Blueprint For Newbies! (plus a small rant)

[Mike Williams]

Most of you guys and gals don't realize that there is some serious work involved in learning this skill that is internet marketing.

So the first thing you need to do is identify the skills that you need to know.

Now every one of these can be outsourced (hired out)...but you have to have the cash laying around..and you'll need to learn HOW to outsource which is a skill in and of itself. If you don't have that kind of cash you'll need to learn ALL of these skills YOURSELF!

So here's my shortlist for essential skills of IM:

1. Copywriting
2. Keyword Research (market research - finding buyers)
3. Traffic Generation (Can be blogging, PPC, SEO, Article Marketing, JVs or Web 2.0)
4. How to Put Up A Website/Payment/Lead Collection System
5. Product Creation/Product Selection (for affiliates)

Ok.

So now that you know the skills that you need to know you need to figure out which ones you don't know yet.

If you aren't expert in any of these and you don't have a lot of money to outsource it you're doomed.

The solution is simple.

Open a thread here on the forum.

Say:

"What are the absolute best courses out there on (insert skill you don't know yet e.g. Web 2.0 traffic, article marketing, copywriting) for my money?"

When you see a few products popping up again and again in the thread you know those are the winners.

Buy those (What? You thought you could start a business without some expenses? Nope!)

Read it. Learn it. Practice it until you're expert in that field.

Rinse and repeat for each skill you don't know yet.

Once you have all of these five major skill sets under your belt you are ready to start making money.

Once you start making money you should quickly realize which of these skills you like doing and which of them you don't.

Invest your profits to outsource the skills you don't like doing (which means you'll need to learn the skill of outsourcing...do the same thing I suggested above) and stick with what you love.

You only need to learn all these skills once. But you'll make money from the combination of all of them together for a lifetime.

It's really not that hard to learn these skills. Most of you did much more reading and learning in one semester in school than it would take to learn this stuff. Most of that was useless info. This info makes you money. So why did you spend so many years and spend so many thousands of dollars to learn that stuff and yet you're not willing to buckle down and study this for six months and shell out a few hundred dollars?

So stop being crazy and just do it.

And remember. There isn't a course in the world that will make the money FOR YOU. So just forget about it. It doesn't exist. If there was a course or software like that they wouldn't be selling it to you. They would be using it themselves all day long and not telling a soul about it.

So just forget the idea that any of this will be done for you.

You will have to take your skills and put them into ACTION! YOURSELF!

Now go and do it!

Any questions?

P.S. Another great option that was brought up later was to get good at outsourcing and then you don't need to learn many of these skills I listed above. Good outsourcing can pretty much take care of most everything but I do feel you need SOME knowledge of the topic in order to outsource properly.

[Lazy Slacker]

you have a point there.

Well, my question is how where to buy quality articles to drive traffic?

thanks for help.

[MarcusXavier]

well said. I agree with you 100% on the point you're driving at here. There are so many people that continue to spend tons on all the "latest and greatest" money making course, yet they lack the discipline to apply the knowledge that's given to them.

so many buy a product because they sucked in by the great sales copy, read it, then say "ok. I'll start tomorrow morning." or some other excuse.

so for anyone that reads this, I'm not saying this to pick on you. But Mike's right. There is absolutely no product that will make any money for you. You have to actually apply what you learn.

So instead of waiting until tomorrow, why not go out and write that first blog post, or research your keywords, etc. Once you get the ball rolling, everything else will fall into place.

why are you still reading this? go and get to work:P

[inspir700]

Probably the greatest point and something that needs to be repeated... JUST DO IT! Just do it!

[Ryan Dodson]

Originally Posted by Mike Williams

And remember. There isn't a course in the world that will make the money FOR YOU. So just forget about it. It doesn't exist. If there was a course or software like that they wouldn't be selling it to you they would be using it themselves all day long.

So just forget that idea that any of this will be done for you.

You will have to take your skills and put them into ACTION! YOURSELF!

That's great advice for a newbie. I was fortunate to pick up that lesson very early.

But what it really comes down to is passion. For people who beat their heads over their computer each day with no results, they should ask themselves that if what they're doing is what they want to do.

IM isn't for everyone. Many get into it for the money but soon realize how much work is involved and quit. It's extremely hard to continue doing something passionless (it's a real word, look it up). And I imagine that the beautiful picture that most IM products paint for newbies must have something to do with the failure rate.

If a newbie were to see a thread like this and read a message similar to yours FIRST before starting, then the failure rate would certainly drop.

Great advice by the way!

[Mike Williams]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dodson

That's great advice for a newbie. I was fortunate to pick up
If a newbie were to see a thread like this and read a message similar to yours FIRST before starting, then the failure rate would certainly drop.

Great advice by the way!

Agreed. That's why this should be made a sticky. "Mods?" (new edit: people people people...just trying to be cute here. I know those are one in a million. I don't even think there are mods here anymore. Just Allen. Please take 'er easy)

[Kim Standerline]

If all useful posts on the warriors were stickied, there wouldn't be room for anything else

Originally Posted by Mike Williams

Agreed. That's why this should be made a sticky. "Mods?"

[Andy1970]

Well said Mike, very interesting reading. A lot of people out there think you can push a couple of buttons and make your 1st million. If only!! By the way if there is anyone who can show me how to make lots of money for little work, get in touch

[Mike Williams]

Originally Posted by Lazy Slacker

you have a point there.

Well, my question is how where to buy quality articles to drive traffic?

thanks for help.

Lazy Slacker (not a good thing to be when you're starting out by the way),

Your question is too general. In what way you are planning to use these articles to drive traffic i.e. where are you planning on posting them? Then we can talk about what sort of articles you need and where you can buy them.

If you need articles that you want to go viral you'll need to hire someone really good.
Check out the Warrior ghostwriters here who charge around 4 cents per articles.

Put up a thread saying you're willing to pay that and you'll get lots of responses.

When you get the responses look into their posting history and feedback and pick the best one. Don't hire out too many articles on the first try. Just a couple to test them out. If they're really good, then give them the bigger job.

If you just need articles for SEO purposes to fill up a blog with keyword rich content I've found that these guys give me the best bang for my buck: CyberHub - Global Premiere Online Services

If you are driving traffic through Ezinearticles.com those editors are very picky, so again you'll need higher quality stuff and again I would recommend the ghostwriters right here on the forum.

Mike

[Mike Williams]

Originally Posted by Kim Standerline

If all useful posts on the warriors were stickied, there wouldn't be room for anything else

True. But there still should be at least one thread here permanently to get the newbies on the right track so they will start more productive threads. It could be a summary of all the greatest threads started for total newbies.

[Kim Standerline]

There is a search button people can use if they need information. You couldn't possibly put everything newbies need into one post

Originally Posted by Mike Williams

True. But there still should be at least one thread here permanently to get the newbies on the right track so they will start more productive threads. It could be a summary of all the greatest threads started for total newbies.

[sparrow]

This whole IM thing is about starting, taking action you will learn along the way what works and does not work

I will tell you up front what does not work

dong the same and expecting different results, the longer I do this the more I realize one size does not fit all

so test and test some more all the great IMer's do

Ed

[Kim Standerline]

Exactly

I probably do things a whole lot different to other people, doesn't mean my methods will or won't work for other people.

The main thing when starting out, is to stay focussed and not be distracted by every bright and shiny new toy which comes along

Kim

Originally Posted by sparrow

This whole IM thing is about starting, taking action you will learn along the way what works and does not work

I will tell you up front what does not work

dong the same and expecting different results, the longer I do this the more I realize one size does not fit all

so test and test some more all the great IMer's do

Ed

[Kyle Tully]

Originally Posted by Mike Williams

Now every one of these can be outsourced (hired out)...but you have to have the cash laying around..and you'll need to learn HOW to outsource which is a skill in and of itself. If you don't have that kind of cash you'll need to learn ALL of these skills YOURSELF!

So here's my shortlist for essential skills of IM:

1. Copywriting
2. Keyword Research (market research - finding buyers)
3. Traffic Generation (Can be blogging, PPC, SEO, Article Marketing, JVs or Web 2.0)
4. How to Put Up A Website/Payment/Lead Collection System
5. Product Creation/Product Selection (for affiliates)

I actually think creating lists like these isn't all that useful -- in fact they can be off-putting for newbies and send them down technical-based roads that aren't necessarily profit-producing.

Yeah it's great if you know all that stuff, and as long as you put it to work it's going to benefit you, but by no means do you need to know it all.

Outsourcing can be a lot cheaper than many people think -- and there are many ways to structure deals where no-money is exchanged.

Don't look at a list like this and think you have to learn it all, that this is the only way. Look at it and think "how can I get access to people with these skills -- how can I leverage the resources I have."

[highflyingeagle]

It might be possible to learn all these skills for less than $20.00. Mark Austin has a web site that when you upgrade to a gold member, you gain access to his online university. It is Resell-Rights-Weekly.com. (this is not an affiliate link.) That is a bargain for anybody's wallet.

God bless,
Mark
Isaiah 40:31

[shakti2u]

A couple of months ago, I was listening to I think Matt talk about how he got started. First he was trying to make $100,000 a week online and continually not meeting his goal. So he decided he was going to eliminate the distractions in his life and set different goals. He said he quit watching TV and decided not to talk to anyone who wasn't helping him with his goal. He also set goals of "How do I make $1 online!"
But, it was the talk about distractions that really helped me. I have made the commitment that I will not buy anything more (bright, shiny, new toys) unless it helps me get my website up and running and/or brings me traffic. I have restricted my TV and emails until i get this done (spent way too much time on the emails). This has become my number 1 goal instead of what I do after everything else. I think you really have to decide and put this as a priority if this is what you really want. Then you will do what it takes to learn these skills and get to the place you want to be.

Sylvia

[Mike McBride]

Originally Posted by Mike Williams

Agreed. That's why this should be made a sticky. "Mods?"

WTF? Other than the hubris of suggesting one's own post is worthy of being made a sticky, there's nothing even remotely special about the OP worth making it a sticky. Sheesh.

[Jeremy Kelsall]

Mike,

Your post was good, but it does have at least one flaw...

Not everyone has to have the set of skills you listed. Honestly, I was making OK money before I know anything about copywriting, product creation, or putting up a website. I'm sure there are many other people that have done so as well.

[Marhelper]

Ultimately, you will either take action or you will not.

BTW, Mike (McBride) I agree with you wholeheartedly. If something is worthy of being "stickied," let others say it ...

[Mike Williams]

Originally Posted by Kyle Tully

I actually think creating lists like these isn't all that useful -- in fact they can be off-putting for newbies and send them down technical-based roads that aren't necessarily profit-producing.

Yeah it's great if you know all that stuff, and as long as you put it to work it's going to benefit you, but by no means do you need to know it all.

Outsourcing can be a lot cheaper than many people think -- and there are many ways to structure deals where no-money is exchanged.

Don't look at a list like this and think you have to learn it all, that this is the only way. Look at it and think "how can I get access to people with these skills -- how can I leverage the resources I have."

I must say I agree with you Kyle. It's a good point. If you get good at the skill of outsourcing I suppose that can knock off several of the other things on the list pretty fast.

[Mike Williams]

Originally Posted by Mike McBride

WTF? Other than the hubris of suggesting one's own post is worthy of being made a sticky, there's nothing even remotely special about the OP worth making it a sticky. Sheesh.

I wasn't totally serious my friend. But I still maintain there should be a thread for newbies that stays there to help them get on the right track BEFORE they post.