We Internet marketers buy a lot of products to help us in our business. I’m talking about information products and software.
Let’s say I’m a beginner who wants to learn about building a profitable Internet business. I will go out there and buy an internet marketing product that teaches me how to do what I want to learn – and that is to build an online business.
(Sure I can get free information about building an Internet business by searching on Google, but this will take me A LOT more time and effort as I need to weed through the good and accurate information from the bad ones…)
If I want to do a monotonous task over and over again, I’ll buy software that will help me do this.
So buying information products and/or software that will help us in our business is definitely a good investment.
The point of this article is not to argue about this.
The point is to remind you that before you buy any products, make sure you take the following factors into consideration first:
1. Do You CURRENTLY Need It?
There is no point in buying a product that you CURRENTLY do not have a need for. You might say that you’re going to buy now because of the special one-time-offer discount or early bird discount, but trust me, you’re going to forget that you’ve actually bought the product when the time comes to actually use it.
I’ve been a victim to this a lot in the past and still fall victim up to this date (although the frequency is a lot less now).
Suppose you’re a beginner Internet marketer trying to learn what domain and hosting is, and how to use an FTP program to transfer files from and to your server. It’s useless to buy an information product that teaches you how to JV (joint venture) with other established marketers because these marketers are NOT going to JV with you.
FACE IT. It’s a FACT!
Come on, put yourself in these established marketers’ shoes. If you’re a respected marketer and a newbie comes along and proposes that you promote his new, unproven product, would you do it?
The answer is of course: NO!
Therefore, a beginner should NOT buy the product that teaches how to JV with other marketers because he does not need it NOW. It’s going to be useless for him NOW.
If, however, I’m an established marketer CURRENTLY looking for ways to extend my network and get as many JV partners as I can, then yes I CURRENTLY do need this product and could possibly buy it if other criteria explained below are met.
Always assess your current situation to determine whether you need the product now or not. If you don’t need the product NOW, then do NOT buy it now. Buy it later when you need it later.
2. Are You Buying Based On Your Emotions?
The answer to this is of course “YES”!
As bad as you don’t want to admit it, YOU buy based on your emotions. Me too. So is everyone else.
Remember that sales letters (especially sales letters for information products and Internet business related software) typically contain A LOT of HYPE.
This hype is designed to send your emotions through the roof so that you’ll be “hypnotized” to buy the product in question.
The point here is NOT to ask you to COMPLETELY avoid using your emotions when buying products, since it’s almost impossible to do that (because of the fact that we are humans).
The point is to LESSEN your emotions when you are making a buying decision. Realize and understand that the sales letter for the product you’re eager in buying most likely contains A LOT of HYPE and therefore you should control your excitement.
Face the fact that 99.99% of the time, the product is NOT going to be as good and amazing as the sales letter makes it out to be.
When you can tone down your emotions, your buying judgment becomes a lot better.
3. Who Created The Product?
This is also an important factor to consider.
Do a Google search on the product creator’s name in quotes. For example, if the product creator is Welly Mulia, you go to Google and type in “Welly Mulia” (in quotes).
If no results show up, then DO NOT buy the product because the product creator has no previous track record and do not have a reputation yet. It would be a lot better to buy from someone who has a proven track record, or at the very least has an online presence of some kind.
If Google results show up when you run his name, check out the websites that show up.
Does he have a blog? If yes, spend some time browsing his blog and find out if he really is the real deal. Check out the quality of the blog posts. Observe the comments on his blog posts. See the Alexa rank for the blog to get a general idea of how much traffic the blog is getting.
What are other websites saying about him? Use common sense and your own discretion to judge whether he really is the real deal or just another scammer.
The more results Google return the better, as this will allow you more references to do your research.
If your research indicates that he is an honest product creator who knows what he’s talking about, then his product is probably worth buying.
(…but do NOT buy the product just because he’s an honest product creator; remember to also use the other 2 criteria explained above when making buying decisions)
The Takeaway:
The next time you want to buy an information product or software, make sure that you go over the 3 criteria above first.
If the product passes ALL 3 criteria, then you may go ahead and buy the product in question.
Remember, the internet marketing product must pass ALL 3 criteria; if it fails to pass even one of them, then you should NOT buy it.
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