This may sound a bit harsh but in the time I’ve been learning about Internet Marketing, I’ve come across a few vultures. There is SO much information out there and sometimes it can be challenging sorting out the good, the bad and the ugly.
It goes something like this. You get online and begin to research how to market your online business. You enter some keywords and up pops up a zillion search results. You don’t have all day so browse through the first two (maybe three) pages and click on a few websites that sound interesting.
You begin scanning the website, looking for relevant information for your topic of interest. The site seems well enough, some good advice is given and you decide to sign up for their newsletter. You get the first email welcoming you as a subscriber and are given some good content.
The next email advises you on this new ‘must have’ product that you can get for FREE if you follow a link. Sounds good…why not? You are sent to a sales letter and opt-in to get this Free offer. The confirmation email doesn’t come from the person whose newsletter you originally signed up for but from his buddy, Joe Shmoe, who also had his own products.
You confirm the email and receive your free product. Now Joe Shmoe is emailing you his ‘must have’ products and sending you to his buddy, Jane Doe. Get the picture? By the time you know it, you have a PC full of ebooks, read probably one or two from start to finish and now you have 100 new emails a day from the twenty new people whose sales letters you’ve opted into.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not all bad. Hey, I’m all up for creating your own product and getting it out there. That’s why we’re all here, right? Make money online to support out families and our lifestyles. And there have been plenty of products I’ve either opted in to for free or purchased that I was very happy with. But there are those few (vultures) whose sole purpose it to get you on their list so they can bombard you with offers. They don’t give you anything of value and expect you to buy all their products.
So first, how do you sort out the good, the bad and the ugly? I wish I could give you the answer, but in all honesty, I can’t. I will say this, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Anyone promising you, you can make thousands of dollars in one day, run and run fast!
Moral of the story: [is two-fold]
Stay focused. Get online with an intention to complete a task and don’t let all the ‘shiny new toys’ distract you. Learn from my mistake. I got caught up in this and it cost me a little bit of money, but most importantly a lot of time.
If you are selling to your lists, DON’T bombard them with sales pitches. For every sales pitch email you send, you should send 2-3 informative, quality content emails. Believe me, they will thank you for it! I’ve purchased several products from the same people because the value they gave me outweighed the money I paid for their products and services. [Hint: some of them are advertised on this site]
Do you have any stories you would like to share?