It's only human nature to want a promise to be true, so we turn our credability radar way down low in the hope - this time - this deal really is the real thing. Hopefully these six internet marketing myths will allow you to keep your radar 20 20 and your money firmly in your pocket.
That way you won't get disenchanted with this wonderful business and thus go on to develop your own successful internet business.
Myth #1: You can make big money selling other people's products
Nope. Sad but true. The only way you will make serious money in this business is with your own fresh, in demand, product.
Want proof?
Simply take a look at any of the well known names in internet marketing (including me) and you'll find that they are all selling their own products. Even in the rare event, where they sell an affiliate product as a back-end product - or give it away as a bonus, you can be sure their main product is their very own.
Do the math: if your own product makes you 100% and someone else's product – at best, makes you 50%, why is it a better deal?
In truth it only looks like a better deal, because it absolves you from having to make your own product. But, like all shortcuts in business, it often carries a hidden drawback.
Sure, it used to be sometimes possible to find a product selling well in, say, the
Ask yourself why the owner of a good product would effectively sell you the goose that lays the golden egg, when they could just as easily market it on the internet to the whole world and keep 100% of the profit for themselves?
Also be very wary of "retirement sales", where you and a hundred or so others pay good money for a license to sell an entire range of goods, because the owner is "retiring".
First you have to satisfy yourself the person really is retiring - and not just "retiring" his old products, which have had every last cent of profit wrung out of them. I know of at least two people who have supposedly "retired", yet still pop up almost as frequently as before they "retired".
Oh. And if they are genuinely "retiring", where's the backup going to come from, if you run into problems?
Also, if you are sharing this package, how come 99 other people have the same deal? Even if there only two of you buying in, it's hardly exclusive, is it? Look at the small print on the license and I bet you'll find the deal described as "non-exclusive". Well it will surely be that.
And, if these products are really still such hot sellers, with bags of potential left, why hasn't the business been snapped up as a going concern to other guru already established in the business with their own client list? One of the things I advise you to do at my internet marketing seminar is to develop your business from the ground up, with a view to selling it a few years down the line.
A business making £1 million a year profit would sell for up to $10 million in one swift, clean deal. Put that money into an off shore account and the interest would clock up nearly half a million every year, without touching the capital.
The reason is this: any guru worth his salt will spot it ten miles away for exactly what it is: a load of proiducts, all played out.
On the other hand, if there are 99 other people with the same licence, there's no need to worry too much about them, because half the garages in the land are full of products bought on this basis which are never sold.
Why is that?
Because the purveyors of the "complete no brainer businesses in a box" never tell you the essential bit – how to sell vast quantities of the stuff - simply because if they knew how to do that they'd do it, rather than relying on a lame "retirement sale" ploy to shift their stuff.
You see, the most important part of this business – any business – is web site marketing.
Which leads me gently into the next of these six internet marketing myths. . . .
Myth #2: All you need is a product and people will break your door down to buy it
Wrong! And if you don't believe me, stand in the shopping mall and try giving money away. You'll find you even have to sell free money.
So imagine how much harder it is to sell a product – no matter how wonderful – when the customer has to give you money, rather than the other way round.
Of course a good product is an essential part of the whole package. But getting people to come to your site and then convincing them to buy your product is king in this, as in any other business.
Have you ever heard of a business going bust because they sold too much (assuming they priced the product properly, of course)?
Of course you haven't. But "Didn't sell enough" is carved on the tombstones of many a business with excellent products.
At my masterclasses I always ask the question: "What is the oldest profession?". Invariably the first answer I get is: "prostitution", which is out by one. You see, the oldest profession is actually marketing – even prostitutes had to sell their service.
If you go it wrong, don't feel too badly: my nephew is the Marketing Vice President of a global media company and he got it wrong! But then he hasn't been in marketing for nearly half a century, like I have.
Myth #3: You must wait for that perfect moment to begin
There is no perfect moment. You only have now. If you wait until you've had your holiday . . . or the moon is in Aquarius . . .or you have saved just a bit more capital . . . or there's an "r" in the month, you're kidding yourself.
I started in business on my own account in 1972. During those thirty years I've met many business owners – many successful, and some not so successful – and I can tell you from first hand experience, waiting for the "right moment" is an excuse to never get started.
But don't feel bad about it. It's human nature. We are programmed to survive, so we have an inbuilt mechanism that resists change.
It's called "homeostasis" and it is there to keep you alive. Your body figures if you are warm and breathing, you are alive and, if nothing changes – you will continue to be warm and breathing - and thus stay alive.
That's pretty cute, up to a point. But, as you know, change is not always a bad thing, particularly the sort of change you want which is "change for the better". So, to get going, you have to overcome the built in inertia we all have.
You, me, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Richard Branson. We all have it. And here's something to give you heart: once you make a start, the spell is broken and it becomes a lot easier to keep going.
So, how you deal with your homeostasis, determines if you will stay where you are now or come at least part of the way to joining the super rich elite.
It's interesting that there are people who have come back from being in jail, bankruptcy or worse (lying in the gutter with a bullet in them) to make fortunes and lead very successful, fulfilled lives.
Why?
Because, when you plumb those sorts of depths, there is no where else to go but up. Change is forced on them! And it's interesting that the internet is responsible for many of the rapid rises to riches, because it takes a relatively tiny amount of seed money to start.
You see, the problem for you in "waiting for the perfect moment" is you can afford to wait. The guys I've just mentioned didn't have that luxury. They had run out of options. They had to succeed.
Fear not! You don't actually have to file for bankruptcy of get yourself shot to get started. There is a more painless way and it's this . . .
Build a picture in your mind of your perfect moment.
But not the mythical "perfect moment" when you can start, but the perfect moment when you achieve the dream life you've always promised yourself.
Of course all dreams require money, but with multiple, and pretty much automatic, streams of income from your internet business you can finally live your dream, anywhere on earth.
So, whether it's turning into the driveway of your new house, in your top of the range Mercedes Benz, or taking off for your new life in your new dream home on some tropical island, make it so real you can actually feel it! Get as excited as a child on Christmas morning! Rev up your imagination like a hot rod on the starting grid of race track – then let yourself go. . .
That's the perfect moment to begin!
Myth #4: You can't possibly think of a product
Good! In fact, you must not "think of a product". It could be fatal.
You must allow the internet to tell you what products are in demand. Then you go and create one in that area confident that, with decent copywriting and good traffic you will make money. Do it that way – the right way – and you'll avoid weeks of heartache, whilst it slowly dawns on you no one wants your product.
Check out Overture http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ and Google Suggests http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en (remembering Google's results are roughly three times the size of Overture, due to more traffic).
These will show you what sort of products people are currently looking for. Each enquiry represents an unsolved problem. When you have found a problem plenty of people have, provide a solution and you have an income. Once you've done it once do it again, with another product. Result: another stream of income coming in pretty much automatically, whilst you either develop another product for even more income or have a sleep in the sun.
Here's an example of a product I developed to fill a demand. First I looked on Overture to see what there was a demand for. And this is what I found:
So I created an e-book called:
(You'll notice, unlike most internet gurus, I don't simply market "How to succeed on the internet" products. I actually practice what I preach and sell other categories of products and did so before I produced anything about internet marketing. I only talk about what I've actually done.)
Did I know anything about kidney stones when I started? Nope.
But using the very same internet, I was able to quickly research the subject in just a few hours. Writing the book and making the website took, maybe, a week.
It would probably take you a lot less with your particular product. Simply because you have a hobby interest or sport you already know a bit about and which other people (perhaps many thousands of them, worldwide) would pay you money to read about. Which leads me to the next myth . . .
Myth #5: You can't write
Frankly I doubt that. In a recent survey, 70% of those asked wanted to write and travel. But, just in case you're one of the other 30%, who don't want to write, let me assure you, that is no barrier to this business, because you have several practical alternatives:
So, if your product is about a subject you know something about, you have two good ways of making money out of it without writing a single word. An excellent way is to speak your words into one of those micro recorders- just as if you were explaining the subject to a friend over a beer in your local bar.
Then you get a local secretarial agency, a friend, relative or neighbour to put your words onto paper on their word processor.
In fact, whisper it not, many of the internet's famous names use ghost writers to churn out their stuff.
And videos are even easier and faster to make than a book (no proof reading).
Myth #6: You need a partner to succeed in business
Long before HTML and when the internet was little more that a lightbulb in Tim Berniers-Smith's head, I owned a company, helping people wishing to buy established businesses to obtain commercial finance.
You probably know loan companies score each applicant to decide who gets the loan and who doesn't. When a business proposition came in involving partners, this triggers a minus point on the score card.
As you know, banks and loan companies haven't got much of a sense of humor at the best of times, so if they consider a partnership a minus point, so should you.
When you start, you may well feel you need the support of another person to share the load. That's fine until things get going or you run into trouble. Sooner or later there will be a disagreement on what course to take . . . and that's when the trouble start.
"They travel fastest who travels alone" is a very good maxim, when you are considering taking a partner into your business. By all means find a mentor: an experienced person – a bit like a personal trainer – who is interested in your success, but does not have an agenda inside your business as a partner.
Copyright © 2008 InternetMarketingMagician.com and Paul Hooper-Kelly
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