I'm Am Trying Again

Hello everyone,

This is a long post and I apologize for that upfront.

Have you ever "given up" before only to come back to IM and try again?

Like so many other IM newbies out there I experienced failure after failure in IM...I've stayed away from it for so long...I'm surprised my forum membership didn't expire!

About a year and a half ago I tried IM and failed completely and miserably....again...

I bought an e-book, re-read Travis' bum marketing guide, read a ton of Pot Pie Girls Squidoo lenses...got all smart and stuff and went out and put up a website about....get this...affiliate marketing....yea...so smart...

Here is a reality check for me....being in hindsight and all...I read and saw only what I thought Travis and Pot Pie Girl were saying and not what they actually were saying.

I guess you can see where that went..straight to the toilet....60 days and 1 subscriber to my list... It's impossible to teach what you don't know..

I know that this sounds so obvious...so ridiculous...but it's what I saw everyone else doing so I joined in that MMO market that so many were making huge money on...(they are probably not)

I came on here and got some help and some straight talk and went back to work...this time I tried something in health and failed miserably again....I am pretty sure it was my confidence level in this market as well (or more accurately, my lack of confidence)

Frustrated and tired of spending money on two failed websites I canceled everything. I took down my Squidoo lenses, my websites, my auto responders, and my Ezine articles. They were just sitting there collecting dust any way.

Last July...I did a self assessment and came to the conclusion that I really didn't know what I was doing and this is impossible and I will focus my efforts elsewhere to increase my income (job promotion...)

For kicks I did one more thing.

I took a topic that I am intimately aware of and did some minor keyword research. This was a physical product.

I went to Squidoo and made one last lens...100% playing around with just what I knew.

I didn't use any affiliate products...I used the Amazon module to promote the products. I did some minor key word research.

I published the lens and walked away...

I didn't log in to Squidoo to track anything...I actually forgot about it 100%

I didn't do any back linking, articles, or other SEO techniques.

I just walked away from IM and started focusing on finishing my masters and other hobbies.

Well, nearly a year later, and I found the IM folder on my MacBook while cleaning out my documents.

Curiosity got the best of me and I started reading and googling some Travis Sago and other IM names. I have spent about a week studying, not researching, just studying.

Finally I said to myself that I really need to try this again...but this time try to sell and market by meeting a real need.

Try to build a email list by building rapport and a relationship with the readers/subscribers.

So, last night I went to Squidoo to open another account...determined to bootstrap my way into this business. However, I found that I never deactivated my old account...and I found that my thrown together lens was still up and running....and getting pretty steady traffic...

And...people had bought products off of that lens!!! How in the world did this happen? It hasn't made much but $26.00 is more than I ever made doing things and that is with no other SEO or back links.

Anyway, just wanted to post my little story on here. I am encouraged by the traffic and will focus IM on physical products and actually build relationships and tell stories and try to meet needs.

As far as my little Squidoo lens that has somewhat re-ignited a drive in me I'm going to keep working with it. I'm going to do some more SEO and get more traffic to my page. And see if I can make it even more productive.

If y'all are interested at all in my progress with this I will post back here on this thread and kinda let this evolve in front of everyone.

And yes I know I need my own website and affiliate products and my own list. I am pretty excited and after spending the past week arming myself with data and not just dreams and wishes I believe I am going to make this work!

Thanks!

Jeremiah