Be A Honest Internet Marketer & Earn More!
Now I don’t want people to confuse me with wanting to make money online to a scummy internet marketer or unprofessional spammer who abuse the system while making tons of money. Earning money online has become an important revenue generator for my business and as I'm publishing my name on everything I do, I can't hide, nor do I want to.
I want to be part of the new, honest breed of internet marketers. I don’t want to become someone who spams forums and comments in hopes of exposure and back links to make a couple of sales. Many people starting off with affiliate marketing go down that road.
That was my first big mistake.
It turned out that I was entirely uncomfortable creating crappy back links and adding spam to the online world. So instead of learning more and coming up with a solution, I concluded that making money online was impossible for me.
That was 5 years ago, before I started earning bigger commission checks. Yes I'm an affiliate, just as much as an affiliate manager for my clients. I get to see both sides of the fence and what some sneaky affiliates get up to!
Now imagine how many people actually got started on the wrong path and quit. Is it in the hundreds every month? Is it in the thousands or even more?
I would argue that it can take you 3-4 months on average to start seeing results, especially if you’re trying to rank one of your websites to gain organic traffic. PPC is much quicker, but you need to be skilled in this area or you will lose money quickly and give up.
There is no quick wins in affiliate marketing, just hard work, sure the guru's will tell you the tricks in Google and the like, but they are short lived as the search engines catch up and plug the hole. I've seen my pages and sites being listed on the first page of Google with a couple of tricks, just to have them banned by Google and no doubt Bing and Yahoo! This is not something you want to do, if you intend to create regular income from affiliate marketing.
Wading Through the BS
As a beginner, it’s hard to wade through all the BS because you don’t know any better. You want to believe that you can make money online too, you want to believe all the false promises. You’ve probably fallen victim to one of those “Buy this kit for $10.00 and you could be earning $100,000/month in no time”. Even if you didn’t, a tiny part of you wondered if that could all be true. That type of stuff is downright disgusting. A lot of people have probably fallen victim to similar types of scams and have been burned wrongly so.
But don't worry as you’re in good hands at WA..........or are you?
For certain the material, training, tools and help on offer here is first class and well worth the $97 monthly membership fee. However you still need to be wary of anyone within the WA community asking for payment for a service, tool or promise of riches beyond your wildest dreams! I'm not saying people don't have valid offers, many do, but you’re still on the internet and you need to have your wits about you.
If you want to learn about affiliate marketing, then you need to find the real stuff. It will take hard work (which is why you’re here), determination and patience. I will even argue that it’s not the actual work that is hard but the “research” and learning part (or again, wading through the BS). The people who can teach you the truth about internet marketing aren’t that hard to find once you get past the images of money raining from the sky. Many quality people are very active in the forums here at WA.
In short if the opportunity talks more about the money rather than what will be required or what you will get (WA is a breath of fresh air), then it's no doubt BS! - Just from experience.
Gone are the days where ordinary people were lured into a quick sale. Do you really want to be known for that? Or would you feel better knowing that you helped someone and have gained a repeat customer? Remember, what goes around, comes around.
So work on your Internet Marketing Skills and live by these 3 rules for long lasting success in this business.
1. We work hard to research what people are seeking and provide value to them.
2. We never put money before people.
3. We are building an actual business, not scamming people out of their hard earned money.
Recent Comments
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Thank you to all, once again for all your kind and useful comments. For me to build long term income you need to come over almost as a Doctor, someone with the highest level of professionalism. This will automatically create the best impression in your target audience and thus your conversion rates and sales will be better. As always to your success!
Hi Simon. Honesty and Integrity is the only way to go without that we are only cheating ourselves. I think we all go through a period where we are lured by empty promises and can't quite figure out which way to go. Honesty and Trust is a very valuable asset to have on the internet but it does take time to build up all that trust and if you venture down the wrong path can take you years to get back to where you should be. Great post - nothing worse than a scummy salesman.
Beautifully written! You spoke to some of the same pitfalls I began seeing that I was falling into a few years back... and I had those same feelings, that I didn't want to be one of those spam/scam type of people! But I felt the whole I.M world was full of them, and I couldn't separate the wheat from the chaff!
I'm also I found WA and that there are excellent people like you to support us "newbies" on our journey! I'm in it for the long haul, and to give quality value to anyone who needs it!
Might it be ok that I add you as a buddy? I'd love to follow your blogs and maybe, possibly be able to ask you questions here and there if I have any... would that be acceptable to you? (I'd rather ask, than assume) ;-)
Great post Simon. People want integrity, authenticity and transparency ... those are cornerstones of attraction marketing. And everything thing we do on the Internet is in some way a reflection of who we really are ... so a couple of questions I make a point of reminding me of are "who do I want to be?" and "would I follow me?"
Those usually keep me focused on being authentic and not getting caught up in the game. Thanks for your post.
The difference between a land based business and an online business is that on land, you can't hide. Because of that, people feel more confident doing business with you. All of these spammy, scammy people you are describing have gotten away with chicanery because they can hide behind an avatar and a pen name. They've given the Internet a bad name. I have resolved to conduct business over the net just as if I am in a small town, selling to friends. My focus is on delivering the goods, and making the goods worth delivering. Hope to have all the technical stuff under my belt before long. I respect your integrity Simon. Thanks for this great post.
Cheers for sharing this blog. I agree that the WA family worldwide is the real deal. I also agree about what you said about some of those shady people looking for a quick $$. I watched someone involved with that Oprah lawsuit last year get chewed on like Jaws. I feel bad for his wife and two little kids now, karma is a bitch.
Wow! Thanks for the straight talk Simon and for cutting through the BS! All who are honest will agree and be encouraged by this.
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I agree with you completely. Our mindset should be that we are problem solvers. We connect the person with a problem, with a solution to their problem. Anything else would be "just to make money". We should remember that there are real people on the other end with real issues. People like us. We don't want people to take advantage of us.
Besides, the real master key to success is found in helping people. Great post Simon.