Do you ever find yourself having to defend the idea of being an Internet Marketer from pretty much everybody you talk to about what you do?

And do you also find that when you tell people that you are building a business selling products or services online that they’ll give you the “that’s nice dear” look, you know the one you used to get as a kid when you’d tell your parents that you were going to be an astronaut, or a professional footballer!

So what is it about this business that makes so many people instantly dismiss it as just a fad or some kind of hobbie? In my opinion there are probably any number of reasons why you will find yourself in this type of situation, and here’s my take on just a couple:

Misunderstanding
It seems to me that the term Internet Marketing has taken on a whole new meaning as more and more people have leapt at the chance to make so called ‘easy money’ online.

Rather than being recognised as a legitimate way to market products online it seems to be constantly associated with ‘get rich quick’ schemes whereby you are likely to be told by the seller that with 10 mins work you can send an email and suddenly money will come pouring into your account – which we all know is not true.

Of course anyone who is making a living online knows that there is lot more to it than finding the latest online fad and slapping up a web page. I mean the biggest companies in the world use Internet Marketing as a means by which to sell their products or services, and you don’t see them being quietly laughed at when they talk about their ‘online strategy’.

Many of the best techniques for marketing any type of product online can be learnt from mainstream companies that are arguably the best at it, nobody curses at Amazon when they try to up-sell or cross-sell so why are other ‘Internet Marketers’ admonished for the same practises?

Fear
Now this for me is definitely a big cause for people to dismiss what I and many others do online. And it’s not just the fear of the unknown or failure that drives people to convince themselves that we’re just dabbling, I think it’s also the fear of success!

Clearly making money online is not a dead simple process for the beginner, but let’s face it if you put in the work and build a solid foundation then it is possible that a business that utilises the Internet can practically run on autopilot. You can have sales pages, autoresponders, product delivery systems all running in the background all while you concentrate on either doing something completely different (travel, golf, nothing!) or working on your next big project.

But for some people there seems to be a fear that this might actually work; but then what would they do with themselves, or worse still what would their friends think? Clearly if you don’t appear to be joining the rat race each morning like everybody else then whatever it is, it must be illegal, or maybe it’s some kind of magic, or worse still – maybe you’re just a loser, regardless of what you appear to have achieved!

It’s strange that so many people would rather stay one of the crowd than step out on their own and put in the hard work to break free of their normal lives. But then I suppose that is where the fear of failure also steps in and the risk averse take the commonly trod path, instead of “nothing ventured, nothing gained”, people adopt the “nothing ventured, no shame” approach, god forbid they try something and fail!

So, those are just a couple of reasons why I think Internet Marketing and Internet Marketers get a tough ride. It’s easier to dismiss the ideas of those that will take the risks and be in a position to say “I told you so!” than to actually listen and understand what it all actually means.

But, if you’re reading this and have started an online business then it’s unlikely you suffer from these misgivings – but beware it’s very easy to fall off the wagon in this world. Just like an addict it won’t take much in the early days to make you veer off the path to success, the trick is to stick to it and take one step at a time, don’t be discouraged if you don’t make $1M in your first year, hell don’t be discouraged if you don’t make $1,000!

It’s all about building momentum and developing your own system for success. You can be successful in this business if you learn from the right people and understand the fundamentals, and most of all, have faith in yourself and your abilities.

Good luck!

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Tagged as: affiliate marketing, in my opinion, internet marketing