Great athletes may have raw talent and they may even have the ability to creatively execute their sport, but they can always benefit from an experienced coach. When a swimmer trains for the olympics they may be focused on their stroke and form, In their mind they are doing well and overcoming as much resistance as they possibly can, but above the water, their coach may see a different story, this perspective may mean the difference between Gold and disqualification and the athlete knows that and for that very reason they value their coach.

In the internet marketing business the same concept applies. There are coaches who have already navigated the waters you are about to enter. They are valuable tools to help you eliminate resistance. They will keep you from “scoring in the wrong basket” and they will motivate you. An Internet marketing coach can look at your program with an unbiased perspective and guide you to success. Many times, the successful coaches can also double as affiliate partners and once you have your product developed to the level that is ready to launch they can help you get a jump start and market to their subscriber list. That type of exposure can be priceless and will be an invaluable asset to your marketing strategy.

If you have started to develop your product and marketing strategy and you need a little push or even if you have an idea and you’ve not even started putting it together, you will want to search for a credible coach. Using a coach is not a sign of weakness, but a sign that you are striving to make the most of your product. You may have raw talent, and creative marketing ability, but if you hire an internet marketing coach you will win the gold in less time and with less resistance.

1)

Realise that this isn’t a path to overnight riches. There are countless claims on the internet of how you can make obscene amounts of money in a really short space of time, but the one thing all those claims have in common, is that they all tell you WHAT to do, but somehow manage to avoid telling you HOW to do it!

Internet marketing can offer you a great lifestyle, but you must understand there is a lot of work involved, otherwise it simply won’t happen for you.

2)

Invest in a training programs on how to earn money through internet marketing, or enlist the service of an experienced mentor. I can’t impress on you enough, just how important this step is in your online career. If you decide to go it alone, you may get lucky and experience some success, but working with the right people will not only teach you valuable marketing skills, it will also save you countless hours of wasted time and effort, as well saving you a small fortune on things you don’t need.

3)

Make sure you have the right tools for the job. Ask any good tradesman how important this step is! As well as making sure your computer is up to scratch, there are many tools available today that can make your marketing efforts run very smoothly. Web design and hosting companies are easy to find, but which offers the best value for money? Imaging and video resources will make your work appear more professional, but how should you decide which one is for you? Again, having the correct trainer or mentor will prove invaluable when it comes to helping you choose your resources.

4)

Do your research. This is one of the most underestimated areas of internet marketing. There is a statistic that tells us 96% of people who try to earn money through internet marketing, fail. They simply don’t make any money, even though they may have nice glossy websites, unbeatable offers, etc. None of this is any use at all if it’s not being seen by the target market, and you would be surprised that most online marketers have very little idea when it comes to placing their material in front of the people that it’s designed for.

5)

Make sure you provide consistent, high quality content. This sounds very simple, but it should not be underestimated. As your marketing skills improve, you will want to build a list of people who will be interested in what you have to offer, and what better way to generate and then maintain that interest, than to provide a steady flow of interesting, informative material that will appeal to your readers, and keep them coming back for more. Anyone who looks forward to receiving your regular content is a good potential customer, so make sure you work hard at this.

6)

Enjoy what you do. Again, a very simple concept, but your readers will certainly be able to tell the difference between someone who is passionate and enthusiastic about their work, rather than someone who just churns out content for the sake of doing so. Don’t get cheap with the people on your list; if you want people to buy from you, then they deserve your very best.

This article isn’t a complete A-Z of how to earn money through internet marketing, but follow the points above, and you will be on your way to joining those elite 4% of people who enjoy online success, not failure.

Take one college-bound student with an overdrawn bank account and one 20-minute brainstorming session on how to raise money to pay for school, and what do you get? A million-dollar idea that’s had people around the world slapping their foreheads and muttering “Why didn’t I think of that?” ever since.

With only one month to go before he was to begin classes at a three-year university–and no money in his bank account–Alex Tew was determined to find a way to avoid student debt. Armed with a notebook and pen, Tew stayed up late one night brainstorming ways to make some quick cash.

To help jumpstart his creativity, he wrote down just one question on his notepad: How can I become a millionaire? Twenty minutes later, he had his answer: Sell one million pixels of advertising space on a website for $1 each. “I thought, ‘This is one of those crazy, quirky ideas, but it just might work…I’ve got nothing to lose.’ ”

A Runaway Idea

Tew already had some experience with website design, so with a paltry $100, he quickly bought a domain name and some basic web hosting services and had his website, MillionDollarHomepage.com, up and running in two days.

The concept was simple: Businesses could buy 10×10 or larger blocks of advertising space for a $1 per pixel and place their logos and links on his site. Tew knew no one would be interested in buying pixel space if he didn’t get the ball rolling, so he convinced some family and friends to chip in to buy the first 1,000 pixels. He also thought it would be a good story for the media to pick up–”Broke student has quirky way to raise money for college”–so Tew took the money he made from the first 1,000 pixels he sold and used it to write and send out press releases to the local media near his hometown of Cricklade, England (about an hour and a half west of London).

The UK media quickly took the bait, but what was even more remarkable–and proved to be the most effective marketing tactic–was that bloggers, online forums and chat rooms also began to embrace the story. Word of mouth through all the varied media attention quickly snowballed, and within two weeks Tew had sold $40,000 worth of pixels–enough to cover his entire three years of college. It didn’t take long before media in 35 other countries got wind of Tew’s million-dollar homepage idea. In just five months, Tew reached his goal of selling a $1 million worth of pixels. In the past two weeks alone, he’s received close to 4 million unique hits.

Part of that traffic was due to his exposure on eBay. With only 1,000 pixels left to sell on his site, he had hundreds of people wanting a piece of internet history. “I thought the only way to logically meet some of that demand without starting another page was to put the last 1,000 pixels [up for sale] on eBay.”

On January 11, the winning bid of $38,000 bought the last ad space on his site, putting him well over the million-dollar mark. “I’ve spent probably about $40,000 maintaining the site and publicizing it, so there’s been some degree of expense to keep it going. But still–it’s a healthy profit at the end of the day.”

Learning to Adapt

If it sounds like Tew skipped all the way to the bank with his 20-minute idea, think again. A large part of his success is hugely owed to his ability to quickly find solutions and adapt to the many problems that unexpectedly popped up during the past five months.

“It’s been quite overwhelming because everything has just blown up in such big ways that I never really prepared for,” Tew says. “I had to adapt quite quickly due to the sheer volume of interest.”

One of the first problems he encountered was that his website wasn’t equipped to handle the volume of traffic he began receiving. In the beginning, he had to manually upload
every single image and all the links himself. As hundreds of orders began pouring in, though, Tew was forced to hire two people to help maintain the website’s database and deal with customers.

The next major problem was that PayPal blocked his account. (PayPal’s anti-fraud policy automatically blocks accounts with high volumes of transactions in order to avoid money-laundering schemes.) Tew was forced to quickly come up with an alternative payment method to keep up with the volume of orders he was receiving. Within three hours of PayPal going down, Tew had found a replacement. And although PayPal eventually enabled his account again, Tew kept both payment options open to prevent a similar problem in the future.

Tew also had to learn to release control to others. “In previous projects, I’ve wanted to do everything,” he says. “With this, I had no choice but to get other people involved.” So he enlisted the help of family and friends and even a PR person in the United States to deal with the international media. Tew adds, “I’ve learned the value of letting other people take responsibility for different aspects of the business.”

The Next Step

For now, Tew is deferring his college degree until next September in order to take time to reassess his career path to determine which direction he really wants to go. “I’ve had a lot of job offers from some of the hugest internet companies, but I think my long-term future is going into business to do my own thing.”

In the meantime, Tew plans on donating a portion of his site’s profits to a local UK charity that helps young people start their own businesses. The same charity once helped him secure a $3,500 loan to do music-related projects.

“It’ll be nice to give something back,” he says. “And if I can be anything of an inspiration to other young people wanting to start businesses, well, that’s a good thing as well.”