The question of whether or not you need an internet marketing coach gets raised all the time.

Maybe you do.

Maybe you don’t.

Much depends on where you are with your internet marketing.

And it also depends on the coach you choose.

Start by identifying where you are

• Absolute beginner – you’ve just come in to internet marketing and don’t really know what you’re wanting to do other than make money.
• Confused beginner – you’ve been in the market for a while, you’ve bought lots of products that promised they were definitely going to be the answer but weren’t quite. And you’re no further ahead than when you first started.
• Novice internet marketer – you’ve got a domain name and hosting, you’ve put some content on, you’ve maybe promoted your website to encourage some traffic but there’s barely a glimmer of anything happening.
• Seasoned internet marketer – you’ve got several domain names, most of them have some content on them, some of them are far enough advanced to be able to get traffic, you’re getting people on your list & making sales.
• Experienced internet marketer – everything that the seasoned group has done but you’re getting regular sales and making a decent part or full time income. You may even be creating your own products and promoting those to your list and affiliates.

In my opinion, if you’re in either of the two beginner groups there’s a good chance that personal coaching isn’t going to be the best use of your time or money.

It would be like telling someone who’d just learned to drive a car that they needed a Formula One instructor.

At the beginner level, I’d suggest getting some beginner coaching.

One, maybe two, general products that take you through the basics of internet marketing.

Then follow the steps those products outline – choosing a niche, getting hosting, creating content, promoting your site.

Once you’ve done that in practice rather than in theory then you’re in a place where you stand to benefit from using a coach.

You’ll know what your personal strengths and weaknesses are.

You’ll know at least some of what your market wants and how it responds to your content and your messages.

Including the products they buy and the relative sales of the different products you promote.

Getting to that stage can be frustrating and often takes longer than you ever thought possible.

But it’s an essential pre-cursor to being able to take your business to the next level.

Until then, you’d be better off concentrating on getting your fledgling internet marketing business off the ground.

Once you’ve got at least your first sale, I think then you’re in a position to hunt down a coach who will help you get more of the same.

Even at that stage, you may be able to get more sales just by doing more of the same.

If you can identify what you did to get that often elusive first sale then you can probably scale up what you did and get more sales.

Unless it was a total fluke, that’s often do-able.

The plus point of getting your first sale or first few sales is that you’ll have moved from theory to practice.

And there’s a world of difference between those two.

Until you’ve actually made a sale, all you’ve done is theory.

Your squeeze page might convert visitors at 50%. your autoresponder series might get high reading and open rates, you might get excellent feedback from your site visitors and email replies.

But if you don’t get actual sales, you won’t know whether that’s just theory.

And if you used to get sales but they’re not happening any more, that’s also time to take a step back and examine things, maybe with some outside help.

Markets change.

You need to make sure you change with them.

For instance, one of the affiliate programs I promote used to convert really well and got low refund rates. At least part of the reason for the low refunds was that despite the fact that the products were digital in nature, they were shipped on physical CDs. And people tend to refund CDs less than they refund digital products.

But recently my sales have dropped and I suspect it’s because people don’t want to wait for a physical CD to arrive – they’re used to getting a download. So they’re probably looking elsewhere for immediate gratification.

That’s digressing slightly but sometimes you need an outside pair of eyes to ask you those kind of questions.

If you think you’re at the stage where an internet marketing coach would help grow your business, the next stage is to work out what kind of coaching program would work best for you.

• Pre-recorded training. This sometimes comes with the occasional call with the named person who authored the training, sometimes not. Or it could include a webinar or other group call where you get to ask questions. You’ll need to check the fine print or send off a clarification email to work this out. Incidentally, that clarification email can be a really good test as to the likely level of support included with the program. If you get a reply at all, that’s a good start. If it answers your question, that’s fantastic. If there’s silence, strongly consider whether or not you want to join the program.
• Group coaching. This is a cost effective way of getting coaching. There’s normally a regular call that you can attend in person or listen to the recording after the event (useful if the time differences make attending live awkward). Group coaching usually takes the form of the coach answering specific questions and answers from the people in the group. It can sometimes also include training on specific topics. That kind of coaching is normally open ended: you stay in the group as long as you get benefit from it, then you cancel your subscription. Or it could be a group training over a set number of weeks that’s designed to cover a particular topic in depth and stops at the end of that time. Again, you’ll need to examine the small print to work out what’s on offer. And if your knowledge level is too far above or below the rest of the group, you may not get much benefit from group coaching.
• Individual coaching. This can be done on the phone, by Skype, in person or by email. Because it’s personal to you, the subject matter and the duration of the coaching will be totally up to you. It might just be an hour or two to get up to speed on a particular topic. Or it could be a regular call to hold you accountable and help you overcome any issues you’ve encountered in your internet marketing. Or near enough anything else. It tends to be the priciest option of the ones I’ve outlined because you’re buying someone’s time.
• Mastermind group. Napoleon Hill recommended mastermind groups in Think and Grow Rich. A group of you meet on a regular basis with a stated purpose and then bounce ideas off each other and hold each other to account. Groups can be informal or formal and the number in a group varies, Napoleon Hill even suggested using your imagination to “invite” members who really only existed in your thoughts – not such a mad idea. I’ve been in a mastermind group a few times and find that a real-life meet works better even if the meeting is every few months and is supplemented by a group Skype call.

Only you will know whether or not you’re ready for coaching and what type will work best for you.

Take your time to decide but don’t use that as an excuse to procrastinate for too long.

And if you think you’re at the right level for individual coaching and that we could be a good fit, take a look at this page.