whseo99

First of all, great forum, ive read some truly inspiring IM stuff and some nice people, its the first IM forum ive found myself on where it seems genuinely helpful to people who dont know stuff, rather than just comments like GET OFF YOUR LAZY A** NOOB that i read on many others.

Guess i am inspired to write this after weeks of reading and information overload, confusion and just general wondering and lack of direction.

I have over 10 years of ecommerce development, covering bits of experience in all aspects, jack of all trades master of none id say, I started off as a designer but decided i wasnt creative enough i then worked with lots of open source stuff, vbuletin, oscommerce, joomla, installation and 'modification', webmastering, I was doing SEO back since 2000 as a full time job for a few years, so have vast experience of cloaking, ip delivery and most wh seo tactics, and lots of bh seo stuff on board too, domains, hosting/config bla bla the list is huge but i was out of the loop for a while and just really have lost direction. While i was out of the loop i ran some online pharm businesses for a few companies and got some customer service type experience, all adds up to the online experience.

So it seems like i have alot of insight, skills and so on...but im totally stuck and if anyone can give me a kick up the arse, id be appreciative cos i just cant seem to get going. I took a while off in a total nother field lost some money it didnt work, was computer related but not IM or online work. Ive been offered a few decent SEO positions in real companys but i desperately want to work for myself in IM more than anything, i just cant seem to get going, seems like i have a lack of a vital ingredient. I am hard working and feel motivated, just seems to be something holding back.

I have a child on the way and i am trying to do the right thing, ie stability however I think i could provide a better life than a 9-5 even though the salary is ok.

If you have read this far, thanks, would appreciate any feedback as i know all this 7am to 12am reading and software testing isnt going to earn me any money, need to actually do something....

Adrian Cooper

10 years is a serious amount of time in IM. Although I have been involved in the Internet for 21 years, I have only been doing IM for 12 years.

Over those 12 years it has been utterly staggering to be part of the changes.

Until about 5 years ago it was all wild west stuff we were all, along with many of the legends - many friends - many retired now - developing stuff to game the search engines, then they would move forward and so would we and so on.

Like you I did IP delivery aka cloaking, content generation, scraping, spinning and lots more no one has ever heard of.

Those days are over.

The only way forward is to treat Google as a respected partner and play by their rules.

IM now is a business, and anyone not approaching it as a business will fail.

I have been in technology all that time and developed a lot of my own stuff as well as always having my own servers which has been tremendously useful.

My advice is use your knowledge to develop a membership site. Membership sites are the best business model in my opinion - and I have seen and used plenty previously - and the only one that is genuinely sustainable and worth real money to sell.

So what are you passionate about?

Make a membership site around that.

Above all just do it.

I have been a single father for the last 14 years, and running my businesses while raising my three sons has been an amazing experience, and one that I would never have missed for anything.

whseo99

hi, thanks for your reply

I own a membership site with lots of content and around 5k members, it came from a spin of a site i was asked to moderate many years ago, but its just really gone stagnent, i have so much content and stuff, after spending around 2 years building it, i just totally lost interest, i kinda left before the miracle happened if you want due to lack of motivation, but also since people just really stopped posting also. Its just kinda sat there now, maybe thats the thing i should have been concentrating on, just hard to see it making me a living as its free and i couldnt possibly charge for anything on there right now.

I remember the days when cloaking ip delivery was new and i can remember being truly passionate and excited about gaining results, thats why I am back here and what i would like to do, like to be able to see results of my work and feel satisfied.

thanks again for reading

Adrian Cooper

Yes - with a membership site you need to keep adding content, if only every month. A forum alone is not enough.

5K members paying say $27 per month would be a serious income.

There are still plenty of opportunities - in CPA for example - but they need to be figured out.

KenThompson

Hi there...

I read your post, and some things you said reminded me of myself. There are definite similarities.

I'm 51, now. I started my online business quest over 10 years ago. I covered a lot of ground and taught myself a lot. We have different areas of expertise, though. I really do understand your feeling of something missing. But it's not like it used to be. Things are much better now, and I'm about to launch a new project I've been preparing for.

All of your experiences are not wasted, not at all. I know you've done a lot of soul-searching. That's two of us. lol. I don't know how this will come across. But I'll tell you something that really helped me very much. I don't know the best way to put this other than to say I asked for guidance. I didn't ask any person. Then, I kinda went on intuitive autopilot and made an effort to be aware. The end result is that I received what I asked for.

You may want to consider taking the seo jobs just for financial security's sake while deciding what to pursue in IM. Sure, it becomes more difficult to sit down after your job and work on the IM. But you're strong, I'm sure, and you can do it.

Regarding the membership site...

You got great experience building a membership site. You may be able to sell it. If the membership is non-responsive, then of course that will hinder maximum profits. But still, it is an asset you own.

You can resurrect it by re-packaging the content, perhaps add new things to it. Then re-launch it, build it, charge for membership... then perhaps sell it.

Or, create a product that instructs people how to start, build, and develop membership sites. You've done it, so you're the perfect person to create such a product. Start a new membership site teaching people how to start, build, and develop membership sites.

You can possibly create membership sites instructing people in all the things you know. You have esoteric knowledge. You can create info products, or packaged into physical for greater profits, based on your knowledge.

There's really quite a bit you can do.

Do you enjoy working with people? Do you enjoy teaching? The answers may help you to decide certain things.

One thing I would definitely recommend is being patient and not rushing into something you're not sure about just because you're dying to do something. If you do, anything's possible and it could work out. Chances are good that the opposite may happen.

Hope some of that helps, in some way.

Take care... and don't worry about a thang. It'll work out fine. (I know these things!)

Ken Thompson

The Ugly Truth >> http://www.WayneMadsenReport.com

whseo99

I like working with people who i can bounce technical and IM ideas off, but i dont like working with moaning idiots, but some customer service stuff is fun.

The projects ive been involved in have all been pretty big long term stuff, i feel more interested in getting some decent results in google for something and adding to it slowly but surely, although i dont wanna let all my experience just go to waste, there are so many possibilities its overwhelming to a point of being paralysed by it or so it seems!

appreciate people taking the time to reply and hoping i can find some direction, i do have some products i could sell as an affiliate due to the amount of contacts ive picked up over the years which interest me, but they are not niche and it would be competetive but could make money for sure.

Veredfu

Hi
I have to admit that as I was reading your request, I thought that I wish I had the experience that you have. Your experience is a great gift that you should use to help yourself and others. If I was at your place I think I would start a freelance SEO business. To start with I would approach the companies that offered you a job, and offer them SEO service as a freelancer, working from home. In this way you can have some secure income while you explore the IM world. To develop your SEO business you can have a blog sharing your knowledge about it and at the same time offering your services or guidance, as well as related affiliate products that you found useful (as an expert that will know what's good much more than the average guy), eventually you can also create your own product and offer that on your website.
If you don't have time to write regular posts for the blog by yourself, you can always hire someone to write for you.
I really wish you good luck, and hope that you'll find a way to use all the experience that you gathered over the years.

Best regards,
Vered
www.make-money-easily-at-home.com

whseo99

as im reading, hate to admit it cos i dont know if i am correct but often think the problem is sometimes confidence, I remember thinking i would never get a job but went for interviews and got offers, i think the problem is also that like i said above, i am jack of all trades, master of none, i dont feel i have the right to say i am an expert on anything and perhaps there are people who are so called experts with only similar knowledge but have great confidence and marketing skills, its like, i think there is something missing from my knowledge bank that special secret that all the gurus know, and i dont lol

ayolov

Dear Jack of all trades,

You are not alone, and your knowledge is a great support, it gives me the impression you feel insecure you have not mastered one "thing", yet that makes you a universal man, who can react to any environment however adverse it may be.

I must have read dozens of e-books about marketing online, marketing offline, guru tips, subscribed for years to over 20 newsletters, some payed, some free; followed the instructions of the current guru religiously, step by step yet the recipes failed again and again.

I often looked for the "ultimate tip", the "expert technique", the steps that I would need to sell online... it never came. I was amazed that people, less knowledgeable than I would turn a hefty profit while I was still stuck; maybe you feel like this too.

Some sites I even "carbon copied", I did exactly the same thing a successful site was doing, sometimes I toped the site in important keywords...then why was my site a big looser?

I would jump to production as soon as possible and skipped all the boring steps of market research. Was it all BS? why, if I was ranking well was my site unable to sell anything?

It was not until I understood that the core of IM is people. Once you understand your public and relate to them, you'll have no problem knowing what they need and what they will pay for. You have to become "one of them", experience their desires and disappointments. This is the way yo can finally sit down and write a touching salespage; once you know what your visitors needs are you can send a newsletter that creates immediate response.

There is no recipe, there is no trick; there are people with needs and problems you have to understand and offer a solution in order to make a profit.

Devote as much time as you can making friends and visiting forums of your target market, slowly you will begin to understand the lingo in the forums, slowly you'll visit the forum just to check if someone has answered a poster in distress, you will eagerly log in to talk to fiends and give honest advice. You have to open up, be sincere. You'll know plenty of hangouts, may users you will recognize in other forums, you'll know the products and what people think about each and every one of them.

This may seem like too much, but this is truly how you are able to sell; because when you recommend a product you do it with confidence, because you know what else is out there and what advantages it has over them.

Look for a good niche and start hanging out and meeting people, this is the way to start, just relax and have fun!

All the best,

Mario.

Desarrollo Negocios Web Cómo hacer un próspero negocio web, ¡en español!
A bilungual site to grow and prosper online

ahlexis

Dude! You are an EXPERT!

If I were you I would search the forum for the term "offline gold" and read up on the topic, find as much free info here on the forum as you can (if you haven't already read what that topic is about).

According to the Offline Gold theory, most of the people here on this site are experts compared to the offline business owners.

I agree with the other poster who said you should return to the companies that have offered you a position and tell them you will be a freelancer. If they are willing to pay a salary for your expertise, then perhaps they are willing to pay for results-based performance as well. And the thing is, if you structure it right, since you will be freelance you will have time to take on much more than just the one "client" who would be your employer. Dare I say just as much stability but a larger income?

If stability = health insurance in your mind, consider health insurance options available for the self-employed.

Whatever you decide, create a picture in your mind of the perfect day for you. Picture what you would do to get money during your perfect day (try thinking a bit beyond just "go to the ATM and withdraw X number of dollars) and then work your way backward to figure out how to get it.

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

Verizon Droid...The phone that drinks battery juice faster than a Hummer drinks gasoline!
Overall: Not Quite Ready for Prime Time

Adrian Cooper

One of the main issues is that most people are always looking outside of themselves for answers when in fact all answers to every question and solution already exist within.

whseo99

I doubt the job would take on freelance due to I dont really have any proven results to show anyone, its always a bind when your work has been taken over by someone else, messed up and or taken down, so i would have to show my worth by making progress within 1 job then suggesting to work from home or go freelance i think. This was partly my idea anyway, i never want to work full time forever, i dont get that idea, cant understand people who do it.

Its great to hear other people have felt the same way, dont feel so alone with it, its amazing feeling when you read that other people have experienced the same stuff "seo anonymous" i could say cos then i realise, im not so abnormal lol, its part of the process it seems.

my perfect day would consist of waking up, checking work, reading a few forums, do any important emails or work, go to gym, come home work again, but in few months will hope to spend time with new baby also, then download some stuff, watch mma, play xbox, and do some more work late at night, have free time to travel or go where i want when i want also and take my work with me in laptop.

Thing is lifes pretty much been like that for last 6 years, so its hard to be in this position also.

thanks to all the people who replied, great reads

kadensnga

I found that out a few minutes ago when I posted the answers to half my problems in the form of a "cry for help".

Famous Last Words: "I could make money from an OUTHOUSE, if I had a computer with Internet access and a phone"!

Want to make a ****load of of residual income. My brother does 10k per month and works 2 hours per day. Check out this link. http://www.supplyofwealth.com/

Adrian Cooper

Exactly.

All the answers are within, but in IM generally people are brainwashed in to seeking answers in "products" and "forums".

I don't think I have ever followed an IM strategy contrived by anyone else, I always figure it out for myself. I even spent some days studying all Google's patents

The best way to go is have your own products or service - membership site - and just bring traffic to it. That's it really.

Affiliate marketing is not the way to go because when you introduce a landing page you haveintroduced another level of click-though subject to the same stats, so it is immediately diluting. And then there is the quality of the sale letter.

With your own product or service you drive traffic directly to your own sales letter, and other affiliates promote it for you.

I just did a Google search for the eBook version of my paperback book, in quotes so the search is absolute, and there are 19,900 pages - mostly affiliates promoting it.

Products and membership sites are the only way to control a business, and it is so simple to do.

Veredfu

I can relate to the fact that you don't feel expert. I think that is a problem of very professional people. They're not satisfied with less than perfect.

You have to understand that whatever you know with 10 years of experience is much more than most of the I-marketers, and you don't have to be perfect, just teach what you know. Don't teach what you're not sure about. You wrote that you know a lot about SEO techniques. You don't have to know every single technique that exists in order to start a blog or make your SEO information product.

Even if you knew all the SEO techniques, by the time you write them down probably something would be added, since things are changing so fast.

You can write what you know or even make a video and show people exactly how to do it, or offer your service for people who get stuck. There is so much information about SEO, and often it's still hard to understand how to technically do everything, and how to do it in different system etc...

Other people would love to learn those things that you know and take it for granted. Feeling insecure is fine to some reasonable extent, but if it paralyzes you, just give it up, you don't need it in your life.

The only difference that I see between successful marketers and failures is that successful marketers take action. They keep trying to do things – they don't always have the best products (I was personally disappointed with some of the products I purchased from some famous marketers), but they keep doing things.

You don't have much to lose, just try to offer your knowledge and service, and don't let insecurity stand on your way.

Best regards,
Vered
www.make-money-easily-at-home.com

Adrian Cooper

90% of SEO is getting quality back links with anchor text that matches the keyword on the page.

The only issue is actually getting them

Success in anything is 90% Mind and yes taking action. Most people come up with a good idea and then spend the next few days convincing themselves why it won't work.

If you look around you will see many crazy sites making big money, quite simply because they took action, did it, and never thought for a moment it would fail.

ayolov

Yes, but if you have 100 links you will find out that there will be 10 that send the most traffic and really affect your ranking; it is much of looking for the right places to link from and that are related to the keywords you are targeting.

The best way is to focus on those 10 highly profitable links, even if they are the hardest to get, they are the best investments.

Desarrollo Negocios Web Cómo hacer un próspero negocio web, ¡en español!
A bilungual site to grow and prosper online

gerry5

Hi,
I identify with your dilemma of being stuck. The only way out of this is to carry out a personal inventory. When a business fails to take inventory it usually goes broke - the same goes for an individual. Taking inventory requires a large degree of honesty but produces great results. The primary reason we get stuck is that we are working at cross purposes or are in conflict with our true selves. Taking inventory will help to expose these subtle conflicts. Write out your inventory and it is a great help if you can involve another person in the exercise, someone who understands completely what you are trying to achieve. The resulting insights will help to release you and create new focus, based on new understanding. Detach from your present confusion and let new ideas and insights emerge.

Teddy Garcia

I too have been building websites for over 10 years. First site was built in 1996 but I remember writing programs on a Ti-99 when I was about 6.

I discovered the "real" side of internet marketing about 3 years ago and have become a die hard student of it since then so I feel your pain about information overload.

It wasn't until I took Rich Schefren's GPS course last year that I finally realized what was really preventing me from being incredibly successful online.

If you're dealing with info overload this is a great course to help you focus on what's really important.

Fact of the matter is internet marketing is simple, especially when you have the technical skills like we do, problem is that it's not always simple and we tend to get in our own way alot because we want things to be perfect or we insist on re-inventing the wheel.

Resist those temptations then learn how to focus and delegate and nothing will stop you.