Internet Marketing….Is it for REAL?

WARNING   WARNING!!!

Right up front I want to say that this is a long post BECAUSE this particular topic is so important to anyone starting out with an online business.

More often than you realise new comers to the world of online business are “caught in a dream world” or what is sometimes referred to as a “marketing coma”.

The end result is usually disillusionment, broken dreams and empty wallets!

The main reason why I did not make a success of my first attempts at online marketing was because I did not have a COMPLETE PROVEN SYSTEM.

Out of Control AND Out of Money!

Like so many others I was confused and suffering from information overload. I didn’t know who to trust or which was the right road to take?

I had lots of “bells and whistles” products that really looked great. BUT when I tried to implement these “business in box” marvels, there was always something missing.

Nearly always it was TRAFFIC. For sure I had some wonderful mini-sites that even contained great sales copy ….but no one was looking!

I felt like the guy who ignored common sense and built a fancy shopping mall 500 miles from anywhere. He believed if he created something really special then people would come in their hoards. Only later did he realise why he had no shoppers apart from some curious travelers who happened to be passing that way on the “out-back safari” holiday.

I Struck it Lucky!

So I was at GROUND ZERO in my online marketing career. Thank god I was made brutally aware of this by my coach and business partner. You see, I was really fortunate to find not only a great mentor and coach but also a guy who gave his heart and soul to my success.Alex Jeffreys is his name.

To give you an idea of just how good this guy is I am giving you a fantastic FREE OFFER called “Easy Cash Webinar”. This incredible offer is a one hour webinar with Alex, one of the world’s leading online business coaches. It will really help you get started on the right road to success.

I strongly recommend you to make time for this superb offer

Yes…The Lights Finally Came On

This is when I took my FIRST REALISTIC STEPS online.

I discovered that you need more than just traffic. A car dealership would not be “over the moon” if most of the people coming into their showroom only wanted to collect car brochures or ask where they could buy season tickets for public transport!

What you need is TARGETED, INTERESTED TRAFFIC who want what you have and are willing to pay for it. Sounds logical! Easy?

OK but it’s not that easy to achieve and without doubt this is the reason 96% of new internet businesses FAIL

There may be other factors that contribute to their failure like lack of strategic planning, inappropriate product and/or pricing or poor follow-up customer service.

But the REAL KILLER is not having enough buyers hungry for what you have and knowing where to find you!

My business coach Alex always reminds me that high quality traffic is essential to any business. However, even with the most targeted traffic in the world, you will will never, ever build a long-term viable business with that alone.

Make Sales and Still Miss the “Golden Goose”

So it’s not just creating a presence on the internet where people can find you and it’s not just creating flows of traffic that need what you have for sale. For many people this is all they ever achieve.

Sure they make sales, sometimes lots of them for a period until there is a change in the market fashion/trends or some other economic factor that is beyond their control.

Imagine our car dealership guy who all of a sudden was faced with huge price increases in either fuel costs or government taxes and/or import duties. People would no longer be that interested in his 8 cylinder imported vehicles and they would be looking for alternatives.

They have NO CONTROL over the economic changes OR their customers.

The Ethical Bribe!

The smart online business operator is totally aware of these potential dangers. Their very first priority is NOT product creation NOR  sales letters NOR getting their targeted traffic to buy their product….sounds crazy eh!

Well it’s true.

To be a REAL SUCCESS ONLINE you must focus all your marketing efforts on FIRSTLY BUILDING A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS

These are your POTENTIAL customers. At the point of joining your list they are no better than “passing traffic” that just happened to drop into your shop for a quick chat – in internet marketing parlance this means they agreed to give you some personal contact details…but with absolutely no promises to buy anything..now or in the future.

Another hard-to-believe fact is that the most effective way of “bribing” your passing traffic to at least give you their most basic contact details –is to provide them with very high quality, useful and attractive products/gifts that have a high perceived value.

Yes..you create unique high quality products and then you just give them away for FREE

In fact, the most successful online marketers give more and more valuable content away free to both entice people to sign-up (called opt-in) and to keep their subscribers interested and happy even after they have joined them!

Many of the top online businesses spend an absolute fortune on creating these gifts and “value-add” products, EVEN BEFORE A SALE is even mentioned.

No it does not mean these guys have the money to lose in playing such a game. Let me assure you THIS IS NO GAME and these top operators know exactly what their ROI will be over time.

They know the statistics of every facet of the system and they constantly check these statistics to ensure they are on track. It’s really a big numbers game and you must know your statistics or YOU WILL GO BROKE

This Guy Actually Helps Me!!!

By constantly providing more and more quality value to their list of subscribers and by greatly exceeding the expectations of the people on their list – A BIT OF MAGIC STARTS TO HAPPEN!

Their subscribers actually start to look forward to their emails from these online entrepreneur as they always get real benefits from each contact…and what’s really happening is that their initial skepticism is fast breaking down.

The name of the game is now one of increased TRUST and LOYALTY. This is what is is all about.

Over time as this change occurs because the smart entrepreneur is BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP with their subscribers.

Now let me ask you a question. Would you rather buy something from a stranger OR from someone you knew, valued and trusted?

Easy question to answer..yes!

Well that is the “name of the game.” At this stage the online entrepreneur just has to recommend certain products to their list and their list WILL BUY!

Naturally the products recommended are related to the interests of their list. BUT the best entrepreneurs create these products based on FEEDBACK FROM THEIR OWN SUBSCRIBERS!…….. They can’t miss!

So now a significant number of these subscribers are now CUSTOMERS. This is no surprise to the online entrepreneurs. They have been planning this all the way along and good luck to them…they have earned the respect, trust and credibility of their subscriber list…and now they have their PAY DAY.

Not just one pay day but lots of them. Just like any off line business, it’s more cost effective and far easier to sell to their existing customers than to people who don’t know them from Adam! AND these potential sales can be for far more expensive products than the initial product sale.

THE REAL END GAME

But even then, the top of the line operators are not looking for one-off product sales…even if the price is significant.

Sure they will gladly accept these sales but this is NOT THEIR END GAME!!

The REAL MONEY in the Internet Marketing niche is……

RESIDUAL INCOME….It Will Blow You Away

Yes getting paid every month for services provided by the online entrepreneur. The products provided range from audio products, video training, high quality newsletters, digital magazines etc.

These are referred to as membership sites and are BY FAR the most lucrative markets to be in…IF YOU HAVE DONE ALL THE PRIOR PROCESSES CORRECTLY.

So there you have it.

It is not an overnight success dream like I originally and naively bought into.

Your Very Own Check List…..Need Some Help?

Success online requires many of the same characteristics as offline successful
entrepreneurs:

• Have a clear plan of where you are going
• Have these plans written down and broken down into weekly and even daily tasks that are then placed in priority order
• Set up the essential systems to build your business on.
• Focus all your energy on building your own list FIRST
• Create a valuable FREE gift
• Generate targeted traffic to your list and NOT to a Product
• Build and nurture your list
• Continue to give great value to your list for FREE
• Recommend products to your list
• Establish residual income options
• Consistently promote the value of your high-end membership option
• Then and only then try another market niche and repeat the process

Of course you are not expected to do all these essential processes. And I did not even cover some of the other critical elements of any marketing campaign like branding and your “online image.”

You can outsource many of these tasks once you know what you need.

If You Want To Be a Builder…Buy Yourself a Shovel

The KEY thing to remember is that you are NOT BUILDING your web site …..you are MARKETING your web site.

There is a world of difference in these two approaches.

If you are not totally clear in what this means then you are HEADING FOR DISASTER…..AND QUICKLY

This is just an overview but I wanted you to see the REALITY of internet marketing.

Is it worth the effort?

ABSOLUTELY, if you have a guide and a proven business system. In this way you can easily avoid all the pitfalls and over time build a very profitable and highly respected online business.

Tell Me What You Think…Maybe You Disagree!

If you want to know more about any of the issues I mentioned, or anything else then leave me your feedback below.

Your feedback will show exactly what you need and enable me to create the best possible information and guidance for you to succeed online.

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