Why 99% of You will Fail at Internet Marketing

[Marc]

Today I read a great post by Joel Comm about his concern for the “make money online” niche. Quote below:

There is nothing wrong with learning how to leverage your passion to make money online. However, it is essential that people understand there is no get rich quick method! If there were, people wouldn’t be selling products promising riches. They would be keeping it a secret and building wealth quietly.

When I teach online revenue strategies, the last thing I recommend is entering the make money online niche. That is where there is the LEAST opportunity! Yet so many Newbie marketers treat it as though it is the goose that laid the golden egg.

His article makes perfect sense to me. If these “experts” are making a ton of money using their strategy/product why on Earth would they be selling their secret to the world for $97.00 plus a few 100 useless bonuses? If 10,000 people are doing the same thing would it not dilute the opportunity?

read more: http://businessblogs.co.nz/2010/08/1...ce=twitterfeed

Cheers

Marc

[larrymiles]

Good post Mark. Kieran Trass warned about anyone selling these types of products/services below:

TIMESHARES
FIJI SECTIONS[*]
ISLAND RESORT ‘SERVICED’ APARTMENTS
‘BLUE CHIP’ STYLE COMPANIES
GOLD COAST APARTMENTS[*]
LUXURY ACCOMMODATION (usually some resort style development)
OFFSHORE PROPERTY IN SOME ‘EXOTIC’ LOCATION
STORAGE UNITS[*]
STRATEGY ‘MANUALS’ with all the strategies you will ever need on how to make money from property (of course these manuals never give you the whole picture or become outdated so you need to spend even more money with the so called ‘educator’ selling them to implement the strategies)
TAX LIENS schemes[*]
INTERNET MARKETING schemes[*]
OUTRIGHT SCAMS SUCH AS ‘INVESTORS INTERNATIONAL’ ‘investment’ scam of the late 1990’s

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Couldn't agree more Marc, competing in top niches is just about impossible. High traffic low competition niches are the go.
I don't know about diluting opportunity though. Internet users are growing faster then the online industry so the opportunities online are ginormous. If anything there is a shortgae of businesses online to service the demand.

[Xav]

I have never heard of anyone who couldn't find something they wanted on the internet. Would be interested if you actually have any data to support there being a shortage of online businesses.

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Hi Xav. Actually it can be very hard to get what you want on the net if you use it a lot.
Even in huge niches like travel it can be a nightmare trying to find user friendly sites that work properly.
I have on numerous occasions in the last 3 months given up and rung an agent because so many travel sites are broken or unnavigable.

If you look at user growth it is now increasing at nearly 30% per annum:

DATE

NUMBER OF USERS

% WORLD
POPULATION

INFORMATION
SOURCE

December, 1995

16 millions0.4 %

IDC December,1996

36 millions0.9%

[FONT=Arial]IDC[/FONT December,1997

70 millions1.7%

IDCDecember,1998

147 millions3.6%

[C.I. AlmanacDecember, 1999

248millions4.1 %

Nua Ltd.March, 2000

304 millions5.0 %

Nua Ltd.July, 2000

359 millions5.9%

Nua Ltd.[FONT=Arial]December, 2000[/FONT}

361 millions5.8 %

Internet World StatsMarch,2001

458 millions
7.6%

Nua Ltd.June,2001

479 millions7.9 %

Nua LtdAugust, 2001

513millions8.6 %

NuaLtd.April,2002

558 millions8.6 %

Internet World StatsJuly, 2002

569 millions9.1 %

Internet World StatsSeptember, 2002

587 millions9.4 %

Internet World StatsMarch, 2003

608 millions

9.7 %

Internet World Stats
September, 2003

677 millions

10.6 %

Internet World Stats
October, 2003

682 millions

10.7 %

Internet World Stats
December, 2003

719 millions

11.1 %

Internet World Stats
February, 2004

745 millions

11.5 %

Internet World Stats
May, 2004

757 millions

11.7 %

Internet World Stats
October, 2004

812 millions

12.7 %

Internet World Stats
December, 2004

817 millions

12.7 %

Internet World Stats
March, 2005

888 millions

13.9 %

Internet World Stats
June, 2005

938 millions

14.6 %

Internet World Stats
September, 2005

957 millions

14.9 %

Internet World Stats
November, 2005

972 millions

15.2 %

Internet World Stats
December, 2005

1,018 millions

15.7 %

Internet World Stats
March, 2006

1,023 millions

15.7 %

Internet World Stats
June, 2006

1,043 millions

16.0 %

Internet World Stats
Sept, 2006

1,086 millions

16.7 %

Internet World Stats
Dec, 2006

1,093 millions

16.7 %

Internet World Stats
Mar, 2007

1,129 millions

17.2 %

Internet World Stats
June, 2007

1,173 millions

17.8 %

Internet World Stats
Sept, 2007

1,245 millions

18.9 %

Internet World Stats
Dec, 2007

1,319 millions

20.0 %

Internet World Stats
Mar, 2008

1,407 millions

21.1 %

[Internet World Stats
June, 2008

1,463 millions

21.9 %

Internet World Stats
Sept, 2008

1,504 millions

22.5 %

Internet World Stats
Dec, 2008

1,574 millions

23.5 %

Internet World Stats
Mar, 2009

1,596 millions

23.8 %

Internet World Stats
June, 2009

1,669 millions

24.7 %

Internet World Stats[
Sept, 2009

1,734 millions

25.6 %

Internet World Stats
Dec, 2009

1,802 millions

26.6 %

[Internet World Stats
June, 2010

1,966 millions

28.7 %

Internet World Stats

where as domain registrations are only at around 10% per annum.
Not that those stats necessarily fully correlate but there are more and more people being serviced by fewer sites per capita.
This is what makes online businesses so profitable right now. It is an emerging market being aided by the recession as people assume online purchases will be cheaper.

[Xav]

There is a graph here which is a bit nicer to look at but stops at 2008.

I don't really have time to look at this in too much detail but from a cursory look:

1. There is no correlation between the number of internet users and demand for internet based services because the number of internet users does not reflect how active any of those users are. A more accurate measure would be something like DNS Queries;

2. From 1,669 million to $1,966 million is an increase of 17.79% not "nearly 30%" nor indeed the specific figure listed in your post;

3. Domain Name registrations in 2009 were approximately 7-8% per quarter (see here) which is significantly in excess of "around 10%" per annum and also significantly in excess of (roughly double) 14.48% per annum (the growth in internet users for Dec 08 to Dec 09);

[Dean@Massiveaction]

There is no correlation between the number of internet users and demand for internet based services

Well that we don't know. I can only tell you there are more and people being less and less well looked after online. That's why people are doing so well who take online businesses seriously, the demand is off the charts and the competition in so many niches almost non existent.

[Xav]

Perhaps I should have said there is no useful correlation between the two. I'm sure that (statistics being what they are) someone suitably incentivised could find a correlation. But the number of people with access to the internet does not equate to the amount that the internet is being used (which is the figure you want) for the reason I have already stated.

I am happy to concede that there are business areas which could still be better represented on the internet. My first post was poorly worded in that what I was really interested to see if you could back up was the statement regarding growth.

Regardless of what the internet growth figures look like, a lot of online marketing strategies such as MFA websites do not provide any benefit to a user. They do not provide any new service and simply seek to "replace" (in search engine results) another site that would have been as useful or (commonly) more useful. Surely demand for those types of websites must therefore be nil and, if so, I'm not sure that a traditional economic analysis of supply vs demand would be accurate.

[larrymiles]

I know Mark won't mind (since I wrote it) - these tips have saved me a heap of money.

I have added a number 8 tip now:

8 ) Watch out for any "guru" in a sector (eg Property Investment) who has proven themselves of dubious character shifting their "guru" status to another sector (eg Internet Marketing). Especially when they have been in that sector for less than 10 years.

Tips for Spotting An Internet Scam
1) First and foremost use google and search for the all speakers names with “scam” on the end. For example “larrymiles scam” do not search for just “larrymiles” as most marketers with any skill will have control of the first page of search results by having numerous web sites with their marketer BS on it. If you click on a search result that looks interesting and you end up at a web page with the content removed treat that as a red flag – either the internet marketer has threatened the poster with legal action to take it down or possibly the poster is wrong. If you get more than 2-3 websites with the content removed then assume something is going on. In any case within the search results look for a cached version and you will sometimes get the post anyway.

2) Search for the product/strategy they are selling as sometimes the people selling are not the original makers and have a “clean profile” – for now.

3) Always ask yourself “why are they selling this if its so fantastic’ – wouldn’t they keep it to themselves? There is no product/strategy out there that is smart enough not be caught out if many people are using it. Some internet software products are designed to go into social media and spam – thats when they get detected as spamming and the users of the product get banned.

4) Use facebook – look for the groups that are anti the person/product. Facebook is a great meeting place of people who are too scared to post on their own sites.

5) Always read the contract in detail before signing and if you are spending 1000’s I would pay a couple $100 to get a lawyer to review it.

6) If the cost of the product/service seems excessive then search Google for strategies or software features that they are selling. I will bet you that you will find the same stuff for free. NO piece of software sold by an internet marketer is worth $1000’s of dollars. NO WAY.

7) Watch out for anyone who uses religion in their marketing especially people who went to jail and “found god”. Also watch their responses and actions to your questions – if they seem like they are lying to you such as “Nope.. I did not get that fax you sent me” when you have a fax receipt that it was sent – then run.

You will learn in time that the only people making a heap of money fast are the very same people selling you a false dream.

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Well you cuold say the same thing about property trading or car salesmen so that argument is kind of irrelevant.
And they are a tiny percentage of total sites.
I posted a link to a blog that talked about IM strategies but it seems to have vanished for no reason.
It says:


Here it is from the National Speakers Association
Are “Internet Marketing Gurus” Scammers or are they entrepreneurs?

spent the weekend listening to 5 young male speakers (young meaning under 40). This was the first workshop of this type that I have managed to sit through. In the past, I have read about, listened to similar online, and generally avoided what I perceived as hype and rip off.

But this weekend, I recognized the difference between entrepreneurs and conventional business. Our definition of an entrepreneur is someone who discovers people with a need and then finds a source to fulfill that need. Think about this – it means they risk little. They are generally risk averse, and open to opportunities. They are not afraid to ask for what they want.

Conventional business tends to work from its strengths and speculate to find the people who need what they have. Or hope to create the need in a market, as demonstrated by products like Coca Cola, XBox, and Apple's ipad.


The Internet has provided a better way for entrepreneurs to work. Through research on line they have found many ways of getting a cut out of many needs and many businesses. They get a clip on the ticket of multiple sources of the supply and demand flow.

These young men using the world wide web have taken the trader mentality and systemized, automated and created fantastic incomes. Listening to them, I realised that what they are doing is taking advantage of opportunities that most of us don't understand and making money from it in the good old fashioned entrepreneurial way using modern technology.

And I learned some tips, some concepts and some tools to improve my presence on line. The presenters all shared openly their key learnings and how they do it now. But in an hour or two they could only share so much and so they offered a package at the end for the audience to keep on learning from them.

As a speaker I learned how they did "the sale from the front of the room". They gave enough away that made you feel that you needed more. They created Urgency -that if you didn't buy NOW you would lose out forever. And many people BOUGHT!.

Yes, I still think there are some scammers out there in the Internet world. But I now also believe that there is a true entrepreneurs on the Internet and they can teach us more conventional businesses some real lessons in how to make our businesses more successful.

So for me I learned how to make the funds I need for my fun and fitness. Now for me to apply what I learned.

[Xav]

Well you could say the same thing about property trading or car salesmen so that argument is kind of irrelevant.

Er, property traders provide property (generally in an improved state to when they bought it), car salesmen provide cars. So they are not at all the same. I'm not sure I understand what point you are trying to make?

The article we are discussing is addressing the types of internet marketing strategies that I referred to in my post:

I have seen some really dodgy products in my time including re-wording existing articles protected by copyright and injecting them with Adsense ads – illegal and aiming for a lifetime ban from Google.

We are discussing the demand for those types of strategies. I don't see the relevance of the percentage those sites make up of total sites. I appreciate that we are referring to figures for the internet as a whole rather than that particular subset, but in the absence of any specific data we don't have much choice in the matter and nothing has been referred to which would help us adjust that subset to account for some particular trend that differs from the more general figures.

As I said last time you posted that article, the last "need" anyone has is for a MFA website with no unique content. So I guess if you believe that article that leaves scammers as the other option?

[Dean@Massiveaction]

But they are nothing to do with MFA sites, unless people are doing that which is wrong.
Re Traders, they buy and sell property on the same day, no different to buying and selling traffic online. Identical strategy.

Anyway my point remains the same, the internet is growing incredibly quickly and is littered with opportunity :-)

[Xav]

I can see why you draw the analogy with traders now, thanks.

But they are nothing to do with MFA sites, unless people are doing that which is wrong.

Sorry you lost me with this bit. What are nothing to do with MFA sites?

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Taking copyright material

[Xav]

Copyright automatically attaches to any original work. So all websites contain copyrighted material (although the ones that copy others contain copyright material they do not own). Any program that generates content based on other websites is breaching copyright.

My understanding is that is how MFA programs work. Is that not correct?