Think IM

My first clue is that I am not yet making the kind of money I want to be making. Yes, I am working hard at building sites, getting backlinks, and sending traffic to my sites. I think I am following the best SEO tactics. So, why am I not making more money?

Suddenly, I start reading “Are you selling products that don’t sell?” During the past two days, there is a recurring theme that has jumped out at me–Are you selling products that don’t sell?

Here is a quote from Jason Gazaway’s Bloggers Pitfalls and Solutions: “Whatever the case, picking products that don’t sell are recipes for disaster as if others can’t sell them, what makes your blog so different that it can?”

But then, guess what else he said. “However, it should be noted that while choosing the wrong product is bad… choosing too many products is worse.”

Here is the reason he gives for why choosing too many products is worse: “….. your monetization options are going to be ‘stealing’ traffic from each other, as clicking on an advertisement would mean that a visitor probably won’t come back to buy from your affiliate link!”

Oh my gosh, am I guilty of doing these two things–picking the wrong products and choosing too many products? I hate to say it, but it must be true.

I went seeking more information and this is what I learned from Chris Rempel on his Lazy Marketer blog: “It’s WHAT you sell, folks. Not how “hard” you try…”

For me, this was eye opening. I had listened and read so much about how to pick a niche, how to find the best keywords, and how to follow my passion. There have been so many videos on how to select your products in the Clickbank marketplace? Didn’t this lead me to select the best products to sell?

I remember Greg Cesar saying it so well at one of the conferences I went to that you needed to find out where the demand was and go there. He emphasized how important it was to find out what was hot and go there. As Chris Rempel says, you should stand in front of the stampeding herd.

Chris also said this and it really hit home:

“You wanna know what’s sadly ironic?

What’s sadly ironic is that I (or any other experienced affiliate) could build and promote a site in 3 stinkin’ days that will earn more in affiliate commissions this year than most starry-eyed newbies would make even if they went ”full time” online – putting in 40 hours a week building sites, building links, etc.

Why?

Because I know what actually sells, and what kind of traffic to drive.”

Whoa! For me this was heavy! Of course, Chris talks about paying the price and going through his “ignorant years.” I guess that is what I am still doing–going through my ignorant years. Am I tired of it? Yes. Do I want to complete this phase of my learning? Again, yes. Unfortunately, I am still paying the price.

O.K. My journey through this maze of internet marketing information has been full of twists and turns. Sometimes I admit, I heard “how to” tips that were good, but weren’t relevant to me at the time. When I go back and look at videos again and reread ebooks, I do not always come away with the same information to use. There are times when I really get the significance of what is being said and other times it is wasted on me. This is all a part of the learning process.

In the end, I am making progress but I do not mind telling you that I am getting tired of the “ignorant years.” I do think I will be more cautious of selecting products from now on. How about you?