What am I doing wrong with making money online?

by taaron
57 replies
Hi guys.

I ended up sinking way too much time and money into my website, which has put me in into a poor place. It doesn't help my ad impressions do really well one day, then zero zero zero zero for the next couple of days.

I've started selling stuff on eBay and have been doing OK. made roughly $50 so far, but not enough to cover rent or bills.

I've also tried signing up to oDesk for freelancing work, and despite putting in 8 applications; I've found the job was against oDesk's rules (this happened twice), or had no response to my applications.

What am I doing wrong? :/
#making #money #online #wrong
  • Profile picture of the author pewpewpewmonkeys
    What am I doing wrong?
    That's impossible to answer without knowing what your goals are and how you've been working to achieve those goals.

    "Make lots of money" is a vague idea, not a goal.
    Signature
    Some cause-oriented hackers recently hacked one of my websites. So I researched what they're about and then donated a large sum of money to the entity they hate the most.

    The next time they hack one of my websites I'm going to donate DOUBLE.
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    • Profile picture of the author papuanac1971
      It's very hard to find out what really problem is cause of the poor explanation. If you are able to give more info of your work and how you are doing maybe some of the warriors can give you explanation and maybe resolution of your problem...
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      • Profile picture of the author RuthRNM
        When I first started using freelancing sites to sell my services, it took dozens of applications before I picked up any work. People aren't so keen to try someone with no feedback, but once you've picked up that first 5* review, things become much easier almost overnight. Just stick with it. You might want to consider lowering your rates for the first few projects, just to build up some feedback than can be used to tempt others.

        I personally have a copy and pasted script that I enter about my background and skills, to save time, but I ALWAYS add some personalisation that shows that I've read the brief and understand their project and what I can do for them. People can tell an entirely copy and pasted response from a mile off

        I'd personally always recommend that you start off selling services if you want to make money online. You develop skills along the way that give you a better understanding of the whole process and how online marketing works, and it's relatively easy to start making cash fairly quickly. Once you're up and running, you can use the skills you develop for your own projects.
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  • Profile picture of the author taaron
    Sorry. Anxiety got the better of me in my explanation. ^_^;;

    As for my site, I've been working on it for a few years now, but it's a personal blog about toy collecting (and my other hobby, cooking) featuring quite a few figure photographs.

    It's had a few stops and starts since I started working on it, I thought I finally had it ready to 'launch'. Until it was hacked, and my savings ran out. I thought I could get my site to turn an income to cover the bills in the meanwhile, but it hasn't. It'd get a few visitors on one day, enough to get an earning, and then a slew of days where the earnings show 0.

    Now I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to keep from being being evicted, trying to take on freelance jobs and selling things on eBay, and keep the site updated with stuff folks to see.

    (I'm not sure if I can post a link to my site in this section...so if someone'll give the OK, I'll edit the URL in.)
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    • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
      Originally Posted by taaron View Post

      Sorry. Anxiety got the better of me in my explanation. ^_^;;

      As for my site, I've been working on it for a few years now, but it's a personal blog about toy collecting (and my other hobby, cooking) featuring quite a few figure photographs.

      It's had a few stops and starts since I started working on it, I thought I finally had it ready to 'launch'. Until it was hacked, and my savings ran out. I thought I could get my site to turn an income to cover the bills in the meanwhile, but it hasn't. It'd get a few visitors on one day, enough to get an earning, and then a slew of days where the earnings show 0.

      Now I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to keep from being being evicted, trying to take on freelance jobs and selling things on eBay, and keep the site updated with stuff folks to see.

      (I'm not sure if I can post a link to my site in this section...so if someone'll give the OK, I'll edit the URL in.)
      Maybe it's time to take a step back and focus on just one thing. Choose one of the things, such as freelancing, build it to a comfortable place, and then work on the other things. Sometimes trying to do too many different things can overwhelm us and cause us to lose focus on providing quality work, whether for our own blog or for a project someone else is paying you to complete.

      Benjamin Ehinger
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    • Profile picture of the author Devid Farah
      Originally Posted by taaron View Post


      Now I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to keep from being being evicted, trying to take on freelance jobs and selling things on eBay, and keep the site updated with stuff folks to see.
      This happens when you want to do too many things at a time. Don't jump from one thing to another, this brings to endless procrastination, despair and frustration but instead pick up ONE method and focus all of your energy in it.

      Id say offering services on freelance websites can be the way to go as you start.

      Consider also fiverr and the possibility to become an expert at something before offering your services.
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    • Profile picture of the author mootonandy
      Originally Posted by taaron View Post

      Sorry. Anxiety got the better of me in my explanation. ^_^;;

      As for my site, I've been working on it for a few years now, but it's a personal blog about toy collecting (and my other hobby, cooking) featuring quite a few figure photographs.

      It's had a few stops and starts since I started working on it, I thought I finally had it ready to 'launch'. Until it was hacked, and my savings ran out. I thought I could get my site to turn an income to cover the bills in the meanwhile, but it hasn't. It'd get a few visitors on one day, enough to get an earning, and then a slew of days where the earnings show 0.

      Now I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to keep from being being evicted, trying to take on freelance jobs and selling things on eBay, and keep the site updated with stuff folks to see.

      (I'm not sure if I can post a link to my site in this section...so if someone'll give the OK, I'll edit the URL in.)
      Have you ever considered targeting low competition keywords then writing articles based on those keywords?

      I think you should really write articles about what you know people are already searching for but also that the search engine competition is low enough to easily rank highly for those keywords.

      Maybe you should forget about writing about what you want to write about but instead start writing about what other people are looking for?

      I would have thought the "toy collecting" niche has its limits.
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    • Profile picture of the author China Newz
      "It's had a few stops and starts since I started working on it, I thought I finally had it ready to 'launch'. Until it was hacked, and my savings ran out. I thought I could get my site to turn an income to cover the bills in the meanwhile, but it hasn't. It'd get a few visitors on one day, enough to get an earning, and then a slew of days where the earnings show 0. "

      ----You say it has had a few starts and stops until it had a ready to launch date. The most important feature of a blog is posting consistency. Have read this about posting frequency and blog growth.
      • 3-5 post per week for below average growth
      • 1 post per day for steady growth
      • 3-5 posts per day for aggressive growth
      Quality of content will also be directly related to how many people visit your blog as well. Posts should probably be a minimum of 300 words, too.

      Maybe you can try to guest post on other blogs/sites within your niche, too. This is a great way to generate traffic.

      So keep that in mind when you are trying to get visitors to your site.
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      China Newz

      China Newz is a blog introducing China's history, culture, people and places.

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  • Profile picture of the author twister85
    Heres what you're doing wrong. Shifting from one method to another randomly.

    Making money is not about trying a lot of things bur sticking to one. Focus yourself on just one stream (website will be great) and don't rest until you make something out of it.

    Good luck!!
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  • Profile picture of the author JennySweets
    My first thought is - cooking AND toys / personal blog.

    That splits the traffic targeting in two directions - and unless it's very informative or very funny, neither group is going to stay or return. (a lot of personal blogs are interesting to the author but not to anyone else - unless you can give them a reason to trust and / or love you they won't come back.)

    Try focusing on ONE of those two and going above and deciding what you are trying to give in value to your website visitors as far as that topic goes. IF you chose toys, would you just be talking about toys you like? or would you be listing pros and cons of toys, making funny videos to show of the toys, maybe asking your readers to submit pictures of their kids playing with certain toys (which makes them like you and want to return, and also hands you fresh content for the blog).

    Give them ONE thing, and make it something they want more of - that's half your battle.

    The other half of the battle is the painful one - it's TRAFFIC.

    What sources have you been using for traffic? SEO? PPC? Adwords, Facebook ads, fan pages, youtube, What? You haven't said.

    Traffic is a huge task that causes most sites to fail even with great content.

    I'd love to give you feedback on the website itself if you want. You can link here or in PM. As for traffic, let us all know what you've been doing and you will get a ton of advice i'm sure.

    You need to pick one and go for it though- website or freelancing- until the one you pick is paying enough that you can start working on the other again. (IE freelance until it works, then get back into building a website. One consistent stream of income before you move into others.)
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  • Profile picture of the author trader909
    Remember; bull shit, hype sells.

    Reality, stinks. on the Net
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    • Profile picture of the author Woodsusa
      I have to say, I agree with the previous replies: trying to focus on too many things at once will only spread you too thin. Once you have success with one aspect, whether it is your site or your freelancing, then you can start to shift your focus a little to encompass the other stuff.

      I will say this...if the services that you offer are good, then focus on them for quicker money. Even just working part time, I can almost always count on making money as a service provider whereas site traffic can take ages or never happen at all.

      Depending on the service you offer, have you considered places like Fiverr or even offering your services here on the Warrior Forum? Building up a client list is very important, and it will help you with networking later on.

      Best of luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Hill
      Originally Posted by trader909 View Post

      Remember; bull shit, hype sells.

      Reality, stinks. on the Net

      Gees, nice mindset... I'm sure you'll succeed
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  • Profile picture of the author EPoltrack77
    Making money online all comes down to traffic and conversions. It is critacle that you track your traffic and see how long people are staying on your site and what they are doing. Hopefully you researched your market and niche and there is a demand for it!

    Google is changing so much Id forget about SEO and just spend your time with other traffic sources such as social media with facebook, youtube, forums and countless others. Over time google will index what it wants and that will just be an added bonus. Hopefully you are building an asset or list with your website. Some will say the google does not rank squeeze pages but by landing page ethanstrafficsources.com is sitting in the 2nd position for the term "ethans traffic sources" and I have a youtube video sitting in the first spot. Not that that term gets a lot of traffic but I just want you to be aware thats all.

    You'll do it, set your goals and never give up!
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    Working to achieve higher results...
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    • Profile picture of the author wskinner
      Originally Posted by EPoltrack77 View Post

      Google is changing so much Id forget about SEO and just spend your time with other traffic sources such as social media with facebook, youtube, forums and countless others.
      SEO is not dead well with Google it is but remember there are 3 other search engines that have SERPS as well the BING/YAHOO combination and the little forgotten by most very powerful traffic generating search engine ASK.com. Anyway just wanted to throw that out there.

      To get back to topic I agree with the fact that you need to focus on one thing and get that one thing up and running to its full potential as it be your blog, which should be only related to one niche instead of 2 completely different niches, or freelancing. Information overload is the leading cause of failure when it comes to online business. It is so easy to start several different projects never getting anywhere with any of them because there is too much work to do with just one of them.

      Take a deep breath and figure out what you are best at and what you think can benefit you for one, and your customers for two. I would recommend picking what makes you the happiest, since once you decide on your direction you are going to be spending a lot of time promoting that service or information so make sure it is something you won't get sick of.

      Good luck out there it is a challenging game in this industry, but a living online is achievable just don't clutter your mind with to much thinking. Keep it simple an you will be alright.

      Hope This Helps
      -- Will Skinner
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      • Profile picture of the author mootonandy
        Originally Posted by wskinner View Post


        To get back to topic I agree with the fact that you need to focus on one thing and get that one thing up and running to its full potential as it be your blog, which should be only related to one niche instead of 2 completely different niches, or freelancing.
        I don't see what the problem is if he does not have a fixed niche and writes about many different categories if he has done his keyword research.

        Just a generic non niche specific domain and he is ready to go in my opinion.

        This was going to be my next blog model anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author amwarner
    Seems like you really ARE all over the place. You just need to take a step back and decide on what you're planning on focusing on.

    In business, you should never rely on just ONE method of making money, for this purpose here. You say you see a variety of traffic one day and then nothing for the next few days. Do you write any articles or blog posts? If so, are they keyword rich?

    If not, how would you expect the maximum amount of people to see your site?

    My suggestion is just to take a step back, take a deep breath, and then refocus. But on ONE thing. Either your website ... your EBay stuff ... or freelancing. But not all three starting out.
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    You should offer your services here at the Warrior Forum. There is a Warriors for Hire section. You have to offer your services at Fiverr too. Elance and Odesk are dishonest companies, you should be afraid of them, or at least very careful.

    Look also for websites and forums where you could offer your services.

    First of all try to make money by offering your services because this is the fastest way to make money online - and without spending money.

    When you will have a good portfolio and a few customers, then work on another project.





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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    You should immediately note that you made $50 on ebay, but nothing from your own website. The most sensible answer is to focus more on ebay, and do backend marketing. But if you want to be brave and dont want to put up with ebay (or Amazon).... start building an email list. You'll get to predict the amount of sales that you can earn... as your list grows. Try it again, and dont look for riches. Take it one step at a time.
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  • Profile picture of the author taaron
    Much appreciated with the advice!
    If ya'll want to check out my site, it's located at Taaron.org |.

    I've tried Fiverr, and wanted to offer photoshop work (cropping, background erasing, for example) but when it comes to uploading that mandatory gig image, I have no idea what to post, and hit a brick wall there. :/

    As for Traffic, most of it's coming from Google / Google Image search, but I have it set up so when I do a new post it'll be tweeted out and sent to Tumblr as well. I've thought about linking it to my Facebook, but I'm so incredibly uncomfortable with Facebook, I'm not sure about it. (I don't go on it much, it's mostly folks from high school and family, who's gone on to do relatively 'great' things. get jobs, made families and the like. and I'm over here all "uh... I have a new toy to put together?" :p )
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  • Profile picture of the author Charlie Meagan
    taaron
    I was in your shoes. I know exactly how you feel. I'll keep it short and sweet for you.
    All you need is a little bit of coaching. About three months ago my cousin recommended that I do some research on a guy named Chase Watts. He said his program would help me. Well, it did. I learned more in 30 days then I have in the passed 3 years. No BS. I'm just a normal guy from NJ who saw all the money being made online and wanted in. I had very little success until I got in touch with Chase Watts. Go to this link: The $1,000,000 Blueprint! enter your name and e-mail and get the free information. Look up reviews on Chase Watts if your skeptical. Also, take a look at his guarantee. No matter what your niche is online - base on your post - I promise you this will help.... Enjoy

    The $1,000,000 Blueprint!
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  • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
    Focus, focus, focus. It's been said –you are darting around trying to do too many things. If you really want to have a site focused on toys and cooking it is possible. But only if you split up your traffic on your homepage and have it going to a category page for each of those topics. Then on the category page you need to have it well optimised for the keyword term you think you can rank for (do your keyword research) and link to the main pages about that topic.

    This way, Google knows what the hell your site is about!

    If you want to know about keyword research, by the way, you can check out this free video of mine. this gives a painless method of identifying decent keywords and completely bypasses the usual "keyword research tool" bullshit – who's sales pages are just designed to squeeze poor suckers' money out of them ( OK - I'm cynical. But it's still true).

    So, now you've got your site structured right and hopefully some good quality content on your site for those keywords. Now, you spend an hour a day visiting forums in your niches (get one of them going first) and link back to your decent content. Just don't spend the whole hour putting up one post!

    Over time you are now to start to get a trickle – ever-increasing – of traffic back to your website.

    I hope this gives you food for thought.

    Malc
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    You WILL banish # Procrastination, # Email bloat, # Wasting time, # Wasting money
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    • Profile picture of the author mootonandy
      Originally Posted by malcsimm View Post

      Focus, focus, focus. It's been said -you are darting around trying to do too many things. If you really want to have a site focused on toys and cooking it is possible. But only if you split up your traffic on your homepage and have it going to a category page for each of those topics. Then on the category page you need to have it well optimised for the keyword term you think you can rank for (do your keyword research) and link to the main pages about that topic.

      This way, Google knows what the hell your site is about!

      If you want to know about keyword research, by the way, you can check out this free video of mine. this gives a painless method of identifying decent keywords and completely bypasses the usual "keyword research tool" bullshit - who's sales pages are just designed to squeeze poor suckers' money out of them ( OK - I'm cynical. But it's still true).

      So, now you've got your site structured right and hopefully some good quality content on your site for those keywords. Now, you spend an hour a day visiting forums in your niches (get one of them going first) and link back to your decent content. Just don't spend the whole hour putting up one post!

      Over time you are now to start to get a trickle - ever-increasing - of traffic back to your website.

      I hope this gives you food for thought.

      Malc
      I like the Traffic Travis keyword SEO competition tool, its really easy to use and it works.
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  • Profile picture of the author trader909
    Mike Hill -that's irony for you....i said that's the way most selling on the Net is..check the w.s.o. section to see proof. 99% of people trying to buy short cuts actually love the hype. I'd say almost all info courses, mentoring, coaching is mostly hot air and fraud oh I mean hype...let's call it hype and that's ok)

    You do not agree?
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Hill
      Originally Posted by trader909 View Post

      Mike Hill -that's irony for you....i said that's the way most selling on the Net is..check the w.s.o. section to see proof. 99% of people trying to buy short cuts actually love the hype. I'd say almost all info courses, mentoring, coaching is mostly hot air and fraud oh I mean hype...let's call it hype and that's ok)

      You do not agree?
      Irony? And all you said was 10 words... here let me quote them...

      Remember; bull shit, hype sells.

      Reality, stinks. on the Net
      So now you're saying:

      i said that's the way most selling on the Net is...
      BUT you never said that before I posted my response which was "Gees, nice mindset... I'm sure you'll succeed"

      SO DON'T GO PUTTING WORDS IN MY MOUTH... And another thing... When you use the word Irony you imply I condone lies, and bullshit. WHICH I DO NOT... and if you think I'm a little mad right now you'd be correct.

      Still don't know how you got all that from 10 freaken words... it might have been what you where thinking but it's not what YOU wrote..............

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  • Profile picture of the author trader909
    The question is why should i have to write articles,reports etc to sell on the Net? Just to please Google? Most of is copied, altered, etc and let's face it most articles/reports are outsourced.
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  • Profile picture of the author 2amtraffic
    I've found creating my website's around specific niche products and working those site's and videos to the top (through seo marketing) has really helped me to build a nice income and email list of buyers.

    Never had much success promoting generic blogs and trying to make money with adsense.
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    Have you guys heard of the new 2 AM Traffic Blog?
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  • Profile picture of the author Loopholemarketers
    If you don't know yet, the answer is: You haven't failed enough.

    Success is really just learning what doesn't work, and doing what did over and over again.

    You've made some money, though "not enough"...add it to your portfolio, scale it up if possible, then fail some more.
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  • Profile picture of the author pinkgorilla
    You may be suffering from information overload. It's best you try concentrate on one project at a time, or you will become distracted and earn nothing. This happened to me at first, and it was only when I focused and committed myself to one project that I started making money. You could try create your own info product and sell it through a squeeze page?
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  • Profile picture of the author mrfarshay
    Sinking money into a website can be valuable but the main goal is traffic/customers. You can have the coolest looking website with awesome products your selling but if no one see's it, your not going to sell anything.

    You should focus on putting a budget on helping you get your website noticed. Search Engine Optimization is a great way to do this. Hire someone to rank your keywords on the search engines so you start getting traffic.

    I am only responding to the portion about you putting money into a website because I don't know what other internet marketing skills you have. There are plenty of ways to make money online but it seems you want to sell things from a site.
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  • Profile picture of the author joshcoffy
    These warriors have given tons of advice, but I will approach the freelancing aspect!

    I brought in roughly $6,000 of work in the first 45 days on Elance.

    The only way your proposals will be shut down on elance is if you are putting your contact info within the proposal. So, here's a few tips:

    1. Complete your profile.
    2. Personalize each proposal. (no copy and paste)
    3. Know your value. (It doesn't matter if you're the most expensive or cheapest. Know your worth and you will win. For example, I bid $4,000 on a $1,000-$5,000 job and was the highest bidder, but still got the job.)

    Here's a great article that will also help you get awarded nearly every proposal.. I have a 75% conversion rate with these tactics!

    Helpful Article: Hacking Elance: The Step-by-Step Guide to How I made $23,700 in 4 weeks
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  • Profile picture of the author Jen Eick
    This is just my opinion, but....

    No offense intended at all, but it reads like a personal website, not a website designed to make sales.

    For starters...You could easily separate the topics into several different niches. Selling electronics. Cooking recipes. Etc.

    Then (and again, this is no offense intended)....get more memorable domain names for each niche. BadAssCooking.com. HawkingMyElectronics.com. Whatever. (Those may be taken, but are just 2 examples to illustrate my point.)

    People are going to misspell "www.taaron.org". It's not memorable enough, unless you give the site to people who know you by name, and even then, could easily be misspelled.

    Again, all just my 2 cents here.
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  • Profile picture of the author pinkgorilla
    Originally Posted by MarketMaster13 View Post

    Have you ever considered selling gigs at Feverr?This could be the best solution to your inconsistent income.
    All the best as you think of the best way out of your situation.
    I mentioned this in another post.

    Although you won't make that much money from Fiverr, you can still make enough to support your other internet marketing projects and cover costs like web hosting and outsourcing some work. Try to make sure the service doesn't take too long to complete in case it gets in the way of your other projects.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anoopchawla
    Don't give up mate.

    I think you are just worrying too much, calm down.

    I think your main problem is lack of focus, you are doing too many things at once.

    Here is how human brain works:
    one, two, too many.

    My suggestion is target just one method and give it your all.
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  • Profile picture of the author webrankingservices2000
    Banned
    Originally Posted by taaron View Post

    Hi guys.

    I ended up sinking way too much time and money into my website, which has put me in into a poor place. It doesn't help my ad impressions do really well one day, then zero zero zero zero for the next couple of days.

    I've started selling stuff on eBay and have been doing OK. made roughly $50 so far, but not enough to cover rent or bills.

    I've also tried signing up to oDesk for freelancing work, and despite putting in 8 applications; I've found the job was against oDesk's rules (this happened twice), or had no response to my applications.

    What am I doing wrong? :/
    You need to look at your strengths and work on it. Do not just from one thing to another. Email me on info @ gen next tech . com, let us discuss
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  • Profile picture of the author taaron
    Appreciate the input everyone. I spent the weekend, taking it all in.

    As for saying it seems like a personal site, I'm not offended at all.

    When I started this project, I went into it thinking of it as a personal site that talked about personal interests, projects (and so on), that just happens to sell stuff as well.

    I had planned on getting affiliation from the sites I most actively shop at, and did (for some of them), along with Adsense, eBay and Amazon... however Adsense was the only one I ever figured out how incorporate into my site. The rest I'm not sure how.

    Granted, there's not many posts on the site, but that's mostly due to finding out I like photography much more than writing. (not to say I don't like writing. If I can get a good start going, I'm good to keep going. Then get stuck on a closing. Whee.)

    I've also thought about incorporating YouTube into the mix, doing model kit demonstrations, toy reviews, but between 'stage fright' and the fact there's quite a few folks already doing decently at it, it kind of makes it hard to jump in with both feet.
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    • Profile picture of the author maxfactor
      Becoming an Amazon affiliate is easy (unless you live in certain states). Here's information about signing up.
      https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/
      Youtube videos are a great way to get traffic and publicity and Google ranks many of them well. If you don't want to appear in the video yourself you don't have to, many videos are like that. Just because there's already plenty of videos, there's always room for more. You could make how-to videos or convert some of your articles into videos.
      Since you know a lot about photography have you also thought about creating and selling your own products?
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  • Profile picture of the author svetod
    Don't think of your money and time as wasted, but as INVESTED!
    If you can turn around your way of thinking, you will start to benefit. I struggled a lot in the past, but never gave up and here I am today doing affiliate marketing, having plenty of free time and money.
    Let me know if you have any questions!
    Signature
    Want To Know How I Make Money Online? Read my story http://affiliate-lifestyle.com/
    Follow me on Instagram for Daily Inspiration & Free Tips: svetlintodd
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    • Profile picture of the author MarioKing
      I second that because you can either see what you have as a positive or a negative and your mind will prove you right all the time - have you ever been wrong on a topic you found out you were wrong on after but you came up with a badass argument at the time to support your illusions?.. It's like that in whatever scenario.
      Originally Posted by svetod View Post

      Don't think of your money and time as wasted, but as INVESTED!
      If you can turn around your way of thinking, you will start to benefit. I struggled a lot in the past, but never gave up and here I am today doing affiliate marketing, having plenty of free time and money.
      Let me know if you have any questions!
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  • Profile picture of the author MKCookins
    Sounds to me your making the mistake like many new comers do, and you are not building your email list.

    It is VERY VERY hard to sell to first time visitors, Also it is hard to sell to people on blogs directly. There are too many distractions to focus your visitor to what you want them to see and click.

    This is why personally I love squeeze pages. There is only one option a visitor can do when they arrive -- they can either sign up to my list, or not. THAT'S IT!

    The great thing about a list is you connect with your subscribers on a personal level where they get to know, like, and trust you -- which therefore makes it 100 times easier to sell products and creating buying customers for you in the future.

    So If I were you I would start adding opt in pages all over your blog -- or just set up a simple squeeze page.

    Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author Fazal Mayar
    Building a list should be a priority because you would have long term subscribers. I suggest you keep working hard and do the right methods.
    Signature

    Blogger at RicherOrNot.com (Make Money online blog but also promoting ethical internet marketing)

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  • Profile picture of the author SoCal Digital
    You should create something of value to others and try selling that
    Signature

    Search engine optimization and social media marketing services http://www.socaldigitalmarketing.com

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  • Profile picture of the author advertisewind
    I am just like you tarron. a very confused newbie just trying to make money on line and truly ending up nowhere, very frustrated surely.
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    • Profile picture of the author advertisewind
      I thought i was the only one, but this forum is really helpful I am begining to wake up, after reading a few posts, anyway I am not giving up and will dig until I get it.
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      • Profile picture of the author advertisewind
        What can I do to draw traffic to my site, on a string budget?
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        • Profile picture of the author Jen Eick
          advertisewind,
          What are you selling? Is your site up?

          Originally Posted by advertisewind View Post

          What can I do to draw traffic to my site, on a string budget?
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        • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
          Originally Posted by advertisewind View Post

          What can I do to draw traffic to my site, on a string budget?
          Facebook - it's free
          Content Marketing - also free
          Traffic Exchanges - another freebie
          Forum Marketing - Free again

          Research the forum and you will find about 100 others.

          Benjamin Ehinger
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      • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
        Originally Posted by advertisewind View Post

        I thought i was the only one, but this forum is really helpful I am begining to wake up, after reading a few posts, anyway I am not giving up and will dig until I get it.
        Haha - no, advertisewind, you are not the only one. You are in the majority, I assure you! This is a tough game but you'll get there if you keep your wits about you and look out for scammers (- especially the ones dressed like non-scammers LOL).

        Good luck

        Malc
        Signature

        You WILL banish # Procrastination, # Email bloat, # Wasting time, # Wasting money
        Getting Things Done PLUS Evernote turned my life around - read here how I do it
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  • Profile picture of the author Miguelito203
    Originally Posted by taaron View Post

    Hi guys.

    I ended up sinking way too much time and money into my website, which has put me in into a poor place. It doesn't help my ad impressions do really well one day, then zero zero zero zero for the next couple of days.

    I've started selling stuff on eBay and have been doing OK. made roughly $50 so far, but not enough to cover rent or bills.

    I've also tried signing up to oDesk for freelancing work, and despite putting in 8 applications; I've found the job was against oDesk's rules (this happened twice), or had no response to my applications.

    What am I doing wrong? :/
    You need to decide on one business model that you want to pursue and stick with it until you see some success. If you want to get into ghostwriting, you might want to check out Ghostwriting Cash by Tiffany Lambert (formally Tiffany Dow).

    Good luck,
    Joey
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  • Profile picture of the author djneill
    That is a very general question you need to really be more specific on what you have done, and are doing. The most I got from it is selling stuff on ebay and odesk which odesk is an outsourcing resource so you're not going to make much money there and with ebay unless you have an "online consignment shop" or a lot of high ticket items ebay is just an expensive craigslist.
    If you have a website you should have a digital product to sell, a sales funnel, something that turns visitors into buyers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Millefiore
    Focus on one thing. If you find it hard to do so, then get an accountability partner, join mastermind groups or simply a group of people working towards the same goal like a specific challenge or something. At east you can keep yourself motivated being around others who are also going doing the same thing as you.
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  • Profile picture of the author zahanega
    Persistence is key. Keep on trying and learning and success will come.
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    • Profile picture of the author taaron
      Man. I really appreciate all the input on this. I shoulda checked this morning when I was feeling so defeated and in such of a mood of giving up.

      I managed to get into a Virtual Assistant test, (not completed, mostly because I'm very unclear on how they want me to complete the task.) and then managed to get a test for a transcription position, subtitling videos. (and then got to a point where the audio was totally intelligible and had no idea how to handle that.)

      Then, to top it off, it seemed like I managed to pay off my rent (sending my account into an overdraft) to pay off my August Rent, thinking I was out of woods on getting evicted... to find out I need to come up with close to $800 by the 10th...or I'm at risk of eviction again.

      Luckily this afternoon, my stubbornness kicked in, and these posts are just making me want to be even more stubborn and keep working till I can no more.
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  • Profile picture of the author trader909
    So if i say "drugs sell well....I am a drug dealer or condone it? it couldn't be an observation?

    Silly mindset.

    But what i quoted is 100% true and i stand behind it.....Read the w.s.o. section and see the biggest sellers. It's hyped up crap. The good business educational ones (reality) often tank. People want big, easy money so "marketers" provide it. I.M 101 - Hype,spam.scam. You disagree?

    "demand - supply"

    "but, but that's simply good business!"

    Selling crack is ok then?

    So. just because i point out an observation....i too must be doing it?

    Bull Sh**

    It's how you interpreted it!


    Remember; bull shit, hype sells.

    Reality, stinks. on the Net
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  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    Originally Posted by taaron View Post

    I've started selling stuff on eBay and have been doing OK. made roughly $50 so far, but not enough to cover rent or bills.

    I've also tried signing up to oDesk for freelancing work, and despite putting in 8 applications; I've found the job was against oDesk's rules (this happened twice), or had no response to my applications.
    If your selling your own stuff on Ebay your not making any money because your net worth didnt change.

    As for oDesk. I can speak very well on that subject. 8 applications is nothing. I have been a freelance programmer for about 5 years. I was top rated on RAC/V-Worker before they sold out (in the 99.8th percentile). I am top rated on Elance (over 115 projects with a perfect 5 star rating) and Im ranked well with oDesk (I dont use oDesk much). Despite the fact that I have fantastic reviews and ratings I still only land about 35% of the projects I bid on. As a new worker you will probably land around 8-10% at best. Which means that with 8 proposals you would expect to get 0 jobs.

    Some tips to get started freelancing.

    1) Post low bids to entice users to give you a try.

    2) Post detailed bids. Reference stuff in the bid to show you read it. But keep it concise dont waste the buyers time.

    3) Remember that to start your not working to make money, your working to build a reputation. When I first started on Elance for example I was bidding on jobs with a rate of $8 per hour in mind. People gave me a shot because I was so cheep. As my reputation went up I increased my prices. Currently I charge an average of $75 per hour on Elance (I do less for repeat workers) and guess what. I get it, because my ratings are so good. There are always people who will pay for quality. You just need to prove to them (via your work history) that YOU are quality.

    4) Always follow through with what you promise clients and treat them like gold. I have several customers who only give me there projects now just because I have always treated them so good.
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  • Profile picture of the author hngems
    Finding and getting a job in Odesk is the toughest part. You have to make a profile then applying for job and waiting for clients to calls you for an interview but it ends with disappointment. It might be sometime frustrating waiting for your first job or getting an indication on the best way to begin. One of the reasons why clients do not hire new people is because of their no work record or projects to showcase. Think hard, put a couple of work samples on your portfolio, pass a couple of additional important tests, upload profile picture and make your profile more visible with more details. Have some patience, it will work.
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  • Profile picture of the author rosemarybroeker
    When I started to read your post I was messed because you just told us what you have done for your website and how much you have spent money for it. But still we were not clear about your target. I mean I could not understand what your goal was actually. But after saw your clarification I can understand that what is the exact problem.
    Well now you should take a time and think about what would be good for you. I would suggest you go for freelancing and start with a local market. First you need to choose a comfortable zone. Start from that field where you are active and after practicing you can go in other fields. In first time may be you cannot earn much money as you want but still I would say start with small because so many times we started with huge project but we messed up all things. So start with that project which is your forte.
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