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The Blame Game

Point the fingerSince I’m about to brand myself as an Internet Marketing heretic, I can’t exclude the possibility that I may shortly find myself bundled into an unmarked van, never to be heard from again. In case this does turn out to be the last article that I ever write, I hope you’ll take what you’re about to read seriously.

Just be careful with whom you share it…

There is a fact, well-known within the internet marketing industry, that is rarely discussed. Not because of some big conspiracy to maintain revenues but because it’s a truth that most people don’t want to hear. The minority who would listen and nod their heads appreciatively don’t need this information, and the majority who could really use it will most likely reject it and may even become angry over the idea.

The reason why I’m going to discuss it anyway, is because I’m a writer first and an entrepreneur second. The part of me that has a modicum of business sense is telling me that this is a bad idea but, the ambitious, literary part of me, believes that I can present this knowledge in a manner that might – just might – allow me to get away with it.

I’m going to begin, by making a broad statement about a large portion of potential, online business owners and your first instinct is probably going to be to place yourself outside of this category. You may be absolutely right, but all I’m asking is that you fight that urge for a few moments and just consider the possibility that this might, to some degree, describe your status.

Ready? Here it is:

Of all the people who are interested in exchanging their day job, for a home business of their own, a large majority have spent money on several – sometimes many – internet marketing products and services, but have yet to create a consistent profit.  And the majority of the blame lies with themselves.

When expectations of wealth don’t quickly materialise, some assign fault to the effective internet marketers for selling ineffective products. Others believe they must be missing a piece of the puzzle and make more purchases. Many assume they just don’t have what it takes and give up on the idea. These excuses may occasionally have some basis in fact but there is a far simpler, overriding reason, why the majority of customers, purchasing the majority of internet marketing products, see little or no results:

It’s because they don’t make full use of their purchase.

When someone buys an internet marketing product, they will usually do one of the following:

  1. Store the product to look at or try later, and never get around to it.
  2. Browse through the product a little, become distracted with something else, and never come back to it.
  3. Browse through the product and then reject it, deciding it’s too difficult or requires too much effort.
  4. Study the product carefully but skip the parts that sound too difficult and try to take short-cuts. When they fail, they reject the product as faulty, or beyond their capabilities.
  5. Study the product carefully and use it as instructed, then become distracted by something else.
  6. Study the product carefully and use it as instructed, only to give up after a few weeks or months, when profits are less than anticipated.
  7. Study the product carefully, use it as instructed, begin to make real progress, only to give up when they hit an unanticipated problem.
  8. Study the product carefully, use it as instructed, seek out assistance when they hit a problem, and persist with their efforts until they see results similar to those promised on the sales page.

There’s no-one listening to your thoughts. It’s just you and this page. Take a moment to assess how many of the above categories that, at one time or another, you’ve managed to fit into. If it helps you to make an honest appraisal, I don’t mind telling you that I’ve had experiences similar to one or two of these. Actually, I’ve had a few of them. Erm, ok, I’ve experienced all of them at one time or another.

I could blame this on testimonials that describe the exceptional results, rather than the average experience. I could blame it on the creator’s of the products for not making more of an effort to persuade me to use my purchase. I could even blame it on the mass obsession with instant wealth, creating unrealistic expectation.

Or I could point the finger of blame at the constant in my experiences: Me

In fact, if we face this honestly, we’d probably find that most of the internet marketing products and services out there are all effective to one degree or another, if we only gave them our full and persistent attention. Bad time management, poor concentration, and a lack of commitment are likely responsible for far more of our failures than most of us would care to admit.

This is the uncomfortable truth that few will give voice to because most people don’t want to hear it. If you voice it, many will write you off as sanctimonious, self-important and condescending. But I’m hoping you’ll see this for what it really is: An Opportunity!

Consider two things. Firstly, being responsible for your failures is far better than the blame lying purely with others. With the latter, you have a problem that is largely out of your hands, but with the former you have something that is possible to fix. Secondly, when I said I’ve experienced all of the categories I listed, that INCLUDES category #8.

In addition to purchasing many internet marketing products on impulse that I failed to properly utilise, I’ve made a number of noteworthy purchases to which I gave my full attention and that yielded some significant results. There are three that specifically come to mind.

Marketing training course with Chris Cardell

I took one of the specific strategies that Chris Cardell taught and committed almost all of my resources to carrying it out for approximately 6-8 weeks. The result was a small flurry of new business that netted $15,000 immediately, and additional revenue from repeat purchases over the next few years.

Stomping the Search Engines membership at Stompernet

I studied hard for a couple of months and followed that up by applying what I’d learned. As a consequence, the decline in search engine traffic that I’d been experiencing for the past 12 months, came to a halt. Since then, search engine traffic to my core website has increased from about 15,000 visits per month, to well over 50,000 visits per month.

Launch Formula Marketing software from Robert Puddy

Using the software as instructed – including the affiliate management, one-time-offer and downsell features – my two business partners and I launched our membership website (www.Lucid-SEO.com) and grossed approximately $45,000 in the first ten days.

Experiencing failures 1-7, has not prevented me from experiencing success #8. Nor should it prevent you. To improve your chances of getting there, consider the three factors that represent the difference between the internet marketing products I failed with, and those I succeeded with.

1) Accepting Responsibility

I firmly believed that my lack of results was not a result of purchasing bad internet marketing products, or even a lack of ability on my own part. Rather, they were attributable to a lack of focus and attention on applying what I was learning. I needed to figure out exactly what I wanted to do, what training or tools I would need to accomplish that, and concentrate on these to the exclusion of everything else.

2) Purchasing Needs Instead of Wants

To increase my profits, I needed to learn how to sell; I purchased a 12-week, home study course on marketing. To reverse the decline in search engine traffic, I needed to learn search engine optimisation; I purchased a membership with Stompernet. I needed a script that could deliver my Lucid SEO training product and allow me to monetise it; I purchased the Launch Formula Marketing script.

Sometimes a product is launched that appears to offer a solution to the flaw in your business that’s been nagging at you for months. But it’s far better to identify a problem, research available solutions, and then compare price and features. If it’s a great offer and it’s within your budget, then go right ahead; I’m not suggesting you should never buy a product on impulse. However, if you carefully select and purchase something your business needs, right now, there is a much greater incentive to give it your full attention.

3) No Half-Measures

Business problems are nearly always connected to profits. When you identify a product or service that can solve your dilemma, it usually means you have to eat even further into your profits to acquire it. That being the case, why would you waste that money by not fully using your purchase?

If you’ve purchased something your business REALLY needs – perhaps something that could prevent it from folding or that could massively increase profits – you should have all the motivation you need to give it your full attention. Ensure you give it nothing less.

If by this point you’re firmly convinced that I’m an internet marketing heretic, there is probably little I can say to change your mind. Just assume this is the ramblings of an over-caffeinated Englishman and we’ll leave it at that. But if, as I’m hoping, you take this article for what it’s intended to be – a rallying call to all aspiring internet marketers to grasp the nettle and make an asserted effort to succeed – then I thank you for your tolerance and I’ll see you next month.

Assuming I manage to avoid capture…

1 Comments
    • John Reed
      Aug 31, 2012 at 9:38 PM / Reply

      Ok, Ok David – I have to agree! And I agree unequivocally, in full, with NO exceptions.

      I’ve never been taken in by that cry “…but it’s not your fault”. IT IS my fault, and it has been since I started messing around with IM about 7 or 8 years ago (maybe even longer).

      There is no heresy here, just an example of that common human failing, not wanting to be to blame for failure. And it is “Failure” if you don’t accept that you are to blame but CAN change and can therefore SUCCEED.

      Thanks for highlighting this David. However, I honestly think that overcoming this failing is likely to be as difficult for me as taking on the Three Peaks Challenge is for you! I need to overcome it, my Pension is not sufficient for me to live on comfortably, so I will have to work very hard on my mindset as there lies the source of my lack of success (in financial terms).

      Of course, I treated IM as a Hobby – and so I was actually successful in my own way because I was engrossed in it, enjoyed it, and enjoyed talking and meeting with others who were involved in it. But that is far from success in financial terms and it has cost me a small fortune (as many hobbies do).

      Now I have to take a serious look at your 8 levels of achievement. Oh dear, I’ve only had one level 8 experience – and though I took in over $800 it cost me about $900 and as I was not able to make it produce a positive ROI I binned it.

      There must be hundreds of thousands of us wallowing in the first 3 levels and I now have to make a very determined effort to HALT any more purchasing and sit down with my pad to choose one of the multitude of money-making methods I have at my disposal…. and implement it continuously until it either succeeds, or proves that it genuinely is not sound enough to be a success.

      You lose weight and build up your strength and stamina, and I’ll work at changing my mindset and the manner in which I apply myself to IM! Neither of us can afford to approach our training in a lacka-daisical fashion or we’ll both definitely fail.

      Good Luck with your Insane (but inspiring) Challenge David. And may the ghosts of the Old Goons watch over me and shriek if I slip from the tough road ahead!

      John

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