Reality Check For Any Budding Internet Marketer

I’ve put this post together for anyone wishing to grab a piece of reality when deciding to venture down the ‘make money online’ road. Now, don’t stick your fingers in your ears and go la-la-la…listen up!

I, myself, concentrate on being an affiliate marketer. I don’t do CPA/PPV/MLM and all that stuff…it just doesn’t sit well with me. Saying that… what I’m about to inform you relates to ALL Internet Marketing.

I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but, in truth, it’s hard not to! After all, I make a living off the ‘net, so why can’t you?

But here’s the sour truth…you have to be made of stern stuff, never believe you will fail, and be prepared for a lot of weeping and wailing along the way.

First things first. Don’t let anyone, and I mean ANYONE, tell you making money online is easy. It most definitely IS NOT.

You may be drawn in by the sales patter of marketers who say you can earn a shitload of cash in a week or a month…do not believe it, folks.

For the first 2 years, I used to think it was only me who couldn’t make this online thing work, but I was wrong. These are the stats I’ve found whilst delving deeper into the subject. I don’t know if these figures are bang on, but after 6 years online myself, they look just about right.

Note – That’s just my own data having looked at loads of charts etc. in other words, don’t quote me on this!

I’m in that 3%. Now bear in mind that there are millions of people all over the world who try to make this ‘make money online’ malarkey work and only 6% of all Internet Marketers are happy with their lot.

That means 94% are either trying and failing or, have tried and given up.

Why is this?

It’s hard, that’s why. When you get a promise of easy money with an Internet lifestyle, you’d be mad to ignore it. But you have to try because, well, you never know?

I started way back in 2011 and found it tough. I followed an Internet Marketer’s blog who seemed to know what he was talking about, he even had his own course that sold pretty well and it was a decent, workable course. I talked to him through email and he gave me the impression he was one of those 1% marketers. I was in awe and a little jealous of him.

Roll on two years later and he was gone. The last communication I had from him was in a very dejected tone. He’d given up.

“I’m just not making enough money Gaz…I need a regular income” was his reply. He had become disillusioned with the whole game despite making a fairly decent income in 2011/12. It just wasn’t enough for him.

I must admit that shook me to the core. If he can’t make it, then how am I supposed to get there? He was head and shoulders above me when it came to making money from the Internet. The last advice he gave me was the final line of his email.

“Give it up Gaz…it’s over”

I thought this through for a week or two and the deep emotion inside of me reared its ugly head. I was finished. 2 years of hard work and now I’m finished. I had nothing to show for it except anxiety, frustration, and a great deal of anger.

In fact, over the years I’ve seen a few good marketers come and go at a time when I thought they’d cracked it. Apparently, not so.

I took a break and headed to the Greek Islands for a holiday and a complete break from Internet Marketing.

The first week was a total relief. But the second week I couldn’t wait to get back and start again. Did I mention I am very bloody-minded and stubborn?

This time I was going to ignore all those shiny objects that promised me I would make a mint. It was time to face reality and get on with doing this stuff by common sense and I began looking for advice that rang true, instead of filling my head with dreams.

I began to listen.

And that’s when the magic started to happen. I listened to ordinary IM’ers who had been in the trenches. I read loads of posts and, eventually, I had to admit to myself that I’d gone about all this the wrong way. I felt a new surge of determination.

It took 2 years to reach that level. Some people give up after a month or two and then say they’ve tried. No, they haven’t. 2 years minimum is what you have to go through. It’s a very steep learning curve, this business.

I realised that if I was to make a go of this, I must also enjoy what I do. I’d had many a sleepless night wondering where I was going wrong and that led to anxiety, which led to bewilderment and ultimately led me to fall out of love with making money online. I knew I must address this.

So, I chose to promote stuff that I had an interest in or felt strongly about. My main hobby at the time was hiking…so why not build a website around hiking?

And I did.

I researched what were the most popular things being asked about hiking equipment. This included the sizes of backpacks and their quality, ease of use, and price. Being a hiker myself, I understood the terminology about litre sizes, hydration units, waterproofing, internal rucksacks, and external backpacks. I’d owned several over the years and knew what was needed in a good reliable backpack.

So a website was built back in 2013 and it’s full of posts about backpacks. Now, you may not find that subject very interesting, but for some twisted reason, I do.

I even buy rucksacks to this day from Amazon, review them thoroughly, and then sell them on eBay or keep them. I’ve given them away as prizes once I’d reviewed them. I may lose a few quid here and there, but I actually have images of me testing these rucksacks out and real pictures sell products.

I now only review one or two a month, but that website has been paying me for over 3 years and it’s showing no signs of stopping.

It took me around a month of solid work to get it populated and relied solely on keywords and organic traffic to get ranked. Then I would steadily populate it further over the following months.

All I do is now is write a new post now and again, or maybe a review of a new backpack just to keep the site flowing.

I’ve done the same with 4 other Amazon websites over the years and all bring in a steady ‘wage’. I could scale this up by writing a lot more reviews and building more websites, but I am a martyr to procrastination. Lazy, if you like.

I’m in the comfort zone, which after years of hard work is very welcome indeed. I’m not greedy…I’ll take my time from now on.

If those last few paragraphs seem the work I do is easy to implement, then I can tell you there was a lot of hard graft and long hours gone into making it all work. It didn’t just happen.

It was only after I’d stopped chasing the Internet dream of making millions that the money started to come in. No more listening to those marketers who were trying to sell me the dream…the only people making coin in that scenario were those selling their crap to gullible fools like me.

Some of those marketers who sell you $7 courses are the ones who are to blame for so much failure in this game. They make money by preying on the newbies out there who don’t know any different.

If you want to become one of those marketers who sell crappy courses to make a buck, then go ahead. But realise you will sooner or later be despised by the people who bought from you. You will lose all credibility in the Internet Marketing pool. You will also crash and burn…eventually.

You may make a handsome bundle for a few months, but it’s not a long-term thing. Believe me. I’ve read a lot of hatred for these people bordering on rounding up a lynch mob. Don’t be one of those people…either side.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are a few courses that are cheap and are extremely useful, but finding them is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Of the hundreds of courses I’ve mistakenly bought over my 6 years online, I can count on one hand the ones that were decent. The odds of finding a good one are about 250/1. Remember, I’ve been there and bought the t-shirt.

So, no more buying those crappy courses. It’s time to stop this shiny object syndrome once and for all. Don’t fall for the hype, no matter how good it sounds. Think logically and with common sense. It’s been said so many times before, but “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” – This should be tattooed on the inside of your brain.

Places like the Warrior Forum and Warrior+ don’t help. Visiting those websites is like walking through a minefield of bullshit. We’ve all done it too.

Stay outta there.

Now, you may be saying I’m wrong and you can still make loadsamoney on the Internet, well, that’s fine. But unless you stop buying those mind distracting courses that cost less than 20 bucks, you’re in for a rough ride.

They may sound plausible, but it’s all theory my friend. In theory, I could swim the Atlantic or run up Mount Everest…but could I really? If I had gills or legs like a mountain goat I probably could…but only in theory!

Right, I told you how I make the majority of my earnings, but what about the rest…the add-ons.

I use Clickbank first and foremost. There are, again, a ton of really crap products on Clickbank, mostly full of theory products. I mean, getting rid of Diabetes? For goodness sake, do you really think if they could rid the world of this horrible disease they would be selling it on Clickbank for $37?

Or finding the partner of your dreams for $27? Whoa! These people must be miracle workers and they’re good enough to sell their miracles on Clickbank!

As if!

I don’t promote those products but they do make affiliates a lot of money, but you have to have big pockets for advertising or a huge list of email subscribers or have skin like a rhino to truly benefit from it. A newbie would be swimming in a sea of sharks.

I don’t promote those dodgy products because I don’t believe in them. The vendors, or creators, are preying on the gullible again…and I don’t like it.

I promote only honest, decent products from Clickbank. They offer a couple of excellent Keyword research software programs that are the bees-knees.

Also, there are a few strong products tucked away deep inside Clickbank that hardly anyone else promotes. I’ve spent a lot of time finding them along with a lot of testing to get the ones that pay well.

So, bear in mind that if you’re new to Affiliate Marketing you will have to go through the process of finding out what’s good and what’s pure crap. It’s a sort of rites of passage. Many of you, the vast majority, won’t make it.

I hope you do, just take this on board:

• Stop buying crappy shiny objects…NO, I mean it!
• Don’t listen to the Hype – It’s mostly theory
• Concentrate on one thing until you’ve mastered it
• Pick a Niche you actually like
• Be prepared to work hard for a long time
• Make ‘common sense’ a staple in your thought process
• Test and Research your Niche to the full – Don’t just jump in
• Don’t be afraid to run away from a failing project
• Run with a winning project
• If you make money on one project, milk it for all it’s worth

Be prepared for a long, bumpy journey with a few accidents along the way. IF… I say IF you see the journey out you will notice the road gets smoother and you can freewheel the rest of the way.

Now, buckle down and see sense!