for me is AffiloBlueprint, which seems to be great (I am yet not done with the whole guide), but the question I can't find the answer to, why do people like Mark Ling show to others how they make money online?

If you are making as he says 20k$ a month, why show it to others, even for a price of 197$ that he is selling for (taking AffiloBlueprint as an example since that's the one I have)?

Wouldn't the market get over saturated with it and he would create competition for himself by showing others ?


So I was discussing with a friend of mine about it, and thought about it from 2 different perspectives:

1. The way they teach you how to make money now worked in the past, and now it does not anymore, so it's time to show it to the public and make money that way.

2. The way they make money is by showing people a way which COULD make you money but they make money only by teaching you how to do the other method.

I could be, and I probably am wrong about this, but it seems to me that the really good way to make money is by selling a product on how to make money online.

I hope I am not too septic or negative, it is just very hard for a beginner to understand why and how things work. There are literally a million guides on how get make money online and most of them don't work.

There is too much information actually, because when I am done reading something and then go find information about it if it really works it usually doesn't and it is kind of discouraging.

Anyway, I love this forum, there is so much info here which is as I just said also a problem , you never get to start with something since you always find something "new" or something "better" .

Thank you for reading.
#newbie
  • Profile picture of the author craigc1980
    Yes your right there are alot of people that make money off showing others how they do it.

    Im sure some of it gets saturated but i look at it in a different way.

    Most people or at least 75% of people that buy these ebooks or products on how to make money never really go forth with it.

    I used to be one of those people.

    I mean i would buy a product for $100, look at the first part and be disappointed because i didnt think i could do it so i moved on to the next.

    See alot of people look for the easy way out. The simple programs that dont involve much work.

    In my opinion , the more complex the program is the more stable you will be.

    Taking the action is the biggest step for alot of people.

    So i dont think saturation is too much of an issue.

    Not just that but just think about how many new marketers start a business every day.

    i would say in the thousands or maybe even the millions.

    Take this forum for instance.

    There are a ton of new people that sign up here every day.

    Heres the reason i know this.

    I used to own a traffic exchange called windy city hits not too long ago and have alot of friends in the traffic exchange industry.

    Just the amount of people that come through traffic exchanges are new.

    Now most people that are new in marketing come through Traffic Exchanges and forums because there free.

    They are most likely directed to traffic exchanges and marketing forums because its simple and they dont know much about anything else and its a great place to learn.

    I do alot of social media and just the amount of people i talk to everyday that are fresh to marketing amazes me.

    Craig
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    • Profile picture of the author MarkAndrews IMCopywriting
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author craigc1980
        Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting View Post

        Bit of clever self promotion going on there ^, directing people to your signature without really addressing the OP's question.

        :rolleyes:
        Self promoting. I answered a question the best to my knowledge. If you feel that way then how about you answer the mans question.

        If i wanted to self promote people to my sig, i wouldnt take out 20 minutes to write what i did.

        Sorry if this offends you. Glad you know whats going through my head.

        I like mind readers

        Craig
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      • Profile picture of the author avani
        Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting View Post

        Bit of clever self promotion going on there ^, directing people to your signature without really addressing the OP's question.

        :rolleyes:
        From what I understand: the OP asked why people would give away there $20K+/mo strategies away for a one-time price of $197 - he was curious about why the people revealing these strategies didn't fear saturation. craigc1980 answered that question by saying that such authors very likely rely on the fact that most people who buy the books don't take action on them, and therefore the danger of saturation isn't really there.

        I thought that post was a fairly direct reply to the question, and I don't even see any "pointing to sig" (as far as I'm concerned - mentioning something related isn't the same as saying, hey, check it out)...

        My two cents.
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        • Profile picture of the author craigc1980
          Originally Posted by avani View Post

          From what I understand: the OP asked why people would give away there $20K+/mo strategies away for a one-time price of $197 - he was curious about why the people revealing these strategies didn't fear saturation. craigc1980 answered that question by saying that such authors very likely rely on the fact that most people who buy the books don't take action on them, and therefore the danger of saturation isn't really there.

          I thought that post was a fairly direct reply to the question, and I don't even see any "pointing to sig" (as far as I'm concerned - mentioning something related isn't the same as saying, hey, check it out)...

          My two cents.
          Thanks Avani

          Appreciate your input on the post.

          Some people just like to jump to conclusions.

          We all have our ways into reading into things.

          No hard feelings.

          Craig
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    • Profile picture of the author ExRat
      Hi xIllumination,

      Sure there are some people doing the things you describe. And of course, it's unlikely you're going to get someone's latest and greatest earning secrets without paying a premium.

      But conversely, many experts won't sell what they're working on that's red hot because they might want to make sure it works, before creating a blueprint - so they sell last month's method that is proven.

      There will always be people selling outdated, misleading info. There's no avoiding it. And it's healthy to carry a fair amount of cynicism and skepticism around with you - just don't let it overwhelm you and blind you to the fact that amongst all of the info out there, there IS gold. Not every technique dies quickly - some last a lifetime.

      But if you still want to seek out the best info available, you need to master wading through a lot of stuff in order to -

      a) recognise and quickly reject the rubbish

      b) recognise and quickly absorb the gold

      More importantly, as quickly as possible, start conducting your own tests and compiling your own findings.

      One of the reasons that there are people out there selling decent info is because they are building a business. By doing the initial maths and asking why someone would sell X amount of info for a low X amount, you are missing the big picture.

      Once they have built a list of buyers who are satisfied that they got value for money, there is a whole world of leverage that can be applied to that list of satisfied buyers - so the initial sums won't add up.

      You just created buzz by word of mouth for affiloblueprint by mentioning it here. Did Mark gain that type of buzz on the first day he sold his product?

      Or is it an example of the long term benefits of branding and positioning yourself in a market? At a certain (tipping) point, the seller can back off from promoting himself so much, and the buzz from happy customers and committed affiliates will do that for him, so that he can move on to expanding in a different direction.

      Hi Mark,

      Bit of clever self promotion going on there ^, directing people to your signature without really addressing the OP's question.
      Lol. A politician's answer to the question.

      Q How would your party solve this issue?

      A By doing the opposite to the current incumbents who have failed to do this, failed to do that, ruined this, ruined that etc...
      Signature


      Roger Davis
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  • Profile picture of the author Sissy76
    Hi xIllumination,

    Welcome to the WF!
    Look, there are all kinds of people out there selling all kinds of products.
    Some are good quality products which focus on long term strategies which will see your online business last. Others are flash in the pans, which may make you some money in the short term, but won't last too long.

    Some people sell products on methods they've never tried or would never use, simply because they can. The make money online market can easily be taken advantage of because of they're usually quite green.

    It's not particularly nice, but it does happen. People get ripped off in the online world, same as people get ripped off in the offline world.

    I'm not familiar with the product you mention, but it's also quite well reported that most people who buy IM or MMO products don't do anything with that information. They don't take action and implement any of the strategies they've read about, so the threat of competition is low. Or so they say. I don't know how true those claims are, I don't know of any studies etc which have recorded the results, someone else on this forum may though.

    There's a lot of hype about IM & MMO. Some people think that you can just sit at your computer, buy a few eBooks, read half of them, and hey presto, you're rich! Doesn't work like that.

    There are as many ways to make money online as there are offline, however the internet has information on pretty much all of them at your fingertips, so it's easy to become overwhelmed.

    Don't worry about buying the latest product. Just search on this forum & you'll find answers on just about every way there is to make money, both online and offline. If not, post a question, people are very helpful here.

    The only investment I'd recommend without question is the War Room membership. You'll learn all you need in there. Be careful though, you can still become overwhelmed, so have a look around and start planning your strategy, then take action.

    Best of luck!

    Sissy
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  • Profile picture of the author xIllumination
    Hi again,

    thank you for the great answers.

    I am aware that some of the techniques which people sell do indeed work and that most people who buy them don't even try them out.

    From my personal point of view I can even understand why someone who bought a product don't go trough with it.

    As I mentioned in my original post, the problem is getting started actually. Every forum I read all tips I get is usually "just start something!", which is totally true.
    You can't only read about stuff without actually trying it, but as said previously it's not easy to find something to start with.

    There are so many ways to try something out, and when I would actually start something, how will I know if it really works ? What is a time frame to say "ok this didn't work.. move on"?

    I am in no hurry to be honest, but it seems that every day a new method or a way pops up and the methods day before are already old.

    But as you said ExRat, there are methods which work for a long long time to come, these I am trying to figure out .

    Well I am at the start of it all, and that's always the hardest part. It is quite a challange to figure it all out, which is also quite fun too.
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    • Profile picture of the author IJCGlobal
      I find it difficult to believe the vast majority of these claims, but I do believe that there are many in the business who are able to make these amounts of money.

      The top internet marketers show others how they make money online in varying degrees, depending on the individual prospect's need and desire to succeed online. They will first of all entice the potential prospect and then "drip feed" more and more products, tools and resources to them on a regular basis. In my experience, I have been fed the $7 followed by the $17 ... and so on up to $197 and beyond ... but I was always left hanging, still with a vital "piece of the jigsaw" missing!

      I fully understand your skeptisism and confusion here and know through personal experience that it IS very hard for a beginner to understand why and how things work in this business. All I can advise is that once you DO find a successful "mentor" or Internet marketer, look very closely at exactly what and how they are going about THEIR business. Take Your lead from that and you Will find Success! Your mindset is also vitally important ... You will only succeed through effort and a positive mental attitude about YOU!

      Information overload is a HUGE problem and one which you MUST stop "dead in its tracks ... ASAP!" To avoid the problems you mention with regards to when you're done reading something and then go find information about it if it really works, you need to focus on ONE goal and ONE goal ONLY! Only when you have achieved your desired end result should you consider looking at your next target.

      I hope this has been of use to you and that it will help you to focus on the most important matters on your journey to success.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jared Alberghini
      Originally Posted by xIllumination View Post

      Every forum I read all tips I get is usually "just start something!", which is totally true.
      In my opinion, the "Just Take Action!" advice that everyone spews is complete rubbish.

      Hey! I've always wanted to be an astronaut, but screw learning, preparing, and educating myself about it, I'm just going to build my own rocket, strap myself in, light the fuse, and just see what happens.

      I'm sure I'll be fine, I just read a thirty two page tutorial on how to build my own rocket and go to space.

      I'm going to get there QUICK too, because instead of the recommended 10,000 bottle rockets, I'm using 20,000, so I figure that will get me there twice as fast!

      I'll let you know how it went if and when I return to earth. :rolleyes:

      Here are a few steps to follow:

      #1. Prepare Yourself.

      #2. Remember that People Buy Dreams - Scrupulous marketers sell dreams you don't want to wake up from, and careless marketers sell nightmares. It's up to you to decide which dream you would prefer (to buy OR sell).

      #3. Listen to Roger (ExRat).

      Jared

      P.S. Mark, at first I thought you were complimenting the second poster, since I've watched you do the same quite often, until I saw the sarcastic smiley. :confused: Your one liner post is just too ironic.
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  • Profile picture of the author jazbo
    All you have to be aware of is that 90% of the time, those big money claims are untrue.

    For the other 10% its a combination of:

    1. They are making the money and are making more sharing the idea.
    2. They made their money and are selling the idea on now its saturated.
    3. They could make the money if they continue and their projections are right.
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  • Profile picture of the author xIllumination
    Hey,

    I didnt really mean by "just do something" to just go and try something without preparing yourself first and hoping for the best.

    More like, do something at some point. I could easly keep on reading of endless possibilites on how to start but at some point I think I should start with something

    As few of you already mentioned, it is important to be able to tell a difference between real and fake stuff, and this is for me personally the hard part.

    Without any expiriance in IM at all, it very easy to get lost with the inormation overload out there. I still have to find out who are the "gurus" and who are only claming to be.
    Then I think it would be much easier to learn from them and see how it goes.

    I never intended and still dont intend to find a quick make me rich kind of program.
    I find really quite interesting all this information gathering, just wondering for how long I should gather and what should I gather before making my first move
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  • Profile picture of the author Jared Alberghini
    Hi xIllumination,

    I apologize for my sarcastic rant, it was not directed towards you.

    I just get frustrated with the people who copy/paste the advice "Just take action" and don't follow up with HOW TO take appropriate action.

    What exactly do you need help with to get started?

    What are your plans so far?

    Have you selected the niche you want to tackle for your first project?

    What research have you done in the niche? Are there affiliate products you can promote in the niche? Do you have enough knowledge in the niche to put together your own product?

    Find a problem people are having, and provide the solution in the form of either an affiliate product or your own product.

    Where are you at with technical skills so far? Do you have any free blogger type blogs setup? Do you have a domain and hosting? Know anything about web design/development?

    What do you know so far about driving traffic to your web properties? Have you tested any of the many many techniques that are out there yet?

    Jared
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  • Profile picture of the author xIllumination
    [B]Hey,

    no worries about the rant I know what you ment.

    What I am thinking about at the moment is affiliate marketing, like Clickbank.
    I was reading a lot about different types of money making, some include membership type of websites, some teching others different things and others seem to sell their own ebooks/products. So I think at the moment only Affiliate marketing could work.

    Selecting a niche would depend on what product I would go for I think.
    The research would also rely on the product, I think I have a general idea how to do this thanks to the trainng from Marks course.

    Technically speaking there should be no problems with getting websites set up and or programming even with PHP. I have a good background in that regard, but never used it for IM

    I did setup few Wordpress blogs, a friend of mine were "playing" with them before and were running 2 for few months.

    About driving traffic to a website, well this is also new to me. There seem to be a lot of things wich have to be done for a wbsite to rank high.

    Like backlinks, linkwheels, article submission, general SEO.*
    It seems like a big time sinker which is no problem at all as long there is a return for it I would say. I just dont know what has to be done and when, or maybe all at once. I would not like to get into BlackHat seo since I heard google and other search engines would ban the website.

    I do have a hosting account and two domains, which have nothing to do with IM actually.
    So I am just thinking about trying to go and promote a Clickbank product and see how much I can learn from that. But still reading about a lot of things and trying to prepare myself before starting.*

    And of course, any tips would be greatly appriciated *
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    • Profile picture of the author Alminc
      Selling recepies on ' how to make money online' or ' how to get
      server-melting amounts of traffic cheap and easy' is BUSINESS!

      If you don't understand that it is a business, that behind those sales
      letters are companies that make their living by selling those 'recepies',
      it's very easy to become a victim.

      None of them really cares if any such particular recepy is going to work for
      you. You are a consumer of their 'products' and their goal is to sell as
      many 'units' as possible, as in any other industry.

      There are good courses and coaching programs, but they cost a few
      grands. Why? Because they really teach you something workable.

      But there are hundrads of pseudocourses, imitations, selling for
      $67 or $77, that give you nothing but headache after you purchase
      it. Don't buy it! It leads you nowhere, GUARANTEED
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      No links :)
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  • Profile picture of the author xIllumination
    @Alminc

    I totally understand that, I understand that it's a real business model.
    But what I meant actually that there are a lot of these kind of products, and it's very hard to see which are true and which are not.

    If you go to Google and type XXModel - Review you usually get reviews of other "sellers" who are actually affiliates with the said person. They usually will rate it high so they get a share of profit, again totally understandable from a business prospective.

    What I am trying to figure out, how to make money online without selling how to make money online . If let's say I would actually get to make money with some method and could actually later on teach others how to do then yes, it seems like a good revenue model.

    I am also as if I recall correctly said in some of the previous posts, am not looking for a magic money making machine, it's not realistic. And since I found this forum I got so much info at once that the only way to get some things cleared is by asking questions here and this community seems to be great and very friendly so I am having fun browsing around here.
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  • Profile picture of the author xIllumination
    Hi again,*

    so, I have been doing some research the last few days on keywords and also for a Clickbank product.

    I decided to go with Technology since I think that would be the easiest for me to write articles about for the moment.

    I found a product called Driver Update software, and since it has a good grav I went with that as the main product.

    Started doing some keyword digging and came across a problem I think. I tried a lot if different combinations on updTe drivers, but each time I seem to find a fitting keyword and then google it there are just way too many sites listed, usualy over 200-300k.

    When I however manage to find a keyword under, lets say 30k, google tells me there is no search data on that keyword.
    So I dont know if I should use it, it usually fits the niche very good tho.

    Another thing I can figure out 100% is how to know if a website is an authoroty website? because of backlinks? Age? Content?*

    Anyhow, if anyone got any tips it would be great. Tnx
    *
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    • Profile picture of the author mdcnet
      Originally Posted by xIllumination View Post

      Hi again,*

      so, I have been doing some research the last few days on keywords and also for a Clickbank product.

      I decided to go with Technology since I think that would be the easiest for me to write articles about for the moment.

      I found a product called Driver Update software, and since it has a good grav I went with that as the main product.

      Started doing some keyword digging and came across a problem I think. I tried a lot if different combinations on updTe drivers, but each time I seem to find a fitting keyword and then google it there are just way too many sites listed, usualy over 200-300k.

      When I however manage to find a keyword under, lets say 30k, google tells me there is no search data on that keyword.
      So I dont know if I should use it, it usually fits the niche very good tho.

      Another thing I can figure out 100% is how to know if a website is an authoroty website? because of backlinks? Age? Content?*

      Anyhow, if anyone got any tips it would be great. Tnx
      *

      If you are talking about keywords for the domain name just find some with 1500-2500 'exact' phrase searches on the google keyword tool and then check each on google search engine with quotes around them and pick the one with the fewest domain name pages that appear on page one. If you find one that has mostle review sites and ezine articles on page one then you may be able to crack the first page on google search even though there may be 250,000-350,000 pages that show up.

      Good luck with your search!
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  • Profile picture of the author Glassjaw009
    Hey there!

    First of all, I'd like to say that you've made some extremely keen observations for an "Internet Marketing Newbie" as you claim to be. I think you're going to do well in this field.

    As far as why people sell Internet Marketing guides or guides for their methods, it really just comes down to efficiency. Yes, I can employ my method and make X amount of dollars per day, but when you get past that, you start looking at long term goals.

    One of the best long term goals you can possibly achieve during your career in Internet Marketing is to establish yourself as an expert in a field. One of the ways to do this is to sell a guide or a step by step method to producing income and show others how to be successful and how you've done it in the past.

    This solidifies your reputation, brings in new business opportunities, and lifts your options to a whole new level. I hope this information helps! Cheers!
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  • Profile picture of the author gautam42
    Hi,
    I am a newbie & the above posts have been helpfull. Thank You to all contributing.
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  • Profile picture of the author gautam42
    I do have one question, if one wants to specialise in Affiliate marketing other & your product later, does one have to have technical knowledge or can one undertand concepts completely & outsource, the technicals?
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  • Profile picture of the author xIllumination
    Thank you for your answers again all .

    Well I still am keeping myself busy with the keyword research, and I just deleted all keywords I found and will start all over again.

    This part seems to be at the moment the hardest I think, since there are quite a few factors to consider when getting the right keywords and using them for the articles.

    Since I joined the War Room I got so much good info there, it's crazy and I love it. From all what I have been reading it seems that keywords are the most important things followed by articles and SEO and so forth, so I try to get this part as good as I can and then move to article writing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Spatch Merlin
    Answer to questions;

    1, Not necessarily, there are fundamentals that have been working for many decades, bare in mind that online marketing is just a development and not an innovation.

    2, Products that show us how to make money will always make money.

    There's certainly a great deal to learn, principally because we have to learn what doesn't work as well as what does. When we start, it's like a forest that we have to find a path through we just have to find that correct path, there are so many that lead nowhere!

    When you've bought a few e-books and e-courses that lead nowhere you begin to develop a BIBS (built in bull s**t detector) which may cost you a few hundred bucks but will be one of the best investments you'll ever make.

    When your BIBS clicks in, don't hesitate to ask for a refund, even the most skilful scammers will not risk losing their payment facilities.

    There are many very honest people marketing excellent products online and you'll soon get to know the difference.

    Personally I'm very prepared to spend some money to improve my worth to myself and my family and recommend that beginners do some of that in order to get a good grip on the learning process. The best advice I can give you is not to buy anything from anybody until you feel that you can trust then.
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