Your target $/month when you just starting out in IM?

by Azrul
35 replies
Do you set a target to reach when you just starting out in IM?
how much you target? and how long it took to achieve them?
#$ or month #starting #target
  • Profile picture of the author makemoneywithben
    You should set your own goal which has to be realistic. Many methods with internet marketing will take a while to kick in because of any traffic getting tactics and seo. You do have to also remember to set a decent goal because if you dont and aim too low you could get lazy or it may not motivate you enough.

    So, dont set a goal of make $1million or some crazy number. Maybe set a goal of earning your first $100. After that (or even after your first sale) it will give you the confidence you need to get to the next milestone.

    Hope that helps
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  • Profile picture of the author ladywriter
    I don't think anyone can give you an answer to those questions, it's different for everyone.

    What I did was sit down and figure out the bare minimum I'd need to make to eliminate other sources of income and went from there. Didn't get there yet but that's the goal.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Barker
    You definitely must remember to be realistic. You must set small goals and go after them. After you set a small goal you have to work on your business each and everyday. (Even when you don't feel like it) Do not lose focus!

    Remember internet marketing is a living organism. You must track and analyze any results that you get on a scale (i do it every 90 days) and make small changes to campaigns. Do Not change everything you are doing. It could seriously be something as small as a word or two or a different color font to get the results that you need.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by arcanetyro View Post

    Do you set a target to reach when you just starting out in IM?
    I didn't, and I don't advise others to. I think on balance you're likely to lose more than you gain, overall, by doing so.

    When starting out, it just isn't possible for most people to have enough judgement to do this in any meaningful or helpful way.

    I think other sorts of "targets" can be very appropriate in these circumstances, but not really income targets.
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    • Profile picture of the author James Sides
      Just my two cents, but I think if you make it all about the money you're setting the wrong goals. I know ultimately money is important but I prefer to set goals that have to do with achievements other than money.

      For example...

      I would like to make ____ sales this month.
      I would like to get ______ traffic this month.
      I'd like to achieve a conversion % of ____ this month.

      And if you're just starting out try something like..

      I'd like to build ___ backlinks this month.
      I'd like to write _____ articles....
      I'd like to build ____ sites...

      You get the idea I'm sure. I really believe that if you chase money you'll never be truly successful but if you chase success the money will come on its own.

      But, all in all just setting any type of goal is going to put you ahead of 95% of the general population out there so Good for you!

      Have a Great Day!

      -James
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      "People will remain the same until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change."

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      • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
        Originally Posted by Fenderkid View Post

        Just my two cents, but I think if you make it all about the money you're setting the wrong goals. I know ultimately money is important but I prefer to set goals that have to do with achievements other than money.
        There are many super-rich people who subscribe to this school of thought, they believe that if you focus on other things the money will come naturally.

        However, there are many super-rich people who made money their main goal and it worked for them also.

        There is nothing wrong with either, at the end of the day people should do what works best for them...
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        • Profile picture of the author James Sides
          Sweet thread going on!

          @oneplusone, I totally agree to each his own. If money is someone's thing by all means I say go for it!

          I just know that a lot of people, myself included, tried that route and found it to be very unsatisfying at the end of the day.

          There are times when a person has to stop and say, is the world a better place because of me? And, I find it easier to say YES to that question when I don't let money be the sole motivation for my actions.

          Keep up the great discussion!

          -James
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          "People will remain the same until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change."

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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Its pointless setting any type of target until you REALLY know what you are doing. Until then youll probably just become frustrated. It wasn't until I was seeing actual results that I set a target and aimed for that.
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  • Profile picture of the author LetsGoViral
    $100 a day is usually the dream benchmark of any starter. At least that is the most common measure I have noticed.
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    • Profile picture of the author James Sides
      Here is the big problem with $100 a day.

      $100 a day after taxes is really not $100 a day and for many people what you'll have left won't be enough to live off of.

      If you insist on setting monetary goals make sure you take into consideration taxes, expenses, etc etc. Then, you'll see why setting monetary goals can be a pain.

      Cheers,

      James
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      "People will remain the same until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change."

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  • Profile picture of the author NateRivers
    Choose the method you're going to try, and set a daily production target that you'll do for 30 days in a row.

    For example, if you are going to focus on forum marketing to start out, find the top 3 forums in your niche, and aim to spend at least 1 hour actually participating in each forum, each day.

    If you'll do that for 30 straight days, you will see results, and you'll then be able to set an accurate monthly income goal.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemeth
    when I was starting my goal was 30$/month, then went up to 100$, then to 1000$ and final would be 3000$
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  • Profile picture of the author PPC-Coach
    You should always set a goal, then figure out a plan to reach that goal.

    The problem with the question of "how much"? Reveals one of the biggest problems new people have, they think what other people think matters. It doesn't. Be creative, set your goal based on what you want, not what someone else thinks you should want.

    Your biggest enemy right now is the gray stuff between your ears. Don't worry about others, worry about your own stuff and how much you would be happy with. The number is so different for everyone that it's kind of a pointless one to ask.

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    • Profile picture of the author Jarrett
      Banned
      Originally Posted by PPC-Coach View Post

      You should always set a goal, then figure out a plan to reach that goal.

      The problem with the question of "how much"? Reveals one of the biggest problems new people have, they think what other people think matters. It doesn't. Be creative, set your goal based on what you want, not what someone else thinks you should want.

      Your biggest enemy right now is the gray stuff between your ears. Don't worry about others, worry about your own stuff and how much you would be happy with. The number is so different for everyone that it's kind of a pointless one to ask.


      This is some SOLID Advice.

      There's nothing wrong with dreaming big or picking a # outside of your comfort zone.. once you reverse engineer it.. and work it backwards.. you're gonna find its alot more achievable then you thought possible.

      Don't listen to skeptics. Skeptics told Christopher Columbus the world was flat and he was full of it..

      Where are they now? Well they're all dead.. along with Christopher columbus for that matter. lol buut the point is. they were wrong ;P

      When I first started out.. I made HUGE goals.. and had tons of people laugh in my face tell me there is no way that an absolute newbie can go from zero to making XXX,XXX in their first year..

      guess what? I did because I believed it.

      So pick something tangible. That makes sense for you. don't give a damn what a hater says..

      And just create a solid plan to achieve it.. and keep taking action.. as MJ once said.. don't stop til you get enough!


      Then once ya got a goal... Create milestones. Make your first milestone to be Making your FIRSt Sale.. and just focus 100% on making your first sale..

      then after that.. you focus 100% on making 2 sales.. you'll find that when you break stuff down and take it in baby steps..

      its not so scary.. and you won't get overwhelmed..

      The problem is.. some people will start out.. set some goal like making a million dollars.. and deep down inside they don't believe that they can do it.

      And because they don't believe it they won't do what it takes.. and because they won't do what it takes.. they get no results and spin their wheels in circles.

      so thats why you yourself have to BELIEVE it.

      because even if I tell you that it's realistic for a newbie to make $30,000 his first year.. or a million dollars his first year.. if you don't believe it. it means nothing.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterkailo
    $20 a day was my goal at first when I very first started. That was easily achievable. Most people want to go for $100/day and lose focus when they are getting no where near that after a few weeks.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    you have to set a goal that you believe you can achieve. you have to set your self up to win.

    it is also important not too set a deadline on your goal, because if you pass the date and haven't reached your goal you will get discouraged.

    nobody else can tell you what a realistic goal for you should be, you have to listen to your own emotions.

    When choosing a goal make sure it makes you feel good, if it makes you feel bad you have doubt and will influence your actions accordingly.
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  • Profile picture of the author CheapTrafficDude
    Start off nice and easy, this works for most. Although setting goals that might be irrealistic to you actually gives you an advantage. If you set your goal at $10 per day, then you do make your $10 per day, then your mind needs reprogramming, it's all in your head! Put it this way, if you say to yourself that you're going to score one goal per game, you reach that goal, well in a way your mind will be content.

    I like to set outrageous goals, like $1MIL per day. You won't realize this consciously but your mind will actually be working for $1MIL per day instead of $10 per day. It all comes down to how you program your mind. I did listen to a lot of inspirational videos and audios from guys like Jerry Clark, Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn. These guys are all very wealthy and all have one thing in common, they were all dreamers at heart.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      You really should establish early on the practice of setting goals. Measure your marketing activities and how they are affecting the results in meeting your target. I set goals every month even now after over 10 years in full-time marketing. The more closely you can track and measure all of your actionable marketing efforts such as traffic conversion rates, cost per customer, expenses/revenue ratio, subscriber retention, etc, it all will make it easier to know the best course to take in meeting those goals. A goal without a plan to achieve realistic targets is only a vague wishful dream. All the major motivational speakers also say to have a plan.
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  • Profile picture of the author Azrul
    thanks guys. very enlightening.
    modified my IM plan thanks to the advices given.
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    • Profile picture of the author bitriot
      My goal is to double my yearly income eveyr year for 10 years.

      My first year in IM (this Year) I made about 200 dollars.

      So to me:

      year 1 - 200
      year 2 - 400
      year 3 - 800
      year 4 - 1600
      year 5 - 3200
      year 6 - 6400
      year 7 - 12800
      year 8 - 25600
      year 9 - 51200
      year 10 - 102400

      I like this because really, the targets are ultra achievable my first 4 years, my 5-8th year are sort of time to really get to work and then the last few years, if I have 10 years of IM experience, are when I can quit my day job :]

      We will see! This plan obviously requires serious dedication and action which I can say I pretty much lacked this year.
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      • Profile picture of the author misterkailo
        Originally Posted by bitriot View Post

        My goal is to double my yearly income eveyr year for 10 years.

        My first year in IM (this Year) I made about 200 dollars.

        So to me:

        year 1 - 200
        year 2 - 400
        year 3 - 800
        year 4 - 1600
        year 5 - 3200
        year 6 - 6400
        year 7 - 12800
        year 8 - 25600
        year 9 - 51200
        year 10 - 102400

        I like this because really, the targets are ultra achievable my first 4 years, my 5-8th year are sort of time to really get to work and then the last few years, if I have 10 years of IM experience, are when I can quit my day job :]

        We will see! This plan obviously requires serious dedication and action which I can say I pretty much lacked this year.

        It's very hard to double like that. I see that the first few years are easy though. Going from 51200 to 102400 would be A LOT OF WORK!!
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        • Profile picture of the author Faisal Abd Rahman
          I just started my IM about one and the half months. I didn't set any target in terms of monetary to start with since my main target is more to learn about the trade. I think laying the right foundation is the most important and immediate target for any new beginner in whatever fields their involved.
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        • Profile picture of the author Jarrett
          Banned
          Originally Posted by misterkailo View Post

          It's very hard to double like that. I see that the first few years are easy though. Going from 51200 to 102400 would be A LOT OF WORK!!
          Not true. If you think there's something hard about going from $51k to $100k/yr then you're looking at it all wrong.

          Think about it.

          if you have a site that makes you 1% conversion.. and you pay $500 to a good minisite designer one day and you now get 2% conversion.. or 3% conversion. Goal achieved.

          If you have boring text on your page then slap a video on there and go from 3% conversion to 6% conversion. Goal achieved.

          If your site is ranking #4 spot on google, you get 100/hits a day.. and #3 spot gets 300 hits a day.. and you pay 1 guy to do some seo work for ya and you bump up to the #3 spot. Goal over-achieved.

          If you're selling an offer for $27.. then one day decide.. hey, let me just throw an OTO (one time offer / upsell) in here immediately after they buy.
          you don't even have to spend 5 minutes creating it. throw a PLR up..
          well if 1/4 people buy it and you charge $77.. did you not just double your money?

          Anyways.. I just wanted to show ya that it does not have to be hard. it's all in your head and those are the kind of thoughts that really hold ya back.

          The difference between 51k and $100k/yr could literally be 1 simple tweak on a page... it could be the simple difference between you using a bigger/better looking Add to cart button. lol that could be it..
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          • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
            My first target was to get a site set up. Talking about making money and not doing anything will keep you from the inital goal. With that said, my plan had been to get a Amazon site up and get it ranked. My main goal is to build the site up over the next few months. And work on another source of income online.


            Results after the first week up .40 income and 1.82 conversion rate( have to figure how to improve this). Adsense that is on another site I dont own $1.42 about 3weeks old.
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            • $800 a month to replace my current Enterprise Rent A Car job so that I can focus more on college and less at the dam office.
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              • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
                We didnt start off with a dollar amount that we wanted to make per month. We wanted to get our name and product out there, test the waters, see if there was a demand. Our DIY product (online) is an extension of our daily small biz, and we know that works so we hoped the online version would work too, and it has. Of course we wanted to make some money, so we set ourselves up to make that happen. Given that our product is not expensive in the first place, it would take a good number of sales to make a buck in the end.

                We knew we were the only company in Canada offering what we do, there are others that are similar, but not as complete as our kits are. We wanted to offer the best product there is, and have great customer service, which I think we do, and many companies selling anything and everything have lousy customer service. I know we cant be everything to everyone but we can sure try.

                Doing the math I figured we made about $400. a month in 2010. I think that's great, and with luck 2011 will be even better, it's off to a good start.
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                • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                  I'm usually not into much of the 'airy-fairy' stuff, but this post might sound like it. With that warning...

                  First off, the number will be different for everyone. It should be big enough to make you nervous, but small enough for your subconscious to believe. Otherwise, you'll find yourself committing acts of self-sabotage to provide reasons for not reaching a goal your subconcious doesn't think you can reach.

                  For many people, a goal of 5 to 10 times what they make now fits the bill.

                  Second, you have to phrase the goal properly. Set a hard number, and your subconscious will limit you to that number. Always allow for success beyond the goal.

                  Instead of saying "my goal is to make $100 per day", say "my goal is to make $100 or more per day"...
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  • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
    When I first started seriously marketing in February of last year I had a goal of a simple $10 a day. I wanted to get a new car and needed to have some extra cash in my bank account. Today not only do I make my car payment but I also make my car insurance payment as well (roughly $450 a month). Some months I don't do that, but I usually come close.

    Regardless this year I have a goal of making $10k with my online pursuits and have begun working on increasing my monthly income to meet that goal.

    So in my case setting a goal was absolutely critical to my success online. If I didn't have one I could be perfectly satisfied with a measly $2 a day in Adsense revenue. But with goals I pushed myself further and further to reach the success I desired.
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  • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
    Originally Posted by arcanetyro View Post

    Do you set a target to reach when you just starting out in IM?
    how much you target? and how long it took to achieve them?
    I've always got short-term goals and long-term goals.

    I find when I don't have any goals, I pay a heavy price.

    Regarding setting short-term income goals, I'd recommend you aim for something very doable like earning your first $100 from IM.

    Once you've reached that, celebrate then immediately set another target to aim for like making your first $250 (another $150).

    And so on...
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  • Profile picture of the author Millie
    I’d set the first goal as $1. It’s often said that it’s the hardest dollar you’ll make and, after all, if you can’t make that there’s no point in having higher goals. Once this has been achieved set your goals in terms of your bills, e.g earn your gas bill, then include the electric, then something else. When you’ve got everything covered and a bit more, you can give up work.-)

    I’d choose a monetary goal as that’s what we’re all here to make. However once set, you then need to form a plan for achieving it. Here you’ll set goals relating to things such as number of visitor, CTR’s conversions etc. As you need to achieve these to make your monetary goal, you can effectively switch to focusing on them rather than the money.
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  • Profile picture of the author kharyreynolds
    I would say not to set a money goal and instead set action goals. For example, you might have a goal to build 5 sites a month or create 1 new product a month, etc. Then you might have your marketing goals which might be to write a certain number of articles or obtain a certain amount of backlinks per month. Once you start to hit your action goals consistently, the money will begin to flow in. Then you can adjust your action goals to meet your revenue goals. Hope that made sense! :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author AmandaT
    Honestly, my goal is $100 a week. I'm more than happy with that. Instead of focusing on money though, I'm focusing on goals.

    Write ____ articles today.
    Post an informative blog post.
    Post on twitter ____ times a day about things I learn.

    And other things like that.

    If all else fails I always have ChaCha to come up with some quick gas money.
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  • Profile picture of the author JoeMack
    I agree with Fenderkid. Your goals should not be based on income earned because sometimes this is out of your control (to an extent).

    It makes better sense to have goals that you have 100% control over (ie. your actions). Having goals of writing and submitting 10 articles a month will get you further than setting a goal of $100 a month.

    JoeMack
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  • Profile picture of the author Sheryl Polomka
    Everyone has different goals. All I can suggest is to be realistic and don't set your goals too high. If you set high goals that aren't achievable then you can become depressed when you don't meet your goals.

    I started off low and gradually increased my goals. Start off at $50 a month and then increase it to $100 a month. Once you reach that then go for $200 a month and keep on growing your income. Just always remember to make your goals achievable ones.
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  • Profile picture of the author scriptstar
    My goal is to flip at least one site per week in flippa.
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    I just stop buying offline WSO's after I bought this WSO
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