Piecing Together the Internet Marketing Puzzle

From the Desk of: J. Toney

If you're anything like me, you probably have been trying to find a realistic way to make money on the internet for some time now. It's hard to know where to start with all the noise in the Internet Marketing Industry.

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One so called guru tells you how they make millions selling other peoples products. Yet another tells you how you have to have your own product to make the most money and how you have to do some big "product launch" to generate enough buzz to get a massive rush of traffic, wallets in hand, eager to snatch up thousands of copies of your product pumping a years worth of income into your bank account in 20 minutes.

That's all fine and well if you have the experience to develop a product that starving hordes will fall over themselves to pay you thousands of dollars for, and a list of close friends and associates with mega mailing lists who are happy to promote your product for you.

It would be great to be where these gurus are, only having to send one or two e-mails a month to rake in a cool 30 or 40 grand. Making more money in a month than most people do in a year for about 10 minutes worth of work. That kind of dream is why most people are even considering an Internet marketing business...

...but where do you start? How does the average everyday internet marketing newbie get their foot in the door?

How do you make sense of all this talk about FTP, PHP, HTML, PLR, MRR, SEO, SQL? It's enough to make your head spin. No wonder over 98% of people who try internet marketing end up thinking this whole thing is FUBAR and go AWOL after only 6 months.

I certainly don't claim to be a Guru. My experience has been that those who are self ascribed gurus are mainly interested in taking your money by selling you a bunch of hype and over-blown promises. Like you, I am here to make a dollar or two, but I am only interested in providing you with products and information that I believe will help you on your road to internet riches.

At the end of the day I have to feel good about the money I made, knowing I earned it honestly by bringing real value to my customers.

A sad fact is that many online marketers sell hype and get rich quick schemes because people buy it. People are looking for a quick fix, quick riches, and want it now on a silver platter. This is especially true in a time of economic uncertainty like we are currently facing.

I fell into this same trap myself many times.

Most of the products I have bought in the past provide either a lot of generalized information with no specific steps to follow, or only provide some of the information needed to be successful. I always felt like part of the puzzle was being left out, so I would jump on the next product that promised me the missing piece, only to find it was the same thing all over again.

In truth, there are many possible paths that lead to internet success. Which path you choose depends on you... It depends on your existing knowledge, skills, talents and strengths. I can only tell you what is working for me.

Do you want to know what the missing piece of the IM puzzle is?

It is not overly complicated, nor is it some deep dark mystery whispered in secret back room meetings between gurus at Internet marketing seminars. Now I don't want to offend anybody but in order to reveal this secret to you, to shine the light of truth on the one thing that has been eluding you, I am going to have to use some strong language...

Yes, I know, I said it, that most dreaded, feared, and hated of all words. Reality is that if you want to make a living working online you have to build a business - a business that will provide you consistent returns on your efforts. If this is not what you want to hear, then you are welcome to continue throwing your money at the newest product that promises you a magic money button. Or you can decide its time to get serious and build yourself a profitable online business.

Don't take me the wrong way here, I am not talking about working hard for mere peanuts. I am talking about taking the necessary steps and putting forth the effort to build a successful business. Not working hard breaking rocks for a living, but working smart, learning the skills you need to do this, learning which tasks you enjoy, and which you are happy to outsource. Implementing a system to operate your business that can be automated as much as possible. A system that can then be replicated again and again, multiplying your efforts and your income.

There is no magic button or online system that spits money like a slot machine. The only ways I know to acquire instant wealth are to win the lottery, Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes, or for your rich uncle to die and leave you his vast fortune.

If you are interested in learning how to build your business, then I invite you to tag along with me as we learn and grow our wealth together. If I find a fellow marketer whose information I find valuable, or whose products will be helpful in achieving this goal, then I will be sure to share it with you. I hope that you will do the same.

Two Simple Methods You Can Use to Get Started...

Two of the simplest ways to start are affiliate marketing and blogging. Which one you start with depends on a few key things.

Affiliate products allow you to tap into markets that you may not have a lot of knowledge in, without having to invest the time and effort to research the market, identify a need, develop a solution for it, create the product, the sales material, etc. Some people would lead you to believe that all you have to do is just put the product out there, draw traffic to it and reap the rewards. It is not quite that simple, but it is still one of the best ways to get started making money online. It is, in fact, how many of today's top marketers got started, and how many of them still make a large portion of their income.

6 Reasons Why Affiliate Marketing is One of the Best Businesses to Start, Regardless of How Much Experience You Have Online

1. You do not need to create your own product. As an affiliate, you will be making money online through commissions which you earn from marketing other people�s products.

2. You do not have to handle or ship products. As an affiliate, all you have to do is to direct potential customers to the merchant�s website using your affiliate link. You do not need to worry about payment processing or product delivery.

3. You do not need to create a website or write a sales copy, which can be quite costly. If you already have your own website, all you need to do is to add your affiliate links on your website. You can also still earn money online as an affiliate without a website by simply promoting your affiliate link. If you are writing and submitting articles as a way of advertising, all you need to do is to add your affiliate links at the end of each article. People who read your articles will then click on your affiliate link which can make you a sale. (This is a method a lot of affiliate marketers use, though sending the prospect directly to the vendors sales page is not the best method. More on that below)

4. There is no need for domain and hosting costs. When starting an online business, most people have limited cash. In affiliate marketing, there is no need to pay for hosting and having your own domain since you do not necessarily need to have your own website.

5. There are no requests for refunds to deal with. As an affiliate, you do not have to worry about handling any requests for refunds or customer service issues. You earn commission on every product you sell, and it is the product owner�s responsibility to handle any requests for refunds or customer service issues..

6. You can pick and choose the products you want to sell. There are many products you can choose from to promote. You can therefore choose those �hot� products that are popular and in demand, and that also match your interests or website theme.

I recommend that you have your own web site, however, for a few key reasons:

With your own website you have the opportunity to presell the customer on the product before they get to the sales page (warmed up prospects convert better than cold ones). This is especially important if the sales copy for the product is not that great. You could actually circumvent the vendors sales page, and send the prospect directly to the order page.
If you do not funnel the traffic you generate through your own site first, you have no opportunity to collect their names and e-mail addresses to build your own customer list.
If you do not funnel the traffic you generate through your own site you have no opportunity to track the leads to determine which advertising is effective and which is not

Affiliate marketing sounds easier than it is, but it is not impossible if you are willing to put in the effort and follow the necessary steps. ClickBank is a great place to find affiliate product to promote, or to find affiliates to promote your product for you.

If you are looking for a push button cash machine, you are going to be sadly disappointed. I know other marketers will tell you how great it is to simply send out an e-mail to their list and rake in tons of cash, but they are not being entirely honest with you. What they are not telling you about is the amount of work they had to put into building that list and building their business to the point that it Is that easy for them to make money.

Why Blogging is Great Choice for People Just Starting in Internet Marketing

Many people who want to start making money online face one common challenge � lack of money to get started. When starting an online business it is a good idea to have a website. However, purchasing a domain name and web hosting, and setting up a web site, squeeze pages, autoresponder, payment processing system, and product delivery system is more than a lot of people feel comfortable taking on.. This is where a blog comes in!

If you are starting an internet business on a shoe-string budget and have limited experience, then starting with a blog is an excellent way to get going. Below are some of the key reasons why it is a good idea for you to start making money online with just a blog.

A blog enables you to start earning money online without all of the steps described above, because the blog service provides the hosting, templates and other infrastructure. All you have to do is put your content on it. As soon as you get your blog, you can start to advertise your products or services or promote your affiliate programs on your blog. When visitors click on your affiliate links and purchase a product on your blog, you are paid a commission for getting the sale, much as they would if you were marketing affiliate products through your own web site, or by other means. .

Starting with a blog is cheaper than having a website built. There are many free blogging services, so you don�t need to buy a domain name, pay for hosting or pay someone to design a website.

Starting with a blog is easy enough that just about anyone can do it. The most important advantage of starting a home based internet business with a blog is the fact that it�s easy and no technical skills are required. You can do everything yourself. Having a website would require you to have some technical skills or you would need to pay someone to build your website.

You do not have to spend a lot of money in advertising. In comparison to a website, it�s easier and quicker to drive traffic to a blog than to a website. By blogging consistently and using your keywords, your blog will get indexed quickly, and you should start to get some traffic to your blog. The blog sites are crawled more frequently by Google because they provide Google with a constant supply of frequently updated content.

By having a blog, you can start making money online while having fun. This is simply because blogging is fun and easy. If you start your online business in a niche that interests you or that you know a lot about, you won�t find it difficult to blog everyday, and this will improve your search engine position and drive traffic to your blog. This will result in more sales!

Blogging is therefore a good alternative for online home business newbies who want to start making money at home but have little funds to get started. Start your own blog today and start making money online!

Regardless of which method you choose to get started in your Internet marketing career, remember to stick with it, follow a consistent plan, preferably follow in the path of other successful marketers by parroting what they do, rather than trying to blaze your own trail. Pick one method that you can follow, and do it consistently every day. Success will come. The fastest way to fail is to jump from program to program, never giving any one enough time to start working before abandoning it for the next "greatest thing".

A lot of money can be made very quickly on the internet, but it does not just magically appear in your bank account. You have to earn it. You have to work for it, and you have to want it badly enough to take the necessary steps to get it.

I know the elation of having a $1,000 order show up in my inbox, but I also know the frustration of making no money for weeks on end. I am not a millionaire yet, but I have had enough success online to know that it Really is possible to make a living online.

For a good guide on how to get started in Internet marketing, download your free copy of the "How Do I Get Started?" guide.

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