Are You Frustrated by Your Online Business?

In response to our question, "What is your single most important issue regarding marketing your products and services?" one person wrote:

Hi Vincent,

The one thing that I can't stand most is all of the misinformation. I've spent 100's of dollars on paid advertising, free and paid safelists, free and paid TE's and countless hours trying to market various programs and all for nothing. I'm told I need a list. I'm told I don't need a list. I'm told I need a website. I'm told I don't need a website. I'm told I need to create my own blog and then the opposite. Banners, splash pages, forums, articles, bulk mailings, opt-ins, double opt-ins, nothing works and yet everywhere I turn everybody else claims great success using these very same tools. Pish Posh! All baloney & hype! I'm ready to throw in the towel but I'm not likely to spend more money on advertising until the day arrives when I know my money is actually earning its keep.

Stewart

Boy, do we feel your pain! After all these years online, one thing is obvious to us: Creating a business is like having a baby - you've got to be in it for the long haul. It sounds like you, Stewart, have been in it for the long haul. Be assured that you are not alone in your difficulties - in fact, we showcased your message because it so perfectly encapsulates the problems some 95% of internet marketers are having.

While we can't go into every detail on how to succeed online, because it's a very complicated issue, we are actively working to find things that DO work. At this point, I - Jamie - have tried almost everything available to the average person and then some. We have had enough success that we can sustain our business, but those who skyrocket to the top with little effort are very few and far between. And many of them have engaged in clearly unethical and distasteful behavior to get there. From our studies, it seems that it takes at least two years of hard work for the majority of those who have succeeded. Others have figured it out much quicker, but even their success is not so easily reproducible. For one thing, as soon as something that works becomes popular, it often stops working!

In the meantime, consider these truisms:

• If you want to be truly free of search engines, you will probably want a list. There are many ways of getting traffic, other than search engines, but most of these are in the "nose bleed" section cost-wise.
  
• If you want to create some "easy" money, you will probably want a blog and an Adsense account (or Yahoo Publisher Network, MSN, etc.).
  

We have found these to be the "easiest" routes to make at least a little change to defray costs for other business endeavors. The first one - list building - is substantially harder to do, and in general it will take some time. There are many promises of quick list-building and so on - these methods are always worthwhile checking into, but almost nothing will be as easy as it is pretended to be.

Stay tuned, as we are always (time permitting) examining these problems and exploring the options.