Many fortunes have been made selling business blueprints on how to make money through internet marketing. I know, because I have personally contributed to those fortunes! But I have a big problem with these business blueprints. In fact, I have many issues with business blueprints. Here is just ONE of them. The whole marketing approach for selling a business blueprint is to convince the site visitor that "this is THE fastest, easiest way to make money: no-one in their right minds would do anything different". Of course, that's what the person promoting the product is supposed to do. I don't expect them to have an impartial, dispationate viewpoint. But the fact is - it's their job to keep your mind closed and to stop you thinking for yourself! The very LAST thing they want is for you to look at the bigger picture and examine all the options available to you. Whereas, that is, in fact, the very FIRST thing that you DO need to do! There are many, many ways to make an income online, and it's just foolish to jump into anything without really examining your options. Sure, it's great to have a "take action!" attitude and we all understand about the dangers of paralysis by analysis. But too many people jump in, take action, then decide against it, then take other action, then decide against that, and on and on. So step back and understand the bigger picture. Examine all the ways to make an online income and then match them to what YOU are capable of, what YOU are interested in. It's important to NOT be suckered in by a slick sales pitch that fulfills someone else's agenda, but to define and stick to YOUR agenda. And when you look at the options available to you, be creative! By which, I don't just mean "look at many niches". "Niche marketing" itself is just ONE approach to making money online. Affiliate marketing, PPC, Adsense, blogging, product development, eBay, .... the list of options is huge, and actually it's much bigger than you probably realise. In the rather introverted, self-referential world of "internet marketing", we are constantly having the same few ideas re-cyled and re-hashed. Just look around the Web and see what's going on from a businessperson's perspective, and you'll begin to see many new ideas that aren't on the radar for most people. So, my advice is to take a step back, and:
  • Understand the context - all the options available to you
  • Understand yourself - you goals, abilities, strengths, weaknesses
  • ... then put them together and choose your path carefully!
I hope that's helpful. This is one of themes that I'll be expanding on in a forthcoming service / site about being an "online professional". If this topic interests you, please register here to stay informed of how our ideas develop. (You won't get lots of extraneous promotions by doing this, so please make sure you use your primary email address!)
Also, I Twitter a lot! Follow me there: http://AlexGoodall.com/twitter

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!