Why? Because my answer is so straight forward...



The answer is "Of course it is...in fact it's possible to make money offline, in the desert, in outerspace and on Mars"

Sounds kinda weird I know, but let me explain. Most of us already know that making money online is not a myth, but yet we still have those doubts due to poor results or whatever the current excuse might be.

The TRUTH is, that making money online is no different to how people made money 100 years ago. The simple fact is that in order to be a successful internet marketer, we all need a few things in place, a few basic principles if you like...

1. A plan

It's not a good idea to spend all your time, money and effort in something that will "fall off the bandwagon" in 6 months time. In order to settle with a nice consistent paycheck each month, we need a plan of action. This could be something like...

step 1. find a desperate market that uses the internet a lot

step 2. find a product that they will want

step 3. sell that product to them

step 4. send "x" amount of emails that do nothing but help them with their problems and provide extra support for the product they have already bought through your affiliate link

step 5. survey your customers and ask them what else they would like to know (in exchange for a free copy of your upcoming product)

step 6. pay someone to create that product and put it up online

step 7. tell your existing customers that the product is available

step 8. offer an upsell

step 9. repeat steps 4 - 8 for 12 months whilst bringing in new prospects through article marketing and other common methods

That's a basic plan, but it's better to have it there in front of you so that you know what you should be working on each day.

But even then, we all know that even with a basic overall plan like that, that money is still not guaranteed. That comes down to one thing only...research.

If I knew that a market was desperate for a certain solution to a certain problem, and I knew where they hung out...don't you think that I would (as a marketing entrepreneur) do everything in my power (including paying people) to create that solution and go and present it to them?

Of course I would. It beats the heck out of guessing your way through and "hoping" that people will buy. End of the day, don't reinvent the wheel, just make it go faster...just like all those sports car companies do all the time (and make millions every month doing so)

The next problem we face is the FAILURE ITESELF to deliver products or services that people will want...even if we know what to deliver to our market. Let me explain...

Even if we KNOW what our market wants, it can still be a little daunting to create a product that meets their needs.

You can of course outsource your product creation. But in order to oursource anything, you better be damn sure that people will want it.

Moral of that...Do your research first before paying someone to create a product for you ! More prominently, did you realize that the very screen you're looking at right now has the ability to display information that can make you a millionaire?

I am talking about your ability to tap into the world's largest source of information...the internet.

You see, we are all guilty of spending waaay too much time in forums and end up asking questions we could have googled in 1 min flat and got ourselves an answer...

...yet we continue to be slaves to comfort and reassurance. The reassurance of a community (which is great, but you need to be working flat out to really kick your business into overdrive, so floating around forums in the day is NOT a good idea)

What I am leading to here is what we, as internet marketers should be embracing and exploiting everyday...

INFORMATION

It's the stuff that can make you a $1500 WSO, a lifetime niche business, an expert at seminars...you name it, INFORMATION is the lifeblood to wealth...whether you're selling it or just plain using it to sell more of a product.

Information is the gold. But why am I stating such an obvious point? Well, here's a real life example of why...

I just did a few searches on google, then ended up drilling down to some linked websites. I was lokking for a particular piece of information.

I was patient, calm and attentive. I wanted that info and I was damn sure that SOMEONE had published it online (everything about anything is available online folks).

So,

I found the information I was looking for, plus to my suprise I found some golden info that I could use for a new eBook/video/report/WSO...whatever..

This info is set to make me a few extra thousand per year, just from a simple search (that should be encouraging to all of those failing SEO people who can't make it to the front page of Google...I found my gold on Youtube and the 3rd page of Google...)

The ultimate point is, are you trying to push dead donkeys or are you learning things that can seperate you from the competition? The more stuff you know, the better off you will be. Even if it's something obscure, you can still hand it to other people for profit.

When it comes to internet marketing, don't just think of yourself as some wannabe expert or whatever...

...instead, think of yourself as an "information broker".

Just like you ignorantly pass hundreds of houses a day when looking for a new home, people plough through hundreds of websites and links each day, looking for the whole piece to their solution.

Why not be their "researcher", and gather all that info together (spending a few hours doing so) and then package it as if they MUST buy it and NEED the solution because it WILL MAKE THEIR LIVES BETTER and will SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS and SAVE THEM TIME. I hope you've been paying attention...I won't say it again ;-)

One final point...

How many times have you been told to do something like "put up a squidoo lens, write an article, test your copy etc?" Yet, out of all those things you have been told, how many have you HONESTLY implemented?

Well, I'm sure many of you will say "none", or "a few". Which leads me on to the entire point of this post...

If your excuse to why you haven't done all those things is because of your lack of time, then you're not running a business... You see, all you are doing is filling your spare time with labour that ultimately leads to labour related income...

You see, a real business will sacrifice profits for investment in outsourcing. Areal business PERSON will understand that this internet marketing stuff requires AT LEAST 8 hours per day to see any near future results.

If you continue to work at this part time, you will ultimately see

part time results.

The reality is that this business, for the early part (just like any other type of business) requires extra hours and significant learning curves. You either cut your losses and go full bore into this stuff, or you accept second rate income for working part time hours.

Once you take the leap and truly commit, your income will reflect that. At which stage, you CAN invest in outworkers to develop new sites, new copy and test results for you etc.

Until then, treat it like any kind of start up business. Just because you're working at home in your homer simpson boxer shorts DOES NOT mean that you are a success.

Bite the grit and for god's sake, get some work done.