At one point, we’ve all asked for advice about online business tips and Internet marketing tools. This is especially true when we’re starting out. Unfortunately there’s a lot of bad information being given by the supposed Internet gurus. Following this advice can cost you both time and money.
Today I’d like to talk about 19 faulty recommendations I’ve seen in the last few years. Some of them are due to misinformation. Others are outright lies told by people trying to sell their particular product.
Read each to learn what advice might be ruining your online business…
#1 – “Do What You Love and the Money will Follow”
This is a warm, fuzzy piece of advice that people love to recommend. (It’s even included in the ever-popular book Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck.)
Following your passion is a nice thought. We all want to create a business by doing what we love. Unfortunately there a number of hobbies that really aren’t profitable.
Example: What if you’re a guy who likes to drink beer and watch porn? Sure, that might be what you like to do. But it’s not going to make a lot of money.
Personal enjoyment is one part of the research process. You should also look at:
- How you’ll make money?
- How many people search for information?
- How will you get traffic?
- What makes YOU different from others in this niche?
It’s okay to love your business. Just make sure it’s not the only piece of the puzzle.
2 – “Think About Success and You’ll Attract It”
Positive thinking is important. So is having a list of goals. Unfortunately many people substitute hard work with wishful thinking. You can’t sit around and hope for success. Eventually you have to take action!
Don’t let books like The Secret cloud your judgment. You want something in life? Then go out and get it. Nobody makes money simply by thinking about it.
#3 – “You Can Build an Internet Business EVEN if You’re Lazy”
Warning bells should go off when you hear this statement. I’ve never heard of anyone having success by being lazy. Real results take real action. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Also don’t be confused about passive income. It takes hard work create this type of wealth.
Most people (myself included) bust their butt to increase their passive income. Successful people don’t sit on a beach and work a few hours a week.
#4 – “Anyone Can Do This!”
I see this with many Internet business products. The product owner claims the only skill you need is an ability to turn on the computer.
The harsh reality is some people aren’t cut out for this type of business. In fact, you need a number of qualities to succeed. Like:
- An ability to learn new things
- A strong work ethic
- At least 10 hours (each week) of spare time
- A decent level of writing (and communication) competence
Unfortunately not everyone has these requirements. Yes, you don’t need a computer background. But you have to be willing to learn the important things.
#5 – “You Don’t Need a Paid Website”
Holy crap … this is a horrible piece of Internet marketing advice.
Most people nowadays understand the importance of a website. However I still see a few ‘businesses’ recommend using freebie sites (like Blogger.com) for hosting.
There’s no excuse for relying on a free website. In reality, it doesn’t cost a lot of money to start an Internet business. For instance, here’s the bare minimum you should spend:
- $10 for registering a domain on Name.com
- Under $10 each month for Web Hosting
- $20 each month for an Email Marketing program
These are the exact tools I purchased for my first Internet site. So I know that’s all you really need. Honestly, the math works out to be $1 per day. Anyone can afford this amount!
#6 – “Make Money Online by Teaching People How to Make Money Online”
I see this phenomenon all the time. Many newbie Internet marketers think the quickest way to make money online is to teach others to do the same.
This is similar to the principles of multilevel marketing (MLM.) You get people to buy products about building an Internet business. Then those people get others to purchase these offers. It’s a vicious cycle where no one learns how to build a real business.
There are literally thousands of profitable topics online. None are related to the make money online niche.
Example: Over 90% of my income comes from the relationships/dating market. So I actually don’t make a lot of money from teaching people how to run an Internet business. Instead I found a profitable niche that’s ignored by the majority of Internet marketers.
All it takes is a little bit of hard to work to find a profitable niche. (Just check out my PDF “THE Affiliate Research Formula” for more on this.)
#7 – “Use Money-Making, Turnkey Information Products”
This is a nasty piece of marketing I see advertised all over the place.
You’re promised a website that’s pre-made and ready to make money. In reality what you get is a piece of junk that’s owned by hundreds (even thousands) of other people. You can’t make money because everyone is hocking the same piece of crap. Ultimately this competition drives down the price point to where people are offering a product for $1 or even $.01.
Ask this whenever you see a turnkey offer:
“If this really makes lots of money, why sell it to other people? Why aren’t they keeping it for themselves?”
Turnkey information products are marketed on the gullibility of many consumers. It’s pretty easy to get blinded by how much money you can “make” with one of these offers.
#8 – “Start with your Friends and Family…”
This is insidious offline tactic that’s become commonplace with some online businesses.
The idea is simple: You approach your friends and family with an offer. You get them to buy (usually out of pity.) Then you leverage their contacts; connecting to more potential customers. Rinse and repeat till you’re a billionaire.
Want to know the quickest way to destroy a relationship? Start asking them to purchase your worthless crap. Sure some might buy. But deep down they’ll resent you for even asking.
A quality offer should fill an existing need. Customers should come to you with a problem that your product solves. Odds are you won’t find these people within your existing network.
An Internet business shouldn’t push people to buy something. Instead, it should contain an irresistible offer that naturally attracts people to your sphere of influence. That’s the right way to do it!
#9 – “If you Build it, They Will Come”
You can’t build a website and hope people will find it. In fact, you’ll need to work as hard (or harder) to drive traffic to it. This means formulating a traffic plan – One that you follow on a daily basis.
Driving traffic to an Internet business is an ongoing process. Always think about ways to promote your site because that’s what the competition is doing.
#10 – “Stick to One Source of Web Traffic”
The online game is always evolving. What works now might not work tomorrow. This is especially true when it comes to driving traffic.
Example: In 2006, article marketing was the promotional tactic. Back then, you could write a semi-illiterate article, post it on EzineArticles.com, and have it rank well for a quality keyword.
Nowadays, article marketing has become passé. They don’t rank well on Google. And it’s getting increasingly difficult to get any article approved.
My point? Don’t rely on a single traffic method for your Internet properties. Look for different ways to promote your site. Ultimately this helps you stay on top of your niche.
#11 – “Build a Business around Google”
Always keep this in the back of your mind:
“Google is as Google does”
We all use the big G for a variety of things. That doesn’t mean you should be 100% dependent on its services. Google will always do what it thinks is best for their business. They don’t care if a new change wipes out your entire source of income.
So think carefully if you’re completely depended upon:
- Google Adsense
- Google Adwords
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- YouTube
They can (and will) shut down your account with no explanation. Use their services to grow your business. But never put all your eggs in the Google basket.
#12 – “You Don’t Need a List”
Email marketing is the best way to build a long-term business. So I get annoyed whenever some guru devalues the importance of list building.
Sure there are many ways to build a business without email marketing. But you’ll leave a lot of money on the table if you’re not using this technique. No matter what, always include list building into your Internet business model.
Example: Back in the January, I sent an email to my list promoting a new product. It took me 20 minutes to write and I earned over $5,000.
Plus, this wasn’t an isolated occurrence. I regularly send emails that generate $1000+ in affiliate commissions. It’s really hard to generate this type of income without a list.
Email marketing is valuable part of any online business. So don’t let anyone convince you it’s not important.
#13 – “Email your List Every Day”
I’ve encountered a few gurus who recommend emailing every single day. In my opinion, this is the quickest way to burn a list and lose income.
Once upon a time, it was easy to keep subscribers on a list. Now people have become ruthless with their inbox. Email people too much and they’ll quickly unsubscribe from your messages.
Example: Back in the summer of 2009, I experimented with emailing every single day. The balance was about 80% content vs. 20% promotional. So overall, I was giving quality information with my messages.
The result? My open rates decreased by 20% and my overall income dropped by $2000 per month. (I know this from the extensive tracking that I do with my Internet business.)
Email people with a purpose. Don’t blast them with message after message. My *sweet spot* is around 2 to 3 messages a week. And even that is too much if you’re only sending promotional offers.
#14 – “Always Use Scarcity to Increase Sales”
Scarcity is one of the best ways to influence people. Done correctly, you can get the “fence sitters” to take action on an offer. Problem is this technique has been used WAY too often with Internet marketing.
Your credibility is more important than a few extra sales. The goal is to turn people into lifelong customers. That won’t happen if everyone see you as someone who uses scare tactics.
Think of scarcity as a rare spice. Only use it when there’s a legitimate reason for doing so.
Example: Last month, I gave a one-week deadline for my information product. This was legitimate scarcity because my course was fresh on the market and I wanted to reward my longtime readers. Of course, after the week was up I increased the course to its current price.
#15 – “You Don’t Need to Connect to Other People”
Online entrepreneurs do things on a solo basis. They start a business by themselves and work from the privacy of their homes. This makes it easy to develop an isolationist attitude.
Sure, creating an online business is an individual activity. That doesn’t mean you don’t need to talk to other people. Extending your network is how you identify opportunities that can’t be found on your own.
#16 – “You Don’t Need an Information Product”
Information products help you:
- Find people who will promote your “brand”
- Generate additional income
- Increase your authority in a niche
- Add value to your existing content
That’s why I’m surprised at how many people don’t have an info product. It’s simple. You need an information product if you’re an Internet marketer. Never let someone tell you otherwise.
For more on this, check out my free PDF: How to Build a Profitable eBook Empire in 2011.
#17 – “Treat your Audience like they’re Newbies”
Never underestimate the capability of your audience. In all likelihood, you’re being followed by highly intelligent people who know a lot about your particular topic. So don’t assume everyone is at the “newbie” level.
I’ve encountered this line of thinking with a lot of websites. The owners make the mistake of treating their audience like they don’t know a thing.
The end result is they create content that comes across as condescending or unbelievable.
Each follower is an individual person. Some might be new. Others will have expert experience. So do your best to fully explain the concepts. But also make sure you have content that contains advanced techniques/principles.
#18 – “Make Everything Perfect”
The perfectionist mindset prevents you from getting results. Many people won’t complete a project because they want it to be perfect. Ultimately this minimizes the money you can make online.
Work hard to make your products (and content) a cut above the rest. Just don’t fall into the trap of making it 100% perfect. This will reduce the amount that can be accomplished in your Internet business.
#19 – “Do Something Else Because the Internet is Dead”
Here’s a piece of Internet marketing advice I’ve seen a lot of recently. Ironically, it’s used to promote an emerging technology product. (I’m sure that’s not a coincidence.)
I’ll agree the Internet is always changing. In a few years, we might only use mobile phones and iPads. That doesn’t mean the Internet is completely dead. There are still plenty of opportunities in this industry.
My advice is to pay attention to the emerging technologies. Just don’t jump ship on the Internet simply because a guru tells you to do so.
YOUR Thoughts on Bad Internet Marketing Advice
Now it’s your turn!
Do you agree or disagree with what I consider to be bad advice? What has been your experience with these recommendations?
Also, I’m sure you’ve encountered faulty advice about Internet marketing. Probably it’s something that cost you both time and money.
In the comment box below, please post the worst things you’ve heard…
Take Action. Get Results.
Hi Steve,
Now this is what i call honest and true advice from a trustworthy internet marketer. I guess we need to keep our eyes open when searching for internet marketing advice. There are too many information circulating and it’s real hard to differentiate what is good and what is bad.
I am particularly agree with #4 “anyone can do this” and #6 ” Make money by teaching you how to make money”. You have pretty covered it all and i learn a few more out of this list.
Talk soon.
Lye
Lye,
Thanks for the great positive review. There is a ton of good information out there. But also quite a few tons of useless and even misleading crap.
It can be hard to sift through the junk to get to the nuggets, I appreciate that you think I am giving out some of the nuggets. (Which is of course what I am trying to do).
Thanks for dropping by!
Tremendous advice, Steve! Especially resonant is your claim that making money online should not revolve around selling information products promising to teach others how to make money online. People are simply impatient, at least a lot of people. And since there are so many other people relying on this flawed strategy, they must assume it’s effective. They don’t realize how crowded this niche is, or how unethical these methods (sometimes) are.
-j.
Joe,
Yup! The “make money online” area is certainly an incredibly crowded niche. It is understandable “why” people want to be there, since they see the stories of those rich guys at the top of the pyramid. But like many of the pyramid schemes there chances of ever reaching that pinnacle (particcularly with no practical experience doing it in other niches, is about as close to approaching zero as possible)
Steve,
Long time no see 🙂 How are you man? It’s been a long time since my last visit. But again, every time I come to your blog, I find useful content!
Yes, I agree that those crappy advices can ruin the whole business of anyone. If they don’t go out and take actions based on what they know, it’ll never become reality. I find myself in the advice #10 and #11. I’m relying heavily on Google and SEO for traffic. So I think I should find out other sources of traffic in the near future. No one knows when would be the next Google slap.
And yes, the “the Internet is dead” advice is deadly wrong. People can use other devices than PC’s or laptops but the Internet will always be the most important connector!
Cheers!
Duy.
Dan,
Thanks for dropping by again. I have also been very bad recently about visiting sites, since I have been on a months travel/vacation and was rushing to finish my ebook before that.
I feel ya on 10 and 11. I am far more reliant on google than I like. There is little way around that, particularly since they own youtube (which was a great alternative)
But there are alternatives out there and at least getting as much of your traffic as you can form these should prevent some of the damage if google has a whim that goes against you
Hello Steve,
Some addition inputs in # 1 and #2 not related in Bad Internet Marketing Advice: 19 Recommendations Ruining your Online Efforts but still can be an example.
In #1 it make sense if do as what your heart say and you can achieve your goals in an instance. I really appreciate for post because I really experience it during my college years that my father want me to be an engineer but unfortunately I really don’t like to be an engineer so that I confront him that even though I’m not an engineer but still I can find a better job in Management where I love. I earn less at first but sooner or later I can be promoted because I love my job and it really suit my taste.
In #2:Try to watch the movie “THE SECRET” its an interesting movie which it say the secret to success is just the “LAW OF ATTRACTION” what you think, that will gonna be happen. Just think positive!
Vernon,
You make some good points. Of course for #1 passion is important. If you HATE the job you do there is no way you can do it well. If you can find a topic you love that is the BEST world.
…but there is also time for a little realism. Is your passion something that can make money. IF you can be honest about it and the answer is YES. Well you cannot ask for anything more. If not the goal is to at least find a topic you LIKE.
As for “the secret”… well I have some mixed feelings on that. I am all about positivity. I think that positivity can get you through a lot. But positivity without action is pointless. IF you couple the good attitude with hard work and effort to MAKE what you want happen…it is much better.
I find perfectionism is a huge problem for people that really care. But, unfortunately, it is impossible to make anything perfect. Entrepreneurs have to take on a “good enough” mindset to get anything accomplished.
Eugene,
Yup! It is nice to do things well. I understand not wanting to release error ridden dribble. But at some point “good” is good enough or you really will never reach the level of productivity that is needed to really make an impact in your online business
Steve
Good post and some good pointers.
One I’d add: there’s no magic button system that will generate revenue or backlinks or traffic or anything that a sustainable business needs. So if anyone is selling you a ‘magic bullet’ system….run a mile.
I’d also add as a caveat to people that every market area is different – and need different requirements in terms of both products and ‘the free line.’ And you will need to learn what works in your market area.
For this reasons some ‘products’ won’t work for your market area if you follow them however hard you try.
What most people who end up being successful do is they start by following a model, but then they tweak it to suit their own personality and strengths – trial and error will generate a method that works best for you.
Paul
Paul,
I absolutely missed one! “Magic Bullet” is a scary phrase and your reaction: “run the other way as fast as you can” is the perfect answer to that one.
You nailed it on the head too (of course). A tmeplate is fine to get started. BUT everything is variable online. WHat worked in one niche may not work as well in the next.
I would also say it varies by personal strengths. What works for YOU may not work as well for ME, since we have different strengths, weaknesses and passions.
You can get pointed in the right direction. You can get shown a few “nice” roads and told a few places to avoid but ultimatey everyone’s path will have to be their own.
Steve
The road analogy you used fits nicely with the archetypal path of human development expounded in ‘The Hero’ Journey.’ At some stage you have to be the hero of your own story…which means putting in the the hard yards yourself.
And yep, personal strengths and characteristics play a part too.
Paul
PS – I forgot to tick the ‘Follow Up Comments’ box, ever thought of using the ‘Reply Me’ plug in?
Paul,
I have thought of using, “reply me” but I have been unwilling to pull the trigger because I feel it may overload some peoples in box.
It seems like one of those things that for those that are interested is great but those that aren’t my find it to be a pain.
Like I said: on the fence. I may well check it out in the (near) future and see if it is something that is appreciated or not.
Steve,
This was one of your best posts…hands down.
Solid no BS advice just like your header says.
My only addition would be: Don’t be afraid of exploring Black Hat SEO.
You’ll learn more than you bargained for…;)
Mark
Mark,
Glad you liked the post! 🙂
Yeah, Black Hat can be another great piece of bad advice. I have even tried a few “grey hat” type of attempts that have sort of blown up on me.
Really the best advice is try to simply create great content that people love. It is the only way that you are pretty sure to be fine long term.
Hey Steve,
This is an awesome post and I felt compelled to comment. Everyone of your examples I am shaking my head and agreeing with your statements.
There are a ton of ways to earn on the net but what may work for one won’t work for another so all that I could recommend to others is a little trial and error experiment.
Justin,
Absolutely. What “works” online is variable by both niche and the people that are doing it. Trying to experiment is the perfect thing for most people!
It is important to really find what works for YOU not just what worked for one specific guru.
Hi Steve,
Most of the time I think those course are rather deceitful rather than honestly share their knowledge. (buyer end up learning crap)
-In Chinese….this is called -Daylight Robbery! –
sincere regards
Derick
Steve,
First time long time. Your blogs have been so useful to me as I am a newbie to info product creation. I designed my first blog and have finally rolled up my sleeves. Thanks for your awesome advice. Keep it up friend.
Awesome Dan! Glad you got the ball rolling. Please drop by and comment every so often to let us all know how it is going!
Hey Steve
Killer write up here! You have opened some eyes I’m sure because you have dispelled some MAJOR myths and probably saved people a lot of time/money/frustration. Well done.
Regarding emailing your list…
I am the same as you. I mail on average 3 times per week and it seems to work well.
But I also have partners who email their list every day and sometimes even more than once a day. One friend has always done it that way and while some people unsubscribe, many people don’t mind and his list sends me TONS of sales when he mails for me. I think it really depends on how you “train” your list.
Regarding scarcity…
I use scarcity on the majority of my offers but I do it in a pricing approach. I use a dimesale method where the price goes up just a little bit every buyer. I have not found that it impacts my credibility/reputation at all because I price my products very reasonably in the sense that all buyers feel like they got more value than money spent.
So really I guess it all comes down to value.
At any rate, I rarely comment on blog posts these days but your post inspired me to get back on the boat 🙂
Justin,
Thanks for the great comment man!
Great ideas on scarcity. It is a tool and it works. My problem with it is that some people use it the wrong way. There is nothing wrong with the occasional LTO, just with the ones that are obviously purely engineered.
And you are 100% right. Really the important thing is value in the end. If people get their monies worth and you are diligent on giving refunds to those who are not happy. (no matter how good something is there will always be some who do not think it is worth the $)
Thanks for dropping by and commenting. (I understand decreasing comments, I have been finding it difficult to find time to comment on all blogs I read myself)
Steve, thanks for this post, it really is helpful.
I think my two biggest hurdles are as follows:
Staying focused
Building a list
Building a list for me is difficult because I primarly promote physical products through Amazon. I know it can be done but finding time to write an incentive offer can be difficult.
As far as staying focused, well there’s just so many shiny stuff out there saying “Do this and make money!” I need to look away from all these offers, and just grit out the hard work to get my sites ranking better.
Daniel,
I understand the list building diffuculties with amazon products. I have done -some- of that…though it is not necessarily my “wheelhouse”.
When you -are- able to use that as a tool, it can be a powerful one, though.
As for focus….I feel ya bro! The bright and shinies are very distracting. Even when you KNOW they are probably too good to be true sometimes it is soooo tempting to check out the new, “latest and greatest
Hey, we are only human! All we can do is try our best!
Wow, really good advice here. I just finished reading your ebook on making an ebook empire and it opened my eyes more to affiliate marketing.
That’s definitely the route to go it looks like when you sell an information product.
Bryce,
Absolutely. The best way to gain peoples trust and respect is to do everything you can to really “earn” it. Give the best info you can free (or cheaply) and then strive to give only recommendations for things that work and are quality.
It all takes work and time…but the effort holds up in the end.
Hey Steve!
Welcome back, mate. Hope you had an awesome trip through Europe again.
First up, I’m having a problem with your +1 button. After clicking it I get the red “error” button which links to a google help page giving some reasons why it failed. Are you seeing it?
And I just wanted to ask… how big is your list? (number of subscribers).
Incidentally, beerandboobs.com is already taken, but it is for sale. How profitable did you say the beer and porn niche was? LOL
Thanks Steve!
Nice to see you again too. It has been a while.
I am getting the same error as you with the google plus. I know it was working a few days ago. Likely something with the plug-in. I will play around with it this evening and hopefully get it working. thanks for pointing it out.
The raw list numbers are not exact since I split my lists into a lot of separate lists. But for SSS, right around 1K. For my main niche, though, (the one I have been working on for years and make a living off of)…. around 75-80K
-rushes out to buy beerandboobs.com-
Actually, there probably IS a huge market for the boobs part. (lets be honest) but trying to crack the competition in that market would be like squaring off against a gibbering zombie horde armed with a plastic Spork
Hey Steve,
I could have stopped at 1-2 as I could not have expressed them any better than you did. I read through all of them and received something from each. The first two speak volumes. Only people doing what they love make it big? Wish hard enough and it’ll happen?
Thanks for giving the real scoop. More often I would like to hear how long it took for success. Most that I’ve read about have been in the mix for at least 2 years (definitely not over night). Pull the boot straps up, and plug away.
Thanks Rob,
I appreciate your nice words.
It certainly takes time to achieve success. Of course how long it takes it depends on a ton of variables, specifically how much time you put into it along the way.
The figure I have heard (and experience has at least told me is reasonable) is 3-5 years. At least when you pick an area idea you want to make successful that is the amount of time that you should be willing to invest in busting your butt to try and make it work.
This is of course why it is essential to get all your research right before anyone starts.
Personally I spent about 4 years in my other niche before ever writing a single word in my “new” niche (this site)
Anything worthwhile will certainly take that effort to make it happen.
It is really hard to find legitimate advices when I am just starting out. It is also difficult to find legitimate ways to earn money online because there are many information about this on the Internet. I haven’t heard of treating audience as newbies but I agree it is important to extend networks to be able to find opportunities. Thanks for sharing the interesting tips, which I could be able to apply in the near future.
Stephan,
Glad you got some use out the ideas. There is certainly a lot of good info out there. But there is also SO MUCH bad information.
I wish you the best of luck and I hope you visit again. (and hopefully find something that helps your business out!)
Hey Steve,
This post was spot on!
I won’t get into details because I’d have to add my own thoughts to each and every point you brought to the table and even those that were mentioned in the commenting section (big red buttons) and I don’t want to create a post within a post.
I agree with you on everything 100%, I’ve been on this IM “thing” for over a year now and I have seen some weird things about making money online (more about what people think actually) left and right.
Just yesterday I was on a live coaching and there was this (let’s call him “Dave”) guy who mentioned he had a physical store about shirts on California.
He mentioned business was not going up and that he wanted to revamp the whole thing, store, merchandising, advertising, etc.
I immediately said “well let’s look at your site, care to share your URL?” turns out he had no site. I was like… “what? …ok, then you really can do something about it!”
(So fast forward…) we started chatting (there were several entrepreneurs there too) andI couldn’t believe my eyes…
I told him I could help him get an appropriate domain name, decent hosting, get him started with a nice premium WP theme, help him configure everything and he interrupted to say “I can’t afford a domain name, do you have anything like a free url?”.
I immediately knew I wasn’t going to talk that much to him anymore. I told him that a free site, blog, whatever, just hurts your business (if it’s something offline, it’s even worse) and yadda yadda yadda, I lost it when I told him “bro, it’s under $10 bucks to get a domain name and I can even hook you up with hosting for a really really low fee”
If you can’t afford that, then yeah, no wonder why your offline business is dying.
And yeah I ignored him from that point on. I’m normally a very patient guy but when I find people like this I can’t help it.
In the end he was still asking for a “free URL”…
Funny thing is I was very close to tell him I’d pay the damn .com for him LOL
Cheers Steve, absolutely loved your post!
Sergio
Awesome comment Sergio!
Love the story. I can understand some people on -really- tight budgets trying for free domains.
Maybe…just maybe it makes sense for those people to use it while they, “figure things out”
But for any serious attempts at IM or any realy online biz a domain is more than a choice. It is simply a necessity.
Hi Steve,
I love this post. About #6 – “Make Money Online by Teaching People How to Make Money Online”, I think that we -human beings, I mean- are lazy when it’s about finding a niche.
We all learn from a guy (or several) who teaches how to make money online and we want to do the same. But finding the right niche is a hell of work and there’s always the risk that after months working in the chosen niche, this is not as profitable as expected.
So, we say to ourselves: “let’s take the easy way: How to make money online is a profitable niche. The prove is, even I bought one of these infoproducts. For sure there are tons of people out there who, like me, are looking for information about making money online. I’ve never made money online but I’ve been a customer. I’ll replicate the same things I see as a customer but this time I’ll do it from the point of view of the seller. Problem solved. I have a profitable niche”.
I don’t think it’s necessary to start counting the amount of mistakes in that simple logical reasoning.
Cristina
Cristina,
I think you nailed the psychology perfectly. I am sure that is exactly what people think and each one just adds to the competition and goes up against people that have been doing it for a LONG time and have all of the knowledge and resources to ground these new competitors to dust.
Hey Steve. Great Post. I totally agree with those points. I see people every day who seem to think that all they have to do is throw up a few web pages of PLR content and they are ready for retirement.
I spent over 3 years building my business, just to replace my old income (which wasn’t that high). Passion is a must, but only if you happen to have a profitable passion.
When I started my IM blog, i never intended it to make money, I started it because I loved talking to people about IM and what I was learning how to do.
It is a profitable niche, but it shouldn’t be your only niche or your primary source of income.
James,
It absolutely does take time, Though, “Passion” is optional and should be seen as something to be done only if there is a profitable niche, “liking” what you are talking about I will admit is a “must”.
I doubt very many people could make it 3 years writing about stuff they hate.
Steve, this post exhausted me because I knew it was all true and I had to read every word. That and looking for nuggets of absolute hilarity. The section on unprofitable hobbies such as liking beer and porn — still laughing!
You know your stuff and write like a champ.
Pretty new points and this post covers it all! Many internet marketers including me suggest that don’t be lazy, but in fact you have proved that being lazy doesn’t matter!
And patience is really important. Expecting over-night success is something we shouldn’t do!
Hats Off Steve for the excellent post!!
Hey Steve,
I like your style. Numerous and informative at the same time. I have been found guilty of relying on Google and found myself being slapped unexpectedly and losing most of my traffic. It can be a pain… lesson learned… moving on.
As for e-mail marketing… I believe in it, but I am still learning there. I have several lists that I have not been giving as much attention as I should be. I think I am too lazy right now… lol
It can be easy to get distracted with everyday life and not get the things done that need to be.
Thanks for sharing!
Talk again soon,
~Jeremy
I’m so jealous that I didn’t write this post!
I’ve stopped following any “gurus” and/or marketers who say dumb stuff like this…but even some of the ones listed in the first 5, I was like “really? there’s people who offer this as business ADVICE?”. lol
This post should be a mandatory read for everyone who’s getting starting with an online biz.
Love it.
Cheers
Jay
There are these blind offers…where they dont tell you what the product or opportunity actually is, until you pay for it
They say things like: This offer is :
-NOT MLM
-NOT Affiliate Marketing
-NOT Ecommerce
-NOT Blah Blah Blah….
They tell you all the things its NOT and never tell you what it is until you pay for it
Another thing that you should avoidis when you hear people say…
“This is a $2 Billion dollar industry, imagine if you only got a 1% percent of that….1 percent is easy to do.”
If you hear or read these two type of offers….RUN….RUN for the hills