joeDarrell, I’ve got my own on-line business, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Not very well, at least. I bought your DVDs from you on-line and you seem to be doing well. Would you mind looking over my website and critiquing what I’m doing wrong? Helen Devins.
Hi Helen, I did visit your website. Whereas I like what you’re trying to do, I need to be brutally honest with you…. you need the to know the naked truth about Internet Marketing
You’re trying to sell “How To Sell On The Internet. Tips, strategies, etc… for the newbies.
Your question is very interesting in its timing. I also just received an email from one of my internet marketing mentors, Perry Marshall. And he answers a similar question and I’m going to post part of his answer here and provide you a link to his entire answer.
I don’t endorse very many other peoples’ internet mrketing products, especially “beginner†products. I try to only study from marketers who already ‘get it.’ i.e. Marlon Sanders, Perry Marshall, Sydney Johnson, Ken McCarthy. These guys get it!
Marlon Sanders has the Ockham Razor Series… Marlon has more products than I can remember, but the three I like most is the Push Button Letter software for $47, theOckhm Razor System for $67 and his new product for $147.00
Perry Marshall is legendary in his ground work on Adwords and continues being Mr. Adwords. Perry offers two great products. One is complete blueprint for $147.00, the other is the Adword Bible for $90.00
Ken McCarthy is the first Internet Marketer on the planet, fabulous Copywriter, unbelievable direct marketing guru. Have you heard the hour long interview with Ken McCarthy and I about the twelve essentials to build your internet business to $100,000 annually? Ken offers his Beginners Smart System for $500.00
Gary Bencevenga is the greatest living copywriter of all time. His course is how to be a great copywriter. The course is also expensive $5,000
Sydney Johnson, wrote the book on eBay marketing. You can purchase her system for about $1000.
All five of these marketers are legendary and they will help you.
No they ain’t cheap, no I don’t resell their products and make a dime if you buy anything from them. Nor do I care if you don’t buy their products. I’m just telling you what they offer.
For example, Gary is the world’s best copywriter and when you read his book, watch his movies, see his images, it will blow you away. Why, because it suddenly becomes obvious how he worked his way from the Great Depression to being the World Renowned legend he is now. He’s also retired and doesn’t do copywriting anymore, just simply sharing his knowledge. He writes the Bencevenga bullets which you can read for free. Those are major gold nuggets.
I had the pleasure of spending 2 days with Gary and his wife at the prestigious Waldorf Hotel in Manhatta three years ago for his retirement and one and only course. Only 100 peeople were allowed to attend this $5,000 per person event and I somehow was able to attend. (I sold my attendance to 10 companies for $500 each).
But note. Selling how to sell on the internet is best left to these five. They even tell you how to find a niche….
So Helen, let me share with you what Perry Marshall said to his similar questioning, depressed enquirer.
“There is a whole host of problems with your strategy:
If I were to do what a lot of those so-called internet marketing gurus do – and teach newbies that the way to make a lot of money on the Internet is by being my affiliate and selling my products – I would be committing some kind of crime.
(A lot of people teach this, and since there’s an endless supply of newbies, a lot of people going through the revolving door get taken advantage of.)
If you don’t have an established market presence already, it’s may make you lunch money but it’s not going to be megabucks. Might be good target practice, but it ain’t going to pay the bills.
Same is true of ANY other program or product you might promote.
You have to
1) know how to play the game, and
2) enter a niche you can actually compete in.
Today I’m going to give you some straight talk about:
1) How ordinary real people get scammed out of their money online, and
2) How ordinary real people actually make money online, or in any new business for that matter.
1) If you do this the way you’ve probably been taught, it’s nothing but a glorified chain letter.
2) You haven’t succeeded yourself, so you have no business teaching others how to succeed.
3) This general ‘get rich on the Internet’ topic is one of the most competitive categories in e-commerce, period. Telling a regular guy off the street he can get rich on the Internet by showing other people how to get rich on the Internet is like telling your grandmother that she can go down to the local martial arts dojang, take on 3 black belts at one time and kick their ass.
Fat chance. The marketing and make-money niche is a game for razor sharp, A-level marketers. Not for entry level people.
All that happens to entry level people is, one way or another their money ends up in the hands of razor sharp, A-level marketers and you have nothing to show for it. All kinds of razor sharp, A-level marketers take advantage of this fact without the slightest twinge of guilt.
(Their rationalization for exploiting peoples’ ignorance is: “Well if I don’t take their money they’ll just waste it on some other equally stupid thing.†Well hey, it’s not like they’re exactly wrong about that…even piranhas have their rightful place in the food chain, right? Hey pal, I’m just saying, if you’re not a piranha, don’t swim with them. Find a pond that just has regular frogs and dragonflies and hang out there.)
4) Carbon copying other peoples’ product is a doomed strategy, no matter what niche you’re in. Sure you might try to be the guy who makes El Cheapo knockoff products in China and sure, some people make a lot of money doing that, but the bottom line is: If you don’t have a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) then sooner or later you’re dead.
My advice to you:
Abandon this niche entirely. Stop selling “get rich†stuff.
Stop selling “how to market stuff on the Internet†stuff.
Do a thorough inventory of yourself and your knowledge and your skills.
Relax. Stop striving to “Get Rich†and just make ONE DOLLAR first. A modest goal. One dollar of honest profit that you can be proud of.
Find some OTHER niche (hey, there are only a MILLION other things you could sell on the Internet – yes, literally a million). Find some other product to sell. Find something that has NOTHING to do with making money on the Internet.
Maybe there’s some odd thing you collect, like pink flamingos or wrought iron furniture. Maybe you’re familiar with specialized motor parts or some sort of industrial equipment. Or you grow orchids or collect 16th century romance novels or movies from the 1930′s.
Or maybe you go to a trade show and find manufacturers in some market where most people are clueless about marketing, and build them an online presence. Work out some kind of profit sharing deal, or get them to put you on retainer. Sell that product.
(That’s a real useful tip I just gave you there.)
Or sell some kind of information about that topic. Like I said, do a thorough inventory of what you know and where you’ve been and go into a niche you’re intimately familiar with.
1. Don’t get into a pre-packaged business. There are LOTS of them out there. Network Marketing deals, Internet deals, etc. You should capitalize on your individuality.
2. Doing something online…. boy I deal with that ALL THE TIME. Is is VERY competitive. An at-home online business is the white picket fence of the 21st century. Super great – if you can pull it off. Most common things are things like selling ebooks or selling things on ebay. If you do something like that you have to specialize in some particular niche.
The people who do best at that 1) know their subject and their customers EXTREMELY well; and/or are 2) very in-tune and comfortable with the whole online scene and culture and websites and everything.
The more nichy your topic, the more you can rely on #1 instead of #2.
3. Offline: Anything you know how to do – like plumbing or handyman stuff or swimming pools or repair hang-gliders… or knowing how to cook or take care of kids or organize a house… as soon as you have a way of advertising and getting customers, you have a business. Might not necessarily be an “at home†business, but it’s a business.
Oh, and by the way if you do a business like handyman stuff or repair or remodeling, all you have to do is show up on time, answer the phone, tell people the truth, finish projects on-time and on-budget, and you’ll kick everybody else’s ass in town. In a business like that, half the secret to success is literally “showing up.†You’ll get lots of referrals, customers will love you, and you’ll make a good living. Even in an economy that sucks.
4. If you know what you want to do, then I can advise you about promoting it. Let’s take plumbing for example… to advertise yourself as a plumber you need all the certifications and everything. Doesn’t
keep you from doing it when people need it and getting paid for it, if you’re a ‘handyman’ instead of a plumber.
5. Any business that is going to work for you is based on the gifts and skills that you mostly already have. So it’s actually kind of sitting under your nose all along. You just need to start taking inventory. Asking other people what they see you being good at. Listing your skills and looking at all the things you’ve done etc.
End of quoting Perry’s advice
I think the above is great advice and here are the links to my mentors.
Read all of Perry Marshall’s email on this topic.
Ken McCarthy, the System
Perry Marshall
Gary Bencevenga
Sydney Johnson
Marlon Sanders
I know each one of these “gurus†personally except for Marlon. Although Marlon and I have communicated a lot by email and his advice is sound.
Sydney gets a real kick out of me as I always for some odd reason first thought her name was Dorothey. She’s a straight shooter and won’t BS you. I’ve met her three or four times and she’s even sent a television crew to film an endorsement of her techniques.
Ken, he’s the king. Great wealth of time and always has a strong influence on me. I would not be in business today were it not for Ken and Perry.
I didn’t plan on this being such a strong letter, but I get this type of email a lot. I think its important for any of us trying to sell on the internet to fully armed with good information and strategies. Otherwise we’ll be like soldiers charging at the terrible enemy armed only with sponge weapons and plastic helmets.
If this is your direction Helen, think only of how to make a dollar, not how to get rich quick. Give honest service. Give of yourself totally. Know your target market very well (the who), know what their needs are (Your What), know what their goals, what will make your customers really happy. And then you find a way to help them achieve their goals. That’s niche marketing. Finding the right niche, follow Perry’s advice. Follow everyone above.
I’d love to hear your comments about the above. I know it was way off the reservation, but how did you like it? What internet marketing experiences have you had? Did it work? Are you looking into selling something on the internet? How are you becoming trained?
Know my words……
Yes! You can …..
Darrell