The 10 Biggest Newbie Marketer Mistakes
I see it time and time again.
People anxious to jump into online marketing make the same mistakes over and over again when trying to earn extra money online.
They spend 100’s even 1000’s of dollars trying to find a shortcut to generating revenue online, and in the process they never actually get anything done. They end up frustrated, bitter and broker than when they started.
I thought I’d point out the most common newbie mistakes, and if you have ones to add please leave in comments section.
1. Failure to take action
So many new online marketers get so hung up trying to come up with the perfect idea or niche that they never even get started. Sometimes you just need to dive in with a simple idea and get your feet wet until you find a better one. Consider it a training niche.
2. Paying too much for domain registration and hosting.
You should never pay more than $10 per year for a domain name, and 99% of all internet marketers will never need to spend more than $8 per month for domain hosting. Don’t get taken for a ride on these basic expenses. Check out Godaddy.com, Namecheap.com for registration, and Hostgator.com or Bluehost.com for hosting. ( I don’t recommend Godaddy.com hosting.. make sure your host has Cpanel)
3. Using Duplicate Content
Don’t use articles from article site or private label content without spinning (re-writing article) it well. It’s a big misconception that you can just copy articles from article sites and get tons of traffic. Your content must be original or well-spun in order to get the search engines to index your page.
4. Posting too many ads
Some new site owners have a tendency to post ads all over their site in the hopes of making more money. And if you have a high traffic site you might make more money, but you will also lose your readers. Provide quality content, get the traffic, and make your ads blend in and the least obtrusive as possible.
5. Buying into Traffic Schemes
There are very few shortcuts to mass traffic. The only thing you should spend money on in regard to traffic is running a quality PPC campaign or buying a link in a premium directory like Yahoo’s. Traffic Exchanges have some value, but the conversion rate is extremely low. Unless you’re building a large amount of passive credits via referrals, it’s tough to be profitable when you factor in your time.
6. Not understanding CAN-SPAM Compliance
Spam is unsolicited email. You can not send email messages to someone unless they specifically request to join your list and receive your messages. They must “Opt-in” to your list. You can not just put your contact info in the footer of the email and be compliant. If you want to send email or newsletters, you must use a third party service like Aweber so that you are compliant and NOT spamming your readers.. At the very least make sure you are using software that records the signup date and IP information of those joining your list.
7. Joining Fly-By-Night Network Marketing Programs
I think I can make my point pretty quickly here. Over the last 15 years I’ve been given “high placement”, “great spot”, “top of matrix”, “under the owner”, “under a heavy hitter” in dozens of online MLM’s. I’ve spent thousands on them, and even when you factor in money I’ve made in high-profile MLM’s.. I have not made a profit. There are some solid MLM’s out there with great products. But the chances of the average person making a profit are probably 1 in a 1000.
Only join an MLM if the product sells itself and you never have to mention there’s an opportunity involved.
8. Trying To Compete In Highly Competitive Niches.
I’ll ask a newbie marketer what their niche is and they say “Dog Training”, “Credit Repair” and the dreaded “Make Money Online” niche. The truth is.. just because you hear about loads of people making money in a niche doesn’t mean you should get in it. Why?
Because you’ll have to compete with those people for top placement in Google and market share. Newbie marketers need to find untapped niches that they can rank quickly for in Google. And the “Make Money Online” niche is the absolute worst niche you can get into. Especially if you’re a newbie marketer whose never made a dime online. It’s so super competitive you’ll probably never rank in the top 500 in Google, and without real social proof you’re making money, it will be extremely difficult to make any sales.
You know what the secret to most of the big “make money” gurus is?
They made tons of money in obscure niches before they ever began teaching people about making money.
Find an obscure untapped niche.. that’s where the real money is.
9. To Be Added From the Comments – Leave Your Ideas
10. To Be Added From the Comments – Leave Your Ideas
Many Newbies get caught in the “Freebie Download Addiction Trap”. Once they realize they can get a “Free” product just for giving their name and email they sign up for every single one they can find.
They then end up spending all their time accumulating stuff instead of focusing on implementing one of those products or systems til it becomes profitable. Learning to use what you have will help you get started before you spend your money on too many extras you might not need.
They should also learn to organize those downloads right from the start or they end up with a hard-drive full of duplicates.
I certainly agree and can relate to a couple of those. Also agreeing with the previous comment: I have unsubscribed from many lists in the past few months (had subscribed for the freebies). Charlie
Newbies to the Internet often cannot see the difference between legitimate opportunities and scams, what hype is, and knowing the difference between when a marketer is selling them a product or a dream.
Also, many people who are new to the Internet see the marketing trends going on and rush in to get on the bandwagon. A very large percentage of them become “opportunity-seekers” rather than entrepreneurs. Seasoned marketers know this and provide the picks and shovels. Newbies need to be educated on not only where the gold is but how to extract it. Too many buy up the tools and get nowhere with them.
It is also worth mentioning that very high percentage of people who come online wanting to become entrepreneurs must realize they need to first know how entrepreneurs think and what employee mentality is. Why is this so important? Employee, or “consumer” mindset hinders the efforts of those who desire to start online businesses. It behooves those just starting out to consider self-discipline a part of their education about business and marketing.
Mastery is the key and this certainly takes patience, and can’t be learned in a day. It’s something that is not generally taught in default education.
It’s so easy to get caught up in get rich quick theories. If you can make money right away, great, but it’s not just going to come pouring in, you have to work at it! Do your research, test your offers, optimize your pages, and treat it like a full time job. Just like any other industry, there’s no fast, guaranteed solution that is easy for everyone. Different marketers excel at different strategies, so it’s important to find the niche that works for you!
I’ll try & address these, point-for-point:
1- I always love to quote Mike Litman & Wayne Gretzky on this topic:
“You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get (it) going.” -M. Litman
“You ALWAYS miss 100% of the shots you NEVER take.” -W. Gretzky
2- Domains. Also do not buy too many at once. I own 1300+ domains. Do some research before you grab all the ones you want. BTW- Many are for sale with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.
3- Hosting. I prefer Host gator as well. Their support is top-notch.
4- Too many ads. Yeah. No need to clutter the site to distract your audience.
5- Traffic Schemes. We increased our Alexa ranking by over 15 million positions in our sites first three (3) months. That was by providing compelling & good quality. NEVER buy into these!
6- Can-SPAM. Know the rules, study them!
7- Fly by night. Stick with proven marketers, period.
8- (my suggestion)- Not attending any seminars. If it weren’t for me ever attending my first event last June (Ken McArthur’s JV Alert Live), I would still be all talk and no action. By attending, I met people like Yanik Silver, Jeff Johnson, Willie Crawford, Erik Stafford, etc. They helped guide me in the right direction. Attending surely was life-changing. So I recommend all newbies find a way to attend these.
[...] 10 Biggest Newbie Mistakes [...]
Liked everything you said, even about the MLM industry. A good MLM program is few and far between. Been in the business over 10 years, love it and want to see others do well in it. Seems like too many MLM offers online are focused on “do nothing” and get rich as someone esle will be doing all the work.
Networking is about relationships, helping others, and working like a dog for the first 3 years of any build. If you want to make it, it should be your only deal and be sold out.
Network Marketing and Internet Marketing were made for each other.
Unfortunately there are tons of just poor programs out there and a few just amazing scams. It amazes me how people pick there programs.
If I plan on spending the next 3 years of my life building a business with a company (MLM), that company better be rock solid. I have no desire to waste my life on a poorly ran company.
Better stop now, thanks for the post.
God Bless,
Bruce