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.
Did you enjoy this post? Get John Chow Dot Com updates via email...
Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.
One of the most common complaint (or excuse) I hear from potential new bloggers is they don’t know how to install WordPress. Terms like FTP and CPanel are like a foreign language and setting up a database might as well be setting up the space shuttle for a launch. Because of the technology barrier, many would-be bloggers never start their blogs...