5 Internet Myths Still Floating Around
by Linda Overstreet

Let's put an end to some of them here and now...

Myth #1: No one is making money online.

This myth has been around as long as the Internet as existed. The truth is that a lot of companies are earning incredible profits online. Some of them even become extremely profitable within 6 months of being online.

An independent study has reported that 30% of Internet businesses are currently earning money. This is an extremely large number considering the fact that the Internet as a whole is still in it's infancy. Wait to see what kind of results are going to be produced in the coming years and decades of e-commerce.

Myth #2: If you build it, they will come.

This is opposite of the first myth. You have one side who believes no one can make money online while the other side believes all you have to do is a set up a web site and rack in the dough. This concept may have been a good basis for a movie, but it is completely inadequate for Internet marketing.

If you just sling together any old site and put it up on the web, you are going to quickly turn into one of the people who believe the first myth about the Internet. Marketing online is no different than any other type of marketing in this area. You have to plan your business, design good marketing materials, build relationships with customers, and learn how to sell more to your existing customers.

If you build a well designed, well thought out site and promote it, they will come. If you just build it, it will just sit there.

Myth #3: You need fancy graphics to catch your customer's interest.

Fancy graphics are not essential for online sales. If your graphics are so detailed that they take too long to load, they will even cost you sales. Most people are still connected to their Internet using basic modems and graphic intensive sites often take too long to load for most people's attention span.

This is not to say that you can just use cheap graphics. Use quality well designed graphics on your site, but keep them to a minimum. The key to online sales is showing your customers the benefits of your product or service. It is not in just having a gorgeous web site with dozens of pictures.

Myth #4: Internet consumers are so sophisticated that ad copy doesn't matter anymore.

Yes, Internet consumers do see through the hype that many people try to push off as ad copywriting. This does not mean that you can just put together string of words and a couple of pictures and hope people buy from you. If you want to have customers constantly purchasing products and services from you, you have to write ad copy which shows them the BENEFITS of your product or service.