The Seven Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing
We’ve all heard of the seven deadly sins: lust, greed, sloth, envy, pride, wrath & gluttony. While most people think of religion when they heard about these sins, the lessons actually apply to internet marketing and making money online a lot more than you might realize.
I’ve been working at home online for decades now. Over that time, I have seen a lot of businesses and people come and go. I estimate that roughly 90% of the online business failures I’ve witnessed over the years as the direct result of violating one of these 7 sins.
Apply these tips and strategies to your own marketing tactics. By improving yourself, you’ll be in a better position to help you readers and customers.
Lust
The first of the seven deadly sins that I want to talk about is “Lust”. Generally, lust may be viewed as being sexual in nature, but this is not always the case. I truly hope that you do not lust for websites and internet advertising in that manner, so I am going to talk about a different kind of lust.
People lust for many things besides sex. This could be lust for drugs, alcohol and other sensual pleasures (debauchery) or even a lust for material goods.
Lust and the other deadly sins are things that test your self control. If you cannot control your lust when you know it is bad for you, you may not be able to control yourself when it comes to an important decision concerning your online business.
Lust can easily be summed up into two words: “unrestrained excess”. Think about those words for a moment. When you do something unrestrained, you can easily go overboard and do things that you had not originally intended to do. Excess is not always bad in itself, but unrestrained excess can certainly lead you down a dark path of uncontrollable lust.
The idea behind the 7 deadly sins lessons are to teach you self control and to approach your internet business with a clear conscience. Do not lust over things that you cannot have right now. If you must lust for something, lust for your work, but be sure to take time to relax so you don’t get burnt out.
Lust can easily cause you to do things with your websites that you know will be bad for you. Blinded by lust, many people carry on with these types of activities until it’s too late to recover.
In general, if you are thinking about making a change to your websites to increase your sales, first ask yourself if the change will be better or worse for your actual website visitors. No matter what the sales increase would be, never sacrifice their experience because it will be a short-term gain.
Greed
Today I want to talk to you about greed. Greed is an ironic subject when you apply it to internet marketing. There are a lot of people in the world that view making money online as greedy, in general.
The truth is that it is just like any other job, as long as your intentions are the same. Don’t strive to make millions of dollars with internet marketing. Simply strive to make a full-time living with it.
I believe there is an easy way to judge something as greedy or not: Honesty. In most cases, honesty wipes out greed because honest people, products, services and deeds cannot be labeled as being greedy. Everybody has to make money to survive, but you don’t have to cheat people to survive. Strive to be the best person that you can be, online and offline, and you will be successful.
As you build your internet business(es), step back and look at it (them) from a different perspective. If you remove all of the advertising, service/product sales, and pretty much anything that can make money, what is left? If the answer is “nothing”, then that is exactly what you have – nothing.
Give people quality, information, help, value, service and innovation. If you learn to build your websites to be successful WITHOUT the advertising, then you will be surprised at how little effort it takes to actually make a nice income.
You don’t want to trick people into coming to your website and you especially don’t want to trick someone into buying something. These are tempting habits for many people because they may have found some quick money this way, but it certainly won’t build you a long-term income.
For the longest time, I thought that anyone could make money online. When I first started almost two decades ago it actually was rather simple if you knew the right things to do and had a bit of money to invest to get started. These days, things are certainly more complicated, but they really don’t have to be.
The truth is that many people actually try TOO HARD and end up overdoing it. That means that people can be greedy with their efforts, even though their intentions may be good. Don’t let greed consume your internet success before it even starts.
Sloth
Today I want to talk to you about sloth and how it applies to affiliate marketing success. Sloth is another word for being lazy. This sin is different from most of the other sins. Generally, you have to do something to commit one of the other sins, but sloth is committed by a lack of doing something.
In the view of sins, sloth is actually considered to be a less serious sin than the other sins. In the internet marketing world, a sloth will almost never succeed long-term. Even though the term “work at home” actually contains the word “work” in it, many people think that “work at home” allows them to be lazy.
Yes, some people are able to make a great living online while being lazy, but those people did not get to that point by being lazy. It takes hard work and dedication to succeed with internet marketing.
Many of today’s most popular selling products geared towards internet marketers are actually products that claim you can make a lot of money by being lazy. The sales pages for those products actually target many of the seven sins, but they are trying to persuade you to buy their product to be successful committing these sins.
Do not fall into the trap. I always recommend that you do some research before you buy an online “get rich quick scheme”. You want to find reviews from other people that have actually used the product to make money.
What you really want to look for are the professional internet marketers that are selling genuine coaching products that DO NOT promise riches with little effort/time. These products are the real products, but they are almost always less popular than the typical “over-hyped” product that is sold these days.
Sloth is a sin you commit by choice, even though you’re not actually doing anything. When you work at home and you do not have a boss, it is actually very easy to slip into a poor routine that allows sloth to run rampant.
Set a schedule for yourself each day/week. Plan things that you want to accomplish each day and do your best to accomplish those tasks in your scheduled working time. You do not have to be working every working moment though. Plan a reasonable schedule with realistic goals.
Sloth is actually not always a bad thing. You do want to “be lazy” some of the time, as long as you are doing the work that you need to get done each day. You should always take the time to relax at the end of your day to unwind from the work/stress, which will help to keep you refreshed for another day of work that will follow.
When you become successful and start making a nice monthly income online, continue on the same path that got you there in the first place. Too many people make the horrible mistake of getting lazy once they get successful. When you really think about it, you can’t expect to remain successful by being lazy when it took a lot of hard work to get there in the first place. Yes, you may continue to make good money for a while, but every great empire will crumble if not maintained properly.
Envy
I have an interesting affiliate marketing “Deadly Sin” to talk to you about today: Envy.
This sin is interesting because it can actually not be a sin when you harness it’s power in the right way. In fact, when used correctly, Envy can actually help you cure other sins. Before I get into more detail on that, I want to talk about Envy in a more general sense.
Envy happens when you desire something that another person has that you do not. You may wish that you had it too or you may wish that the other person loses it because you resent them for having it. You could also have a combination of both of those feelings or you may desire to take something from someone else.
In general, Envy is not meant to be associated with material possessions because that is Greed’s territory. However, I certainly think that you have Greed for something and Envy it at the same time. Here are a couple examples of material and non-material Envy.
You run into a friend you were buddies with in high school and he/she is married to a beautiful/handsome woman/man. If you’re single or unhappy in your relationship, you could be envious of your old friend.
In a material sense, you may have joined my newsletter because you were envious of a niche website that I created or the full-time income that I have earned working at home for over 15 years.
Envy even has roots with the Ten Commandments, “Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbors’ Goods”. To be honest with you, everybody has Envy. Even the people that you Envy, have Envy themselves. In that sense, you do need to avoid Envy that is never ending.
However, Envy can be utilized to give you amazing power and that is the secret that I want to share with you today. Again, do not become envious over things that are unrealistic to obtain.
Be real with yourself with you start to Envy something/someone. Think about whether it is actually something that you can obtain (legally, please). If you determine that it’s an unrealistic goal, then you need to abandon you envious feelings towards it.
If are envious over something that seem realistic to obtain, then it’s time to harness it’s power. Instead of abandoning the Envy, embrace it. In fact, you can even borderline obsess over it.
Here’s the truth. Most great achievements are obtained as a result of great Envy. When you Envy something realistic, it becomes much easier to push yourself to achieve your goal to get the thing you crave.
When you apply Envy to your daily life in a sensible manner, you can actually cure another sin with it: Sloth. As I mentioned before, Sloth is a deadly sin that is one of the most common killers of internet, home-based businesses.
Pride
My affiliate marketing deadly sin topic for today is Pride. Pride is a VERY important sin to talk about, especially when it’s related to internet marketing.
Pride is considered to be the most serious of all the deadly sins and will generally lead to the other sins. When you think of the word “Pride”, you may think that Pride could be a good thing. Most people want to be proud of themselves, but you should not confuse that with Pride.
Pride can actually be one of a few different things that are all relational. Someone who is lacking in humility is guilty of this sin, but it also refers to your desire to be more important than others. To avoid this sin, you need to recognize others for their good deeds/work. You should also avoid loving yourself too much. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t love yourself, but you need to learn to put others before yourself.
Getting back to internet marketing, I want to talk about some of the so-called “Gurus” of internet marketing. The truth is that these people are NOT Gurus in the way you think. They’re actually Gurus of playing mind games with their customers to get their hard-earned money. Even worse, it works (for a while, at least).
Here’s the real truth though: 99.9% of the “Guru” internet marketers that were around when I first started making money online are NOWHERE to be found today. Most of those remaining are just spamming their lists as many as 5-10 times a day.
What happened to them? A simple word describes it all: Pride.
They became too vain for their own good and it was their undoing. The way they ran their marketing lists towards the end of their careers was NOT the way that they started and built their list. You can build a list by feeding people a load of crap, but you won’t retain a list that way.
Mark my words. Take a look at the big name marketers of today (I won’t name names here, lol). 5 years from now, you might still find one or two of them.
If you don’t plan on running an email list, you can still fall victim to Pride. Even an angel was overcome with Pride, which was a desire to compete with God (heard of the Devil, right?).
When you strike a deal with the Devil, you might become a success for a while, but your good luck has a limited lifespan. The same thing can be said of Pride.
Many people are lured in to internet marketing by the desire to be more important than others, which is what the so-called “Gurus” use against you to take your money.
Here’s a bit of a checklist for you. When you see another sales page for a product/service today, take notice of the way the person is trying to sell to you.
Figure out how many of the checklist items below can be found on that sales page. More checklist items = more pride = crappy product = long-term failure. Less checklist items (or none at all) = less pride = better, professional product = long-term success.
Be smart the next time you buy something. Almost every single top product in the internet marketing world violates everything on the list below – Why? Because people are weak and WANT to believe that there is a magic button that won’t require WORK.
If that was really true, should all of these people be rich by now? They should, but they still struggle working a dead-end job and still get suckered into buying the next crappy product that’s shoved in front of their faces. I apologize if this has happened to you – I am certainly not making fun of you, but it’s time SOMEONE tells the truth around here.
Sales Page Pride Checklist
- Statement of a very specific amount of money in a specific amount of time
- Auto Content Product / Magic Button Product
- Pictures of random things, luxury items, etc
- Exit Pop-Ups with Upsells, One Time Offers, etc
So, what can you do as an internet marketer to avoid Pride and how will it help you succeed?
#1, stop buying and/or promoting those over-hyped products that I was just talking about.
#2, don’t brag about your success/earnings. I was successful for 15 years before I started telling people about it.
To be honest, I give as little information in that area as possible, because I am a humble person. I do try to give people enough evidence/knowledge so they feel confident in the things that I say.
It’s simply not realistic to take a “newbie” and say they can make the same income as a 15-year pro. Yes, it’s possible, but it would take you 15 years to get to the same point. Be honest with people and tell them what you can actually do for them.
#3, two simple words: help people. It really doesn’t matter what niche you want to get into: Internet marketing, physical or digital product sales, affiliate sales, etc. Just figure out a way that you can help people.
Give them as much free help as you are able to give. You simply can’t give everything away for free when you do it for a living, which is why you sell premium, professional services/products. Those sales help to cover the expenses of all of your “unpaid work”.
If you follow these rules, you will quickly start to gain one very important thing in the online world: LOYALTY! – Just don’t get smug about it, LOL.
Wrath & Anger
I’m getting close to wrapping up my Deadly Sins series. Today’s topic is on Wrath, otherwise known as Anger. This is the only sin that is not generally a selfish sin, although you can certainly be angry for selfish reasons.
This sin does not have as much direct application to internet marketing as other sins, but it is still important. Anger can lead to hate and self destruction, which can certainly drag down your internet business.
The key to mastering your control over Wrath is to learn to be at peace inside. It is important to try to remain patient as an internet marketer, which is likely the most practical application of this sin for marketers. Impatience can easily manifest into anger, which can cause an unraveling of your success.
There are many things that you aren’t going to be able to control or influence as an internet marketer, so you must learn to be patient and not dwell on the things you can’t do anything about. Focus on your work and the things that you can control.
Whether you end up successful or not, that is ultimately the best that anyone can do. When people start trying to influence the things they can’t control, disaster often follows.
The ultimate expression of Wrath is suicide, which is why you certainly don’t want to start heading down an angry path. Consider that in relation to your online business.
If you become impatient because things aren’t happening the way you want or how fast you want, you can easily start to make irrational decisions. Those bad decisions can easily make you angry, consuming you with spite, jealousy and maybe even revenge.
Once it starts, it’s hard to snap yourself out of it. Often one bad decision leads to another and so on. Before you know it, you have committed suicide on your own business.
Gluttony
This is the last affiliate marketing tips article to feature one of the seven deadly sins and how they apply to success with internet and affiliate marketing.
I want to talk about the last of the seven deadly sins today: Gluttony. Generally, gluttony may be considered to be related with food, but that is not always the case.
For internet marketing purposes, Gluttony applies to over-indulgence or over-consumption of anything. It also refers to withholding from the needy and I certainly believe that this has a relevant application with internet marketing.
You may be wondering how avoiding this sin will actually help you succeed. The simple answer is time management. If you bite off more than you can chew, you will overwhelm yourself and face almost certain failure.
The key is to figure out what you need and what you are capable of doing, so you can focus your energy to finish what you start. Once you feel like you have achieved what you set out to achieve with a particular website, feel free to move on to the next one if you are comfortable with expanding. When you do become successful, make sure you help out others in need, especially when you are not in need yourself.
The main point to my deadly sins lessons are to teach you a bit about self-control. Even though you will probably never meet anyone that you deal with online, you simply cannot enter that business recklessly.
Think about what you want to accomplish and plan out a path to get you there. Stick to your plan until you finish what you start, so make sure you don’t set your sights too high. You can always set another goal for yourself once you have completed your first goal.