There are different reasons why many people (some say as much as 80-90% of all “marketers” or at least people who are trying it) aren’t making much money online. I’ve picked the ones which are most obvious and which should give you some food for thought if you belong into that category of non-successful marketers as well.
They are ordered from least important to most important…
Reason 10: No technical knowhow.
Some people never start because they don’t know any HTML or they don’t know how to edit PHP or JavaScript. What a lame excuse is that? You can outsource almost anything and if you know nothing about building a website, then hire someone to do it for you. You can go to freelancer sites like Elance.com or ScriptLance.com and people from all over the world will get the work done for you. You just tell them what you have in mind and they are designing the site or adding some scripts to it. Then you only have to give them the text which should be put online and maybe some pictures.
It’s better to learn how to do it yourself though. Web Editors have been created so you don’t have to deal with all the HTML coding. Basically, if you can use Microsoft Word, you’ll be able to use a web editor, too. You just need to learn some basics about e.g. FrontPage or Dreamweaver or for us Internet marketers, the best choice is Xsite Pro because it is a content management system and it’s easier to make changes to a complex site. If you have no money for these tools, then wait for your next birthday or for Christmas and put it on your wish list. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
Reason 9: No knowledge about the basics.
If you don’t know what Clickbank is or how to insert a Paypal button into a salespage, that’s something you need to work on first. Also, you need to know what kind of strategy you want to use in the sales process. Do you want to have a one time offer? Will you have a backend product in place? Will you be offering resell rights or have an affiliate program? Do you have an autoresponder series in place? What is an autoresponder in the first place…?
These are all questions that will come up once you start selling your first product. Be sure you are prepared to answer them when the time has come. Learn the basics before anything else. It will be much easier for you to generate an income on the Internet once you are ready and you feel you have the right idea for a business.
Reason 8: No contact details.
I don’t know about you but if I come to a page where a product is being offered and there is not a single detail given about the person who is selling it, I am not buying (I could look up the details in the whois database but that’s a different story – they could have protected their personal details).
Moreover, if there’s not even a possibility to contact the product owner, it gets even worse. Because what should I do if something goes wrong with the product delivery? Things like these just happen all the time and if I can’t reach anyone, they have lost my purchase.
So whenever you are selling something online, be sure to add your personal details. At a bare minimum, your physical mailing address and a way to contact you either per email or via a contact form. In times of spam, a contact form is completely okay. Add a picture of yourself so your visitors get to know you. You need to build trust and this is very difficult online as there are many scammers out there. You need to differentiate yourself from them.
Reason 7: No money back guarantee.
If you are not confident in your products, you probably won’t like to add a money back guarantee in fear of people taking advantage of it. But let me tell you, the additional sales you’re making from having a guarantee on your salesletter will by far outweigh the lost sales from a few serial refunders (people who are buying a product and ask for a refund a few hours later even though they can’t have tried anything that’s explained within the product).
But if you’re getting a lot of refunds when offering a money back guarantee, you should ask yourself if the quality of the product is high enough. If not, dump the product or improve it. You certainly don’t want to be associated with crappy products. Customer satisfaction should be one of your main concerns. You are nothing without your customers and you won’t have a business if you neglect them!
Reason 6: No vision.
Ask yourself where you want to be in 2 or 3 years. What do you want to have achieved by then? Write down the steps which are needed to get there. Set achievable goals and list short term goals for each working day of your week. Basically, this is known as a to-do list. You need to write down what you want to get done or it won’t get done at all. Believe me, I’ve been there…!
Without proper time management, which goes alongside with having a vision in place, you won’t achieve anything. Don’t let yourself get distracted or sidetracked and be focused on achieving that vision (e.g. you want to have a niche site “empire” of at least 25 sites and each of them should be making $500 per month at a bare minumum). Plan your days so you can achieve your vision. Set targets. When you’re jumping from opportunity to opportunity, you won’t have a business. Use mind mapping tools and join Simpleology to learn more about how to properly plan these things.
Reason 5: Very little traffic.
If your visitor counter is getting rusty, you definitely need to learn about driving traffic to your websites. A lot of marketers don’t have any problems putting together a great product but then they get stuck with this traffic thing. There are several time tested methods for getting traffic (I’ve been using several of them since 2001 when I was starting out e.g. article marketing and JV marketing).
If you don’t want to do this yourself like finding JV partners and sending them an email or even a postcard, then hire someone to do it for you (basically, you hire a JV broker). Some of them won’t even get paid until they have gotten results for you (for example if they are getting a percentage share of what the recruited JV partners are selling). Use viral marketing by giving away or selling reports. Get creative!
Reason 4: Crappy web design.
How do you expect to make sales if your web design is completely confusing and you have thousands of different links on one page? Or if your page looks like your 10 year old nephew designed it? You need to have a structure on your page that ultimately leads either to an opt-in or to your salesletter. Everything else is nice but doesn’t make you any money (apart from contextual advertising where you get paid per click or action – see Adsense or Azoogle).
Your website also needs to build trust so having your personal details and probably a picture of yourself on the page is not only recommended, in my opinion it is almost mandatory!
Reason 3: Not building a list.
You’ve heard it a thousand times – not only from me but from everyone who’s been making money online for a while. Without a list, you’re never going to be very successful. Or at least, you’re leaving lots and lots of money on the table. This is why building your list has to be a main focus in everything you do.
Your income will very highly depend on the size of your list and moreover on the RESPONSIVENESS of your list. If you don’t build a relationship with your subscribers, it will be hard to make a lot of sales, either. Do everything you can to give your subscribers value, something they can use in their own business to improve their sales or what can help them solve their problems. You need to become the problem solver (your products could be the solutions they are looking for), the person they will go to if they can’t get something done on their own.
Reason 2: A poor product.
Are you trying to sell a product that no one wants…? You need to find out what people want and then create a product around it. Not by creating the product first and then finding the customers. Moreover, the product should be as unique as possible (see my PromoBuddy or my AffiliateTurbo softwares for example – both products have made me thousands and thousands of dollars).
You can find out what they want by doing surveys (if you have a list, you can send them directly to a survey page). If you don’t have a list, use Adwords to drive targeted traffic to a squeeze page or to the survey page (it’s a little harder to get answers from people who don’t know you, yet). It could be a question like “What is your biggest challenge in… (niche)?”
If you have enough traffic and you’re not selling anything (and you have corrected the other reasons for failure online from this article) then ask yourself if the product is good enough. Do this especially if you’re not getting any testimonials or positive feedback about it.
Reason 1: Not taking action.
Here it is, black on white… the most important reason why people are not successful online! If you’re not putting the strategies into action that you’ve read about, you can’t make any money. It’s as easy as that!
Maybe, you’ve never even started. Or if you have started, how do you expect to make money if you try a little bit here and a little bit there but you generally lack a vision for your business and you’re not doing the things needed to move forward? What do you want to achieve? Why do so many people want to make a start in the Internet marketing “arena” when they don’t have any knowledge or experience within that area…?
Many people who want to make money on the net are just thinking in terms of quick money. Where can I make a quick buck…? That’s all they want and it is why the biz opp type of sites get so many people sucked in. Often, not the products are what’s being promoted but the dream. A dream that you can make money in your underwear even for people who know squat about the Internet or who barely know how to copy and paste a piece of text.
Let me tell you from personal experience: This is crap… Everyone who is telling you that you don’t have to do any work or don’t need to know any basics is lying to you! Internet marketing is WORK! Once the ground work is done, it gets easier and yes, you can send out an email to your list and make several thousands from it. But…
… Get the basics of selling online right, first. THEN you can think about what people need and how you can create a product that people want to buy. Great products can even be sold with crappy salesletters (so if you are not getting enough conversions, try improving your salesletter, first).
You’ll learn best by doing. Instead of buying another dozen ebooks, get dirty and finally start building that first website. Even if it is just for testing purposes. Buy a private label resell rights product (see further down), register a domain name, edit the salesletter a bit so it’s personalized with your own details, create a download page, add a payment button and let your friends or relatives make some test purchases. Make a start.
Get active – NOW!
Detlev, there is another major reason why most people don’t succeed – everyday their inbox is flooded with the latest “must have”. A collection of far too many products results in confusion and just a little bit done with each (at best!) FOCUS on one strategy until that is running smoothly is the key. At that point another layer can be added (different traffic strategy , a peel on the site etc etc) but until at that point all the bells and whistles are a waste of effort.
It’s a bit like buying a Ferrari and adding extra power, cd players etc BEFORE you can drive!
I’d like to add an important reason many marketers fail – and that is – lack of clarity on their market. When I first got into this business, I was told, ‘you don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.” So, I created products and sales letters and websites but my audience wasn’t clear. When you attempt to sell to everyone, you sell to no one. Lesson learned. I now work with women in midlife reinventing themselves. I love it.
Dr. Toni
http://www.reinventmidlife.com
Very true Detlev,
In my humble opinion it’s all about building your list, and as Mark commented… there are so many products available that people become overwhelmed, which leads to your #1 reason – not taking action. I just created a site for listbuilding from the sea of products on my hard drive.
Buying hosting and a domain name is also difficult because most of them require a credit card even though a person chooses to pay through PayPal. I also remember watching a video with Mike Filsaime where he says it is a wise thing to buy your domain name from a different company to the one where you host your site. Is that true?
Marsha
Another reason people are failing is because they get involved in what they think is a business and are told they can do it free. Making money is not going to be free and people are really being led astray with the word free.
Our Virtual Real Estate is going to cost us money to get going and if people are not willing to put out the initial expense to get their online business going then I believe they need to turn off their computers.
In my opinion, if you fail with Google it is obvious that your customers cannot find you. This failure does not necessarily mean that you do not know anything about SEO. You have optimized your web site , created links and submitted your articles etc. It can happen just because Google can filter new web sites for the simple reason that they do not trust your web site, in other words, you cannot find your web site in Google SERPs. Web sites which have been online for years do not have this kind of problem.
A good list. Definitely agree with number 1 more than anything. Also, your previous post on never giving up can be integrated into the list.
Most people think they are going to make $1000 within a week! When they don’t (in fact, they probably don’t make a single cent), they give up. Maybe number 11 could be ‘setting unrealistic goals’.
Also, I agree with Mark’s comment. Info overload is a big reason. I remember writing a draft ebook a few months back where I actually advised newbies to avoid joining any lists other than the 2 or 3 I recommended. These recommendations were based on the fact that those marketers were sending useful content to my inbox, rather than promotion after promotion after promotion.
To Mark:
That’s what I meant with Reason no. 6: No vision. If you are not focused on doing one thing and finishing it before starting something new, it’s easy to get distracted by offers. Your explanation is a good expansion on it.
Once you know what you want, you’ll develop a filter for what’s important in your email inbox and what’s not. You’ll be able to make the distinction between products which are in alignment with your goals and vision and products which will get you off the track.
At least, that’s what I’ve personally experienced even though I am buying a lot more than the average guy because I want to be able to comment on them and let my subscribers know if these products are worth purchasing.
Detlev
To Dr. Toni:
That’s right… If you don’t know about your target group, you’ll have a difficult time reaching them. I’m happy for you that you’ve found the right niche and that you’re having fun in it
Detlev
To Tap:
Yes, building a list is very important, I agree. But if your product doesn’t provide any value, a list won’t help, either.
That’s why I put the product before the list (you could still be making money from JVs and affiliate marketing which doesn’t require you to have your own list!). But I am glad to see that YOU ARE taking action
Detlev
To Reima:
Google is only ONE source of traffic so it cannot be a main reason for failure – that’s why I put traffic in general onto the list and not just Google.
There are a lot of other ways of getting targeted traffic. But for content sites, Google is one of the most important sources, that’s right.
Detlev
To Kevin:
Good suggestions. I agree that lack of persistence and setting unrealistic goals are main reasons for failure, too.
Detlev
To Marsha:
Yes, that is right. If you’re getting spam complaints, the domain registrar can take over your domain name. Godaddy is known for this and that’s why Mike Filsaime suggested to register domains at Namecheap instead of Godaddy.
It had happened to him that Godaddy took over a domain from him because one of his affiliates had been using spam (Mike spoke about it at his 7 Figure Code seminar – I wasn’t there but I purchased the DVD version…). I think, he got his domain back, though.
Detlev
Detlev, bonjour… I think that many of the above comments, starting with the first from Mark, hit the nail on the head. FOCUS is a primary key, followed by determination and clarity of vision. If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.
Meanwhile, you don’t yet appear to have a BlogRush Widget on your blog. This is a widget that will drive relevant and interested readers to your blog. You can see one in action on my blog, “Real Value Matters”… where you have yet another plug for Promobuddy ;0)
To Kathleen:
Wise words – indeed. A business costs money and a lot of people just want everything for free and handed to them on a silver platter. That’s not how a business works. Neither offline, nor on the Internet.
Learning from the best also means to spend money to cut your learning curve. Investing in your own knowledge is the best thing you can do to achieve success faster.
Detlev
To Kevin P.:
I know about the BlogRush-Widget. But this has 2 sides of the coin. It also drives people away from the site. That’s why I haven’t been using it so far. Maybe, I’ll try it for a week or so and track if it’s bringing me more visitors than it’s taking away. Thx. for the reminder…
Detlev