I realise I'm not the only one who's ever reached this point, and I've read similar threads hoping to find the answer, but I'm finding it really difficult to pick myself back up again today. Until January of 2009 I was happily running my websites completely oblivious to the wider world of Internet Marketing. Ironically, I was actually making money with my websites, and I knew there were other people out there making a whole lot more, but I was content with where I was so never looked further. After moving away from my niche at the time, I started to investigate IM and became very intrigued. Possibly the worst place to start, I began with PPC. I was lured in by a great sales pitch that convinced me I only needed $200 to start (like the creator of the training program did) and I would soon be making thousands. Oh thousands was right... it was just leaving my bank account, not entering it. Once I reached the $5,000 loss mark, I stopped completely. There was obviously something I just wasn't getting. Since then I've tried everything including manually blogging with adsense and other affiliate offers, fake review blogs, review websites (where you compare 3 products), auto-blogging, article marketing, Twitter and social bookmarking to get traffic, etc. None of it I liked, enjoyed or succeeded at. Middle of last year I fell for a self-proclaimed guru trap and handed over $3,000 for a "JV" deal that turned out to be nothing but a rip off. The only positive out of it was it resulted in an ebook I wrote. Only problem with that was, I couldn't sell it. I've had affiliates find it on Clickbank and send hops though, no sales. I've pushed it, no sales. Nothing. So, I decided to go back to what I know well, do best and love the most - membership sites. I've really enjoyed getting everything together and had really high hopes for the sites success. Then of course, four days before I went live, someone else released the exact same idea only this guy is a"big name" in the industry, has hundred's of thousands of people on his mailing list and... I'm a nobody. Thanks for the support of some fellow IMers, I picked myself up again and moved forward launching my site. Given my sites aimed at those involved in the Internet Marketing niche, I followed further advice and launched a WSO over at The Warrior Forums (basically a thread offering a 'good deal') . It got ignored. I got feedback on why it was being ignored, tweaked and relaunched it... again, nothing. So I think maybe my price is too high, I lower it and try again. Nothing. So now, I offer it for free, and I get one bite. Part of my package offers completely free advertising for any product you wish (owned or affiliate) and all sorts of goodies which, to me and maybe I'm odd in my thinking with this, is something that everyone would want. Oh yes, and I also took the advice of another guy and offered up my original ebook (the one I wrote for the so called JV deal) and offered that free just for signing up too. So now, I have a site that's free to join, offers promotion capabilities and the ability to make affiliate sales, and gives away a free ebook that's 100% written by me (as in no PLR / rehashed stuff) and I still can't generate any interest. I'm so close to throwing in the towel today that I just don't know what else to do. I've invested every last cent of my savings into this new site as I fully believe in it's concept and what it can provide for people. And I know this might sound silly, but I really love the site. I want to go back to helping people like I did before I passed my other sites over. Someone please tell me, what am I doing wrong? Is IM just not meant to be for me? I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall and not even making a crack.
Babe, you're probably advertising in the wrong places. You need to get hordes and hordes of traffic, not just little bits. Article marketing is good for building links as wells as drawing traffic, but that can take months to a year because SEO and link-building is one of those things that requires the search engines to take its natural course. It's a long-term strategy, but you also need a short-term strategy. I recommend you check out a neat blog by a girl named Meekin. She's made money, lost it due to personal issues, and is making it back. Check out the techniques she's been using to make the money with. Here's her Ning site called: 1youcantoo.ning.com.
Thanks for that link, I'll check it out. I would have thought I was advertising in the right place. My site's designed for Internet Marketers, so I put myself out in front of Internet Marketers (Warrior Forum). But I'm quickly learning they're a really hard bunch over there and I'm getting slammed more than anything. I just would have thought if I was saying "here's a place to promote your products" which is one of the main concerns I often hear, that they'd jump at the chance. Especially since I'm offering it for free. I'll go check out that site though, thanks.
Warrior Forum, much like Digital Point but more so, has got some really savvy people. Those guys could talk you up and down about SEO, backlinking, etc. Makes my head spin. I have to admit it's become a little more, shall we say...elitist, but if you know how to ask the question and grab their attention, then they can be really helpful, especially on nitpicky details like backlinks. I wouldn't give up on the WSOs. People have made good money with them. Before advertising your own, see how other people advertise theirs. Why does their create a buzz? Watch the responses. Before launching into anything, study it a little first them ramp up your activity. But you're in good shape, especially with a niche like IM. Text Ad Exchanges and Traffic Exchanges are ripe with people advertising biz opps of all sorts. Now, at first you might think, "Wait a sec. I'll be in competition with thousands like me". The truth is yes, you will. However, you will absolutely 100% get traffic, and some one is bound to take a bite. If you've got a list or a squeeze page that converts well...use it in a Traffic exchange. I used to despise them because I thought they were always low-grade traffic, but I simply didn't understand them at the time. They're definitely getting better. I responded to another thread about banner advertising and went into depth about text ad and traffic exchanges.
Oh no doubt the Warrior forum has some great people on there, but overall it's a very harsh environment if you're not one of the "in the know" people. I've asked questions before and gotten absolutely slammed or received replies that really made me wonder if they read my original thread at all. That's why I started looking around for a more, shall I say, "suitable" environment for my less than iron thick skin. I'll look into the Text Ad and Traffic Exchanges, thanks for that idea.
I think your story will generate interest if you submit as guest post in Problogger. What about your original website? Is it still around?
Your concentrating on the wrong things, hunker down and get back to the basics. No need to spend any cash at all. Just instead of making a blog and spending your money on it, go make a squiddo or a hubpage instead.
But my site's not about blogging... maybe I'm wrong (very likely), but isn't Problogger all about blogging? And my original website - which one? The first main membership site I started? Or the ebook one?
Oh trust me, I'm not spending anymore cash. I have nothing left to spend. My previous spending was on attempts at other things last year, and the money I've spend on my current site is related to custom coding and such which was required to implement things the way I wanted.
Great, I started out pretty much the same lost alot of money but then I thought why not invest actual time instead of trusting get rich quick schemes.
Problogger is not just about blogging. Why not take a look at his blog? Those guest posts about mistakes and learning from mistakes always attract lots of comments, in excess of a hundred, mainly by bloggers, affiliate marketers and other Internet marketers.
Oh goodness yes, part of the reason I started the site was to "call out" all the schemes and other crap pushed in the IM industry. Sadly I fell for them in the beginning (which is how I lost most of my savings to date), but I wised up eventually. =p
So I have an honest question: If you can't many any money as an internet marketer, why would you make a product about internet marketing? And why would you expect anyone to buy said product? If you're going to create a product, make it about something you know a lot about.
No no, sorry, I'm not creating a "product", I've created a service. It's a community website which is what I do know about - it's what I've done for nearly 10 years now. Just this time, I'm creating it for fellow internet marketers instead of working in the niche's I've previously covered.
So like a forum type community? Either way, if you're going to promote a community for internet marketers, it would REALLY help if you were a successful internet marketer yourself.
Similar. And yes I agree, don't get me wrong, I've had some success with different methods, it's just that I've not succeeded with any due to them not being the right 'fit' for me. It's not all been loss, most of my losses have been from being screwed over ($3,000 for a so called "JV" deal for example). I've just not found any other methods that I've found enjoyable so I went back to what I know and what I do enjoy.
It sounds like you have had success in the other niche's with this kind of business model, so you do know how to market - ( otherwise the other niche's wouldn't have worked ). Are those niche's less competitive than the internet marketing niche ? Have you taken everything that you applied to the other niche's and done the same in the IM niche ? Have you considered stopping the IM work and going back and seeing if you can maximise the income from the previous niches you worked in. Your first post made it sound like it is the prospect of money in the IM industry that attracted you to it - do you feel that you have done all that you can in the other Niche's with regards to income?
I didn't read all other posts above but one thing that comes to mind is this: - why are you trying to sell products/services on how to make money when you don't know sh*t about making money online yourself? The way you are working now is simply asking for failure every time again! If I was you I would start with a simple blog on a subject I know and I'm passionate about and start blogging quality (helpful) content. Later on, once traffic starts to come in I would experiment with adsense and trying to sell a clickbank ebook on the same subject (maybe later write and sell my own ebook). That is how you should start instead of trying to scam (name it what you want...) people by selling products/services on a topic you know nothing about... Cheers and good luck!