Number one in Google.

I have number one spot in Google for my keyword "confused marketer".
So what?
Exactly, So what?
What does that mean for me?
If people are confused about all this thing - internet marketing, and they happen to use this keyword I'm the guy for them ;)
But if they are using other keywords, then I do not exist for them at the moment. Unless I will optimize my blog posts for others keywords.

But that's only part of the story.
Another, more important part is what do I want to do with this coming traffic. I mean, it's not that I'm flooded:) yet.

If you are a newbie, you've got to be aware of that.
If you are an expert, you most likely are aware of that.isn't it?

I mean, what do you want to do online?
What is your purpose?

You've heard about Click Bank?

Here is another way to make money online for newbies.
Go to Click Bank and create your own account. Then choose products you like and start promoting them on your web site.
That's easy, you can do it!
Whether you will be successful will depend on few factors.

First choose products in an area of some interest to you.
Then do your research, possibly try the product yourself [but that will cost the money].
Be passionate [that's why it's better to choose something you have interest in] and persistent.


Here is a short video tutorial:

Become an expert.

There you go, here is the secret to a successful online business.
Become an expert, so they say.
The concept is actually good. It will work pretty well.
And here is how you do it: set up a blog and post a valuable content. I mean really valuable content. Post frequently and stay in close touch with your audience. Of course, first of all you have to build an audience, a herd of followers.

Now, here is the problem with that.
Good content does not come easy. Besides the best, most valuable things you can learn are offered in free reports.
Let me tell you, you are interested in the sheer essence, nothing more.

Now, you want to learn from an expert, you want to follow him.
You know, as a newbie you do not need that. You need to learn basics of the trade, basics of the internet marketing and then you need to apply that knowledge.
You need to take action. After all, you need a results, you need to make a sale, you want to make a money. Is that right?

Most of us are overwhelmed by the all informations that are there.
You need only a seer essence of it.

Now, as an expert, how do you provide a quality information? I mean don't you dilute your content after a while? To build your credibility you need to post frequently,... or you need to post a quality information?/!

The concept is good, but it will work only for the best.

Become an Amazon affiliate.

Become an Amazon partner.
They've been very first in affiliate marketing.
Amazon makes it easy for you to join. If you a newbie and do not know much about internet marketing then becoming affiliate is the easiest way. Amazon runs a reputable affiliate program so the risk for you is minimal.
Have a look at a video:

New to internet marketing?

You need to read post on Perry Marshall blog "Memo from a Pink Kool-aid Drinker".
There is plenty of good, common sense advice. Read post and comments.
Here is a quote form the latest comment by Keith deBolt:

"Find one system that seems like something you can do, and then DO IT. As you progress, you will discover what things you need to know and THEN you can go out and learn those things. When you need them."

How about being honest about internet marketing?

What do I mean?
I mean just that: how about being honest?
Honest about internet marketing. That's right.
I'm sick of the guys trying to flog their stuff to newbies in this business with lines like this:
- you will make $10.000 in your firs week,
- you will make $48.000 in your first month, etc.

I'm sick of the guys trying to tell you how easy it is to make money online. I'm sick of the guys who play on peoples emotions, just to make a few bucks.
Especially in times like this, in a though economic conditions when many people are loosing a real job. Many of them are turning to online world. It is easy to prey on their hopes, expectations.

How about telling the true story about online marketing?
Of course, there are few lucky ones who just got it right straight from the beginning, but for most of us it is not as easy.
It usually is not a matter of some magical system we purchase that we succeed in the internet marketing. Unless it is our own system which we had discovered through trails and errors.

Success in an online business is more down to focus, dedication, and it requires hard work. Same like a real world business.

That's why it takes on my nerve when some guy is claiming that he is a complete newbie in one of the popular affiliate programs, yet he made tons of money in his first few weeks. How so?
Ah, this guy is not a complete newbie in the internet marketing world. In fact, he admitted that he made big money elsewhere online.
He then may be new to this affiliate program, but that hardly makes him newbie in the internet marketing.
I mean, came on: he had a list, copywriting skills, etc., etc.
But, how that sounds: complete newbie makes thousands in his first few weeks. It does appeal to greed, it puts your imagination on fire.

Now, I read a different story. Some other guy is telling you that you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars from blogging. In fact, if you are smart, you can pull first thousands within a week. What a lie?
I dig deeper, and what do I find?
The guy is a pro, he's making that kind of money, but it wasn't that easy for him yet a few years ago.
In fact, he was struggling to make any money in his first online enterprise for a year or longer. Eventually, through trails and errors he made his money.
Now he has a comfortable position, thousands if not millions of dollars stacked in bank accounts. Now he will tell you,.... how easy it is to make money online [just follow his simple system].

If you are a newbie, run away.
Find somebody who will be honest with you. Find somebody who will tell you that you can make a big money in the internet marketing world, if ... you are willing to invest hard work and effort.

Video, what's the hype?

Everybody nowadays is doing videos. They are very popular throughout internet marketing community. That's right, I am not talking about Youtube or any other medium through which we can access virtually hundreds of thousands of videos posted by our fellow internet users.

Videos are now very popular among fellow internet marketers. They certainly know what they are doing, many of them are smart people.

I said in my previous post that I do not like freebies and videos are often offered as a freebies. It is easy nowadays to create videos. One can record content released previously in a free report. It's easy and does not cost much. But it takes time to watch. And here is the problem with them.

The time is the most precious asset you have and you can very easy waste it on watching some recycled content. Can you afford it? I don't think so.

Videos have a certain role to play. Some people learn better by watching them. Other learn better by listening to audio or just by simple old-fashion reading.

For me the best videos are the kind of presentation. Mix of various things: some pictures, animations, some text. These kind seem to be professional.

I do not certainly need to see a face of the person talking. Talking heads are boring. And I certainly do not like these guys who talk to me while driving, having breakfast or doing something else. The idea behind this is that it adds a personal touch. Maybe, but we are in business here.

Are you in business?

I think these "sloppy" videos from your bedroom have a place. They can work well in certain niches. People will respond to "people like me". But they will simply not do for a professional internet marketer.

Business is business.
That's all.
Offline or online does not matter.

Why I do not like freebies!!

Am I mad? Everybody likes freebies, ... so what's wrong?
For the start: I do not like to be sucked into the funnel, I like to make my own choices. It is easy to go for some "fantastic" ebook, or maybe some CD,.. "the latest magic system revealed". Just pay a postage and you in ... for some recycled, diluted content. Anyway, you are one step closer to spent some real money.
The rule applies to internet marketing. There are so many guys trying to make some money that you can easy get confused about all this things.
All in all surprising as the basics are pretty simple and you can learn them within a few hours from blogs, ezines, or some rapports.

But why not to like freebies?
Because they are time wasters. If you are like me, you like to learn, you like get to know a new things then you like freebies as I did. I did, I am guilty.
These things are time wasters, because you need to learn something and then go and apply it. Try it, find out whether it will work for you or not. For you! It may work for somebody else, it may work for most of internet marketers out there. But you need to find your own style. With so may freebies you are wasting your valuable time, you do not have time to apply what you learn.

The major problem with freebies however is this: there is no such a thing like a free dinner. You may have heard it, but like most of us, you do not live according to this rule.
It is a principle which can save you a lot of money, a lot of time. As a beginner internet marketer you should value your time and you should guard your money. As a matter of fact you can not judge whether product or offer is a real deal or not. You do not have enough expertise. Learn simple thing, then as you make some money try some products. Learn about authors, the best of them run their own blogs. There you can learn pretty much everything you need to know.
And guard your time.
I mean the audio are great, for the guys who do them. Some pals are shooting breeze. They will tell you a few tricks which they not necessary use any more. Something that has worked a few months ago, but may not necessary do by now. Internet marketing is changing very fast as you'll learn soon.
The videos, ... kind of the same story. It's just, that they are so popular at the moment.
I mean, I much of your valuable time you spent watching these videos?

Funnel philosophy - diluted credibility.

Have you heard of the "funnel philosophy"? If you are a beginner you probably didn't.
It goes like this: develop entry level product, then offer upgrade to audio. You can also sell video for a much "nicer price", all the way to personal coaching.
I mean there is nothing wrong with that. For me however it dilutes credibility of "the self-proclaimed expert" who sell all these products.
It works like this: the informations you buy from "that expert" are just the same recycled ideas in different form. You even can get free report at the very beginning just for signing up for his or her list. That's very wide spread net, but it works ...
Thousands will sign up for a free report. Who does not like freebies?
Some of them will buy an ebook, then audio. Some of these will go for video, for "system". And some of the remaining will go for a coaching.
You know that some of these guys are so cheeky as to tell you outright what are they doing. Then they go and try to teach you how to make a big bucks from the coaching. Well, people are buying, they really have a business! That comes as a surprise to me. But then, ... I'm different.
If you are smart, you can figure out that most of the valuable information is already in the free report, and almost all of them are in an ebook. The guru has to provide a value from the beginning otherwise nobody will follow into the funnel.
There is certainly a value in a coaching, especially if the guru is a real deal. And that's rather exception then the rule.
The real guru made his money elsewhere, so he does not need to push his "products", his upgrades, his audio, his videos, ... all these recycled information.
Well, the real deal expert is .... really expensive, but more then that, rather difficult to hire since he does not need to work as a "coach".
That's the reality.
These who try to sell and up sell are simply desperate for sale. They quickly dilute the value of the information they are providing by diluting their credibility.
Now, think - some of these guys seem to be smart. They teach you that you have to establish credibility, that you have to build trust and develop a relationship as an internet marketer. How much is worth their advice since they cannot follow it?
It still is worth a lot for these who will apply it. Do as they teach, not necessary as they do themselves.
Then, certainly it is not worthy to follow down the funnel and buy more and more expensive products form that kind of expert.

Information overload.

As you start your internet marketing journey you find out that there is plenty of information available. You sign up for a newsletter with this guru and that guru. Soon enough your email box is about to explode.
You are bombarded with all this information. The gurus tell you that if you only buy this or that product you are on the roll, ... to big profit. Or big disappointment?
How is it so? It's not that these products does not work. They do, or they actually did for someone. Although, most of the time what you are about to find out is that most of these guys did not actually made much money on their original idea. The big money for them are in getting people like you to sing in for their list and then to flog you their product, the system I mean!
That's right. How many systems have you bought so far?
The ture system is pretty simple and straigh forward. Get the people on the list by offering them some freebies like ebook, or sometimes just a raport. Recently all popular are videos.
Let me tell you something. You wasting your time and your money. Unless of course this is your preferable channel of learning.
All the informations in these resources are simply recycled. You are offered to buy an entry level product, then up sell, etc. All the way to exclusive coaching.
I mean, it may be worth the money. But do you make money out of it? Because that should be your primery concern.
Then, how will you learn if ther is so much information, so may gurus?
Well, you've got to take a risk.
First of all, you better invest some time to have a feel for the thing. Then as you find valuable resources stick with them and apply what you learn.
Application, implementation is crushial. Alter all, you in it for money.
What will work for you? You' ve got to find out yourself.

Hello, that's me Confused Marketer.

Do you have the same problem?
I mean for the beginner it can be rocky road. You get yourself online, you find all these opportunities to make money and ... you don't know where to start.
Internet Marketing is certainly not an easy way to make money. It seems to be so, but ... the competition is enormous.
First what you find is that you can start pretty much right away without product, just with affiliate marketing.
Then you learn, that a smart thing to do is to go into niche, possibly long tail niche. No, I think you learn that a bit further down the road.
Your first attempt has to be something like: how to make money online. This is one of the biggest market, you get yourself into internet marketing because of the need to make some extra cash. You had to figure out that lots of people do the same, so you can try to sell them something.
Well, ... then you find out it is not as easy as it seems. All these gurus who promised you your first paycheque within a few days, if you only buy their product, ... or their system [magical word it is - system!]
Hey, wake up!! There is no magical system. There is certainly money to be made in the internet marketing, but you have to study, to apply, to try and fail. To try again, and possibly succeed.
I'm doing just that.
It certainly is a fascinating journey!