Internet Marketing Doesn’t Have to be About Money

Hi caroline,

I couldn’t have said it better and I feel you are right on the money and let me confess that that’s exactly the reason why I have been a fan of your Blog ever since I found it, because even though it is still in its infancy (you have been blogging for about 6 months now right?) you have learned a ton of things while writing it and yet you have managed to make money in the process which I am ages aways from doing although I have been blogging for a little longer.

Your blog is an inspiration to me because I honestly believe that if anyone goes back to post # 1 and follow your process in his/her own way and applies that knowledge, there’s no alternative but to end up making money writing a blog as well.

I hope you can understand what I am trying to say.

Keep up with the good work.

Jesus Pina’s last blog post..Verve! tambien es Sugar Free (sin azucar)

Nice post Caroline. Your readership is made up of intelligent and discerning adults. Something that the trolls have missed. I don’t think they will ever understand that people here know how to take what they like and leave the rest.

You write to an audience who prefer not to rise to the baits of the troll, but to consider all opinions/information in an intellectual manner, also taking what they like from them, and leaving the rest.

Do not think you need to explain yourself to your readership, just because some fat ugly uncouth yob tries to boost their profile by name calling (I am indulging myself there :)). Keep being the transparent and upfront person you are.

Appreciate your work.
Allison

Allison Reynolds’s last blog post..Twitter Updates for 2008-04-02

Hey Caroline,
I’m glad you posted this, I agree that you don’t have to be a guru to start talking, and I think that’s one reason why so many of us noobies follow you, cause you’re one of us and you’re making it. It’s motivating to see someone succeed even in small amounts when you’re so new. It reminds me of those nature shows where penguins are all standing at edge of the ice wanting to go in the water for food, but they know that the leapard seal is about, at one point or another someone has to go first, and then the rest just follow. Sorry for the cheesie analogy there. But I don’t remember following anyone else in the past who wasn’t already established, so again it’s a good example for those of us who are still standing at the edge of the ice thinking about jumping in.

I personally would be scared s**tless entering this particular niche. I haven’t been in to internet marketing for too long but I am in the process of setting up niche sites to complement my online shop earnings. It’s blogs like yours, Caroline, that have helped me along the way as the amount of information I have learnt in the last few months regarding all aspects of SEO, etc has been phenomenal. You keep up the great work and I’ll be a happy man :)

Your candid approach to this business is I think commendable.

I wish more people would display the honesty which I think is your strength.

You will tap into your own vein of gold Caroline, of that I am sure and no one will be more delighted than me!!!!!!

Good Luck to you and thank you for being an inspiration.

I love your blog because it’s such an antidote to the mighty IM blowhards who have everything so slick and polished, and who (IMO) don’t sell nearly the “complete and foolproof” systems that they claim.

Thanks for this post–I’m just getting started on a “home study” series for entrepreneurs on marketing & promotion, and sometimes I feel like I’m insane for doing anything on marketing when there are so many folks in this space already. But I genuinely do think I have a different take on it from the run of the mill. Hope so, anyway. :)

Sonia Simone’s last blog post..Five Good Eggs

Caroline

I agree that one should follow ones heart/gut and not just do what they are told by someone who doesn’t even know them or their situation/skills/dreams.

But that has to be backed up by some research. Not research of what and what not to do, but research on “how” to do what they want to do.

That’s also why I don’t think blueprints and checklists work.
But the basic skills a plan involves which one can apply as needed, is a whole different matter.

I must concur that I have wasted 2 years of my life, following a dream that was not mine.

Peter.

Peter Buick’s last blog post..Get Real Slide 2

Marketing is about raising awareness towards a person, company, product, service or thing. Sales is about converting that awareness to money.

Internet marketing is simply marketing on the Internet and those skills can be used to raise awareness for anything.

IMHO to many people confuse marketing for sales and vice versa!

Guru Bob

Hi Caroline,

I’m glad you wrote this post because I’ve been walking a very thin tightrope myself. I love Internet Marketing and Social Media but I’m not making anywhere near the money I should be at this point.

I think my mistake has been assuming I need to be a teacher when I don’t have to be at this point. I’m actually doing some internships with guys who are actually making big bucks online and getting back to the basics including minimizing the information overload and the crap.

Your post helps me feel much more relieved and now I will continue what I’m doing because I want to:-)

Jimmy A.

Jimmy Adames’s last blog post..Still Twittering?

Caroline -

There’s another thing that could be said here as well and that is -

Each person is different. What works for one, doesn’t always work for another. This is for a variety of reasons some of which include the fact each person has different dreams and desires. Different things that make them tick.

There is no *one* right way. The right way for you and the right way for me might be worlds apart. That said, it doesn’t mean we can’t learn something useful from one another. ;-) Or support each other along the way.

Keep up the great work. You are doing this for your own experience not some else’s anyway. In the end, it only matters what’s in your own heart.

~ Annie

Annie’s last blog post..Being accountable

Caroline -

I have been a reader for several weeks, sporadically at best! I have to commend you on this post and will refer to it shortly in one of my own…

I write a blog about teaching the skills to succeed with a specific niche store script, by making their sites unique. No real secrets in what I talk about, just taking the skills i have learned over the years and applying them to a very specific niche application.

It is actually a prime example of what you just wrote… I learned and honed these skills over years of my own efforts, thus the time I spent way back when… may have taken several years to actually pay off.

Wow - you got me to take a step back and look inside myself! LOL

btw: Subscribed tonight!

Mark

Mark Hansen’s last blog post..Privacy Policy More than just a Good Idea!

Thanks Caroline, well said.

However, I do think you are naturally good at marketing - and this is part of the reason for your success. Your post on thinking out an approach to leaving comments is still unique - yet the usual advice on leaving comments is still given. Your approach shows how your uniqueness is so valuable. That you could think through this marketing stuff - and that this was your natural inclination, shows your gift in this area. Which means, yes people can just say whatever, but they probably need to market it too. I think you don’t see this as clearly as you might because you are naturally good at it - whereas those who aren’t (me, for instance) see is more clearly. With apologies to GBS: those who can, sometimes shouldn’t teach - it comes too naturally to them to be able to explain how.

There is a class of people called entrepreneurs. These people (such as Richard Branson) often enter fields that are already crowded and establish a big presence quickly. They do this by developing a very valuable offer. There is no reason to not enter a crowded niche if you think you can develop a good offer. Eg a rational approach to comment marketing. And a blog can be a good way to get a feel for a niche and the kind of offer that would be worth developing. And they are also a pretty easy way to test the market.

Thanks for a great post.

Evan’s last blog post..Your Neighbour and Your Self: Which First?

It’s really fascinating to hear the honest perspective of someone who is attempting to figure out, essentially through trial-and-error, exactly how one does go about making money on the internet. Bombastic sales pitches from folks who miraculously seem to have either figured out something they’re not sharing, or to have struck it ridiculously lucky, fail to satisfy. After all, I want to make money on the internet too! ;)

Best luck,
David Godot

David Godot’s last blog post..Boost Your Creativity For Good With This Long-Term Strategy

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Its very inspiring to see someone like you. And its great to see you helping other people out. Your advice really makes a difference. So you SHOULD get paid for it!!!!

Keep up the good work!

Before becoming involved with internet marketing I spent about 35 years in traditional off line businesses.

I learned a lot of marketing in the school of hard knocks and there is something to be said for getting that kind of experience. Along the way however I did also find and learn from a number of professional experienced marketers and sales people.

Gaining a core understanding of the basics of marketing is a clear advantage and I would encourage anyone to learn as much as possible but learning is something which, as I noted can be accomplished in different ways.

While the principals of marketing and selling are universal, there are some differences in how one markets online or off. Those differences can sometime be a little tricky to sort out and, with the emergence and evolution of web 2.0, the techniques for online marketing are rapidly changing.

Caroline offers her readers a unique and valuable insight into this changing world and does a great job in keeping on top of what’s happening. Her honest approach to developing her corner of this niche is refreshingly honest and direct.

While some want to take your money and run Caroline appears to be in this for the long haul and, as in the parable of the rabbit and the hare, slow and steady wins the race.

Hi Caroline,
another interesting post that made me think a lot: I am in total agreement with you about the large amount of skills that entering this world involves.

I started my blog a bit more than a month ago: while I did a bit of preparation before hand I learnt the various relevant technical skills in the process.

I am now looking at various monetization options without too many illusions: while I am not planning my retirement on that income I am enjoying to discover again many different techniques that I wasn’t aware of. I believe that in any case many monetization methodologies are evolving fast and online marketers will have to chase this evolution if they want to keep earning from their businesses.

All the best for your online business

Massimo Gaetani

@Jesus, 6 months in business, 7 months blogging. I’m glad you find it inspiring :)

@Allison, I am always getting comments and emails from people who seem worried because they feel they *must* teach people how to make money if they want to start any kind of blog in this niche. This post is my attempt to answer those people in a fuller way. I’m not worried about the trolls, they send me traffic! :)

@Charlie, yeah I remember when I started out I was looking at people like John Chow, Shoemoney etc and thought to myself, jeez how I do that? I figured many other people had the same thoughts so my intention with this blog is to show in as much detail the path I follow so that if I eventually succeed other people would have a full account of the progress that started from $0. It’s starting to pay off now.

@Sonia, good I’m glad this post has given you some confidence. From my list of skills I missed out things like copywriting, marketing, PR etc - all essential skills. Good luck!

@Peter, well what I hope to do is learn and then when I do find something that works, teach it here. Of course, due to the nature of the journey, I have my fair share of failures to teach about too.

@Jimmy, good I’m glad you’ve let go of that need in yourself. This industry is full of ideas about what you *should* be doing- its draining.

@Annie, yeah that’s very true. Just because some guys can bring in $200k a month from affiliate marketing doesn’t mean that I would be able to or want to. I’d much rather bring in $200k a month by teaching people something useful. For now though I’ll settle for $2k hehe.

@Mark, yes I saw your post and I liked it. People forget about all the skills they are learning as they try things out.

@Evan, thanks for the compliment but I think you are too quick to put yourself down. I have seen you commenting all over the place and you always leave insightful comments so you’ve obviously learned that technique well.

My marketing techniques really have boiled down to a few basic strategies - blog commenting was a biggie at the beginning and now its mainly Twitter and StumbleUpon, both of which I attempt to teach to others. We shall see if I am able to get it across…

@Adam, it took me a long time to finally get to the point where I decided that I deserved to get paid for my work :) I think a lot of newcomers never get to that point and always sell themselves short. Maybe that should be another blog post…

@Marvin, wow that reads like a newspaper clipping! Thank you :) And yes I am in this for the long haul. I will never ever ever go back to a day job so as long as I am involved with Internet marketing (I can’t see that ever changing either!) I will blog about what I do.

Excellent article, Caroline. It’s refreshing to listen to advice that says ‘do’ rather than yet another ‘don’t’ style post.

The truth is, most people who fail to make money don’t fail because of what they do, they fail because they don’t do anything, waiting until they are ’sure’.

Just recently I read a comment by a fellow who related he had been reading and studying about internet marketing for more thna 6 months and still hadn’t made a single move. How many opportunities he missed in that time … even if he never made a dime he certainly would have learned a ton by ‘doing’.

Most people playing this waiting game idea have been to school .. when you start a school class you know little and expect to learn something that will pay off later. If you wait to ’start school’ until you have a guaranteed income you will never even finish Kindergarten, much less a college degree.

@Dave, to be fair to the chap you are talking about, I started that way too. For several months I sat at work in my day job dreaming about quitting. I would spend hours a day reading blogs - just reading, reading, reading and doing nothing. But that time was valuable because it allowed me to shift my mindset and create a burning desire to quit and work from home online.

However, once I started, I really started! Maybe he’s just not quite there yet. But yes sadly many people never quite reach that point.

You don’t HAVE to teach it to learn it, But you have to admit that it’s one of the best ways out there.

I’m giving tips that I know and it is helping alot!

But this is a good post.

failureblogger’s last blog post..Can You Make A Blog Popular Without Targeting A Niche?

This is really inspiring Caroline. Thanks for being so honest and justifying so convincingly your choice for a ‘make money’ niche despite contrary advice from people. I have been following your blog for quite some time and have learned a lot from your nice posts. Just like you, I am also following my gut feelings in my particular niches. Despite huge competitions, I have started seeing good results now.

So thanks again and keep inspiring us.

Eklavya’s last blog post..Google considers affiliate links as Spam ?

After entering the world of blogging with only an intention to keep an online journal at first, I find myself got suck deeper and deeper into this webmaster’s game. At first by moving into metablogging, then social media, then article marketing and of course, I am sure that there will be more.

Nevertheless, this niche is contagious and I have read that people can spend almost the whole day in front of their workstation just to keep on learning about this wonderful niche. I have no regrets of entering this niche and I am sure that the skills can be put into great use in the future, especially interaction and networking skills.

Wayne Liew’s last blog post..8 Types of RSS Subscribers Explained [Part 2]

Thanks for this post; I saw some ugly video yesterday which prompted me to comment on some trolls’ blogs.
Apparently some people think they must follow a blogger to make money online instead of thinking for themselves.
I have been reading your blog since last November; it really helped me out when I was starting out. Thanks for your honesty in saying what works and what doesn’t work for you.
I think people should experiment to find out what they are best at and then concentrate on those areas that work best for them.

Internet Junkie’s last blog post..Don’t Buy Any Make Money Online E-Books Until You’ve Seen This!

I would not worry about the criticism, blogs are to record your personal experiences / views, which is what you are doing… also most people want to learn from people at a similar stage to them.

For example, what use is a recent John Chow post “When should you incorporate your blog” going to be to the average blogger?

Also, blogs are a great way to keep a record of useful links / contacts… I have a couple of blogs, and many times I have referred back to them when I have forgotten something!!

Find A Phone’s last blog post..Are 12 Months Free Line Rental Deals Genuine?

Find one thing your good at and build on it. Like professional sports, they train from when they were very young, 5 years old etc.. they become good enough when their 17,18,19,20..

Graham’s last blog post..Links for 2008-04-03 [Digg]

Finally I decided to download your e-book, since you’re making more money online than me. There must be something there that I don’t have beside my broken ‘Engrish’. :-)

I was watching my hits surged when I drive traffic to http://www.rsshugger.com/www.atanone.net but it’s only ~130 something so far for a day. I’m looking to get more hits and I hope by reading your book I will get some inspiration.

drt’s last blog post..Living Longer and Healthy

The one thing you do is provide great content, so whether or not you’re making money online has nothing to do with the fact that you deliver informative blog posts. Some of the most experienced IM’s have no clue how to write good content and convey it in such a way to benefit their subscribers, so though making money is one of our main goals, it’s not the “only” goal.

Keep up the good work!

Jeff

Caroline,

I do not “monetize” my blog in any concrete way, nor am I going to, yet I learn tons from reading your blog every day. I also like keeping up with you/ hearing how you’re doing, because I enjoy your frank writing (and because I’ve been around so long here I just feel at home).

It annoys some people that I have 1800 readers and yet I’m not some guru who is making thousands of dollars a month with affiliate marketing etc.

Your transparency is what annoys jealous people. If you just said, this is how to do things, then no jealousy, but also fewer readers, because by letting it all hang out you’ve found a way to create cheerleaders and fans.

There are plenty of blogs with ten times that many readers who never offer “proofs” at all. You are a good writer we come here to read, just like many people read Seth Godin, Stanley Bing, Tim Ferriss, or Stuff White People Like. I don’t ask for résumés before I read a good blog, and neither do at least 1,799 others. Do I check to make sure Tim Ferriss only works four hours this week before I decide it’s okay to read his blog? C’mon.

At this level of readership, you are officially a thought-leader, and I for one am here for your thoughts… the way I hope people are at my blog for my thoughts.

Um, in a smaller way. :)

Regards,

Kelly

Kelly’s last blog post..Road Trip: Guest Post at Big Bright Bulb

Caroline,

Great post that really hits home for me. Like you, I have also had to define and redefine how I will utilize my skills in an online environment. With so many methods, pitches and promises on how to make money online, the focus quickly gets muddled. However, you must crawl before you walk. In my opinion, teaching people “how to” is just as valuable as proving you can make a lot of money overnight.

Thank you for sharing your insights.

IMDimwit’s last blog post..Blogging for Profit Begins With A Plan

Caroline, I understand exactly what you are doing and what the purpose of your blog is. One of the posts I read where one guy is scolding and preaching to other people about ethics has the nerve to pimp pay day loans, where interest rates go up to 1000%!

Hi Caroline, I was a bit curious when I read the content and comments of this post e.g. trolls blog- until I chanced upon “the vlog” today and now its all clearer. Honestly, gut impression tells me that those bashers are just jealous of your success thus far. Success could mean your RSS subscribers or income or your loyal readers. For me, the reasons I like reading your blog is you are honest and real (many times in your posts, you admit your weaknesses) and you also have great writing style. Your WP niche sites ebook have helped me to set up my first blog. Just want to say thanks for that.

Such a good article, and a wonderful reminder for me. I blog about simplifying the job of running the home when you have children 5 and under - and I have kids 3 years and 3 months. So I’ve doubted myself recently whether I have the “credentials” to share this kind of info, while I’m learning it myself! I’m hoping my readers feel the same way we do about you - that we’re watching your journey unfold on this blog, and we can learn from both your successes and failures.

Simple Mom’s last blog post..5 Little Ways Mommy & Daddy Can Stay Connected

@Simple Mom, yeah I think many people are in a similar position to yours. Really, most people like real honest accounts and don’t really connect with the “gurus” out there. A lot of good bloggers doubt themselves and feel like they aren’t qualified in some way.

Of course it doesn’t have to be about money. I read Caroline’s blog (and others) because I only ’sell’ ideas as a libertarian social networking activist. Her guide to twitter got me started with that service.

Internet marketing will become increasingly important to politicians - just look at the Ron Paul campaign in the US. As usual we’re a bit further behind in the UK, but a growing number of political ‘hacks’ are using twitter and other social networking tools.

Ian

p.s. Feel free to follow me at http://twitter.com/igeldard

You tell ‘em, Caroline. We all have to do what we feel “called” to do. I write about spirituality because, well, it is all that I feel moved to do. My intuition says “write about this stuff” no matter what I say to the contrary. So, I write. That’s all there is to it.

I’m glad you do your blog on Internet Marketing. I’ve learned a lot.

Tom Stine’s last blog post..So What is Spirituality? Really.

I agree that internet marketing is not all about money. Sometimes its an exchange of knowledge and ideas too letting us learn on the process and grow.

Skills & knowledges are our investment ;-)

Ebook’s last blog post..The Complete CSS Tutorial