The Truth about making money online

I think you have summed it all up in this post.

I usually treat my customers as they are my friends

But what you have said is 99% true!

And building a brand is important - and having a long-term business model.

Thank you Imran, what was the 1% I left out

It's true though it has to be a long term business plan not a fly by night type of thing

Thanks dude, i've been around here a while lol, but been quite over the last 18 months, but i'm a coming back

Tha

Thanks Thobbs

I think there are many great tools that do save time or help build your list etc but you have to know what you are doing.

No point in buying the best premises and most up to date equipment for a bricks and mortar store if you have no product or idea of what you are going to sell...

r

Great post!

Here is what I feel: Most people are too busy trying to make money online rather than building an online business. It is a subtle but huge difference.

Business is hard people...get over it. If you are not willing to struggle and fight the fight then go work a job. Working a job is easier and it's no wonder why 95% of the population work for money.

Thanks Moneyblogger

well 95% of population work for money, heck man how many now have no work as they put their eggs all in one basket?

if we want to succeed we need to work hard for sure

again thanks for the great input

off to bed guys catch you all later

Thanks Steven,

I just didn't have the guts tonight. Darn flu again.

George Wright, P.S. EDIT: and if you show somebody how you do it and you charge for showing them you are not a bad person. And if they let your eBook or Video or whatever set on their hard drive and never use it that's still not your fault. AND if they follow your method to the "best of their ability" and fail that's still not your fault. I know several Grads from Law/Real Estate/Med school who didn't pass the bar/Make anything selling Real Estate/Become Doctors. They still had to pay back their student loans. The dream is alive and doable. SELL the dream if that's what you do. It seems sometimes that half the people here would have issues with all of the Universities, Book Stores, and any other Education businesses.

Steven

thanks for the rain!

It's not excuse making at all. Of course you weren't born with a 5k list

From your post it shows you worked, great
as you say:
Not everyone does this, so you were ahead of the rest.

And my point of this thread is just what you say, you gotta bust your ass and work hard. There is no easy way. A lot of these gurus promise this and people buy it, thus they are prying on those who just look for a quick fix. Like it or not there are many many marketers prying on people right now with their snake oil claims.

My point above was sure X markerter can make 15k in X days, as they have the list to do it - quite simple. But that's not going to work for everyone, they leave out the essentials - plan out your business and build it.

Steve makes a good point but in thesuccesscoach's defense, as someone who has barely made any money myself and I'm still learning, a lot of these sales letters do make it sound like you can push a button and VOILA! you will make $5000 that simple.

The point he's making is that it is not that simple and people who say it is should stop selling us dreams.

You basically said it also, it has to be worked for and I am now learning that after a couple of thousand dollars later.

I'm probably the minority here, but I find it funny the amount of flack the "Make Money Online" niche gets. I'd be willing to bet most successful IMers and people here were introduced to this business by buying these type of products, which they were attracted to by these ridiculous claims.

That said, I don't agree with not delivering on the promise followed by not honoring the money back guarantees.

Thanks Steven,

what I took from the OP is that he was calling out the unethical marketers. I don't think of any of your products that I've seen you make outrageous claims. What you sell works, if the buyer puts in the effort to make it work. This is as it should be. And yes, it will always be, buyer beware.

The problem is that a lot of newer people in IM, just don't even know what to beware of, and are sold a bill of goods. Is it their problem that they didn't know enough not to get taken, sure, but is it a problem in IM that there are those who seek to take advantage, yes. There's culpability on both sides, I think so.

Brian

Excellent post!

When I first started online, I met with all that hype and was very frustrated too because the necessary follow up, explanation and or truth was never available.

Sure, there are many who are there to provide the purchaser with what they paid for, but many are just for the easy quick buck. And that really contributes to newbies losing enthusiasm.

Steven I think you're actually making my point. What I'm saying is that it takes work and you don't get something for nothing. Why is the FTC cracking down, are you saying that there are no unethical marketers out there? Of course there are and will always be.

All I'm saying is there are unethical people out there. It's kind of like if you had someone in your neighborhood that was selling drugs out of their home. Would you report them, or would you say it's the buyers fault. I say it's both. I would report them and the buyers.

Both thesuccesscoach and Steven have excellent points in this thread, for different reasons.

There's always going to be some sleazy conmen out there, but I think most of the time, many IM products suck because the marketers selling them can't teach for beans. Then, you can take the best IM products in the world, and the vast majority of buyers STILL won't have made any money, because the customers bought them but didn't do a damn thing. Unless someone's telling you that you can just put in one or two hours a day to immediately make six figures (one sales page even claimed "In fact, it's BETTER if you're unmotivated" - WTF is that even supposed to mean), most systems are "doable", regardless of how well the writer teaches it.

Moreover, what constitutes a "good" product is subjective. No two buyers will have the exact same skills, experience, drive or resources. One buyer will say Product X is crap, while another will say that Product X just made them their first dollar, while another buyer will say it's crap without even bothering to prove otherwise - they'll just sit there and judge while looking for the Next Greatest Thing.

I'm too lazy to go find the original thread, but in a discussion awhile back somebody mentioned THIS mantra to keep in mind while buying WSOs (or any product for that matter): "I Understand That I Am An Adult." Many customers really need to meditate on this one.

Unethical marketers aside, this is the part of the post people need to focus on. I bought into Maverick Money Makers for crying out loud - one of the crappiest programs you can get - but still took action and, yes, made some money. Did I get starry-eyed and go on an IM-product binge? Sure... that's where I stopped for a long time. But no more. Once I took action again, I made money again.

That said, that's where Steven comes in. It's not the seller - it's the BUYER'S responsibility if the BUYER wants to make money. Instead, there's always the excuse that the seller just didn't put out a good enough product.

Now, this isn't to say that a snake-oil salesman's system is even feasible. You still have to do your due diligence when it comes to sellers. There's also human instinct - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Business goes both ways: while there's no income ceiling, there's no income floor either. Many people turn wheels and give up because they went negative before they got started.

You have to find What Works For YOU. No seller can guarantee that - they don't know you, they don't know your assets, your resources, your strengths and weaknesses.

Last but not least, I actually really, really, really HATE the phrase "make money online". To me, it implies making money through an intangible means while sitting at home. This is also where people get caught up in that lottery mentality. Internet marketing requires running a business, which isn't some fly-by-night scheme. Are you here to make money online, or are you here to Build a Business?

You expected this to stir some thing up a bit and it has, nice! I certainly agree, chasing some magic bullet is the road to nowhere. People need to stick with what they are doing. The main problem is that being in this industry inevitably means your email is going to appear on many lists. Emails are going to arrive into your inbox promising you the moon on a stick. Some will be difficult to ignore. However, noobs need to ignore the latest thing and stick at one method, whatever it is. It is not rocket science to make a site, get traffic via article marketing, make sales. Just do it! It takes effort, but so does everything that is worth doing. The biggest problem is the follow-up from the sign ups that are good. For example, you sign up to Affilorama (Mark Ling). You cannot fault the material, everything is there for you to be successful. Even Mark himself tells you, "Don't get distracted and go off signing up for every course under the sun". And then what happens? You get emails from "Mark Ling", "Affilorama" or "Traffic Travis" telling you to sign up for the next big thing. Take the original advice and don't get distracted. Once you are successful, try new things, but not until you have already seen one good method through til the end. And don't even think about clicking on that link in my signature if you are already half way through a course!!!

Mike, I concur fully with your statements.

Brian

LOL, Mike, I don't know. Same with the Bernie stuff, which by the way I thought you explained very well. I like the world I'm a part of.

In Gratitude and Success,

Brian

I want to thank everyone for the great discussion points that came up. For me the important things are:
1) Everyone agree's there's no majic (can never spell that work) bullet
2) There are tools to make life easier, however they are not the answer
3) A plan is needed
4) Determination is needed
5) Sticking it out is needed
6) Help from friends in the warriorforum is quite a bonus

On another note, I don't think there are any stupid people in internet marketing, just people who have the wrong mindset. I'm sure we've all fallen for the work 2 hours and make 2k type scenarios, back in the early 90s I know I did. We've all fallen for one or two sales letters, I know I did. But as we get wiser we know we have to treat our business as a business and a hobby.

And any help we can give people in here is important

R

well i kind of agree and kind of disagree. Worknig "hard" isn't the answer. You have to work "smart" and I am not talking about "writing better articles, getting higher PR backlinks, using Twitter," etc

It all starts with the products...they way you market and how you do it. I see some people working like slaves here for a wage. Why did you quot your job?

I guess it takes a lot of time and finding out what doesn't work until you snag the winning formula. Good luck

too much guiness? (magic)


1

Thanks for giving your valuable insights on Make money online from your years of experience. Everyone should know this.

Interesting thread!

As others mention; most people are looking for a magic bullet for under $47 not $49.99 but, anything with a 7 at the end.

What most new IM's think; You can make trillions on line in a very short time because, many "Gurus" made a killing in the good old days of spend spend spend.

I have bought way more than my fair share of rubbish which, simply put didn't work even, I put my heart and soul in to trying to make them work...why? there was always a piece of the jig saw missing.

Had told plenty of people to get off the mailing lists because, the constant offers just distract you and cause you to waste a tonne of time and money.

Quickly I realised I was going around in a circle a real junkie at one point I almost bought something I alread bought....I was looking at around 150 domains most of which didn't perform...again I had gone off on the wrong foot.I'm not alone in making mistakes so I'm not shy to let the truth out..

What I did next was this..

1. Got off those lists which distracted me but, stayed with a couple of people I thought were genuine.

2. Started to weed out all the silly domain names many which had hyphens..or .info extns ( I know some people do OK with them but not me) and those with no proper keywords in them.

3. This is the key for me:

I followed my own instincts and gut feelings based on solid research.

Built simple blogs which hit googles page 1 within 7 days for the keywords I chose.

4. Stopped trying to bypass google with too much automation.

5. Looked for untapped or little known or less often used traffic methods.

6. Test and track, test and track then test and track some more..

There are a couple of expressions I picked up along the way and one in particular stuck in my thick head..

1. An idiot with a plan will beat a smart person with no plan every time.

Finally, sorry about all I's and the ramble,

Cheers,

Gordon.

Thank you for sharing this! It really helps.

Hi,my fellow war members, i'm a newbie at the moment and i wish to introduce my self first before replying to this post. My name is Orah Johnson, but many call me by my stage name noblesoldier. When it comes to online i am an infopreneur, i sell valuable infoproduct/ebooks at affordable rate, though it has not been long i embarked on this information marketing but from my experience so far the truth about making money online is quite not an easy road, you all know that rome was not build in a day. First, one needs to be guilded by an expert for one not to fall victim of scam. To my fellow marketers/infopreneur, believe me it will do you no good to sell something worthless, something you know the buyer won't benefit from, for you are driving your customers away. I will advise you guys to be Godly and you will make it. For it is written: hard work can make you no richer but the Lord's blessing maket a man wealthy. Thank you.

Very well put SuccessCoach !!! There are no magic buttons. If I create one that works, I will sell it in the WSO.

I have been successful online since 2007. It has taken hours and hours of watching webinars and reading e-books. Also surrounding myself with other Internet Entrepreneurs.
Of course, you must have a quality product to sell that is in high demand.

While there are A LOT of scams there are also A LOT of legitimate products. I think the problem is that most people aren't willing to stick with any ONE thing for a period of time to see anything come from it.

And then when that happens...

...The blame goes all over the place except for themselves. Pick something, and stick with it.

For the record, I recommend building an email list within a niche you are passionate about and earning their trust over a period of time.

This is what I hate from marketers preying newbies, I mean why do they do that? Folks don't give people empty promises.

I am beginning to see money, not much, only $ 3000/Mo from adsense and Amazon but it's climbing every month.

During the last 7 months I bought dozens of WSOs here , put them into action ... well 95 % of those WSOs don't work as advertised .. there is always something missing with each of the WSOs. There is always something missing , the puzzle really confused me.

Maybe they hide the details to protect their litle gold mine? I have no idea . I am beginning to see money by adding my own twist, I created my own method after a lot of trial and errors .

IM is not hard, the hard part is to find/create your own solid method, after you found it then it became boring, automatic and repetitive.

To newbies, don't expect you will make money quick after reading 1 wso offered here.Usually you won't . there are people who are lucky to hit it on the first attempt but most of you won't.

@Zanti,

loved the Bernie Madoff comparison because whether Steve realized it or not he was starting to sound "biased".

As someone who has purchased many products I will add that it is not about being "stupid" when you by into the sales letter nor is it always about getting "rich quick".

I have been pursuing this since February '08 and I am still struggling as I finally found someone who taught all the steps that is needed. I was not expecting to make money fast (obviously since I'm still pursuing it) but these sellers make it seem like if you purchase their product for $197, you will learn everything you need to know for that price.

Then after you buy it, you realize that you also have to, or should buy some backlinking software, or outsource some article writing, pay an autoresponder monthly pay for ppc and pay for whatever extras that were not mentioned in the sales copy.

That doesn't make you stupid when you are just starting and don't know that you need all of these.

Is a child stupid when they ask what's one plus one? No!

You don't know what you don't know!

Not much? That's more than what make 95% of all warriors if you ask me. I might be wrong about that but I think $3,000/month is a pretty solid result. Now you just have to scale up and you'll make $10,000/month in no time at all...