Negotiating the Hell of the Internet Marketing Maze - Experiences of a Newbie

Caveat Emptor (buyer beware) is the classic warning when contemplating buying something e.g. a used car.

It is even 1954 Dan-Dee baseball cards appropriate when surfing and searching for a real online business opportunity. The amount Daredevil hyperbole, hard sell, and overblown rhetoric that one has to wade through is incredible and even disillusioning.

If you are not careful, you can end up spending a lot of money, even if only small amounts at a time, and at the end have nothing you can really use, Or worse, so much information that it becomes overload time and you just can't absorb it.

You then become unfocused because of the amount of information and offers - which is death for a goal oriented search for a reliable online business search.

Many of the sites (that I have visited) by the big "gurus" 'warn' about not downloading their PDF's or videos if they are going to just gather dust on a shelf as it were - because you cannot absorb it all.

That's good advice - but a bit disingenuous at the same time. They say stick Major Matt Mason one offer or program and get focused - but then bombard your email with more and more offers for other products.

My biggest bugbear is having to watch videos! OK some folks prefer them - not me - and especially when a program has hours and hours of videos for guidelines - brevity is certainly not an affliction the hardsellers suffer from.

Look out for the hook

Don't you just love those "FREE" offers or trials that give some good info - but to implement you have to sign on at $39.95 a month!

Most of us newbies need basic Zorro playset by step non techie clarification upfront of exactly what is involved so we can make a sound judgment - and, especially, not get lost in the verbiage of the hard sell that is so often the case. The page length of many product inducements boggles the mind!

Likewise, if we do buy or get a free trial we need step by step guidelines for implementing the program - and rarely is that provided..... but oh, we do get more and more and more offers for further "must have" programs.

Or we find that it is basic - and we really 'ought upgrade to platinum" (at $39.95 a month) to get full benefit!

Then there is the constant display of ClickBank or PayPal receipts for huge amounts earned - of course we won't make that - it ain't about 'get rich' quickly - so we are told - but why display such earnings if not to induce the unwary?

To some extent many of the so-called gurus who are promoting themselves and their products are somewhat genuine when they say 'stay with one program' and remain focused - which of course is absolutely necessary. But they, of course, also want you to do this so that you don't go to a competitor's product as well. And, many of the products offered need just that bit more so sometimes it is good to have a second product to work in conjunction with another. Affiliate marketing is a good case in question.

I don't want this brief article to be just a rant about the pitfalls of the internet marketers out there flogging their products.

We have all seen so many examples of those overlong sales pages where they pitch a product without really telling you what's involved. You can get a free report (whahoo!)

Well, among other things, it is all about getting your name on their lists - for more emails of other products.

Some people have also been really ripped off and been left stranded high and dry - despite the 'earnest' promises by gurus to work with you.

But there is real information out there that can lead to a genuine offer, a good business for us newbies.

As you know, what we need is

1. A domain name and website
2. A reliable and affordable hosting service
3. A product that people actually want to buy - you need a real niche market
4. A mail out list - to promote our product to - and automating your system
5. Traffic - without it nobody knows you exist

The first two are easy to obtain (with a little bit of caution) - don't get a site where you can't control the content and add to it.

The third is also easy to find - Clickbank is a good place to start and there are ways to identify the best options for products you want to promote. And it's free.

For a newbie the 4th need is more difficult - very few people start with a big 'targeted' email list - oh you might have many names in your email address book - but are they 'targeted' - that is, people who are seeking your product?

The newbie has to be careful about just buying lists as there are many scams out there. So the creation of an 'opt-in' option is essential - along with an auto-responder system (which can be expensive if you aren't careful).

As for the 5th - traffic - few of the gurus really show you how or offer a traffic generating product that is affordable and and workable....unless you pay through the nose.

In part two of this article I will try to put some answers to these real obstacles we newbies face when trying to get set up with an online business. Keep your eye out for it as I will submit it in a day or two.

I am still journeying through all the maze - but am about to kick off as I think I have what I need now - a focused action plan ready to implement.

Peter Damien Ryan
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