nue my story. So, off I went on my new venture. I eagerly read the information that I had just bought, along with lots of other advice and guidance from internet marketers. Many recommended additional software that would make selling on the web more effective. I took their advice and bought some of the products they championed, for example a programme for making attractive website banners, and another that promised to produce amazingly effective sales pages for the website that I was to produce. However, the banners I made were far from attractive and when I sought advice from tThis is the story of a novice internet marketer who has spent a miserable, frustrating and expensive twelve months learning the lessons of selling on the internet – the hard way! However, he believes that he has turned the corner and is now looking forward to, at least modest, future profits. That person is me, and I would like to share my experiences with you in the hope that your journey will be less painful than mine. I am certainly not suggesting that the lessons I learnt are definitive, nor will they apply to every one else who embarks on a campaign of internet marketing. I am merely recounting what happened to me and the problems I encountered.

My journey started in November 2004 when I attended a conference with a speaker who was, by his own admission, an internet millionaire. He, like me, was a professional speaker but he had diversified into selling his products and services to this world-wide market. Like many of my colleagues, I had previously heard bits and pieces about internet marketing and I was hungry to learn more. It is true to say that I was captivated by his story and, especially, by the rich pickings that he said were out there on the net, for relatively little time and expense. ‘Make money in your sleep’ was a phrase he used. I was inspired – well, who wouldn’t be by the prospect of working at home for a few hours a day whilst watching the money flow in 24/7! I bought his pack of tutorials, ebooks, CDs etc for $500 – my first investment in this Brave New World.

Interestingly, I write this article the day after attending another meeting that had a speaker again telling us how easy it is to make serious money on the internet. Whilst I do not doubt that such people indeed do make a very good living for relatively little effort, believe me, it is not easy! Making money selling products or information on the net is not a quick fix! Like any new business (for that is what it is), it takes time and effort to learn all its intricacies. Unless you have a product that people want to buy; a web site that sells it effectively; and a means of driving lots of people to it, you will end up throwing good money after bad. Hence my first lesson

Lesson No 1. Do not believe all you hear from internet experts who tell you how easy it is to make your fortune. It isn’t!

Let me continue my story. So, off I went on my new venture. I eagerly read the information that I had just bought, along with lots of other advice and guidance from internet marketers. Many recommended additional software that would make selling on the web more effective. I took their advice and bought some of the products they championed, for example a programme for making attractive website banners, and another that promised to produce amazingly effective sales pages for the website that I was to produce. However, the banners I made were far from attractive and when I sought advice from th

merely recounting what happened to me and the problems I encountered.

My journey started in November 2004 when I attended a conference with a speaker who was, by his own admission, an internet millionaire. He, like me, was a professional speaker but he had diversified into selling his products and services to this world-wide market. Like many of my colleagues, I had previously heard bits and pieces about internet marketing and I was hungry to learn more. It is true to say that I was captivated by his story and, especially, by the rich pickings that he said were out there on the net, for relatively little time and expense. ‘Make money in your sleep’ was a phrase he used. I was inspired – well, who wouldn’t be by the prospect of working at home for a few hours a day whilst watching the money flow in 24/7! I bought his pack of tutorials, ebooks, CDs etc for $500 – my first investment in this Brave New World.

Interestingly, I write this article the day after attending another meeting that had a speaker again telling us how easy it is to make serious money on the internet. Whilst I do not doubt that such people indeed do make a very good living for relatively little effort, believe me, it is not easy! Making money selling products or information on the net is not a quick fix! Like any new business (for that is what it is), it takes time and effort to learn all its intricacies. Unless you have a product that people want to buy; a web site that sells it effectively; and a means of driving lots of people to it, you will end up throwing good money after bad. Hence my first lesson

Lesson No 1. Do not believe all you hear from internet experts who tell you how easy it is to make your fortune. It isn’t!

Let me continue my story. So, off I went on my new venture. I eagerly read the information that I had just bought, along with lots of other advice and guidance from internet marketers. Many recommended additional software that would make selling on the web more effective. I took their advice and bought some of the products they championed, for example a programme for making attractive website banners, and another that promised to produce amazingly effective sales pages for the website that I was to produce. However, the banners I made were far from attractive and when I sought advice from t

the net, for relatively little time and expense. ‘Make money in your sleep’ was a phrase he used. I was inspired – well, who wouldn’t be by the prospect of working at home for a few hours a day whilst watching the money flow in 24/7! I bought his pack of tutorials, ebooks, CDs etc for $500 – my first investment in this Brave New World.

Interestingly, I write this article the day after attending another meeting that had a speaker again telling us how easy it is to make serious money on the internet. Whilst I do not doubt that such people indeed do make a very good living for relatively little effort, believe me, it is not easy! Making money selling products or information on the net is not a quick fix! Like any new business (for that is what it is), it takes time and effort to learn all its intricacies. Unless you have a product that people want to buy; a web site that sells it effectively; and a means of driving lots of people to it, you will end up throwing good money after bad. Hence my first lesson

Lesson No 1. Do not believe all you hear from internet experts who tell you how easy it is to make your fortune. It isn’t!

Let me continue my story. So, off I went on my new venture. I eagerly read the information that I had just bought, along with lots of other advice and guidance from internet marketers. Many recommended additional software that would make selling on the web more effective. I took their advice and bought some of the products they championed, for example a programme for making attractive website banners, and another that promised to produce amazingly effective sales pages for the website that I was to produce. However, the banners I made were far from attractive and when I sought advice from t

relatively little effort, believe me, it is not easy! Making money selling products or information on the net is not a quick fix! Like any new business (for that is what it is), it takes time and effort to learn all its intricacies. Unless you have a product that people want to buy; a web site that sells it effectively; and a means of driving lots of people to it, you will end up throwing good money after bad. Hence my first lesson

Lesson No 1. Do not believe all you hear from internet experts who tell you how easy it is to make your fortune. It isn’t!

Let me continue my story. So, off I went on my new venture. I eagerly read the information that I had just bought, along with lots of other advice and guidance from internet marketers. Many recommended additional software that would make selling on the web more effective. I took their advice and bought some of the products they championed, for example a programme for making attractive website banners, and another that promised to produce amazingly effective sales pages for the website that I was to produce. However, the banners I made were far from attractive and when I sought advice from t

nue my story. So, off I went on my new venture. I eagerly read the information that I had just bought, along with lots of other advice and guidance from internet marketers. Many recommended additional software that would make selling on the web more effective. I took their advice and bought some of the products they championed, for example a programme for making attractive website banners, and another that promised to produce amazingly effective sales pages for the website that I was to produce. However, the banners I made were far from attractive and when I sought advice from the company I bought the software from, they failed to reply. As for the sales page generator, it did teach me some good lessons but was far too inflexible and restrictive so I soon reverted to writing my own copy.

What I did not realise at the time was that the internet marketers who were recommending these products were affiliates: they received a commission from every sale resulting from their recommendation. I now know that affiliate marketing is big business and can produce significant income flows. In fact, let me put my cards on the table: I am going to recommend two products to you later in this article and I will gain a commission if you take my advice. However, these are products that I truly believe in and have been extremely helpful to me. I believe that they are worth every cent to someone serious about making money. You can, of course, take my word for that, or not. At least I have been up-front about it!

Lesson No 2. Beware of advice from ‘experts’ who may be more interested in making money as an affiliate than in helping you.

Of course, to make money in any business you have to have a product that people want to buy. What was I going to sell? Well, I have always been fascinated by quotes – words of wisdom from those who can add so much meaning in so few words. Indeed, my first book is entitled ‘Leadership Quote Unquote’ and contains a host of quotes from, as my publisher added to the book cover, ‘world figures – the famous, the infamous and the downright dastardly!’

Imagine my excitement when I researched how many people were looking for quotes on the internet. Google estimated that over 5,000 people every day searched for an appropriate quote. I estimated that if I sold my book for $25 and one in a hundred people who clicked on my website bought my book, I would make $369,014 profit a year. Wow! Even if only a modest one in three hundred bought it I would still make $61,684. Wouldn’t you be excited by that income earning potential?

To cut a long story short, whilst lots of people do regularly seek out appropriate quotes, I now know that very few are prepared to pay for them! Why should they, when they can get them for free on other websites? I am now just about breaking even with this particular campaign – a situation I am prepared to accept for the time be