When you make a living online, many people will not understand what it is you do. Some of them will think you are nothing more than a spammer – just because you work on the Internet. You might even run into people who automatically assume you are into promoting something unscrupulous or undesirable, because they think that is the sole purpose of internet marketing!
You need to be prepared to deal with people like this. Some of them may even be close friends and family members who are simply ignorant about the various marketing uses for the World Wide Web.
The first thing you need to explain to people is that very few people who work on the Internet are spammers. Spammers actually make up a very, very small minority of those who make money online.
If you do any sort of email marketing, you should explain that every single person you send email to has signed up specifically to your newsletter, and clicked a link to confirm that they really want to be on your list.
Explain to them that subscribing to your newsletter is a lot like signing up for delivery of the newspaper, or a magazine subscription. People sign up to your newsletter, and then you send them valuable information, not just advertising.
If you sell ebooks online, you can explain to people that you are a bit like a book publisher, but all of the books you publish are in digital format. You can tell them that instead of paying a lot of extra money for the printing, binding, marketing, and shipping of a physical book, you eliminate those costs by selling all of your
books as downloadable products.
If people still no not understand, you could even show them what an eBook is by letting them view one on your computer. If your main business is advertising affiliate products, you can tell people you are in advertising.
Explain to them that you run a website (or websites) and you place advertising on that website. Every time someone clicks an ad and purchases something, you receive a commission. If you make most of your money through Adsense or selling advertising on your sites, you can simply tell people that you place advertisements on your websites, and you charge advertisers for that ad space.
Perhaps you may feel more comfortable just telling people that you design websites. If you are a decent website builder, this will probably really impress people, but be prepared to get requests from people asking if you will make them a site, too.
If you no not want to deal with all of the technical questions, just telling someone you design websites will usually be enough to satisfy them. If people are particularly doubtful, you can start to point out some examples of people who have been very successful making money online.
You should realize that some people will just never understand what you do. Try to explain it the best way you can, and if it does not work, accept it. Some people just will not get it. If the in-laws or your spouse are nagging you because your money is not yet streaming in, and you feel pressured, put together a simple presentation that answers all of their questions and puts their minds at ease, or find some statistics or proof of earnings of someone who is doing what you are trying to do.
Stay tuned for another marketing tip real soon, and good luck with your online marketing efforts!
To your online success,
Bill Brine – Home Small Business Coach
P.S. Here’s another great resource I created to help you build your business:
Your Fast-Start Guide To Internet Marketing And Online Business