Listen, we’re all chasing the same dream … “escape the dollars for hours trap by moving some electrons around the internet using auto-piloted systems while our bankers scratch their butts and look at us curiously wondering how it all works”
Am I right?
Now there are a lot of people out there telling you it’s easy. In fact, some are telling you it’s VERY easy.
Which leads a lot of people to have broken hearts, shattered dreams, and to dig very large holes of debt for themselves.
And worse yet, it prevents people from following through with focus and determination … which in my estimation is the ONLY way to conquer a market (even WITH my particular skills, background, and research methods)
Let me ask you this … HOW COULD IT POSSIBLY BE EASY?
According to the latest stats I’ve seen, 88% of searchers NEVER go beyond page one of the search results, and the vast, vast majority of those click on one of the first five links (both paid and organic).
Which means there’s room for only about 10 players in any given market. Which means you’ve got to figure out how to be amongst the TOP TEN VENDORS IN THE WORLD for your market to get ANY significant traction.
So let me ask you, is there ANY other endeavor where people would so easily believe it is EASY to become one of the top ten in the world?
When you put it like that, all the internet hype kind of melts away, doesn’t it!
Now, before I leave you too depressed, the counter-claim to all this is that there are tens of thousands of markets … and the vast majority of marketers have NO idea how to …
– Focus on relationship building with prospects
– Do their research appropriately
– Understand the “keyword conversation” behind each search phrase
– Gather free competitive intelligence
– Fully optimize their sites for organic traffic
– Please the Adwords Quality Score Monster
– Use audio, video, and graphic design effectively
– Emotionally connect with their prospects and customers
– Relentlessly build value with back end products and continuity
– Test, track, and continually beat their conversion rate
– Write compelling copy
– Actually talk to their customers and prospects
– Estimate the necessary resources to deliver value better than their competitors
– Determine which competitors to copy and which to avoid
– Identify market gaps, etc.
Which is WHY I say it IS entirely possible, but it takes SERIOUS focus and determination, usually over a period of at least 4 to 6 months for a new market, and sometimes more than a year if it’s very competitive.
POSSIBLE … 100% DOABLE … but NOT 100% DEFINITE or EASY.
My intention was to paint a picture of reality for you in hopes you’d be able to be kinder to yourself when assessing exactly how far you’ve come, what you know, what you don’t, and what lies ahead.
How’d I do?
Perry Marshall
with Glenn Livingston
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
40 Comments on “Chasing the Internet Dream”
Hello Perry,
When I started my online business, I also thought it was easy. When I realized that I would have to work very hard to accomplish my goal, I just started working hard period. Quitting for me was never an option. Even when thing got difficult. I am dyslexic and English is my second language, and now I am making money online. So if I was able to do it, literally anyone with a desire can succeed in online business.
It is very rewarding to actually make real money after you have worked hard for a couple of year. You continue to work a lot, but after you‘ve learned about internet marketing and have gained experience, It’s is so much easier, the hardest part is at the beginning.
I think that quitting because you thought is was easy and then realizing how hard it was is not an excuse.
Right words Right time Thanks
I Like the talk,am new online and am crafting my way but my biggest worry is the confusing information prospects are getting from every corner.it makes me sad when i see un logical stuffs being posted.i hate hype that is why am ready to go an extra mile and make something different.let me say this business is not easy so we should not preach a lot of easiness here.
Well Perry, you are right about one thing, easy it ain’t! If you break it down by the hour as most people are paid, I would guess that most looking to make a go of it online are making about 2 cents per hour, maybe less. It takes lots of time to get started and then maintaining is another issue. But at least it’s fun.
There’s always a few nuggets of gold in each Email from You…that’s a big reason why I respect you so much, Perry. And I’ve learned to respect so few, that’s saying something.
Keep ’em coming! thanks from [email protected]
There are all these people coming to local businesses promising tons of clients from Google. It appears it’s not as easy as it seems.
Is it even worth for a local business owner to use internet marketing?
It’s almost like starting a new business completely from scratch, if you should go by what Perry is saying!
It’s actually quite a bit easier to SEO a local business than a national one. And yes, a decent online strategy can make a huge difference for a local biz. Travis Smith has a very good local SEO course that I recommend, http://www.liftdivision.com
It’s rather refreshing (if not a little discouraging) to finally hear someone tell it like it really is. The truth is not something you get very easily from most internet marketers. It took me years (and many thousands of wasted dollars) to discover what Perry said is true. (Wished I would have heard it a few years ago).
Best Wishes
Carl Willoughby
That is so right on if one has put in an effort.
As I have and am…..but still a long way to go for me.
What I mean Perry to my amazement is there are actually hundreds of thousands of ADULTS who
really believe the internet is a lottery.
I did not come into this thinking easy at all.
I was 52 when I started Perry.
Properly.
I had to work and sleep at work in the 80’s to make 6 figures…So I came in knowing how hard 6 figures is to acheive.
55 now and less confused and making money but I really
know I have a ton of tweeking to do.
I’m now looking at what my actual passion is which
is fitness and wellness.
I’m a 55 year old with a 6 pack.
And don’t belong to a gym or have footballs for biceps
but I feel I need to teach my message of just common sense simple solutions with diet and excercise plus the motivation to stick with it.
Or really keep the beers to the optimum level.lol
Yes I still drink beer and have a 6 pack..
That may surprise folks..
It’s how to get my message out in a simple to follow way that I am working on.
In the mean time my 14 year old wiss kid son is shooting videos of me doing simple excercises and we’ll see where I go from there.
A blog for sure to start but much to think about.
Super post again from you Perry.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Hello Perry:
I have been working INCREDIBLY hard on competing in a niche industry in a competitive market since 2003. Our efforts include both online and offline campaigns. Serious time was spent obtaining multiple degrees and certifications all to “play big money on the net”.
After about 2 years of building organic SEO we are almost beating out 100% of our competitors and are at the top of Google for over 27 phrases. I also picked up a copy of your Adwords book and we are receiving an amazing 8% conversion rate on click troughs. Thank you for increasing our knowledge!
Marketing Automation & Sales…yes…Did it take us years of making mistakes and investing serious time online..? yes.
Would I do it all over again? You Bet.
Online commerce is the same of real commerce, same rules,same results, same sacrifices, same frustrations, same successes…. BUT the dimensions are wide different, it must be open-minded !
Good job as always Perry
Dear Perry,
for me the hardest thing is to engage my reader. Writing like yours does not always come easily!
But here in Holland, the internet marketing is truly dreadful. There are things I simply cannot find, simple useful information such as the price of a pot of paint (easy enough to find in the print media!) When you are looking for something like this, finding a small site on page 7 is not unusual. My website scores well because it has some thought put into it, not because it is brilliant or the keywords are well organized. Put simply, it has keywords. Yes, things really are that bad here.
I do know now – after your first webinar – that I understand what you mean. A friend of mine runs a computer shop, but finds getting new custom rather hard. I have made him suggestions recently, and when last in town (Utrecht) I took him to see his competition … immediately his eye was taken by some technical gadget in the window. After around half an hour of seeing various computer shops I got the message – he could not see the wood for the trees. I said that we were going to look for rucksacks (the first thing that I saw in a shop window!) “But I don’t know anything about rucksacks” to which I responded “Your customers know nothing about computers!” We had a smashing time!
Every person who reads this post is another person that is going to have second thoughts about buying my “Make Google Millions In A Minute” eBook.
Damn you Marshall.
BEAUTIFUL! I worked for a company, whose name I won’t mention, for 6 years that partnered with “gurus” that used the “easy money” pitch ALL DAY LONG!
I even sort of believed it for a few of those years until I actually started my first online business.
The fact is, any company that says they’ll teach you how to work “smarter as opposed to harder” is full of SH%#. Not that working smart doesn’t pay off, but no matter what, you HAVE TO WORK HARD to make things come together.
Thanks for this post. I wished I could share it with all the clients I tried to help who had been “taken” (literally) for thousands and thousands of dollars based on the “dream” a sales guy painted in their minds.
Thanks again Perry!
….when you say a lot of people ?!!!!!! it seems that you’re out of, isn’t ? ………………………..
Perry, I am a fringe (neophyte) player in the internet marketing world (have one product and have killed myself to finally bring it public last month), but I feel like you”re speaking to me in your posts. Your thoughts are very grounding. It’s great to check in with you at the end of the day. Excruciating at times, but grounding. Thanks.
Hey Perry,
You’ve hit the nail on it’s head by writing this very first statement of your post.
““escape the dollars for hours trap by moving some electrons around the internet using auto-piloted systems while our bankers scratch their butts and look at us curiously wondering how it all works”
Obviously you know how to read the mind of your prospect.
Now, can you please guide us with a course/book by which we can also find this about our target market too?
Thanks and much appreciated,
-E.S
For a beginner the best value I know of is http://www.TheNakedTruthAboutInternetMarketing.com/indexPM.html
Not expensive, and very thorough.
I disagree with your assertion that one must be top 10 (or top 5) in the world to compete for quality organic traffic. In my experience, most markets have many keywords that deliver quality traffic. My point is that a marketer does not have to start by competing for the most competitive keywords to build a successful business. Say there are 15 keywords that generate meaningful traffic for a particular niche. With most traffic going to the top 3 organic results, that’s 45 opportunities to be a player!
I agree with you here. Besides search engines are only one way to bring in traffic.
You’re engaging this reader, thanks for your honesty.
What an awesome post Perry. As usual I applaud and appreciate you.
Hey Perry, great article. Thanks!
It seems to me that the key is to help people buy a product/service that they want, when they want, coupled with PERSISTENT action
Thanks for your insights
We live in times where everyone wants success now. Only a few know that it takes time. I started a cleaning company from scratch and it took about six years before it was a success. You need to live and breath it 24/7 and you will be the king. You just need to put in the time and in that time there will be ups and downs. just push through the downs and more ups of success will come your way. I think thats what you said
Perry:
Although you are absolutely right about everything, in the couple of years I’ve been in this thing I have found out that people wont listen to you (even to The Mighty Perry Marshall) and go out to chase a fools errand, if it sounds like an easy one.
It’s like when everybody tells you that “that girl” is not exactly a good girl. Hope and ignorance makes you happy… at least for some time.
That’s good news and bad news. On one hand you have less competition when you reach a certain level, because a very few will.
The bad news is that a lot of people will deem everybody as a scammer.
Great article, as everyone I’ve read.
Best regards.
Running a successful online business has been a very interesting curve.
I don’t have a burning need to buy several islands in the South Pacific, but I am keen on producing a superb income.
I have three offline businesses that have done well for over 10 years, two particularly well. One of them didn’t really lend itself to being brought online, and two did.
Of the two I brought online, one has done okay and the other is where I’m supremely focused. I’ve spent a fair amount of time and money on books, eBooks, courses, seminars, webinars, you name it. I’ve learned a great deal, but I realized it is still about finding customers, offering them something they want and will pay hard-earned money for, giving great service and following up.
When you add the online dimension, then providing great content becomes an essential component. Getting my wits around SEO, backlinks, podcasts, video—well, that’s finally happening as well.
Is it paying off? Yes. As fast I thought it would? No.
So I’m determined to stay focused on the basics and incorporate tools—that won’t offend the Google gods—and will bring more folks to come and see if I have something of real value.
That kind of focus works for me.
I’ve learned a lot since I started following you about a year ago. I really appreciate this post. Thanks Perry!
Jeff
Hey Perry,
I like your post but I think it’s important to note that there is A LOT of traffic beyond search…
Cheers,
Robert
Thanks for the article. I too thought making money online was “quick and easy.” I was shattered and shocked to find out it takes dedication, determination and the never give up spirit.
I don’t like to call it “hard” as that is a very discouraging word. However, like anything else, what you put in, you get out. I remember when I first started internet marketing, I didn’t even know what a URL was.
EVERYTHING seemed like chinese! Now, 3 years later, I know how to build optimized websites. The things I thought were insurmountable then, are easy now.
I am learning PPC now and it seems DIFFICULT to grasp, but if I keep plugging away, a light bulb will come on! I just keep on keeping on. That’s the key.
Here is the thing.
99% of people who come to the internet are not building a business.
They are desperately looking for the magic button that opens the money flood gates.
In other words, they are not even in the category you are describing Perry.
That’s why I disagree with Mia’s comment. Hope still sells and will always sell. It’s human nature.
We believe that McDonald’s is food, you can be “overweight but healthy”, iPods make you cool and happy, and that newspapers and TV news are there to educate us.
We believe that it’s worth buying things on credit, spending a lifetime paying for them, instead of being with our families. And then dying broke.
Well, I wouldn’t use words such as “stupid” and “gullible”. Even though very often those are the best words to describe the consumerist culture.
But I will say that most of what people think they want (and will gladly pay for) is totally worthless.
For some reason my post got axed by noscript…lol. To summarize it, there are plenty of snake oil salesmen who take advantage of unsuspecting folks and they get duped into believing a lie.
When I started out I fell victim to this with software, ideas and “step-by-step” products that did not deliver.
If there is one area that is rife with misdirection it is internet marketing. I do not know if that is some marketing ploy or just willful negligence. It really does not matter in the end, the consumer is the worse for it.
While I do not agree with all the tactics used by saltydroid he/she is one champion who has had enough and make more than a few marketers either fold up shop or go under cover.
It is a shame it came to that but there you go. If I could afford to sit over the shoulder of a guru I would, sadly I cannot just like the teeming masses who want to make it online. So we settle for the fourth tier of products and hope for the best maybe making enough to cover hosting and an occasional outsourced article or three. Meanwhile we are hammering away at the 9-5 dreaming a little dream of freedom…
Perry as a marketer who is struggling this is dire news indeed…lol. Kidding. But really I have to agree with you. I have spent untold thousands on BS gimmicks that promise to make is push button easy but fail to deliver on some crucial element. What I have found that works is being on point in the discussion in your market. You can be bold and say something controversial but you better have something to back it up in the way of research or you get sidelined.
While I would love to sit over your shoulder and learn from the very best, you are out of my price range regardless of the idea of “if you want it bad enough you will find a way to pay for it” mentality that many top name guru’s seem to take. That to me smacks of taking advantage of people without consideration that being a selfish ass is ok. It brings to mind a certain man who irked a certain saltydroid person not too long ago….it was not pretty. But it brings to mind the fact that consumers deserve a fair shake in a world of snake oil salesmen and when they do not get it a champion arises to take it as his or her own. Usually an online bloodbath ensues.
Perry, as usual, you are being kind. Basically, we all forget that the people surfing the web are looking for a good deal, they are not stupid and gullible, even if we have been stupid and gullible ourselves on occasion. We have to develop products with value and market them with integrity. All else fails eventually, and we fail with it. Selling more hope than value is a worn-out business model. We cannot afford to buy it and we’d better not be selling it. Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks Perry, I read your aticles all the time and you’re not only inspiring, you’re also informative. I especially liked what you said about assessing where we are now and how much we’ve learned. It’s staggering to see where I was just 2 short years ago and where I am now…even though I still have sooo much to learn.
This is a very frustrating industry, but it’s also a lot of fun. I tend to forget that when in heated battle with my PC or some application that just wont’ do what I want it to do. However, I’ve found nothing I’ve done in the past to be more rewarding emotionally (financially is yet to come) than internet marketing.
Thanks for the reminder.
Glenn says: “Most people over estimate what they can do in 1 year and underestimate what they can do in 5.”
Perry, I can’t argue against your logic. Nonetheless, we 9-5er’s who are chasing that dream. It difficult not to have at least a little hope that something will come easy some time. As you’re well aware, it’s difficult to spend 10 hours per day working for the company, 2-3 hours with the family and still have enough energy leftover to be creative and learn the skills of being an internet entrepreneur;-)
I have often pondered if some people, no matter how hard they try,(might I be one of those?) will not make it in the automated internet business only because of their aptitudes and unchanging ways.
Thanks for the continued inspiration.
Claude B.
Montreal, Canada
This is a matter of using the aptitudes you have, not trying to fix the ones you don’t. Unchanging ways, well, that could be an obstacle. We all have considerable power to change.
You often advise to use the aptitudes we have and not those we havn’t, Perry, but sometimes we HAVE to begin from the white sheet… Completly white… Absolutely… And plant and grow something we do not understand. There is not other way. But this way is nearly unpossible to follow because we are in the waves, in the storm…
Well, at least we are sure Alzheimer is not our destiny. :0)))
Hello Marshall…
I have not idea where anyone got the notion running a business was e a s y…. online or offline.
I spent 20 years in a brick and mortar electronic business and the past 5 years with 6 e-commerce stores … it is not easy.
It takes a unique individual to be an Entrepreneur..which can be described differently depending on who you talk to.
However if it is in your blood there is no stopping or turning back only moving ahead.
Packing up the tent is not an option…