Newbies, Begin Here: Internet Marketing for the Newbies and Beyond
- Thread starter Toz
- Start date
- Oct 24, 2011
- 3,227
- 3,630
As we're nearing the end of 2016, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts with you guys, as well as a "sort of" method to help you obtain the results you desire...
2 years later, I still firmly believe in everything I said, back then. Guys, I want you to read the following two sentences, over and over. Read them out loud. Shout them. Shout them with a smile on your face:
Sentence #1: Internet Marketing is hard.
Sentence #2: Internet Marketing is easy.
So why am I asking you to smile?
I'm asking you to smile, so that you won't feel so badly about the next thing I'm going to ask you to do. Keep reading. I'm going to go into a bit of a tangent, so feel free to skip ahead if you don't feel like reading the non-IM stuff. I'll change font colors when it's time to return to topic.
A bit of a backstory about myself. First off, my name is Jeremy, for those who don't know, and I'm addicted to my computer. I have been since I was 13 years old and had just gotten in trouble from throwing a rock into the window of my favorite neighborhood pizza place and my mom kicked my ass and grounded me for the first time.
Not sure where you're from, but in the United States of America, we have this game that children play, where they will dare you to do something. If it's a regular dare, you don't really need to do it. It's not a serious dare. Shrug it off. However, if someone Double-Dog Dares you to do something, it's starting to get serious, and you're considered a coward if you don't do whatever it is that you were Double-Dog Dared to do.
The rock flying through the window, was the direct result of a Triple-Dog Dare.
So again, my mom kicked my ass, and told me I was unable to watch TV, until further notice. That notice came about a year later, but by then, I had no desire to watch TV, to be totally honest, I still don't. Heck, we didn't have cable, anyway, so I didn't really miss out on much.
But she did have a Gateway computer, running Microsoft Windows 95. Yep. We had a modem, but I had no idea what it was or what it did. So I was basically offline, for about the first month of my computer use. There was really nothing to do on the computer, aside from games of Solitaire and Minesweeper. I eventually started to win at both, and wanted something different.
Before the days of Wikipedia, we had the Encarta Encyclopedia on CD. I popped it in, followed the prompts, and had it installed. There was information about so much stuff. I was reading as much as I could and completely fascinated by the wealth of information about everything. I became such a nerd. I eventually finished it, but somewhere along the way, I noticed a CD that said America Online 2.5, that was just sitting there, with it's majestic looking triangular shape. Like with the encyclopedia, I installed this new software.
There was one difference, regarding this software. It wanted me to tell it who I am. I created my Screen Name, and then heard a sound that I'd never heard before. It was the sound of our 33.6Kbps modem. I can still hear it, as if it were yesterday. From that very first, "Welcome. You've Got Mail!", my life had changed, forever.
I remember entering my very first chatroom, called WWF. I was a huge fan of professional wrestling, and there was a guy that noticed me enter. Shortly thereafter, I lost my connection. I logged back in and rejoined the chatroom. I received an instant message from a guy, followed by another and another and another, and again, I was logged off. I remembered his screen name, and entered the chat again, with the intention of asking him how he kept kicking me offline, but was too slow. He did it again.
The next time I logged on, rather than entering the chatroom, I sent him an instant message, asking him how he was doing it. His reply? "lol". And then he did it again. I had no clue about what "lol" meant. This was 1995, after all. After a few more punts, I changed my question. Rather than asking him HOW he did it, I asked him WHY he did it. His response was different. He told me he was doing it because he could. That was it. There was no other reason.
This same guy went on to become one of my best online buddies, for a while, and he'd remained the only person on my AOL Buddy List, for about 3 months. He told me he'd created a program with Visual Basic 3.0, and that it was the only way it could be done. He sent me an email with Visual Basic 3.0, some .bas and source files. Then he told me to figure it out. And I did. I ended up teaching myself how to write code, and became the next asshole in the chatrooms, kicking people offline.
The point of this story, is that my life didn't change until I changed my approach. This is where many of you are, with regards to Internet Marketing. It's frustrating when you're pouring your all into a project and not actually SEEING any results. I'm sure every single one of us that have ever received any results from what we do online, can all tell you the same thing. I'm sure we can all tell you stories of the countless amounts of hours we've virtually worked for free, online.
There's a book, by Simon Sinek, called, "Start With Why", that talks about how important it is for people to have discovered their "why", prior to beginning their journey. During your journey, you must always remember that "why", and ensure that everyone else knows it, as well. Stay with your "why", and allow it to guide you through your journey, whatever it may be.
This is so very true for working online, as there will be TONS of things that will try to derail you -- including the people closest to you. Sometimes, you may be the only person in your corner. And that's fine. You should always have your back. Always. But you've also got something else. You've got BlackHatWorld. We're far from perfect, but we are one badass community. This place has been one of my digital homes, for years. Even for years before I created my account, I loved this place. I still do.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that things won't always go your way. Sometimes your back will be against the wall and progress will come, slowly. You'll often hear people telling you to take action, and the next likely question will be, "what action do I take?". If this is what you're thinking, then let me tell you your thinking is wrong. That's the approach of a person that will not receive a good answer.
Take any actions that you feel would be beneficial to you and what you're trying to accomplish. If you've been reading around BHW for some time, then you actually do know what to do. The question is, are you just too lazy to start doing it? Are you too lazy to keep doing it?
I recently started what I want to become an authority website, and though I've started working on the site, I'm not seeing any results in the SERPs. The site averages about $5/day, but I'm not in the top 100 for anything. Every so often, the site will make over $50 in a day, but again, I'm not even ranking, yet. By running a Bing Ads campaign, to test the profitability of the site, I can see that all will be great, once I do start ranking, and I allow those results to motivate me to work the next day. Remember, you may have to motivate yourself. You know what to do, so go do it.
Build a Wordpress or Blogger site. Add quality content to it, and then leave a contextual homepage link to your money site, on this site. Search for forum breadcrumbs and create an account on a relevant forum, and post a few insightful posts without links, over the course of a couple days. Then, post an informative post, one day, and include a link to your money site. You know what to do, so go do it.
Give it time. As mentioned before, you will work many hours for free, especially if you're doing things, correctly. All I ask, is that you don't give up before you succeed. How long should you give it? Go read the initial post of this thread.
So do you remember that next thing I want to ask you to do?
I want you to put the biggest, goofiest smile on your face, and then yell as loud as you can, "I FEEL GREAT!" Notice that for a moment, you actually do begin to feel great. Now go write some content, tweet, post, share, etc. Go do something productive, while you're feeling great. Yelling this, costs nothing, but it allows you to gain so much. Create content, then focus on your Income Producing Activities (IPAs).
In IM, your attitude is everything.
2 years later, I still firmly believe in everything I said, back then. Guys, I want you to read the following two sentences, over and over. Read them out loud. Shout them. Shout them with a smile on your face:
Sentence #1: Internet Marketing is hard.
Sentence #2: Internet Marketing is easy.
So why am I asking you to smile?
I'm asking you to smile, so that you won't feel so badly about the next thing I'm going to ask you to do. Keep reading. I'm going to go into a bit of a tangent, so feel free to skip ahead if you don't feel like reading the non-IM stuff. I'll change font colors when it's time to return to topic.
A bit of a backstory about myself. First off, my name is Jeremy, for those who don't know, and I'm addicted to my computer. I have been since I was 13 years old and had just gotten in trouble from throwing a rock into the window of my favorite neighborhood pizza place and my mom kicked my ass and grounded me for the first time.
Not sure where you're from, but in the United States of America, we have this game that children play, where they will dare you to do something. If it's a regular dare, you don't really need to do it. It's not a serious dare. Shrug it off. However, if someone Double-Dog Dares you to do something, it's starting to get serious, and you're considered a coward if you don't do whatever it is that you were Double-Dog Dared to do.
The rock flying through the window, was the direct result of a Triple-Dog Dare.
So again, my mom kicked my ass, and told me I was unable to watch TV, until further notice. That notice came about a year later, but by then, I had no desire to watch TV, to be totally honest, I still don't. Heck, we didn't have cable, anyway, so I didn't really miss out on much.
But she did have a Gateway computer, running Microsoft Windows 95. Yep. We had a modem, but I had no idea what it was or what it did. So I was basically offline, for about the first month of my computer use. There was really nothing to do on the computer, aside from games of Solitaire and Minesweeper. I eventually started to win at both, and wanted something different.
Before the days of Wikipedia, we had the Encarta Encyclopedia on CD. I popped it in, followed the prompts, and had it installed. There was information about so much stuff. I was reading as much as I could and completely fascinated by the wealth of information about everything. I became such a nerd. I eventually finished it, but somewhere along the way, I noticed a CD that said America Online 2.5, that was just sitting there, with it's majestic looking triangular shape. Like with the encyclopedia, I installed this new software.
There was one difference, regarding this software. It wanted me to tell it who I am. I created my Screen Name, and then heard a sound that I'd never heard before. It was the sound of our 33.6Kbps modem. I can still hear it, as if it were yesterday. From that very first, "Welcome. You've Got Mail!", my life had changed, forever.
I remember entering my very first chatroom, called WWF. I was a huge fan of professional wrestling, and there was a guy that noticed me enter. Shortly thereafter, I lost my connection. I logged back in and rejoined the chatroom. I received an instant message from a guy, followed by another and another and another, and again, I was logged off. I remembered his screen name, and entered the chat again, with the intention of asking him how he kept kicking me offline, but was too slow. He did it again.
The next time I logged on, rather than entering the chatroom, I sent him an instant message, asking him how he was doing it. His reply? "lol". And then he did it again. I had no clue about what "lol" meant. This was 1995, after all. After a few more punts, I changed my question. Rather than asking him HOW he did it, I asked him WHY he did it. His response was different. He told me he was doing it because he could. That was it. There was no other reason.
This same guy went on to become one of my best online buddies, for a while, and he'd remained the only person on my AOL Buddy List, for about 3 months. He told me he'd created a program with Visual Basic 3.0, and that it was the only way it could be done. He sent me an email with Visual Basic 3.0, some .bas and source files. Then he told me to figure it out. And I did. I ended up teaching myself how to write code, and became the next asshole in the chatrooms, kicking people offline.
The point of this story, is that my life didn't change until I changed my approach. This is where many of you are, with regards to Internet Marketing. It's frustrating when you're pouring your all into a project and not actually SEEING any results. I'm sure every single one of us that have ever received any results from what we do online, can all tell you the same thing. I'm sure we can all tell you stories of the countless amounts of hours we've virtually worked for free, online.
There's a book, by Simon Sinek, called, "Start With Why", that talks about how important it is for people to have discovered their "why", prior to beginning their journey. During your journey, you must always remember that "why", and ensure that everyone else knows it, as well. Stay with your "why", and allow it to guide you through your journey, whatever it may be.
This is so very true for working online, as there will be TONS of things that will try to derail you -- including the people closest to you. Sometimes, you may be the only person in your corner. And that's fine. You should always have your back. Always. But you've also got something else. You've got BlackHatWorld. We're far from perfect, but we are one badass community. This place has been one of my digital homes, for years. Even for years before I created my account, I loved this place. I still do.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that things won't always go your way. Sometimes your back will be against the wall and progress will come, slowly. You'll often hear people telling you to take action, and the next likely question will be, "what action do I take?". If this is what you're thinking, then let me tell you your thinking is wrong. That's the approach of a person that will not receive a good answer.
Take any actions that you feel would be beneficial to you and what you're trying to accomplish. If you've been reading around BHW for some time, then you actually do know what to do. The question is, are you just too lazy to start doing it? Are you too lazy to keep doing it?
I recently started what I want to become an authority website, and though I've started working on the site, I'm not seeing any results in the SERPs. The site averages about $5/day, but I'm not in the top 100 for anything. Every so often, the site will make over $50 in a day, but again, I'm not even ranking, yet. By running a Bing Ads campaign, to test the profitability of the site, I can see that all will be great, once I do start ranking, and I allow those results to motivate me to work the next day. Remember, you may have to motivate yourself. You know what to do, so go do it.
Build a Wordpress or Blogger site. Add quality content to it, and then leave a contextual homepage link to your money site, on this site. Search for forum breadcrumbs and create an account on a relevant forum, and post a few insightful posts without links, over the course of a couple days. Then, post an informative post, one day, and include a link to your money site. You know what to do, so go do it.
Give it time. As mentioned before, you will work many hours for free, especially if you're doing things, correctly. All I ask, is that you don't give up before you succeed. How long should you give it? Go read the initial post of this thread.
So do you remember that next thing I want to ask you to do?
I want you to put the biggest, goofiest smile on your face, and then yell as loud as you can, "I FEEL GREAT!" Notice that for a moment, you actually do begin to feel great. Now go write some content, tweet, post, share, etc. Go do something productive, while you're feeling great. Yelling this, costs nothing, but it allows you to gain so much. Create content, then focus on your Income Producing Activities (IPAs).
In IM, your attitude is everything.
MatteoMatt
Regular Member
- Sep 28, 2016
- 389
- 293
Im glad I found this post, any new marketer needs to read this shit. Ill give a BRIEF history as not to hijack the thread.
I started IM in 2008, I was just like that guy, always addicted to the computer, finally learned to build websites and got into internet money. My first stint involved spending 6 months making a badass Starcraft 2 website years before it came out, but I was dreaming of fast money and it wasn't going to happen there. Looking back im not sad i abandoned that project, but if I had just built it and waited and worked on it I could be making some steady money still.
2010 - 2013 I made money, mostly in 2010, and took advantage of my skills in website making I developed there. I made about 20 to 30k in CPA spamming, but ALL my methods were shady and short term, and when it came to building an actual niche website I never did, I spammed and surfed forums. In the end it ended in failure, as I got addicted to drugs in the meantime and had to go to rehab. I knew money was there, but had lost interest.
Fast forward to 2016, I started writing a book about my experiences in addiction and it sparked the IM flare back up. I had thought about it over the last 3 years, but also thought I had missed my chance at true success. I had always dreamed of doing IM full time, I love it.
Of course I went right back to my old CPA spam method, which works but at the same time it would take some effort to get going and it was still a shady method, keep in mind it is unlikely that method has the capacity to actually make me a full time living. So I got temporarily distracted with that for the last month, but also kept working on my e-books projects (I plan to have at least 10 to 15 in about 6 months, and already have 2).
So heres what I mean by all this, I got super over ecited to get back into CPA spam, but the truth is I have way better ways to spend my time in Internet Marketing. Sometimes you gotta do what this guy is doing, and work on a niche site or project that might not succeed instantly. It takes some time to build up a business in internet marketing, and the best lesson I learned is not to sacrifice long term gains for short term money.
I started IM in 2008, I was just like that guy, always addicted to the computer, finally learned to build websites and got into internet money. My first stint involved spending 6 months making a badass Starcraft 2 website years before it came out, but I was dreaming of fast money and it wasn't going to happen there. Looking back im not sad i abandoned that project, but if I had just built it and waited and worked on it I could be making some steady money still.
2010 - 2013 I made money, mostly in 2010, and took advantage of my skills in website making I developed there. I made about 20 to 30k in CPA spamming, but ALL my methods were shady and short term, and when it came to building an actual niche website I never did, I spammed and surfed forums. In the end it ended in failure, as I got addicted to drugs in the meantime and had to go to rehab. I knew money was there, but had lost interest.
Fast forward to 2016, I started writing a book about my experiences in addiction and it sparked the IM flare back up. I had thought about it over the last 3 years, but also thought I had missed my chance at true success. I had always dreamed of doing IM full time, I love it.
Of course I went right back to my old CPA spam method, which works but at the same time it would take some effort to get going and it was still a shady method, keep in mind it is unlikely that method has the capacity to actually make me a full time living. So I got temporarily distracted with that for the last month, but also kept working on my e-books projects (I plan to have at least 10 to 15 in about 6 months, and already have 2).
So heres what I mean by all this, I got super over ecited to get back into CPA spam, but the truth is I have way better ways to spend my time in Internet Marketing. Sometimes you gotta do what this guy is doing, and work on a niche site or project that might not succeed instantly. It takes some time to build up a business in internet marketing, and the best lesson I learned is not to sacrifice long term gains for short term money.
- Oct 24, 2011
- 3,227
- 3,630
Very nice share! You're very right about consistancy. People are so quick to give up, with regards to IM (or anything else, really). I'm glad that you returned to IM, to tell your story. Even with spamming, you earned more than $XX,XXX! That's impressive! Continue to add value, while spamming, and people will see you as someone that's not spamming. Rather, they'll see you as an authority -- someone to listen to.
Spam is only spam when people don't connect with you.
Consider that one kid that was kicked out of his school, because people thought he was slow -- an idiot. People wrote him off as being a burden on society. He couldn't even read!
But guess what?
Years later, there was something that people started to notice about this "dumbass". People noticed that he didn't give up, no matter how much he failed. And he failed a LOT!
Let me ask you something...
When was the last time you tried anything 5 times, that you failed at? How about 50 times? 100 times? 500 times? Would you continue trying something AFTER failing 1,000 times?
Well THAT "dumbass" did.
But guess what happened?
AFTER failing 1,000 times, Thomas Edison was finally able to make his bulb successfully produce light.
Because of his failures, we can now walk into a room, flip a switch, and provide light for all to see.
I'm glad you got value from this post. It was written years ago, but still as true today, as it was when written.
MatteoMatt
Regular Member
- Sep 28, 2016
- 389
- 293
Thats real talk man, and the truth is Internet Marketing is an industry where it is very easy to give up, which is why it is so important. I think one of the things that happens is people get sucked in looking for easy money. Nothing feels better than working your ass off to achieve success. Sure easy money is good, but its such a sad story when someone gives up after not making that easy money, when they could have kept grinding and made the hard money too.
Heres another quick example from my current situation. You gotta look at the facts and not be married to one idea or goal. Amazon pays out slow as fuck, money I made in October wont arrive till the end of december, so I was tempted to go for some CPA earnings, because i knew it would be easier and faster.
Until I saw that my amazon books had actually made sales. 16$ worth so not much, but more than the CPA earnings and I had alot more potential in the e-book niche. Its not that i gave up on CPA, I fully intend to spend time on it once I am done with my e-book projects, or if I find a good method. However if I had only been doing CPA, it would probably still be tough going, and it goes to show how hard it can be even after making tons of money back in the day.
I guess to sum it up, id like to say to newer guys not to be married to a method that sucks, but also if it is your only option don't give up on it. Not giving up is important, because it could LITERALLY happen right before the big success.
We all are like scientists on here, examining spam methods under a microscope, but we are all human too.
Psychology is part of marketing and personal wellness. I had alot of spiritual growth as I recovered from drug addiction (sorta) which has given me more tools to use. Meditation is a great example, and positive thinking really does work.
Heres another quick example from my current situation. You gotta look at the facts and not be married to one idea or goal. Amazon pays out slow as fuck, money I made in October wont arrive till the end of december, so I was tempted to go for some CPA earnings, because i knew it would be easier and faster.
Until I saw that my amazon books had actually made sales. 16$ worth so not much, but more than the CPA earnings and I had alot more potential in the e-book niche. Its not that i gave up on CPA, I fully intend to spend time on it once I am done with my e-book projects, or if I find a good method. However if I had only been doing CPA, it would probably still be tough going, and it goes to show how hard it can be even after making tons of money back in the day.
I guess to sum it up, id like to say to newer guys not to be married to a method that sucks, but also if it is your only option don't give up on it. Not giving up is important, because it could LITERALLY happen right before the big success.
We all are like scientists on here, examining spam methods under a microscope, but we are all human too.
Psychology is part of marketing and personal wellness. I had alot of spiritual growth as I recovered from drug addiction (sorta) which has given me more tools to use. Meditation is a great example, and positive thinking really does work.
- Oct 24, 2011
- 3,227
- 3,630
Well said, @MatteoMatt. Many of us have worked our butts off, for hundreds of hours, for free. When we first get started with IM, it is often the allure of easily making duffel bags full of money, quickly. We buy into the hype of push-button systems, and believe the advice of gurus that tell us how quicly we can become filthy rich.
So when we listen to guru after guru, then attempt shiny object after shiny object, we become discouraged after things don't pan out.
Again, it's not necessarily the "guru's" fault. It could be that you don't make the method your own and/or give up too quickly before moving onto the next shiny object.
I like the analogy of not being married to a method that sucks, but also advise not to divorce it, too quickly.
Well said.
So when we listen to guru after guru, then attempt shiny object after shiny object, we become discouraged after things don't pan out.
Again, it's not necessarily the "guru's" fault. It could be that you don't make the method your own and/or give up too quickly before moving onto the next shiny object.
I like the analogy of not being married to a method that sucks, but also advise not to divorce it, too quickly.
Well said.
well im newbie here, i ve read lots of topics, looking around, do some micro actions and it is not going anywhere at the point. at now,i even back to making bitcoin. I feel so tired. Wasting time. I have to study, join in social activities and work part time offline. Now i am sicked in my bed. *Shuff* I dont have any problem with your post, just want to tell something i feel. In short, your topic is very fantastic, truely. I know that you ve spent a lot of hard work to inspire everyone, especially newbie like me and others, but IS THAT HAVE THE MOTIVATION IS ENOUGH? i dont know man, i lost of control now
- Oct 24, 2011
- 3,227
- 3,630
I hear you and I understand. Just having motivation, is not enough. Motivation fades. Willpower subsides. Inspiration exhausts. You need to have all these things and then some. Even then, you may fail.
You need something that's far more potent than all these dissipating traits. You need a very clear, "why". I recommend reading, "Start With Why", by Simon Sinek. Read this book and you'll understand why defining and staying with your "why", will help you to succeed, far more than any burst of motivation.
- Oct 24, 2011
- 3,227
- 3,630
@dzaki, I appreciate the kind words.
What I've learned over the years is that the methods don't matter. I would recommend you do this:
Visit the My Journey section of the forum. Select two journeys of people putting in work.
These people tend to talk about their efforts, every step of the way, and document their findings.
Grab two journeys and follow them. Combine what they're doing, and start your journey. Along the way, you'll naturally be doing things differently from both of them, and in essence, you'll be creating your own method. Every day, do the work. If you miss a day, then work twice as hard the next day. Rinse and repeat.
What I've learned over the years is that the methods don't matter. I would recommend you do this:
Visit the My Journey section of the forum. Select two journeys of people putting in work.
These people tend to talk about their efforts, every step of the way, and document their findings.
Grab two journeys and follow them. Combine what they're doing, and start your journey. Along the way, you'll naturally be doing things differently from both of them, and in essence, you'll be creating your own method. Every day, do the work. If you miss a day, then work twice as hard the next day. Rinse and repeat.
