What Was Your Internet Marketing Light Bulb Moment?

by 54 replies
62
What was the turning point in your internet marketing career? What was it that made that proverbial light bulb turn on above your head?

For me, it happened about a year ago. I was doing my article marketing thing, submitting to the top article directories, like everyone else was doing and getting decent results. But not nearly the results commensurate with the tremendous effort I was putting forth. Then one day, I read an article titled, The Misunderstood Marketing Method. Suddenly, I realized why my article marketing results weren't nearly as successful as they could have been. All this time, I had been doing it all wrong.

I immediately switched gears, and the results were almost instantaneous. Now I'm at a stage in my career where I'm so busy, I'm actually turning clients away. It's amazing what having your articles published on respected, high-profile websites like SiteProNews can do for your career. Clients look at you in an entirely different light.

Okay, so what was the turning point in your internet marketing career?

David Jackson
#main internet marketing discussion forum #bulb #internet #internet marketing #light #marketing #moment
  • Well, I'm hoping to have more than one 'aha' moment - but for me this moment currently sticks out:

    After reading and reading and reading and reading the warrior forum, I took action and then after taking some action I went back to reading and thought "A-HA!" I get it - threads now made a ton of sense or I thought "I know that..."

    Now just waiting for my next moment..
  • p.s. I'm also interested in what tweaks you made to your article marketing as I am currently in the middle of a big article campaign.
    • [1] reply
  • Mine was deciding to cut out everything that I was not passionate about.
    • [3] replies
    • Hmmmm...that's interesting, jazzbo. How difficult was that for you? Can you cite some examples of the things you let go?

      David Jackson
      • [1] reply
    • That is key right there, if their is no passion in my opinion its a waste of time, and time is money.
    • Agreed... Focus on what you like to do rather than doing what you know how to do but do not enjoy.
  • The turning point for me was learning that even at the top of this IM market, everyone is just making stuff up as they go. They have an idea, they try it, they test it, then they report the result in an attempt to sell the method.

    Those guys don't have any magic, and there's no "right" way to do any of this stuff. If you understand the basics of marketing, it's just a matter of applying that to technologies on the internet and connecting the people to the offers.

    That's what helped me be essentially a ghost writer on some of the biggest launches ever (as an employee). That's how I was able to pretend to be guys who were "smarter" than me in marketing.

    My second breakthrough was that if I can pretend to be smarter and authoritative when I was being some other "guru" - why can't I pretend that I am smarter and more authoritative. It should work the same way.

    So that's what I'm doing now. Is it working?
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [3] replies
    • Colin, I don't say this often. But it's truly a pleasure to meet someone who understands what marketing is all about - someone who actually "gets it." And it's obvious, you do get it.

      David Jackson
    • Possibly Colin, you pretty much surmised my entire view on much of the
      guru driven content being sold nowadays, and as your perspective
      tallies with mine, you appear very astute, so yep, I think it's working :-)
    • Worked for Donald Trump...Richard Branson...dare I say it (oh go on then) Frank Kern...

      Works for you too!
      • [1] reply
  • Realizing that I'm not the only one who doesn't know everything.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes. I guess some folks have the opposite problem, lol.

      "The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains that I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time."
      -- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • Maybe I should explain what I mean.

      I used to think that I had to know just about everything before I could sell anything.

      But then I saw product after product where I thought to myself, "I know how to do that". Sometimes it's things most people here may consider basic, other times it's more advanced.

      The light bulb was, to rephrase it, "If people are willing to pay for this kind of information, then they may as well be payig me".

      Now, not to toot my own horn, but I'm glad I did. I would rather have people buy from me than some other people. For one, I really care about quality, and always try to keep the customer's point of view in mind. Also, I know how good my customer service is. That's not to say other don't care about those things because I know some of them do.

      What I have found is that there is a lot of rushed products that are either full of fluff, or don't give enough information - I do my best to make sure that doesn't happen.

      So, by understanding that I wasn't the only person who didn't know everything, it made me realize that there is a bigger market for what I am offering.

      All the best,
      Michael
      • [1] reply
  • My moment was when I realized it's far easier to sell physical products that I don't have to pre-sell.

    nadavs
    • [2] replies
    • Who said you don't have to presell physical products? Because you do. In fact, if you start preselling from this day forward, I guarantee, you'll significantly increase your conversions.

      David Jackson
      • [1] reply
    • Does this work well with Adwords? Any good affilaite sites that you use for physical products. I must say I've thought about this often.
  • After reading "The 4 Hour Work Week" I felt strongly inspired and I decided to get into Internet Marketing because I know it makes it possible to achieve the life style I want.
    • [1] reply
  • I'm still waiting for that moment. however I'm doing pretty well with BH. but in reality it afraid me a lot that it is not a long term deal.. so I wanna do something whitehat.
    • [1] reply
    • You're taking unnecessary risks with BH seo. All that "questionable" crap you're doing can be flushed down the toilet in a Google nanosecond.

      David Jackson
  • After reading Dan Kennedy's stuff...

    • [1] reply
    • Yeah...I imagine DK is responsible for quite a few light bulb moments.

      David Jackson
      • [1] reply
  • Mine was when I realised I had a knack for selling shovels to the miners.

    Started my membership sites offering excellent content etc and the rest as they say is history

    Kim
    • [1] reply
    • Now that's what I call an interesting light bulb moment!

      David Jackson
  • When I attended a Social Media and Internet Marketing Seminar last year and realized I could have taught the course better than the instructors. It gave me confidence, changed my mindset and then started attracting more leads and clients for my offline marketing.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • I love it! That wasn't just a light bulb moment...that was the whole chandelier lighting up!

      David Jackson
  • Mine was in early 2000... One day in January, I had noticed in an ezine I loved reading that they were willing to take articles from the public...

    I wrote an article that afternoon and submitted it... I waited and waited and waited... nothing...

    I waited on pins and needles for two weeks... Then promptly forgot about it...

    8 weeks later, I got a note from the editor that my article was scheduled for the next morning...

    At first, the real excitement was the ego boost...

    After publication of the article in the now-defunct Internet Day newsletter (150,000 readers), the real excitement started... I got more sales in three days, than I had in the previous three years... And I had people asking me to consult with them to market their online business...

    Of course, I had to turn down the consulting gigs, because I was still a rank amateur at Internet Marketing, but I had just received my first two and most important lessons in the game of making money online...

    I learned that ezine advertising had the potential to be really effective, and I learned that writing articles for newsletters was cheaper than buying advertising in the same newsletter...
    • [1] reply
    • Thank you for that, Bill. Like you, I lnow first-hand the power of being published in certain newsletters. It really can change your life, literally overnight!

      David Jackson
  • What was the lightbulb that went off in my head and
    the turning point in my career?

    Getting the hell away from trying to market on the
    internet and use Direct Mail to tap into MILLIONS of
    people for products OUTSIDE the IM niche.

    I know how to make money strictly online, but I hate
    it with a passion.

    Too many moving parts with the internet because
    you always have to do something...make something
    new...be the first to market...get in and get out be4
    it's too late.

    It's a nightmare that goes on and on, even when you
    ARE making decent money online (me)

    Not the case with Direct Mail. The biggest, constant
    and most consistent way to make money that I know
    of (next to real estate as a close 2nd) when done rite.

    I used to get gray hairs from dealing with constant
    online market changes. I hated learning how to do
    one thing for it to be obsolete in 3 - 6 months are
    winding down in effectiveness.

    No google/facebook/myspace/twitter slaps. No quick
    changes in the marketplace. No fads (apple Iphone).

    There is none of it. No drama. Few frustrations.

    THAT...is what changed my life.

    I realize this might upset most of you, but keep in
    mind that I have (and can still be) successful making
    money online alone...but I choose not to for reasons
    above.

    I don't get any "thrill" or excitement knowing that I
    have to scrape what I spent the last 3 months learn-
    ing to pick up on the latest video, article, or twitter
    marketing technique. The easier the money to make,
    the better.

    (I know, totally different from most answers...but
    I can't think of any other life changing event as
    big as that one)
    • [1] reply
    • Ummmmm...okay. :rolleyes:

      David Jackson
      • [1] reply
  • I don't know if it was a light bulb moment - or a failure story for me...

    But I was playing a stupid Facebook game (Zynga's FarmVille... yeah, don't judge me) and remember reading an article of how much Zynga was worth; and that 1/10 players actually *give money* to Zynga to purchase "farm dollars" ...

    so I set up a blog and posted sweet tips on the stupid game.

    ended up being ranked #1 on yahoo, #1 (or #2, depending on Big G's mood) on Google...

    after a couple months, I made a few affiliate sales!

    Was it worth the time I put into it? No. But it made me realize people will pay money for any solution; even ones involving lame Facebook games.
  • I'm still waiting for an Ah-Ha moment. The closest thing to one was the realization of the necessity to build a list. Being less than the sharpest knife in the drawer in regards to computer skills it feels like the second grade all over again!
  • Well, honestly, my light bulb is still kinda flickering. I think here REAL SOON it will be on at full brightness. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel :-)
    • [1] reply
    • That's okay, just don't let if flicker out. Hang in there.

      David Jackson
  • For me the light bulb moment was realizing that whatever I wanted, I had to give.

    By promoting others I promoted myself. By offering value I received value.

    Whatever you want, give it. Forget the competitive, silly tactics that many newbies or poor veterans teach and keep this idea in mind at all time.

    Ryan
  • When I actually discovered what affiliate marketing was.
    The concept was so simple and knocked me off my feet. Also when I made my first sale using Adwords. Wow, that was a great feeling!
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 62

    What Was Your Internet Marketing Light Bulb Moment?

    What was the turning point in your internet marketing career? What was it that made that proverbial light bulb turn on above your head? For me, it happened about a year ago. I was doing my article marketing thing, submitting to the top article directories, like everyone else was doing and getting decent results. But not nearly the results commensurate with the tremendous effort I was putting forth. Then one day, I read an article titled, The Misunderstood Marketing Method. Suddenly, I realized why my article marketing results weren't nearly as successful as they could have been. All this time, I had been doing it all wrong.