How to Make Money Online and Avoid the BIGGEST Mistake In Internet Marketing!

If you cruise any Internet Marketing forum long enough you’ll see all sorts of netrepreneur wannabes asking the same question over and over again:

“How can I make money online?”

Hey, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a question like that.  As a matter

of fact, joining some really great forums and hammering other netrepreneurs with questions is just about the best way to learn. 

You’ll usually get a lot of advice from more seasoned Internet marketers (IMer’s) because people love to help other people.  Some people will write volumes helping other folks gain knowledge and experience, because it’s always fun and helpful to do so. (It also helps build authority in your subject area.)

So, if you are just starting out, you should check out a couple of the links I have provided for you at the end of this post. I do frequent these sites occasionally, but I do not make any money from the resources I provide, so I am being objective here.

Let’s get back to the original question, “How can I make money online?”

Well, it’s actually EASY to make money online.  Shoot, I make anywhere from $100 to $200 a month on Google AdSense with advertisements alone, without writing a single word.  The money comes in without a single lift of my finger. No kidding.

However:

Learning how to do the work, strategically placing ads, making sure the coding was right, keyword research, and writing articles by the tons, as well as building the website and blog WAS A LOT OF WORK.

Yeah, now that all of that ground work is finished I’m getting checks from AdSense. 

I don’t want to deceive you, but there is a learning curve and a lot of work for making any money online like that.  The work and education isn't hard and you don’t have to be a genius to do it, but there is a lot of work and learning you’ll have to do.

“I thought he said he doesn't write a single word?”

I don’t…NOW.  (At least for that particular website I don’t.)

Initially, I wrote for years and racked up tons of pages and loads of blog posts for the AdSense site, and now that stuff is floating around on the Internet, each page generating traffic for the site.  I haven’t actually written for that website for years because I got BURNED OUT with that business model, and have since moved on.

Let’s face it, surviving on a mere $200 a month isn’t going to get ya too far, and there are some months where the money is much less than that because I no longer write for it.

Technically it isn’t a hard process to learn or do, but you have to slog away at it day and night, and for the longest time you won’t know whether you are doing the right thing or not. 

CAN You Make Money Online?

As I just showed you, you can definitely make money online, but it’s a ton of work doing it the way I just described.  I’m sure there are a half a dozen Internet Guru’s and IMer’s out there that will tell you how you can make Bazillions of $$$ by buying their systems - $200 to $4000+ to learn.  You can then lie on a beach with your laptop and soak in some rays while checking your Paypal or credit card statement to see all of the BIG money that just got thrown into your account.

It’s been my experience that you are not going to fare well in those waters.

As a matter of fact, I think it would be a good idea for you to watch the following video before doing ANYTHING.  Not because I’m trying to stop you from being an entrepreneur or netrepreneur, but because I want you to have a REALISTIC view of what you are getting involved with.

WARNING, there is some rather harsh language by a few of the "Marketing Gurus" on here. So please keep children out of the room.  (Makes you wonder why anyone would listen to them.)

Yes, I’m trying to kill that wide-eyed-optimism that you may have about starting and running a business on the web and have you think about this REALISTICALLY.

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE REVEALED!!!

So, here for the first time, live and in person, the BIGGEST INTERNET MARKETING MISTAKE THAT YOU CAN MAKE!!!!!

(Drum roll please…)

Not having a good product or service to sell.

Kinda anti-climatic, wouldn’t ya say?

Yep, you must have something to sell that is worthy, if not, you are absolutely dead before you even get started.  Just to drive the point home, here’s a poem that the famous marketer, Dan Kennedy, likes to refer to whenever he hits on the subject of marketing a product or service:

A lion met a tiger 

As they drank beside a pool 

Said the tiger, “Tell me why 

You’re roaring like a fool.” 

 “That’s not foolish,” said the lion 

With a twinkle in his eyes 

“They call me king of all the beasts 

Because I advertise!” 

 A rabbit heard them talking 

And ran home like a streak. 

He thought he’d try the lion’s plan, 

But his roar was just a squeak. 

 A fox came to investigate— 

Had luncheon in the woods. 

Moral: when you advertise, my friends, 

Be sure you've got the goods!

Initially, you should have an outstanding product or service to sell, which means that you should do a butt-load of research or development before you even think about marketing it anywhere.

I know that there are loads of “affiliate products” and “affiliate programs” to

join and sell, and if you’re good at selling them, God bless you.  Be fruitful and multiply.

However, if you have just wandered over to ClickBank and joined their affiliate program, hoping to sell newly created products and earn those high commissions, you’ll probably have a tougher time than you think.  

For one thing, you should never try to sell those products without buying them and trying them yourself.  You’ll have no idea whether or not what you are selling has any value or if it works.  Also, you’ll need to know EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT PRODUCT IN ORDER TO SELL IT.

I write ad copy for all sorts of businesses, and I can’t write a word for my clients until I have a pile of information, know or have had tried the product or service, and have actually interviewed people that have used it —to include the secretary of the company if I can interview her as well. (You won’t believe how much a secretary knows about a business and how it runs; she’ll know more than anyone else in the company, guaranteed.)

And by the way, if the business or product sucks, I will pass on the job. 

Mediocrity is for losers…

In my humble opinion, if you don’t have a product that you KNOW and LOVE and have at least poured your best efforts into, you should probably forget it.  In order to be successful in your business, you are going to be talking, thinking, using and selling the object (or objects) of your passion constantly. 

Why would you get involved in something that you don’t use or respect yourself?

Can you see the reason why this preliminary step is so vitally important?

I’m not going to tell you what kind of business you should get into.  That’s what makes it your business.  But I am going to tell you that if your standards aren't high, and you aren't busting your butt and creating a stellar product, then you are kidding yourself. 

The people that are short-cutting the system by selling flimsy info-products that tell you nothing more than what's already out there on the Internet for FREE is a bad way to go.

I believe the days of the snake-oil salesman is just about over... On the other hand, you know what P.T. Barnum used to say:

There's a _____________ born every _______________.  

However, if you haven’t side stepped, if you have a product or a service that is the best you can do or create, then you have just taken the biggest step in Internet marketing or even bricks and mortar marketing.

Pat yourself on the back because you are well on your way to take the next important steps in cranking up a business that will have a definite impact and purpose in the world.

Links to Really Important Internet Market Information:

WarriorForum Internet Marketing

SEO BOOK -Article on Making Money Online

Seth Godin's Blog

_________________________________________________________________

Mark "Elmo" Ellis is a writer specializing in advertising copy and he wants to hear from you.  If you got something out of this article, please leave a comment because blog writing is a lonely business.  

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

People read your crap and don't comment, Google plus it, or share it.  

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How to Make Sure Your Sales Page Coverts Before You Even Write a Word

I love going onto online entrepreneurial forums and reading posts about copywriting.  One of the things that encourages me to keep writing copy is when

people post things like:

“Easy Steps to Writing Converting Sales Copy”

Or

“The Simple System to Writing Ad Copy— So Easy a Moron Could Do It”

The reason why I love reading posts like this is because it makes my job far more secure than it already is.  The fact that the majority of people will take the easy way out and try to side-step the process of learning, writing, rewriting, studying, getting a good mentor, buying courses - using the tar out of them, while spending a copious amount of time writing some more, kinda makes me feel special .

Because the fact of the matter is, that writing advertising copy is like any other skill, it takes a lot of time, effort, patience , perseverance and good teachers to be world class, or at least good enough to lead a prospect through a sales process and convert him or her into a sale, plain and simple.

But, for those that are skeptical, let me point out a few for-instances that might convince you that I’m telling you the truth.  I know what you’re thinking, “He’s just saying this so I won’t write my own ad copy and hire him instead.”

If only it were that easy!

Yeah, I Fell For It!

While it is true I am a freelance copywriter, I would like to point out that I too, originally bought into the idea that you could take a single course and master the art.  I took a course from a reputable ad copy and marketing guru, fully expecting to “master” the skills and techniques by taking the one course. 

My first attempt at ad copy was anything less than spectacular, and looking back I can see that there were several reasons for this.  First of all, the product that I was selling online was in a niche that had a large audience and I failed to find a “niche within a niche” that would be far easier to target. 

But that wasn't the only mistake that I made.  The biggest mistake I made was not defining and understanding the difference between the benefits of my product and its features.    Without a clear road map showing prospects how my product would benefit them, I was dead in the water.  So, I clearly didn't have an understanding of my own product or how to benefit my prospective customers.

You need to know your product and service inside and out.  You need to read every bit of literature on the business, you need to use the product, and interview people that have used it as well as talk to people that work in the company (unless it is your own business you are writing about.)

Another fundamental and huge mistake I made, was I did not have a clear picture of what my ideal customer was like.  I forgot the marketing commandment of “Thou Shall Not Market To Everyone”.  So I had absolutely no idea what kept my prospects up at night or what they were afraid of.

To read an article on this, read, “Pain the Magic SalesButton – How to Use Discomfort on Your Prospects” . 

Take a look at how Dan Kennedy describes how criminals find their Target Market:

The bottom line of all of this is that before you even write a word of ad copy you need to do background intel on your prospects or customers.  

Without that, you can’t even get started!

Once you have all of that background you can actually start to craft your sales letter, and you’ll have a much better chance of writing copy prospects can relate to.

ELMO

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

Please send me a free copy of The Secret 7 -How to use advanced tactics in your adcopy to dominate your competition! 

How to Make Your Business Different From Everyone Else’s

One of the problems that I see with newborn information marketers, and netrepreneurs is that they do not know how to sell.  If you are going to sell any product or service, you need to develop this skill.  As a matter of fact, if you are selling over the Internet, you will have to know how to sell using words on a page, whether it is a piece of paper or a squeeze page on a Website. 

Just this week, I bumped into a young man that wanted to make money over the Internet and he churned out a webpage that looked like this:

I blocked out the name of the site because I’m not trying to embarrass anyone, and to tell the truth, I made the same mistakes when I was just starting out.  But, there is so much wrong with all of this that you don’t know where to start. 

First of all, this is supposed to be some sort of new blogging platform, which in my opinion is way too big of a project for a newbie.  If I were new to this game I wouldn't start here, under any circumstances.  Besides that, there are a whole bunch of blogging and social media sites out there that are trying to be the next Facebook, so the competition is pretty stiff. 

So, unless you have a very clear differentiation from those sites, you are going to have a very tough time getting people to access your site.  

But, all of that aside, you need to make your business different than all of the competition out there.

How to Make Your Business Different

Let us start out with the premise that you are a running a sign business in the bricks and mortar world.  What you should do is get a copy of the Yellow Pages

(YP) and set it right in front of you.  Next, you’re going to look up all of the sign businesses in the YP and you are going to write down the words and phrases that you see in their advertisements that are repeated.

For example, you see the words or phrases “vinyl lettering”, “craftsmanship”, “signage”, “vehicle graphics” over and over again.  Once you have gone through all of the ads you see in those pages you will see that almost all of the businesses are competing for the exact same market.

As you can see, this gives you market awareness that nobody else in your business has. 

Make Yourself Different

The next thing you must do is find an angle or perform a service that none of the other businesses have.  In the good ol’ days Domino’s Pizza got their pizza to you within a specified period of time and that’s what separated them from all of the other pizza businesses out there.

Maxwell House coffee started putting their coffee into measured filter packets that you just threw into the coffee maker.

You must find a way to make your site, business or service different than everyone else’s. 
One way is to make your business indispensable like this:

I know that you are probably thinking that I was going to tell you exactly how to make your business different, but I am not in your shoes or business.  I would need intimate knowledge that you have in your enterprise to know exactly the angle to apply to this change.

However, once you see what all the other businesses are into and what elements are the same, it will be much easier for you to differentiate yourself in your marketing and business.

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

"When it comes to high response copy, I've got your back!"

 (859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

If you want to learn more about how to write and use ad copy in your business, please click the link below and I’ll send you a free report on how to write more effective copy for your business.

Please send me a free copy of The Secret 7 -How to use advanced tactics in your adcopy to dominate your competition! 

FREE List Building Tricks Your Mother Never Told You About!

I once worked very briefly for an Internet millionaire that had about 80 websites.  Man, he was selling everything you could imagine under the sun from e-books, courses, dietary supplements, to multilevel marketing sponsorships.  I was hired on to help him manage and update his sites because some of them had been around for a very long time. 

I will tell you that he had quite a following.  He had rented a big office building that was abandoned (I think it had been a two story commercial site that sold light fixtures originally.) and sometimes I would beat him to his office to start working on his sites.  The phones would ring off the hook day and night.

 

I remember that his primary product was an info product on how to build a multilevel marketing business.  He would travel to a bunch of Internet conferences and give a demonstration or speech about how to grow a networking company and then afterwards he would sell his course on how to do it.

He was constantly on the road and was an excellent salesman, and I believe that his ability to sell to a live audience increased his bottom line and it created a great sales funnel.

 If I can remember clearly, this is what his sales funnel looked like:

The process of doing business, whether it was getting people to opt-in, buy a product, or upselling was accelerated by the fact that he was at speaking engagements all of the time.  They would see him speak and at the very least most of his audience would go to one of his websites and opt in.

This Is Pure Gold

One day while he was at the office I had an opportunity to talk.  I mentioned to him how I was inspired by marketers like Dan Kennedy, John Carlton and Corey Rudl (Of course this is before his tragic death).  He told me that he had actually spoke at seminars with these folks on occasion and that even though he was a chronic info-marketer and pretty successful  himself, he was always trying to extract any nuggets of wisdom that he could from them.

The one thing he told me that he learned from the likes of these big time entrepreneurs was that a list of potential prospects is pure gold and that mining it, using it and reusing it was how he built his business.

As a matter of fact, his exact words were “The list is pure gold.”

Don’t Misunderstand The Message Here…

He never said the list was EVERYTHING, he just said it was pure gold.  Now, if you were in his office and could see the way he generated, used, and reused his massive list you’d know he was telling the truth.  As a matter of fact, the one aspect of his business that he was very careful to take care of was his list. 

Website passwords, he’d forget. 

Dates and times of things, he’d lose them. 

Even products and merchandise he didn’t have that good of a grip on, BUT THE LIST HE BUILT WAS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO HIS BUSINESS.

What Can You Take Away from This Story?

Well, list building is extremely important!  As a matter of fact, the more information you have on a prospect, the better off you are.  If you only have an email address, you can still stay in the loop with them, but it is much better to have a physical mailing address and potentially, a phone number even. 

As a rule of thumb, try to gather as much personal info that you can gather on your clients and prospects as you can.

However, if you JUST have an email address, you are limited to sending just one type of message – email.  Email is very easy to ignore and dispose of.  Not only that, but email accounts get dumped all of the time, so the more contact info you can get, the better off you’ll be. 

How Do I Start Building a List?

You can start by using an auto responder like GetResponse, Awebber, or even a cheap free one like SendFree.  Of course, anything that is free will just the bare minimum and they will want you to upgrade to a better account ASAP.

In my opinion, if you are brand new list builder the best way to start is by going as cheap as possible.  The reason I say that is because it will definitely take time to build a viable list.  If you are building your list online and that is the only way you are marketing your business, then building a list will be a rather slow process, no matter what marketing gurus will tell you. 

If you don’t want to use an email responder at all, here is a video that will show you exactly how to gather email addresses without one:

Once you have several email addresses to send to, you can always use the following e-mail trick to send your email out to an entire herd of people.  Use this technique to send multiple emails out without recipients being able to see a list of email addresses:  Email Trick 

The downside to this lesson is that it takes diligence, hard work and a certain amount of patience to cultivate, build and use a list properly.  However, once you have it, you will see that it is pure gold!

If you want to learn more about how to write and use ad copy in your business, please click the link below and I’ll send you a free report on how to write more effective copy for your business.

Please send me a free copy of The Secret 7 -How to use advanced tactics in your adcopy to dominate your competition! 

The Magic Button that Will Make Your Sales Message Easy!

OK, before you get too excited and think that this is going to be an easy-street method of making money, it isn't.  But it is a very important and serious component of your sales message that will make your life a bazillion times easier when crafting a sales message for your business.

Just about any auto repair shop will tell you that people don’t usually bring their cars into the shop when the car is running great.  My wife is really big on this; she keeps track of our cars and can tell you when they need to go into the shop for a checkup.  Thank God she does this, because our cars last for a long time, well after we have paid them off thanks to her diligence. 

However, most people won’t take their vehicles to a shop until something starts to go wrong.  So, the driving force behind their patronage of a repair shop is based on inconvenience or pain of some sort.  If that car is dead and they can’t get to work on time, or they have to rely on someone else to get to their destination, there is massive discomfort. 

I can 100% guarantee they will want to get their car into a shop, pronto.

Pain - the Magic Sales Button!

It’s the same principle with advertising copy.  If you don’t exploit some sort of pain in your copy, then you will have a very tough time selling any product or service.

For example: You’re writing advertising copy for a cruise in the Caribbean and you start out by telling prospects how beautiful the trip is going to be. You start telling your prospect all of the wonderful places that the boat is going to stop at and how fun it is going to be. 

Wrong!

You need to hit the prospect where it hurts.

You should talk about the lousy winter they just survived.  You should bring up how the traffic in the city sucks during a really cold snow storm and how everyone

was totally agitated by the experience.  You could also talk about how the spouse needs a break from all of this because there just isn't any time to enjoy life.

You know, get inside the head of your average prospect and tell them how horrible their situation is.  Once you've thoroughly exploited all of the pain they are feeling, it will be much easier to sell to that.

One last caveat of this approach is you really have to know what your prospect’s sore spots are.  If you don’t know, and you only have a general idea, it is still easier than trying to manufacture the pain in his or her life. 

Manufacturing pain IS a pain.

It is not impossible to do, but you have to have very long advertising copy to create it. 

So, remember to use this approach when you begin to write you next sales copy and your chances for converting will be much better. 

Editors Note:  I just found this great post on the Warrior Forum on how to use surveys to find out what eats at your prospects.  It is Brilliant! 

If you want to learn more about how to write incredible ad copy, I've written a great report called "The Secret 7 - How to use advanced tactics in your adcopy to dominate your competition!"  just click on the the email link and shoot me a message: 

Please send me a free copy of The Secret 7 -How to use advanced tactics in your adcopy to dominate your competition!