Why You Can’t Make Money Online
I’ve been thinking a lot over the past year about why people fail with Internet Marketing. I guess since I’ve spent so much time thinking about it, this report just flowed right out of me yesterday.
It’s geared toward people who aren’t succeeding with their Internet Marketing efforts.
If you’re already seeing success, then I bet you’re already doing what’s in the report. And if so, please take a minute to leave a comment for everyone else.
If your not seeing success then I think this report will shed some light on why that may be.
Here’s the link to the report: Why You Can’t Make Money Online
Lisa,
You so very elegantly put into words what it took me 10 months to learn. I was blessed with some initial success online ($200 my first 30 days), however I then went nearly 9 months without a single sale. About 6 weeks ago, the light bulb went off, I changed my focus and my priorities along the exact lines you spoke of, and all of a sudden, I started seeing sales about 30 days later. I’m no where near my goals and the amount of real work to get started when you can’t afford to outsource can be staggering, but when taking the same business mindset that you spoke of, anything can happen. Excellent report, and I thank you for the consistently good free content you produce regularly.
Great report Lisa.
You are far too sensible for this internet marketing lark. I sincerely hope that you are selling plenty of your course because there are many people over at the WF preying (and making a fortune) from the very people to whom your report is aimed and doing so without a care in the world as to whether they are genuinely offering value or not.
Keep up the good work and hopefully the people who could really use your course and advice recognize the difference..
Terry
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the upfront pdf~ you are soooo right! Once one gets the business idea mindset, life becomes much more defined and the road ahead clearer.
I would like to comment here that one of the big problems that I see is finding the model that suits you the best. I think that is why so many go from type to type. I know that is what happened to me.
Also, I think this becomes more apparent if they need to learn the technical skills as well as learn about the different ways it can be done. I am speaking from experience here.
When I decided to use the internet to make my living, I knew little more than how to email and surf. So I had a huge learning curve. I mistakenly believed that I didn’t need to know how to build a website etc etc etc…which was very misleading for me and what I wanted to do. I sort of knew what I wanted to do but didn’t know how to do it.
I was like a builder trying to build a house without a hammer! And guess what? It didn’t work.
Now I am the Architect, the engineer, builder, brickie,electrician, plumber, plasterer, tiler, painter, decorator….And the owner
Oh, by the way….if someone asks me what I do, I call myself a web publisher. I reckon that covers most of the ’sins’ …LOL
Hi Lisa
Thank you for your report, I’ve read it and enjoyed it very much. In those pages you explain quite well the difference between the mindset you need to be a business person or to be just someone who make some money online.
I’ve been telling to all people that I know and to my subscribers how important is to treat your online business as a real business and not just as something that can eventually make you some money.
Understanding the market, creating a plan, selecting the right product or service you’re going to offer and knowing your numbers is so important for a internet business as it is for a brick-and-mortar business.
The problem is that because creating a online business seems so easy, without the need of great investments or complex business plans, people tend to believe they can just go there, setup a website, and the money starts flowing. When they realize is not like that, they start looking for “tricks & tips” and become easy preys for the so called “gurus”…
You report gives a great value, I hope people realize what you’re teaching on it.
In my blog I posted what I called the 5 rules to start a business online, maybe you can take a look and give me your opinion?
Cheers and all the best
Jorge
Hi Lisa…
A straightforward pithy report… I totally agree with you (I find I most often do…:-) on this, I started my company (one man band…) just over two years ago and like you I think it’s cool when someone says:
“Hey Steve what are you doing these days?” Too which I can reply “Oh, I’m the Managing Director (I’m in England) of a Digital Publishing Company…” yep it’s real cool…
Seriously though you are on the money with your comments about how running a business focuses you mind in a way that ‘I want to make some money online’ never can. You become ‘serious’ and it feels ‘grown up’ if you know what I mean, not something you’re just ‘playing with’ when you have some spare time…
I would just like to add for all those who are reading this but have not taken a serious look at your InlineSEO system, that for me I have had the best summer since starting out because of using your system on an existing website. I have climbed in the last 6 months to #5 on Google for a keyword (yes one word) that is only beaten by Hewlett Packard and Wikipedia (and has 44 Million competitors) – ALL my other key-phrases are between #1 and #3…
So people if you ARE reading this and are NOT using Lisa’s system do yourself and you ‘Online Business’ a big favour and do so…
Thanks again Lisa…
All the best,
Steve
Steve – wow that is great you’re on page one for a single keyword. That’s always hard to do, I hope it’s bringing you a ton of visitors. Thanks for all the kind words on my course.
Jorge – I appreciate the comments and will try to take a look at your article.
Jan – That’s great you’re seeing some results. Once the mindset is there that other stuff is easy to learn. You should definitely read the E-Myth books though, there’s a lot in there are not becoming chained to your business. I know I got a lot of value out of it.
Terry – That’s a really nice complement. I try not to ‘hard sell’ anyone. I know a lot of the ‘hard sell’ works, but I truly believe someone like me can make it in this market without the hype. Or at least I’m willing to take a chance and see what happens
Ami – I’m glad you’re seeing results! I know what you mean about the amount of work, but just take it week by week and you’ll get there.
Thanks everyone, I hope my stuff helps! — Lisa
Lisa:
I can’t believe your little report is to timely. Yesterday I made a post in one of the many forums I belong to on exactly the same thing. In truth, I was actually making the decision to turn my internet marketing pastime into a business. As a real estate broker I’ve never really wanted to “quit my day job.” For a long time, I’ve been able to make a full-time income working only part-time. But the real estate market is a disaster right now, and I really can’t see any future income for some time. I have to do something. I can’t afford to dink around with my websites anymore. I have to make them really profitable. I am one of those people that has invested heavily in all of the gurus’ IM secrets to internet riches. Yesterday I realized that I have ten times more knowledge that most people about internet marketing. I, too, never considered it a real business — until yesterday. I sat down this morning and created an outline – a business plan if you will – on the minimum steps I have to take to make my business succeed. I have the knowledge, now I just have to put it to use. I’ve been unsubscribing to all sorts of newsletters, trashing anything that resembles an offer for the next best IM secret, and trying to decipher exactly what I’ve got and what I have to deep six (or better yet, sell off)so that I can build a business. I’m in the process of setting priorities. It’s all a lot of decision making. I’ve done it in real estate for 20 years. I’ve already come to some conclusions: I tried ecommerce; I don’t like it. I don’t have my own product to sell. I am an online publisher. But I’ve also learned from experience that ones success as a publisher is in direct proportion to how passionate one is about the subject. You need to be able to live with it on a daily basis. I’ve tried building mini-sites in niche markets that I really have no passionate interest in. They exist, but that’s about all. I have no interest in building the sites out because I’m not passionate about them. I purchased your course, and it it truly where I should be concentrating any more learning, and I will. I want to grow my business to $5,000/mo. I’m at $500/month right now. It’s a start, but I shudder at the thought of where I could have been if I had made this decision five years ago instead of just today. I do know why I didn’t, however. Real estate has been good to me — until now. I’m too old to go job hunting, too poor to retire (which I wouldn’t do even if I could), and too stubborn to let all the money I’ve spent on IM go down the tubes. Thank you for reinforcing my decision, and I hope that others will see the light as I have.
[...] quick check of my email and saw something from Lisa Parmley – a free report freshly posted to her blog. I downloaded immediately and dove right in (it’s only 20 or so pages). The report itself was [...]
Thanks again Lisa for a great report. I like the “online publishing business” idea. I hadn’t really thought about it but that is what I have been doing all this time.
I have actually been trying to think of a name for the business so I could go register it officially and enjoy the benefits of doing so. I was thinking about calling it an internet marketing business but had not thought about digital or online publishing… Great ideas! Going to have to break out the notepad and jot down some ideas tonight!
Another fantastic no hype report Lisa – solid effort!! Especially like the grass-roots advice you give about setting up a company, which in turn instills a business mentality.
When I left my job 9 months ago to begin my internet business, I had my application in with the companies office the next week, and company established the following week – 10 to 12 days after leaving my job.
However, speaking from my own experience, you then need to develop the business acumen, structured schedule and excellent habits to survive the distance. Productivity is everything in this game and getting results is what counts.
Great report and guidance!
Good report, you talked about some of this in one of your free audio webimars or reports from a few months ago that I just recently heard… I definitely still agree with it. I had a lot of emails when I first started about 4-5 months ago about x tip to reach $xx in .
At first I was reading them but soon it was clear even the “free” webinars would only offer re-hashed content and would try to sell you a product at the end. Some of them are useful (like your course) but the biggest problem is the distractions they create. They make you believe you can learn the marketers system within hours or at most a week when in fact it might take you a month but by that time you’ll become distracted by another course…
Anyway, I un-subscribed to almost all of these email marketing because I figure if someone DOES release some magic IM product I’ll hear about it sooner or later anyway.
For now I’m sticking to the principles discussed in your course because I don’t think small adsense websites will last a long time and after 5 months my “big website” based on your model is starting to make $20/day which I’m very happy about.
Hey Lisa, as you can probably tell from my site (which is my first attempt at making my own on-line business) I am a bit of a newbie but am really glad i signed up to your letter. Like you have said I try not to get sucked into all the courses and tools that get shoved in front of you and just put your head down and do some hard work. I really appreciate it how you tell things how it is and although I havent brought your product (yet), I will certainly look to purchasing your course once i have mastered a few of the basics and start making a small amount online.
Thanks again,
Sam
Thank You Lisa!!! You hit the nail on the head for someone like me who has had NO success online. I’ve been extremely successful in the corporate world (international award-winning tech writer/ trainer of trainers for the Pentagon), so I couldn’t figure out what the flaw has been in my approach in the online world. I knew I was missing something obvious — your blog turned on my light bulb!
I was facing in the right direction for the changes I needed to make. Thank you for bringing me epiphanic clarity about how to bring some self-reliance to my next steps.
I love your radical honesty, Milady. Many blessings on your beautiful work.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the breath of fresh air! What a difference it is from that smoked filled room with all of those high rollers and big cigars!
That’s my analogy for many of the sales letters I’ve read. You know: Those $30,000 ones? Oh those copy writers can write some intriguing stuff that sucks you in like a Dirt Devil! That’s why some of them charge 20 or 30 thousand dollars. They earn it! And it takes some time to build up a resistance to them.
Then there’s the emails… it takes some time to build up a resistance to those too! Now I only open up a few select ones. Yours is among those select few. After opening so many and have read so many… I kind of know something about the person behind them. Then you start prioritizing who gets opened and who doesn’t. About 9 out of 10 of my emails don’t even get opened anymore.
I’m looking for somebody who’s not trying to feed me a crock! Four or five times of that sort of email from someone, and that marketer subconsciously goes onto the back burner and rarely ever gets opened any more.
However, your report hit the nail on the head, (as so many have already said). It sort of pushed me over he edge!
For several months my intuition has been pecking at the back of my mind, saying: “I need to set up a business. I need to work on getting all of the paper work done. And I have just recently decided on the business model that I want to venture into. I will need all of the corporate papers and everything for that. Not even interested in affiliate marketing anymore. My interest has dropped 90% in that department. Not that I was succeeding in it. That just means I’m becoming more focused!
I think to summarize what you said and to make an analogy for it would be to simply say: “People are putting the cart before the horse”. They want to make the money and that’s what’s out front when really, they should have their business plan out front.
And by thinking about it and by building a business plan – even if it’s not on paper – it will be the rooting and grounding force that we all need to anchor our mind to a set of objectives and goals. And then we will soon lose that flighty… out of focus mentality, that graduates to information overload.
That happens because we have a huge Making Money Online (MMO) mentality in front of our pitifully tiny, entrepreneurial business plan mentality: A tiny little horse behind a huge cart!
And why shouldn’t we be out of balance like that in the first place? We’ve read all the sales letters that convinced us how easy it is to MMO. Everything is easy after you know how to do it! Riding a bicycle is easy, right?
We believe in ourselves, and we know we are not stupid. And the whole while we are struggling to make a dollar… we know there is a missing piece of the puzzle. So we look for it in the next sales letter… and the next… and the next: When the whole time the missing piece of the puzzle is that tiny horse behind our cart which we are not looking at!
If only we would feed that tiny horse and make him grow and then put him in front of our cart, we would always be moving forward and keeping our eyes straight ahead… according to plan: Our business plan! And with the exception of a few tweaks to it along the way… we have to ride that plan until the cows come home. Metaphorically speaking of course!
Thanks for your report. As always with you, it made so much sense.
Hi Lisa,
Great report, I definitely agree. The bit on page 16 definitely rang true for me:
“[buying courses and subscribing to newsletters is] because you don’t have a plan.
You’re hoping someone will give one to you.”
I think to be successful (online or elsewhere) you have to start with a positive mindset, and then create a plan. The plan will probably change down the line, but as long as you have one, understand what you’re doing, and see it through – with a positive mindset throughout – that’ll be a major step towards succeding.
Heck, this held true dozens of centuries ago too! Sun Tzu noted this in 600BC in his Art of War:
“The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.”
The problem with the MMO niche is – as you very wisely point out – that it’s aimed at people who have no plan.
And quite simply, there’s no incentive for the MMO authors to create an absolutely amazing product with a fool-proof plan because then their business would be over; they’d have nothing else to sell in the future!
Hence it’s unfortunate, but I definitely see the MMO as a bit of a trap – it’s aimed at people with little or no plan, and it always gives some good tips but not enough… therefore promoting the buyer to buy more courses. And more, and more. Etc!
A good mindset, a good plan, and avoiding MMO products = the way to break down the first big barrier.
When I came online I knew I wanted to build a proper business but it didn’t make things easier. I read E-myth before ever knowing about online business possibilities because I wanted to learn business structure.
But once online, I took ages to find a suitable business identity. I don’t want to be a scammer. I had to go through masses of courses, to see the scope of business models and identities available. Pyschologically and practically, I would ‘try on’ each one.
When I finally wore an identity that comfortably suited me, for the long term, I stopped buying much stuff. I created a separate email address for 90% of newsletters I receive.
At that point I was on my way to making a living.
Now I only ADD ONTO my basic identities which include things like “I use SEO. Don’t care what anyone says. Me, I use SEO”, and so on. Took me time and experience.
I love business for the hell of it being business. Don’t care if I earn a little or a lot. Seth Godin said in “the boostrappers bible”, ’survival is success’. I agree.
Hi there,
You are absolutely right in what you say. I am now giving this very idea lots of thought.
I have spent $thousands and many years just hoping someone would give me the answers; yet, they never do and neither are they going to…ever.
I have now unsubscribed from every single gurus’ lists and I feel quite liberated.
When I return to my computer, it will be to initiate my own business plans and not someone else’s hyped up nonsense.
Harry Mawgen-Nixx
Super report Lisa (as usual). I like to get the big picture right first and Publisher is what I settled on a while ago.
Next step is to get your methods for traffic in place – that’s why I have InlineSEO.
And then I think it’s just hard work and staying at it. I’m just beginning to earn adsense on my Inline site.
All The Best
Alex
Hi Lisa, i just want to say a big thank you for all your work! as a newbie French internet marketer i was looking all around for French SEO teaching and find nothing to compare to InlineSEO, so i have decided to stay with your work for my main SEO teaching at the same time i learn my english and will be able to target english niche marketing soon! your way of teaching is very clear and i can feel your sincerity in the course and the report. Your sincerity bring me hope for my internet journey. so i am a big fan of your work thank again, may God bless your work even greater and your family!
Tony from Montreal
All the best
Lisa. Great report. I’m in the process of reading it now on my Kindle.
Love what you put out and how you run your business. 
Oh, I also wanted to add that after I choose my basic model, I thought about backlinks almost day and night for 3 years. At the time I didn’t actually see where the money would come from which was sometimes scary as I was full time at home. I resolved to stick with that identity though. When the opportunity to take on clients appeared I was ready and did well for them and got more. That’s been 2 years. Now I’m beginning to expand my identity to “I sell products”. That feels right for now.
I’ve learned about the long-tail from you and am beginning to shift again. I’ve been a short tail/client guy for 2 years. I know I can’t do sites for myself this way as traffic won’t be sustainable.
Cheers.
hey there i think that people fail because they don’t try long enough to see things through … thats the same cause for a lot of failures in our lives…
I have been thinking in recent years about why people do internet marketing. I think since I spent so much time to think, this report has poured on me yesterday. It is for people who fail in their marketing efforts on the Internet. If you already see the success, then I bet you have already done what is in the report. And if so, please take a minute to leave a comment for everyone. If you do not see the success so I think this report will highlight the reasons why that is.I’ve learned about the long-tail from you and am beginning to shift again. I’ve been a short tail/client guy for 2 years. I know I can’t do sites for myself this way as traffic won’t be sustainable.
On a personal note, my blogs are not making money because of lack of content. As my blogs are about personal faves, I only write when there’s something that piqued my interest.
On a professional note, I think our company website do not make money because we can’t still grasp who are market is.
There is constantly a risk. I wouldn’t do it unless you can afford to bear the hit of losing everything. Too I wouldn’t utilize ideneb for that machine. Each distribution is unique and every are strong for some other forms. I strongly propose applying iatkos v7 for an HP Mini. It is the strongest build for that hardware as it has all the device drivers used in on the Mini. There is a step-by-step on what choices to pick in this thread.
I agree, not having a plan is a huge mistake, otherwise you’re just floundering around and never getting anywhere.
This is an honest report on why a lot of us never made it into the earning circle. I am included into the non-earning club…I am still learning a lot of things in online marketing…
Thanks for sharing all you do. It is truly appreciated that you outline exactly what you see results with and that you share so much with our community. Thank you.
Zup.
Just thought I’d let you know that the text was great. But that the only thing keeping people from making money online is patience.
Nowadays, people are so eager when it comes to making money — hence not making any. If only they wait…