by Patricia Mayo

You’ve seen the headlines - “The new revolutionary way to…” - “Super insider secrets for…” - “The easiest way to…” - “…that THEY don’t want you to know!”


Photo by Moza

As a ghostwriter for many years of those awful five page sales letters and “make money online” information products, I’ve seen - and written - it all. You wouldn’t believe how the “make money online” business really works - and how little of it, actually does.

The reason why all those neat tricks you learned in “make money online” information products don’t work is two fold: the mindset behind it, and the mindset it produces.

More people go into debt chasing some “revolutionary new super secret easy way to make money online” - including, and especially, blogging for money. But you know as well as I do - most of these “insider tricks” are junk, and just an inside joke to trick you into buying.

Real internet marketers don’t sell “online money making secrets” - they give them away for free. Think about it. If they really are making the money they claim, why do they have to sell the information product that teaches you how to make money?

Tools vs. Information

Let’s be perfectly clear though - there’s a big difference between tools and information. I used to have a certain site in my blogroll (*cough*ProBlogger.net*cough*) but I have since removed them because of a certain “Six Figure Blogging” product.

That is information, and it is being sold at a ridiculously high price. Sure there is some value to shortcutting lessons learned over many years, but trust me - you would be much better served to learn by doing.

A lot of people talk. A lot of people read. A lot of people think about it. But very few do.

You’re setting yourself up for failure if profitable action is not the first step available after you pay real money - and reading or listening are not profitable actions.

Focus on ROI

With a make money online information product, you are spending two very valuable currencies - money and time. When you’re done reading that product, what do you have?

Ideas.

Not money.

Now you have to find some kind of solution for applying those ideas. Sure the solutions could be free, but you’re still spending that ever so valuable and irreplaceable currency - time. If you have any money left after buying that information product, you can opt for the time-saving solution and buy tools.

Because when you’re done buying and implementing those tools, what do you have?

Money.

Although ideas and information are necessary so you know what to do - it doesn’t make sense to buy “make money online” information products. Skip the stupid money-groveling middle man and cut to the chase.

Easier Said Than Done

If they’re selling an information product on how to make money online - they’re a liar, and you don’t want what they’re selling anyways.

All you people selling this kind of stuff - go ahead and flame me. But these are the facts.

Selling “make money online” means you want compensation for the time you have invested. That means you’re not making enough money to justify helping your fellow online marketers for free.

Translation: Taking advice from this kind of person, if their information even works (remember, they’re not making enough money as it is), will only put you in the same situation - too busy chasing money to truly help anyone.

That right there is failing point #1 I mentioned before - the mindset behind it. Failing point #2 is the mindset these products create - laziness.

It doesn’t take much initiative to buy something - it just takes trust and money. It takes a little more initiative to read it, but not much. Even still, there are thousands of people who seem to think the money will come rolling in if they can just get these ebooks on their hard drive.

However, it takes a whole lot of initiative to actually do something with the advice. This is exactly why I say you would be much better served to learn by doing than to learn by paying to read.

Starting off on the right foot means you will at least try to make the next step with your left foot - or fall on your face trying. How many toddlers do you know that learned how to walk by reading about it?

Sure it’s an oversimplified example, but you get my point.

However, I have one final cautionary note.

Self-Replicating Does Not Equal Profit

The only “make money online” products that actually work reliably are tools - but self-replicating tools, such as the ones that give you a “free web site” or all the templates (and blah blah ad nauseum), don’t work.

Fact: You can’t change how valuable something is to a customer, but you can change how unique a product is to the marketplace.

Fact: Anything that is easily replicated and openly distributed without price controls quickly forces its own price down to $0.

If you run across anything that requires you to copy their site - don’t buy it. All static products eventually saturate the market and lose value, but self-replicating ones just do it faster.

Problem: 250 people are selling the same thing in 250 different places. One person gets the bright idea to sell it cheaper. 249 people wonder why sales have gone down, find out, and then the price war begins.

Solution: One major distributor or one central hub for sales so you can control the price (in terms of online marketing, at least - brick and mortar businesses can control this more readily through distributor contracts and setting a minimum advertised price).

So far, there’s only one person I know of with a price controlled viral product.

You don’t have to learn a damned thing (unless you don’t know what a hyperlink is), you don’t need to set up anything, and nobody can possibly undersell you. Oh yeah, and you get all the profits.

Oh yeah, and you don’t have to put in your email.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - did I mention it’s a totally free lesson on making money online?

Oh - and I don’t feel scummy promoting this either (and I’ve got very sensitive scum-dar).



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