An Interview With John Robbins How I Started In Internet Marketing
Q What’s your name, and how did you get started in internet marketing?
John Robbins How I started In Internet Marketing
A My name is John Robbins a I have been working on an internet marketing business since late in 2008 so that gives me almost four years experience, I have been working on my own projects and what has come to be known as “The Offline Market” for two years now – the offline or as I call it local market from an SEO point of view is by far the easiest way to start a business online.
These are the local businesses all around us in our locality, therefore if it is local and geo targeted on a specific area then it stands to reason that the SEO competition is going to be far less than trying to take on the whole world as a niche marketer or affiliate marketer, both of which I have been heavily involved with over the past years.
I got started in this business basically by being scammed by a company called Omnibiz solutions (Now Vision Learning), this was actually a basic SEO course and niche marketing course, the sort of thing that 8 years ago worked, and here it is in short ” Find a subject that you are passionate about, build a niche site around that subject, then search engine optimize every page and hey presto you are going to be rich” Sound familiar? well here it is in real world terms – find a hungry market, learn what that hungry market most want – develop a product website to satisfy that hunger and then find the most relevant NEW products that do just that, then you have a chance of making money – simply by finding where your customers hang out and giving them exactly what they want.
I also went down the MLM route with Global Domains and Carbon Copy Pro – a very expensive mistake – yes I kept my head above water but boy was it hard work, these only ever make the top dogs in those programs wealthy, so don’t even go there, they are leaky buckets, as fast as you put new members in older members drop out, I was good at this – however even I couldn’t really make it pay, if you want to make money here you really need to be able to create your own MLM and then be able to sleep at night knowing that you are really just conning desperate people rather than helping them.
In March 2010 I built my first local SEO’d website for my brother, after just a few weeks You also have a choice of Video Marketing, Local Websites (I have several) and Google local marketing too – that used to be called maps and or places and is now going to G+ business pages, which is still under development as we speak.
Q What’s your mindset when it comes to working from home?
A Working from home is great but you are right you have to have the right mindset to excel in this field, your home office is your workplace and it needs to be tidy and bright – you have to be organized, even though you are working for yourself you need systems and procedures in place or you will never get things done.
Your mindset needs to be clear and focused and you need to laser target that which your you are aiming to achieve, the worst thing you can do is flip from one shiny object to another, shiny objects rarely work and suck up all of your time, this will get you no where, I know because I have been there too.
Q What was it that you tried and failed with in internet marketing and what should people avoid?
A I think i have probably already highlighted this, the worst thing that you can do is to flip from one thing to another – this really does suck up your time and send you round and round in circles, Avoid MLM Schemes, Avoid hard to compete in affiliate marketing schemes, Avoid using free replicated affiliate websites they are a total waste of time. Avoid wasting time full stop – focus on your goal and you will surely achieve it.
Q What one thing are you doing now that is working for you?
A There are several things working for me right now – however the fastest success that I saw online was local business marketing, through places listings, websites both HTML and Word Press (yes I do both) and the most powerful exponent today in marketing – Video Marketing.
Q How much are you making with this method if you don’t mind me asking?
A Well the truth about that really is in mindset, I don’t divulge what I earn and I don’t make false earnings claims, I have always seen this as a sort of cheezy internet marketing exaggeration, if you say nothing then that cannot be misinterpreted, what I say to people embarking on this lifestyle is, don’t concern yourself with how much I earn, you need to understand how much you can earn from this business, there are no magic wands, to succeed you have to roll your sleeves up and work harder than you have ever worked before.
The rewards of success are immense, but they reflect the effort that you put in.
How long did it take you to make your first sale online?
A Well believe it or not I made my first sales online within just a few month’s of starting – that felt good, however earning real money was a little more difficult especially as I was flipping from one thing to another.
Q 3 things you would tell someone if they are just starting out?
A 1. get a mentor – someone who has done that which you want to do successfully, I cannot stress this enough really, before I got a mentor I was very unproductive, a mentor will show you exactly what to do and hold you accountable for your actions or in actions. If you really want to see success get a mentor and by that I do not mean a huge roll out program where you are being trained by someone on $10 an hour – that wont get you anywhere, I have actually had four mentors, Howie Schwartz (SEO) Stephen Pierce (Affiliate) Lee McEntyre (get more momentum) that seminar and subsequent coaching made a huge difference to me, and now I am being mentored by Dean Holland.
These people have all achieved huge success in their chosen fields within internet marketing, they are real mentors achieving huge success that can show you how to basically do what they did and still do, that really is the formula for success, you will find it very hard to get there on your own.
2. Avoid shiny objects – unsubscribe from all those internet marketing lists that you have – add up how long you spend looking at the shiny new objects that they send you to, that is just wasting time.
3. Focus on the sector of internet marketing that you want to get into – know it well and make it your own – find out everything there is to know about where your customers hang out.
4. If you really want to make money online quickly then I suggest local or offline marketing is the place to start.
Q Finally, If you had to start all over again from the beginning, what would you do?
A Local business marketing – videos – sites – and places listings, go for friends and family and concentrate on a residual income from this, for example 10% of profit from jobs resulting in leads from your web marketing, you will then quickly build up a residual income and an ever new flow of clients, once you establish yourself in this field (and it isn’t difficult) then you will become the go to person for local business marketing in your town or city.
Probably what you did not want to hear but that’s the truth of the matter – however if you are knowledgeable about a certain field of expertise in internet marketing, and you can show people things that they will benefit from, save them time or show them something new and powerful, then why not launch your own Warrior Special Offer?