Build One Good Site First
When I started out, none of this stuff made any sense to me. One one hand, people were claiming to make huge amounts of money in internet marketing. On the other, the steps it seemed to take were numerous and illusory. Every guru out there had their angle on how to do it and they rarely agreed with each other. That is, unless they were promoting each other. That seemed to be the ONLY time any of the information seemed to come from the same mouth.
Obviously, it was very confusing for a newbie to sort through and my results reflected this. Consequently, I started building sites based on different approaches and theories of making money without fully developing any of them. To my defense, when I started a few years back the method was everything. What I mean is gurus weren’t that concerned that you covered your SEO, content, social and backlinking bases unless it was part of their method.
The Results
A bunch of crappy sites that generated little or no income even if they did provide useful information for members of the niche. I used the first part of this year to get rid of most of them and have developed those that I could see still had potential. I couldn’t believe how lacking some of these sites had been.
The Number One Mistake
Just so I’m totally clear here, if I had learned, practiced and perfected any ONE method before moving on to another, I would have at least known if the method had merit before trying another. Instead, I had a bunch of stuff that didn’t work with no clear idea of what would.
Don’t make that mistake even if you’re a seasoned pro. You can’t test a money making system if you drop it half-way to try another. Finish what you start and THEN decide if it works. Don’t be in a hurry. If the method is good, you’ll be rewarded with both an income generating site AND a method you can reuse and refine for future web sites.
My Number One Recommendation
Regardless of your level of experience, take some time to revisit the basics and see how your current work habits are serving or hurting you. I recommend checking out Ed Dale’s The Challenge site and starting again from square one. I’ve followed his course before and it’s quality stuff for any level and it’s free. I’ll tell more about it in my next post but don’t wait for that to sign up.
It really is that important!
Disclaimer
The link above is NOT an affiliate link and I receive no compensation if you click through to The Challenge site and sign up.
I am learning the same thing myself. It’s so easy to get lost with all of the e-books, courses, videos, forums, and blogs out there. But what I am finding is that most of it is just the same rehashed info that has been around forever. I think my problem is that I didn’t want to admit that internet marketing is not as easy as the sales letters promised. As a result, I chased every shiny new method hoping to find that secret sauce that would allow me to get rich without doing any work. At some point, you just need to stop reading and start doing.
Hi Steve,
I couldn’t agree more. One of the things that still makes me see red is when a guru tells you “hey, this isn’t rocket science”. Really?
Now, I do believe it IS doable but, make no mistake, it IS long hours and hard work until you get the process down. It’s that simple. Even if you don’t give a crap about organic traffic and want to pay for all your traffic, you still have to know what the hell you’re doing or you’ll lose your shirt.
What’s been the biggest challenge for you to learn since you’ve started online?