Why I Left Internet Marketing from The Top--And What Stayed with Me

It was all paying off at last. I was becoming a success, and all my work and research was finally starting to pay off both in money and with respect in the online marketing community. This blog was running strong, I had a nice buildup of followers that was growing almost daily, and I was getting to network with others in the field. And then one day, it all came to a crashing halt.

It's something that we all know about, something that I especially was susceptible to: stolen credit card identity. Unfortunately, I don't know where it went wrong. I gave out just too much personal information somewhere, possibly in several different places. One day I noticed that one of my credit cards had a series of monthly charges going back to early spring. It was for a site that I mentioned before as a scam, one that I left before even completing an account: the Internet Lifestyle Network. I never agreed to pay for their services and left before I was even done signing up. I deleted my info from their site and cancelled too many subscriptions from them... but I should have suspected something when the emails kept coming anyway. Fortunately, my credit card company sided with me, and I had my missing money refunded within a couple days when it was clear that the charges were no fault of mine.

The Internet is a dangerous place. After discussing it with my husband, I decided to leave Internet marketing and restrict my activities elsewhere until we had time to sort through some favorites (like Clixsense) and verify that they're fine. We haven't gotten around to that yet, unfortunately, though hopefully we will soon. Maybe someday I'll even get to go back to surfing (which I confess I do miss quite a bit). But for now I'm laying low.

There is one thing that I have kept up with during all this. I was skeptical of it when I started and of the program that inspired it. Back in March I wrote my review of Wealthy Affiliate, filled with skepticism and disappointment. No, I'm not paying $50 a month for a full subscription, and in fact haven't even been to the site in a while since it was grouped with all the other potentially suspicious sites. But the project that I started with it, a Wordpress site called "Finish That Novel!" has been growing by leaps and bounds. It has been getting a very positive reception from Facebook and (especially) Twitter, and it is something that I am proud to share with friends and family. I recently saved up enough money from the one survey service I was allowed to keep up with to afford Wordpress hosting, and after some cosmetic changes hope to make that a reality.

In the end: I still think Internet marketing, done well, can be a terrific way to earn money and make friends. Stick with a product that you sincerely believe in, and then add enough of yourself to it to make it unique. Find out what services and wisdom you can offer that would help people, and make for yourself a genuine business that you can be proud of. And remember to keep it fun. If you're not enjoying yourself, then maybe you'd be better off at a traditional 9-5 job.

Cheers!
--Amanda