These are tough economic times and almost everyone is looking for a way to either cut back on expenses or add some supplemental income to cope with strained household budgets.
Unfortunately when people get in this mode of “desperation” thinking their common sense sometimes takes a vacation and they get involved in activities that they never would have if times were better.
There are any number of internet marketing gurus out there that are willing to share with you the secret to making thousands of dollars each week entirely on autopilot with little or no work on your part. All you have to do is buy the shiny object they are selling and you too can quit work and vacation in Tahiti.
But it just doesn’t work that way.
Internet marketing is a business. It can be a part time thing, it can be an adjunct to a personal blog, it can be a full time gig but you have to remember it’s a business. Think about that for a moment. Can you name any business that you can just walk in and start up with zero experience? Aside from holding a yard sale can you think of any other activity that doesn’t require some basic knowledge to be successful? (In fact the yard sale’s success really relies on how you’ve advertised it, your display and the price points you have assigned.)
It does remain a fact that the internet offers a phenomenal marketing opportunity and you can get into it at a very low threshold. The basic technical requirements and knowledge-base that prohibited so many from jumping in is now widely available. But just because you have a free website does not mean you will ever sell anything on it or that it will even get any traffic. Without a plan and the knowledge to execute that plan, building a website with the expectation of making money without making an effort is akin to opening an office supply store in a back alley of Detroit. Nobody knows you’re there and if you get walk-in traffic they are probably just lost, or in need of the closest restroom.
The purpose of this article is not to discourage your entrepreneurial spirit; it is simply to help establish expectations based on reality and not hype.
So is internet marketing for you?
Consider the following:
Do you have the time? You have to be in a position, particularly when you first start out, to spend a minimum of 2 hours a day on your business.
Are you motivated? If your sole motivation is simply to make money and you don’t have any interest in learning marketing or how to make a website more market-able, …don’t waste your time or money. Get a part-time job. You need a desire to run a business and that means learning how and having enough savvy to figure out what works and doesn’t work.
Are you focused? You’d be hard-pressed to find a business that had more distractions than internet marketing. If you are not focused you can burn up those 2 hours you have set aside hanging out in forums, checking email, diving into a Facebook timesuck and generally doing non-productive work.
Are you resourceful? You have to be light on your feet in this marketplace because the only thing that is constant is change. In the last 3 years Google has undergone at least three major changes that impacted the way we do online searches, and how those search results are revealed to us. So what worked 3 years ago to drive traffic does not work today. You have to be able to react to change rapidly, and you must be updated on big industry changes.
Do you have the financial resources? It doesn’t cost much too get started but it does cost something. You’ll want to buy your own domain, you’ll want to upgrade at Wix so you can point your Flash website at your domain, eventually you are going to want to get a keyword research tool and may even want to invest in some marketing courses or a professional marketing service. If you can set aside $100, you can get started in this business fairly easily. Just don’t blow it on “quick fix” traffic methods offered by shady black-hat marketing pros.
Internet marketing can be an exciting and rewarding adventure but you really have to commit and invest some time and energy in it. If you’ve always wanted your own business this is the best opportunity for you to finally make it happen.
