Are You Making This Big Internet Marketing Mistake?

Ros Lee, one of the members of the eGurus Community, asked an insightful question about Internet marketing - especially as it applies to infopreneurs.

Broadly, her question went something like this:

When you are already an information expert specialising in a particular topic, eg reputation, networking, referrals, time management etc, how important is it to find a tighter niche (i.e. a subset of your potential market) online in which the demand for information outweighs the supply available? Don't the same principles apply to information experts as to other types of internet marketers, that they will be most easily found online if they successfully identify a hungry crowd with a particular problem not already being solved elsewhere and position themselves as offering the solution?

This is one of my favourite topics!

Ros offered an excellent insight into the mind of an Internet marketer.

On the Internet, the best marketer wins. Not the best infopreneur; the best marketer. And most infopreneurs are poor marketers - at least, when they're not there in person to do the marketing.

So, yes, if you're going to do Internet marketing, follow the same principles as the successful Internet marketers. And they are exactly what Ros said: Find a crowd with a problem and money to pay for it, then position yourself as a solution provider. And yes, the smaller your niche, the better your product.

This is different from your current business.

If you're a successful infopreneur running live programs, more often than not people buy you as much as they buy your topic. It almost doesn't matter what your topic is; when people get to know you, they'll trust you to present (speak / train / coach / consult / facilitate / whatever) it effectively.

This doesn't work when you reach out to strangers on the Internet. Now you not only have to find that hungry crowd, you're also competing with everybody else out there chasing the same crowd. You can no longer rely on the trust you've built with clients, because these people out there don't have a relationship with you at all.

If you're successful with your live programs, that does not necessarily mean you'll be equally successful selling on-line. It might be true, but don't assume it. Sadly, I see many people who make this assumption, and spend too much time, money, energy and effort chasing this out-of-reach dream.

So is it worth going ahead?

Yes, by all means. Just realise that it's a whole new ball game. The marketing things that used to work as an infopreneur won't work any more. It's like starting an entirely new business.

This is the key difference between chasing active income and passive income; between marketing to clients and marketing to strangers; and between presenting live programs and selling on-line products.

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Gihan Perera is an Internet coach for speakers, trainers, consultants and other business professionals. He's the author of "Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get free e-books, webinars and more.

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