Lost at sea in this ocean of online marketing............

[cswindell]

Hi. Per request to be a active member of this forum, I thought I would make my first post which is this.."What the hell am I doing!?" I felt embarrassed to ask a question due to my utter inexperience; yet, I have followed and read many, many posts on many forums and thought, now is time to ask the all around "newbie" question of all "newbie" questions.....What the hell!! To embark on a journey into online marketing is akin to finding that one real diamond in a pile of fake diamonds, which to the untrained eye would be a great feat to pull off! I can read on the subject til the end of time; yet, starting down a road that leads to success rather than a brick wall is a risk we all must take, I suppose---well that is the question my friends I have and have always had. I ventured into the world of CPA and PPC, even was accepted to many, many networks not knowing a damn thing first hand and only from the piles of info I have read. I have found so many avenues, a world of people offering to lead you into a successful path only to have the path stop short after hitting yet another wall and another broken promise just to get your money to pay for that "System to success" or the promise of becoming "instant millionaire." I am glad I did not fall for too many of those false promises of success because I know that success is not the push of a button away or just $69 and an upgrade!....I know that success many times is hard work and usually a road traveled alone--it is the path that leads to a fork in the road and a choice to make as to which of the two paths leads to success------and I understand that whatever road the "majority" of the people choose----I know to go the opposite road everyone else is on....because the road to success is a long, lonely stretch of road that maybe 1 out of 20 people will stick on that path of success to reach that goal. I have always been the person to take the road less traveled and be different than the "majority" because, frankly, stick with the "majority" and you will for sure get lost!!! I firmly believe that success is reached by a series of choices and a series of moments that are on an upward curve. I am an idea person who quite often comes up with creative solutions that are waaaay outside the box and just works and works well. I am the pioneer of sorts that never hesitates to venture into unfamiliar territory and looks back at the crowd and says "come on what are you waiting for?" When people only see a problem---I on the other hand see many, many solutions and never a problem--only another chance to learn and learning is never a problem!!!! Just to make note which is sort of funny in my process to find out what the hell I am doing, which by the way I still don't know what I am doing; never-the-less, funny thing is I can't believe how many blogs/websites/Affiliate landing pages I have come across with errors ranging from simple misspellings/punctuation mistakes to complete sentence structure fails within the entire content of a webpage (usually from affiliates where English is a second language for them, bless their hearts for trying!) I have sent e-mails to countless Affiliates--even the biggest in names--pointing out their mistakes because first impressions are everything when someone clicks on your site---so far, everyone was much appreciative for pointing out the mistakes--could be the difference of a click-through or not! Maybe I should somehow make money proof-reading blogs etc!!!!!

There is no blue print to success in online marketing; yet, how have the many here become successful without getting completely lost at sea. It is not like I can go sign up for a class on CPA or PPC marketing, right?! What would one suggest to another just starting out in this venture without being led astray. I have prepared myself financially to help get me started--just want to lose very little money as possible. I have plenty of persistence and I am outstanding at marketing in the most primitive sense--face to face ( ;D ) ---I come up with creative marketing strategies and ideas, again primitively, yet how can I turn these toward a virtual world of marketing? Thanks for reading my rambles......

Your friend and recent new "poster" on this kick ass forum here at AffiliateFix,

~Crysta

 

[azgold]

Hi, Crysta and welcome! Whew, that was quite an introduction!

Many (all?) get lost at sea with this at times, especially in the beginning. We had an expert guest on here for a week and even he had times when he had to step away for a few hours or days when he hit that brick wall with something. I know I've had that problem more than once. That's when I take a break (sometimes a few days) because I don't know what else to do. It always helps in some way. Give your brain a refreshing break then come back to it. You know what Einstein said: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

Your talent for marketing will, in my opinion, serve you greatly. You have a terrific foundation to build on. Thinking outside the box is just what you need to capture leads/readers/conversions/whatever avenue you decide to persue.

Don't despair. You'll find that now and again, something will sink in and you'll just get it. Ah-ha moments when one little thing clicks into place and you understand another piece of the puzzle.

There are so many different aspects to online marketing. If you try to learn them all at once, you'll simple suffer overwhelm. Pick one method and keep learning it until you feel you know what you're doing with it then move on to another method, if you want.

As a freelance writer until 2012, I too notice those glaring site errors, they drive me crazy.

Anyway, I am not that long doing CPA myself but there are plenty of other, more experienced marketers in this great forum. There is a ton of resources and helpful people.

Relax and enjoy.
Shirley

 

[K]

Welcome - I wish you all the best!

 

[iamplugged]

Hi Crysta,

First of all, please use paragraphs. Your post is too hard to read. Until you are going to make things easy for your audience, it's hard to succeed.

If you are using the same writing style on your blogs, marketing materials etc... I would say you need to simplify the things. Use headings, bullet points, paragraphs etc. This ensures that more and more people listen to what you have to say.

Coming to the point, yes it's not really easy to succeed with internet marketing. There are hundreds of things we people have to learn. I am not really an expert, but I would suggest a few points:

Take an incremental approach to implementing different strategies
As Shirley said, choose a path and stick to it. Give time to a strategy you have in mind before you go for the next. Don't go for multiple strategies at the same time. They divert your focus and hence affect productivity. Give sufficient time, see results and then decide.

Take for example blogging. Until you have dedicatedly blogged for over 6 months (assuming good content is produced), you can really expect the results. It has happened with me multiple times. I start blogging, write around 10 posts, don't see much traffic, many shares and drop the idea. But this never works. Without feeling demotivated if I keep on writing for over 6 months, I am damn sure, I am going to make through.

Don't really believe on "Get Rich Quick" Schemes
There is too much hype around internet marketing. As far as I know, you can't really bring a change overnight. It takes a hell lot of experimentation before you actually make your first dollar. So don't be demotivated by such things - how come this marketer did it in 24 hours and stuff like that...These are mostly selling strategies.

Read blogs of people who are actually successful
Blogs are a great way to learn. For the famous internet marketers, see what they post, how they promote products. You won't really get a blue print, but some really good advice. Once again, don't follow many of them. You will get confused.

Stop learning, Start acting
Enough of learning now. Take an action. If you are someone like me who thinks that we should be learning before we implement, you would always be in this ocean. Start implementing. Learn from experience. You will be successful soon.

Final Word - Don't give up.

I hope this helps. Good Luck Crysta.

P.S. - I am not proof reading. So sorry for errors if any.

Thanks
Devan T.

 

[azgold]

Great advice for Crysta, Devan!

I just want to second your last piece - Stop learning, Start acting - that's what I did, made myself start, even though I didn't feel qualified. I've learned way more by having to figure things out as I go than I ever did just reading. Sure, it can be frustrating but is it ever satisfying when you figure something out, feels great.

 

[vellex]

Hey Crysta, welcome to the forum!

I remembered a conversation I had with my uncle who started his company. I asked him about all the things he had to learn about running a company, how he learned them, how he learned his responsibilities for bookkeeping or taxes, etc. He just said, "I started the company and learned how to run it along the way. Whenever I had to do something I had never done before, I learned it."

Unfortunately, it took me a lot of time to understand what he was trying to tell me.

Best of luck,
Alex

 

[LymeJosh]

Crysta,

These past two posts are spot on. The more you sit on information you may obtain by reading, the more outdated that very information is becoming. Start somewhere, with something. Expect to lose some money but don't over invest and pick something you feel somewhat comfortable with. All of the basic ideas are out-played and will make you little if done verbatim to wherever you found it. When I first sat down to contemplate what it is to "think outside the box" in this industry, I was baffled but I knew there was meaning behind it. After trial and error, things started to click. It is rewarding when you first start to make money in this industry. That was some years ago and I can tell you my strategies and methods are consistently changing as time wears them out or ideas expand. Just get moving, get started.

Wish you success,
Josh

 

[adnweb]

i'm trying to get more serious about marketing and feel almost the same. i currently have shared hosting with hostgator on a business plan. i see everyone recommends a vps but the cost is 170 vs 600+ per year. is it that important to do this right off the bat? i figured i could do it if i got mild success. on the other hand i can't use something prosper202 on my current plan so how do i go without tracking.

 

[operationoffers]

I guess whatever I put on here would be re-hashing what has already been said. the only thing I can say is to be patient and stick to a schedule. When you stick to a path you will go somewhere...you sometimes have to look up and see where you are and adjust coarse as necessary. There are soooo many ways to promote campaigns online and it can be so daunting to take it all in let alone applying it. The thing is, you dont have to.

Pick a few methods of promotion and stick to it. Add a method every once and a while because the truth is every online marketer is different. I run a network so the majority of my time is spent doing things some affiliates never do. There are some traffic generation methods I dont use, but some might tell you that you will fail if you dont use it. dont listen to all these people because every traffic generation method has its own merits and own pitfalls. When you are starting out, I would stick to free methods at first and keep building. Nothing happens overnight....except STD's