So You Want to Start an Internet Business …

If you are trying to get into internet marketing to start an online business, think you want to be an entrepreneur, or have bought into the "internet lifestyle",

if you have a trunk full of training products you bought that promised you would make money in 3 hours, 30 days, or 6 weeks, maybe like me you need to STOP, back up and start at the beginning again.

The First KEY Question

Cory Miller (co-founder of iThemes) lays it on the line by asking the key question that we really must answer first. I'm going to have to re-think this myself. I hope you find it helpful too.

"First Key Question:

Why do you want to start a business?
Think about that for a moment. Start writing down what comes to mind. What are your motivations and reasons for wanting to start a business.

Do you want to:

     Get rich quick?
     Live the good life?
     To be your own boss and work whenever you want
     To travel
     To be adored by millions?
     To be the next Steve Jobs or Richard Branson, or Facebook or Google

Unfortunately, I have bad news for you if you answer this first key question with those reasons above."

Sound Familiar?

Does that list of reasons sound very familiar to those of us who have been wallowing in internet marketer hype for a couple of years now?

If you thought it was going to be easy because that's what they told us, maybe they lied to us in their own effort to accomplish those reasons. After you and I answer the first key question, then we can decide if internet marketing is really the right business for us – and go from there.

Read the whole story at http://startupsofa.com/is-entrepreneurship-right-for-you/ 

 

TMI  

You know tmi means Too Much Information. And as an aspiring internet marketer, you also know that you are overwhelmed, bombarded, every day by marketers trying to sell you more information, but mostly the same old information re-packaged to make you gasp "Oh Look Shiny!, I'll buy that." The truth is that most of these marketers don't really want to give you enough information to make an intelligent informed buying decision. Why? They think you won't buy more stuff from them if they give you what you really need upfront. So today I'm introducing the NEI and the first recipient is the Lethal Commission course.

NEI 

NEI means Not Enough Information. Yes, that's a red warning flag. It doesn't necessarily mean that the product is a scam. It does mean that the seller didn't disclose important information that could affect your buying decision.

The Lethal Commission NEI Example

Disclosure: I bought the $77 product and requested a refund shortly thereafter. The example explains why.

The sales promotion for this product makes it seem as if you get everything you need to make big bucks on autopilot with very little work on your part (red flag right there) because the "Agency" is going to do all the hard stuff for you. For $77 you get the Agency working for you. Sounds great – I like the idea of having an Agency work for me while I rake in the money. And for only $77! Are you kidding me?  

Yes, I'm kidding you. As soon as you pay Clickbank the $77 dollars and complete the transaction, and you haven't even seen what you bought for $77, the marketer pitches the $247 upsell insinuating that you didn't really buy enough from him because you are going to have to do all the hard work of getting traffic yourself. Unless of course, you buy the upsell where upon the Agency will get traffic for you, and you just have to do nothing and watch the traffic pile up. Let's say you bought the upsell, and now you find that real cost of the product is at least $324. And you still have not seen the product you bought for $77.

The marketer didn't disclose any upsells in his sale pitch for Lethal Commission. Why? Maybe he figured he'd lose sales if he told the real price of the product as advertised in the sale pitch. He'll have to speak for himself on that. The marketer didn't disclose anything about you doing all the hard work of getting traffic unless you buy the upsell. Maybe you need to buy even more upsells – I don't know because I was too upset with this less than honest marketing tactic to stick around to hear any more. So for you and me – NEI!

My Opinion

I suspect that newbies get taken a lot by the NEI marketing practice, but I refuse to buy from marketers who in my opinion are unethical by failing to disclose what's hiding behind the curtain. NEI is a rampant affliction among internet marketers, exactly the kind of thing that makes "Business Ethics" an oxymoron.

 

Do the research FIRST!

I know all those make money fast and easy offers are tempting. I've swallowed my share in the cause of making other internet marketers wealthy. So it took me an embarrassingly long time to learn a simple lesson.

IM Report Card Could Save You a Lot of Grief

I recommend that you start with IM Report Card. It's free. You can check reviews and ratings of both products and people before you buy. That information will help you make a more rational decision about where to spend your money.

Cheers,

Ed

 

"Hi there my name's Michael Vincent and yes that's a picture of me below:"

                  No it's not.

Did you notice this in the fine print?

*For purposes of privacy, the creator of Underground Cash Secret is using the name Michael Vincent.

That means this guy really isn't Michael Vincent. I wonder whose picture it is. That means you don't know who you are really dealing with, which lowers the trust factor for me quite a bit. Apparently the CREATOR wishes to remain anonymous.

But hold on, there's a GUARANTEE!

My Guarantee To You;
I am so confident in my program that I am willing to give you a 100% no questions asked refund for any reason if you are not satisfied. Check out the testimonials on this site from other people who are making money every day now with my program.

               What does the fine print say?

Earnings Disclaimer

"We do not purport this as a "get rich scheme." … No express or implied guarantees of income are made by ucsworkfromhome.net"

              Did you not hear "Michael Vincent" guarantee you would make money? Maybe you should listen to the audio again. And what about the red Ferrari and the big house and the bathing suits, and … the other expensive stuff? No "implied guarantees of income"? Look up "implied" in the dictionary.

And …

Why is the Fine Print text in gray?

Even a newbie can figure that out.

Just make sure you read the fine print before you purchase. Then the decision is all on you and not on "Michael Vincent" or "Jason". As the Fine Print says, "Many factors will be important in determining your actual results and no guarantees are made that you will achieve results similar to ours or anybody else’s, in fact no guarantees are made that you will achieve any results from our ideas and techniques."

How Did It Work Out For YOU?

If you decide to give the Underground Cash Secret a try, be sure to let us know how it worked out for you.

 

Business Ethics?

Do the words "business ethics" seem like an oxymoron to you like they do to me? Ethics is all about doing the right thing. Tricking you into spending your money on a internet marketing program, and then not delivering the goods is unethical – even for a business man.

Eric Graham is the Poster Boy for Unethical Internet Business Practices

We've discussed Eric Graham previously but the beat goes on. If you haven't been sufficiently warned off of Eric, here's another story about his unethical business practices, not to say thievery, you won't want to miss.

Internet Business Ethics 101

Can Eric Clean Up His Act?

Sad to Say: Don't count on it!

 

Important news for internet marketers – Honest disclosure matters

How many times have you read a review and didn’t know the person who wrote it was paid for it? Would that affect your opinion of the product? How about all those internet marketers who trade mailing lists and get paid if you buy from their link? Are they telling you they are getting paid? Maybe you would want to know that. Probably wouldn’t make a difference to your buying decision – if everybody was providing us with full disclosure and leveling the playing field.

FTC Sets Endorsement Rules for Blogs

"Bloggers who offer endorsements must disclose any payments they have received from the subjects of their reviews or face penalties of up to $11,000 per violation, the Federal Trade Commission said Monday."

By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Here’s the full Washington Post Article.

Under the heading of "But Wait There’s More"

More about the FTC Ruling from Frank Kern

More about the FTC Ruling from 1Automation Wizard

PS I explain my position on the Disclosure Policy page of this blog.

 

I came across this great web traffic blog and thought you might enjoy this article by Craig Johnson. He explains how to use FREE marketplaces like Craigslist to promote your products. That’s no-cost promotion.

So have a look at -

Learn How To Build A Massive List Of High Converting Customers And Market Your Product Even Better Than The Gurus!

 

How many fingers are pointing back at YOU?

Sylvie Fortin continues her no-holds-barred expose of internet marketing sins. BUT she also points a finger at you (and me) too for generously forking over our limited cash resources to the sharks greedily gobbling up our money in return for not much of anything except empty promises.

Don’t be shark bait anymore. Discover …

• Why is failure so important
• Why money should never be your main reason for becoming an entrepreneur
• The smoke and mirrors proof cult leaders use
• Why you should take everything any guru says with a grain of salt

Internet Marketing Sins currently consists of a Preview, Part 1 and Part 2. You can download all 3 for FREE.

Destructive Personality Traits To Stay Away From

Part 2 of Internet Marketing Sins zeros in on personality traits that you want to avoid in developing your internet business.

Me Too Marketer

"Me Too" is a copycat. He won’t be able to help you because he hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing. 

Piggy Back Marketers

Their whole focus is on attacking the marketer on a personal level.

Lazy Ass Marketers

They don’t take the time and put in the effort to market a quality product. 

Cult Leaders

Of all the internet marketing sins, it is the most important subject because  It applies to every single one of us. Cult leaders do not care if the free information they give away is actually useful to your business. They often deliberately hold back one critical step that keeps the majority of their followers dependent on them forever.

Guru Bashers

 Guru Bashers are people who are often struggling to be successful, and blame the gurus when they are unable to achieve success.

 It’s FREE – It’s Recommended – Get it!

PS If you have gotten the impression that Sylvie Fortin knows what she is talking about, I recommend that you watch this one-hour video tutorial from Success Chef. If you are a beginner, I would say that this is a must-see for you. You will get a load of invaluable knowledge in the first 45 minutes of this video.  If you don’t want a membership in Success Chef (discounted beta pre-launch life-time membership price of $2,497), skip the rest of the video.

 

200 Unique Articles in 14 Seconds ???

Do you really think that you can generate 200 unique articles in 14 seconds from one single article? Well, you can't. What you can do is futz around with synonyms and phrase inversions using a dictionary and a thesaurus to make it seem that each article is somehow distinctly different from all the rest. But all the articles are essentially the same, meaning that the actual cognitive content is identical.

Who Is the Author?

It isn't you! I think it is unethical to let a computer program generate article content for you and then claim that you wrote the article with the implication that you are some sort of expert on the topic of the article. I know some internet marketers are not troubled by that, but I feel that it is dishonest. Especially if they are selling you the content and you think they wrote it. They probably didn't write the original article either. Even if they are giving it away and your only connection with it is reading it, you still got scammed because you were misled about authorship (unless, of course, they tell you that the article was manipulated by a computer program).

WARNING !

I strongly recommend against using any word replacement software based on dictionary and thesaurus substitutions to generate faux uniqueness. Google has this tactic figured out already, and it isn't worth your reputation to be caught in this particular trap.

 

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Cashing In Fast With "Mini" Sites

      – by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
    http://www.thenetreporter.com
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I’ve gotten a plenty of questions lately about why I think "mini" sites, simple 1-2 page websites, are better than "traditional" websites you might learn to build in school or from a website design course.

In fact, I believe "traditional" websites represent a complete waste of time and end up making small and home- based business owners give up on the Internet before they even have a chance to get started.

If you want to cash in fast on the web, stop thinking about making "web" sites and start thinking about "mini" sites.

Basically, traditional sites try to be all things to all people.

If you go to somebody’s website and you see:

"Sign up for my newsletter";
"Buy my product";
"Check out these links";
"Check out our article archive";
"Click Here for the article of the day";
"Subscribe to this RSS feed";
"Visit our blog!"

…. it just creates confusion.

In other words, visitors arrive at the site and either go nuts figuring out what to do next or, more likely, they simply click their back button – never to return.

I once had a sales manager who told me, "A confused mind always answers ‘No!’ Never give people more than two choices in a sales talk."

He was right!

Traditional websites give people too many choices and they fail miserably at it, usually before they ever get off the ground.

On the other hand, mini-sites succeed wildly because they have one purpose: to force someone to make a decision!

Mini-sites typically fall into one of four main categories:

- sales letters
- newsletters
- affiliate presales
- intelligence gathering

Virtually every mini-site you ever see will fit one of these categories. Let’s take a look at each type.

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#1 Sales Letter Mini-Sites
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One-page sales letter mini-sites represent the most recognizable type of mini-site on the Web.

A sales letter’s primary purpose should be obvious: to sell somebody something!

Typically one-page sales letter mini-sites sell ebooks, software, physical products, services and more.

Virtually anything can get sold with a one-page sales letter mini-site.

The decision you want a visitor to make when they come to your sales letter mini-site is also simple: buy or don’t buy.

You force them to decide right there on the spot. Just like any good salesman, you force the decision by the prospect.

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#2 Newsletter Mini-Sites
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Newsletter, or forced-opt-in, mini-sites make up the second type of mini-site.

Their primary purpose is to entice people to sign up for your list, newsletter, or ezine.

But frankly, if you looked at some people’s newsletter sites, you would think their purpose was anything but getting people to sign up for their newsletter!

Once you understand that the primary purpose of your newsletter mini-site is to get a signup, you can eliminate everything else that detracts from that purpose.

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#3 Affiliate Pre-Sell Mini-Sites
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Affiliate Pre-Sell pages make up the third type of mini- site you can use.

Numerous ways exist to "pre" sell people on an affiliate page, persuade them to make a decision, and then take the specific action you want.

Some common types of pres-sell pages include: product reviews; pre-sell videos; audio postcards; forced opt-in pages and more.

Most people think that the primary purpose of a pre-sell mini-site is to have somebody click an affiliate link, but I disagree.

I think that the main purpose of your affiliate pre-sell page should be to get a prospect to give you their name and their email address.

Once you get that information you can sell them several things over time.

If all you ever do is refer traffic without building a relationship, you’ll miss out on lucrative back-end opportunities.

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#4 Intelligence Gathering Mini-Sites
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The fourth type of mini-site is used to gather marketing or other intelligence from your target niche.

Here you actually use a mini-site to get people to tell you what they want to buy, try, see, give their opinion on a topic, etc.. I call it "Your Most Burning Question."

You use this type of mini-site to gather information about what people want to know, their overall interest level in your topic, and as a means to get ideas for newsletter and blog content.

The bottom line with an intelligence gathering mini-site is to get people to tell you what you need to know in order to make money selling them something later.

So now the obvious question: Which one do you start with?

The answer: It depends on your purpose right now in your business!

Need to sell your existing product or service? You should set up a sales letter mini-site.

Don’t have a list of subscribers? Set up a newsletter mini- site.

No product to sell? Build an affiliate pre-sell mini-site.

No clue what your target audience wants or if they even want anything at all? Set up an intelligence gathering mini-site and find out what you need to know BEFORE spending months creating a product.

Mini-sites are all about saving time and maximizing your effort through clear focus and purpose.

Once you know exactly what you want to get done online, mini-sites create the fastest, easiest pathway to success.

Hope this clears up any misunderstandings about mini-sites and why they’re so effective… no matter whether you’re a fresh-faced newbie or a battle-hardened online business veteran.