Trying To Earn Money Online For Over 6 Years

I've spent more than $1,000 dollars over six years. Without giving out an exact figure, I believe it is somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000.

Mobile affiliate advertising.
I've not given list building a serious go.
I've dabbled in most of the rest of what I think of when I hear earning money online.
I could devote more time into just strait affiliate marketing, but I usually have a hard time being passionate about that.

Lately, I've been trying to have AdSense earn me significant money and then also earn money through Etsy. I've been devoting my energies there right now, but I'm not sure how fruitful those will be.

...you're seriously promoting Squidoo after your frustration with it? LOL

Blog in specific topic.
Drive traffic.
Have a nice opt-in.
Build a list.
Build a relationship.
Sell them products.

You can play the rest by ear.

Can you paint a bigger picture? I am not getting the correlation of art tutorials of him painting and selling real art work products. Unless sells affiliate "how to paint" or something.

P.S. Pun was intended

That's not what he said

I accepted. Yes. I've been at it for 6 years. I've earned less than $1,000 (but more than $100). I've spent/invested more than $1,000. I've had a net loss, by quite a margin.

@AM "The primary reason people have trouble with IM is that they don't do what they don't want to do."

If I want to earn decent money, I'll go get 9-5 employment. I am quite educated - 2 degrees. I don't want to do that, though. I'd rather be my own boss. Maybe I need to do the things that I don't want to do to be my own boss, and maybe that would at least be better than being in a golden cage. Ideally though, I'd like to monetize my passions, which I've been trying to do.

I hope that you are right! I feel like I need to take more responsibility for my own success.

This is the worst advice I have ever heard someone give another person. WHY do I say that? David Wood failed for 6 years straight and he refused to give up. He kept going because for winners QUITTING doesn't exist. He kept believing in himself no matter how much temporary defeat he faced. Well in his 7th year he started having success. By year 10 he is now averaging $350,000 a month. Your advice would of been for him to quit too right? HORRIBLE ADVICE!!!!

If someone climbs a mountain for 6 years and they are close to the top but don't know it are you going to tell them to quit too? HORRIBLE ADVICE!!!

Michael, you have a wealth of abundance but I suspect that the main problem is lack of laser targeted focus. I will give you a perfect example. If you were to write 2 articles a day towards a specific profitable niche. Health and fitness, money or relationships you would have 4,380 articles. If you then took each of those articles and followed Alexa Smith and MYOB's advice you would be making a full time living online.

Imagine if you could go back to high school with what you know now. You would get the hottest girl, you would get straight A's and you would go any college you wanted. You need to first decide on what problem you are going to solve for a specific target audience and you need to focus solely on producing HIGH QUALITY CONTENT to help that target audience solve that problem. Clickbank has a ton of niches and subniches to choose from. Focus on getting exposure to your content whether its guest posting, syndication or SEO you need exposure.

You know what the issue has been so make the change TODAY and do not make the same mistake past today. Don't buy anymore products. For you its 95% action and 5% into continuing personal development and marketing training. What exactly is your definite purpose? There is no shortcut and that is what you subconciously have been searching for. YOU need to FOCUS and put your all into this. Content marketing other then paid advertising is the most powerful scalable marketing strategy that exists. Think of a snowball traveling downhill picking up steam. The rest of this year and 2013 is your breakthrough. Make it happen!!!

Doing what you're passionate about is great, but only if there is a market for it. Otherwise it's merely a hobby.

It seems to be this Fluff. It's a lot of the same on the Youtube channel he runs, kind of going through the motions because that's what poster bob384234829348 said would work.

As he has hopefully started to realize though, business is not a simple input>>>output equation.

Wow. I thought this would be off the front, but it was not. So here are some more replies. I'm quite blown away, I think in a good way.

I have tried. My hesitancy in building a list is that I think with the CANSPAM laws you need to have a physical address on all the e-mails you send out. I've had a PO box sporadically over the last 6 years, but not enough to justify to myself putting lots of energy into building a list. I hope that I'm wrong about needing an address for a list, but I don't think that I am, and I won't put my home address on them. I may or may not be able and willing to commit to having a PO or Suite Box. I'm not sure.

Yes I have a lot of those skills. I'm really not passionate about being payed to use them and I only use them for myself. I'd just about rather just get a 9-5 job rather than do that. But it is a good idea and more power to those sell those services and enjoy doing it or at least don't mind doing it.

Yes. I NEED to have a better plan. I've been sporadically consistent. There was a point when I was achieving some minor but significant results. I need to try and re-create that again.

There is one site that I have had since the beginning and it is still up. It is mostly on hiatus.

I like that.

I hope that that is true. Yes. You do seem excited.


Well. I have worked in my 9-5 employment with some individuals who have broken laws to try and "earn" (really obtain) money. They go to jail and get on probation and they generally don't enjoy the results. That article is targeted to someone who is seriously considering doing illegal actions to obtain money. If that article is read by its target audience and they go down a different path, then I will feel really good. I'll probably never know if that happens unless someone tells me. I really do enjoy writing a lot of them. My writing style can be a bit weird when I write these articles, I admit. Some articles I write I don't really enjoy writing much, but I hope someone might find them useful.


I wanted to respond to one of the response that tells me to quit. I know of musicians who have tried to be successful and they only became significantly successful after 9 years, so I think that I least owe myself another three years and then I'll reassess after that. Lololol.

I may have to make another post because this was responses only to the posts on the first page that were made after my last one.

So to summarize. Yes, I do need to change/modify/evolve my plan. Yes, I need to network more with those who are already successful. Yes, I should probably start building a list in a committed way.

I have spent around 4 years doing Internet marketing, from Adsense to seo services. I have worked 14 plus hours a day everyday. So you're not alone.

I am only now starting to see the fruits of my labour, some people just fall on their feet, while others take time.

My guess is, is that you keep jumping onto new things. Imagine if you stuck with one thing over that 6 years.

I think that to myself, imagine if I put all my efforts into one website. Where would that website be today? how many pages of content would it have? How much of a list would I have ? How many page 1 rankings would I have?

Yeah, 6 years is a very long time to not be making any money. You really should think about if IM is what you want to do. It definitely isn't for every one.

I checked out all the links in your sig. and what I see is lack of direction. You really need to pick something and stick with it. Getting a mentor you can trust is solid, but you still need to stick with something to master it before you move on.

The lack of passion you mention is a problem. If you want to succeed, you have to find a way to be passionate about what you are doing. You have to take that passion and apply it in 1 direction, not 20.

Meeting real live people in my local area was a Big gamechanger for me. As in googling 'Your City' internet marketing group. Hope this helps

That's funny seeing as you have this on your site; Legal Ways To Earn Money

Look I'm not trying to be smart but the first thing is this; get rid of that. You are not making money online and so you should not be "teaching" other's how to, it is not fair on them.

Second it looks like you are quite creative, maybe you should sell art, design, offer drawing services etc to online marketers. That is what I would do. There are plenty of business people that need these services.

P.S. for some inspiration, it took me seven years online to start making money consistently: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...posts-yay.html

Good luck!

This will be a post of harsh reality and a kick in the pants.

You call yourself educated with two degrees. But look at the website in your signature. Your article, about writing quality articles - which I immediately looked at since that would be a quick path to making money online - starts ...

"One can write an article by using text to record ideas digitally."

How To Write & Publish Quality Articles Online

From there the article gets even worse.

Harsh reality: your writing is atrocious, generic, and will cause people to click the back button and never return.

This is the worst article about how to write a quality article I have ever seen.

Then there is your article about becoming financially independent. Again, a generic mess. This looks like something written by a middle school kid. Not someone with two degrees purporting to impart useful information about becoming financially independent.

If this is how you write when trying to promote something that could make you money, this a problem.

Then there is the fact you have been at "this" for 6 years and have made squat. About $10 per month for 72 months.

You're not serious about making money online. If you are, and have really put in quality time and made an effort to apply sound business and marketing fundamentals (as opposed to garbage opportunities and scams so prevalent online), then I think you need to reflect on the situation and consider something else.

$8 an hour, working 2000 hours per year, for 6 years, is almost $100,000. Looks like flipping burgers is more profitable.

Heck, sitting on your butt playing video games for 6 years and making nothing is better than wasting thousands of hours to make $10 per month.

The additional kick in the pants: there are thousands of posts on this forum with useful information. Read them.

Here's an idea. Something I did. This forum is owned by Allen Says. I found everything he had written and bought it. I read every post he made. (This was on the old forum so a lot of his posts are now archived in the War Room.) After identifying those who have made real money online, with actual businesses and not just 1-shot product offers, and those who are experts in marketing, copywriting, etc., I bought their material too, made a ton of notes, and used it. If you are not going to do that I'm not sure why you are even here.

.

I find this sort of reply helpful, in that you are not telling me to give up and you are giving me some concrete direction to go down. Maybe I need to listen to some more 50 Cent.. Get Rich Or Die Tryin. 500? Maybe 5,000... ?

Another side note, this time to Michael: There is a difference between tough, even abrupt or mistaken, criticism and genuine rudeness. It can be difficult to see that line clearly sometimes when you're the object of the critique, but the effort is worth making.


Paul

I think that I am picking only one or two methods. I think that I must just be going about them ineffectively and/or in the wrong way. I have taken breaks here and there over the last six years. They have mostly been days, weeks and sometimes months. I've probably spent at least 4 of the last six years consistently putting effort towards at least trying to be successful. I'm tempted to say more like 4.5 or 5 years of the last six, but that is neither here nor there.

I'm not sure, to answer your first question. I want to go into affiliate marketing eventually, but I have tried to not to spread my energies too thin.

Yes. I can be stubborn. I have been trying to do it on my own terms somewhat. I have been trying to find a middle ground between doing it on my own terms and also doing what others who have been significantly successful have said that they have done. I don't want to go the traditional path (of being successful online) to the point where I would almost just rather be in a 9-5 job. However, to have location independence, it might be worth it.

My biggest passion are niche and somewhat... out there? They are abolishing aging (a.k.a. radical life extension - see the book Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey or sens.org). The other is somewhat political so I won't go into details, but there are some relatively large non-profits devoted to both of these niches. One option would be to try and work for one of these non-profits, but I would rather earn money through independent channels and be location independent. My other interests/passions are arts/creativity, outdoors, and health/wellness. However, the latter are not my preferred focus area, although there is probably a larger market for information/media on those topics.

Radical life extension blog?

Seems like a winner to me.

You already have a good you recommend. That's something to promote. Write your own PDF and sell that.

Michael,

[Warning: Tough love alert!]

Several things stand out for me in your post:

1. Your biggest problems are lack of focus and discipline.

I "get it" that it can be hard to choose what to do online to make money. It doesn't help that there's so much hype. I know it also takes time to decide what you want to pursue.

But you're a smart guy (TWO degrees!). Common sense tells you that you won't make any money starting but never finishing anything.

This is HUGE!

You mentioned not being excited by affiliate marketing. I heard that! Affiliate marketing as my main revenue model has never excited me either. So sell your own products or services.

Also, I don't think AdSense revenue is a long-term, consistent revenue model. I don't feel it's worth pursuing as a main revenue model anymore. I never liked CPA either. Too many variables, no control. Advertisers can pull offers, change/discontinue compensation, etc.


2. Are you serious??!!

This is the most asinine reason I've ever heard. A simple quick search will tell you if you can use a P.O. Box. As a single woman, I certainly don't want my home address posted all over the Net either. But this hasn't stopped me.

This just tells me you don't want it very badly.

3. That's what I say!!!

I've spent northward of $20K, maybe more. Only a fraction of what Johnny here has spent, but still....

$1K over 6 years is NOTHING.

Ok, here's some help:

Clarity is a HUGE part of IM success. It's so simple when you know it -- and darn difficult when you don't! I owe my mentors a world of thanks for bringing this clarity.

IM is actually pretty simple: you can sell only one of two things:

1. Products
2. Services

That's it!

And selling products or services online happens in the same basic way for everyone, no matter what they're selling:

Traffic > Opt-in page > Autoresponder series (or e-zine) > Sales page

That's it! It's just that simple. (We IMers tend to overcomplicate things.)

But no matter what your niche is, or whether you're selling a product or a service, do you know what your business model is?

A business model is the framework or skeleton of your business. Essentially there are three types of online business models:

1. Membership-based model

A membership-based business model allows you to build a community of people (your members) who are as passionate about your subject as you are. Your membership fees can be monthly or annual, but either way, you're building recurring, passive income.

There are a lot of resources and information out there to help you build a membership-based business if you're interested in doing this.

2. Product-based model

Selling products allows you to maximize your time and effort by selling items over and over again. This can be hard goods or it can be information products. Information marketing is it's own business model under the product-based model. Information marketing allows you to take your brain to the bank by creating a product ONCE based on what you know and selling it over and over again.

Affiliate marketing falls under both models. You can choose to market either products or services as an affiliate.

3. Service-based model

Selling services can be great for 1) generating quick cash (as in the case of article writing or video producing) and 2) establishing your expertise and getting testimonials.

However, in the long run, your goal should be to offer services at a PREMIUM. The biggest advantage of IM is LEVERAGE. You're able to leverage your time, money and expertise exponentially online. We all have just 24 hours each day. Time to get ruthless about what you expect for those hours you spend in IM each day. Expect more of yourself and more from your business friends, clients, partners, etc.

What results are you getting for those hours you spend online each day? Ultimately, your services should be at the bottom of your funnel and cost the most since they involve your time and personal attention. (We all have a limited amount of time each day.)

The fun (and confusion) comes in with all of the endless mix-and-match possibilities of the above models. If you're just starting or still struggling to make money, keep it simple:

Pick just ONE!

1. Pick ONE niche. (Something you're interested in and know something about.)

2. Pick ONE target market for your product or service. (Who will buy what you're offering? The more specific you are, the more you narrow it down, the more successful you'll be.)

3. Pick ONE business model.

Now that you're clear about what business you're in, FOCUS! (And stop buying any info not related to your niche and target market, period!)

F -- Follow
O -- One
C -- Course
U -- Until
S -- Successful

And remember: build a list, Build a List, BUILD A LIST!

In IM, it's easy to put the cart before the horse. Take a deep breath, step back and consider what type of business you REALLY want. Don't worry about getting traffic or buying that expensive traffic product until you know 1) what your business model is, 2) what niche you're in and 3) WHO your target market is!

Successful business people will tell you that MARKETING is more than half the effort that's needed for success anyway. So pick a niche, target market and business model. Then spend most of your time and effort marketing it.

If you DON'T have a solid plan or system, THAT'S when it's hard. A good system will shave YEARS (and save you big $$$) off of your learning curve

That's why I recommend investing in at least one good, comprehensive IM course (or mentor who will give you such a system) instead of jumping from one $37 e-book to the next. A lot of people here complain about not being able to make any money. But neither are they willing to invest in their business. (Buying a random bunch of $37 e-books doesn't count.)

The best thing I ever did was invest in a comprehensive IM course aimed at REAL business owners, not just other IM wannabes. Yes it was $1500. (It's no longer available.) But it was truly some of the best A-Z IM info I ever bought. Everything else I've learned (from the $37 e-books) since has simply been plugged into this system.

Get a solid plan or system and then work the plan!

Hope this helps!

Michelle

maybe you'll just need to focus on something. don't try anything new before you can get decent earnings from that field..

Hello again.

Yes and yes. I do need to take more informed action. I will figure out what that is ASAP and then do it...

Good. I anticipate that you will be successful at least eventually if you truly do that.

I've done that a little bit by chance. I should do more.

7 years! We are somewhat alike! This is encouraging!!!!

I agree. Offline communication with others is arguably more personal just by the very nature of it.

My day today... going to the gym and R&D. I'm also going to eat food and drink water. I was laid off about a month ago from my 9-5 golden cage... budget cuts. That is why I have all this splendid time for R&D.

I think that I need to either find a part time job so I can keep devoting more energy to all of this and pay my bills, seek capital so I can keep working until I actually turn a net profit big enough to pay my bills, or start looking for a 9-5 and have this been my side gig that I try to turn into a significantly profitable activity so that I can once again leave my golden cage. I am thinking I need to create more of a formal business plan, do more R&D, keep working on what I have been doing and focus to try and create tangible results. There are some suggestions here which I am open to and will try to implement, like using YouTube to describe the background behind my art and link to it on Etsy from there. This is what is on my mind at this moment and I hope that answered the question.

I'm actively working to sell paintings right now. I have listed them on Etsy, and just yesterday, eBay.

I have a Kindle book that I am not currently actively trying to promote.

I have some books on LuLu that are in the same boat as my Kindle book.

I've arguably already arranged for Google and/or their advertisers to buy the attention/clicks of visitors/viewers to my websites/videos.

I have other products that I have been preparing, but are not ready to be sold, like music. I think music is mostly it with regards to that.

There are individuals here who can serve as a model through observation. Are mentors/coaches usually paid?

I think that I should at least join more Skype groups that are at least somewhat about what I am trying to do.

That would require more capital...
Are there ways of sending paid traffic to AdSense sites without violating AdSense TOS? What are those?

You need your own product/s which you feel enthusiastic about.....

I see you already make YouTube videos, and do skype calls?........ Why not do painting tutorials / invite people to join you on series of conference calls/ webinars, where you teach how to paint different styles? step by step. painting a week sort of thing?

Then you could bundle your vids and recorded webinars together and Bam! you have a new product with a ready made potential customer base.

Good luck.

I have learned about the best ways that I like to post/bundle content. I have learned about how to focus. I have learned what my passions are. I have learned about how I want to succeed, sort of. I have learned about video some. I have learned some about team efforts. This is also related to the skills that I have now........