10 Mistakes Not To Make: Be An Online Expert

     Starting your own online business begins with deciding you need to make a change. Businesses that thrive online do so because they were started with this in mind. Whether the change you want to make is in your own life, the life of others or both it is this that drives success online.

     While the barriers to building an online income are quite low nowadays, the majority of people who start an online business still tend to fail, or at the very best make marginal profits.

     A lot of the heartache and struggle can be taken out of generating solid leads and marketing your chosen products though if you learn to avoid mistakes that in hindsight often seem obvious.

     So what are the key mistakes that people who fail or who merely struggle along make?

1. Losing Yourself In Details:

     One of the first things that any good business coach will tell you is that you need to get your business off the ground. In the beginning you just need to be making a profit, even if it is a tiny return it gives you the traction you need to keep pushing forward.

     The reason this is the number one issue facing new Online Marketers is that all too many of us get bogged down in, and sidetracked by the small, often cosmetic details that we can come back to once we have the time and freedom to do so.

     The real secret here is that it doesn't need to be perfect it just needs to be functional. So stop fiddling with your company logo, your branding and your website and start creating content and making a name for yourself.

2. Not Spending Your Money Wisely:

     The next thing your mentor is going to tell you is that if you want results you are going to have to shell out for good training and good advertising.

While you can make it online without spending a cent it is going to take you a long time and you are going to spend long hours banging your head against the proverbial brick wall, not to mention making many of the common mistakes that come from lack of knowledge about the industry.

     The best advice I have ever been given by anyone about this business is that anything you spend either in training or on failed advertising is an investment in yourself as a marketer. The only real caveat to this is that you are far better spending that money wisely on good training than throwing it away on bad advertising.

3. Selling Trinkets To Stay Afloat:

     Most of the people you see floating around online trying to sell you something are only just making their way. The main reasons for this are not lack of effort or lack of audience but are down to a lack of quality.

     High quality products usually provide you with a higher profit margin and also build the trust of your leads. After all if someone sends you an email every day trying to sell you junk you are likely to stop listening. If on the other hand they provide you with valuable information and only ever present you with high quality value added products and services you are far more likely to listen to what they have to say.

     One of the best ways to secure high end products is to get involved with groups that are already operating at a high level such as the Six Figure Mentors.

4. Not Knowing Where You Are Going:

     I don't know how many times I have heard variations on the refrain of "Marketing without knowing your product or audience is like trying to drive a car blindfolded". Basically the only possible result is that you are going to crash and it is going to hurt.

     To pull another great quote on this subject, adapted from the famous Art of War by Sun Tzu "Know thy market, but know not thy audience, find defeat in every campaign. Know not thy market, but know thy audience, find victory and defeat in equal measure. Know thy market and know thy audience, and thou shall never fear failure again".

     With access to so much data on so many platforms there is no longer any excuse for not knowing who your customers are and what they want from you.

5. Selling Without Serving:

     One of the great problems posed by the internet is the fact that it makes it all too easy to sell someone a dud product, take the profit and disappear into the night. Because of this customers are becoming more and more wary and are, very sensibly, beginning to do real research before choosing not only what to buy, but also who to buy it from.

     With this in mind it is imperative for those that want to be more than a flash in the pan that they provide great customer service, great content and great value. If a customer likes what they see and how they are treated they will come back, and, chance are they will bring their friends.

     Remember that the meteoric rise in Social Media means that a bad review can get around the internet pretty fast and a good one may keep sending you prospects for a long time to come.

6. Giving Away The Product Instead Of Generating Value:

     Personally I am a great believer in the mantra that providing good value to your clients and customers is the best way to do business. It is also true that a well constructed and useful piece of content can snag you a loyal long-term prospect.

     The flip side of this though is that many people spend so much time or effort nursing possible prospects to a sale, either with time, gifts or extras that the sale then provides negative ROI or at the very least a massive drain on your valuable time.

     The real secret here is to strike a balance. Make sure you keep giving your followers, fans and customers great content and a great overall experience with you but try not to let yourself be sidetracked especially by lone customers looking to squeeze you for everything they can get.

7. Listening On All Channels But Hearing Nothing:

     The quickest way to waste an entire day is as I am sure many of you have found out at 4am is to get absorbed by social media. No matter your poison we all do it. The marketing strength that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide come from exactly this, people find it hard to tear themselves away even when they have better things to do.

     For those of us using these platforms as an integral part of our business the risks of getting too absorbed are even greater still. Combine this with the fact that it is all too tempting to blast your message across every site, blog and media platform you can reach and you can suddenly find yourself drowning in a sea of posts and pages.

     The remedy here is to take a step back, take a deep breath and make a choice. Choose which platforms you are going to use and focus on them, resisting temptation to have "just a quick look at Pintrest and Instagram".

     There are more than enough potential customers on any half decent social media site to keep you in business till the end of time so don't get greedy or you'll end up getting nowhere. Remember the dog on the bridge? Don't go trying to grab another bone just to see the one you have falling in the river.

8. Forgetting Your Mentor:

     If you have followed the advice so far then you have found and paid for some seriously good training. This is an investment and if the mentor you chose was worth what you paid them they will not only be able to help you out they will want to.

     Don't try to make it on your own too fast. It is really a temptation to forget all about your coach when you see that first shiny dollar land in your bank account, I know because everyone does it even me. When this happens though it usually isn't too long until we get stuck, get lost or simply start to run out of steam. These are the moments you will truly thank your lucky stars that you had the foresight to find proper training and a strong community to help.

9. Underestimating Just How Much Determination It Can Take:

     The main reason why you are here, reading this post, is because you have heard that being an online marketer or an affiliate gives you the freedom to follow your dreams. It does, but, and this is a big but, only if you have the strength of will to do the hard work first.

     There is no secret software, no special spell and definitely no magic course that will make you a marketer overnight, never mind a successful one.

     Don't despair though. If you are willing to learn, listen and take the time to get it right you will make it. People often think it takes a "born marketer" to be successful, I'm here to tell you there is no such thing. Anyone who ever made it did it by working hard and learning well.

     I'm going to say it again. Find a proper course and if you can a community of like minded experts to support and teach you otherwise you may possibly struggle forever to get any traction at all.

10. Forgetting Your Customers Are People Too:

     Just because you might not ever meet the person you are selling to, or even speak to them in some cases, that doesn't mean you can forget for a second that you are dealing with real people. Think about the way you would like to be treated and the support you would like to get from someone you were giving money to.

     If you would not be happy with the way you treat your customers chances are they won't be either. Don't be one of those people you see and hear from all the time who'd sell their own granny if they thought they'd make a profit. Try to keep your honesty and your pride no matter what you choose to do.

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