Thursday, March 09, 2006

Yikes! Do you have "IOS"

Internet Marketing For Newbies - A Series of Articles Written from a Newbies Perspective

What the heck is "IOS" ?

I'm glad you asked.

The most common symptons to look out for are a mild state of panic, an overwhelming sense of confusion, feelings of frustration, blurry eyes, stiff neck, slight buzzing in the ears, and a very sore bottom. If you currently have, or have had any of these symptons in the recent past, then there is a very good chance that you are suffering from "Information Overload Syndrome".

Don't panic, I myself am suffering from this dreaded syndrome, but I believe that there is hope. The group that appears the most affected is the New Internet Marketer, or as we are commonly referred to as "Newbies". I personally hate that term, I feel like I should be back in diapers. With over 30 years in the sales and marketing offline world, I at least feel that I deserve training pants. lol

Now that I have your attention, I wanted to address some of the very real issues that we face when we decide to pursue making a living online. These are some of the things that I have come across and I am sure that most of you have encountered the same problems. I just wanted to share with you my thoughts and possibly give you some advice and point you in the right directions with your new business. I have listed the five keys that I feel will keep you on the right path.

1) Firts of all, it is very natural to become overwhelmed and confused with all of the information that is available out there. I have made the mistake of not knowing when to stop researching and when to start the actual doing. It is very important that you educate yourself before you start opening your pocket book and start spending your hard earned dollars. There is a wealth of free information, the only problem is, that it takes alot of time and energy to source it all out.

I would strongly suggest that you join forums that are related to the subject of your business. I read this early on when I began surfing and totally ignored this advice because I was too embarrassed and didn't want to look stupid with my basic questions. You do not have to participate, you can just go in and read and you would be amazed at the helpfulness of some of the more experienced marketers. Not everybody is out to take you for a ride.

Forums are also a great place to check out the value of any course, e-book or software purchase that you may be considering. One of the huge problems that I have found is that alot of the stuff out there is a re-hash of readily available free information or it just does not live up to it's promise. You will get really candid reviews and then you can make a more informed decision.

Depending on where you are at with your business, it is also a great Free way to advertise your new business. You do this with your signature line which will include your web or blog address. Just don't try to spam and make sure that you read the rules of the forum that you are visiting.

Three great marketing forums to get started in are:
Rosalind Gardner's Affiliate Marketing Forum - www.netprofits.today.com/forum/
Michael Greens Marketing Forum
- www.howtocorp.com/forum/
Mike Mertz's Newbie Forum - http://internetmarketingforums.im4newbies.com/

If you wish to locate a niche forum, just do a search on google, http://www.google.com/ and type in the search box "your subject, forums".

2) Don't get caught up in the hype! I wish that I would have taken my own advice. I have only been online for a couple of months now and I have spend thousands of dollars buying into the promises of overnight success. I would eagerly await my "Promise of Financial Freedom" to be downloaded only to find disappointment once again, the magic formula didn't exist.

Of course the only ones becoming the overnight success are the marketers cashing in their monthly cheques. I am smarter than that (I keep telling myself that I am) and yet late at night when I've read the millionth sales letter, I find myself pulling out the ole charge card and hitting that "buy now" button. I can't blame anybody but myself, these marketers are speaking to my desire to get rich quick.

It is said in the industry, that the easiest person to sell to is a sales person themselves. I don't know why that is, but I certainly fall into that category. I would sugget that you sleep on it before you make the decision to "buy now". Does this product or e-book help you right now, does it fill the gap in your education right now, does it move you forward right now.

These sales letters are very good at touching the right emotions and they are all designed to make you feel that if you don't buy in the next 3 seconds then the opportunity will be gone forever and you will completely fail if you don't buy their products.

Trust me, I have more e-books and software sitting on my computer than I can possibly know what to do with. I have purshcased more than 5 offline programs which have enough reading material to keep me on the throne for the next 12 years. The problem when you buy so much ahead of your learning curve, you will shelve it and then forget it, what a waste of money, n'es pas?

What's the moral here? I started out without any idea of where I was going, I had no business plan, I was a cork bobbing in the ocean and my business was going nowhere fast. I spent all of my time buying and then buying and then buying with the thought that the next purchase would unlock my keys to more wealth than I could imagine. Guess what, I have put the charge cards away, I am looking over the information that I already own and I am now getting down to the business of starting my on-line business. One small step at a time.

3) Don't expect overnight success. The more I delve into this business, and the more that I read from the true "gurus" the more I know in my heart that their advice is the only right path to follow. It takes a tremendous amount of time to build any bricks and mortar business, so why should online be any different.

If you are desperate and need money and think that you don't have to do any work then I will tell you outright, you are chasing rainbows. Do not get caught up in the over-inflated claims of overnight riches, this will only slow you down and take your energy away from building the kind of business that will financially give you the independance that you are seeking.

4) Do decide to become an affiliate marketer, do decide to produce your own e-product, do decide to sell auctions on e-bay, do decide to become a wholesale dropshipper, do decide to pursue making money with blogging. Just Don't do them all at once.

This is the biggest mistake I have made, I am trying to learn erything at once, all of the aspects of each and every one of these streams and I am making myself crazy. I am confusing myself, but worst of all I am getting nowhere with any of them. I have slowed down and am going to focus on just one until it is up and running and making me some money.

I am focussing on blogging with affiliate marketing because for me, it makes the most sense. I sell other peoples products with none of the expensive overhead involved and other people take care of all aspects of dealing with the customers. I only need to drive traffic to these sites.

I have opted to try the marriage of affiliate marketing with blogs because, again there is no cost associated with blogging. It is totally free. I have my blogs set up at blogspot.com and I highly suggest that you check them out. The process is so simple, I had my first blog up and running in five minutes. Of course adding content is the time consuming thing but any site would require the same efforts.

If you are considering affiliate marketing there are some great free resources available. Just go to my link at the end of this article and you will find a growing list of free resources that I am adding continually. The one resouce that I would highly recommend you purchase and that I personally own is also listed on my site. This marketer is considered "the super affiliate"and this resource has proved invaluable to me.

5) Follow only one, possibly two gurus. When you are reading and listening to the advice of too many people you get bogged down with information overload. You will also get conflicting advice and this again can confuse the heck out or you.

You can check out the forums again to see who your peers are recommending. I suggest that you sign up for a few newsletters to see whose style you like and to see if they are providing value to your business. I know that the big thing now is to pay to join membership sites, and I think that this is a good thing (I have joined a few myself) but in the beginning if money is tight, there are plenty of excellent free newsletters. For a list of who I belong to just visit my site below and source the article "My Top Picks for Newsletters". I made the mistake when I first came online of joining far too many newsletters and now I am dealing with e-mail hell. (that's a subject for another article)

I want to leave you with the knowledge that you are not alone if you are suffering from "Information Overload Syndrome" and I would love to hear from you. Just visit my blogsite and leave your comments to share with all of my readers. Together, we will overcome this dreaded syndrome and come out wealthy, healthy and wise.

"Teachers Open the Door, but your must enter yourself" - chinese proverb

About the Author: 30+ years experience as an offline marketing/sales professional, a life coach and mentor. A professional customer service trainer, author, and speaker

Jackie Bigford
Internet Marketing for Newbies