Starting From Scratch
This has been a pretty common angle for email marketers for a really long time. Usually a pitch for some new product… if I was starting over this is how I’d do it…
It’s almost always total B.S.
Truth is I’ve used this angle in the past.
And I’m reasonably sure I meant it at the time… but I can also admit that it would have been a temporary belief. You’ll find most marketers have a lot of those…
Incredibly strong convictions that appear around the time of a new product launch… but somehow always disappear once the initial rush of sales has passed.
I know I’ve done it, and that’s one thing I’d definitely avoid I was starting over. Here’s a couple more
I wouldn’t buy in to all the B.S.
There’s a ton of it out there, but most of it comes down to marketers appealing to our very worst instincts… greed, laziness and impatience…
They will almost always get the sale, but they’re a recipe for failure online.
There Is No Magic Bullet Solution
So much of the marketing is based on this idea that there is going to be some amazing product or package or system out there, and you just have to fork over the cash and follow the instructions and you’ll be set for life.
Any experienced marketer knows this is crap, but they’re pushing the same B.S. myth to promote their own stuff, so they can’t really call anyone else out about it.
The fact is, most of these Hot New Systems you’ll encounter fall into one of four categories:
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- A tired old strategy repackaged with some new twist using jargon that sounds great but doesn’t really mean much…
- A new gimmick with a slick FOMO sales pitch… that usually exaggerates the performance of some beta-test and threatens to disappear forever if you don’t act fast.
- A proven strategy that actually worked for a while, but will stop working way too soon, especially if it becomes a top-seller and dozens/hundreds of additional marketers start doing it as well!
- A strategy or technique based on sound practices that will actually work now and continue into the future.
For better or worse, the first 3 tend to get all the attention with high-profile launches that promise huge returns for affiliates… so they are promoted exhaustively.
While #4 offers tend to be low-key, under the radar and very much the minority.
But if I was starting over, I’d tune out all the noise and hyped-up offers and invest time and effort to uncover legit programs, tools and systems that can add genuine value to my business.
I’d Run Away From Instant, Easy & Free
These three words cost people far more than anything they might spend in cash.
Instant and Easy send a message that is misleading at best… and downright dishonest if you want to get real about it. And on some level we should all know it’s just not possible…
If you want to earn online, you need to generate some sort of activity where money changes hands.
People have to buy stuff… products or services… from someone else.
And you get paid a portion of the value of that transaction.
It should be obvious, it takes time and effort to create these products, set up all the pieces to sell and deliver them, and then drive enough traffic to the offer to generate sales.
And anyone who promises this is easy or instant is either selling a gimmick or lying to you.
As for free, that’s even worse!
When you get sucked in to promote free offers, you are working for free to build someone else’s business!
The Free-mium model looks good on the surface…
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- Join for free
- Promote it
- Make some money
- Use that to upgrade
- Make even more
The problem is, no one ever wants to upgrade until they make some money.
But if no one ever upgrades…
No one ever earns anything…
So no one ever upgrades…
So no one can ever earn!
However… the website owner has a membership site which just keeps on growing. More and more free members come on board and promote the website, bringing in even more people who’ll go to work promoting…
So the website owner has an asset that’s worth more every week… while the members waste months, or even years, working a business model that was designed to fail.
Even worse, a lot of people eventually become so time-invested in the program that they think it would be a waste not to try all options, so the decide to throw some money at it as well.
They’ll pay for an upgrade and pay for advertising, but nothing changes… because the underlying business model is flawed.
It was never about the Member making money…
It was always about the owner building a bigger membership list!
So What Would My Fresh Start Look Like?
Knowing what I do now, I’d slow down and take my time.
I’d plot out a long-term plan based on sound business principles and practices…
You know… the opposite of the get-rich-quick offers that dominate this space.
Because this space should operate like any normal business…
You create an offer then you promote it to your target audience.
When some of them buy, you make some money.
You tweak the process so more of them buy, you make more money.
You find another offer to show them and make more money again.
That’s just how business works. Any business. Online or off.
In an online situation:
We use Traffic Systems to bring our audience to view our offers.
We use Conversion Funnels to optimize the flow from prospect to customer.
And we use List Marketing to show our customers even more offers.
So if I was starting over it’s those three things I’d focus on…
1. I’d start by setting up my own Traffic Systems that would mostly run unattended, so I could direct a flow of visitors to any offer I want at any time.
2. I’d then set up List Marketing Systems to connect with my leads and customers in an ongoing basis, to create real connections so I could share new offers with them as required.
3. Once those two were done, I’d master the Sales Funnel. I’d find or create great products to offer to my audience and I’d set each of those up with it’s own passive sales process.
4. I’d use high quality Affiliate Products to start with, since they’re ready to go…
5. But then I’d work on Creating My Own Products, built around my own interests and experience.
5. I’d take a Traditional Long-Term View and expect to put money into my new business for many months before I ever expected to take money out!
This Is The Business Structure I Now Have
The fact is, this is where I’ve ended up after more than 20 years doing business online.
I’ve created many different businesses on dozens of different niches, all with varying degrees of success. I’ve had hundreds of websites using all kinds of monetization strategies, and almost all of them managed to make some money for me.
Some of them made quite a lot of money.
But most of them couldn’t do it without my constant attention…
Because I never took the time to set up any permanent ongoing traffic systems.
So eventually I dropped most of them and moved on to the next new idea.
The thing is, I’m pretty certain …
90% of them would be generating a good profit today…
If I’d had the traffic systems back then that I’ve got now.
So all those months or even years of work would still be paying off… if I’d sorted the traffic first!
You see most gurus will tell you to set up your business first and then get some traffic happening, but that just doesn’t work.
Getting piece-meal traffic becomes a full time job, and a pretty tedious one at that, so you never get ahead and most people lose interest. Fast.
And so the business stops performing…
So they figure it’s broken and go looking for something else…
And repeat the same doomed process.
So one final piece of advice… for now…
Any half-decent offer for a solid product or service will make you money…
If you have traffic systems in place!
So if you’re just starting out, this should be your first priority!
It takes time to set up and it takes time to work.
Do it now and let it grow.
So by the time you find your dream business, you’ll have traffic on tap, ready to go!
That’s what I’d do anyway!
If you think that makes sense, be sure to check out our EzHitzs Perpetual Traffic Machine. It’s totally free, and will walk you through the essential steps to set up your own perpetual traffic machine…
Check out EzHitzs’ Perpetual Traffic Machine
