Make Money Online Ranting

You have no idea what you're talking about, and frankly, I'm tired of the bitching that is taking over this forum.

There are boatloads of people making money in all sorts of niches and most of them are too busy doing it to come here and defend themselves on a forum to someone who feels the need to justify their misery.

I definitely understand what you are saying.

However, so far I have found niche marketing to be pretty easy - outside of IM that is.

While it definitely is hard to make quality content for some products - bic pens is a good example - sometimes you just have to do without.

I mean sometimes there is just a limit to how much good content you can make on a product - so just do your best to make some semi decent content and you will atleast get some sales.

I've been selling a downloadable product in a very boring niche for 10 years, but I've been studying and buying IM products intently for the last six months to see if I can use any of the techniques to improve my main money site.

It seems to me that the basic concepts from any of the big "gurus" are derivations of classic marketing techniques, and as such, very useful when you filter out all the hype and promises, and just sift for the good stuff.

The bottom line for me: avoid the fads and breathless promotions in the "Make Money on the Internet" niche, and choose something boring, but consistent and profitable.

Just my $.03.

David Deangelo stand up please!

What I find most annoying about these "prove it to me or you must be lying" posts is why in the world would anyone feel the need to prove themselves to a complete stranger?

What need does it fill?

If you don't believe what I could say about my personal journey in IM (and no, I don't market in the "make money online" niche), why would I possibly care?

And if you would believe what I could say about my personal journey in IM, why would you? You don't know me from an open can of paint.

In the grander scheme of things, your not believing doesn't take money out of my bank account. And your believing me doesn't add money to your bank account.

So, no, I won't be showing screenshots of my niches, sites, stats, checks, account balances, cars, houses, underwear or whatever anyone has the temerity to think they have the right to poke thier noses through simply because they feel it'll give me credibility in thier eyes so they can take any advice or help I might try to share in IM.

Sheesh. What nerve.

Sorry, I haven't been doing IM very long and I'm just calling it how I see it. If I'm seeing it wrong then I'm seeing it wrong.

Of course there are people making money in other niches. I just wonder if the methods used by make money online'ers achieve the same success rates in other niches.

It looks like you have experienced success in the make money online niche. Where did you learn how to do what you do? I bet you learned it online. Do you sell the same ideas you learned? I bet you do. Did you try other niches outside of Make money online? Did you apply the make money online methods to those niches with complete success?

It does seem like a lot of complaining lately, doesn't it? It's funny, because if these folks took as much time working on an actual project, or turning their negativity into something positive they could be earning money right now. And I also find it funny that they come in to the WF, one of the most positive marketing forums available (and free to boot), and throw up (and I mean that literally) a negative post. More building, less complaining..that's my motto.

Im not asking anyone to prove anything. I just want to be able to

a) Confirm there are people outside the Make Money Online Niche that are making substantial incomes for themselves using the techiques sold in the make money online niche

b)Seperate the people who have had success outside the make money online niche from those who had success in it. Im much more likely to trust someone with a background OUTSIDE of the make money online niche because those people will know how to market to other niches.

I have to agree with the OP that if (and, please, notice the emphasis on IF!) you are reading a lot of IM ebooks, salesletters and similar stuff - you can easily end up with the impression that this whole thing is about IMers selling to IMers and then all of them selling more to IM newbies

However, if you are in a different niche, as many marketers are (remember "bird cages" anyone?), then you should just watch for the techniques described in all those books and courses, apply them to your niche and repeat whatever works.

Sometimes just watching 2-3 pre-sale, pre-launch videos you can have an "AHA" moment and can try to tweak your sales funnel with a small thing that you learned there... and so on.

I like to read sales pages and watch (pre)sale videos: even if I don't buy the product I can learn something. It's still better than writing complaining posts

Not true. Human nature is human nature.. Direct marketing and long copy sales letters have concistantly worked whether selling to doctors, or work at home moms.

That comment right there reveals a lot about mindset, so I doubt you have even tried building a list using a squeeze page.

I bet you I could build a list in this 'water softener niche' with a squeeze page. How about offering a consumers guide type of report on the various chioces the consumer has? Jsut find out what info they would want, and offer it to them.

That beign said, choosing this niche would probably be a BAD choice, as it's most likely not a niche of passionate buyers. If you actually listen to the "guru's", then you would know that you should target a niche that's passionate about the topic, or in desperate need.

For the record - I've used squeeze pages with great success for car dealerships

Again, bad niche. And while the 'tons of content' may be a popular model here on the WF, most "guru's" are not pushing that model. I've got courses from frank kern, jeff walker, mike filsaime, dan kennedy, and jeff walker. None of them teach this model as far as I can remember.

And no, you do not want low competition. Low competition most often means no money to be made. High competition = a lot of money to be made.

hmm.. what came first, the chicken or the egg?

I'm not a fan, as from what I have gathered about their course I do not agree with the model they teach. So I won't comment on it.

BUT - it sounds to me like you are taking issue with marketers being good at marketing.. rather silly

Just because YOU insinst on free methods, does not mean that's what should always be pursued.

You also are insisting on affiliate products - most guru's probably would not go down that path. They would probably do what they teach - research the niche, find out what makes them tick and what they want, then go and build that product. They may start off with affiliate products, but that's usually just to see if the market is willing to spend money.

Jeff Walker made money in the stock trading niche, Frank Kern is/was in several odd ball niches. Yanik Silver is in different niches. Ryan Diess - several different niches.

Frankly, I think anyone who thinks that "internet marketing" only works in the make-money niche just doesn't have much intelligence.

You can spend the time to educate yourself on most topics, and you do not have to posture yourself as an expert. Did Kevin Trudeau (sp?) try to make himself look like a medical expert when he made/marketed his book? no. You just need to have the answers that someone is looking for.

You can also simply hire/partner with the experts if needed.

Also - Who says you need to build content sites at all? Most of the "guru's" do not have content sites proving their expertise.


Believe it or not, it's happened plenty of times.. I used basic IM techniques to generate and follow up with leads for things as "un-IM'ish" as selling service contracts for cars. My local client sold an extra 70 service contracts in the first month of the site going live - with a profit margin of several hundred dollars each.

Salesmanship is salesmanship, regardless of the nich. Human nature and psychology does not change. And the biggest money makers in IM use direct marketing techniques (which are grounded in salesmanship and psychology), which have proven themselves in every possible niche over the past 100 years.

Um, yeah...

Nekkid in a beanbag chair after eating baked beans from the can...Not a good idea.

I'm just sayin'.

Joshua

I may have come across a bit hard on you.. it seems like you aren't as negative/stubborn as your initial post made you appear.

Who says you need to write a lot of valuable content about just one topic? You can write about Collectible Fisher Space Pens one day and the Pentax Optio E60 another day.

Sure you can. One of my best earning niche sites is for a sport that I've never really played. Another deals with a professional service that I've never rendered or purchased. What I'm doing is providing advertising space for these products, much like a newspaper, magazine or billboard does. Do you think the publisher of Newsweek or the New York Times uses every product they advertise on their pages?

Some people here work their own products in a particular niche. This is different than just providing advertising space, and potentially more profitable, but, even then, you can hire or partner with the expertise you need even if you don't have it yourself.

It is true though...the only one consistant, easy, fast way to "make money online" is to.....teach others how to "make money online"!!

I make money from the IM niche and from niches outside of IM. I think some niches are easier than others and that also varies between people.

I create and sell websites mostly and recently I created a 'wedding niche' website. The wedding niche is quite big and a lot of people make money with it, yet the few articles that I wrote for the site I hated writing. I don't know why but I just couldn't write about this niche. I actually considered keeping this site until I started writing the articles and then I knew that this niche just wasn't for me.

You need to find a niche that interests you and that you can write about. Bic pens - probably not a good niche to write on, but that's a bad example and you probably know that. There are many good niche's out there that are easier to write about and particularly if you are interested in that niche yourself.

I agree with what you say to some degree - a lot of IM products are talking about methods of making money and perhaps the most money the writer makes is from that actual product sales and not from the methods he writes about. It doesn't mean the methods don't work - if you give them enough effort and time then you can definately make money in niches outside of IM.

IMHO the make money online niche is at the top of internet opportunities ,highly competitive and in many instances ruthless marketing occurs .Money is something everyone wants so many attain to having a PHD in teaching how to make money online.The wso forum is the playground of the phd guru,s ,full of ideas ,opportunity,excellent sales copy and everthing one needs in order to learn and take advantage.

I have never marketed anything in the IM niche. I have never even thought about it. I thought there would be to many competitors. I promote other products and i make enough to be comfortable, i don't work for anyone else but my self. I love the fact i can wake up when ever i want and work as much as i want. Even though i am usually up at 6:00AM. There's a lot of money outside of IM. It's all about determination.