Archive for Posts – Internet Marketing
What Is Creativity Anyway?
Posted by: | CommentsSo What Exactly Is Creativity Anyway?
Are you a creative person? How do you know? What does that really mean? Have you been told that you are not creative? Do you just think you’re not creative? Can you become creative?
These are all good questions. Perhaps it depends on your definition of creativity and your point of view.
There are people who are born with a talent like a good singing voice, writing talent, athletic talent, academic talent, musical talent, artistic talent etc. We all admire these people. We may even wish we were these people or had their talent.
These people stick out in a crowd because of their level of talent. But one thing is for sure. For them to stick out in a crowd they had to take their gift and develop it into a powerful skill through hard work and practice. We label them gifted, talented, and creative.
The truth is we are all born with a talent. It is our gift. Our job is to find and recognize that talent, and then do what is necessary to develop our talent to reach higher levels of accomplishments.
Sometimes it’s difficult to recognize that talent because we are used to it. You know, we all have something we do that comes kind of easy to us. We may not even call it a talent, but it is. It’s our job to nourish that talent and get as good as we can with it.
Does that then make you creative? To some degree it does; especially if you head in new directions with that talent. Breaking new ground tends to get you new labels around the word creative.
Okay, let’s say you are not buying into this because you still haven’t identified your gift. Then think about this. Regardless of how old you are you have accumulated some level of knowledge and experience on many different subjects. This can be the beginning of your creativity. I say this because I believe creativity can be learned; and if it can be learned it can be developed into something new.
It’s been said that knowledge is power. That’s a crock. Knowledge is knowledge. It is the application of knowledge that creates power. It’s also the intertwining of knowledge and facts that will lead to new ideas and new solutions. Try this. Take a subject that is a problem or opportunity for you within your field. Write it down and then read it aloud morning, noon, and night until it’s ingrained in your head. Don’t try to solve it. Turn it over to your sub-conscious mind to solve. Do this every day until your sub-conscious returns the answer to you. You will be amazed when it does. And oh yes, keep a small pad and pen by your nightstand. Why, because your sub-conscious is liable to return the answer to you in the middle of the night. If you don’t write it down immediately you may not recall it all in the morning. Believe me. I know that for a fact. I also keep a small pad/pen with me at all times………just in case.
I had a mentor years ago that gave me some sage advise. He suggested that I immediately find something new for my life, and then take 5 years to get real good at it. He wanted me to repeat the cycle every 5 years. I asked him why? He said it would make me a more interesting person. My immediate response was “am I not interesting enough”? He only smiled. I talked with my bride and she thought it was a good idea but the something new better not be a girl friend. She has a way of keeping my feet on the ground. I’m here to tell you I did take his advice. I wasn’t sure where to start so I began with fun things. Keep in mind this was in addition to my career in the Awards industry and bringing up a family with my bride. Since then I have learned to play the guitar, became a runner, counseled children going through death and divorce, became a photographer, studied mandarin Chinese, became a gemologist, became a Scout Master for the leadership development of boys, became a Rotarian attending to humanitarian issues, became a jewelry appraiser, with two friends started and maintain a leadership institute, with my bride started an annual adoption awareness carnival in conjunction with CPS, and yes, that’s how I became an internet marketer.
It wasn’t long after I started this process that my mentor died, so I never got to thank him. His idea was probably the single most important thing that guided my development over the years. And yes, I did become a more interesting person in the process. More significantly, it was a prime factor in developing my own creativity.
So let’s put this in perspective with Internet Marketing. You need to learn the basics, and not just a couple of them. Study niche and keyword research, copywriting and SEO, affiliate marketing and web design. There’s more but start here. You can find this information stored as E-books on my web site. As you test and practice your new skills you will find yourself drawing connections between them and then you will be able to solve new issues and exploit new opportunities. This process will allow you to develop your creativity. If you stay with it, it will take you to the bank…..literally.
So if you weren’t born a star develop yourself into one. You can become a creative person. It all starts with desire.
My conclusion…….”It is far easier to criticize than create”……..so be a Dream Maker and not a Dream Breaker.
Yours in interweb business, friendship and service,
Tom (TR) Ryan
IMassistance
Why Do 95% of Internet Marketers Fail the First Year?
Posted by: | CommentsThat’s the statistic I just received from several creditable internet sources. That’s a higher rate than Brick and Mortar Businesses. Can you imagine why that happens? I can.
First of all there are all the “promise them anything websites” that claim to be able to make you an overnight success if you just do what they say for a few weeks or a month. Then there are the websites that claim to have found a loophole that is allowing them to rake in a four figure income every day. And of course there are websites that offer black hat tricks to make you rich. The list goes on. These people need to be shut down.
I remember investigating some of the claims to success that I’ve received over the last few years. One was about a young man who had just pulled in over $100,000 in a month. It turned out to be true. But what wasn’t said was that he had been working as an Internet Marketer for five years, had launched over a hundred websites, and this was his crown jewel month. That’s great but the inference in the sales page would lead you to conclude it was sudden success. There was also a lady making $21,000 a month from CPA (Cost Per Action). Bottom line, she had over 400 little CPA one page sites making $.25 to $.50 per submit. These examples aren’t fraudulent, but they do leave something to be desired.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. There are loads of good Internet Marketers out there promoting their courses legitimately, and they have good courses. Many focus on one specific topic of Internet Marketing. There’s nothing wrong with that either.
The difficulty arises when someone new takes a course, implements the plan and it does not work. Without getting help this hurts the new person, the author of the course, and Internet Marketing.
Think about this for a minute. Look at the past successes in your life. Did you get there overnight? Did you get there because you found a loophole in your industry? Did you get there by being a trickster? Did you get there because you started a business before you should have? I seriously doubt it.
You got there because you studied, learned skills, got good at your craft, and put those skills into practice daily. That’s how you experience success. What makes you think being successful in Internet Marketing is any different? Well it isn’t! Those people I referenced four paragraphs back had spent the time to learn Internet Marketing, develop the necessary skills, and then put them into practice every day. Once they achieved success with one website guess what they did? You’ve got it! They did it over and over again.
Some of these now successful Internet Marketers spent lots of money following one particular Internet Marketer, taking all their courses and buying all the tools they sold. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as you have the funds to dedicate to that process. It goes along way to channeling your success.
The problem is many new people trying to enter the Internet Marketing world don’t have those resources so they take what they have and invest it quickly in one aspect of Internet Marketing and when it’s gone…..their gone.
I know of a young man that was in and out just that way. He had $2,300 to invest. He did some investigation and decided PPC was the best and fastest way to financial success. Two weeks later he had spent all the campaign money ($2,300) on highly competitive keywords and became a statistic. He never got one sale. He’s a very bright guy but he lacked a few things. First he didn’t take the time to learn and acquire basic skills in keyword selection and competition evaluation, but mostly he lacked PERSISTANCE.
Now consider this alternative approach. It’s based on the premise that long term success in Internet Marketing is just like long term success in the Brick and Mortar business. It is based on skill acquisition to establish a solid foundation based on a strategy of which skills are important to acquire first. Once you have the skills and have tested the waters, then it’s time to evaluate and invest in an advanced course on one topic within Internet Marketing; because now you are prepared.
A former Commanding General of mine had a sign over his doorway. It was simply the letter “P” five times. It stands for “Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance”. How right he was.
Never forget....................….P.P.P.P.P.
Tom (TR) Ryan
IMassistance.com
New Internet Marketers – DO NOT RUSH Into Internet Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsFor New Internet Marketers Only
D O N O T R U S H into Internet Marketing! Here’s why!
Remember way back when your mom was working hard in the kitchen whipping up a new chicken dish or chocolate dessert? She’d rely on her knowledge and her skills and then experiment with the ingredients, temperature, and cook time until she was pleased with the results. When she was satisfied she recorded what she had done to document her success. You can still taste that dish every time you think of it. It always tasted the same. Why? Because the next time she made that dish she followed the recipe exactly so it would turn out the same.
Take a moment and reflect on where you are today and where you have been in your business career. Reflect on your successes. If you haven’t yet had a business career then think of where you’ve been in life. If you’re a student, reflect on your academic and sports accomplishments. If you’re a home maker, think of it in terms of your successes as household finance manager, transportation executive, and executive chef.
Were your accomplishments instantaneous? Did you get there overnight? Was it luck? I’m sure the answer to these questions is a resounding NO! You got there because you became knowledgeable, skilled, and put these into practice daily. Yes, that’s the path most people follow to attain success.
What makes you think being successful at Internet Marketing is any different? It is NOT! The process is the same for successful Internet Marketers. They acquire specific knowledge and skills. When their first successful program emerges bringing in a continuous flow of money, they document the success and that becomes their first recipe. The recipe is used for their next program. And they do it over and over again.
The difficulty begins for New Entrepreneurs like yourself because you get flooded with E-mails from seasoned Internet Marketers on “their” topical course for your success or how to be successful without a website, or any of several hundred ideas. I’m not saying these approaches are bad. I am saying you are not ready for them.
You are at the beginning of an Internet Marketing journey. Do it the right way. Enjoy the process of absorbing Internet Marketing Knowledge and acquiring Internet Marketing Skills and build yourself a solid foundation to insure your long term success in Internet Marketing. This solid foundation will develop into your own Internet Marketing Plan.
Since you are at the beginning let’s talk about your vision. It’s not a good idea to have narrow vision at this stage. You need to have a very wide vision. You need to see how big Internet Marketing really is. I’ve personally identified over 100 different Internet Marketing topics. These topics will prepare you for “What You Need to Do” and “How To Use IM Tools To Help Get Them Done”. After that you need to prepare yourself for profitability by learning “How To Build Traffic To Your Offers” and “How To Convert That Traffic Into Repeat Paying Customers”. Like any successful business person you need to know “How To Stay Organized” and “How To Manage Your Time”. This is your focus and it's called “Acquire Internet Marketing Skills While Never Losing Site of The Big Picture”.
There’s one last thing you should know. Internet Marketing is not Rocket Science. It is a discipline and it is definitely learnable.
Now you can Google each of those over 100 topics in Internet Marketing yourself and do your own research if you’d like, but wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to go through all that. Well that is not only a possibility, it can be a reality for you.
As I developed my Internet Marketing Skills I took one extra step. I saved all the good stuff. From there I created a Reference Library on one of my websites with over 300 E-books written by Internet Marketing Professionals, all stored in one place. Some information I paid for, some I got for free, some I got as bonuses, and some I got permission to use. It’s all available on my website for easy downloading and it is updated weekly.
Since there is a lot of information, I provide a strategy for approaching skill acquisition. The strategy includes prioritization of what skills I think you should acquire first and why. You’ve read my article because you’re new to Internet Marketing or you’re relatively new and about ready to give up because you don’t yet have a skill acquisition plan.
It’s time you visited my website and discovered a fresh approach to acquiring Internet Marketing Skills. Once you have a solid skill set, you’ll be able to evaluate all those offers you get from across the interweb.
Yours in interweb business, friendship and service,
Tom (TR) Ryan
IMassistance