Download audio file (Joelannesley-TheTop7InternetMarketingNewbieMistakes540.mp3)
In today’s podcast, I talk about why internet marketing is not as easy for newbie’s as you might hear from over hyped markers. No I’m not saying that you should never try, rather I’m saying I want you to have a realistic picture of what goes on. I’m talking from my own experience here. I’m going to discuss the top seven mistakes that not only I have made, but I have no doubt others have as well.

Overall, I think the most important thing that we have to understand is regardless of all the marketing hype that is out there, online businesses and internet marketing will not make you money overnight.

It is just like an offline business in terms of it requiring a lot of research and a lot of planning. It does require an investment of your money as well, but, obviously a far, far less amount.

Let’s look at the top seven mistakes:

1) People buy knowledge, but don’t implement it. What I mean by this is that it’s often all too tempting to follow all the latest news, and all the product launches, and to get excited all the new opportunities out there. Too much hype can lead to too much use of the credit card! I’m implementing a new rule. If I buy an information product, I’m doing my best to implement the knowledge before I go on another buying spree. Implementation is the key word!

2) Not enough research. We’re often told that you need to do lots of research, and then you launch your own product. Sounds simple enough, but actually sticking to this basic rule can be difficult. We think everyone wants what we’ve come up with. We don’t want to prove it, because we have already convinced ourself! So, it’s like inventing something and not testing the market first before spending millions of dollars. Bottom line: until you know your audience agrees with you, don’t invest all your money!

3) Getting bogged down with information overload. If you’re subscribed to all the main internet marketers then you probably have received 20 emails just promoting the one thing on any single given day. Throw in a good mix of many different ideas from other marketers and all of a sudden you’re bombarded! This can be very daunting. In many cases, it might make us want to simply give up. I’ve found the best solution is to take some time out, refocus and review your key goals. This process helps identify all irrelevant content – ready for you to delete… DELETE DELETE DELETE!

4) Trying to do everything ourselves. Yes, I’m a perfectionist. I will often feel like I will never meet my own expectations, so therefore, I’ll never get to the point of distributing my work. So, what I’ve been learning to do is to tell myself “look Joel… things don’t have to be necessarily perfect”. I keep hearing that consistency is far more important than perfection. I agree! I also have decided that I don’t need to be an expert in everything, and have learnt the value of seeking help in our areas of weakness.
5) Not having a consistent routine. I often look at my emails before I action anything else. Big mistake! I’ve realised that I need to start developing a consistent routine (especially if you’re a blogger). The problem is, there are always so many distractions popping up all the time. I’m learning to work around them and schedule — I think the keyword here is ‘schedule, schedule, schedule’. For example – every Tuesday night I produce new content for my blog, whether that be a new video or new podcast, etc. etc. This gets entered into Outlook as a reminder. Trick is – don’t be hard on yourself. If you try and give yourself too much to work on, then you’ll just flip out and won’t get anything completed, which I have known to do in the past.

6) Not having a business plan. Winston Churchill once said “He who fails to plan is planning to fail”. It’s an old saying, but very true. If you don’t have that overall view of where you’re going, you are really going to chase your tail. Think about the example of an offline business. What are your chances of success if you open a corner store without doing prior research? Will you attract the right customers? Will you be in the right location? Unless you strike it lucky, you will need to know your audience and know the numbers. Just like an offline business, do yourself a business plan. What strategies are you gonna implement? How you gonna do it?

7) Letting procrastination rule. Procrastination obviously is a major issue that we all encounter at some form. I think one of the big issues especially for me is to look at one of the reasons as to why I’m procrastinating over something. If you don’t work this out, then you are going to continue the same pattern over and over again (despite your grand intentions). Take a good look at the cause of your procrastion. Am I procrastinating because at the end of the day, I’m too tired and I don’t have any energy left, so I put it off for a rainy day? Is it because I’m not enjoying the task I’m working on and I would rather do something else? Is it a combination of many other factors? A problem stated a problem half solved, right?

I’d love to get your options and your experiences. Please feel free to comment below.

My experience

The problem is that my short term and long term goals are clashing (they are not harmonious!). I’ll explain why…..

My long term goal

• Build my own business
• Travel the world
• Live my passions
• Help others succeed
• ….and the list goes on and on! (I will discuss this more in another vide0)

I have no problems developing long term goals. However, it all goes wrong when I convert this into smaller steps. I’m sure you know what I mean! Does the following description ring true for you?

You come home from a really long day at work, absolutely exhausted. You barely have enough energy to make it through the front door. The first thing you spot is the couch. You collapse. All you need now is a glass of your favourite wine (I’m not a beer person) and a snack. You take a few sips and life feels wonderful. The opportunity for rest is absolute bliss. You turn on the television, pop in a DVD and watch the hours go by.

Meanwhile your dreams are fading away, or being postponed into the distant future. Perhaps I’m dramatising a bit, but this has been my struggle. The requirement for rest seems to outweigh all other goals.

It’s all about motivation

If we really want to succeed, we need our passion and desire for change to outweigh the short term need for relaxation (to put in Tony Robbins terms, it’s what we associate with pain or pleasure). I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take time to relax and unwind, but we shouldn’t allow this process to engulf all of our remaining free time.

Visualise your goals

I’ve found that the more aware of our goals we are, the more likely we will be motivated to work towards them. In order to do this, we need to surround ourselves with reminders that trigger the thought of accomplishing our goal. Our goal needs to make a lasting impression in the front of our mind for an extended period of time. Our decisions are based on what thoughts find their way in our conscious mind.

Reward your small accomplishments

I have found that this is such an important step to follow. How often do we achieve something and forget to pat ourselves on the back? In order to have the drive, the passion to continue, we need to feel like we are making progress. You can create this feeling by celebrating, rewarding yourself on a regular basis when you complete a task that is on track with your goals. Remember, it’s the small things you do that make massive changes in the long term.

What tips do you have that keep you motivated? What is your secret to success? Comments are always welcome

Recently one of my readers sent me a message through my contact page. Unfortunately there was an issue with my contact form plugin for wordpress and the contact details didn’t get saved.

But I would like to share with you his email. (I hope you don’t mind Chris!)

Hi

I was inspired mostly my your youtube video today … to do something like you – which i think we can all do and all make a passive income if we focus on something we really like.

I have a q-link and i also live it but what i don’t have right now is a website to get started – so i guess I’m approaching you for advice on how to make an attractive webpage just like yours

i really think you have done a great job and that it’s about time to step back into your focus and put that sunrise video up.

thanks for any info you send my way – please remember my email so we can link to each other via blog linking – v important part of online marketing

Thanks

Chris

Which inspired me to create the following video. Although some months back I  uploaded my two part morning person challenge to YouTube, I never got around to editing the time lapse footage into a shorter video (seeing that I’ve been learning that shorter videos are usually are more successful).

I have to call this a tribute to the city of Brisbane, a place I called home for over 6 years (yes perhaps I’m a little homesick!). After looking over this footage again, I must say it has inspired me to continue with my love of setting challenges and early morning starts. So, stay tuned in the next couple of weeks. I think some early morning footage from Canberra is on its way!

Oh, and P.S. Chris – if you are reading this, thanks for contacting me. I have fixed my contact form and you should now be able to resend your details.

January was both an equally stressful and emotional month that has changed the direction of my life forever.

Lets roll back a few months…

My partner made a decision to leave the current industry he works in and move into another. A wonderful opportunity for an exciting new career and a move over 1300 kms from our home in Brisbane, Queensland to Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

ALL OF A SUDDEN EVERYTHING WAS CHANGING.

That being… leaving many friends behind and resigning after 2 and a half years in my current employment to face utter uncertainty. My head was spinning. How do I react? At first I was horrified. I felt, what if my life changes for the worse? What if I’m not happy? What if I feel stuck? What if.. what if!!!! I loved everything about living in Brisbane…

The friends, the weather, the food, the lifestyle and the memories… the list goes on! I always liked the idea of living in different places of the world but never expected such a rapid change to happen ever so quickly.  They say change is as good as a holiday… right?

We weren’t going to make the decision until I was happy to accept the change. Let me just say… My thoughts were very active! My approach to life is to see the positive in each area of my life, and this would be no exception.

For me, the following were the deciding factors:

• Change is all about growth and making the most of my life experience.
• My hobbies and interests can be pursued from anywhere in the world.
• I am open to the opportunity to travel more, including to visit family and friends on a more regular basis.
• Happiness comes from within.
• I won’t know until I try.
• I enjoy new challenges and opportunities.

So I finally agreed to make the move. Although I’ve had periods of feeling doubtful about the decision, I’m proud that I’d adapting to a major change in my life and YES I’m really excited to see what the next chapter will look like.

While I continue my quest to find out what makes video marketing so very successful, and what steps in particular need to be followed, I’m also looking for a new and exciting opportunity for employment.

So as I wrap up this post, my mood is varied. Yes I do feel home sick – I’m even going to admit I tuned into local radio stations online to get my Brisbane fix! Meanwhile, my passion for life and keenness to take on new challenges and opportunities are as strong as ever!

Until next time

P.S. Sorry for the lack of a blog post for a while. I’ve been without decent access to the Internet for a while now, it’s like having to give up coffee!! (Don’t ever try).

How have you coped with huge changes in your life? How are things now? Comments are always welcome.

The headline might be a little extreme, but I want to make a point. The problem is I believe that New Year’s Resolutions can become an excuse to only set goals on a yearly basis (and forget the goal by the time you reach February). If we want to set true goals, we need to create monthly goals and review them regularly. It’s the ongoing small goals that provide the long them lasting results. Make your goal this year to create lots of small attainable goals throughout the year!

Today’s post will be brief, but I just wanted to take a moment to summarise and highlight the message from one of the most respected internet marketing pioneers – Frank Kern.

Frank gets internet marketing. He knows how to build a rapport with his audience and speak with them on a personal level (as he teaches – it’s all about core influence).  He’s conquered many product launches and had plenty of million dollar paydays.

In his latest video (titled “State Of The Internet Address”), he compares the last 10 years of Internet marketing, and contrasts this to the next 10 years to come.  There are many obvious changes…..

(My opinion) I believe there has been a negative connotation to the word “Internet marketer”. Perhaps identified as a bit ruthless, greedy, money hungry (just out for a quick buck), promoting their poor quality products with over-hyped sales letters. Sure, there is obviously people out there who do exactly that, but overall the Internet marketing industry is starting to grow up. Marketers are having to be more accountable. There is a requirement to produce higher quality content and ensure their customers are happy – because if they aren’t, word can travel fast.

With the introduction of the new legislation from the FTC, marketers must now disclose the average results from their products. I believe it’s going to overall bring about an increased level of honesty in the market.

Frank points out that online marketing is changing, and I believe – thankfully it’s changing for the better. The following two points really hit home for me.

Competitors have to cease becoming competitors.

It’s becoming a numbers game, flying solo doesn’t work. Convert your competitors into allies and form a mastermind group.  Give your competitors value, work on projects together and create win:win opportunities for one another. Isn’t it exciting to think what people can achieve when they work together?

Give away things that make your audience happy.

Sell them things that make them happier.

It totally makes sense! Just think about the last time you bought an information product online… For me it was through Twitter (they found me!). I followed this person, checked out their website, downloaded their free podcasts and when they finally announced they had a product to sell, (and it suited my price range) – I made a purchase. More importantly, I didn’t feel like I was bombarded with one sales pitch after another and I felt like I had built a rapport with this person.  I think this is the key to marketing online.

So hopefully an increased level of social interaction between customers and marketers will weed out the bad eggs and help the golden one’s shine even further.

What do you think?

Questions and comments are always welcome.

By now you have probably heard – I’m going full steam ahead with my chosen topic, video marketing. For the following reasons:

• I love the video medium. I think it has a lot of potential, and its why I chose to study the topic at university.
• I want to know more about video marketing (I skipped the marketing courses at uni – now I’m regretting it!).
• When you talk about information video marketing; it is so very different in the way it is written, structured, created (especially the budget!) to traditional types of broadcast media.
• I love making videos. It’s more than just a hobby of mine that I would like to continue to pursue.
• It’s a proven niche that other people are interested in learning more about.

So today I finished off my video, and uploaded it to YouTube.

I was however a little concerned by its length – (seeing that most videos should only be 2-3 mins length… so if tested your attention span… I’m sorry!) But I think more importanly, I’m not trying to be Mr. Know-It-All, the instant guru. I’m allowed to make mistakes along the way!

I’ve created a launch page at http://www.masteringvideomarketing.com – If you would like to know when the blog goes live, feel free to subscribe. Meanwhile I’m busily studying and preparing content to share.

Although I’m keen to share the answers to the questions that I currently have, I’d love to know what questions you have that go unanswered. What is it about video marketing that you don’t get? What are the reasons why you wouldn’t use video marketing in your business? What’s stopping you from using information video marketing?

It’s time to reveal what I’ve been secretly (well not that secretly) been working on – a new niche blog site called MasteringVideoMarketing.com.  If you want to be kept in the loop as to when the blog site goes live, I’ve setup a mailing list that you can subscribe to.

Without going into too much detail, it all about how we can harness the power of online video. Don’t worry, you’ll hear MUCH more about it all later.

But for now, I want to talk about designing a logo. Ok, so yes I have the skills to design basic logos. But I decided it was time to outsource this task to somebody else. The problem I’ve found with blogging and developing an online business is having to commit most of your free time to EVERYTHING – planning, writing, creating videos, social media interaction/s.

So this time I thought – why not give the task to someone else to develop my logo for me, while my time can be put to better use?

I found logonerds.com. I think it must have been a Google search. By far, their logo creation quotes appear to be really good value for money. Using a coupon code, I have only paid in total around $40 to get a logo developed (and that includes alterations).

Here’s the results so far:

What I’d like to know…  what design do you like best? What changes would you make?

Please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts & crazy ideas!

Yet another warm day in Brisbane! However, the air-conditioning at work seems to be generating more sub zero temperatures once again!

Today’s post is a little be technical, so I first apologise to those who won’t make any sense of it. Yesterday I visited Photo Continental, where I’ve bought a brand new tripod for myself (Velbon CX686). This one thankfully is much more sturdy, with more height and a far more fluid motion.  For what I’m after, its more than enough. I’d say a $150 well spent.

I was meaning to get a good chunk of editing done for an upcoming project, but my computer and Premiere CS4 were not in agreement (very, very slow).  It comes down to the fact that the file format that my SONY camera saves in (AVCHD) does not work well with Premiere. After a few Google searches, I discovered the best option is to convert the files to MPEG2 first, and then import them into Premiere. So I downloaded a free program called Free HD Converter (making sure I didn’t install the toolbar that came with it). If you have encountered a similar problem, you can check out the post here.

So far the results are MASSIVE. I can actually view the files in real-time, and any loss in quality is not noticeable. If you have suffered similar issues – this appears to be the fix. Just be aware that the conversion process will take numerous hours depending on how much footage you need to convert.

Are you puzzled as to where to start when picking a niche topic?

So it’s time for me to pick a niche topic and run with it. The problem is – what happens if I pick the wrong one?

You hear the horror stories where people put their heart and soul into a product/blog site only to find out there’s nobody listing, watching, consuming or spending.  The problem is, people start with the product in mind, not the market in mind. So how can we avoid falling into the above pitfall?

Market research, market research and more market research!! AHHH I hate that word! I hated the idea of researching my market and didn’t know where to start. So in the past I’ve just totally skipped the process. If you’ve done this too, then its time to go back to square one.

Lets look at seven key considerations before you dive into a niche – head first!

1. Are you truly passionate about the topic?

And I mean really, really passionate? When was the last time you read a book or visited a website relating to that topic? How much knowledge do you have in the area? How much knowledge do you want to have in the area?

The problem that I had was I was going to select a niche that was convenient because I already owned a domain name relating to that topic.  I felt that I should be selecting something that is popular or profitable rather than something that I actually enjoy and want to learn more about (in reality, you should be able to do both!).  I’ve scrapped that idea and now I’m starting to follow these next few points (thanks to @luvyaa for the advice!).

To identify what I was truly passionate about, I created a new mind map (this is becoming a favourite pastime of mine!) Start with your skills and your interests, and branch it out until you can’t get any more specific. You’ll get a clearer understanding of what makes you tick and what areas interest you the most. Once you’ve picked a few topics, now you can see if anyone else likes what you do.  The fun begins.

2. Are other people interested in your topic?

If your niche keywords aren't getting enough traffic, move on!

So you’ve found your passion – excellent. Do others share the same passion?  I found the video by Frank Kern “How to find something to sell” to be very beneficial if you have no idea where you should start.

But basically you’ll need to identify some popular keywords. Although there are quite a few keyword research tools out there (no doubt I’ll be testing a few out down the track), to begin with I’m using the simple Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool.

By using this tool, I can get an indication of how specific I need to be to enter this niche.  By looking at the Global Monthly Search Volume, I can get an indication whether or not a keyword is viable. It is an excellent way of discovering longer tail keywords and finding potential ideas for content creation.  If a topic simply doesn’t get enough search volume, then it’s good to know that you might be saving yourself a lot of time.

3. Are people spending money in your niche?

The next step for testing the waters for your niche is to identify if people are spending money.  So I’ve been doing exactly what Frank Kern suggests. I’ve been conducting some Google searches to see if people are promoting affiliate programs & and products within the niche.

Checkout sites like Amazon, eBay and other popular shopping sites where you can get an indication on what products are selling & and what’s hot. It’s also important to discover all the forums and the ‘how to’ sites in the niche. Once you do, you can find out what questions are being asked and you can answer them.

4. Can you stay ahead of your market?

The ability to create and develop interesting content for your readers will be key. You’re going to have to love the niche enough to follow what others are staying or doing. Create content based on popular topics and ensure that you put your own spin on it. Remember, regardless of how specific or generic your niche – if you use your own unique voice, you will be heard!

5. Long term sustainability of the niche?

Simple – don’t pick niches relating to special events or ideas with limited lifespans. This is a critical one. If your niche was a certain type of technology, how long would it take before it became superseded? It’s no good building up a list of followers only to realise that soon they’ll move onto something bigger and better. You’ll be left dead in the water. Not fun!

6. Can your competitors also be your friends?

In the offline business world you usually aren’t close friends with your competitors. The thing that fascinates me with online marketing is the ability to create a WIN : WIN situation for both yourself and your competitors. To be honest – it appears that competitors have become more like companions with the introduction of social media. I love the concept of a community that embraces the idea of creating colleagues rather than competitors.   But obviously this isn’t the case for all online businesses. It depends on the business model you pick. Will your business adapt? Can you easily form joint ventures?

7. Should you be a niche blog flipper?

I’m getting very addicted to browsing through flippa.com, even though I’m yet to make a purchase or sell my own niche blog. But honestly, before you starting thinking about buying or selling blog sites, you first need to consider your end goal. From the beginning you need to identify what your end goal is for your niche site. Do you plan to hold onto it for a very short time? Do you want to brand your name and your face all over the niche and make it a long term business? It’s your decision – I’m not going to say there is a right way to do it. I will however state that I believe if you stick with your niche long enough, the power and leverage you’ll get in your market will far outweigh the income you’ll make from creating hundreds of niches and flipping them.

So what’s my niche?

Honestly – I’m writing as I’m learning. So at this point, I have an idea of my niche but I have not 100% made up my mind. Perhaps this is a good thing really. I don’t want to rush in and get burnt. I don’t think you should do the same either. Spend the required time researching your market, and then make an informed decision. You may end up saving yourself many many hours & dollars.  Keep your eyes peeled as to what decisions I make in the next few months to come. Hopefully I can practice what I preach!

Your comments are always welcome!

If you’ve picked a niche and had success, what steps did you follow? Please leave a comment – share your thoughts and findings.