Tag Archives | Internet Marketing

They Say the Road to Success is Littered With Failures

By Lowell on May 9, 2015 in Blog

This is one of those sayings that really has a deeper meaning that is worth meditating about so as to get the benefit of the wisdom therein. Bottom line is it means that we don’t always reach our target goal on the first or even second attempt; but that if we are really determined to succeed, we get back up on the horse each time we are thrown until we do.

Many times, because of human nature, we tend to set our goals too high or expect magic because we are not thinking logically when we are excited about something. Surely the Internet marketing world is ripe with statements that infer promises that can lead to unrealistic expectations if we are not logical.

When we read that someone is making big money with little effort, we somehow skip the part where they tell us how many years they struggled to get to that place. Yes it is possible to make big money on the Internet. Yes it is preferable to work for one’s self rather than for someone else. Yes it is POSSIBLE that we can do both. What is not possible is wealth without work, unless we win the lottery or inherit money. Sorry, but that is the facts of life.

We learn from our mistakes and maybe we need some time to lick our wounds after we have had a failure. But the important thing is to keep trying – try and try again until you get it right. Analyze what you did and what you think your mistakes were or what you could have done differently to possibly have a different outcome. Then just start over. Each time you do this you will be starting from a position of more knowledge and more power. You will build momentum, gain confidence and you WILL make it some day.

For most people they will need to work very hard to earn a living in today’s economy, and that will just keep their ‘head above water’ – they will be able to survive, although just ‘living from paycheck to paycheck’, which infers never getting ahead but just keeping afloat. In the current economic environment we are pretty much trapped into taking whatever job we can get and being fortunate to have it, doing the best we can. After all, an underpaid job with no possibility of promotion is better than no job at all.

So are we just beaten down with no options? No, actually we can take control of our own destiny if we are willing to work a little harder. In reality no matter how hard you work the position you have is never going to expand and you may never be able to get a better position in that company because there just isn’t any opportunity. Bottom line is no matter how nice a company is they have tasks that need to be done and they are there to see that the company runs, not to make life better for their employees.

So think in terms of doing something for yourself, apart from your ‘day job’. Use the opportunity there to survive as well as you can while you build something on your own. You might have to make some further sacrifices in order to do this but it will be worth it. It may take some time too, so in the meantime, always be looking for a better job – funny how that works, but if you already have a job they say it is easier to find another one.

Realizing Your Dream – Internet Marketing

By Lowell on May 6, 2015 in Blog

Do you remember when you were a kid and you dreamed about what you want to be when you grow up? This likely changed several times by the time you grew up! Then if you had an idea of what you wanted to do with your life, you may have gone to college to pursue that. You had to do research on which colleges had the best curriculum, how much it costs to go there, costs for living arrangements, etc. Then you determined whether it was feasible for you or not at that time. Do you have the grades to qualify for that school? Do you have the money? If not, what loans are available to you?

The point is people don’t just sit there and dream and then suddenly everything materializes so that they can realize their dream. They have to do planning and research and then develop that into a step-by-step process that will get them to where they want to go. They also need the ability to change direction if necessary, so the plans need to be both focused and flexible.

If they do go to school, when they graduate it will be the same type of routine where they will need to find the companies that hire whatever particular speciality they had pursued. Where is the company located? Would they need to move if they were hired? Who do they need to see to get the job? Will the company pay them what they are expecting? Will they be willing to compromise if not? Will the company representatives like them and offer them a job after their interview?

Your plans are usually dependent on outside forces as well as your own resources as far as if you can make it happen – and importantly, if not, what other options do you have? It is always best to plan for contingencies no matter what. Reality is such that we shouldn’t ever be caught off-guard if anything unexpected happens. This can mean something as simple as always remembering to have a savings account so that you have resources to survive no matter what, and ideally to be able to pursue your dreams.

If your dream is to create a business in the Internet marketing industry, then all of the above applies. It seems to attract its share of ‘mavericks’, as entrepreneurs do not necessarily have college degrees. They just need initiative and motivation and be willing to learn. Of course there are other options to learning other than college, and many resources are available on the Internet itself; so if someone decides that they want to go their own way and start their own business, then they would find out what it is they need to do and how and where to learn how to do it.

There are as many aspects or possible avenues to this as with anything else. You might want to be a web designer which along with computer programming would probably take some real solid instruction as they are both technical and as such are very exact sciences. This would be starting at the top and something that more than likely would take quite a while to master to the degree that you could build websites or develop systems.

Never fear! There are less skilled jobs you can do in Internet marketing. For example you could start your own affiliate membership program and be a mentor or coach, teaching and guiding your members who want to start an online business. In that case maybe you could hone up with some courses from an online community college in sales and marketing, business management and communications. If you enjoy working with people then this might become your dream.

However maybe you are not all that ambitious or are unsure what way you want to go at this point. Then ‘test the waters’ by doing something less involved, such as just becoming an affiliate and focus on being a super affiliate in the future. Learn the ins and outs of the industry in that way; something like ‘working your way up’ the proverbial ‘corporate ladder’. Determining what the difficulties may be for people, as well as the best techniques and strategies for marketing and advertising online would definitely help you get information and experience. Down in the trenches is a very effective place to learn and then you can share with those that come behind you.

Internet Marketing – Safety in Numbers

By Lowell on May 3, 2015 in Blog

Maybe because the competition is great on the Internet, or maybe just because that is the way it has always been, marketing is something that needs to be done aggressively and consistently over time to build and sustain momentum. Marketers can never rest on their laurels because they will quickly fall behind and go to the bottom of the heap.

That is one reason that there are many failures in Internet marketing, because people believe they can do something once or twice and that they are going to get results. When they don’t they quit trying because they think it is pointless. There is actually a laundry list of reasons why people don’t try hard enough and most are avoidable.

The reason that you need to keep your volume turned way up when it comes to marketing is the fact it is a bit like ‘finding a needle in a haystack’. The majority of people in the world may not be interested in whatever you are selling; but likely there are those who are, and you just need to reach them with the deal they can’t refuse!

Years ago the number that was bandied about was 1% response rate being acceptable with regard to for example eMail marketing. There are a number of things that have happened since then that make it more like .01% would be a welcome result. Note that response can mean just a further inquiry and not necessarily a sales transaction or done deal – so the percentage would be even smaller for actual sales.

Spammers are still running rampant and as such eMail services are forced to use spam filters. Unfortunately the spam filters are not as smart as they think and often can’t differentiate illegal spam from legal bulk mail sent by legitimate businesses. Hence your message may go to spam and never be seen.

Most ethical business would only use permission-based eMail which means you have to request them to send their publication by ‘opting in’. Even that is often blocked by spam filters. So right off the top you are starting at a kind of deficit where you realize some if not most of your mail is going to end up in a spam folder – if you are lucky and it is not just outright blocked from being delivered.

On top of that, people being inundated with spam after a while will realize it is futile to try to keep up with it and will stop even opening most of their mail. Hopefully they will recognize your return address and since they signed up to receive mail from you, will fish it out and read it.

This is not to say ‘throw out the baby with the bathwater’ – eMail marketing is still a major strategy in Internet marketing. What is does mean is again, you need to keep your volume way up to make up for the problems with this avenue. So ‘the list’ is all the more important than it ever was, because on this list are precious eMail addresses and names of prospective customers or leads. If you can get them to opt-in to your publication, they are ‘warm’ leads – not just names on a list (because they did initially respond to your ad) and have thus at least expressed an interest.

So the idea is, whatever you do in this regard, whether it is using list builder systems, sending solo ads, or buying leads, you need to realize that you will need many on an ongoing basis. Besides that you will need to remember not to get discouraged or blame the program or product you are advertising if you don’t get a response right away. There is no better example for saying you need to keep the volume up and don’t stop every day that you are still in business.

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