Friday, February 07, 2020

10 Rules to Excel in Internet Marketing

10 Rules to Excel in Internet Marketing
By Prashanth K


New to internet marketing? You are all excited about internet marketing, and about to bamboozle the world?
Hold on, and seek newbie advice. Though I am not earning billions of dollars, I sure can give out free advice on what to do, and what not to do. Before we start, take note - this is not read and forget stuff. Be a good newbie and take a print out of this, and hang it somewhere safe.
[if you are old to internet marketing, please stop here and go browse something else. I do not want you to excel more than necessary.]
Without getting trapped by saying more, I present to you the core 10 rules that (should) help you excel in internet marketing.
1. Internet marketing = not a get rich, and retire to Hawaii scheme
Internet marketing is a great business venture, and you have to look at the business for what it is.
Although there are more than a few options to earn income on auto-pilot and in a passive way, it is not going to make you rich in 21 days. When someone mentions such scheme, it is safe to assume that they are crazy. Run away as fast as you can, and get away to safety.
What this business does offer you is more control over your destiny, and that is what all of us here love about it.
2. Diversify
Never invest only in one channel, and dream about success. No matter how successful you get in one venture, always be open to the next big thing. You never know what clicks, and you never know when changes are going to hit you. And, change it will.
You should not trust any one method of earning money as guaranteed income. If you believe in that method, give it your body and soul by all means. But, keep an eye open for the next method that you see, or think of. You are in for the long haul, never let a method fail you.
For example, if you are earning money through blogs, do not shy away from affiliate marketing or email marketing. You never know where the big cash comes from the next time. Have your finger in as many pies as you can. (but do remember that you have only so many fingers!)
3. Go short, think long
Keep a sharp focus on what you want to be in the long term. Write down you goals, and paste them next to this print-out of these rules (remember that I told you to print out these rules? That was 2 paragraphs ago.).
The goals may be financial (earn million dollars per month by 2020), related to self-development (learn SEO by April) or even philosophical (convert at least one human to a martian).
At the same time don't let go of the current. Your PPC may earn you cents per click, but that is what is getting you $100 today. It may not add up to the million in 2020, but it is important today.
4. Focus on what matters
Yes, you can create a website after learning Drupal. You can write 10 articles per day for each of your 4 websites. And, you can debug problems due to the latest version of PHP. At the end of the day you can also adjust your tax returns, and take the garbage out.
Take a step back, and ask yourself - do you really want to do that? (OK, let's exclude the garbage from there.)
List your priorities. Have time to plan the future, and shift the goal post. Have more time to connect with the world, see what is happening, and how you can align to the changing world. Remember, I said that you have only so many fingers for the pies.
Choose what you want to do, and drive for excellence. For e.g. you may want to choose Wordpress, and outsource for quality content.
5. Be Organized
Do not scramble to keep everything together. If you are forgetful, maintain a diary. Everyone loves you when you are organized, including yourself!
Use any number of free tools to plan your online life.
  • Google Keep for taking notes
  • Asana for simple project management
  • Zoho CRM for maintaining a list of clients
  • Not a tool, but spend time to keep your inbox clean. Create folders to sort and contain your mails.
For Windows users - have a clean desktop for God's sake.
6. Don't trust the experts
They don't know everything, they just act like they do. Especially, don't trust experts who are earning $1 million today, and have an immediate urge to share that secret with you.
Put yourself in their shoes. Will an expert earning 1000 dollars per day be writing a crappy ebook of 15 pages, and selling that to you for $10?
I have talked about expert advice a few times. There are a few good people out there. But until the time *you* have seen enough of them to trust them, make your own path.
7. Don't trust all those "proof of income" and "fan testimonials"
It is easy to show PayPal income that does not belong to the claimed source of income. It is really easy to morph an image. A couple of zeros is all it takes for an expert to become what she is.
Be wary of the proof of income. If they are earning so much money, why would they bother teaching you the secrets? After all, you are competition.
Testimonials are made up. period. Especially the ones that say " I followed the expert's advice, and am already earning $100 in one day". It is unfortunate that the really informative, good, and not-so-good comments are buried way to oblivion. If there is no single negative comment, you need to be cautious about jumping on to the bandwagon.
8. Respect your readers, clients and peers (yes, even the experts)
No matter how frustrated the other side is, they are still human beings (last I know MIB does not allow aliens to use internet for gain).
Give a lot of respect. Don't swear. Don't take yourself too seriously. Don't give in to hubris.
Be humble. Apologise when in fault, and move on.
Do not spam people. Be weary about "spray and pray" schemes that spam websites (I am guilty of it at least once). Do your bit to make internet and internet marketing a friendly place, and see others returning the favour.
9. Don't fire your boss
If you earn two thousand today, wait to see another two months. Give it time to mature, and gain confidence in what you are doing. Play around to see what works, and how sustainable is it. Only after that, think of coming out of your day job.
10. Be positive
Last, but not the least - feel good about what you are doing, and have high hopes. Internet marketing is hard work, but thoroughly enjoyable. You get the luxury of being anywhere, and a possibility of earning enough for a pleasant life.
Stay focused on the goal. Work hard to make it happen. The formulae of success are out there to see, and begging to be followed. You just need the will power, energy and intelligence to pick the right choice and pursue it. Throw a bit luck somewhere in there, and you will succeed.
What do you think? Do you have any other suggestions to the golden 10 rules to excel in internet marketing?
For anyone new, Internet Marketing is a hard place. It will not stay that way for long, but in the meanwhile you will loose a few dollars, spend a considerable amount of time in pursuing wasted opportunities, and in general be dissatisfied with life.
Join me in handing out a better message to our peers.
Visit http://technosanct.com for more such articles.



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