For many years I’ve held onto the items you see in the video to act like a comfort blanket. I wanted to believe that I hadn’t wasted my money on them, and one day they would give me the riches they promised.

But as you can see so many are still in the wrapper, and the world has changed so much the information is now useless and they deserve their new home on the tip.

Butterfly Marketing was the only course worth the money, and it was actually software that had some interviews thrown in to give a “thud” value on arrival so it could live up to generating a million dollars in a day. Yes, back in 2006 you could find 1,000 people willing to pay $1,000. Granted most of that was spend on credit, and some will still be paying for it now, but it was a good feeling to be part of what I think was only second every product launch to achieve the magic million mark in the Internet Marketing niche.

Ultimately the point is that I have all the information I needed to make it online, yet I still go out to a job, albeit a well paid and flexible job that’s more of a hobby and allows me to discover new ways to develop potentially life saving drugs.

Spend your money learning how to create value, how to create a website, how to build a list, build up your personal brand, and then sell your own product or service. Don’t be like me and waste thousands looking for magic bullets.

Speak soon where you will see how I’m taking massive action now that I’ve thrown the comfort blanket out.

Andrew

So it seems that the subject of launching a site via the traditional JV model has stirred up some controversy.

This post is going to compare this “scummy” Internet Marketing model vs a more sustainable model.

Traditional Model

You pick a date, and then spend all your effort on schmoozing the big list owners and setting up the site to get highest earning per click for the affiliates. On top of that a contest will be in place to give away cool items such as ipads, experience days, and other shiny items.

The reason this model works so well in the world of internet marketing is the “shiny object” syndrome. Every month a new fad appears, currently it’s pintrest, could it be sitizen’s next month?

Your salespage will be set up for maximum hype and use all the pressure tactics such as blind salescopy and playing with emotions by selling hopes and dreams.

Now the trouble with this as a list owner is that you can get carried away with the “hype” and promote because you want the prizes and don’t care how good the “product” is, and if it will actually help your customers out.

With the rise of “churn & burn” marketing I’ve seem plenty of people go from making thousands on that first mailing to then making zero in a few months when profits have been put in front of ethics.

Ultimately the JV model is a cash grab, and it’s no different to the mobile phone market. Big money can be made today, but if you still have stock left once the hype is over then you’ll struggle to shift it.

To make this model work you need to constantly have new products and keep generating that newbie list to prevent the list you worked so hard to create from being burnt.

Community Model

This model works if you still want to sell the same product a year from now.

It’s about getting the people who buy / use your product or service to tell friends about how they’ve used it and what the benefits are. Typically the “salespage” will explain exactly what the product does, who the owner is, and be free of the normal marketing BS you have if you want to attract a “guru” to promote it.

Customer service will be a priority and the owner themselves will want all the users to succeed. Refund rates will be exceptionally low, and if you have a question then generally other members of the site will be ready to help out.

Social media will also be a key feature of these sites, you can form friendships with like minded people in the same niche.

Strike The Perfect Balance

To me it’s important that you focus on your marketing and make sure that the page will convert as well as possible. If you want to be successful you need to attract affiliates who are able to promote your site, so you do need to have ways of attracting the “big fish” who can send you lots of traffic.

As an owner make sure that you spend your advertising dollars in the right place and get to know the people who you want to promote your business. If you’re a traffic exchange owner and want to have the TimTech community help you then spend money with them and buy the tiered badges and take the time to meet the TELive community.

If you want the other “big players” in TE / Safelist Land to promote you then buy login adverts and credit specials then tell the site owner what the conversions were and how much profit they made you. This sort of information will get you onto the radar and show you as a serious business owner not someone after a money grab.

Place banners to their site inside your members area and add a follow-up message to your autoresponder. Integration marketing is the only strategy that works as well today as it did last year.

Be True To Yourself

It’s up to you how ethical you want to be. If you’re happy with “churn & burn” marketing where you only care about the profits you make today that’s cool, but when you mail out next month and make no sales don’t be surprised.

Andrew

If I’m on the computer at 9pm here in the UK I know it’s TELive time, and I will listen away to the gossip going round the world of timtech. The main topic this week according to Larry is Wussification, which is a made up word, but as you will later I think he might be onto something.

Example 1

Some sites like sweeva allow you to write comments that mean you can give feedback on what you see. Now I have an opinion, and when I see people promoting blatant scam sites such as JSS tripler, pre-launch cash grabs, or matrix sites where a single $20 investment turns into thousands I will post a comment to try and educate people not to promote this sort of crap.

By doing this I’m standing up and trying to educate people, and if everyone did the same then perhaps one day the internet will be free from the scumbags behind these sites who prey on vulnerable people.

Example 2

I like spending time in the warrior forum, and it really annoys me that when a thread on how to start building a list appears that someone with a low post count will appear and say “Buy solo adverts” as if it is the answer to everything, and we would all be millionaires through this approach.

This is just wrong, when you start out buying a solo advert is probably only just slightly better than trying a PPC campaign – at least with the solo advert it’s a one off loss of cash rather than $25 a day for nothing. Generally if you have to ask such basic questions you’re not ready to buy advertising, and you need to think like an offline business person for a moment.

For example recommending an advert on local radio to a new business owner is a great idea, but if the owner has not set up their shop, has no method of taking payment from the customer, and the radio station you recommend is in a different state then it’s not really great advice is it?

When using forum marketing make sure that you add value, and try to encourage people to think in more detail about the question rather than just giving the expected stock answer.

But what if I upset someone?

I’m now back at Larry’s wussification point.

Did you notice the strong headline to this post, the use of 4 stars in a headline is a bold move on my part. I know that some people will unsubscribe from my list as a result of this headline, but guess what I don’t care. You see the whole point of this blog is to use it as a channel to reflect my personality and build relationships with people. 

I actually respect people who are prepared to show enough passion to swear about something, but like everything if it’s overused then and every other word is a F Bomb then you need to grow up. It’s all about getting a happy medium and knowing what’s appropriate.

When I see Larry & Patrick get on the screen and start talking I get excited as most of the time we share a common view on life. For example today’s rant was about the people who try to blame everyone else for picking a sub standard programme to promote on a traffic exchange and then quit 3 months later having spend a lot of money and made zero return.

If you want to succeed in life you are going to have to take risks, voice your opinions, and generally run the risk of upsetting someone in the process. By sitting on the fence trying to please everyone all your doing is getting a splinter in your butt, and eventually this will hurt you in one way or another.

Be Brave

Stop being the person who walks past things, let the world know who you are and what you stand for.

I guess what I’m saying is that you’ve made it this far, so it’s time to write a comment and tell the world your opinion!

Andrew

I don’t know about you, but I’m rubbish when it comes to completing a task, and will always find ways of procrastinating and starting new things rather than finish existing tasks.

For example I somehow managed to spend $25 on graphic software whilst listening to Blaine Jones talking a lot of sense in TE Live, and ended up making a rather cool looking mascot, but I don’t think that the time taken was the most important thing on my “to do” list.

Perhaps the graphic headlines and other images will come in handy for selling over at fiverr?

Now speaking of fiverr this week has been very busy with orders, and I’m now a level 2 seller. The trouble is that I’m swapping a lot of my time for not much money. Long term this could be good as some of you who purchased my gigs are now on my mailing list and may buy the products I recommend, or even use the Hire Me page.

So getting back to the original point, time is the most precious thing that we have. The things that you find time for are the things that you are passionate about, and these are the things that you should be building your business around.

It’s now well past midnight as I’m writing this post, and the reason I’m doing this is because I know that it’s been well over a week since I last wrote a post. If I wasn’t passionate about blogging then I wouldn’t have stayed up to make sure you have something new to read about.

This lack of passion is why so many people hate working the day job. It’s the waste of time traveling to somewhere they don’t want to be that drives them to try and work online.

The trouble is that working for yourself when you don’t know what you’re doing can be even more frustrating. If you really are struggling with basic stuff then it’s worth finding the correct people to network with and learn from.

It’s late now, and I’m probably rambling, but try to take some time out away from the computer and have a think about what you want to achieve, and how you’re going to do it?

Andrew