Monday, March 23, 2015

We Need You! How Did You Make Your First Dollar On The Internet?

Last week I conducted an experiment.  

I ran an ad online asking for Internet marketers to send me an examples of dirt cheap marketing that they've used to make their first dollars online.  (I ran a real good deal on the ad, so I didn't pay much there and I didn't want to pay a bunch to get their responses. Ha-ha!  Cheap!  Cheap! ) 

I also posed a question on a popular marketing forum asking folks what their methods were there as well.  I got quite a few responses there too. 

So, this week I’m going to post those responses here for you to read.  

The Second Part of My Experiment Involves You!


Not only am I going to post the responses that I received, but I’m also going to post any good ideas that my reading audience sends me as well.  You can either send it to me here: elmo033057@gmail.com and I’ll post it to my blog with your signature and web address on it, or I’ll post it into the comment section of my blog. 

Either way works for me!

The Rules:

  • Please don’t post duplicate content.  It will get trashed immediately.
  • No foul language.
  • We are here to lift each other up as entrepreneurs, not trash each other.  If you disagree on a point with someone, try to disagree without being disagreeable.
  • I will not allow affiliate links.  If you have an example of a product or website, fine, but all affiliate links will get trashed.
  • I won’t mind promoting your business if your post has a logical point or example with it. Readers can easily tell if you are just promoting your junk instead of sharing valuable information with them. 
  • Oh, and No Running in The Pool Area!

Dirt Cheap Method #1 -Using Your Web Savvy Brain to Sell an eBook Online

I figured since I actually went through the process myself,  I'd be the first to tell you exactly how I made my first money online.  

I invested $30.00 on an eBook  which was titled, "How to write and Sell and eBook in 30 Days".  I bought the book and without thinking too much about what niche to dive into, I started writing.  

I actually got the book written in about 2 weeks and churned out about 75 pages of material.  I thought someone...anyone would want to read it and that I'd make some money on it.

I knew enough to figure that I would probably not make a huge sum of money from writing the book, but I was eager to set it up and get the ball rolling.  

In the early 1990's credit card processing was kind of expensive.  
You had to get an online credit card service if you wanted to sell something, even an eBook.  PayPal had just started to really roll, but it did not have half of the cheap merchant services it has today.  

I finally found a very inexpensive solution from a company called 2Checkout.  2Checkout is a company that would let you set up any product that you wanted to sell, and it would act as a credit card processor for a percentage of the sale.  (Currently, they will charge you 2.5% for processing.) 

They would let you set up your products, give you the code to drop into your page and then process your order for you.  With very few glitches, it worked like a charm.  


How I Faced Failure and Turned It Around...

However, nobody wanted to read my book on Internet marketing, especially since I was a Newb.  

So my first effort resulted in selling nothing.

But, hey, you'll learn your best and biggest lessons from failure.  Determined to still make money from Internet marketing thing, I decided to try again.  This time I wanted to find a niche that was narrow and that a group of people felt passionate about.  

At the time I was trying my hand at this, I was a band director at a military academy and I was working with a bagpiping team.  

The kids that I was working with at the time, were really into the whole Celtic/Bagpiping hobby, and I had a hard time keeping up with them because I had no education in the realm of bag pipes.

One Friday, when I was getting ready to go home from work, I noticed one of the bag piping team members getting into a car with his Celtic gear on. (Yep, the team wore kilts.) 

When I asked him why he was wearing his outfit, he told me something I had no knowledge of.  He was making all sorts of money playing bagpipes for different events.  Weddings, funerals, retirement parties, police events, etc.

And the money he was making was pretty good.  He'd make $200.00 at any given event, and he was only required to play for small segments of the events.

So, that was thew seed of an idea for my second eBook, "How to Make Money With Your Bagpipes"  and even though it didn't make me rich, I still made thousands from it.,

Heck, it was pretty easy to market, when I look back on it.  Since I was a band director at a military academy, it was very easy to network with bagpipers and find out where they all hung out at online.  

I also knew who the best bagpipe teachers were and I could easily contact them and get them to spread the word for me. 

I guess that's why identifying a focused niche is very important.



So, that was the first time I made money online and I've been hooked ever since.  

Now it's your turn.  What was the way you made your first money using Internet marketing? 

Once again, you can post your story in the comment section or send it on to me at: elmo033057@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you!


To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis
"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"
www.MarkEllisCopy.com
(859) 797-9560
elmo033057@gmail.com















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