The Times are changing for me - In less than a year.

[kenj]

This is an Ex Newbie speaking out in support of common sense.

I now realise how poor most offers of success really are. I have always believed in good honest work to a plan. Most of the money making schemes ignore this in favour of idiotic and simplistic promises that carry no content.

To illustrate here is my story.

Having hung around here and a few other online places I have finally found success with my efforts.

I started following the path that many newcomers do of trying adsense, affiliate marketing, pay per click and everything else.
About the turn of the year I moved off in a new direction and have now really started to make some money.

I say this not to boast but to tell you what made the change. I hope that it will help others who are close to giving up.

I chose one type of internet marketing and stuck to it.

The detail is that I decided to turn away from internet marketing as a niche for me to make money in. Instead I am finding my own niches and producing the products to fulfill the needs.

I occasionally promote affiliate products within my own products which produces far better conversions than review sites.
I am in full control of this process and can tweak and change things as I see fit. And as I learn I apply anything I learn to my own websites. So I work, review what I am doing and then work some more.

So what am I earning from all this. I will not say but I will give you the signs that tell me I am on the way to success.

• I now sell a product of my own nearly every day.
• I have growing lists of subscribers in 2 niches
• I keep selling clickbank stuff even though I do not push them much
• I keep getting monthly cheques from adsense
• I have 6 more products to produce when my current sites are fully on autopilot
• Articles directories have sent me about 20,000 visitors since September 2008. The articles keep on working.

The point of this post...

Do not fret and concern yourself with earning $100 per day with adsense or $3000 per month by following someone. Most of the people who run these programs disappear into a big hole when it doesn't work. (It doesn't work)

Do simple things and make sure you own your own piece of online real estate. Adsense/affiliate marketing and the rest are for you use to your advantage when you see fit. I do not think they will bring you success as an end in themselves.

[Corwinnx]

I'LL DRINK TO THAT!

It's about making a plan with a system to work the plan! Once you realize that, everything just 'falls' into place.

-Marcus

[Pat Ordenes]

I totally agree kenj!
niche products can be far more effective, and when you develop a good product, not only do you make money, but you provide an excellent service.

[JP Owens]

I started off all over the place myself - adwords, adsense, created the ugliest site on the internet and wondered why I wasn't selling many of my ebooks (looking back, how did I sell the ones I did? (lol)) Last year I decided to start building multiple niche lists and didn't follow through with any but the one I initially started on (the one in the niche I care about).

Finally came to decide that I would rather do one subject well (and eventually move into other niches) than spread myself out so much. Exactly like you said - focus on one thing until you do it well and make money. THEN worry about jumping to something new. Taking the time to cultivate one or two happy, warm lists is worth way more than creating 20 small cold lists.

The only other turning point I can think of is when I learned that the best way to keep a list warm is "freebie email (content, video, link etc)"... "freebie email"... "freebie email"... "buy my product"... "freebie email"... "freebie email"... "affiliate product recommendation"... and so on.

It's all common sense once you take the time to see what works, but I think that when starting out, we see so much blue sky above that we never start building a solid foundation below to reach it.

Congrats on your success!

[chris8918]

This is exactly what rescued me from "information overload" when I first started. I decided to concentrate on doing one thing and do it till it worked. It helped me focus and actually accomplish something. I am now building 2 lists as well and am working toward my first WSO. Glad to hear someone else has gone through this same thing and is willing to help others figure it out. Good Luck with your WSO.

[JP Owens]

Good point Chris, which reminds me, WSO's and lists combine well for:

1) Testing a product by WSO before launching to your list...
2) Testing a product with your list before launching as a WSO!
3) Testing a product with both before launching as a public product.

I've found different reasons for different things. One thing I enjoy is having a small sublist within my main list, a group of lucky subscribers I boxed off into a secondary list. These guys have proven responsive (which is how they came to be on the second list in the first place). I send them new products for free, and can expect good feedback, constructive criticism, thoughts, feelings, and of course, TESTIMONIALS! Everybody wins.

[lh1234]

congratulations on your success Ken, and thank you for the encouragement. It's good to be reminded that if you stick to your plan you'll reap the rewards.
lh

[AZ]

Great focus, its all about niche marketing- less competition, become a force in your industry -

[pearsonbrown]

Hi Ken,

Glad to hear of your success. Having met you, I'm not surprised.

I agree with most of what you put but I can't let your comments about Adsense go. It is a perfectly good route to go and Steve's recent thread has shown how to do it.

I think the reason for your success is not the specific route you have chosen. I think it's the fact that you have FOCUS and are ignoring all the distracting sirens calling out to you. There are too many people out there who seem to know a lot about a lot of areas but haven't even got a website up yet.

Pearson

[jayden.fellze]

It is always best to choose a business the you love and you can put your passion on.

[DonDavis]

Kenj- Great post. You must have your own products if you want to truly succeed. Just an opinion based on my own experience of course...

[SeanyG]

Thanks for the great post.

You reaffirmed that I am on the right track. For this I thank you!

[FreeMe.com]

The "guru's" may not use their name or even write the articles they post... but, I assure you that article marketing is alive and well and being used by anyone who is serious about building a sustainable business.

Figure out how to optimize your article marketing... and you will have a goldmine at your feet.

[kenj]

Thanks JP, Chris and Pearson

I thought I was the only one not following the get rich quick crowd.

Like JP my first site is still the one I do best with because my heart is in it and I know about it.
Back to work

[JeffreyM]

Great post. I am totally in agreement with you. It is so hard swimming towards the promise of success when you are struggling to keep you head above the waters of false advertisers. It seems every body wants to make you a millionaire. It is refreshing to hear some good old common sense today. Thanks

[NikkiM]

Prioritize, Focus, and Innovation. Great Job! Don't be rushed with trying to make many things happen at once.

Prioritize by finding what interests you and work hard on it and make it happen.

Focus on one idea until it is rock solid and stable.

Innovation in what you do and can offer that no one else has done.

Think outside the box and do something that is daring, really stand out and watch the success happen.

Best,
NikkiM

[leschwaar]

Originally Posted by chris8918

This is exactly what rescued me from "information overload" when I first started. I decided to concentrate on doing one thing and do it till it worked. It helped me focus and actually accomplish something. I am now building 2 lists as well and am working toward my first WSO. Glad to hear someone else has gone through this same thing and is willing to help others figure it out. Good Luck with your WSO.

Sorry, but I've only been around this forum for a few days and I've seen "WSO" a lot-- I've never seen it anywhere else. What does that stand for?

[leschwaar]

Oh, and also, I definitely agree with staying out of the IM niche, especially for beginners-- it's too cutthroat and fake, and it's a totally different ballgame than other niches.

[Mike Hill]

Great post... congrats on finding your piece of the internet.

Happy for ya!

Mike Hill

[grover69]

Grabbing your own piece of internet real-estate is really important IMHO. You own them and can do with as you please, and over time, if you focus on traffic, you will be amazed at the results. Also, article directories do work and continue to work for me. Most of the first articles I submitted online over a year ago still generate traffic. And I wasn't a very good writer back then (and truthfully, I still have a ways to go with my writing)!

Grats, Ken on your success!

[imac1912]

I agree with KENJ, but when most people start out on this 'road to riches' it is hard to focus. All the hype about ways to make money online distracts the newbie, so they dont know which road to follow. Each person eventually finds what works best for them - adsense, affiliate programs, blogging etc. They all work if you work at it.

The main thing is to keep going and learning!

Ian

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by kenj

...I thought I was the only one not following the get rich quick crowd.

...

Well, add me to that list.

[Allurre]

Yes. Persistence is the name to fame. The key to more cheese.

[Nick.A]

Originally Posted by leschwaar

Sorry, but I've only been around this forum for a few days and I've seen "WSO" a lot-- I've never seen it anywhere else. What does that stand for?

WSO stands for Warrior Special Offer

Warrior Special Offers Forum

[geeza10]

If you find out please tell me

[geeza10]

wow good timing

[Fred_Acker]

That's some fantastic words of wisdom Ken and congrads on the success. Most of my IM efforts are focused to the offline world but I'm setting out to balance this out with online stuff as well.

Yeah, I want the best of both worlds :0)

"...I decided to turn away from internet marketing as a niche for me to make money in. Instead I am finding my own niches and producing the products to fulfill the needs." <=== I think this is the solution most folks don't know about. I know I didn't when I first started out.

Thanks for the post!

Fred

[WinAtStickyBids]

Good post! Glad to see that you found your way. It sometimes feels like your standing in the middle of a tornado with everything that is being thrown at you when your trying to learn. I had to take a step back and regroup. I was getting so overwhelmed that I could focus on anything. I am trying not to become a "jack of all trades" but be a master of one.
Good luck to you.

[Sheila]

Congrats on finding your path! Looks like all that IM information paid off - just not the way you originally expected it to benefit you. Now, you're the big fish in a little pond :-)

I appreciate knowing of your success. Thanks for sharing.

[kenj]

Hi Steve Porcaro

My main product is an ebook in a tiny niche. I have 4 other ebook products that sell in small numbers. I also have a video training series that I sell from but I am thinking of dropping that as it is in a crowded niche.
I also sell a real product that my offline business manufactures, but only to the UK market as it costs too much to airmail with insurance costs.

I'm really a UK business owner who saw the opportunity on the internet. Having worked and tried things out I am putting more focused effort into internet marketing as I see that as a way of me creating an income for when I sell or close my offline business

[Nick.A]

That's a great stategy, Ken! I am sure it will pay off in the long run. Good luck and keep up the good work.

[Sheryl Polomka]

Well done Ken, great to hear of your success and you are so right, it is a matter of chosing your direction and then heading in that direction without spending all your time looking for something better.

Make a plan + focus on that plan + work at it and don't give up = SUCCESS!

Great job and thanks for sharing!

[leschwaar]

Originally Posted by Nick.A

WSO stands for Warrior Special Offer

Warrior Special Offers Forum

Thanks for clearing that up for me-- I was extremely perplexed.

[Izet Hasanov]

Congrats and keep up the good work