I've been a newb for about 3 years now and have had a revelation I hope will be helpful to all of you. Some of this is old news, but I think should be repeated.
For the past 3 years, I have run online retail stores, spammed Craigslist, run losing ppc campaigns, read e-books, run eBay rss feed sites and tried all kinds of schemes. I've made a little money, then lost it on another scheme. I think I've realized something I hope is useful as well as money/time saving for you. I hate working hard. Repetition is a pain in the ass, even if it makes money. How much is your time worth, really?
A couple of years ago, I read a post by WF founder Jon, saying that his concentration has been on "marketing". What is marketing? My definition would be "convincing, through every psychological means possible, the potential buyer to buy....no matter what their state of mind". The marketing expert strives to convince even the deeply religious that they should purchase the most sinful products. Just an example...no intent to offend.
I've developed and stolen a few techniques from this board to make some quick cash. But my end game has been to use that pool of cash for ppc advertising experiments. And I've lost a bunch of it on experiments.
The gist of my advise is this. Before even finding a product to promote, investigate marketing techniques that are currently working. Watch TV commercials from a different view. How is Dove chocolate marketing their product? Why do they use rain on a woman's face in their commercial? Start analyzing. These companies spend a lot of money throwing these images on the screen. It must be working! Why?
While driving, take notice of billboards. This is not cheap advertising. What nerves are they touching? How are they doing it?
Listen to radio ads from a different perspective. How are they making it work?
Once you start thinking from this perspective, you may find you can beat the thousands of ppc idiots out there bolding keywords and such. Learn from the big boys (print, television and radio) and you can make a lot of money. It's paying off for me!
And stop buying the fucking e-books! Go to Barnes and Noble and start reading some good marketing books. Basic marketing hasn't changed much in the years. Gutenberg.org has a number of free old marketing books available that are very pertinent, even today. The same buttons work today!!
For the past 3 years, I have run online retail stores, spammed Craigslist, run losing ppc campaigns, read e-books, run eBay rss feed sites and tried all kinds of schemes. I've made a little money, then lost it on another scheme. I think I've realized something I hope is useful as well as money/time saving for you. I hate working hard. Repetition is a pain in the ass, even if it makes money. How much is your time worth, really?
A couple of years ago, I read a post by WF founder Jon, saying that his concentration has been on "marketing". What is marketing? My definition would be "convincing, through every psychological means possible, the potential buyer to buy....no matter what their state of mind". The marketing expert strives to convince even the deeply religious that they should purchase the most sinful products. Just an example...no intent to offend.
I've developed and stolen a few techniques from this board to make some quick cash. But my end game has been to use that pool of cash for ppc advertising experiments. And I've lost a bunch of it on experiments.
The gist of my advise is this. Before even finding a product to promote, investigate marketing techniques that are currently working. Watch TV commercials from a different view. How is Dove chocolate marketing their product? Why do they use rain on a woman's face in their commercial? Start analyzing. These companies spend a lot of money throwing these images on the screen. It must be working! Why?
While driving, take notice of billboards. This is not cheap advertising. What nerves are they touching? How are they doing it?
Listen to radio ads from a different perspective. How are they making it work?
Once you start thinking from this perspective, you may find you can beat the thousands of ppc idiots out there bolding keywords and such. Learn from the big boys (print, television and radio) and you can make a lot of money. It's paying off for me!
And stop buying the fucking e-books! Go to Barnes and Noble and start reading some good marketing books. Basic marketing hasn't changed much in the years. Gutenberg.org has a number of free old marketing books available that are very pertinent, even today. The same buttons work today!!