The Paradox of Making Money Online as an Internet Marketer

The Paradox of Making Money Online as an Internet Marketer Making money online in a way that involves direct sales of services and products is a challenge for me. One of the reasons why I enjoy writing on my blog is because of the challenges faced with running a profitable blog within the make money online niche. This blog is different from my others blogs that generate income. This blog has the most traffic, the most interaction among people, and yet in many ways it earns the least amount of money compared to my other blogs and ironically, I spend more time on this blog compared to others.

One of the challenges I face is figuring out how to make money online with a make money online blog. In the past, I have proven (more to myself) that offering to sell my own products that offer my knowledge doesn’t hit off very well. Many people want to learn my skills without paying a price. I can understand that. Who wants to pay for things?

But with that said, that doesn’t leave me with many options. I can promote and try to sell other products and services that are available. But, that usually proves to not work out either. If people don’t have an interest in purchasing the products and services I have to offer, then why would their be any interest in someone purchasing a product or service offered by someone else based of my recommendation?

The challenge isn’t really about making money online. Overnight I could easily adapt and change this blog into a very profitable money making system. I have tons of traffic, and majority of it isn’t from regular readers. My blog receives around 70% of its traffic from search engines. It is an element that many Internet marketers would pay big dollars to have.

The problem I have is trying to figure out a way to make money online in a way that benefits myself as well as the people I have earned money from. The catch 22 is that people don’t want to buy what I have to offer. The second problem is that these same people that don’t want to buy what I have to offer typically buy the things that I don’t want to offer.

Thousands of people every day throw money at their problems, like money is the answer. Money will fix everything and money will give you the ability to make money online yourself. While that is partly true, mainly it is false. The things that people purchase online are gimmicks with a plot outlining fantastical success. They are plug-in-play dreams packaged into an alluring virtual box.

Internet Marketing and Fishing The business of Internet marketing isn’t much different than the hobby of fishing. It is all about the landing page, the copywriting and the acquisition of traffic, all designed to capture the lead and create the sale. It isn’t about offering a product or service that helps people. It is about learning and mastering the skill of screwing people over in a way that allows them to come back and ask for more.

In other words, the better your bait and fishing rod, the better chance you have at catching fish. And as you know, catching fish is simply a matter of tricking the fish into believing that it is being offered something different than a hook. The same can be said about Internet marketing and earning a living selling products online. Hook the fish and throw it back, cast your line and hook the fish time and time again.

I can do this business too and do it well, just as I can also apply for a job at a local used car sales lot. The problem with selling used cars, or in the case of selling fabricated fantasies packaged into shammed software boxes is the fact that majority of the products and services that are sold and aimed at people who want to make money online don’t work and promise false hope.

So how do you make money online while not becoming a hobbyist in fishing? How do you make money online in a way that benefits the people you lead into the sale. The challenge for me is offering my skills as a professional service to a target audience who don’t want to work and also an audience who want to become better at the game of fishing.

I believe that puts me into a catch 22, no pun intended. How do you make money online with your make money online blog? I subscribe to many blogs within the niche, many are people I speak with on a regular basis. One of the common similarities I see from blog to blog is that most all people have something to sell, but the product or service being sold is something that is rarely used by the person selling it. How is well has that been working for you?

Written by Garry Conn

December 26th, 2008 at 12:00 am

Posted in Money Tips

Tagged with Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Scams, Make Money Online, Make Money Selling Products, Paradox of Affiliate Programs, Paradox of Internet Marketing, Paradox of Making Money Online, Selling Products Online

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27 Responses to 'The Paradox of Making Money Online as an Internet Marketer'

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It’s pretty much impossible to make money from a make money blog. The bait does not work in this niche. In my opinion, making money is easy when you are selling products on niches where people are not aware of internet marketing.

Ganesh - Online Bull

26 Dec 08 at 12:33 am
I am not monetizing my blog a lot and don’t have plans to do so. My blog isn’t really a MMO blog as it is about Internet Marketing/branding, but a lot of visitors are in the MMO niche. Why do I blog then? Well, I enjoy it and like to share what I know. Plus, it let me build my personal brand. MMO niche is a freackin’ dead end if you ask me…But that’s just me.

I personally see HUGE potential in helping small businesses succeed online and that’s what my local business is about. I love the idea of helping small businesses selling their products online…Oh and THEY WANT TO PAY!

The MMO niche is very weird…

Ben Tremblay

26 Dec 08 at 1:04 am
The MMO niche is very weird…

You couldn’t have summarized that any better.

Garry Conn

26 Dec 08 at 1:06 am
From what I’ve seen with other MMO bloggers, they charge for classes or forums or even their own products as the way to make money in the niche. Expecting to make money the same way one would make money from a niche blog, doesn’t seem to be the right fit, given the target audience for a MMO blog.

You’re quite right about there being so many sham products out there. But the way to combat that is to deliver what you’ve been doing and that is selling your own products. From what I’ve read in the responses over the time I’ve known you, plus my first hand experience, they would appear to be quite successful, so why not focus on creating and promoting more of your own stuff?

And btw, I hope you and your family had a great Christmas!

Mark Sierra at MeAndMyDrum.com

26 Dec 08 at 1:36 am
well from my point of view, in the MMO niche products you’ve created yourself work best.
For example, let’s take your blog – you’re already offering high quality articles and tutorials for ppl to learn, what if you were to create a product that were to evolve around these articles and use the blog to promote it, i think you’d make a killing.

p.s: I remember the niche doctor example

happy holidays to everyone.

CristianR

26 Dec 08 at 3:09 am
Hey Ben, whats up? Well, I am too from the same niche. The difference is that I have many other blogs and websites and am an Internet Marketer too. I think MMO niche is the biggest earner in blogging that is why most are involved in it as they know the tricks also to make money online.

Laksh – Making money with Social Networks
http://tinyurl.com/5n9eby

Laksh - Making money with Social Networks

26 Dec 08 at 9:55 am
You’ve just summarized (yes, summarized) what I have always wanted to say without knowing how.

So, basically, the only way for us to make money in the MMO niche is to screw our readers over? Interesting.

the Blogoholic

26 Dec 08 at 10:13 am
Hey Garry – seems to me a dynamic membership site is the way to go. Otherwise you never have enough sales to really make the income equal the time involved. Thanks!

Kent F.

Kent F

26 Dec 08 at 1:58 pm
BTW – did ya’ll see the wine blogger on the Today show yesterday morning?! Wow – that could be someone from around here next year. I forget that guy’s name….

Kent F

26 Dec 08 at 2:00 pm
Well, I am not so sure that it is this simple:

The business of Internet marketing isn’t much different than the hobby of fishing. It is all about the landing page, the copywriting and the acquisition of traffic, all designed to capture the lead and create the sale. It isn’t about offering a product or service that helps people. It is about learning and mastering the skill of screwing people over in a way that allows them to come back and ask for more.

There are good products out there, and good people promoting them. Do you think James Jones is a whore? He has a solid product at a fair price. What about you? Everything that I have ever bought from you has been worth 10 times the price, and every recommendation has been spot on.

The problem is NOT Internet Marketing. The problem is lazy people that want something for nothing and the sleazy people that take advantage of them.

Mark

Mark Mason

26 Dec 08 at 9:05 pm
I totally agree with the part you said about people wanting to pay for products that you don’t want to offer! I actually have a post that I’ve been meaning to write about something very similar to this.

I wish I had a good solution to this paradox, but I really don’t. I guess this is why I haven’t made any money online, I jsut don’t want to sell out and screw people over and I haven’t found the way to make money helping them (other than offering ad space, reviews, and that sort of thing) Although, fishing can be a fun summertime activity

Nick

26 Dec 08 at 9:42 pm
Garry,

I believe the way % work, you will get SE traffic that converts on the ads. And with the list you have, you will get some people that purchase products.

I know this isn’t your biggest money maker. I noticed you changed your theme again. Maybe that will help with some ad conversions.

I know some other MMOers that just make money on the ads.

It seems like you are making some money, so just keep up the good work. If you need to spend less time here, because others are more profitable, then take some time to do that.

Top CD Rates Blog

27 Dec 08 at 12:12 am
I would guess that people interested in blogs about making money from blogs probably don’t have a lot of spare cash, one of the attractions is that you don’t need a lot of cash to start up but you can do it from home on your home computer.

Sukiho

28 Dec 08 at 8:38 am
Dude, you NEED your own product. A seperate sales page, jv partners the whole she-bang. Or a member ship site, which im pretty sure peeps would join, after prodding from the usual suspects and jv crowd.

Hey Happy Ho Ho to you are your fandamily, yeah I know its late but im late to every party, Happy new years too while Im at it, yeah I know its early but theres a party I dont wanna miss !!!

shane

28 Dec 08 at 6:53 pm
Awesome!! The information is valuable and at the same time there are some tips for the people who want to make money online. I found your article very interesting!!

internet marketing

29 Dec 08 at 7:02 am
It is a challenge that is for sure, but it can be done. Personally, I find it funny knowing how much time I invest on this blog where I have other blogs that make so much more with only a fraction of the time invested.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:05 pm
why not focus on creating and promoting more of your own stuff?

Honestly, because I am exhausted and don’t have any fuel in the tank to take on things like that. I am very quick and spontaneous. When I get an idea, I want to snap my fingers and be done with. Luckily, I can have a niche site built and completed in about a day, which is perfect.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:10 pm
Just like Mark said, you are suggested for me to develop more of my own products to sell. I have the 60 minute video download available to sell but I got slightly bent with the overwhelming responses with people wanting me to just hand over the key to my house for free.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:12 pm
I don’t think that is the only solution. I guess what I am saying is that if you want to make money online within the make money online niche, you are going to have to work your ass off.

It is easier for people within the niche to make money doing shady things such as tricking people into purchasing an eBook that truly won’t help.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:14 pm
That actually is slowly in the works. If you think about it for a second, you’ll see what I am building.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:15 pm
No I missed that, was that Gary?

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:15 pm
The problem is lazy people that want something for nothing and the sleazy people that take advantage of them.

And would it be safe to assume that this classification of people within the niche consume a very high percentage of it?

The slim is a virus with no cure.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:18 pm
Fishing is very fun… and shady Internet marketers are having a field day, but I believe that whats comes around goes around and maybe because of my ethics is why I do very well with AdSense despite struggling to figure out how to monetize my personal blog.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:20 pm
I noticed you changed your theme again. Maybe that will help with some ad conversions.

Hey bud!

Yeah, I did change the theme. I am kind of retiring from aiming to have the look and feel of a typical make money online site. This is a blog man, not some kind of super empire.

Secondly, my issue is that I really enjoy writing on the blog and helping people. That is amazing knowing how much I help people. With that though, I don’t want much… but I do want to get a little bit of money for it.

The new theme really loosens up the knots and makes things more breathable. I think not only for me, but for you guys as well. It’s very open, very simple, and very clean.

Thirdly, I am at peace because with Google AdSense I am earning around $25 / day on the blog. Once again, I don’t mind helping people, but I want to get paid for it. I don’t care WHO pays me as long as I get paid. If Google, Inc. wants to pick up the tab, then so be it.

$25 / day keeps me very happy and allows for me to have the motivation to continue writing and providing awesome tips that help others.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:29 pm
Most people who want to make money online have good reasons behind it. Usually people are struggling with their day job either because they are not happy with it or they don’t make a lot of money. Secondly, some people are in tricky situations, such as being a single mom with a dead beat dad who doesn’t pay child support. Some folks are older and have a disability and can’t live on the social security given to them from the government.

Most all people who want to make money online have the interest because it is a solution to help them financially. Unfortunately, because of this there are tons of sharks swarming around these classification of people waiting to chew into their wallets to get every last penny they have.

Most people who want to make money online are desperate to make money online. That in itself makes these people vulnerable and susceptible towards getting scammed. Unfortunately, this process is a daily thing and not uncommon.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:34 pm
Dude, you NEED your own product.

Agreed, but more so what I need is someone who is sensible in business who can just extract the data in my head towards developing a book or a product.

Anyone have experience with product development and promotion contact me, I’ll give you 45% of the profits.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:37 pm
Thanks! I am glad you enjoyed it.

Garry Conn

29 Dec 08 at 2:37 pm