Originally written in December 28, 2008 and Revised February 27, 2011, Revised again on 26 of June 2014
Here's my update of June 26 of 2014:
Boy, it's been a while since I visited my own blog! 3 years? Wow! I'm still making a little bit of money with Adsense on this blog. I'm not sure what ad was clicked to generate the revenue.
A lot has changed since I wrote this post (I'll leave the original below untouched). Well, I now create and manage websites. The object, of course, is to be able to make money online. And I've been making a pretty good living at it. If I had to emphasize anything about what I've been doing is that: in order to make money online, you have to be willing to invest some money, learn what the hell you're doing and work hard.
The old adage still applies: "knowledge is power". But knowledge alone will not make you money. You must more than wish to make money. You have to learn how to do it and take ACTION (work for it).
So what I have I've been doing exactly? I learned so HTML, put Paypal on some of my sites and use Adwords to promote. All of these activities require learning how to do them, practice and then doing them.
Check out some of my sites: bettershutters.com, bettershutters.net and my new website that I'm working on: goodfoodandfitness.com. Plus I've written many, many posts on making money on a blog I continuously post on: howtogetinspired.com.
If you want to know how I've done this and are a regular visitor comment and I'll drop you a line.
Here's the original Five Deadly Mistakes:
This is a long post and you will need some time to read "The Five Deadly Mistakes of Internet marketers". make yourself comfortable and enjoy! You will get a lot out of it. I wrote it so that I could save you tons of grief and disappointment as a beginning Internet Marketer.
I decided to leave this post as the main page of this blog. That is why you will see the date above into the future. As far as I know, that is the only way that Blogger lets you do it. Posts are archived in order of most recently posted hierarchy. The latest will show up first.
I originally wrote this back in April of 2008 I believe. Close to three years later I can tell you that I have learned what makes money and what doesn't. More importantly, I have discovered the hard way that there is no easy method of making money on line.
There are as many legitimate methods to doing this as there are successful businesses out there. The bad news is that in order to find a legitimate method, your research can take quite a long time. Many eventually give up and become valets or waiters rather than give Internet Marketing any more thought. There are way too many false lures out there, way too many "experts" that hire firms or smart writers and take your money and run!
I'll add some more to this revision. There have been many changes in the Internet Marketing field such as who's come and gone; what worked then doesn't work now; what Google's been up to, etc.
For now (you'll still get a lot out of what follows), here's the original post:
The Five Deadly Mistakes of Internet marketers
This blog is dedicated to all Internet Marketers (I.M's) who have been frustrated and are looking for a better way to make money online.
I'll first explore what maybe killing you as a wannabe marketer. I promise I won't be cruel.
Then I'll get into I'm sure will work for you. I assure you I know what I'm talking about. This is a brand new blog and yet I've received hundreds of hits without doing any advertising.
After having quite a bit of fun in the Internet and almost going broke in the process learning all manner of new methods, tricks, come-ons, etc. I’ve been able to isolate: How not to make money in the Internet!
At first sight this statement may not shock you or give you a desire to read on. I know: my natural instinct is to get interested in: How to make money in the Internet. After all who cares about what doesn’t work? "I want to know what works!". I will show you what works. But you need to first break of the habit of clicking on every ad that promised to make you rich, but doesn't deliver.
My mission is to help you in recognizing all of the misinformation out there that, in the end, leaves you broke and hopeless. There is no need for that. Such can easily be avoided. Read on and I'm sure some fireworks will go off in your head.
Please bookmark this page. You may get lost in hyper-space with what you're about to read and not remember how you landed here.
Definition of insanity (By Mr. Brainiac Einstein): "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"(actually I think that is is more like "stubbornness": a lesser form of insanity).You need to first break away from what is NOT working so that you can concentrate on what works. It’s that simple.
I finally realized..
I had to do something different...
I promise you that as you read on I will reveal to you How to make money in the Internet, but you must bear with me reading these few words, as they’re designed to save you tons of grief, aggravation and going broke. After all, I don't want you broke and desperate. I want you as my precious client who I can continue to help along as you begin to get results.
Before you’re even done reading all of this, you may just realize how to do it. If so, I definitely want you on my team—move to the head of the class! Either way you should read on.
I’m pretty sure I can only help you, if only in releasing some pent up frustrations you might have built up and best of all: get refreshed! It's time to have a new outlook, without you won't get far.
Here's an example of a very crappy, time consuming, worthless method that you may have heard of. It's called The Spider Web Marketing System. I tried it, pumped over $3,000 dollars into it, worked it like mad and got no results. Right, So much for a "free system". Check it out if you wish at your own risk: I repeat: This is a very crappy system. You will learn some stuff "for free", but it's still crappy:
The Spider Web Marketing system
Here's an interesting article I read regarding a super crappy website that lures "innocent prospectors" into believing that they can do rebates from home.
"I've tried that"
Here's a review of Rachael Ryan (or a spin off) with her "Stay at home system". I personally checked out Rachael Ryan. I wasn't impressed. The following link might have changed.
The Work At Home Authority
The author leads you to believe that all you have to do is buy her system and you will be automatically connected to tons of companies that pay you to process rebates. Supposedly you get paid up to $15 per rebate you process. This sounds lovely and very enticing. So I clicked on it and had this nagging thought: "If it's that simple, how come the author doesn't hire grandma and her kids do this all day long for a buck per rebate and keep $14?".
In actual fact, after you pay $97 for this, you then realize that you won't make money processing rebates. You have to now promote the system to make your $97 back! Come on. How far from the truth can you get?
There's actually a site out there called: "The Site Review Authority" that recommends it. It does well for the author, as it comes up under a lot of keywords and search terms on Pay Per Click. It's been on the internet for over a year now, as far as I know. So they must be making money to keep paying Google for Adwords.
This is one that I haven't truly checked out. It shows some promise for those who don't have a fat wallet:Two minute Profits. I'm not recommending it, just pointing it out.
O.K., fair enough, but have you noticed that what grabs your attention is not necessarily best for you? How many car commercials have you seen with the pretty girl (which has nothing to do with the car), get your attention and make you want the new car? Even though you know better and your old Buick is running fine and paid for? Did the car above grab your attention?. Here it is again:
I'm sorry. I really love this car!Or, for girls: How many times have you seen the Jenny Craig commercials, felt guilty about being over-weight, if you are, and buy into the system, even though you knew there was nothing wrong with your weight loss system, except for will power and some more discipline? Here's a pretty girl- attention getter:
So the first thing that won’t let you make money is:
1. Dispersal: That means going off in too many directions at once, killing your focus and efficiency. Look it up if you wish for a more Collegiate definition, but that is basically what it is. So what makes you dispersed? Well, all of these beautiful websites, landing pages, capture pages, etc. that clamor for your attention, capture you and make it irresistible for you to buy and finally you give in and “BUY”. They very ingeniously use "buttons", or better yet "marketing buttons".
These are very stimulus-response. Before you even know what happened, you've just reacted to the stimulus you were exposed to and responded. Did you feel a little dispersed by clicking the links I gave you above? You have to understand that every one, without exception, in this business of Internet marketing is out to make a buck, and he who clamors the most gets the most attention. Attention= Money. Lots of attention= Lots of money.
Did you ever hear the expression: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease?"That doesn’t mean that they are necessarily unethical, but they NEED to make a buck, and they will go to almost any length to make that happen.
Therefore: the pretty girl, the slim girl, the flashing pages, the pop ups, etc. Almost all Internet Marketers realize this, and in their desperate bids to get attention create horribly dispersing pages with all kinds of links, pop ups, banner ads, widgets, etc. I guess they feel that if they don’t get you in one way, they’ll get you another. But there's a downside.
These sites are called “Flea market sites” by many experts. And this is horrible Man! When I’ve been unfortunate enough to land on these sites, I’ve felt completely giddy (my head spinning) and confused-- like my power was sapped-- then when I’m ready to click out, this stupid chat box pops up and won’t leave me alone (a hover ad) until I’ve realized all I have to do is press the “X” to leave.
Lots of people finally give in and buy more junk, only to realize they just gave somebody a license to be your firing squad with an endless assault of up sales. Man...that's insane!
Then there’s:
2. Misplaced trust: Let’s say you’ve recycled through a soup of websites as above and been lured to BUY in compulsion, frustration or whatever, the realization comes that “the money is on the other side of the fence”= Not in your pocket, theirs.
So even if you don’t know whether the course will work or not, you know that you have to make it work. After all you paid for it, even though you can get a refund, but you’ve already put time and money into this and genuinely desire to make it work.
Now, that’s not so terrible. Many of us have done that and been there. Who knows, this thing might just work, just like the testimonials say. But wouldn’t it be terrible to find out many months later, that the company or person you were dealing with and willing to coach you gave up himself? Or that the company is now out of business and all you managed to get out of it was information overload with nothing to show for it?
That leads right into our next one:
3. Too long a runway (taking too long): When someone didn’t really read the fine print that reads “results not typical”, he deluded himself into believing that all those beautiful success stories:
“I made $500 my first 24 hours!” or: “I only spent $19 and made $700!” and many more like it. Yes it is possible to do this. But you need to use your judgment and fine tune it like a radar.
The truth is this: if we could all make $700 in 24 hours, don’t you think we all would be doing it? People, including myself, tend to take the path of least resistance. Why would I, or anyone else for that matter, want to work 8 hours a day for peanuts? So we delude ourselves and persist on a course that we know deep down inside will frustrate us why? TRUST: a fine quality that bonds us, but it is too easily exploited and betrayed.
Too long a runway is taking too long BEFORE we see any viable results. It's an airplane running out of runway and yet the pilot refuses to take off. Result: PLOW! right into the rice field, at least.
The keyword here is “viable”. Sure the course or system will work for some. That is why we persist. But it’s not working for us. So there comes a crossroads in our quest: “will it get worse if we keep at it or do I persist just a little longer?” We're not quitters, you know.
Toni Robbins, the motivational speaker, once gave a great analogy: "what good is having all of this energy not properly channeled, like a fly trying to get out through a closed window?. He'll never get out and finally get frustrated and die." I don't like man being compared to a fly, but I couldn't think of another analogy to give you.
To add insult to injury, you get a further dose of “dispersal” above”. Just when you “thought it was safe to go back in the water”, here comes another auto-responder urging you to buy more stuff from the same guy or company!
You say: “But wait! I haven’t made a dime yet! You realize that there is now crossroads (a point of decision) staring you in the face and you say: “Oh no. Not another wasted attempt. Not another wasted year!” But the crossroads is still there. You must now decide: “Do I keep going, or do I stop doing this?” “Do I quit?”
You know. Most Internet Marketers quit. I did. But came back armed with new true knowledge of what to do. Actually the attrition rate is about 97%, per what I read on the guru sites. Yes. I keep myself well informed and resist buying into the latest craze.
So finally we get to:
4. Going broke with no results: The bright hopes of this Internet Marketer wannabe have now dimmed. He really wants to make this work. But man! His legs just don’t respond as well in the morning. He doesn’t really look forward to answering e-mails. His Google Adwords campaigns stopped running. No more money for ad placement, etc. His bills pile up.
He sees his caller I.D. and knows it’s a creditor. “Why answer? He knows the bill collector won’t let up and he doesn’t have the money”. He “knows” he isn’t making it. So why bother? “Maybe if I try another method and then another and then another, things will work out”, he says.
5. Desperation: In sheer panic he gropes for the “only thing” that “just might work”. Then something else and then something else. None work! This finishes him and he quits. He becomes another statistic added on to the 97% of “failures” out there. He is forced to go out and get a JOB! This is the last thing he wanted! Now he has to go back to the daily grind, with less time, no money and lots of bills!
Alright, as I said earlier, this blog is dedicated to all internet marketers out there who have had little or no results. My hat's off to them. I feel for them. I've been there.
Some of the copy writing that I'm doing here probably violates every principle in the book. I'm concentrating on the negative part of this business in too much detail. But I said: "what the hell. Perhaps many will benefit from reading this, experience relief, avoid getting scammed again and start making money for real. That is the positive side of it and that's why I'm doing it.
Another positive to this is the incredible magnitude and resilience of the human spirit. Whoever said "Man is the only 'animal' that will trip twice over the same stone", was short sighted. There is some slight truth to that. But such "maxim" should have gone as follows: "Man is the only species who can trip over the same stone twice, and three times and a hundred, but finally he figures out how to get it out of the way, and paves a road to success". Besides, man is not an "animal". True he has an animal body. But there's a lot more to him than just his body. He is a sentient being being full of abilities and unlimited capabilities.
Just because you may be feeling down toady or for a while, is no reason to agree that it will be so all the time. Look at this as a temporary set-back or test to your abilities. Such tests usually result in opened never before seen opportunities. Do you know how many times Thomas Edison had to re-develop the light bulb over and over and almost went broke until he hit pay dirt! you may not be a Thomas Edison but you'll be surprised: your capabilities are a lot greater than anyone ever led you to believe.
“AHA! Here it comes. I bet he’s going to pitch his method now, the one that got him out of the rut. He just got done dragging me through the mud.” you might be saying: “Alright. How much?”
Wait! We’re not there yet.First I want to know. And I want to know honestly. Have you at least experienced some relief? If you read this far, I’m sure you may have at least similar experiences. Yes? Well good. Thank you for your honesty.
Two things should have happened at this point:
1. You have felt some relief and have figured out what works and....
2. You have felt some relief, figured out what works, but want to learn more. If you’re amongst 1 and 2 above, I have a wonderful surprise for you my friend! You CAN make money online! But you don’t need a long and grueling course on how to do it that will take you a year or so plus $10,000 to implement.
Here's a simple solution: Avoid doing all of the things above. Just, I REPEAT, don’t do them! They're a sure path to suicide!
Remember:
I finally realized..
I had to do something different...
“O.K. That’s great”, you say, “But what the hell do I do that will work?” The answer is:
Copy Success:
Why re-invent the wheel when you don't have to. There are some very successful internet marketers out there that you may have never heard of before. Searching for these seemed to be an endless job. The internet is endless, for all intent and purposes. It was an intimidating and, at times, frustrating task. I invested thousands of hours and dollars looking for reputable companies and well meaning Joes, so that you don't have to. I must admit, there were very few out there.
But the good news is they are out there.
Copy the successful internet marketer. Why waste your time buying failed and unsuccessful methods that don't make money and worse of all: make you waste your precious time? What you need is a successful or successful systems, not more hype.
There IS a simple formula connected with making money online and I will give it to you for free:
1. Create lead generation
2. Create personal branding (Create a successful personal identity)
3. Earn money immediately upfront, whether the client buys from you or not.
This last one has to do with something called "the reverse funnel system". You can look it up at Jonathanbudd.com. He's young, enthusiastic and has an incredible positive energy that will just brighten up your day. Many people are now following his system.
Successful systems= multiple sources of income. I have chosen only these systems mainly because they have:
1. Lead generation
2. Personal branding
3. Earn money immediately upfront, whether the client buys from you or not.
I guarantee you will be a pro in a very short time. You will avoid the five deadly mistakes. I will ask you to, once again, extend me your trust. I know you have been let down too many times before. But nothing happens without ACTION and such you must take.
There you have it have it my friends. I sincerely hope that this blog has been helpful and that I can be your friend for life.
You can write to me at: thefighter@bellsouth.net
No SPAM please!
Yes, I've branded myself as "The Fighter"
I like networking with other Internet Marketers.
I open my e mails everyday and answer almost immediately. Any comment is welcome.
To your success,
Carlos Manrique
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Update January 19, 2009
Hello my friends and subscribers,
I have been doing a bit of writing and creating or improving other blogs. My quest has been to provide unique quality content that will add value to the reader in order to generate traffic and make a good living online.
I can't honestly say that I'm there yet (the making a good living at it part), but I have been getting a lot of free traffic by being industrious at finding and using various traffic building generating tools. that's why I suggest you follow this blog so that you can track my no B.S. progress annd more importantly, so that I can share these tools with you.
One tool that is getting me results is the Feedjit Map, which you can download for free. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but suffice it to say that it generates traffic. I suggest you add it to your blog. It works.
I'm learning how to use another tool called "viral marketing", which is quite interesting. I won't give you a link yet, as I need to learn it myself well and apply it and see results before I share it.
From my understanding, Viral Marketing has to do with getting your users to spread your message and building traffic to your sites by their efforts, not yours. It's pretty neat and has nothing to do with computer viruses. so don't worry.
In keeping with the theme of this blog, I stumbled on a website that describes some mistakes made by Internet Marketers, which I agree with and thought you should be aware of them.
"Some of the mistakes people make when marketing online are as follows:
- They try to advertise and offer the same products to the same people that everyone else is marketing to. What separates you from the rest?
- They buy an e mail list to market to. The problem is that the people on that list didn’t subscribe to your blog or website and don’t know you from Adam. That’s kind of like spam isn’t it? You should build your list from your own sign up forms on your blog or website.
- Some people try to make mega-bucks quickly and aren’t as careful as they should be with how they market or what they sell.
- Trying to do everything yourself is a big mistake. No one person has all the skills necessary to build a website, write a sales letter, develop promotional material, develop products, etc. Don’t be afraid to joint venture with others to move you along faster."
Carlos
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