Been There; Done That

By Author: Jo McNamara
Total Articles: 4
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© By Jo McNamara 2002 "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure." General Colin L. Powell In October 2000, I bought my first Internet marketing program to promote. I paid $20.00 for the program; $179.40 for an autoresponder for one year; $64.99 to be able to accept credit cards and checks on my website; $15.00 for monthly web hosting; and $29.95 for membership to another club to help me advertise. I was so naïve; I didn't really know what I was paying for. I just knew that the creator of this program said I HAD to have all this stuff to be successful on the Net. I just knew I had found (or bought) my way to Internet marketing riches! Like the happy idiot I was, I started to advertise online. Never mind that I didn't know HOW to advertise. All I had to do was use the headlines and ad copy that came with the program. Gems like, "How to quickly generate a steady steam of $20 checks into your mailbox!" Or, "How to make $200-300 a day!" I started advertising using FFA's. I did follow the suggestion to open up a throw-away email account. Actually, I would ...
... open up ten at a time because every two days, the one I was using would fill up. Using the advertising club I had paid $29.95 to become a member of, I started placing ads at the classified sites. This club had a list of sites from A to Z. I would start with all the listings under "A" and about a week later finally get to "Z." Of course, then it was time to go back to "A" and start the process all over again. Then the creative genius inside of me decided I could come up with my own headlines and ad copy. Believe me, they weren't any better than the ones I was copying. I remember one that to this day turns my face red with embarrassment. "GROW YOUR OWN $20 MONEY TREE! How would YOU like YOUR very own $20 money tree and be able to pluck cash from it every day when YOU want to?" Gee, how do you spell H-Y-P-E? After a while, not content to promote just one program, I started signing up for other FREE! affiliate programs. That word "FREE" would get me every time. Put an exclamation point behind it and I can be had (cheap). Before long, I had signed up for 20+ affiliate programs. I couldn't be bothered with creating new headlines and ad copy. I would just use the ones that came with each program. I had the time, so I spent eight hours a day promoting my programs to FFA's and classified sites. But first I had to open up 20 throw-away email accounts at a time to handle ALL the traffic I would be receiving. Then I learned about surf-for-credit programs. Guaranteed traffic! If I stay on a site for 30 seconds, I would get one visitor to my website. Now I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person. So I paid $50 to triple my credits for one month. Instead of one credit, I would get three. I figured if I spent three and a half hours surfing, I could rack up 1000 credits a day! Who cares if it's not targeted traffic--it's traffic to my website. I decided I'd better start getting up at 4 a.m. so that I could do that AND still place ads in FFA's and classified sites. At some point in my online journey, I discovered something called "ezines". I thought, "What the heck. Might as well subscribe. After all, they're FREE" (I told you I love that word). I was fortunate because I started out with some very good ones. I began to read the articles and after a while I was printing some of them for reference. That's when things started to change for me. Through the articles in ezines, I learned about writing effective headlines and ad copy. By applying what I was learning, I started to make some sales. Gradually, I dropped the other affiliate programs to concentrate on the original one I had purchased in October. As I became more involved with ezines and learning about online promotion, I lost quite a bit of my naiveté. It's hard to learn and still stay ignorant. I came to the conclusion that the program I was promoting had too many hidden costs and I was becoming uneasy about that fact. I had learned a good lesson. Only promote products and programs I used and more importantly, believed in. I eventually found a program that I felt offered excellent value to my customers and I was comfortable promoting it because it came with a solid money-back guarantee. It's been a little over a year since I first ventured into the world of CyberMarketing. As you can see, I made quite a few mistakes. None of them are unique; all of us go through this. I don't think that's a bad thing as long as we learn from our mistakes. However, I suspect most people don't. They just figure the program sucks and wander off searching for another one that guarantees instant Net "success". Continually disappointed, they come to the conclusion that they can't make money online and give up completely. They deny themselves the opportunity to fulfill their dreams. I still have a long way to go. The problem with learning is you feel obliged to apply the knowledge you now have. I have many areas I know I need to deal with. But one of the best things about Internet marketing is that it allows you to grow at your own pace and do what you feel you can in your own time. As long as the passion, the desire and willingness to learn is within you; as long as you don't fall victim to the get-rich-quick mentality; as long as you focus on long-term, rock-solid "success"--there's a very good likelihood that you will reach your goals. You'll stumble; you'll scrape up your knees. But if you pick yourself up and keep on moving, no matter how unsteady; you'll eventually be living a life your imagination could only have conceived of. "I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen."
Frank Lloyd Wright --- Jo McNamara lives in Orlando, FL, with 8 cats and 1 husband.
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mailto:articles_jomc@sendfree.com and mailto:articles2_jomc@sendfree.com "I wish I had discovered the Internet Marketing Success Arsenal when I got started in Net marketing. I would have saved countless wasted, frustrating hours and more money than I care to think about." http://www.what-works-online.net You have my full permission to reprint this article as long as the Resource Box remains intact.