My 2 cents - After a Year of IM
Hey all,
I've been checking out this forum and posting from time to time in the last year, since I started on this great internet marketing journey. I've learned a lot here, since so much stuff is covered, and I'd like to contribute some of my own experiences to return some of the value I have received from this community. Before I start with my little post, a BIG THANKS to all of you
So... what have I learned this past year.
The first thing I've learned is that you really have to want this. It's not going to happen overnight, and it's going to take some WORK, HARD WORK until you figure some stuff out. The more effort you put into it, the more will come back. As long as you don't give up. The problem is that some "guru's" or whatever, make it seem so EASY, while it is not. Even I do it, unconsciously...
I talk to my friends that want to get into IM, and I'm talking about it with soo much passion, as if making money on the internet was a piece of cake. Well, yeah - NOW it is easy, now that I have worked my butt off, day and night, reading, writing, and figuring out how to make a website (I didn't know ANYTHING except turning on my computer and surfing the net, ZERO knowledge), to getting traffic, and making sales. NOW it is easy, since I already went through the whole process, from knowing nothing, to selling my own product and having a really nice passive income.
It's a dream come true. There's nothing more beautiful than having fun all day, going out with friends, having a long sleep - and then waking up, and seeing that you've made 100$+ IN YOUR SLEEP Of course, after some time it becomes normal, so you don't get all hyped up, all I have to say is - DON'T LOSE THE PASSION. It's all about having an INSANE desire, I really really REALLY wanted to get this to work, no matter how many people told me "it's stupid, you'll never make money in that market, or on the internet, nobody would buy that".
Yeah right, I proved them all wrong and now half of them are envying me. Whoever tries to hold you back, tell them to mind their own business.
Focus, Patience, Hard Work, Trial and Error, Persistence
Another thing I've learned was that you need focus. You really need to focus if you want to do this right. My goal in the beginning was just to have PASSIVE income, and I made it. But you can't make it if you are going to give up half way. You have to be really really patient, and keep on moving even if you don't get results instantly. It took me 6 months to be #1 on Google for the keyword I wanted. SIX MONTHS of hard work. But I made it. Every single day I was working towards my goal, staying up late in the night, waking up early in the morning. I couldn't WAIT to wake up, I live in a different time zone than in the States, so most results (sales, traffic etc) was happening while I was sleeping.
Anyway, you really have to be patient. The thing is, that only after some time you'll start seeing hardcore results from PREVIOUS work. For example, you'll see results from your work in September, you'll see it in December, and so on, so that's why you have to keep on pushing and not get discouraged immediately and rush to another market. I think it's MUCH smarter to focus on one project, and finish it till the end, push it all the way to the end until it requires less than 20 minutes of work per day, until it starts growing by itself, and the only thing you need to do is re-invest into traffic.
Once again, if you think this stuff is easy, think again. Just focus on the stuff that's important. So what is important?
QUALITY. That's what is important. I've browsed through Clickbank's marketplace a thousand times, and most products are, or at least look like, well, they don't look good at all. But they sell anyway because of the huge amount of affiliates, and that's all nice, but it's not how you should do business in my opinion. If you can really really really create good quality, give huge amount of value to a real problem, and FOCUS on helping people, the money will come. Of course it should also be something you are passionate about, then what you write will be much better than what someone else wrote (competition) that only entered the market because they thought there's money in it.
Regarding the quality of the website, of course, good design is crucial - but the main thing is that the site is FUNCTIONAL. My website looks like a cheap disaster from the 90's - but it WORKS.
Of course, you need to get into the right niche. How do you find it? I don't know. I guess you have to be lucky. But more importantly - YOU HAVE TO KNOW SOMETHING. You are not going to succeed if you have nothing to offer. I mean, you have to be good at something, and have some value to offer to people, it doesn't really matter which niche, if you have really good value to offer, people will find their way to you. Over time, and hard work, you'll get well ranked.
ANALYZING
I don't know about you, but I absolutely love google analytics. And a few other things that help me gather information. Information is EVERYTHING. The more you have of it, the better. I've climbed my way to #1 and earning a nice passive income, how - well, by analyzing the information I gather. Of course, you need at least 100-200 visitors a day to be able to make conclusions, but the main thing is to see what's happening. See how are people reacting to your stuff, and adjust. Fix, rinse, repeat - until you figure out what works best.
You always need to see the big picture, see what's happening. I think the key to why I "made it", I mean, I'm pretty sure 99% of people never end up really making money, is that I had a feeling for people, and a feeling to what is creating this or that reaction. Yes, you have to "guess" a lot, but over time, once you get to know your market (another key factor), then you can really figure out what's creating good results, and what's holding you back.
Honesty, Respect, Trust
Okay, another thing. I am brutally honest with my market. I say what I think, and I say it directly, without bs - and people like that. It makes them read your stuff, it draws them in, and once they see you are GENUINE, and giving lot's of value, they won't only be thankful, but they'll buy your stuff. YOUR stuff, they won't want anyone else's stuff, they'll want YOUR stuff, and no one else's. Of course, this depends on your niche, but whatever. When you are "real", and when you can actually DELIVER what you promise, people will start talking about you and recommending each other YOUR advice.
Branding
Okay, I know that a lot of people out there just jump out with a site and try to make a "quick buck", that's just not really how it works. I mean, maybe you can get a "quick buck" and that's it, you lost it, but it's not about the quick big buck, in my opinion. It's about the SMALL buck, every day, for YEARS. And the only way you can get that is by actually creating something useful. Anyway... I see that a lot of people just have a plain website/blog or whatever, but there is no personality in it. There's no emotion. And I believe it's all about emotions, when you know how to "move" your market, they'll be eating out of your hands.
But, you know, how do you make emotions if they don't have anything to link to you. A face, or an attitude, or whatever else. They need an emotion to link to YOU, not your site, but to YOU. That's why I believe that it makes no sense to create a site if it's not a brand. Something you can build on. It's very rewarding when you see that people are SEARCHING Google for YOU and YOUR product, it wouldn't be the same if it wasn't a brand.
One more thing and to finish it up... You have to believe in yourself. I mean, if YOU don't believe in yourself, who will? If YOU don't push yourself to the top, no one else will. NO ONE. Only you can do it for yourself, and you do it by believing you can.
I didn't know anything about making a website. I learned it.
I didn't know anything about finding a niche. I learned it.
I didn't know ANYTHING about SEO. I learned it.
I didn't know anything about getting traffic, but I learned it.
I had NO IDEA how to sell, but I learned it.
There will be hundreds of problems to solve, but that's the good part about it, every problem you solve TEACHES you something, so next time it's not a problem, it's just a routine, something you are familiar with. You have to throw yourself in the unknown, and figure things out along the way - and NOT READ FOR A YEAR, but WORK instead, and learn as you go.
You can really learn anything if you put your mind to it, yeah, it's not easy as many people will tell you - but the good things in life are not easy. And I'm GLAD it's not easy, because if it was easy, I'd have so much more competition
Well that would be it, hope I helped at least someone in exchange for all the great advice I received here. Thanks again, and see you at the top, or see you FROM the top
Jack
I've been checking out this forum and posting from time to time in the last year, since I started on this great internet marketing journey. I've learned a lot here, since so much stuff is covered, and I'd like to contribute some of my own experiences to return some of the value I have received from this community. Before I start with my little post, a BIG THANKS to all of you
So... what have I learned this past year.
The first thing I've learned is that you really have to want this. It's not going to happen overnight, and it's going to take some WORK, HARD WORK until you figure some stuff out. The more effort you put into it, the more will come back. As long as you don't give up. The problem is that some "guru's" or whatever, make it seem so EASY, while it is not. Even I do it, unconsciously...
I talk to my friends that want to get into IM, and I'm talking about it with soo much passion, as if making money on the internet was a piece of cake. Well, yeah - NOW it is easy, now that I have worked my butt off, day and night, reading, writing, and figuring out how to make a website (I didn't know ANYTHING except turning on my computer and surfing the net, ZERO knowledge), to getting traffic, and making sales. NOW it is easy, since I already went through the whole process, from knowing nothing, to selling my own product and having a really nice passive income.
It's a dream come true. There's nothing more beautiful than having fun all day, going out with friends, having a long sleep - and then waking up, and seeing that you've made 100$+ IN YOUR SLEEP
Of course, after some time it becomes normal, so you don't get all hyped up, all I have to say is - DON'T LOSE THE PASSION. It's all about having an INSANE desire, I really really REALLY wanted to get this to work, no matter how many people told me "it's stupid, you'll never make money in that market, or on the internet, nobody would buy that". Yeah right, I proved them all wrong and now half of them are envying me. Whoever tries to hold you back, tell them to mind their own business.
Focus, Patience, Hard Work, Trial and Error, Persistence
Another thing I've learned was that you need focus. You really need to focus if you want to do this right. My goal in the beginning was just to have PASSIVE income, and I made it. But you can't make it if you are going to give up half way. You have to be really really patient, and keep on moving even if you don't get results instantly. It took me 6 months to be #1 on Google for the keyword I wanted. SIX MONTHS of hard work. But I made it. Every single day I was working towards my goal, staying up late in the night, waking up early in the morning. I couldn't WAIT to wake up, I live in a different time zone than in the States, so most results (sales, traffic etc) was happening while I was sleeping.
Anyway, you really have to be patient. The thing is, that only after some time you'll start seeing hardcore results from PREVIOUS work. For example, you'll see results from your work in September, you'll see it in December, and so on, so that's why you have to keep on pushing and not get discouraged immediately and rush to another market. I think it's MUCH smarter to focus on one project, and finish it till the end, push it all the way to the end until it requires less than 20 minutes of work per day, until it starts growing by itself, and the only thing you need to do is re-invest into traffic.
Once again, if you think this stuff is easy, think again. Just focus on the stuff that's important. So what is important?
QUALITY. That's what is important. I've browsed through Clickbank's marketplace a thousand times, and most products are, or at least look like, well, they don't look good at all. But they sell anyway because of the huge amount of affiliates, and that's all nice, but it's not how you should do business in my opinion. If you can really really really create good quality, give huge amount of value to a real problem, and FOCUS on helping people, the money will come. Of course it should also be something you are passionate about, then what you write will be much better than what someone else wrote (competition) that only entered the market because they thought there's money in it.
Regarding the quality of the website, of course, good design is crucial - but the main thing is that the site is FUNCTIONAL. My website looks like a cheap disaster from the 90's - but it WORKS.
Of course, you need to get into the right niche. How do you find it? I don't know. I guess you have to be lucky. But more importantly - YOU HAVE TO KNOW SOMETHING. You are not going to succeed if you have nothing to offer. I mean, you have to be good at something, and have some value to offer to people, it doesn't really matter which niche, if you have really good value to offer, people will find their way to you. Over time, and hard work, you'll get well ranked.
ANALYZING
I don't know about you, but I absolutely love google analytics. And a few other things that help me gather information. Information is EVERYTHING. The more you have of it, the better. I've climbed my way to #1 and earning a nice passive income, how - well, by analyzing the information I gather. Of course, you need at least 100-200 visitors a day to be able to make conclusions, but the main thing is to see what's happening. See how are people reacting to your stuff, and adjust. Fix, rinse, repeat - until you figure out what works best.
You always need to see the big picture, see what's happening. I think the key to why I "made it", I mean, I'm pretty sure 99% of people never end up really making money, is that I had a feeling for people, and a feeling to what is creating this or that reaction. Yes, you have to "guess" a lot, but over time, once you get to know your market (another key factor), then you can really figure out what's creating good results, and what's holding you back.
Honesty, Respect, Trust
Okay, another thing. I am brutally honest with my market. I say what I think, and I say it directly, without bs - and people like that. It makes them read your stuff, it draws them in, and once they see you are GENUINE, and giving lot's of value, they won't only be thankful, but they'll buy your stuff. YOUR stuff, they won't want anyone else's stuff, they'll want YOUR stuff, and no one else's. Of course, this depends on your niche, but whatever. When you are "real", and when you can actually DELIVER what you promise, people will start talking about you and recommending each other YOUR advice.
Branding
Okay, I know that a lot of people out there just jump out with a site and try to make a "quick buck", that's just not really how it works. I mean, maybe you can get a "quick buck" and that's it, you lost it, but it's not about the quick big buck, in my opinion. It's about the SMALL buck, every day, for YEARS. And the only way you can get that is by actually creating something useful. Anyway... I see that a lot of people just have a plain website/blog or whatever, but there is no personality in it. There's no emotion. And I believe it's all about emotions, when you know how to "move" your market, they'll be eating out of your hands.
But, you know, how do you make emotions if they don't have anything to link to you. A face, or an attitude, or whatever else. They need an emotion to link to YOU, not your site, but to YOU. That's why I believe that it makes no sense to create a site if it's not a brand. Something you can build on. It's very rewarding when you see that people are SEARCHING Google for YOU and YOUR product, it wouldn't be the same if it wasn't a brand.
One more thing and to finish it up... You have to believe in yourself. I mean, if YOU don't believe in yourself, who will? If YOU don't push yourself to the top, no one else will. NO ONE. Only you can do it for yourself, and you do it by believing you can.
I didn't know anything about making a website. I learned it.
I didn't know anything about finding a niche. I learned it.
I didn't know ANYTHING about SEO. I learned it.
I didn't know anything about getting traffic, but I learned it.
I had NO IDEA how to sell, but I learned it.
There will be hundreds of problems to solve, but that's the good part about it, every problem you solve TEACHES you something, so next time it's not a problem, it's just a routine, something you are familiar with. You have to throw yourself in the unknown, and figure things out along the way - and NOT READ FOR A YEAR, but WORK instead, and learn as you go.
You can really learn anything if you put your mind to it, yeah, it's not easy as many people will tell you - but the good things in life are not easy. And I'm GLAD it's not easy, because if it was easy, I'd have so much more competition
Well that would be it, hope I helped at least someone in exchange for all the great advice I received here. Thanks again, and see you at the top, or see you FROM the top
Jack
"May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"