Why Most People Fail At Internet Marketing

In this Hub I am going to take you on a tour of the things that tripped me up when I first started marketing online back in 2006.

If you are an aspiring Internet Marketing “pro” then pay attention, as being aware of these pitfalls will save you a lot of time and money!

Ready? Then I shall begin!

There’s no doubt “Internet Marketing” has become a hot topic recently, and it’s easy to see why. The world and his wife are trying to join the gravy train and it’s no surprise what with the promise of huge riches and the jet-set lifestyle.

But I have a question for you.

How many “newbie” Internet Marketers actually go on to find the Holy Grail of the new rich? How many go on to actually achieve everything the hyped up sales letters promise?

Tough questions, eh?

There is no doubt that the world is your market on the Internet. Get it
right and there are plenty of examples of “high-flyers” who are more than happy to flaunt their wealth and lifestyle at you.

But, if so many succeed, why do so many fail?

Why do so many great ideas and products end up on the Internet scrap heap? I heard a figure that suggested only 2% of people who start out online actually “make it”. I think that’s a bit extreme, but the 2% figure probably means those who earn the really big “5 figure” monthly incomes.

The reason for all this abject failure is probably to do with some “traps” that can you can easily fall into if you’re not watching what you’re doing!

They’re traps that we have all fallen into to a lesser or greater degree at some time or another. Avoid them and you stand a far better chance of success!

If you have any questions or comments you want to add, please do so I check here regularly and will be only to glad to answer your questions.

What's Your Plan?

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Yes, it’s an oldie but a Goldie; I think this little saying came from my days as an Amway distributor back in the late 80’s!

Another one “if you don’t know where you are going, how do you know when you get there”? Valid question :>)

Does this sound familiar?

So, you have to have a proper plan to succeed. Sadly, we have all been primed to expect to just “stick” any old product out there, put up some Adwords, sit back and watch the moolah roll in!

You know the sketch; you hit the “go live” button and then sit there watching your email, second by second as one order after another comes flooding in.

Right!

Have the copywriters got too good?

I have talked before about the hype! Plug in and go, make a million overnight. It’s worse than the Lotto adverts! (Chances of winning the Lotto by the way 14 million to 1 – about the same as adopting this scattergun approach).

I know you don’t really want to hear this and you may even think I am being harsh -but it’s the truth.

You MUST have a detailed plan. Setting up online is the same as
setting up a bricks and mortar business. If you strategically plan
every step and know exactly what all the steps are, in detail – you will fail.

Too many people just expect it to happen without any effort on their part.

You need a strategic Internet Marketing Plan to start making any money online!

And, your plan has to have a coherent plan with logical steps and a proper implementation (that means actually following through on your plan and, wait for it, taking action – what you have to actually do something?).

It takes discipline and the proper knowledge.

Here is a very brief overview of the steps that may be included: -

Research and find a product
Build a web site
Do your copywriting
Set up and integrate payment systems
Keyword research
Google AdWords campaign(s)
Optimise your AdWords campaigns
Track
Search Engine Optimization
Set up affiliate programs
List build.
Set up your autoresponder
Email marketing campaign
Prepare / develop your product pipeline (one product launch generally takes 2 months from start to finish).

And, so it goes…

If you miss any of the key ingredients, you’ll fail. You may not fail right at the start and you may have the odd success here and there, but long term you’ll come to a grinding halt.

It’s like trying to build a tower block without the foundations!

And, that brings me nicely to the second problem…

Do You Suffer From Information Overload

There are so many “Internet Marketing” products these days. It seems something “new” is released and bombards our in boxes every five minutes these days! Yes, they all promise the earth, so I understand that it’s really hard not to be seduced by some of the great copy that is written. How many of these products actually deliver?

Some do – some don’t.

So, what’s the problem?

This is the problem and I’m sure you’ll be able to relate to this.

You buy a product that promises you’ll get rich from say, affiliate marketing. You eagerly open, download, watch, read the product, full of hope! And, after a few run throughs you start to implement what the product teaches. Great, you get your first affiliate campaign up and running and…you sit back and wait for the ClickBank counter to start ticking over.

After ten minutes you check your Clickbank account – nothing. O.K it’s only been 10 minutes, mind you thought I would have made one sale – never mind.

You make a cup of tea and come back, still nothing.

Ummm, I’ll go have lunch.

When you return, still nothing, oh well, I’ll look again later.

Still nowt! You tweak you re-read the bit on placing your Adwords and tweak the ads, still nothing.

“Oh, well, there will be some commissions tomorrow.”

When tomorrow comes…nothing. Two days time…nothing. Five days time, nothing.

Day seven, YEEESSSS! A sale, $34.95! I’m on my way! Then…nothing for two weeks.

You make a token effort at a few more tweaks…nothing. You look at adding more Adwords campaigns but you have already spent $387.68 and your budget is almost shot.

Still nothing…. you lose heart.

In the meantime, the latest fad product on AdWords has arrived and you start to place
some more AdWords campaigns for your affiliate products. But your CTR is poor, and falling. Some keywords get slapped and you need to bid $5.00 to get them back.

You CPR is rising and your CTR falling, what…no one told me about relevance!!!

So, that clearly doesn’t work.

Next! What’s next?

Oh, look, a “business in a box” package with the re-sale rights to 75 eBook and a ready-made website! Cool!

O.K need to do some web development and some HTML and I don’t know how to do that – it’s too hard. Oh well, I’ll do that next week.

Hands up if this is you! O.K, don’t be shy; I’ve been there too! Welcome to the world of Information Overload. Once you get overloaded like this paralysis of analysis sets in and you sit there not knowing which way to turn and….yep, you do nothing!

My “Biz Opps” and “How To” bookshelf used to creak under the weight, and then I filled up a 120 Gig hard drive before I learned my lesson! I’ll admit it; I used to be a serial
buyer of all the latest fads and systems. I feel so much better for having “come clean” with myself :>)

So, what happens when this “perfect storm” comes together? I’ll tell you.

The Outcome and the Solution

With the massive onslaught of information you receive and products you could buy, let me tell you just DO NOT have the time to read it all – understand that, there are not enough hours in the day! If you try, most of what you buy will end up totally redundant and unused on your hard.

Eventually it is superseded and ultimately wasted.

You need to wake up! I’ll say it again, it takes time, effort and knowledge to start and build an Internet business. It doesn’t happen overnight and it does take effort and learning from you. If you don’t want to make that effort, leave now – Bye!

Sorry to be full on here, but we’ve just become far too opportunistic in our buying of these “how to” products.

It’s the ultimate manifestation of the “instant gratification” society!

If this is you, you simply must change your thinking…

So, here is a list of what you need to put in place to build a successful online business.

1. Decide on the Niche you want to attack.
2. Do your Research and make sure there IS a market.
3. Develop a Strategic Plan that puts in place the key steps and actions listed above.
4. If you want to really turbo charge you efforts - Find a Mentor who has done what you want to do.
5. Understand what Tools you need.
6. Learn what you need to deploy those tools effectively.
7. Take Massive Action and Implement your plan step by step, one piece at a time
8. Persist! Persistence is the one thing failure can’t live with!

In The Final Analysis

When you see all this sales and puff in front of you, you need to cut through it all and make a hard, cold decision. Is the product you are assessing really NEEDED by you, at this very moment in time, to achieve what is in your plan?

This is vitally important, re-read the paragraph above.

If it does not fit in with your current strategy, don’t buy it! Make sure you understand this vital, key point!

If you have just set up your first Adwords campaign and it’s not quite going right and the product you’re looking at teaches everything you need to know about
starting, managing and optimising an AdWords campaign – great, buy it.

But if it is a product to do with SEO – don’t! Simple?

No doubt the search engine optimization product may well be useful at some time in the future, so bear it in mind. But…if it doesn’t fit help move your current plan forward – you simply have to be strong and let it pass for now.

Let’s look at this in a little more detail. Say you buy a product now that you will have absolutely no use for in the next 12 months, what’s the point? The techniques for, say, SEO will more than likely have changed quite a bit in that time! It’s pointless and a waste of time, energy and money.

So, once you have your strategy defined and understand what you need to implement, it becomes much easier to persist and learn what you need to know. It also becomes much easier to stay on your chosen path and also cuts out a large degree of information overload.

It’s like buying a route plan that tells you how to get to Vancouver. Half way across
the Atlantic, another exotic destination seduces you, so you buy a map to
Sydney and how to get there. Wow, that sounds so exciting, I gotta go there, now!…

So you change course.

However, just as you go past Kuala Lumpur you find out all about the turquoise seas and pink sands in the Caribbean. You find a product that tells you how to get
there, so… you change course again.

I know, sounds totally ridiculous doesn’t it?

However, I hope you are getting the message because in trying to build an Internet business, this is what so many people do!

And, if you keep doing this, where do you end up?

Absolutely – nowhere (apart from lost in the middle of pacific somewhere) and this, I am sorry to say, is what most aspiring Internet Marketers do!

If you recognise this – now you know what to do!

To take this a step further, check out Total Control which is my eBook on how to take "iron-grip" control over your time and money...and then move on to achieve the success you only previously dreamed of!

Please feel free to comment on this Hub as I would really like to know your view!

Thanks and to YOUR success!