The Newbie Dilemma

OK...so what is the Newbie Dilemma? NOT OWNING YOUR OWN PIECE OF INTERNET E-PROPERTY! In other words, it's not owning your own domain. And if you don't own your own domain, you put yourself at a serious disadvantage of achieving LONG-TERM success on the Internet. Now I know what some of you are thinking...but listen up: IF YOU DON"T OWN IT, IT CAN BE TAKEN AWAY, and if that happens, all of your valuable time, effort and energy that you put into promotion and advertising is down the drain, unless all of that advertising and promotion was for your own domain. Without your own domain, you can never leverage your time and money that you put into traffic and lead generation. Lets' make a comparison. On the left you have Joe Blow newbie (who has worked numerous affiliate programs for 3 years), and on the right you have Jane Doe webmaster. Both Joe and Jane got lucky and happened to join a hot ground floor MLM program. Since Joe doesn't own his own domain and he doesn't have his own in-house contact list (ezine or newsletter), he is starting from scratch in generating traffic and leads for the new MLM program. Jane on the other hand has been spending the last 3 years generating traffic to her domain and building her ezine. Because she spent month after month getting her domain in search engines, listings in ezine directories, link swaps with other webmasters, banner exchanges...the list goes on. Because of this, Jane now gets a steady flow of traffic of around 500-1000 visitors per day to her domain, and in three years she has built her in-house list to 5000+ subscribers. Now Joe and Jane get on the starting line. They both know that to make money in these online money making programs, you must be fast and work hard to get as much market share as possible before the company gets through the momentum stage and slows down in the stability stage. How is Joe going to compete with Jane, when Jane can INSTANTLY put her offer in front of 5,000 people at once and 500-1000 people EVERY DAY? Folks, for 3 years I was that Joe Blow newbie, and because I now understand the nature of online money making programs I finally got it through my thick head that I needed my own domain. GET YOUR OWN YOUR DOMAIN FOR LIFE. Technology changes, times change, products and services change, the new replaces the old. And you will NEVER be in a position to profit in a new program if you are always starting from scratch and trapped in the "Newbie Dilemma". Some newbies think that just because they are a founding member of some hot new program they are going to make it big...but they don't because there are more and more Jane Doe webmasters that blow right past the Joe Blow newbies. That folks is the Newbie Dilemma. And if you are trapped in this dilemma, then you need to follow what I call the "Internet Model". There are basically four things you need if you are going to make it online in the long run: 1. Your own domain - Build traffic for life...sell whatever you want, promote whatever you want by creating entry pages on your domain to your replicated web sites, or for your own unique products. 2. Professional design - Especially your home page. First impression from visitors is simply this...it's great, or it sucks. Your site must be client centered and have prospect capture forms. This allows your visitors to tell you want they want and join your in-house list(s). 3. Listserver - Your in-house list or ezine to communicate your offers, products and services to list members. Follow-up is mandatory. 4. Traffic generating tools - Leverage your time and build a steady flow of thousands of visitors per month to your domain. Without those four, you are wasting your time and you will not be able to compete with the people who are taking those steps. By following this model, you will have the ability to effectively sell or promote whatever products and programs you want. Plus, your time, effort and energy will never be wasted if something happens beyond your control and one of your affiliate or MLM programs bites the dust. How many of you have a closet full of skeleton affiliate and replicated web sites? Imagine if all that time you had been routing that traffic to your domain and had built up a mailing list over the years and months. You would probably be doing better right now with the most recent program you just joined...if you had been leveraging your traffic generating efforts. Nowadays, MLM and affiliate programs grow so rapidly because of the nature of the Internet in fostering powerful communication tools..like the ezine. And that rapid growth happens because of the people who are following the model. When the window of opportunity opened up, they were ready for it and had the means and ability to take MASSIVE action. Following this model is not an easy task. It will take hard work, determination, an operating budget, a certain level of technical skills, and as much training as needed depending on your level of skills and abilities. I once had a prospect tell me sarcastically that the only people who make money are the ones at the top. I replied and asked her "what are you doing to get there?"