Internet marketing is a sham. It’s a pseudo-industry created by people who want to take your money. That’s it.
Roll your eyes if you want. I sound bitter, yah? But the truth is I’ve watched these kinds of trends come and go over the years, and internet marketing is a classic example of snake oil.
You can build a web site for $250 using Wordpress, maybe a prebuilt theme and a couple hours of your time. Why on earth would you pay someone thousands of dollars to do that?
Second, the only thing you need to succeed in internet marketing is decent content. If you can write halfway decently, then you’re totally OK in that department. Can’t write? Don’t want to? Guess what! You can go to Elance.com and hire someone to do that, too.
No one knows the secret sauce for the search engines, either (except the search engines). Are you seriously going to hire a specialist to get you search traffic when even they have no clue how to do it?
Even if you do hire an expert, and even if they do know what they’re doing, you’re up against competitors who’ve put years into their own sites. You’re not going to beat them in any decent amount of time.
Fifth, there is NO WAY TO TELL who’s capable and who’s not. Go search for ‘internet marketing’ on Google. Look at the top 20 sites. Try to figure out which ones are good and which ones stink. You can’t. Everyone talks a good game. So, chances are you’re going to get ripped off. Why spend the time on it when you can teach yourself and do almost as good a job? The answer is there’s no reason to bother. So don’t.
Sixth, it’s way, way overpriced. I’m not just talking about building a site (the first item on this list). I’m talking about internet marketing as a whole. I called an internet marketing consultant named Ian Lurie who told me he’d charge $5000 a month to do SEO on my site. $5000?!!! Are you nuts?!!! I can read a few blogs, learn 75% of what this guy knows, and do the work for free.
But the real kicker was when someone told me that the rules of internet marketing change all the time. E-mail marketing? Worked for a while. Now spam filters and laws prevent you from using it. Search engines? They change their algorithms for ranking so often that an SEO expert told me they have no idea what makes you move up. Nice.
Do yourself a favor: Stop paying for internet marketing. Use the money to improve your own skills and market your business. In the long run, it’s a better investment
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