by
John T. Jones, Ph.D.
http://www.internetbusinesstoolcenter.com
tjbooks@yahoo.com
Introduction
Over the years I'm had guruitis. That is I followed every Internet guru in site. How much dough did I make from all these gurus. I made the same amount as the others that have followed the gurus. They have told me they made nothing at all which is about what I made.
It is not that I haven't learned anything from the gurus. The other day, I looked at a big two-volume set of books I got some time back from a guru. They weigh nine pounds.
I purchased these volumes three times over the years.
The information in the two volumes was once informative but it is obsolete now.
The Internet changes rapidly.
But one thing I noticed was that a very large portion of those two volumes was nothing but sales pitches for various products. (No, I didn't buy them.)
The guru wasn't trying to teach me, he was trying to sell to me.
I just thought he was trying to teach me when, actually, he was MY COMPETITION.
Now, I have made some money over the years with Internet Marketing but it was not from anything a guru taught me.
Article Marketing
I'm a prolific writer and I have written many hundreds of articles all of which have links to my sites. But I never knew there was a thing called "article marketing" (or "bum marketing" by some).
I was just writing on any subject I felt like. I wasn't trying to make any money from doing it. Not on the Internet anyway. I was writing on everything from apples to zebras. I was writing because my dad use to write out in the garage. It looked fun to me!
The fact is, I didn't know that there was a clever way to actually make money from article writing. I was not using it. Later, I did have the resource box on about 500 articles changed to my URLs but still the article marketing techniques were not being used.
I have no secrets here. I will give this technique to you and I'll tell you how you can find more information to do it better than I do it.
PPC Marketing
The second method I use for Internet Marketing is PPC where I place ads and pay when a person clicks on it. This is a special and dangerous technique. You can lose your shirt. So, you need Special Instruction here some of which I will give you and I'll refer you to those with better experience.
SEO
SEO is making your site attractive to the search engines. SEO is another technique I use but I don't always do it intentionally. I write well enough, that is provide good content, that sometimes my site is rated with Google. One site is rated high enough that I can avoid PPC although I may (or may not)get more sales when I use PPC.
Other Methods
Oh, forget survey plans to make money. You can make money doing it if you love to drive yourself nuts fiddling around with the methods. I learned to hate survey plans in no time at all.
And then you can supposedly get paid for answering emails.
Now I never got suckered into that one. Forget it!
It sounded too much like those mailing programs that have swindled thousands of dollars from thousands of people. Like those Nigerian letters offering you millions if you will just give them your bank information, and the phone calls from Montreal that say that you have just won $200,000.00 from Readers Digest if you will just send in $2500.00, mailing programs are prolific and harmful.
Essentials of Internet Marketing
Following is what I know are the essentials of Internet Marketing.
About the Markets
I know!
None of the gurus start here (except for their own benefit).
It looks like too much work.
But I know that if you want to make money on the Internet, you will need to learn to do Market Research at some level.
I don't mean that you can just jump into the marketplace with some of the techniques I'm going to reveal to you but you will do much better money-wise if you do some research first.
O.K. Jump right in, do some research, jump right back in again. Maybe that way you will make a few bucks while you are doing your research. That is, refining your techniques can pay off big.
The Internet is huge! One of four people on this globe have access to the Internet. The Internet is called The Information Highway. If you can remember that one thing, you will be able to make money on the Internet.
Why do you get on the Internet?
Aren't you looking for something?
If you want to know how to get from Boise to Syracuse, where do you go to get the driving directions? You most likely go to the Internet because AAA is not in your budget.
What if you want to know how to spell Alexdrandia? You google alexdrandia plus dictionary and you find Alexandria.
So, you need information on kidneys for your school health-class paper. Where do you go? You just google it.
People want to know how many stars there are in Andromeda, what state grows the most cabbage, who was Rasputin and how can I send a letter to Tom Hanks?
Answers:
500,000,000,000
The top cabbage-producing states in 1992 by acreage were New York, Texas, California, Wisconsin, and Florida. The top broccoli producing states in 1992 were California, Arizona, and Texas. Top states in cauliflower production were California, Arizona, Oregon, and New York.
Rasputin was a Russian mystic in the early 1900's.
Also known as the "Mad Monk", he was sought out by Tsar Nicholas II and his wife for guidance and advice.
Tom Hanks
c/o Playtone
(Production Company)
P.O. Box 7340
Santa Monica, CA 90406-7340
The large search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo have this as their creed: If a person is looking for buy carrot seeds, he or she had better find sites where carrot seeds are sold.
This is called relevancy.
Relevancy Is the Most Important Word in Internet Marketing!
If your site promises information on ping-pong but only covers badminton, you are in big trouble with Google and the other search engines. They say that Google has a big garbage can, a black hole where they chuck not relevant sites.
If you have a PPC campaign and the ad says, Apples but sends the reader to a site about Cucumbers, you will pay through the nose for the keyword Apples. It could cost you $10.00!
The Internet as a Giant Mall
Before I give you the impression that the Internet is a Giant Mall, go to http://alexa.com and click on "Top Sites" and then "Hot URLs."
It should reveal to you that the top sites are not Internet commerce sites. They are information sites, places where searchers can find information. The last time I looked (June 2, 2009) Amazon.com was the first ecommerce site and it was Number 31. I didn't see any other ecommerce site in the top 100 sites. (Well, I couldn't read the Chinese).
The Hot URLs section is updated every five minutes. A French jet down was the hot topic. Conan O'Brien's debut on the Tonight Show was Number 11.
My point is again that the Internet is the Information Highway more than Ecommerce Heaven.
Still, as an Internet Marketer, I think it is helpful to think of the Internet as a Giant Mall. In your local mall, there is a huge parking lot, hub stores that rent much of the floor space and the kiosk that crowd the hallways. And, of course, there is the food court where you can pig out if you are so inclined.
So you pull up in front of the mall, drive around and around until you find a parking place within a mile of the mall entrance, dodge the traffic as you walk into the food court, grab a cinnamon pretzel, grab a pair of sunglasses at a kiosk and finally go into Sears, Pennies or Old Navy and buy a shirt that you saw an ad for in the local newspaper. Then you go back past the kiosk where you grab a case for your Apple iPod, into the food court where you grab a burger at Burger Giant, and head for the car only to be stopped by a Girl Scout who sells you six boxes of her mint cookies.
So you went to the mall to buy a shirt and you bought the shirt plus a pair of sunglasses, a case for your Apple iPod, a cinnamon pretzel, a hamburger and then six boxes of those mint cookies from a Girl Scout.
We will get back to the mall.
Our Wants and Needs
Our needs are food, water, shelter and a mate.
Our needs are soap, diapers, toilet paper, a good coat and Cheerios.
Our wants are television, a baseball, a football, a tennis racket, a new watch, a BMW, a popsicle, some teriyaki beef jerky, a good western novel, a new swimming suit (that makes you look thin), a steak dinner at a fine restaurant, a saddle for your camel, some beads and bangles and a trip to Singapore with stops in Australia, Hong Cong, Pongo Pongo and New Zealand.
Our needs are usually provided locally at the local grocery, pharmacy and the hardware store.
Our wants are also provided within a reasonable distance from our homes. Mine are only 17 miles away.
But some wants are not provided locally. And why would I drive 17 miles to get something that I can order on the Internet and have it delivered to my home within a day or so?
And what if I drive that 17 miles and don't find what I want? Why should I take that chance? Gas is expensive. My time is precious too. I could be fishing.
Convenience is a big word in marketing. Right!
Back to the Mall
Are you ready to face the meandering hoards of the mall?
The mall attracts those with needs and wants. That is, the mall attracts just about everybody that has a buck to spend. You won't see too many homeless people there except the Vietnam vet with the sign when you pull off the street. He is taking advantage of the mall traffic.
Now lets say that there are no kiosk in your mall but the mall owners allow soliciting. A man with sunglasses stuffed in his pockets comes up to you and say, "Psst! Do you want a pair of expensive sunglasses for only $5.00?"
You push him aside and say, "Bug Off!"
You didn't trust the guy, right?
But the mall does not allow soliciting so you have to put up a kiosk to sell sunglasses. Now as the shoppers meander through the mall your Kiosk says, "Stop! I have expensive sunglasses but they only cost $5.00."
Now the kid that is running the kiosk completely ignores you while you are looking at the sunglasses. She is busy talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone. But you pick up a pair of glasses, pay her $5.00 while she is still gabbing and leave the kiosk.
Question? You noted that the hustler was selling the very same sunglasses. Why did you not trust him (whom you didn't know) but you trusted the kiosk owner (whom you didn't know)?
You will walk past that kiosk again, maybe ten times a year, but you will only stop when you actually want a pair of sunglasses. Maybe you will stop just to look at them, to see what is new, but you have a latent or active want for sunglasses and you may buy a second pair just because they are in front of you.
The Differences Between Your Local Mall and the Internet Mall
Here are some differences between the two malls other than the fact that the Internet is not really a mall:
Traffic:
The local mall attracts visitors with television and newspaper ads placed by the mall merchants or by the mall owners. Once the mall location is well known, hardly any advertising is required to attract visitors. The visitors know the hub stores in the mall. They know they can grab a slice of pizza at the mall. They know that they can go to a movie at the mall.
The Internet is different. The multitudes on the Internet are looking for information. They may or may not be looking for a product. They start with a keyword search. If they put in the search box "potato," the search engine will bring up sites about potatoes. If you are using Google, you will see about 42,900,000 responding to that search term.
If your site is not on the first page, nobody is going to look at it. So Internet marketers get traffic by using SEO which means Search Engine Optimization or by placing a PPC ad (in this case with Google) that focuses on the keyword "potato." (There are no ads for "potato" on the current pages of search results.) Another way, of course, is by article marketing where the article is a "keyword" article and it gains a top ranking with Google or the other search engines. There is information in that article and the site link gives MORE INFORMATION.
Let's try, "headache" in Google. Now there were 29,300,000 listings with 8 PPC ads.
As I said, another way to gain traffic is to write articles that point to a sight. If the article gets a top listing, readers will find your link at the bottom of the article (or where the article site allows) and they may click and go to your sites. Ezinearticles.com allows two such links in the source box below the fold.
There are other ways to get traffic to your site such as email. You must build a list. Such a list can be very powerful and can make you a lot of money. (Typically, the operator uses as service that provides autoresponders that allow timed or instant messages and maintains the list.)
Most other methods just don't work.
One on One Contact with the Customer
In your local mall, the salesperson can size you up, determine exactly what you need, show you the merchandise and sell you a product. If you read an ad in the newspaper and that brought you into the store, you have been PRESOLD. Preselling is an important aspect of Internet Marketing. Acually, you do not sell at all. You give information that leads to your affiliate links. The vendors do the selling. It is NOT your job (unless you are a guru pushing your own product).
The Internet is more like the Sears catalog. The visitor looks at what you want him to look at and decides if he wants the product. You may have to entice him with a free gift and a good guarantee to get him to buy. You may have to show a dozen testimonials to convince him to buy. You may have to gain his trust to get him to buy. You may have to get him on your mailing list so that you can have your auto responder continually big him with descriptions of products that he should buy. WOW! That is the guru. That is not your job. The Vendor does the selling.
If I go into Sears, I trust Sears to some degree. Why not complete trust? Because in 1957 my wife and I with our young son took three buses from Golden, Colorado to South Denver because of an ad by Sears. When we got there, we learned the ad was just a come on and we were to buy something different. So, I stayed away from Sears for years. But they have been good to me here in Idaho.
Customers and would-be customers have a long memory. You must always be truthful and helpful if you want to keep your customers. So, never sell a product you do not own and that you have found to be "as advertised."
It is easier to build trust in a customer in a storefront business than with an Internet business.
How the Gurus Work: Stop the Thundering Herd! Round 'Em Up! Funnel 'Em In! Feed 'Em Your Stuff!
That is all you need to know about Internet Marketing in theory. But there are many details to learn. The problem is where do you learn those details? Certainly not from the gurus. Take it from me!
But let's look at those four points (with the caveat that these are guru methods, your competition):
Stop the Thundering Herd!
Most Internet marketers say to find a niche market by digging down deep in ebay, DMOZ, Amazon.com and such.
Others say, "I want to hit that Big Niche in the Sky." They want to take the big boys head on.
Either way, you have to get people to your site. To that, you have to stop that thundering heard, at least part of it, so that you can steer them your way.
One way to do this is to have top rated site. Another is to use PPC ads. Another is to writer articles that point to your site.
All of the above are techniques to be learned by any successful Internet marketer.
Round 'Em Up!
Now you need to gather your part of the herd and settle them down. You must make them think that you are Moses and you are taking them to the Promised Land.
The gurus do this by writing a very long sob story about how he was down and out, lost in the desert, deserted by friends and family, on his way to the Poor House, how he almost committed a crime to get some money which could have put him in the slammer, BUT then when he was searching in a garbage can for something to eat a stranger appeared in a white suit and said, "Son, you are looking in the wrong place!"
Next, he received the Secret to Great Wealth, Hawaii Vacations, a BMW and a New Wife with Blue Eyes, Blond Hair and a Lovely Disposition.
Now he shows his great earnings from
ClickBank or PayPal.
Nest he gives testimonials (from his buddies) of how great his New Money-Making Plan is.
Next, he tells you how honest and trustworthy he is and that his product has a Steel-Trap Money-Back Guarantee.
He is Moses!
Your Role as an Intenet Marketer
REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE NOT A GURU AND YOU DON'T HAVE SUCH A SITE! Having such a site is the biggest mistake of new marketers. I thought for years that this was what I needed. I was trying to sell instead of giving information that would lead to the vendors link, allowing him to do the selling. You are in the PRESELL BUSINESS, not the sell business.
Funnel 'Em In!
The guru funnels from the start.
He wants to give you a free ebook but you must give him your email address.
He knows that you probably will not buy on the first visit to his site. But his auto responder will fill your inbox to overflowing with offer after offer.
He wants you to feel sorry for him. He wants you think that his system will make you rich just like it made him rich. He wants you to know that others just love his program.
But he must first gain your trust.
And that is where he wanted to funnel you in—into his email list! First he gains your trust and then he sells, sells, sells.
Your Role as an Intenet Marketer
You, as an Intenet Marketer, will want to funnel people into your INFORMATION SITE but you do not sell! Your vendor will gather names and feed them from his autoresponers. If you gather names, you will be interested in giving more information to your list members, occasionally giving them a link to a helpful product. Your job is ALWAYS to build trust and to show that you know what you are talking about.
Feed 'Em Your Stuff!
The guru will have only one product on a web site.
He might have hundreds of sites promoting various products, but he does not want to dilute his sales pitch by adding a second product.
The only products he will add are free bonus products which you will get if you do not dilly dally around when ordering. And remember, The Price May Go Up! The Offer may be Withdrawn so that not too many people will know the secret and other such hype.
Your Role as an Intenet Marketer
You, as an Internet Marketer, will also provide a free gift to those who sign up for your list. That product will probably be a document that gives more usefull information.
Conclusion and Hints
The best way to gain traffic to your site is by providing revelance.
A guru sends you to his or her pitch page where all the above crap I mentioned occurs. As an affiliate marketer, don't do that! You can become a trusted and competent Internet marketer by giving people What They are Looking For. What is that? You should know by now it is INFORMATION.
So if a person is looking for information on basket weaving, don't try to sell him or her a basket.
What you do is write an informative article on basket weaving and post it on Ezinearticles.com or other site and Google and the other search engines will find it and scan it. Now when a person types in "basket weaving" or such, the article should show up in the search. Now the searcher can read your article.
In the Source Box below the fold (for EzineArticles.com), you can write: Learn More About Basket Weaving at BasketWeaving.com (or such).
At that site you will have provided everything possible to help the searcher with his or her basket weaving project. You will not try to sell in the content.
You can add a review of several products that could help the weaver. These reviews have your affiliate links. YOU LET THE VENDERS DO THE SELLING!
When you are making money by writing articles, you then try PPC. Here the keywords lead searchers to your web site where they can learn more because you will be giving them ONLY RELEVANT INFORMATION.
Affiliate Masters Course
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This is not a typical ebook with a zillion links. It is real training from Ken Evoy who is a professional from word go. You will want to print this course so that you can study and write as you need to. Don't try to put this comprensive course on your secreen and make it work. Print it out and do the assignments.
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You will be glad you did!
GOOD LUCK!
John
John T. Jones, Ph.D.
213 3rd Ave. N.
Buhl, ID 83316
Copyright©2009 John T. Jones, Ph.D.
All Rights Reserved
Not to be copied in any form without the express permission of the author and owner.
Legal Notice
There are no guarantees in business. Risks are always there. The techniques discussed in this eBook could cost you money. Yes, you could lose money. It is up to you to use judgment and wisdom in all of your business dealings and activities to reduce your risk.
Dr. Jones is a retired executive from a Fortune 5000 Company. Earlier he was an engineering associate professor at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
After retiring, he was editor of an international trade magazine.
Jones had written many hundreds of articles of a scientific nature plus over 500 articles on general subjects at EZA (EzineArticles.com) and other article sites.
