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Copyright © 2009 Bill Platt
I have been providing advertising services to online businesses since 2000. I have helped many people become successful online through the use of my services.
Too often, I only hear from people on the phone after they have lost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to launch their new online business ventures. They call me when they have just a few dollars left. I sometimes wish people would have found me first, so that I could have helped them find real success, instead of heartache.
Beware Of The Charlatans
Before you consider spending any large chunk of cash, please be aware of those who are preying upon the Internet newcomers.
I know companies selling cookie-cutter websites for tens of thousands of dollars, and those cookie-cutter websites have never helped anyone achieve any kind of success online.
If you are buying a website that is selling products available on thousands of websites, it will be extremely difficult for you to stand out among the crowd.
I know that these cookie-cutter sites are attractive, because they have the products, the shopping cart, and the fulfillment systems built in, but you are still one of thousands of sites displaying the exact same kind of products for the exact same prices. You are only one in a huge wilderness of sites that might look different, but are exactly the same under the hood.
In these cases, the only website owner who profits is the guy who is selling the cookie-cutter website and handling the product fulfillment for the customers.
The guy selling the site wins in three ways: 1. Selling the cookie-cutter website for 10 grand; 2. Filling the product orders and collecting his wholesale fees; and 3. He gets to capture the email and mailing addresses of people who buy products from the cookie-cutter sites.
Beware Of The Cost Cutters
If you are selling any kind of hard-product (a product that must be shipped to the customer), be aware of the price comparison websites, such as http://Nextag.com/ where consumers can find the product they want to buy, then compare prices on that particular product across hundreds of websites.
You might be the one providing the best information about the product, only to ensure that your lowest price competitor gets the sale.
It is tough selling hard products online for this very reason, unless you are an exclusive distributor of such a product or no other companies have shown an interest in selling that kind of product.
Beware Of Import/Export
Before diving off into buying products from China to resell in the United States, you need to be aware of the laws governing the importation of certain product types.
There are certain products that the Chinese Wholesale sites would be happy to sell to you. And at the same time, the U.S. Customs Office would be happy to seize those products at the border, due to import restrictions.
If the U.S. Customs seizes your shipment, your investment may be lost forever.
You should know what you can import and what you can export. Know the facts, before spending your money arranging large product shipments into the United States. http://Customs.gov/ is a good place to start to learn about importing products into the U.S.
Beware Of Bad Business Advice
If you have ever heard that online business is different than offline business, please take some time to understand what that actually means.
Primarily, it means that I do not have to have an office on Main Street USA in order to do business online. I can run my business out of my house, if I so desire.
Beyond that difference, both methods of doing business are exactly the same.
The rules that govern the profitability of a business are exactly the same.
You must earn more than you spend to make a profit, and what you pay yourself is an expense.
Beware of Those Who Are In The Business Of Selling Lies
There are tons of people online who prey on people like you.
The one that immediately comes to mind is the Internet Marketing guru who says that you can hire ghost writers for $5 an article, and that is all you should need to spend.
I provide ghost writing services, and I cannot get good content for anywhere near $5 per article.
What you usually get for $5 is stolen from someone else, or it looks like it was written by a second grader.
The thing that is so ironic about that claim is that the gurus saying that you should only pay $5 for an article are usually paying $250 to $500 to have their articles written. And they would never tell you WHO writes their articles, because finding and keeping good help is tough, even online.
I can get decent articles written for you, for well under $250, in fact, for under $100 and sometimes for under $50, depending on if I am doing the writing or my writers are doing the writing.
It is important for you to understand that awesome writers can typically earn you an awesome Return On Investment (ROI).
When you find those awesome writers, you need to pay them what they require to keep them on your payroll, and you certainly do not want to share their name with another, in the off-chance that they decide that they would prefer to work for the other guy instead of you.
It is just bizarre to me that the big Internet Marketing gurus are telling you that you should never pay more than $5 an article, when I know for a fact that many of them are paying $250 to $500 an article to have their own stuff written.
You know what this actually boils down to?
Those gurus are not telling you what you need to know. They are telling you what you want to know.
Shame on them.
Just Be Careful Out There
The Internet is full of fraudsters looking to get your money and steal your your dreams.
So be careful not to become a victim of the Internet Marketing dream.
Many of my customers have taken the time to learn how to be successful, and they are. I have several clients who earn 7-figures a year from their online marketing endeavors.
If you learn the necessary work processes that you will need to do, offer a product or service people actually want or need, and you follow through with good advertising and customer service, you can be successful too.
Unfortunately, most people will blow their bankroll, before they figure out what it was that they were doing wrong. And then it is too late, because they no longer have the resources to make anything happen.
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been providing article marketing services since 2001, including article ghost writing and article distribution services, through his website at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/ You can download Bill's free ebook titled, "Article Marketing: Beyond the Basics" on his blog. You can also listen to Article Marketing Tips and Tutorials at: http://ArticleMarketingConceptsRadio.com/
Follow Bill Platt on Twitter.
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I will seek to answer those questions here, as well as to provide a Day Planner to enable the new online entrepreneur to navigate the maze of building a successful online business. When I find great advice by other writers, I will include that information as well. --- Clinton Douglas IV, Founder of Vasrue.com |
