Boy, has this year gone quickly!
I’m 35 years of age and I’ve notice a clear (and slightly worrying trend) over the past decade or so which is that time seems to speed up!
2011 has been the first full year in running my internet business and I’ve been super busy, learning new things, creating products and experimenting with marketing and traffic strategies.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes and continue to do so but that’s the way to learn, “fail forward”.
As 2012 beckons this is a great time of year to sit back and reflect on the year gone so let’s take a look at some of the trends in internet marketing that we can learn from…
Clickbank Junk And Well Done Clickbank!
Earlier in the year it was clear that Clickbank (a payment processer, affiliate network and the largest online marketplace for digital products rolled into one) had got itself a pretty bad reputation for a purveyor of junk products and services.
The hype in internet marketing products is always something that I’ve hated but some of the products that were sold through Clickbank were simply utter trash.
I purchased a few just to see what they were like and it was absolutely clear to me that these gutter marketers spend 90% of their effort on promotion, recruiting affiliates to promote for them, creating Hollywood style videos with luxury penthouses, fast cars and exotic locations and 10% on the product itself!
These products have seen refund rates of up to 50% which is truly shocking.
The Clean Up
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tightened its rules on online promotions in a number of ways a while back (especially regarding the use of results based testimonials) but I think 2011 has been the year when this pressure has started to really have a positive effect on the marketplace.
As of August 1st, Clickbank issued new guidelines as to what it expects of its vendors and affiliates.
One of these changes is, and I quote:
“Vendor accounts with a refund rate of 15% or above, or a chargeback rate of 1% or above, are subject to review and may be subject to corrective action in accordance with the Client Contract, including additional fees, penalties and/or account termination.”
Whilst this has caused some product creators to leave (or get banned?) from Clickbank, overall I think this sends a positive message that change is happening and very real.
15% refunds may still seem high, it is a step in the right direction and remember these are digital products which tend to have a lot of tyre-kickers that buy specifically with the direct intention of refunding anyway.
So well done Clickbank for making these changes and I should be clear that by no means are ALL Clickbank products bad ones – basically this problem has been mainly in the bottom end of the internet marketing niche. There are lots of Clickbank products in different niches which are quality and aren’t overhyped.
Also, Clickbank is a great platform for taking the hassle out of your marketing…
You can acquire affiliates (automatically in some cases!), pay them on autopilot and process payments without any trouble. That’s why I chose to use it for my membership site which launched back in October.
A great rule of thumb which I learnt from Ryan Lee is to use the “10x rule”. Any product you sell should be worth at least 10 times what you charge for it.
That’s what I have tried to do with my membership site. Although it’s early days (2 months since launch) we have lots of members in our community already and the feedback and statistics are looking very promising. Here’s the latest Gain higher Ground Membership refund rate for example:
Keeping It Real
The truth is that if you want to make “big money” on the internet by this time next week, it’s not going to happen.
This year I’ve spoken to countless marketers in all sorts of niches around the World. Some make a few hundred dollars per month part time and some have 7 figure businesses. I even spoke to one who generates 7-figures per month.
But they all have the same thing in common. They all put in work and treat what they are doing like a real business.
None of them have been able to get rich quick from push button software, traffic loopholes or the like. If that stuff really worked then I’d definitely be doing it and I’m sure they would too!
However, the “work” is like nothing I’ve done before. It’s very enjoyable and fun. But you still need to apply yourself and take steps out of your comfort zone. Of course you do.
From the subscriber feedback I’ve received in 2011, I think more and more people are sick of the hype and over-promise, under-deliver approach. We’ve all been burnt in the past and I think the market is really starting to change for the better.
This trend, I think, is set to continue in 2012 🙂
Webinars
You could say that 2011 has been the year of the webinar.
I wrote about my dislike of automated webinars a while back and to be honest I’m still on the fence here.
But webinars in general are a great way of:
- Creating content quickly
- Interacting with your audience
- Providing free content and training for your subscribers
- Building your list (especially when you get other marketers promote your webinars)
- Achieving higher conversion rates than video or traditional text sales copy
I’m relatively new to webinars but I’ll definitely be doing more in 2012 because of these reasons and also, if I’m honest, they’re just great fun for everyone involved!
Trust & Relationships
This previous discuss brings us to possibly the most important shift in online business which is that building trust and relationships with your subscribers and customers is becoming the name of the game.
We have seen big corporates stop advertising their www websites and instead directing people to their Facebook pages where they employ teams of people whose job it is to interact with their customers and prospects.
This is one aspect of how business in general offline and online is getting more personable and interactive.
So get out there, engage and be real.
I recently invested in a course by self improvement expert Brian Tracy (cost me $500 but worth it) in which he pointed out that even if your product is exactly the same as everyone else’s you can gain a huge competitive advantage by introducing your personality into your business.
Nobody can be you.
Everyone has something to offer and you’re wrong if you think you haven’t. Also, confidence comes with time (trust me I know personally!). You don’t have to inject your own personality to make money online as we talked about recently. But it is something worth bearing in mind as it is definitely to be a growing trend.
So… What do you think of 2011? What are your highlights and experiences (good or bad)? Drop a comment or question below and we’ll kick-start the discussion….
No comment Rob
Just wanted to say Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to yourself and all the readers of your blog.
I hope you all have a great 2012….
Kind regards
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
Thank you very much 🙂 🙂 I wish the same to you and thanks for your valuable contribution and blog comments here at Gain Higher Ground during 2011!
On and up for 2012!
Kind regards, Rob.
Hi Rob
heres to 2012 and with your excellent support a road to success
happy christmas
Madeline
ps are you closed apart from 25 and 26 dec ?
Thanks Madeline, same to you too! I should be around for most of the Christmas/New Year period. My responses might be slightly delayed 😉 but I’ll still be online!
All the best – Rob
Hello Rob,
I would just like to say thank you for all your help in the membership area of your site. I can not say enough about what I have learned from that site.
Here is to a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.
Ray
Ray, you are very kind. So glad you’re enjoying and benefiting from it.
Pleased to see you’ve linked to your site in this blog comment too 😉
Have a good one yourself & talk soon I’m sure.
Rob
Hi Rob
Been a year where I have wasted a lot of time, effort and money on “get rich quick” schemes. Hoping to start next year on a high by following your GHG course.
Merry Christmas and Happy new Year to you and all the GHG members.
Gary
Hey Gary,
Yes, it’s an ideal time to turn a new leaf and leave the info overload behind!
Thanks for your comment and best wishes for the festive period to you too 🙂
Rob
Hi Rob
Like you, I hate the hype and useless products. I have learned how to finally recognise scammy products even without the luxery cars and mansions.
Does anyone ever wonder how come a debt ridden drop out has a brand new shiny laptop that made them millions overnight?
There are good, honest marketers out there to lead the way however.
I would like to wish you and all your readers a Merry Christmas and lets hope we all enjoy a happy, peaceful and prosperous NewYear.
Dee
100% agree, Well said Dee 🙂
Thanks for the best wishes and same to you!
Rob
Nice post Rob.
I too am pleased about the clickbank “Clean-up”.
As well as trust and relationships, social proof and authority are the other 2 factors to help boost sales.
I am working on this between now and the new year to come back stronger in 2012 🙂
Have a great Christmas !
Hi Paul,
Thanks for stopping by here at the GHG blog.
Yes, those things are very powerful too – key elements to use in your marketing whatever niche you’re in.
Have a good Christmas/New Year yourself and hope to see you back here again in 2012 🙂
Rob
Hi Rob
We’re singing from the same hymn sheet as you with regards avoiding all the hype and mis-selling out there – in fact, we feel so frustrated by it that we’ve written about it, in depth, in our book (due out in Jan 2012).
We’ve also launched our own product this year and were briefly tarnished by the ‘get rich quick’ mentality, just by association – so a sea change and a clean up of the industry is well and truly welcome news.
Rock on 2012 – wishing you a ground breaking New Year and best wishes for Christmas.
Fiona
Hi Fiona,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your thoughts!
I think people’s cynicism is understandable and really a natural reaction to the hype. We’ll see if things really do change in 2012 but I can definitely feel the tide moving so we can live in hope!
Thanks for the best wishes – the same to you, I hope you have a great one and good luck with your book too 🙂
Cheers!
Rob.
Hi Rob: I would like to say THANKS for starting your coaching program. It is so good to feel actually….well…coached and have confidence in a program!
here’s to a new breed of IMers! I cant say how tired I am of all the ‘newest best’ stuff. Believe me – there’ll be something better tomorrow so don’t sweat it! 2011 taught me a healthy dose of skepticism. I don’t how I stumbled onto Higher Ground, but I’m glad I did.
Glenda
Hi Glenda,
Thanks for your comment – it’s a pleasure to have you on board 🙂
Glad you like what you’ve seen so far and I hope you’ll enjoy the future updates as well!
Talk soon and best wishes for 2012,
Rob
Hi Rob
I’m not a techie and I wondered if you might have an idea on this:-
I write and publish articles on http://www.goarticles.com and http://www.ezinearticles.com but whatever browser I use I can’t now access either site.
I have a top of the range computer and have no trouble with any other sites. Do you know whether any others of your followers are currently getting this bovver?
I wouldn’t have thought that both sites servers could be down at the same time.
Sorry to be a pain
Ken
Hi Ken,
You’re not a pain Ken – thanks for asking your question 🙂
I just tried both sites and can access them with out any problems. Perhaps they are working again for you now? If not try clearing your cache in the browsers and doing a hard refresh with CTRL+F5.
By the way, doyou find these sites drive you much traffic? I used to use them but stopped as I found I could get far more traffic (and better quality links for SEO purposes) by posting my articles to other blogs (i.e., guest postings) instead.
Cheers!
Rob
Hi Ken & Rob
I have tried these links on my machine and found that I had no problem with the second site (ezinearticles).
The first site would not load for me using the link you supplied – but strangely when I just typed “goarticles.com” into my web-browser (Internet Explorer and Mozilla) it worked a.o.k.
A while back I had a similar problem when I just could not access my own web-site that had been set up for me by my cousin.
It turned out that I wasn’t able to access the correct “DNS” server (I think that’s domain name server) – I had to get me ISP involved and they sorted it out for me.
Good luck – as with all things in the computer world – it’s great when it is working a.o.k. but incredibly frustrating when anything goes wrong.
Kind regards
Kevin