We all started somewhere. Each of us were “newbies” or rookies at some point in our attempt to “make money online.” It was quite humorous looking back. Here’s my rendition of how it went:
Ok, so you’ve actually been a user of the internet for years. You play your online arcade games daily, check out some funny material on Ebaum’s World, and even look at a little porn now and then. Oh, and don’t forget CNN.com or MSNBC.com (for when you needed a little structure in your web browsing habits). You research topics online for your job or for school and get results that you thought were reputable, not knowing that it was rehashed content used to make money off of Adsense ads.
You check your email address everyday for funny videos, messages from your friends, or online bills. One day, you visit a random site and sign up for their mailing list. The next week, you are bombarded with JUNK! However, one subject catches your eye: “Make money by doing what you do everyday.” Huh? You read further. Yes, you can actually get paid to surf websites!
No S@&%!!! Damn, you’re going to be rich!
The next minute, you sign up and start surfing! 30 seconds later. Look! There’s $0.005 in your account! Woohoo!! Time passes and you realize that you need referrals to actually make this thing work. (You’ve hit a milestone though - you are now up to $0.22.) Oh, but look, there is a place on this site where you can actually purchase referrals. Show me the money! So, you’re down $10 for x amount of referrals and none of them have any activity. You go back to surfing for pennies and see a site that is even better. Get paid to read emails. What were you thinking…this one is the real winner!
You sign up as quick as you can, hoping to get your first batch of emails. Day 1: 10 emails! And these pay you more than the surfing or the ptc sites. Day 2: 5 more emails. Day 3: 1 email. Day 4, 5, 6: 0 emails. Man, this is BS. Day 7 rolls around with another email: This one email tells you how you can have a Ferrari and get lots of girls and have a huge home! You’ve hit the jackpot bitches!
How can you possibly lose! Look at the guy on the web page: he is probably your age, looks stupid, and he has made millions. He has even shown proof of his Paypal account. Weird, the image kind of looks blurry, but you believe him. This time, there is a little investment involved. But, it is only a one time fee of $25 and then you can be a millionaire. You pay your money and enter the site. Looks good, has a lot of words, and some good testimonials (including photos). You could have swore you saw that same couple pictured in a JCPenny catalog. Maybe models are making money too! Now, you need a downline. Oh, you just remembered that you can place your site on the paid to click or surf pages that you started with. Those fools!
A week passes by and your downline is empty. Your page is only shown a few times on the ptc sites because you haven’t earned enough credits. You go back to your “Making Millions if You Buy This Crappy Course” web page to regroup. You find out that you are doing it completely wrong! You don’t have the right tools. But, for $19.99 a month, you can make some money using this “secret” information. Alright, you are pissed!
You take a two week hiatus. You are still stuck in your 9 to 5 and you know that people are making money online. You browse some more, yet more cautiously. Somehow, you find a pre-made, original content, affiliate website for sell on Ebay. The seller tells you that you can make money from Amazon, from Adsense, and from the sell of an ebook. He will even give you 8 bonus ebooks worth over $499. Here comes your big break!
You get some decent information from 1 of the 8 free e-books that you receive and begin promoting your site. You begin searching for your site through Google. You search on page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…23, 24, 25, 26…this blows! Hmm, what is this advertisement about? Google Adwords…I’ll check it out! Long story short? Two weeks later you have spent $87 and sold 1 ebook and a commission from Amazon for $0.65.
F—, Sh–, Damn, Sh–!
You are done. You can’t take it anymore. You search and search for more information, more insider material. You click on a page where someone is giving some pretty valuable tips on internet marketing. (Warning: Plug ahead!) Digital Point Forums. The rest is history.
