What I've Learned After 10 Years Full Time IM

After 10 years as a Full Time Internet Marketer I've learned a lot, some lessons have been easy some have been very hard.

I thought I'd share some of what i'd learned here in the hopes that it helps a few people starting out or struggling to make this crazy crazy business work.

I've done almost every type of marketing in those 10 years as well as speak at seminars in Europe and the US.. so you can assume I know a little about marketing.

I'll probably come across as a Jerk to some people but hey I'm not talking to those guys..

1. If you are starting out and struggling to feed your family or make rent don't try to make money with IM. I was there and you won't do it.

Start off by offering a service , I started by building sites for $10 a site. I was horrible work but beat cleaning toilets.

As soon as I had a steady income then i started on the IM path

2. By repelling the subscribers and customers you don't want you attract the good clients who you can work with.

There are certain types of customers you don't want on your list as they will never never follow through.

People who are serial refunders - they always take the path of least resistance when things get tough and will never finish a project.

Spelling and grammar nazi's - never listen to the message as they are too fixated on the delivery method. Will always find something wrong no matter how good the product or post.

People who over analyse things. People need to take action to get processes and systems in place THEN refine them when you have data to work with.

3. Know who you want to target. People in this business are generally Consumers or Marketers. Consumers buy all kinds of stuff and are rarely successful at IM and marketers only buy what helps them to be successful.

BTW Which are you?

4. People Love to over complicate things . IM is simple
Identify a target audience.. drive them to a landing page.. get them on a list and then engage them, finally presell then sell them products they need.

Keep It Simple (this should be #1!)


5. Spend your money on what actually helps your business make money.

I had a coaching client who refused to buy lead pages as it cost a monthly fee. His conversion rate for 500 clicks was around 25% and he said that was good enough.

I have several lead pages campaigns that convert at 80%+ for 500 clicks using lead pages the difference between our conversion figures if you assume every customer on a list is worth $1 was about $350.

Invest in your business!

6. Focus on one project at a time and don't move on until it's running smoothly. Don't give up if you hit a brick wall and don't be afraid to ask for help.

7. You don't need a big list I know people who are making $100K+ a year from lists of below 1000.

Why? because they target a small niche and offer them products and services that make their subscribers money. Don't Judge every niche from what you know about the IM niche

8. Market the Way you want to be marketed to!


Ok that's it I am sure i missed out a few "golden nuggets" I'll let you know them in another 10 years.