Question of the day. What do you do, as an Internet marketer,
when the economy sucks? Not sure? Well, keep reading this article and
you'll find out.
All right, I've kept you waiting long enough. Here's what you do when the economy sucks.
Go fishing!
That's right... go fishing!
Go in your backyard and start digging. I suggest doing this early in the morning when the worms are pretty close to the surface of the earth. Make sure you have a bucket with you. Take the fried chicken out of it before you start dumping the worms in.
After that, go get a stick. That's right, a stick. Hell, the economy sucks so you sure as heck can't afford a pole. Go get a stick. And some string too. Make it long string. Unless you're good with metalworking or whatever, you will have to go out and buy a hook. I'm sure you can get one for about a buck. If you can't afford it, go rent an accordion, a monkey, and some dark glasses, and sit on a street corner for a few hours. That'll pay for the hook.
Finally, go bum a ride off of a friend. No, you don't want to take your OWN car. Gas is expensive. Haven't you been watching the news? Pay attention!
Have him drop you off by the nearest lake. He can pick you back up on his way home from his aunt Bertha's. That should give you at least 3 hours of quality "you" time with your thoughts, your stick, your string, your hook, your worms and whatever scrawny thing you just happen to drag out of the water. Please, don't eat it. You don't know where it's been.
Okay, hopefully by now you can tell that this is an attempt at humor. Yeah, I know. Stick to my day job.
Truth is, when the economy sucks, sometimes all you want to do is go fishing or anything that doesn't have anything to do with Internet marketing. I know I feel that way sometimes. Hey, I made about 80 bucks yesterday and I was thrilled. This has been a rough month between Hurricane Sandy and the holiday coming up.
But guess what? This too shall pass. It always does. I've been at this for over 9 years and I've had more ups and downs than an elevator in a brothel. Get it? Elevator in a brothel? Never mind. Point is, the economy bends but never breaks. Even the Wall Street crash back during the great depression (no, not when your uncle Seymour forgot to take his meds) eventually subsided. True, Roosevelt had to do quite a bit of tap dancing to make it happen, but it did. And yeah, a war didn't hurt either. But I digress.
Point is, you have to keep your eye on the prize no matter how bad things get.
Ah yes, eye on the prize. What the heck does that really mean?
It means to stay focused. It means to go about your business as if nothing is wrong. If you're marketing system is designed to do A then B then C, and it's been working fine for umpteen years, don't deviate from it just because you've hit a little bump in the road, especially if you're marketing non essential items during a period when people are struggling to buy food and keep a roof over their heads.
If your traffic is the same and coming from the same sources but your conversion percentage has suddenly taken a tumble, and nothing has changed, including your sales page, the answer may be as simple as "people just aren't buying as much right now."
Maybe test your price. You could try lowering it for a brief period. Maybe run a special sale to your list and see if that does anything.
You might want to send a survey to your list and ask them how things are. Talk about the economy if you want. Get some feedback on it. You might hear some horror stories that will explain some of what's going on. Also, take that survey and tack it up online somewhere. Start with your main site or a blog if you have one. Get feedback!
Another thing you might consider doing is cutting back on some of your own expenses. I'm not just talking about those luxury items that you can't seem to live without. I'm talking about some of the things you have or do in regard to your business.
For example, maybe you have some domains that you're no longer using that are actually worth something. You might want to consider selling some of them. In fact, selling domains can be a good way to supplement your income. Buy a domain, fix it up with a site and flip it. You won't make a fortune from each one but you can easily make a couple of hundred bucks to hold you over.
You might want to consider doing some temporary freelancing. If you're good at writing, you can easily make a couple of hundred bucks writing articles. Maybe you're good with Photoshop. You can create and sell web templates or squeeze page templates. Lots of people are looking for ecovers for their e-books. I can crank out an ecover in about 30 minutes. You can easily get $20 for one ecover.
I'm just tossing these out there. The point is, there is always somebody out there who needs or wants something. Providing a service can easily bring in a temporary part time income until the economy picks up again and you can go back to concentrating on your regular business.
But whatever you do, don't throw in the towel. I know it's easy to do, especially when things are going bad. I have been there and it's not a fun place. But I always came out the other side. So hang in there and tough it out.
Or you can always go fishing.
To YOUR Success,
Steven Wagenheim
All right, I've kept you waiting long enough. Here's what you do when the economy sucks.
Go fishing!
That's right... go fishing!
Go in your backyard and start digging. I suggest doing this early in the morning when the worms are pretty close to the surface of the earth. Make sure you have a bucket with you. Take the fried chicken out of it before you start dumping the worms in.
After that, go get a stick. That's right, a stick. Hell, the economy sucks so you sure as heck can't afford a pole. Go get a stick. And some string too. Make it long string. Unless you're good with metalworking or whatever, you will have to go out and buy a hook. I'm sure you can get one for about a buck. If you can't afford it, go rent an accordion, a monkey, and some dark glasses, and sit on a street corner for a few hours. That'll pay for the hook.
Finally, go bum a ride off of a friend. No, you don't want to take your OWN car. Gas is expensive. Haven't you been watching the news? Pay attention!
Have him drop you off by the nearest lake. He can pick you back up on his way home from his aunt Bertha's. That should give you at least 3 hours of quality "you" time with your thoughts, your stick, your string, your hook, your worms and whatever scrawny thing you just happen to drag out of the water. Please, don't eat it. You don't know where it's been.
Okay, hopefully by now you can tell that this is an attempt at humor. Yeah, I know. Stick to my day job.
Truth is, when the economy sucks, sometimes all you want to do is go fishing or anything that doesn't have anything to do with Internet marketing. I know I feel that way sometimes. Hey, I made about 80 bucks yesterday and I was thrilled. This has been a rough month between Hurricane Sandy and the holiday coming up.
But guess what? This too shall pass. It always does. I've been at this for over 9 years and I've had more ups and downs than an elevator in a brothel. Get it? Elevator in a brothel? Never mind. Point is, the economy bends but never breaks. Even the Wall Street crash back during the great depression (no, not when your uncle Seymour forgot to take his meds) eventually subsided. True, Roosevelt had to do quite a bit of tap dancing to make it happen, but it did. And yeah, a war didn't hurt either. But I digress.
Point is, you have to keep your eye on the prize no matter how bad things get.
Ah yes, eye on the prize. What the heck does that really mean?
It means to stay focused. It means to go about your business as if nothing is wrong. If you're marketing system is designed to do A then B then C, and it's been working fine for umpteen years, don't deviate from it just because you've hit a little bump in the road, especially if you're marketing non essential items during a period when people are struggling to buy food and keep a roof over their heads.
If your traffic is the same and coming from the same sources but your conversion percentage has suddenly taken a tumble, and nothing has changed, including your sales page, the answer may be as simple as "people just aren't buying as much right now."
Maybe test your price. You could try lowering it for a brief period. Maybe run a special sale to your list and see if that does anything.
You might want to send a survey to your list and ask them how things are. Talk about the economy if you want. Get some feedback on it. You might hear some horror stories that will explain some of what's going on. Also, take that survey and tack it up online somewhere. Start with your main site or a blog if you have one. Get feedback!
Another thing you might consider doing is cutting back on some of your own expenses. I'm not just talking about those luxury items that you can't seem to live without. I'm talking about some of the things you have or do in regard to your business.
For example, maybe you have some domains that you're no longer using that are actually worth something. You might want to consider selling some of them. In fact, selling domains can be a good way to supplement your income. Buy a domain, fix it up with a site and flip it. You won't make a fortune from each one but you can easily make a couple of hundred bucks to hold you over.
You might want to consider doing some temporary freelancing. If you're good at writing, you can easily make a couple of hundred bucks writing articles. Maybe you're good with Photoshop. You can create and sell web templates or squeeze page templates. Lots of people are looking for ecovers for their e-books. I can crank out an ecover in about 30 minutes. You can easily get $20 for one ecover.
I'm just tossing these out there. The point is, there is always somebody out there who needs or wants something. Providing a service can easily bring in a temporary part time income until the economy picks up again and you can go back to concentrating on your regular business.
But whatever you do, don't throw in the towel. I know it's easy to do, especially when things are going bad. I have been there and it's not a fun place. But I always came out the other side. So hang in there and tough it out.
Or you can always go fishing.
To YOUR Success,
Steven Wagenheim
Want some more great home business and marketing tips? Get my 4 Steps To Business Success and you'll be on your way to a successful business in no time flat.
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