Do you often come across Internet marketing and business promotion programs that claim they can help you sell your product like hot cakes, that people will be crazy to do business with you? The promoters of these program often claim to have earned millions of dollars in a few hours or a few weeks or a few months. There is one thing I can never understand: after having earned around $20,000,000, why are you selling an Internet marketing program from a lousy-looking website. Anyway.
Some programs are cheap (costing you $20-100 for some ebooks and presentations) and some are quite expensive (around $2000-5000 for DVDs, ebooks and even one-to-one consultations with the “expert” who made a few million bucks in a few days). Are these programs for real, and do they really work?
I’ve never participated in one of these programs, and I’ve been doing business on the Internet for the past 8 years. Of course I’m not rich like crazy and my finances are not ideal, but I live a comfortable life and I manage to save every month, and I must confess, I haven’t been doing much in terms of marketing and promotion; heck, I don’t even blog regularly. I fully understand that in order to grow my business I must promote it.
So what does a marketing program normally teach you (logically, again, I’ve never participated in one)?
- How to recognize what you can actually do and get paid for
- Recognizing your marketing and creating a niche
- Setting up a website
- Defining a marketing plan and sticking to it
- Website/blog SEO
- Resources that can help you promote your business
- Building a mailing list and growing a blog
- Developing your brand presence
- Growing your network
- Establishing a social media and networking presence
Every course revolves around these broad topics. Now, if you have spent a few years doing business on the Internet then you can pretty well figure out by yourself what all it takes to be successful (actually, it can be applied to any kind of occupation). Does this mean all these programs and courses are a rip off?
Not exactly, some of them must really be good. But they mostly talk about common sense, and even the information you are paying for can be obtained free of cost if you try hard enough. Of course spending money on a program and getting this information saves you lots of time, and sometimes money too (by avoiding wrong tools). So I’m not saying you shouldn’t invest in such programs and courses. These programs can be excellent for those who work hard but only when they follow well-defined guidelines; it’s always better than randomly aiming at your targets and working in an environment of hits and misses.
My only suggestion is, just think before you take the leap, especially when you are going to spend lots of money. Be prepared to realize that most of the information that exists in these programs is common sense, and you may already have this information. Do you have some business promotion ideas and plans that you’ve been thinking of implementing but have been postponing or procrastinating? Implement those ideas and plans first. Do it with conviction and perseverance. For a couple of years, for instance, I have been thinking of writing articles and blog posts for other websites and blogs but so far haven’t been able to do so. I could have also developed a mailing list in all these years. My networking efforts are non-existent. I am half-heartedly in the process of optimizing my website for search engines. Although my website contains lots of content I can add a lot more. Similarly I haven’t been doing much in the field of social media and social networking. Considering all this I don’t think it is prudent of me to invest in a costly Internet marketing program. I should only opt for it if I have already, sincerely, exhausted all the options that are currently available to me. So if I haven’t done things that I already know what is the guarantee that I will follow the directions in the program? Of course you can say that the expense of a couple of thousand will keep me motivated. But then if I can do the same thing without spending the money then why go to all that trouble?
The best option would be first to exhaust all your ideas and plans and after that to give momentum to those ideas and plans you should invest in a marketing program. Otherwise you will be uselessly spending your money.
Kind of unfair to judge all of these classes, since you have taken none of them.
Some people just need a pointer in the right direction and any one of these courses could do the trick.
Hello Richard.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your opinion…I won’t hesitate to say that more than 90% of these programs don’t work. and there are certainly some programs that do work. I was just trying to suggest that before opting for such programs you should make sure you have tried out things you already know. After all, even these experts learned by doing things on their own.
Amrit,
I think you’re correct in your assessment of these programs. Most of them don’t make anyone rich except for the person selling them. The ones that do work are almost always selling common sense information.
However, as you’ve said, that common sense information can be very useful if you’re trying to get a business started RIGHT NOW and you don’t want to spend a lot of time and money learning the tricks of the trade for a few years before finally starting to see positive results.
Personally, I can’t imagine spending money on any of the programs I’ve seen, but I do know people who have used some of the more popular ones and swear by them.
Hello Richard.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your opinion…I won't hesitate to say that more than 90% of these programs don't work. and there are certainly some programs that do work. I was just trying to suggest that before opting for such programs you should make sure you have tried out things you already know. After all, even these experts learned by doing things on their own.