Internet Marketing: 5 Reasons Why Internet Marketing Systems Fail
By Anna Johnson on April 28th, 2010Internet marketers (buyers and sellers in the Internet marketing niche) love Internet marketing systems – those step-by-step systems for affiliate marketing, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, generating traffic in general, list building, converting prospects into customers, or whatever the hot topic happens to be.
But a lot of Internet marketing system buyers soon discover that such systems aren’t so effective in the ‘real world’. Want to know why?
I’ve compiled five (5) reasons why Internet marketing systems don’t work. And guess what? It’s not necessarily because there is anything wrong with the system. As you’ll see, it may have more to do with the person who buys or sells the system than the system itself.
That said, it’s worth considering each of these 5 reasons BEFORE you buy any Internet marketing system. Doing so may just help you decide whether it really is worth the cost… in money, time and, most importantly, opportunity cost…
Why Internet marketing systems fail:
1. The Internet marketing system doesn’t work in the real world.
In this case the Internet marketing system may have worked once for its inventor, but that was because of unique circumstances or a special opportunity in the market that no longer exists. Your best defence against wasting money on systems like this is to do some due diligence. Look at the marketer’s background and results – does it seem to you like their results were a fluke or something you could apply over and over again?
2. The Internet marketing ‘guru’ doesn’t give you the whole story.
Time and time again I’ve seen people rant and rave about how much money they’ve made from a certain marketing system. Just follow these simple steps and, ta-da, the money will pour in. And guess what? It’s true – all you need to do is to follow those simple steps. Problem is, they’re not so EASY to implement.
For example, if you’re involved in promoting cost per action (CPA) offers you might need a lot of money to spend on pay-per-click advertising… not so easy. If you’re involved in setting up affiliate sites you still need to generate traffic… not so easy. If you’re buying leads you still need to convert them… not so easy.
3. You don’t follow the system exactly.
Here’s a reason for system failure that should be obvious yet often goes unsaid: the system doesn’t work because people don’t follow it exactly. Many, if not most, Internet marketing systems require you to follow a series of specific steps to get results. The more steps there are, or the more involved or tedious each step, the more likely we are – as humans – to deviate from or skip a few steps. But if we skip steps that are crucial, we end up sabotaging our success.
4. You don’t adjust for circumstances.
Here’s the rub: while you need to follow some Internet marketing systems exactly to get the promised results, in other cases following each step exactly will actually impede your success. If circumstances have changed you may need to vary your approach and deviate from the system.
How do you know whether to stick to the system or deviate? Well, if you follow the system exactly and you don’t get the expected results then you probably need to try something different.
5. The Internet marketing system is a lie.
Yes, it’s true: some Internet marketing systems don’t work, have never worked, and are just the invention of some fraudster’s brain. Again, you need to do some due diligence. The more money the system costs, the more due diligence – on the ‘guru’ selling the system, the system itself and anything else you can find – you should do.
April 29th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Internet marketing can get really hard if you don’t know what you are doing