Yeah, fair enough. I don't disagree with it as far as dipping your toes or doing your market research. In fact using SEO and Adwords figures is becoming a key part of any market research, in my opinion.
I was talking about long term business strategy in the context of 4 hour work week principles when I said that. Eventually if you want big money you'll have to move away from affiliate marketing, or at least expand to include other facets. This is, among other things, for the reasons you suggested: You don't control the product, you can't scale the product, so on and so forth.
I should also add as a caveat that if you're looking to make 500 dollars a month online, affiliate marketing might well be for you too. I'm just saying it isn't a viable long-term business strategy in and of itself. Using it to lead into other things is fine, as is using it as part of a wider strategy is fine as well.
As far as investing, if you want to be a businessman eventually you're going to have to put up with the negatives that being in business comes with. One of those is hunting for capital, whether your own or someone elses. As far as funding goes, it's a crucial issue for internet guys, because banks/investors are really reluctant to put up cash for net ventures compared with traditional businesses. Again, until you start investing time and energy into these things, you're not businessman, you're a toe dipper. Most of IM is for toe dippers.
There are a lot more skills you're going to have to develop if you want to take money making on the net to the next stage. It just isn't as simple as build a website and write good copy. I mean, it is those things, but with more work you can expand (and make cash) on an exponentially bigger scale.
I was talking about long term business strategy in the context of 4 hour work week principles when I said that. Eventually if you want big money you'll have to move away from affiliate marketing, or at least expand to include other facets. This is, among other things, for the reasons you suggested: You don't control the product, you can't scale the product, so on and so forth.
I should also add as a caveat that if you're looking to make 500 dollars a month online, affiliate marketing might well be for you too. I'm just saying it isn't a viable long-term business strategy in and of itself. Using it to lead into other things is fine, as is using it as part of a wider strategy is fine as well.
As far as investing, if you want to be a businessman eventually you're going to have to put up with the negatives that being in business comes with. One of those is hunting for capital, whether your own or someone elses. As far as funding goes, it's a crucial issue for internet guys, because banks/investors are really reluctant to put up cash for net ventures compared with traditional businesses. Again, until you start investing time and energy into these things, you're not businessman, you're a toe dipper. Most of IM is for toe dippers.
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That's why the vast bulk of guys who start fail horribly. There are two key skills to making money online if you're not marketing your own product. And those are being able to enough build traffic to your site to climb to the top of Google searches for the relevant keywords (SEO); and the ability to write excellent content (basically selling your product convincingly if it is IM). Very few guys can do one let alone both (some like myself team up with someone else who "completes" the package to so speak).
There are a lot more skills you're going to have to develop if you want to take money making on the net to the next stage. It just isn't as simple as build a website and write good copy. I mean, it is those things, but with more work you can expand (and make cash) on an exponentially bigger scale.