Internet Marketing has become a dirty word. Don't get me wrong - it's not that Internet marketing itself is bad.
In fact, anything that is promoted or sold over the Internet can be claimed to have been marketed over the Internet, thus been sold through "Internet Marketing" or "IM."
But since anyone can anonymously run a business from the Internet, many scams and shady dealings have been run under the guise of 'Internet marketing.' Add the fact that the majority of products having to do with IM are "what is the laziest possible way to make money online," then it's pretty easy to see how IM earned such a bad rep.
Don't let that put you off. Legitimate marketing on the Internet is a fantastic way to make money. You can work from home, get clients from anywhere around the world, and often reduce marketing costs... but you have to know what you're doing.
So to save you (and your bank account) from heartbreak, here's:
The 10 Worst Lies in Internet Marketing - along with the truth:
1) "I'll show you how I earned $XX,XXX in just 3 hours!" You'll commonly see claims like these on sales pages. Sales pages are those long, endless web pages that take about 2 minutes of scrolling till you reach the bottom (annoying - but they do sell). The problem with these claims is they're half truths.
Often, the marketer will show you how to create, implement, and execute some sort of product launch. After all, good product launches can actually earn marketers 6 figures on the first day alone. What they don't tell you is that it took them a good 6 months, a few thousand dollars, and endless hours of headaches to set everything up for that payoff.
That's not to say the money isn't worth the time - but trust me. Short of prostitution, there is little you can do to earn that kind of dough for only a couple hours of work.
2) "Everyone else is making money online doing practically nothing!" In 'the real world', 95% of all small businesses fail within the first 5 years. In the internet, it's closer to 99%. There's a huge amount of people all competing for the big bucks. And while there are people who are making thousands of dollars online, I can assure you they had to do a lot of work to get there.
3) "Product X will give you 'push button riches.'" A lot of newbies fall for this lie. It's a commonly used lie because peddlers want to sell their junk. The truth is, there is no product in the world that will make money for you on its own.
And if there were, internet marketers wouldn't sell it online for $49 a pop. However, there are useful products that can give you information that will help you work smarter. But you'll still have to do the work.
4) "Internet marketing is easier than normal marketing." The complete opposite is true. Like I stated in point 2, the internet is highly competitive. You have to have a good angle or "unique selling proposition" in order to stand out and make a name (and moolah) for yourself. It also takes a lot of time to build up your reputation... and often you have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone in order to see results.
You also have to keep productive and resist the urge to look at cute cat pictures, surf YouTube, or stumble across any of the other thousands of time-wasters online.
5) "Anyone can get rich on the Internet." To become a millionaire, you need to be dedicated. I mean, you really need to be willing to adapt, sacrifice, and constantly challenge the status quo. You have to learn from failures and build on the successes.
Most people give up after a few weeks. They don't realize they have to put in months - sometimes years - of effort before they see the fruits of their labor.
And frankly, there's people who would be much happier letting others worry about blazing the trails so they can walk down the path and enjoy the view. There's nothing wrong with that at all. Not everyone WANTS to deal with all the headache that goes into running a business, nor can they.
6) "All you need is traffic." If that was true, you'd find thousands of sites with no content on them. People search for websites to solve a problem. If they land on your site and all they find is garbled fluff and ads, they'll leave. And never come back.
If you want to truly make money, fill your site with useful content, pictures, interesting facts and information. You will gain readers, and they will want to buy the things you sell.
7) "Good writing/content/articles can be bought for a couple bucks." Good articles - really good articles - take hours to write. This article took me about 5 1/2 hours to research, write, edit, format, and publish.
Don't believe me? Go ahead and write up a well-thought-out article. Not rehash- put thought, experience, and value into that article. Then make it interesting.
Internet marketers might tell you that you can buy good content for $5. But trust me - I've seen $5 articles. From bad grammar to garbled content, you'd have better results if you shredded up your money and threw it out.
When you find a solid writer, make sure you pay them well - they'll make your business look awesome.
8 ) "Fake it till you make it." This is one of the most destructive lies in IM.
Basically, it's a philosophy that tells people to "Pretend you know what you're doing until you're actually successful." There is a 'white hat' method to this lie - have confidence, work hard, and you'll get there.
Unfortunately, what ends up happening is most newbies lie through their teeth about their qualifications for things like SEO services and writing skills. Then these newbies offer those services to businesses and fail to deliver - because the newbies have no idea what they're doing in the first place. Which leaves the businesses burned.
It's like going to a surgeon, laying down on the operating table, only to find out he's never actually operated before - but he did read a book on it!
Speaking of books...
9) "You should rehash old material and resell it as an ebook." There's this false perception that you can slap together an eBook or product, then watch the riches roll in. Don't try it. Once people see that you're just in it for the money, you've lost potentially loyal customers - forever.
If you have something valuable to share, put thought and time into it, and make your product. Set up a solid site, and hire a freelance copywriter to write up a strong sales page for you. You'll sell a lot more, and you'll have many loyal customers.
10) "The most important part of Internet Marketing is to make money." Never buy from anyone who tells you this. Why? Because it's the worst lie of all.
If your whole goal in life is to just 'make money' then you need to reevaluate yourself. That's not to say it shouldn't be one of your goals, but the moment you make it the priority is the moment you start engaging in shady dealings. Your goal should be to bring value to others through your product or service. If you work hard to help others, success will never be too far off.
In fact, anything that is promoted or sold over the Internet can be claimed to have been marketed over the Internet, thus been sold through "Internet Marketing" or "IM."
But since anyone can anonymously run a business from the Internet, many scams and shady dealings have been run under the guise of 'Internet marketing.' Add the fact that the majority of products having to do with IM are "what is the laziest possible way to make money online," then it's pretty easy to see how IM earned such a bad rep.
Don't let that put you off. Legitimate marketing on the Internet is a fantastic way to make money. You can work from home, get clients from anywhere around the world, and often reduce marketing costs... but you have to know what you're doing.
So to save you (and your bank account) from heartbreak, here's:
The 10 Worst Lies in Internet Marketing - along with the truth:
1) "I'll show you how I earned $XX,XXX in just 3 hours!" You'll commonly see claims like these on sales pages. Sales pages are those long, endless web pages that take about 2 minutes of scrolling till you reach the bottom (annoying - but they do sell). The problem with these claims is they're half truths.
Often, the marketer will show you how to create, implement, and execute some sort of product launch. After all, good product launches can actually earn marketers 6 figures on the first day alone. What they don't tell you is that it took them a good 6 months, a few thousand dollars, and endless hours of headaches to set everything up for that payoff.
That's not to say the money isn't worth the time - but trust me. Short of prostitution, there is little you can do to earn that kind of dough for only a couple hours of work.
2) "Everyone else is making money online doing practically nothing!" In 'the real world', 95% of all small businesses fail within the first 5 years. In the internet, it's closer to 99%. There's a huge amount of people all competing for the big bucks. And while there are people who are making thousands of dollars online, I can assure you they had to do a lot of work to get there.
3) "Product X will give you 'push button riches.'" A lot of newbies fall for this lie. It's a commonly used lie because peddlers want to sell their junk. The truth is, there is no product in the world that will make money for you on its own.
And if there were, internet marketers wouldn't sell it online for $49 a pop. However, there are useful products that can give you information that will help you work smarter. But you'll still have to do the work.
4) "Internet marketing is easier than normal marketing." The complete opposite is true. Like I stated in point 2, the internet is highly competitive. You have to have a good angle or "unique selling proposition" in order to stand out and make a name (and moolah) for yourself. It also takes a lot of time to build up your reputation... and often you have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone in order to see results.
You also have to keep productive and resist the urge to look at cute cat pictures, surf YouTube, or stumble across any of the other thousands of time-wasters online.
5) "Anyone can get rich on the Internet." To become a millionaire, you need to be dedicated. I mean, you really need to be willing to adapt, sacrifice, and constantly challenge the status quo. You have to learn from failures and build on the successes.
Most people give up after a few weeks. They don't realize they have to put in months - sometimes years - of effort before they see the fruits of their labor.
And frankly, there's people who would be much happier letting others worry about blazing the trails so they can walk down the path and enjoy the view. There's nothing wrong with that at all. Not everyone WANTS to deal with all the headache that goes into running a business, nor can they.
6) "All you need is traffic." If that was true, you'd find thousands of sites with no content on them. People search for websites to solve a problem. If they land on your site and all they find is garbled fluff and ads, they'll leave. And never come back.
If you want to truly make money, fill your site with useful content, pictures, interesting facts and information. You will gain readers, and they will want to buy the things you sell.
7) "Good writing/content/articles can be bought for a couple bucks." Good articles - really good articles - take hours to write. This article took me about 5 1/2 hours to research, write, edit, format, and publish.
Don't believe me? Go ahead and write up a well-thought-out article. Not rehash- put thought, experience, and value into that article. Then make it interesting.
Internet marketers might tell you that you can buy good content for $5. But trust me - I've seen $5 articles. From bad grammar to garbled content, you'd have better results if you shredded up your money and threw it out.
When you find a solid writer, make sure you pay them well - they'll make your business look awesome.
8 ) "Fake it till you make it." This is one of the most destructive lies in IM.
Basically, it's a philosophy that tells people to "Pretend you know what you're doing until you're actually successful." There is a 'white hat' method to this lie - have confidence, work hard, and you'll get there.
Unfortunately, what ends up happening is most newbies lie through their teeth about their qualifications for things like SEO services and writing skills. Then these newbies offer those services to businesses and fail to deliver - because the newbies have no idea what they're doing in the first place. Which leaves the businesses burned.
It's like going to a surgeon, laying down on the operating table, only to find out he's never actually operated before - but he did read a book on it!
Speaking of books...
9) "You should rehash old material and resell it as an ebook." There's this false perception that you can slap together an eBook or product, then watch the riches roll in. Don't try it. Once people see that you're just in it for the money, you've lost potentially loyal customers - forever.
If you have something valuable to share, put thought and time into it, and make your product. Set up a solid site, and hire a freelance copywriter to write up a strong sales page for you. You'll sell a lot more, and you'll have many loyal customers.
10) "The most important part of Internet Marketing is to make money." Never buy from anyone who tells you this. Why? Because it's the worst lie of all.
If your whole goal in life is to just 'make money' then you need to reevaluate yourself. That's not to say it shouldn't be one of your goals, but the moment you make it the priority is the moment you start engaging in shady dealings. Your goal should be to bring value to others through your product or service. If you work hard to help others, success will never be too far off.
Danielle Lynn is a quirky copywriter who uses persuasive writing and marketing strategies to help businesses make more money.
When she's not working on a project, you can find her at her copywriting and marketing blog http://theclearcopywriter.com/
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Danielle_Lynn
When she's not working on a project, you can find her at her copywriting and marketing blog http://theclearcopywriter.com/
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