If you had to start right now from scratch, where would you start?

The question in the title is different from asking what I'd do if I was a beginner.

If I had to start from scratch, I would offer services, just as I do now.

However, if experienced Curtis were to tell beginner Curtis what to do, I'd tell myself to sit around for a few months and do nothing except learn and find a direction.

You don't have a business plan right now. Sticking up a site and "marketing it" (whatever that means) does not count as a business plan.

It might not be what you want to hear, but I would advise you to refrain from buying or doing anything, at least for a month or two while you just read the free stuff you find around here or elsewhere.

Then, after you've found a good path to take, that's when you should consider investing in more advanced training that is relevant to this path and this path only. For example, you may discover that you have a love of list building and all that comes with it. First, take the time to understand list building (don't start building a list without knowing what to do with one - you may mess things up badly). Then, get Aweber or something, invest in some advanced courses, and get started.

The "stick up a site, write tons of articles, and hope for sales" approach is what 95% of newbies seem to want to do when they first get online. I have no idea why. I'm not saying it doesn't work - I'm just saying there are plenty of better (and less time-consuming) ways to make money.

Curtis

Yes, depends what you are asking...

Where to start as a beginner? Or what mistakes to avoid doing?

I'm assuming your question is the former, in which case I'd suggest...

a) Have a job to start in the real world. Make sure you can put food on the table, so IM is a bonus
b) Then, figure out what it is you like (passion), and look for products/services that you can find that match that.
c) Then, start figuring out how you can achieve that (business plan). Ask for help from others if you find it necessary, etc.

You want to find a niche market. Find people who have a problem and are absolutely stark raving hungry to solve it! Make sure they will pay money for the solution, then create a product which will solve their problem. After this, market, market, market your product.

If everything was taken away from me that I have now and I had to build a steady income all over again, here's what I'd do...

1. I'd spend a day doing keyword research on topics I know.

2. I'd pick the topic that looked the most promising and buy a good domain name based on that research and buy hosting.

3. I'd write a valuable report and set up a squeeze page to start building a mailing list. I'd write an ebook that I'd use for back end sales in the free report.

4. I'd start promoting the squeeze page, and take the money from sales to hire someone to do backlinks. The backlinks would keep growing throughout the rest of the process below.

5. I'd start building a content site on the same topic, and start building a membership site to go with it.

6. The membership site would have a free level and a paid level. The free level would be another way to build the mailing list. The paid level is, of course, income.

7. I'd keep adding content to the main site and the membership site.

8. I'd start an affiliate program for the membership site to help it grow.

9. I'd keep creating new products to sell to the list, and add them to the affiliate program.

By now I should have a steady income, so the task is to grow it by repeating what I've already done.

That's what I'd do. That'll be $27.00.

Edit: Someone sent me a PM and actually wanted to send me some money via Paypal. I was just kidding folks. As I told the appreciate fellow, I posted in the spirit of helping others, no payment is necessary. If you want to do something, just pay it forward and help someone else who needs help when you get a chance. It's a better world when we help each other without having to paid for every little thing, don't you think? I sure do.

Thanks Dennis. Check's in the mail. <grin>

- Dennis

I'd get a WP plugin or some app created, domain, hosting account, and AR setup. Write some short copy for that plugin then once I got it back from the programmer I'd buy some media ads, and run traffic to the copy. Once people buy the plugin or app I'd post a subscription form on the download page and tell them they can sign up if they want to receive updates. This way I can sell my own product, build my list, build a good relationship with the members and sell to them later down the road, and have a residual income stream running in a short period of time.

Then it's a matter of rinsing and repeating with whatever product or service is next.