Hi Trina!
Fantastic post! SOrry it took me a while to respond to it.
I agree wholeheartedly! I have been online since the mind 80's and things haven't changed. There are still a ton of "opportunities" out there
In todays internet economy those who are making the money are those who "get witt and get in the game"
These are people who:
#1 - Promo a real and viable product/service usable by most anyone.I have done "oppurtunity assessments" for people and the sad fact is that 8 out of 10 of the people I have worked with have come to realise that what they are working is utterly useless to average joe websurfer. Granted there may be millions of marketers world wide... but average joe websurfer outnumbers us. Promoting a product, service, or opportunity that is only good to other marketers is like selling vitamins to your family. Eventually you'll run out of family to market to.
I don't want to sound negative or like I am picking on specific people or opportunities but the sad fact is that if people would take off the dollar sign blinders and do an honest assessment like the one I do with people.
The people who seem to succeed online are the ones that ask the hard questions BEFORE they get started. Questions like...
- Who is going to be the REAL target customer?
- Who can and will realistically be able to use this product or service?
- Is it a product/service even a 80 year old grandmother may need?
- Can I make money with this without recruiting?
- What is it REALLY going to cost me to reach my target market(s)?
Granted this is a short list but these are some of the core questions I ask when I do an assessment with people.
#2 - Target their advertising like a homing missile.I know a lot of people who have their business on every free traffic traffic exchange they can find. This is great for raising the hit counter, but totally useless for making sales. IF these people had money to spend... do you think they would be posting their ads in a place frequented by other poor, broke or just plain cheap people?
The people I know who are successful online go after the people who have money and WANT what they offer. Targetted advertising costs more yes, however which is better? to spend 5.00 on advertising and make no sales, or spend 10.00 and get 1 sale that makes you $20 profit after expenses? It's a simple guiding formula ( it's for illustration purposes only to get a point across)
Targetting advertising = less visitors + quality x 1-3% conversion = more sales
UNtagetted advertsing = tons of visitors - quality x 0% conversion = no sales.
Visitors = page views by a person
Quality = does the viewer actually WANT your offering or is it just "in their face"?
Sales = the thing that puts jingle in your jeans.
#3 Persistence and dedication.All the people I know who are "successful" online got this way by picking ONE thing and doing that at full throttle, with patience, persistence and long term vision. This is something that is critical because yet so many people, I would venture to say 90 to 95% of the Adland members, are program hoppers. They have no patience, no persistence, and no long term vision. They want the fast easy buck for as little outlay of time, effort, and money as possible.
The sad fact is, and I am sure you'll agree with me Trina, at least to some degree, somewhere that these well meaning, decent, and deserving folks will likely never make the money they've been lead to believe is possible by playing this game of " Fast buck musical opportunities"
IF a person want success, it has to be WORKED FOR. Some high end top gun marketers is NOT going to make money for for people. One headline I got recently stated
" Roy - Sit back and watch as Millionaires make money for you!"Hello!? Last I looked Millionaires didn't run around making money for other people...they do it for themselves.... isn't that why they are Millionaires?
To summarize what I am trying to say in this longwinded post is basically this...
People will never manage to make a fortune online, until they get serious about business. To do this they will HAVE to screw their heads on straight, take off the dollar sign blinders, and put their noses to the grindstone.
In over 20 years of being online, nothing has changed except one mission critical aspect.
The mentality of "Mass advertising to any set of eyeballs available to promote a few dozen things" is either dead or on it's way to a fast death. The new mantra should be " One thing to those who want it."
It's all comes down to getting back to common sense and traditional business ethics. The big boys target their TV ads, we should be doing the same with our web ads.
All the best!
Roy H.