Money Secrets

Maybe it’s jealousy, but there wasn’t such a thing as a “Newbies Guide to Marketing” when I started out. I was left to wade through all the hype and clever marketing tactics all on my own lonesome.

Sure, there were plenty of ‘gurus’ who were willing to show me the secret - for a price of course. There were even more wannabe gurus willing to give me what they claimed was the secret for free - you have to understand this was just because they were fed up with the gurus telling all those lies in order to get me to part with my money!

Of course it didn’t matter whether the information (secret or not) came at a cost of cash or my email address, none of it made any difference. It was either too technical or too costly to be of any use to me at all.

I mean there’s really very little point in telling someone how important it is to get your own ‘domain‘, when you don’t know what a domain is. And don’t even get me started on the secret language of HTML and FTP!

I knew how to cut and paste, I knew how to click from one site to another, I knew how to write an email, and that was pretty much the sum total of my knowledge. Now I realise it’s different today. Apart from anything else, most folks now looking to make money online, have grown up around computers so they have a distinct (and unfair ) advantage over us oldies.

But there was nowhere for someone like me to go and learn the absolute basics. Even once I knew what a domain was, even after I spent weeks creating my first website with Frontpage, and even with the help of an extremely patient webhost, (thank you BJ), I still managed to somehow upload my first site to some secret place where it would never be seen by anybody!

Where were all the people whose businesses I’d signed up to? Where were the gurus who had promised me faithfully that my one time payment would have me raking in the moolah regardless of the fact that I didn’t have a clue how to do anything other than copy and paste? No ‘newbie guide‘ from them. No step by step instructions telling me that in order to make a success of my marketing business there were a few ‘other’ secret places where I would have to invest yet more of my ever dwindling cash supply.

Now it seems that ‘newbie guides‘, ‘newbie sites‘, ‘newbie forums‘ are sprouting up all over the place. It doesn’t matter what keyword you type into Google, there’ll be some kind of result for the dummies among us. Where were all these help groups and forums when I started out? Don’t you know how much time and money you could have saved me? Why wait till now when I’ve figured it out already?

But here’s what I’ve been thinking. For those who’ve been marketing for years, and have managed to make their living preying on the unsuspecting, unknowing newbies out there, all the while never needing to upgrade or improve their own marketing skillset, life is now proving extremely tough.

Today’s ‘newbies’ are likely to know a damn sight more about computers, the Internet, and marketing than many of the so called experts out there. They’re not likely to be seduced by your fancy graphics, eye catching headlines, or profit pulling copywriting. Unfortunately for many of you, the old saying “Familiarity Breeds Contempt", has come true all too quickly.

Your typical new kid on the block now requires something much more meaty and valuable from you before handing over any of his hard earned cash. Not much point in offering a free website when he can knock up his own blow your socks off, in your face, beat this if you can, bobby dazzler in a matter of minutes.

And why would the kids of today be interested in being told how to use the social networking sites to brand themselves and their business? Heck, these are the same kids who built the damn social sites into what they are!

So do we really need the ‘newbie guides’ at all? Aren’t they just another gimmick to try and fool those just starting out that there really is some kind of secret to make money?

Well, I’m guessing that would depend on what sort of guide you are offering. Like I’ve said, the newbies of today are a whole lot smarter than the newbies of yesterday. They are starting out from a place many so called ’successful’ people haven’t even reached yet.

So if all you’re offering is more BS but at a lower level, then you can rest assured that not only will you not be attracting any of today’s ‘newbies’, but by tomorrow they will have kicked you off your throne.

There will always be a need for informing and upskilling new marketers. Nobody starts out knowing it all. Some may need more training and help than others, but all of them are now far too clever to be classed as real ‘newbies’ and the information they’re looking for had better be offering more than:

• Get Your Free Money Making Website Here

• Put A Link On Your Social Networking Sites For All Your Friends To See

• Get Even More Traffic By Buying This Secret Traffic Exploding Software

• Rinse and Repeat for Instant Wealth!

May have worked back in the olden days folks, but not any more. If you don’t want to be overtaken by the newbies out there, you’d better smarten up your act.

To Your Success
Susan Coils