This is why online businesses fail: 5 shocking truths
Oh boy, where do I begin with this one? First and foremost, the statement that 90% of online businesses fail is completely untrue; all of the “studies” point to the same website, whose data is obtained from “some sources.”
Lesson Contents
⚠ Warning: there will be some ranting… ⚠
If you’re not sure about it, go on Reddit and look at some cool cats doing backflips. Yes, that headline has a clickbait quality to it, but only somewhat… In a moment, you’ll see.
I won’t link to that “research” here, but you should know that Google is your friend.
It boggles my mind that there are so many f**king websites and blogs out there all linking to that article. Big sites like Entrepreneur, for example, all link to it.
A REAL FRICKING STUDY DOESN’T EXIST.
It’s nothing more than a few words on a piece of paper, Or… screen. Their figures come from “certain sources,” according to them.
How does that sound to you? You tell me what you think.
That nonsense reminds me of the good old days when WarriorForum and other internet marketing forums were all the rage.
There were always individuals out there saying things like 97 out of 100 internet marketers will fail, just one person out of a hundred will succeed, and so on.
Look dude, or dudette, no one knows for sure how many internet businesses and start-ups have failed. But one thing is certain: most online sites end up failing.
Well, I’ve failed 3142 times and, to be honest, I’m still failing today.
You know why, right?
Because it’s unavoidable; perhaps you didn’t do your research properly, perhaps you were high on something and your common sense went out the window, perhaps you were drinking, perhaps…. you get the picture.
But, on the other hand, I adore it. I used to become upset, disappointed, and unhappy… yelling things like:
Why isn’t this working? ” It’s so easy, said the people in the luxury car heading to some fancy house and boarding their fancy boat.” Really, dude?
I’m sure you feel, or at least have felt, the same way if you’ve been doing online marketing for a long. If not, congratulations, Mr./Ms. Perfect.
Anyway, as I have stated, I have come to terms with failing.
Why?
Because…it allows you to learn, improve, improvise, consider other viewpoints, and think up a better active strategy for the next time.
Do you believe that all of the millionaires, billionaires, and GA zillionaires become wealthy overnight?
Oh, dear friend… No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Almost all of them are self-made and have tried a lot of different things before being famous.
It’s the same with actors like Samuel L. Jackson, who broke through at the age of 46. Forty…six.
What did he do before that, do you know? Struggled. a lot
So, if something fails these days, I don’t dwell on it for too long; instead, I take some notes, figure out what worked and what didn’t, and apply what I’ve learned to my next project.
There are a number of factors why internet marketers and online businesses fail, and new websites hardly receive more than 100 daily visitors.
At the very least, you should begin learning, testing, and trying things out to see what works and what doesn’t.
Who cares how many websites and blogs fail; I’m sure the statistics are as high as Snoop Dogg’s.
Do you honestly believe that all of the internet’s 1+ billion websites are successful?
LOL. NOPE.
According to Netcraft, the total number of websites on the internet as of January 2021 is 1,187,527,949 (as of January 2021).
I’m willing to bet my half-empty can of sparkling water (with a hint of watermelon) that a lot of those sites don’t get any traffic and have clearly failed.
However, Oware, how do you know that?
Well, I don’t. That’s just what I’ve learned through my own experience and from what other friends and marketers have told me about their online marketing journeys.
Sure, it’s not a ridiculously high percentage like 90% or 95%, but a significant portion of those are internet failures in some form (either no traffic or no revenue, or both).
Are you interested in learning why internet businesses fail? Why did your beloved new internet venture fail? Why do the majority of blogs and e-commerce firms fail?
I’m going to tell you something.
However, the end result will not be agreeable. You have the option of leaving this page right now, or you can sit down, pour yourself a glass of drink, and continue reading.
1. Lack Of Self Discipline
Yeah, that seems harsh, or it might sound like a simple remedy, whatever… The point is that you may lack the discipline to make things happen.
How do I know that?
Because I used to be a dunderhead who would jump from one thing to the next, never being able to devote all of my concentration to one thing (ex: one site, blog, business).
I was always scouring eBooks and courses for the latest and greatest thing, loophole, hack, and whatever other nonsense all those gurus came up with.
The point is this: If you’re constantly looking for new things every time your present online business hits a rock, you’re going to fail big time.
What’s the big deal? Because not only your present internet business will collapse, but so will the next one, and so on… It’s as if you’re a hamster chasing an illusory piece of cheese on a fucking wheel.
Damn it, the cheese is a lie. It’s important to get it out of your thoughts.
Here’s how you go about it:
Rather than abandoning your new website, internet business, start-up, or whatever you’re working on in the first 120 days. Make an effort to… Maybe don’t fuck quit and give it some time to grow and produce some results?
But, oh, that’s so easy for you to say. I need money right now to pay my rent and eat.
If you’re in that circumstance, acquire a real job, sell some junk on eBay, and don’t quit your job to pursue your dream of becoming an online marketer; that’s a formula for catastrophe.
Back to my rant, er, inspirational article.
Before you get any returns from SEO, it will take at least 3-6 months, and in some categories, up to a year.
Your online business will fail if you give up after producing 10 articles or starting an online store because you don’t generate any organic traffic in the first month.
You shouldn’t just sit around waiting for SEO to kick in; you should go out and find new ways to drive traffic to your website.
If you have enough traffic but you can’t make money from your site, read:
Almost any niche can make money online, so “my niche’s awful” is no excuse not to be honest.
Also, I wanted to mention that…
You know that cliche image of a guy mining under the soil for diamonds but then quitting right before he wins the jackpot, unbeknownst to him, because of copyright trolls?
That’s my entire point here, so be self-disciplined and don’t give up until you’re certain your web business is destroyed, or at the very least, faulty.
Maybe you don’t think that’s a good fit for you, your digital marketing talents, or your schedule.
It’s fine; you may leave at any time, but at least give the business a reasonable amount of time to grow, such as 6 months or a year.
Is it true that I gave up a 5-day-old internet business?
Yes, it’s even quicker than that.
Was there a legitimate reason for me to leave that I wasn’t aware of when I opened it?
Recommended by LinkedIn
Yes.
Is there anything I can take away from that?
Yes, I learnt not to be a jerk and resign when I saw there would be more labor involved than I had anticipated.
And, perhaps most importantly:
Concentrate on one item at a time…
Now let’s go on…
2. No Business Plan
Seriously, do you have any idea what typical businesses do? Before opening a shop or providing a service, they develop a business strategy.
Why do you think that is? Otherwise, the bankers will laugh in their faces if they go into a bank and try to secure a loan without a business plan.
Not only that, but without a well-thought-out strategy, you won’t know what to do in a variety of situations, and you won’t be focused on your objectives.
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Make a strategy. Get some paper, a notebook, a notepad, leather, anything you like… Make a plan on it.
It doesn’t have to be the best plan in the world; it just has to…be.
I know, it’s ridiculously lyrical. But seriously, go ahead and do it.
Why? Because a well-thought-out plan will make it that much easier for you and/or your team to run your internet business and avoid disaster.
For your online business or start-up, here’s an example of a business plan:
Guess what? You can use these for anything, from a kitten-themed niche blog to full-fledged SaaS, B2C, and B2B services and goods.
After you’ve written down everything, it’s time to look at reason number three for why online businesses fail:
3. Lack Of Specific Goals
Goals and business plans are not the same thing, right?
No, they’re not. 🤦♂️
Goals are things you need to attain and aim for if you don’t want to become another website that failed, and the strategy works on a large scale of the business.
Here are some examples of goals you should set for yourself:
These objectives can be applied to any business; for example, you might start an online bikini shop or a micro-niche blog on numerous varieties of rare mushrooms.
Let me explain why a micro-niche blog is a freakin’ online business:
4. You Aren’t Treating This Like A Real Business
That’s the issue: you think this internet crap is simple, and many others dismiss it as a joke or something that’s not difficult to execute.
Wrong; you should approach it as if you were running a real business.
Do you suppose all shop owners go to work only 2-3 times a week for 1-2 hours when they feel like it?
LOL. Consider what would happen if offline (real-world) brick-and-mortar business owners put in the same amount of effort as those online marketing gurus do in their commercials.
In no time, they’d be bankrupt and eating SPAM for dinner.
Stop paying attention to con artists that promise to turn you into a millionaire internet marketer overnight.
It. Doesn’t. Work. That. Way.
Take it from me, the moron who purchased numerous “push-button, autopilot, loophole, $597 every day, $3213 in your sleep” things in my youth.
Sure, there are some legitimate ways to start an online business and have it make money instantly, such as using Google Ads for Affiliate marketing or starting an eCommerce store and buying website traffic.
Even so, you’ll need to come in with a plan and some goals in mind, as well as the knowledge and experience to optimize and design killer campaigns that won’t drain all of your ad expenditures without yielding a few results.
The idea is to GET DOWN TO BUSINESS. AND WORK HARD.
Invest more time, quit procrastinating, and if you don’t have any money to spend on traffic, start generating content and publishing pieces as much as you can. If you do have any money to invest, start running advertisements and collecting statistics.
You basically have to work every spare moment you have (provided that you have a real-life job or school or taking care of family).
Not only that, but you should become fascinated with it and be active on social media and in any other way possible to promote your blog, website, or online business.
If you have money but not enough time, you can buy traffic.
Go acquire a $100 Bing Ads Coupon and a $150 Google Ads Promo Code and go to town.
However, make sure to optimize your campaigns and closely monitor and measure everything, and don’t begin advertising without a fantastic landing page and website in place. That’s a tragedy waiting to happen.
5. Stop Reading And Buying Crap.
Seriously, stop using the forums. Sure, you can learn new affiliate marketing strategies and SEO techniques from some of them, but what’s the point?
Really, if you’re going to sit around all day reading nonsense on the internet without doing anything with it… I’m going to ask you again:
What’s the point of it all?
Add in all of the eBooks and courses you’ve bought, are buying, or are considering buying but won’t use, and it’s no surprise that so many online marketers and businesses fail.
Listen, I’m not going to pass judgment on you. Far from it; I was like that for at least the first 1-2 years of my online marketing career, so I understand how easy it is to go down that rabbit hole.
You’re watching drunk people being punched in the face on YouTube one minute, then you’re seeing an ad from a jackass in a rented Ferrari promising you that he knows the secret to internet success and that you should buy his $999 course the next.
So you buy it, only to discover that it’s yet another awful re-hashed same shit information that everyone has known for years and is freely available on the internet, and you feel duped, so you abandon the project.
Even that person who just conned you out of $999 has probably left you with at least a plan of action, and if you follow it, you might be able to make it work.
The issue is that the majority of people do nothing. They read and buy and read and buy and watch videos and sign up for webinars and special email newsletters
Just stop. Take a big breath and unsubscribe from everything (except my newsletter, of course).
Start working on what though?
Seriously, it doesn’t matter.
Pick one thing, any eBook, WSO, course, article, or video you’ve seen about generating money online, and give it your all for a few weeks/months to see whether it works out.
Start a blog on anything, in whatever topic you’re interested in, write epic nonsense on it, wait for it to rank in Google, slap some advertisements or affiliate items on it, maybe even build your own stuff…
Set a simple goal for yourself, such as 1,000 visits each month, and gradually expand it as you go.
Who cares if you don’t see any of the promised outcomes after a few months; you learnt something new (maybe) that you can now apply to a new project if it succeeded… Congratulations, you’ll most likely be drinking Martinis on your own private island in the not-too-distant future.
I’d rather have 100 online company failures than never start one these days.
Fun fact: Over the course of my internet marketing career, I’ve registered anywhere between 150 and 200 domains, with at least 100 of them never seeing the light of day, such as not even installing WordPress or establishing a site. Yes, I’m aware…
Conclusion On Why Online Businesses Fail
Okay, because you’ve stuck with me all the way to the end, I’ll leave you with these key takeaways on why so many online businesses fail:
Doing the exact opposite of all of those horrible horrible things will result in some good results and your new online business venture won’t fail.
That’s my hope anyway… listen, I’m no guru, so what do I know? At the end of the day, you’re free to do whatever you want, but don’t always complain if you don’t get the results you want. 😉
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2yDude, I just want to thank you for this as I too have been and am present in those same issues and situations...good stuff I loved it!