Internet Marketing Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
I was recently doing some leisure reading on the Warrior Forum and found an interesting post. The original poster had pondered something quite interesting in the back of my mind. Do you really need to read a lot of books on sales and internet marketing to be a success in that field or profession? I am also using the term "books" loosely, as this can mean a book in any format of your choice, such as audio, electronic, or hard copy. I am taking the original inspiration for the post and expanding on the idea of the post and posing the questions below.
Do you really need to read a lot to be successful in Internet Marketing?
Do you need to be able to be an eloquent or expressive writer to be successful in Marketing?
Do you need to have an extensive technical or analytical background to be successful in Internet Marketing?
I neither agree nor disagree with the notion that there is a reading pre-requisite to success in Internet Marketing There are several variables that come into play which ultimately are deciding factors on any one individual's success in life, business, or otherwise. One of those factors is natural born ability. This like every other variable mentioned from here on out is not a deciding factor all on its own. If you are born with the ability to sell, then by that token you will succeed in selling to a degree.
While you may be able to sell a deaf person an iPhone 4, it means nothing to be able to do that if you don't take action with your ability to sell. Pre-requisite actions might be learning some basics like SEO, Copywriting, HTML, etc. Having a natural born ability and the drive to take action are two factors that work hand in hand with each other. They also provide a solid foundation for success as long as the individual in question has a diligent and determined work ethic. This leads me to the next factor.
Perseverance. You have to be willing to put in the time, effort and hard work to grease the wheels to success. You also have to have the mindset that no matter what happens, failure is not an option, but rather the learning curve to success.
Just to get things back on track here, lets focus on one of the questions I asked above. Do you need to read a lot to be successful in Internet Marketing? Do you have to have some extensive collection of books or ebooks that teach you how to be a successful marketer?
You have to do some self evaluation and be acutely aware of who you are as an individual to answer that question. Are you the type that can jump in head first and throw caution to the wind? Or are you the type that takes their time learning all the ins and outs before taking action? Neither is a bad choice, but simply a different route to the destination. You can most certainly be successful without picking up the first book on marketing or sales. But like I mentioned before, not doing so will require one of two things. It will either require that you learn a lot from taking action in trial and error fashion or that you be one of the lucky few who are born with the talent of sales and marketing on the internet.
What about the ability to write eloquently or convincingly? Do you need to be an excellent writer to succeed in marketing online? Maybe. Maybe not. While some may think this is a simple question with a simple answer, that is not the case at all. You may think the simple answer to not being able to write is outsourcing. How effective is your writing going to be if you don't know how to review the content you are outsourcing? How are you going to know that it will be keyword optimized or focused or factual for that matter? The truth is when it comes to internet marketing, it is no different than any other self employed profession. You still have to where all the hats and be the jack of all trades. You have to know the content you are receiving is worth its weight in gold or you'll end up wasting a lot of money on outsourced articles.
That leads me to my final question. Do you really need to be technically inclined? Or do you need to be analytical? Same as I mentioned for the last question. You are still going to have to know what you are looking at. How are you going to know that a specific keyword is the reason for all your traffic if you don't know how to use the tools that track that metric? How are you going to know that a specific ad is converting better in terms of ROI (return on investment) if you don't know how to implement tracking code into your links? The simple answer is you won't. It will end up being a game of hit and miss. Some months you will be on fire, and then the very next ice cold. You truly do have to be a jack of all trades to be successful in Internet Marketing.
It isn't just a matter or how much you learn from reading the books or ebooks. It isn't a matter of having natural born ability or a solid work ethic either. You have to know how to not only recognize your weaknesses, but be aware of them and take action on turning them into strengths. It isn't any one factor that will make you a success in marketing, it is having the right combination of all of the factors that will make you a success.