Penny Wise
We've all heard the saying "Penny Wise and Pound Foolish". It
never ceases to amaze me that someone will join an income
opportunity program, but not effectively promote it and scout
out new customers. Most people join programs of this type to
generate income, and they pay a monthly fee to be involved.
They first might try all the free advertising available, and
that may or may not generate some income. However, they are
using the "tried and true", but very "tired" ads supplied by the
affiliate, and wonder why they don't do better.
Then they try some paid ads using the same tired ad copy in
newsletters, ezines and on web sites with similar results. At
this point, they might do one of two things, and sometimes both.
The first is they discount this type of advertising as not being
effective, and/or quit the affiliate program. After a program
gets saturated, thousands of people have used these affiliate
supplied ads, and potential customers have seen them a "jillion"
times. Once an ad gets "tired", it is a waste of time and money
to continue using it.
However, many people rely on ezine advertising to sell these
affiliate programs that others are failing at, and do very well.
So what are they doing to be successful?
They do not just post an ad, and wait for the dollars to arrive
in their mailbox. They have not fallen into what is referred to
as "the earn while you sleep" trap. You know, you throw up a few
ads on the web, and at night people all over the world are
sending you their hard earned money. They realize that like
anything else, if they are to succeed, they have to work at it.
The first thing they do is write some original ad copy, and back
it up with their own web site. With the cost of registering a
site AND a full year of web hosting for about $35, (see
http://bitshack.com) which is probably less than their monthly
fee to the affiliate program, this is a must.
They next seek out newsletters or ezines, whose subscribers fall
into their general target market. There, they place their
rewritten ads and keep them going. It takes 5 to 7 exposures to
an ad to get someone's attention. The really successful keep
their ads in front of potential customers on a regular basis.
Ezine advertising is one of the most effective, inexpensive
forms of advertising available on the web. You can get your
message out to thousands of prospects for a few dollars. If you
can't afford to advertise like this, you can't afford to be in
business.
The old "saw" that "it takes money to make money" certainly
holds true when conducting a web based business. But the beauty
here is that you don't have to invest thousands to get started.
Many people trying to earn income on the web will fail, however
a well thought out program will make money. Is there any "magic
formula" which will guarantee success? Yes, but some are either
to busy with their regular job to pursue this like a business,
while others who do have the time, would rather spend it in
other activities, and are simply taking a "shot" hoping to get
something for little or no effort.
In order to succeed in any business, online or off, you have to
give it the proper attention, and approach it in a business like
fashion. And at the risk of using a "dirty word" you have to
"work", and approach it like a regular job. If you hope to build
an online business, you cannot sit back and hope the world will
beat a path to your door - they won't. You have to promote your
business to get the prospects interested in what you are trying
to sell.
People will invest their hard earned money in a program, but
don't take that next important step and spend a few bucks to
promote it. They search out inexpensive programs to work with,
and they are being "penny wise". But they don't spend the few
extra dollars to promote it. That is being "pound foolish".
If you are "penny wise and pound foolish" in your approach to
running any business, you will not succeed. If you approach it
in a business like manner, you will achieve success.