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I had an email today from someone on my list who wanted to know how to get 100 people into his site. So, naturally, I’m thinking onto his list.

In itself isn’t terribly hard to do, right? I mean, put up a squeeze page with an ethical bribe and send traffic to it. Getting 100 people doesn’t take that long if you join a giveaway, do an ad swap, or run an ezine ad or two. There are tons of ways to get subscribers.

I know this doesn’t seem at all simple to people just starting out, and I was ready to go into more detail and help this guy to do what he wanted to do, but he sent me the page he wanted to build his list from…

A “You’ll make $2,000 a week! All you have to do is refer people to this program!”

And then, I felt sad.

I remember when I started online. All that stuff looked pretty good to me, too. I figured, well… If it’s working for them, it has to work for me, too, right?

And I built a pretty huge downline in one of those programs. It wasn’t quite as bad, not a wild claim. The site was offering tools that marketers can use. Trouble was, the stuff wasn’t happening. I mean, the site was new, but three months later, none of the tools were ready to use. So, I started thinking… Bull puckey, right?

As with most people who get caught up in stuff like that, it did absolutely nothing for me. Nothing.

I didn’t get the benefit of the list.

I didn’t make ANY money.

I had just built a nice big list for someone else. Plus, I had wasted my time and my money making it happen. I felt really dumb and very discouraged. I remember how that felt.

Had I know then what I know now.

If you’re still new and involved with one of those, “no work and all cash” programs, run fast in the other direction. Seriously. Don’t think that you can make money online overnight. It can happen pretty fast, if you go about it the right way, but you will have to work at it. There’s no free lunch.

So, for my friend (whom I already wrote to and suggested that he start with a squeeze page) and anyone else who’s involved in hoping for miracles that just won’t happen…

• Here’s step one: Learn about Internet Marketing from a trusted source before jumping in with both feet.

• Step two: Pick a niche, and it shouldn’t be Internet marketing, unless you love a whole lot of competition that is far, far ahead of you in the game. (Wish I’d known that one early on.) It’s possible to still do okay, but it’s a much harder niche to crack.

• Step three: Build a list. Put up a squeeze page and offer something of value for people to join. It can be a special report, an ebook, a teleseminar or even a series of teleseminars, a video, or a whole bunch of other things that can solve a problem that people in the niche you’ve chosen are having.

• Step four: Drive traffic to your squeeze page. Write articles, start a blog, make some videos. All that stuff is free to do and can help you to get traffic.

• Step five: Set up an autoresponder series with articles about your niche. Start with four really good bits of instruction or advice, and then, offer an affiliate product that is in line with that article.

• Step six: Deposit your checks in the bank.

Is that a simple plan or what? Seriously, it really is that simple. I didn’t say easy. It will mean work. And you won’t make money overnight, but you will make money. And you’ll build a list over time and build a steady income that you can depend on.

Pie in the sky? Nope. Just good, solid advice.

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Tags: affiliate marketing, internet marketing, list building

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 7:05 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.