I am new to IM. Just wondering, to make really worthwhile money online, do we really need to be a ruthless marketer? Please don't be politically correct and tell me the truth. I think, most successful marketers are Dream Merchants, they show you big dreams, make big promises and might not deliver them. And they don't bother too much about law etc. What are your views? And pls tell me on average how much money people make who work fulltime online? That would help me to have realistic expectations. Currently, I am making $15-20 everyday.
Hi there, I understand what you mean about big dreams and them not being fulfilled. There does seem to be a big gap between what people claim they make online and the actual figures to prove it. I am a freelance writer who has been trying to make a residual income for more than 6 months now and I have not made anything so far but I do know that making money as a residual income is definitely possible. I think the key elements of a good money making system should be 1. Having a really solid system that involves all the components of a decent business - for example a great product, a solid marketing system (to drive traffic), an absolutely great sales page and a follow up system that would include an OTO and backend/comparable products. 2. It should be sustainable - by that I mean that it is not related to a trend or fad but be an evergreen product that people will continue to be interested in two years from now (which is a long time online, lol). 3. After set up it should only take a small amount of maintenance to keep the traffic and sales figures flowing. These are the types of things I am trying to set up for myself and after reading more than 300 Free and paid reports and information I am hopeful that this will bring in an a residual income over time. I hope this helps lisa
That's a very good question. Honestly you see tonnes of people making money on products that you know are downright scams. You see crapy e-books being sold for 80 bucks when in reality all of the information in these books are just filler info. That seems to be a huge thing in IM is selling ebooks like "get rich quick" or "lose 10 pounds fast" or "how to get free traffic to your website" when in reality most of these products are almost useless. You see lots of one page websites that look like scams, the site is just one big long sales page trying to convince anyone and everyone to purchase their product without any long term consideration for their customers. These sites have poorly made products that are being distributed to as many customers as possible. Customer service is basically non existent with some of these company's because once they have your money that is all they are interested in. Creating long term success is very possible, you just need to do a tonne of research and know your competition inside and out. Once you have figured out what everyone else is doing to create success for their business follow their success, but do even better than the competition. Create differentiation between your product or service and put more effort into your business and you will see success for sure. Riding trends for success is ok, as long as you realize your business is created with short term success in mind. If you can consistently follow trends and harvest money from them,you can make a killing online. The law seems to never come into effect online unless you make it huge and start scamming lots of people on a regular basis. Even when the law does come into effect for online businesses it seems like it's too late and the damage has already been done.
Services are not a scam (at least not most of the time)..... Selling products is not a scam I think the majority of businesses on line are not scams. Think about what you are good at. Create a site about it. Make money through advertising. (Nothing scammy in that)
Marketing in general is a pretty ruthless industry--but it is certainly easier to get away with when sitting behind a computer screen. The FTC is taking actions to resolve this, but it won't ever be completely "fixed." There are billions of people who can access the internet, meaning millions of people can be taken for a ride with a $100 product that promises the moon irregardless of their internet/marketing skills. Yes. There are people who want to make money and just that. Cash in and leave. But there are some of us who are trying to build a business online. I don't care to offer people scam products. I'm simply showing people what I personally did to make money online. It worked for me with a little creativity and hard work. The problem lies in people who buy something wanting an easy answer, an easy way to make money. There is no easy way to make money. The "easy way" is going to your 9 to 5 job everyday. That's easy. Trying to build a business, whether offline or online is a hard task that not anyone can just do. You have to have the will to survive and fight for the success you seek. But there always has been and always will be the guy who wants to sell you "hope" of making money online the easy way. And it does become easy after awhile, but when you are first starting out the world of internet marketing is a very cold and dark place.
Depends how you define ruthless? Jacking others people content? Or is ruthless using the same tactics competitors use to beat them out in the long run? Jacking others people content is beyond ruthless but using the same strategy as a successful website competitor but better is not. Simply put I don't care who you talk with, their ideas are someone else's and their ideas are someone else's. That is how life works, but presenting it is what makes you successful. Do I make a killing? Not yet but I made over 1k this year.
By ruthless marketing I mean using such methods like ewhoring, bulk mailing, 'almost spamming'(I mean spamming in a disguised way), self-promoting(using different user names to promote oneself and one's own products) etc.
Um.... e-whoring? If you need to do that to get people to your site, then your site really isn't worth much to the average person. There is no such thing as "spamming" in a disguised way. If you are "spamming" it is against the law. If you are sending out bulk email then people are asking for it until they decide to unsubscribe. If your product/service is good enough, people will promote on their own You have a very tunnel-vision view of online business. I think if you do a lot more reading you will find that you don't have to be "ruthless"
Factchecker raises some very valid points. You don't have to be ruthless you just need the knowledge of how to get people to put trust in you and your product. When I first started in SEO I was taught to be ruthless through an online paid seo class. I wont go into detail of who they are and what they taught me. But I will say in your seo journey you will come to a cross road of either taking the blackhat seo route or whitehat seo route. Blackhat SEO is everything you described these types of websites will never tie or brand their personal name to their product because they know it is absolute junk. If they do tie a name it is alias in most cases so they can skate and run when things get hot. On the other hand whitehat seo webmasters have nothing to hide, they provide information and services that are actually worth value. These webmasters and I would like to think I am one of them are in it for the long haul and have business ethics. So this is really all about personal choice..can you look yourself in the mirror everyday saying my products do have value and I did not use blackhat seo techniques to get there? If you can then that is something to be proud of.
I didn't necessarily mean that all online businesses are scams, I was just trying to point out how difficult it is to actually create a long term business that is 100% honest and totally unique. A lot of these 50 page e-books you purchase aren't really worth the 80$ or whatever they are being sold for, you can get this information all for free from google. I don't know the ratio of legit businesses to scammy businesses, but it is pretty easy to make quick gains from shady online business practices and this is happening all the time. I disagree, I believe there is such thing as "spamming in an disguised way". Just take a look at the CAN-SPAM Act....It basically states that you can send your marketing via e-mail without the e-mailers permission. How is that honest or moral? These people didn't sign up for this spam but it can be legally sent to their inbox. The internet is filled with little loops holes like this and many people take advantage of this "legally". Lots of affiliate marketers "game" google by quickly building links to a landing page with the sole purpose of selling a product. These sites don't always deserve to be on googles first page of the search engine results because they use grey-area marketing techniques (using software that will generate 100's of backlinks to get ranked #1 in google and manipulating their landing pages to convince unsuspecting visitors to buy their product). Again this isn't illegal but it isn't a completely honest business practice either. Even google is trying to prevent spammy sites like this because they believe it brings down the quality of content in their search engine.
To succeed in IM, just like any other industry, you have to work hard and work smart. There are plenty of "gurus" out there who claim you can make millions without lifting a finger, but it's just not true. And, being "ruthless" won't help you. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer...would you do business with someone cutthroat, who was only out to make a quick buck? Probably not. Your goal should be to set yourself apart from your competitors by establishing yourself as a legitimate expert. What does your target audience want to see/hear from you? What do they need? What can you do for them? There really is no "average" full-time IM income. It all depends on you. By doing IM, you've gone from "worker" to "entrepreneur". If you're persistent and smart, the sky is the limit when it comes to income.
And what about 'Iron Clad money back guarantee, 100% no questions asked'? I never understood what it means? What does it mean to give Money Back Guarantee for ebooks and softwares? "60 days 100% money-back guarantee - if you don't see results you'r overjoyed with in that time, you'll get every penny back from me". We often hear horrific stories from people trying to get refund:- no one answering email, long waiting time after getting support ticket, don't give phone nos. etc. What has been your experience about money-back guarantees? Do they really refund money quickly without hassles?
You are selling an "Acne Removal" guide to Peter, a teen in Florida, US. His all life he had been rejected because of his aspect. He doesn't has any girlfriend, neither can he get one. He hates his life and wants to die. Then he founds your guide. He pays $49.97 for it then gets rid of Acne for good. Now, his life is wonderful and he feels like a million bucks. Do you still feel like a scam? You are helping people, you are more of a savior than a salesman. You are not selling drugs or stuff people don't need. Instead, you are selling solutions. And if you do this right, you'll not only be proud of it but you'll also make a lot of money. Nobody forces them to buy. And trust me, there aren't any "Godly" salespeople in IM. If there were, they could have made a fortune somewhere else. There are only average people, selling solutions to other average people. Take care, Howard J.
I'm not really into buying ebooks or gimmicks. But you can still give 100% satisfaction guaranteed and still be ethical. But honestly you get no where the amount of refunds than you do in sales. The sales on a really quality product will well exceed any refunds you dish out from unhappy customers. Meaning if you do offer that type of guarantee then it better be worth it. Most consumers are not into going through the hassle of going after a refund if one is not needed , especially if they think they received their monies worth. There will always be unethical businesses and it is usually in the fine print. Meaning they state you will get 100% refund but what they don't tell you upfront is you only get something equal in return due to "this is a digital product speel." Either way it is upto to decide which you want to be, we can't make that decision for you. Not everyone is as cut throat, that is why consumers must research before buying products from businesses they are not familiar with. The internet has opened the door wide open to transparency especially when it comes to businesses and their sales ethics.
15 to 25$ per day is a great start... I started with a dropshipping business and I was making over 700$ per day at my peak... I just found the right niche and found suppliers on Ebay... The possibilities are endless. Just find something useful and somewhat obscure and market the %#@&! out of it.
Yes 100% money back guarantee just means that for whatever reason you decide, you can get all of your money back from the company with no questions asked (that is the theory behind this idea). Lots of companies claim they have a 100% money back but in reality a lot of companies don't actually honor this promise they made to all of their customers. Companies often times don't even answer e-mails that are requesting their money back. And even if some companies do answer e-mails they don't make it easy for the customer to get their money back. They often just give the customers "the run-around" and do anything they can to delay giving the customers money back. That is the beauty of credit cards, if companies don't honor their money back guarantee you can just put a chargeback through with your credit card company and most of the time you can get all of your money back.. Charge backs are a pain in the neck for companies because they cost the company a lot of money per chargeback and they require a lot of work to get the chargeback resolved.
Kumar.. I believe your questions have been answered. Yes, you don't HAVE to hustle. But some do. You can succeed without doing dishonest things. There is no need to keep pointing out bad things that others do. Move on.
Hi I am new to this forum, and have enjoyed reading all of the threads here. A few months back, I enrolled in an Internet Marketing Course for three days, and at the end of the course I was overwhelmed. Throughout the course I could not stop thinking how many of the claims seemed a bit over the top and I looked at a friend quite often and said to her, "I don't do business like this, period." I felt there was a better way to enter this vast playing field with integrity, and I was going to do it my way, without the "Hustling". I did NOT want to spam people or go on and on and on about my offer. I set up my web cam and proceeded to create a video for 90 Day Marketing Strategies, my target audience was my existing clients. I was a nervous wreck, I was always in back of the camera, certainly not in front, after 100 takes, I decided I should do a voice over instead, LOL. I was NOT repeat NOTE going to create those "all look alike" squeeze pages that bore the hell out of you until your scroll one mile down to the end. I was simply going to state my case in a creative manner and close the deal. The page turned out pretty well it has some HTML issues, but I was anxious and ready to go so loaded it anyway. I noted my client testimonials at the bottom of the page for added value. The problem was my offer was too low, 3 of clients paid me instantly and I begin creating their 90 Marketing Strategies. It took me days of research and effort to complete them. I did however create some of the best Marketing Strategies during this period, and it took its toll on me too. Thank God I had the offer deadline set for two weeks from the time I offered it. I made $1,000, and that was absurd. According to the folks at the Internet Marketing Course I would make tons of cash. WHAT WAS I THINKING? My ONLY saving grace, was I emailed the offer to a small client list. List building, I must have been zoning during that part of the course. What happened next to me was sheer comedy, I went to google the web page to see if it had appeared on google, only to find out then 5 now 10 sites had picked up the video as a good promotional piece. Initially, I was embarrassed, but now I have taken a different perspective and feel okay about it, why because these sites are not promoting me, but themselves, they are entitled to find great information. I learned a great lesson about playing in a field you have little known knowledge with unrealistic expectations. I am still amazed at how people are making so much money with these business ethics. I am back in class again.
Yes, this is a "numbers" game. You don't have to use blackhat methods, but you definitely need to hustle to sell well... anything! It doesn't need to be with bad or sneaky tactics, but you do have to work your ass off ( i.e. "hustle" )