If you’ve blogging long enough, and you make any kind of significant money, you most likely know two people… John Chow and Shoemoney. Each of them make very, very good incomes essentially telling people how they make incomes. One of my friends would call it a lot of chest-thumping because often the tips aren’t the most practical. One example is a recent article Building a Million Dollar Product in 4 Months without Google where ShoeMoney explains how much he made (queue chest-thump) with his Internet product.)
For the average blogger that is an amazing statement. Google has become almost synonymous with searching and advertising on the web. If people can’t find your product and you don’t advertise (and make limited money from advertising because you avoid Google channels), it can be extremely tough to make $100 a month, but less a million in 4 months. Since I’m very interested on how one would make a million in four months (even with Google that is some feat), I read the article with great interest.
It was a complete let-down. It turns out that the product made the money for a couple of reasons. One is that it already had an established brand that Google did play a part in. If Home Depot created a product and put it in its stores, it would make a million dollars without Google as well. The other part of this to remember is that this million is measured in gross revenue. If you wanted to, you could make a million gross revenue fairy easily by selling authentic $100 bills for $50. However, the profits of such a venture would not earn you accolades.
I don’t want to be all negative today. I would like to finish on a note of a great marketing plan that I’ve heard of recently. One of my friends at The Casual Observer, is a huge of fan the Colorado Rockies. My favorite team, the Boston Red Sox had a great series with them this week which lead to us doing some fun chatting. My MLB Extra Innings package gave me the Colorado feed, meaning that I got commercials about the Rockies. Turns out that Troy Tulowitzki is growing a mullet for charity. I thought I had a universal anti-mullet stance, but it turn out that for charity… well I can get behind that.
A bit more timely hitting last night and the Rockies could have pulled off a Boston Massacre.
If you donate $25 or more to the Rockies “Wins for Kids” charity (money goes to a children’s hospital and Special Olympics), you get a Tulo mullet cap. You, too, could be stylin’ with your new mullet.
A little more timely hitting from the Red Sox and it would have been a Colorado Massacre.
I didn’t realize he was spreading the mullet look. I take back my previous statement – I can’t get behind that.
I’ve purchased a few “learn how to market via the internet” products and it all seems very artificial. It is people selling their “proven system” for selling other “proven systems.” In other words, the product being sold is a system on how to sell products. But not many of them actually sell anything else unless you consider “hope that you too can make millions” a product.
I’m not saying that these are scams. In fact, I found certain tidbits of information quite interesting. And who can blame internet marketers for putting on a really good sales pitch? But I would like to see how much these marketers could make selling something other than marketing systems. Or I would like to hear from someone who made good money (doesn’t need to be “quit your job” money) using a system from an internet marketer to sell something other than an internet marketing system.
What works for them probably wouldn’t work for someone like me. I’d be glad to just pull in a low or middle five figures every year from blogging. Forget about making a million in four months XD
I always found those kind of things to be a let down. I like the more realistic stories of blogging more than anything.
Some day, I’ll take it to the third order and start a blog making money writing about blogs that make money writing about blogs that make money on the internet :-)
I’ve amazed on one hand at the shameless promotional tactics (outright pandering virtually every article to an affiliate link or paid sponsor), yet that’s what they are right? Internet marketers. Well, there’s a sucker born every minute. Each person that’s not on to the game of bloggers just trying to sell you something is a potential conversion. And with their traffic, those conversions are earning them six-figures many times over. It’s an interesting game. I read their blogs but I know what the deal is. Newbies don’t and hence, the cycle continues.