Internet Marketing is like cycling (and there’s a secret;-)

Turns out, Internet marketing is just like cycling:

Whenever I go on a “big” tour, with full luggage (and an iPad fer cryin’ out loud, whatever happened to pen & paper?), the first few days are plain awful.

Every time I hit an obstacle, progress slows to a crawl.

And obstacles come in all shapes and sizes: in the form of a hill (ideally with headwind), a little detour that adds another 5 miles to the trip or – like I did yesterday – me dropping my hat and only realising 4 miles later, bingo, another 8 miles added.

And when more than one of these happen at the same time, it doesn’t just feel like I’m slowing to a crawl, it’s more like I’m going backwards.

And when progress slows to a crawl or I’m going backwards, frustration goes up.

Why?

Because I’ve got a destination to get to.

[screech, brakes on, hold it right there!]

Says who?

And what destination?

See, like in cycling, in Internet marketing too it’s easy to forget that the real aim is NOT the destination (the town or city I want to get to, or the 6-figures you want to earn).

What? Too much Cotes du Rhone last night?

No, here’s the deal:

in the real world (not the fantasy world of hyped up sales-letters and your brain playing “glorified success fantasy” tricks on you), you have very little control over outcomes like 6-figures, or reaching a given destination.

Yes, often enough you can use brute force and sheer determination to get there, but the end-result is more likely that you’re hugely frustrated, and most likely burnt out at the end of it (after that windy day yesterday I’m actually quite glad it’s raining today so I’ve got an excuse to sit here in a cafe, drink far too much espresso and take the 14h45 to Valence later on this afternoon).

The thing you can (and should in my opinion) control is
a) taking individual steps that take you closer to your goal and
b) making sure your goal is to enjoy the journey! (whilst moving in the right direction).

So, here then is the big secret to making lots of money with Internet marketing, presented in a way that you have full control and you can enjoy it too (mhmm, starting to sound like those lovely French pastries…)

The big secret to making it in Internet Marketing:

The big secret to making lots of money (actually, it’s irrelevant whether it’s with Internet marketing or any other business) is this:

you have to create a high Earnings Per Click (EPC) sales funnel.

That’s it!

When you have a sales-funnel that gives other people what they want (in other words: the end-customer is happy with the product they receive, and affiliates can earn decent money by sending traffic your way), then you do NOT need to worry about Google, SEO, traffic and all that other stuff that keeps you bogged down all day long.

Now, when *all* you’re doing is creating a high converting sales-funnel, you have full control!

The goal is not “I want a high converting sales-funnel”, because that’s NOT something you can control.

What you have full control over on the other hand is doing 1 split-test per week. “This week I will try ONE other approach to making an irresistable offer”

That’s exactly how people like Mike Geary (of “truthaboutabs” fame) build their 6, 7 or even 8 figure businesses in a few short years.

They have ONE product (which doesn’t even have to be your’s), and *all* they’re doing is refining their offer by constantly split-testing a couple of variations.

Does this headline work better than this?

Does video work better than a long-form sales-letter?

Do ‘doodle’ videos work better than real-life video?

Does ‘professional’ work better than ‘home-made’.

The truth (that very few people seem to be willing to see) is this:

there is no ‘sure-fire success’ recipe for this – meaning there is work involved.

Quite a bit in fact, because you’ve got plenty of different things to test – and every market is different.

What may work for ‘men in the tattoo niche’ may not work for ‘women in the beauty niche’.

The good (no: GREAT) news is this: EVERYONE can test their way to HUGE success!

No matter what your background, IQ, education level, skill etc,

you can test your way to success!

Now, the key to making this work, is just like with cycling.

Now that you’ve heard that it’s super-easy, your brain will do the old GSF trick: “ha, riches are mine”.

And we don’t like GSFs, because they tend to end up in disappointment, due to sudden influx of obstacles.

So, to make this work, just like with cycling, you have to find your rhythm.

When cycling, it really does 2-3 days until I can accept that I’m no longer going as fast as I am without luggage on my bike. And only once I’ve accepted that, then do I start enjoying the journey, instead of focusing on that distant goal I “have” to reach today.

Once you’ve found your rhythm, the whole journey starts to feel like progress instead of frustration, simply because you’ve found out what is sustainable.

GSFs and the behaviour that goes with them are NOT sustainable and hence (in almost all cases) lead to early frustration and burnout!
(which is e.g. why I didn’t even check out yesterday’s Pinterest traffic guide: it’s all based around the premise that “if a full-time jeweller can make tons of cash online, then so can you”. If that isn’t GSF in action, I don’t know what is. Well, and the fact that they had around 723 upsells, cross-sells and downsells kinda put me off too;-)

Well, there you go: Internet marketing is just like cycling, give it a few days, find your sustainable rhythm, focus on the stuff YOU can influence, ideally building a high EPC sales-funnel and Internet marketing riches WILL be yours (ah yes, and you don’t have to buy any more courses either;-)

time to catch a train to Valence

Veit

Tagged as: internet marketing, success strategies