What's the biggest mistake a newbie can make?

Yep, I had that same problem Ken. I would get frustrated if I didn't see the results I wanted to see within a week, then I'd jump to another project. It's very important to focus on one thing and master it.

My biggest mistake was thinking that this was going to be easy. Finally I snapped at my year of failure and sat behind the computer for days reading and reading and reading some more.

When I first started seriously marketing I was going to work from 8:30am to 5pm, ate dinner when I got home and worked from 6PM till midnight or 1AM every night on my sites, niches, and marketing plans. It wasn't until then that I started to make a steady income, and even then it was worth pennies per hour.

This stuff was hard when I first started and today I get to enjoy my evenings as everything has been built and just grows while I monitor it.

yeah, jumping to too many different ideas is a big thing. Also forking out lots of cash on paid advertising before understanding exactly what your doing

I've been doing this for 15 years now, so I haven't made the biggest mistake yet.

And that mistake is GIVING UP, NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Perhaps the biggest mistake you CAN do is to setup a new adwords account with a huge daily limit and high bids, leaving it unattended while on vacation, only to find your credit card can't pay your hotel bill.

I agree with Ken, ive been doing this for 4 year working from home online.... and I stick to one method and work hard, and i don't pay attention to all the money making systems out there that claim I can make a million in my sleep, well i do make money in my sleep but you know what i mean lol

Leaping from eBook to eBook and not applying anything I learnt.

I had a similar issue Ken. When I made the decision to make money with one method, I stuck with it until I made money.

Also, the lure of trying to get rich quick is a problem to watch out for. You make money in exact proportion to the value you add to the marketplace.

RB

I think one big mistake that newbies make is skimming. You read over something and skim. Then you try it and it doesnt work - because you missed one very important detail... or whatever. The bottom line is that there is a lot to learn and understand and you have got to get your hands dirty and put in the hours and hours (and hours) necessary to learn it.

Information overload is a big problem that newbies face. 'Gurus' keep coming up with products every single day, so for the newbie, the question is who should they follow? The danger is not to focus on one system, one approach, but to keep jumping from one guru method to another, but not accomplishing anything in the end.

Everything already said, but also very fundamental is a lot of newbies don't realise the need for keyword research. The other thing is making sites and trying to monetise them out of the gate. It usually fails.

Newbies often will buy IM products because of all the hype, then quickly grow bored with it when something else is flashed in their face. Not staying focused is a big problem.

The biggest mistake I made was buying to many domains, then just letting them sit there and then before I know it they have to be renewed. Start small and put them to use.

Great advice, Bill. I'd venture to say that listbuilding is probably one of the most unglamorous topics to the fresh newbie, as it takes quite a bit of time to build properly, and just about every newbie that I know of wants to see results now - which obviously isn't going to happen with listbuilding.

So what exactly is the biggest mistake when setting up an internet business? It's not understanding what all is involved before you jump right in. Might sound rather silly but a lot of people head to the internet with a dream of making a ton of money because they've read all the hype about how easy and possible it is. The problem is, it's only hype. So people start buying one informational product after another trying to find that golden nugget that's going to tell them exactly what it is that they need to do in order to have success. I hate to break it to you but it just doesn't exist.
Depending on which direction you chose to go will depend on what types of programs or services will be required. If you decide to start the easiest way, which is doing affiliate marketing, you can learn the ropes promoting other people's products without having to have your own domain name, website, hosting service or autoresponder series. It's crucial that you have all of those if building any other type of internet business.
You can still promote products based on your hobby, your passion or skill sets that you are familiar with because this will give you a step above the rest due to the fact that you are already knowledgeable in those areas. But it will also give you the time to learn the industry which consists of who your target market is, where you can locate them, how you are going to promote your products to them, how you are going to get them on your list, how you are going to build relationships with them and what other types of products you can promote to them in your particular niche. See, there is a lot involved.
I hope this article helped you understand the biggest mistake when setting up an internet business. Hey, we all wanted to make our fortune yesterday but this is a learning process just like everything else. Take your time, learn the industry and you will be well on your way to a successful internet business.

Not learning from failures and trying to reinvent the wheel.

Not acting and thinking that everything has to be just perfect for it to work...

The biggest mistake newbies make, easily, is giving up too easily or changing direction too fast.

Getting too many information and advice from the wrong and unreliable sources. Taking every advice I can find was the biggest mistake I made as a newbie, it made me unfocused and ruin the whole plan.

I also say it's a mistake if you're an online marketer and you don't join this forum or at least visit this forum regularly even if you're not a member. Some of the best advices I have implemented so far came from this forum and one of my main source of income is actually from one of the programs I bought in WSO.

Personally, I think it's essential to make mistakes in this business. As long as you don't make the same mistake twice, all you are doing is cultivating your level of experience.

Awesome post! I am pretty much a newbie, and I tell ya it is very difficult finding how to get started. There is so much information out there, and alot of it is bad or not what you should be trying to learn starting out. Heck, I am having trouble just setting up a squeeze page, registration page, download page, etc just to try to start up a list. I have spent all week just trying to get that going.

Don't go chasing phony quick-riches, business in a box dreams sold to you by hypster gurus who've never made a dime using the system they're selling to YOU.

Exactly same thing happened with me And I was getting frustrated every other week for failure.

Everyone starts out as a newbie, so did I. And guess what, the worst you can do with yourself is giving up your efforts.

My advice to all of those newbies, striving to make money, is that pick up one field at a time and stick to it until you make something out of it.
NEVER GIVE UP!

Cheers,
Sarim.

There's some fantastic advice in this thread already. Here's something else to consider -

The biggest mistake I made was looking at online marketing as a way to make money. It isn't.

Building a business is a way to make money. Online marketing is a way to promote that business. I didn't get that at first.

Sure, just about every day I heard someone say - 'You need to think of this as a business,' but I didn't truly understand what that meant exactly. It wasn't until I struggled for a year and saw little to no results that I finally realized that I was the problem and I needed to reevaluate my approach.

So I started aggressively studying business. I wanted to know -

What made one business massively successful while another collapsed within 12 months?
Why do 80% of all businesses fail within two years?
Is it luck, timing or some other uncontrollable factor or are there specific things that need to be done in order to ensure success?
And if the results are controllable, to a greater extent, what factors play a part in achieving those results?

Here's what I discovered...

The results are absolutely controllable.

An outstanding business is run on systems. Each component of the business has a system in place for running it. Remove the operator and replace him/her with someone new and the component still works flawlessly because the system is already in place to make it do so.

The E-Myth Revisited, a outstanding book by Michael Gerber, uses McDonalds as an example. Anyone who buys a McDonalds franchise receives a manual of systems, already in place, designed so that anyone can learn them and follow them exactly the way it was intended. Every single McDonalds produces the exact same products, consistently, over and over again, because a system was put in place to make that happen. McDonalds is the number one business in the world because of this.

McDonalds is not the number one business in the world because they produce the best hamburgers in the world. As a matter of fact, most people would claim to be able to make a better hamburger than they do. But McDonalds isn't in the hamburger business. McDonalds is in the business of capturing and keeping customers. People go there because they know exactly what they're going to get every single time. They consistently produce the same results.

Our businesses should do the same thing.

That being said, here are some things to consider when getting started online -

- What need in the marketplace can you help fill, either with your current expertise or by dedicating yourself to becoming an expert in that area?
- How do you want your business to look five years from now?
- How will you acheive that? (Work backwards from the end point to where you are now and develop a series of systems to help bridge the gap)
- What will be your preferred method for getting your message out there? (Videos, CDs, DVDs, Writing, ect.)
- What skills do you need to develop to achieve all of this?

These are all important questions to ask when starting out. It may seem overwhelming at first. It certainly was for me. But we have a choice to make. Do I want to just wing it and throw together some things that I learn and hope that it all works out.....or....Do I want to take the time to develop the skills I need to guarantee my success and build a lasting, thriving business that gives me the freedom to live an extraordinary life and make a serious impact in the lives of others?

We all have 24 hours in a day and we all choose to do whatever it is we wish to do with that time.

Why not choose to have control over the outcome?

Just my two cents gathered from learning the hard way. Here's to hoping you have an easier road...

Self-deceit is the biggest mistake a newbie can possibly make. It's the worst mistake by my books. He might think that he's enjoying it but he's killing his business, if he really has one, and himself gradually.

Imagine a newbie that has not made a dime online organizing a webinar or setting up a WSO to teach people how to make $$$$$$ within 7 days - that's self-deceit and it often back-fires.

It's dangerous, very dangerous.

Information overload, coupled with perfectionism, can be a disastrous recipe for incomplete action that doesn't lead you anywhere except around in circles. You should always watch out for these two factors, and I believe that just by being cognizant of them and what they can do to your business, it will help you avoid or at least minimize their effects.

"What's the biggest mistake a newbie can make?"

Reading too many threads on online forums like this one, and not taking repeated, consistent action on a proven business model

For me the biggest mistake is to think that websites I had built would automatically attract traffic. Then I finally realized that 99% of sites on the net get NO TRAFFIC AT ALL. I learned about keyword research and this made the difference. I now get traffic, clicks and sales. Easy if you do the research properly.

The biggest mistake I made was jumping around into too many programs. I read tons of information. Information overload they call it online.

In fact you can say that I was wandering around in the cyberspace wilderness.

I also created a website and paid a certain Company monthly charges in return they promised me traffic. The traffic was not enough to be able to have a sniff of ever buying any products from my website.

I finally came across a membership website which is fulfilling my dreams.
The training is superb. Its just what I have been looking for. It is the best quality training that
I have ever come across.

The answer in building a website business for now and years to come is to build a list.

This is the only way to be truly successfull.

If you want REAL success, don't allow yourself to get distracted by every "next best thing". Focus on ONE good "system", and use it well.

Biggest mistake - mortgage your home or property to get money to "invest" in a ponzi scheme or similar "business".