Friday, November 7th, 2008 at
11:01 pm
I’m sitting here at my computer, sipping my first cup of coffee, and wondering what I’m gonna write about that would be of interest to readers of my blog. I’m thinking about all the facets of Internet Marketing: product creation, list-building, copywrighting, follow-up message writing, affiliate marketing, search engine optimization, traffic generation techniques, niche marketing, keyword research, ppc,joint-venturing, give-aways, and seemingly the list could ramble on ad-infinitum! How can a person possibly get one’s head wrapped around all this stuff sufficiently enough to take the first step into this alluring, yet crazy world of Internet Marketing?? It’s no wonder 95% is the failure rate!
After a year of buying up everything I could afford to buy, lurking in dozens of forums and reading so many blog posts I’ve lost count, I’m just beginning to see the “Battle Fog” begin to lift!
What’s interesting is where all that ‘Fog’ came from. Innocently, I subscribed to a couple of Give-Away events about one year ago. I perused the ‘free’ offers of promises of ‘internet marketing greatness and massive wealth with my product’. Each time I succumbed to a good sale page, I freely gave my name and email address in exchange for the purported “Golden Nugget”. But as an uninitiated ‘Newbie’ I didn’t really understand what I was actually doing. I was commiting myself to the first stages of a massive avalance of endless ‘ the-greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread’ offers one could imagine! The feeding frenzy had begun. In the days and months to follow, dozens of hyped emails filled my inbox with offers for products that were making each sender a friggin’ fortune! That’s the ‘Fog’ to which I previously referred! The dust stirred up by the relentless pounding of incoming rounds of awesome offers had my vision and focus so clouded I strayed aimlessly, with wallet open, for several months! I spent lots, read a ton, realizing I was often reading rehased, out-dated garbage. After 6 months I was officially ” Information Overloaded”!
At that point, with gigabytes of product, some valuable, most trash, I realized I was doing exactly what scores of marketing ‘Gurus’ hoped I would do….buy everything that promised success. I then decided to take control of my destiny. I began to catalog all of the ‘product’ I had accumulated. Then, with a vengence, I began assessing each product. With a plan in hand, I gleefully began deleting. A tremendous feeling of euphoria began to envelope my very existence! Somehow, once I decided a product to be a ‘waste of my time and money’, the act of pressing the DELETE key made me feel more in control of my life again! A clarity of purpose arose and for the first time I believed, no…I KNEW I could do this business.
Presently, with more patience and a clear mission, the ‘Fog’ has completely cleared! Soon I will be productive! The real purpose of documenting my experience here is to ask you, the reader, to share your beginning experience in hopes other readers can benefit. So, I simply ask that you leave your comments on this post and let’s begin a meaningful dialog that might help others avoid these traps.
Make it a Great Day!
Bob
