Internet Marketing Is A Legitimate Business Model.

[scotty M]

Hey guys, I haven't posted in awhile. I've been busy with work, other stuff, ect.

A quick comment on the forum change, I don't like it, but it's looking better than I expected it to, I'm glad the mods have been willing to listen to some of our suggestions. I haven't had time to post recently but the changes won't keep me from coming back.

The main reason I posted this is because of a comment that I read from a mod in another thread. I don't think it's meant to be an insult to the forum, but I don't think he really understood what he was saying here.

[ QUOTE ]
"I don't necessarily think no one "has what it takes" to make a very popular website. You post was laughable because it was just so self-indulgent. Also, as much as you might think that people are trying to make "the next big [whatever]" most people can't stop talking about making a new blog with a new adsense trick. That's not going to be the next big anything.

I don't know that there's any way to really put a firm set of guidelines on it, but I would definitely bet that no one from this forum "hits it big" in the next year."

[/ QUOTE ]

If he's saying no one from this forum isn't going to make the next digg or myspace in the next year, I'd definitely agree. But what a lot of people don't understand about internet marketing is that it's perfectly reasonable to make $10k a month or more without having to find "the next big thing."

I guess it depends on your definition of "hitting it big", but I'd say that there a plenty of people on this forum who are intelligent enough to make 100k+ this year via internet marketing if they just put in the time and effort.

People make a killing off of building websites dedicated to promoting one product for one company. Ebay, Amazon, Blockbuster, and Eloan are just a few examples of companies that affiliates promote and make tons of money with.

If you're serious about learning this stuff, and spend the time to research the ins and outs of the business, it's perfectly reasonable to obtain a 100% ROI every single month for any advertising that you pay for. Spend 10k, make 20k, happens every day, and it's not rocket science.

So, to make serious money online, you don't need a popular website or an idea for the next big thing. You just need to learn what it takes to identify products that have profit potential and learn how to grab your share of the market. Having some money for PPC and other advertising definitely helps, but with a little SEO knowledge it's not a requirement either.

I agree that the adsense and blog questions get old, but everyone has to start somewhere. If you sign up to one of the more prominent internet marketing forums, and your first post is "What's wordpress?" You're going to get flamed, and you probably won't want to go back.

That's one of the things that makes this forum nice, people can ask beginner questions and most of the time they won't get insulted for it.

In further defense of internet marketing as a legitimate business model, I'd say that it can be a far more reliable source of income, and the income ceiling can be much higher, for a moderately successful internet marketer vs. a wildly successful poker pro. I stole this from a blog, but really, you look at the top players in both games, and the mildly successful players in both games, the people doing internet marketing are going to be raking in more cash on both counts. And they don't even have to worry about those annoying 100bb downswings.

Sorry for the rant. I think the forum change will turn out better than I had expected though. I've been browsing some of the new threads, I'd love to hear how the new forum project is coming along.

Good luck,

-Scott

P.S. Because I know it will be asked. Do I make $10k a month via internet marketing? No. I just got started with this stuff during the first forum project. I'm also extremely busy with my day job. But, I've learned a lot, and I've been lucky enough to come into contact online and off with people who are making this type of money. It's not easy, but like I said, it's not exactly rocket science, and it's more common than many people think it is.

[SanONeill]

My day job is a developer for one of the largest affiliate networks and I can second this. Our biggest earners aren't the Diggs and Myspaces of the world. They are more often then not people you've never heard of "One guy in his basement" operations doing just what you described. And these people are making just as much money as the big sites if not more profit.

[scotty M]

Just another quick note, it's also a pretty freakin' cool business model.

Where else can you be an insurance salesman, mortgage broker, porn king, stock broker, casino mogul, business broker, pretty much anything you want to be, all at the same time, without going insane?

Try doing that in '80's, it really is a gold mine of an opportunity.