marketplex.net

Internet Marketing is an absolute minefield. That’s the conclusion I’ve reached a week after getting involved. You can spend a fortune in this business but what are the real chances of actually making some cash? Slim, I think. Unless you have a system and you stick to it. And unless you keep it simple, at least in the beginning.

The trouble is, when you are first starting out you have about a million systems to choose from and you simply don’t have the experience to separate the realistic from the fanciful. Yeah sure, one person might have hit on a winning formula. But how much of the success was down to circumstances rather than the method? How can you tell when all you are getting from the marketer now selling this “magic” system is a whole bunch of sales pitch?

This is bound to lead to many a false start. Boy have I had a couple of those this week!

In hindsight, my “investment” in the two systems I purchased is crazy. Having been inside both systems they are just not suitable for beginners, even though they claim as much. I don’t believe this an attempt to be misleading by the vendors, I just think they take a lot for granted, the sort of stuff they are used to dealing with on a day to day basis but is a complete mystery for the newcomer.

Hell yes, just go and call up a supplier and arrange a drop-shipping contract, why don’t you? Anyone can do it. But can anyone do it without being laughed off the phone? “Hi there, I’m completely new in this business, I have no sales process, I haven’t made any sales and I’d just love to go into partnership selling your products! When do we start?”

I’m telling you now, I don’t have the confidence to make that call. Does that mean I haven’t got what it takes to succeed in this business? I don’t think so. I think it just means I need to find out a whole lot more about a whole lot more before I jump into the deep end and potentially lose the shirt off my back. I need to thoroughly grasp the basics before I go down the advanced path. I need to earn $10 before I shoot for a million. That’s only sensible, isn’t it?

So what is the basic, tried and tested route? Stick up a sales page, preferably written by somebody who knows what they are doing. Offer a free product, hopefully written by somebody who knows what to write and has an idea of what’s in demand, get an auto-responder and build an opt-in box. Get a PLR product, customise it and offer it as an up-sell to anyone who takes the free product.

Drive the traffic using basic SEO and link building strategies. Rinse and repeat a hundred times.

This much I know, this much I understand and this is where it makes sense to put my main effort. But it’s still nice to have a helping hand and I have found that in a brilliantly simple eBook written by Tony Shepherd.

I like Tony Shepherd. He’s a no-frills, straight up, plain spoken guy that produces great information products and then gives them away for free or at pocket change prices. Look at his resource page – this is the basic sort of information that any online marketer is going to need. And it’s in the open instead of hidden behind a $47 product offering “Killer Secret Weapons”.

I’ve read a couple of Tony’s books now, which he co-writes with Sara Brown. The style they present everything in is chatty and easy flowing, you find yourself reading along as if you were involved in a conversation. It’s a pleasant experience, rather than the perplexing, “Wait! Backup, what did you say?”, stress I’ve encountered with the bigger, flashy products. They aren’t selling you the next big thing, they are telling you how to do what they have done themselves to make a serious online income. If you are starting out and can get your hands on Licensed to Quit you will be doing yourself a big favour. I’ve read it twice now, it makes perfect sense and I’m going to put the plan into action – today!

I’m going to run this program side by side with the big ticket products I recently signed up for and see which works best. I think I already know the answer.

I’m also going to unsubscribe from all the guru lists. The constant stream is just a distraction. I have my products now and anything else will result in me drowning. These gurus are so slick at selling there are times when you just can’t help yourself. So best to tune out the noise.

And a new chant for me to practise on a daily basis – keep it simple, stupid!

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