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The Biggest Mistake An Internet Marketer Can Ever Make

written by Guest Blogger on July 27th, 2010

There are thousands of dollars to be made in internet marketing, and the number of success stories of people earning thousands of dollars a month with internet marketing is growing every year. But there is a big mistake that I see internet marketers making all the time that is costing them thousands.

I am acutely aware of this mistake as I made it myself when I first started building my blog many years ago. As many people do I got swept up in the idea that I could make a full time income online blogging. After all is Darren of Problogger.net and Yaro of Entrepreneurs-Journey.com can make over $20,000/month why couldn’t I earn just $2,000/month.

So I started building my blog and I was blogging away 2-3 times per day (just like the pros do it) and within a few months I started seeing some progress…but not much. I was earning less than $100/month and I was working my ass to the bone. It wasn’t long before I was tired from all the work and poor from not making any money.

Little did I know that I was making the biggest mistake an internet marketer can make. It was this mistake that was keeping me poor and it wasn’t until I realized that much luck began to change.

I now work less than ever and earn more than ever. I don’t blog 2-3 times per day like I was doing. In fact I closed down my profitable blog because I was making more money in other ventures and I didn’t want the work that went with maintaining a blog. Now I just keep a personal blog for fun.

So what is this massive mistake that internet marketers fail to realize?

Not Building An Email List

That is right! Failing to build an email subscriber list is the biggest mistake you can make as an internet marketer.

The value of an email marketing list has long been debated, with professional internet marketers sitting on both sides of the fence. But the evidence for the value of an internet marketing list cannot be denied.

In his article Blog Marketing vs. Email Marketing vs. Twitter Marketing John proves that email marketing is one of the best ways to generate income online.

When I started my blog and was working myself into the ground to get it up and running I wasn’t failing because I was a bad writer or had a bad blog, I was failing because I wasn’t utilizing the power of email marketing.

Why Is An Email List So Vital To Your Success?

I have made a big claim here, but let me show you why an email list is so vital to your success.

You Don’t Have To Drive Traffic To Drive Sales

Traditional email marketing requires you to continually drive traffic to your site (and to affiliate sites) in order to make money. With email marketing you only have to drive traffic once, and then once you capture that persons email address you can market to them over and over and over again without having to drive them to your site.

An Email List Builds Over Time

Unlike PPC marketing (where the traffic stops if you stop paying) email marketing builds over time. Once someone subscribes to your email newsletter it is unlikely that they will unsubscribe. Some people will, but the majority of people will stay subscribed. This means that you can build your list over time, and the more you build your list the more money you make with each new offer you send out.

A Good Email List Is Like A Bank Account

A good email list is like a bank account. But when you need money, instead of going to the ATM, you send out an email. If you have a sizeable list that you have been building over time then you are almost guaranteed instant results…within the hour. Most other methods of marketing don’t work that quickly over and over and over.

It Can Be Completely Automated

If you use Aweber for your email marketing then you can completely automate your entire sales system. No more late nights writing articles or managing your PPC campaigns. You write your emails once and plug them into Aweber’s email autoresponder system. When someone signs up for your newsletter they automatically go through your sales funnel one email at a time. Aweber markets for you while you focus on the important things (like having fun).

You Can Focus

Everyone knows that focusing produces results. You are more likely to succeed if you focus on building one blog than if you try to build 50 blogs at once. The same comes for internet marketing. If you can focus on one thing you can generate better results. Because Aweber does everything on autopilot all you have to focus on is generating traffic. Your squeeze page is up, your emails are done and all you have to do is drive traffic and get subscribers. By just focusing on driving traffic you can receive better results than you ever would have if you were trying to do 10 things at once (update your blog, manage your PPC campaigns, set up affiliate sites etc etc).

Some people may disagree with me, that failing to build an email list isn’t the biggest mistake you could ever make as an email marketer. But the proof this there and it cannot be denied, email marketing is vital to your success.

Ryan McLean is a successful email marketer who has a passion for teaching others how to generate a passive income online. Visit his site http://richacademy.com to receive a free eBook that can help you generate a passive income online in your spare time.

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  1. John, great post… I couldn’t agree more! I’ve been blogging now for over 2 years without a list until today – so your posting couldn’t have come at a better time. I even used your AWeber suggestion from your eBook.

    Looking forward to seeing your presentation tomorrow evening.

    If you would like to check out my new venture in building an email list , just click my name above (you can even win a cool Canon Lens coffee mug).

    Thanks John for all of the inspiring information, keep it coming man!

    Dave Seeram
    Editor,
    PhotographyBB Magazine

  2. Hi,

    I agree. I think the most important thing in a web business is building your list. It cannot be emphasized enough. Many people fail to realise this.

    Kindest,
    Nabeel

  3. hello. I need to jump on getting started with my email list building, been putting it off for awhile now… Thanks for the reminder.

  4. Oh boy, another REHASHED post about list building, there’s nothing new here, move along…

  5. Thanks for sharing this. I totally agree with you. Building an email list should be the number 1 priority online. I build my list every single day. Sometimes I wasn’t able to do other IM stuff, but never will I forget building my email list. I make sure to add at least 1 new subscriber, never will I let my day to have zero added subscribers.

    I always emphasize this to my subscribers, that they should also build their list in order to build a long-term business. There are a lot of ways to make money online, but those can die down when the time comes, but having a very responsive, well-cared list will never put your business in jeopardy.

    You can always rely on your email list. So, whatever we do online, whether you sell your own product, or as an affiliate, or whatever services we promote online, we must have a subscribers list.

  6. I still dont get it; simply taking this advice you say having an email-list is your no1 goal?? So what about the content you write, which is the reason your followers subscribe in the first place. I’m missing the user-perspective in your article.

    Btw; i see another big mistake on this blog: all of your ads are US based, eventhough i’m from NL; no relevance at all for me. (thinking there’s no world beyond US ;-)

    • You’re right Patrick! Thank you for commenting.

      I have read so many articles about this topic lately too. It’s the echo chamber I tell you. LOL.

      I think contents is way more important because that’s how you get users to subscribe.

      Some marketers think that people are stupid and will subscribe to them out of nowhere and for nothing.

      The best way to get someone to subscribe to you is to offer something of value for free.

      If John Chow didn’t offer a free eBook that’s valuable, I don’t think many people would subscribe.

      The guy who guest posted this article, Ryan McLean, offer a link to his website that got nothing but an e-mail subscription box.

      How did he expect anyone to subscribe?

    • Not all ads are US based. They’re in english but they could be targeted to most countries.

  7. Big Mistake Revealed! Many people want to save money by using free autoresponder, but many don’t know the side effects that come along… Email List building way to go!

  8. I have already started building email list after reading one of your guides, and the results are pretty good for a start!

  9. Having a list is very important, and the sooner you start it the better. It will build over time and will increase your sales.

  10. Really Great Post.

    I’m totally agree with you about list building.
    List Building is something that no blogger should miss.
    Anyways, Thanks for sharing this great post. Awesome work.

    ~Dev

  11. Setting up a newsletter is something I have just done, I am trying to read every bit of information about how to run it successfully as I can find online. :)

  12. Without a doubt building a Mailing List is right up there with my top methods of Online Income and it’s all about getting people who are interested in the Niche and what you have to say.

    Nick

  13. I personally thing that “The Biggest Mistake An Internet Marketer Can Ever Make” is not to be trustworthy. If your readers and subscribers don’t trust your recommendations, they will not buy when you recommend something to them. One bad product that you recommend can ruin your whole list, SY

  14. Yeah Sure you are right but , few who are unknown and get amazed with Internet marketing just diffusing money and felling very hassle

  15. Good post. As a lot of people mentioned this is not exactly new content but still valid. I’ve been pushing back getting into email marketing because of the cost. I am scared to invest all the money to find out that I won’t get any profits back. I am still contemplating where that is the next best move for my blog.

    I guess I will think about it and see what kind of traffic I can generate with email marketing.

  16. I don’t have a list. I hate getting shitty e-mails promoting crap. That’s what list marketers do – over and over and over. Double opt in on a promise that is NEVER delivered and away you go.

    The biggest mistake people make with making money online is concentrating on promoting ways of making money online and not real businesses with real viable products.

  17. Is it just me or does this blog seem to revolve around pushing Aweber? ;)

    I think we all know JC makes a lot from mailing lists but is this solution really applicable to everyone? I used to work for a commercial corporate website where we employed 2 full time people to run our list, and yes, it did bring in a million or so a year, but actually that made up about 20% of the mix.

    Both SEO and PPC proved more successful, with offline (people phoned up from TV ads etc) being the final part of our core traffic drivers.

    I worry that JC pushes email lists because that’s what worked for him without realising that many people make a living from the net through other exciting and creative ways and that this model doesn’t suit every website.

    One size doesn’t fit all. Remember we can’t all blog about blogging!

    • True but having a list is as essential as having tech support, everyone needs it. It doesn’t take much to manage a list. It’s easy to setup and it’s quick passive income.

      • I don’t have a list, or tech support, I do alright online. It’s nonsense, what you need is to connect people to things they are interested in buying. Even better, make it a real world product, not some info shite with 4 billion dollars worth of bonuses and you’ll not even have to feel like scum doing it. THAT IS ALL there is to it.

        Email marketing works, of course it does but anybody doing it who believes they are anything more than spammers are kidding themselves. Is it more effective than other methods? Depends on the market. In the MMO market it’s a goldmine but that’s only cos of the untrusting nature of the potential customers – how many cr@p MMO products have we all bought? It really does take 3-4 points of contact before people get serious about buying the next big thing. Not needed so much for people looking to buy a new dishwasher? In other markets its not needed at all. Try list marketing when promoting B2B services and see how far you get!

        Having a list is about as essential as having a 3rd bollock.

    • Or he pushes aweber because he is an affiliate for them and makes money every time somebody new signs up? SY

  18. I just love the push behind the title. Using adjectives like “biggest” and making this seem like such an extreme post is a good way to draw readers in. You just need to make sure you’re not disappointing them with your actual content, which judging from the comments above, you definitely did. I think email building is one step you shouldn’t neglect to include, but it is also not the end all and be all of internet marketing. Just something else to keep in mind.

  19. I enjoyed your article it was great. There are a lot of people that quit after a couple of months and you let them know they have to stay with their website.

  20. Building a list is very important because as you may know most businesses make the bulk of their profit from returning visitors.

  21. John, I made a free ebook after reading your “How to Make Money Blogging” eBook. This was about two weeks ago and I now have 50 people on my list.

    I entered a few of my best articles into the “follow up” auto send with Aweber and it’s bringing people to my site.

    You’re awesome!

  22. List is the first step if you are serious as professional blogger.

  23. Great message. I have started using aweber because of John Chow. Not seeing a ton of results but constantly get around 2 subscribers a week!

  24. But all this is now east thanks to MaxBlog’s Subsciber Magnet which creates multiple stealthy points of subscription gathering ;)

  25. Will make sure I don’t make the same mistake myself.

  26. Hi John, I understand email marketing is going to work for markets like weight loss and money making online. But do they still work for desperate short life span markets like Acne. Would takers be patient enough to read a mail at their inbox daily?

  27. So many people blog about what you SHOULD do, and never what you SHOULDN’T do. I love this post, and I hope you can keep posting more Don’ts just for the amateurs that read your blog. We can always learn from other people’s mistakes.

  28. I am doing this mistake till now.I’ll try to build a email list.It is a must for every blogger.Thanks for your article.

  29. Looks like I might be the only voice saying this, but phooey, for two reasons. One, saying you can market to an email list over and over is a fallacy; at least half the people you get on an email list are going to unsubscribe the first time you send them something they weren’t expecting, and half of the rest are just going to ignore it without looking at it.

    Which brings point number two, if your content and things you offer on your blog or website isn’t the most important thing, then those folks who unsubscribed will never have another reason to stop by.

  30. Nice post John! How would one go about making an ebook viral to gain a huge list? Would love to hear your insight.

  31. Indeed, list building is the single most powerful way to make money online. Without building list, there is a limitation of making money by blogging.

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