If only I had stumbled across this article when I was just starting. What a difference it would have made.
But, that didn’t happen. I got a horrible start.
Fortunately I stuck with it! Lots of people give up right here. I’m embarrassed to admit how bad of a start I got…but I’m going to tell you about it. Maybe it will save some newcomers to Internet Marketing the waste of money and time I went through.
When I first noticed Internet Marketing (IM) it was on my computer at home and I think I had typed into Google something like this… “how to make money with computer” or similar.
I wasn’t ready for what happened next. How could anybody be?
Google came back with a first page of results (about 20) all practically shouting headlines like “Make 300 Dollars per day with Our FREE Website!”
There’s thousands of these offers and a LOT of them are just set up to take advantage of people who need money for any reason.
Well, I fell for one. I think it was called (it’s gone now…funny) “Incredible Wealth Membership” Lets call it IWM for short here.
For $49 dollars it offered me a FREE website worth $297 just for signing up.
I couldn’t lose! Anybody would buy 300 dollar items for 50 bucks! So I did.
I can’t believe I was ever this gullible but what else would explain it?
Here’s the short version of what happened. I can hardly write this but maybe it will end up being somehow theraputic.
I paid the $49 Bucks. Then they told me I had to go to this Domain Name/Hosting outfit. I honestly didn’t know what that was.
After quite a bit of confusion I had a domain name and a hosting plan purchased. It cost me about $100 bucks. But IWM told me they had hundreds of folks making darn good money…daily, with this website. And, now I was only in it a hundred and fifty dollars.
I hid this from my wife.
Now, remember that IWM had promised me great support. I would need it! But I didn’t get it. I had to deal with them by way of “support tickets” and it took me quite a while to get that worked out. I mean it! I didn’t have the technical experience to make getting support easy!
I started to smell something fishy, but I remembered they had a money back guarantee, so I felt ok… but uneasy.
I wanted to see my website! It wasn’t there however. There were still things I had to do to get it up and running, so to speak.
I got an email with “source code” in it and an instruction I will never forget.
They said (I’m not kidding-they knew I was a total newbie)…”Just upload the source code to your URL with an FTP package!”
I stared at that instruction for some time and started getting mad. I had no idea what to do. I was a total beginner and they knew it. They said they were going to make it easy for me but, instead, it was practically impossible. For me anyway.
After a bunch of back and forth that took days I got them to upload it for me. Both sides were a little irritated by now.
After a bunch of other little hangups I had a website I could access but no way to alter or change it in any way.
Get this, the website sold memberships to IWM. Oh, my God…I suddenly got the picture.
I was expected to sell unsuspecting newcomers this thing that had caused me so much trouble AND that I knew virtually nothing about! I was out!
I asked for my money back and they became unresponsive and I never did get it back. At least two weeks had gone by with me getting nowhere but mad, and them getting my money!
I called the Domain/Hosting Company and asked for a refund. They said they could not refund the domain fee ($25) and that there a non-refundable set up fee for the hosting ($25) that would be deducted, also.
I just wanted out.
It’s at this point that I’d like to say that what happened there is actually common. In the last two years I’ve learned a lot of lessons…and this is one of the lessons that I have learned.
Everyday, thousands of newcomers to Internet Marketing wash up onto the shores of the “Make Money Online” world. Ninety percent or more never make it further. They waste time and lose their money into the pockets of those scavengers who will pick them off and look for their next victim, fast. It’s huge and it’s every day.
But, and this is where it gets good and where I got to soon after my bad start.
I realized that there were any number of “programs” out there that would gladly take my money and give me an ebook. But only a few of them were really any good.
You see, Internet Marketing (sales by means of the internet) has (like all businesses) it’s own technical language, it’s own jargon, and it’s own methods and, until you know what those are you are a prime prospect for people who just want to separate you from your money.
There are actually a lot of people in this business who are genuinely concerned with imparting a good education to those who want it. They’re also in it for the money, but not in a bad way.
I eventually found my way but it was hard and longer than it had to be. Also my education in Internet Marketing was far more expensive than it had to be.
Luckily I ran across what amounted to be an Online Internet Marketing School! I joined it. I’ve had lots of education and training in my life and a lot of what I am is the direct result of that.
In this school I learned it all. The jargon, the techniques, the big picture. I didn’t make any money but I learned how it is done.
I also learned that you need to know your stuff at least a little bit before you can start to find your way. That shouldn’t surprise anybody but I am constantly impressed with how little I knew at first.
Now, I am up and running with an online business. I look back at what was impossible two years ago and now I see a lot of it as easy.
I guess two years isn’t so long but I’ll bet a headline like “Try Really Hard for Two Years and You might Make It” probably wouldn’t sell well.
Now I know a dozen ways to make money online without much setup at all. I even teach people to do this now. I never thought that would happen.
In conclusion, I have to tell you, that the best way to get a good start in Internet Marketing is to avoid getting a bad start in the first place.
Thank you,
Riley West
From the Author, Riley West:
My blog, The Making of an Internet Marketer is a whole new way of looking at the
Make Money Online Business. You’ll get resources and explanations you can get no where else! Knowledge is Power. Success is Knowledge in Action. See it all at http://www.makinganinternetmarketer.com

Computers and the Internet have changed dramatically during the past decade. Currently, there are over 30 billion Web sites online. Long gone are the days of floppy disks, 2-bit graphic computer games and dial-up Internet connections. These seemingly ancient computer and online features have been replaced by interactive first person shooter games that can be played with residents on another continent, lightning-fast Internet connections and millions of niche blogs.
Creating a Web site does not mean that millions of readers will suddenly flock to what you’ve written, no matter how interesting your content is. Google, one of the Internet’s most popular search engines, is commonly used to look for information, products and blogs. Having a substantial presence on the Internet can do wonders for your business or blog. To attract viewers to your site, you should hire an Internet marketing company to effectively market your site. An Internet marketing business can help increase your rankings, site views and will ultimately help increase your business. However, finding the right Internet marketing consultant in Pittsburgh can be a challenge.
SEO companies use a combination of effective Internet marketing copywriting and link building to increase a site or blog’s traffic. Unfortunately, many Internet marketing businesses use dishonest SEO techniques or black-hat methods that may eventually harm your site’s rankings and viewership. The following advice can help you find the most effective Internet marketing company in Pittsburgh.
• Be on the lookout for false promises. If an Internet marketing firm promises to get your site landed on the first page of a Google search, they aren’t telling the truth. Google, along with most search engines, utilize many different methods for first page rankings. These techniques are usually based on formulas that change on a regular basis. While it is entirely possible that your site may land on Google’s front page, there is no way to guarantee this.
• Watch out for black hat Internet marketing. There are two types of SEO – black hat and white hat. Black hat methods use dishonest practices, like stuffing keywords into text, hiding keywords on a page or spamming sites to increase page views. White hat SEO uses honest Internet marketing techniques, like social bookmarking, blog commenting and linking to other high-ranking pages to increase traffic. Pittsburgh Internet marketing firms that use these techniques will probably end up doing more harm than good. Your site may be flagged and eventually removed from a search engine’s results.
• Examine the price. If a price sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Watch out for Pittsburgh Internet marketing companies that offer their services at prices that are too low. They may be using black hat Internet marketing techniques that may increase your traffic initially, bAn t will ultimately harm your site.
• Watch your site’s content. An effective Internet marketing consultant should use content that is both interesting and search engine friendly. Your site’s content should flow naturally and be appealing to readers.
Successfully optimizing your Web site can be challenging. Finding the right Internet marketing company in Pittsburgh can help increase your site’s traffic and will eventually help your business.
Eyeflow is a Pittsburgh Internet marketing company that offers SEO services.`

Independent internet marketing basically means anything you do to market your product or service on your own. As the internet CEO, independent internet marketing is the best way to market. For help visit www.secretly-spy-your-internet-competition.com. When you can successfully market something on your own, you’re showing that you can survive, make sales and break all types of revenue barriers as a true CEO. Also, you build equity in a business when you build it from the ground up. One of the best ways to build a profitable business from the ground up is with utilizing the internet.
A lot of independent internet marketers just like myself, started completely from scratch. In my studies, mostly all will tell you the same thing. What made me as successful as the internet CEO in the internet marketing world was, I studied the elite in the internet industry. You have to find mentors, coaches, and simply learn from people that have done what you are trying to do. It’s really this simple. I don’t call it “internet marketing” no more. I would say this is, “independent internet marketing”. The reason being is if you are the sole owner and CEO of your own company, you have to be independent to make it what it is as well as what you want it to be.
The best advice I can give you and the best way to profit from independent internet marketing is how I do it. Some of the strategies that I have used over the years (and still currently using today) to build my business is of the following. These are the top three most powerful:
1. Link up with some of your competitor sites that have a higher page rank. Some may call this, “reciprocal linking”. This is a good way to build, share and equalize traffic.
2. If your competitor sites do not want to link their site with your site, then another option is you can pay them to advertise your site on their site for a small monthly fee. A lot of them will not have a problem with this because both parties are happy. You are advertising your site on theirs and in return, they are getting paid for it.
3. Get some one way links from some top authority sites that is on topic with your site with high page rank. This is an overlooked method but it is very powerful in building backlinks to your site.
All three or any three of these will help you in your independent internet marketing endeavors. For help visit www.achieving-liftoffs.com. Use these to the fullest and continue to use these just like I am. Remember, the best way to getting a top number one search engine ranking is “backlinks”. You need a LOT of backlinks to successfully receive the type of independent traffic to your website that will break six figure monthly income records.

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