Newbies . . its harder than you want it to be.

No doubt about it Sammy. Making money without having to leave your home will never be easy at first. I'm sure most of the successful people on this site started off at a painfully slow rate. What separates the more successful internet marketing entrepreneurs from the less successful ones is sheer patience, and the ability to learn as you progress. This is a common misconception held by people who are either new to the field or not in it at all. Good job clearing it up.

Yasir

Yes making money online is not easy at first, but after you have gone through the difficult step it becomes easy, NEVER give up.. Happy 2012

May God bless you,
Jeremiah

Making money is simple, but it's not easy. But although it is not as you dreamed it would be, if you persevere you will accomplish great things.

You are right. Making money online is as difficult, if not more, as earning income through a brick-and-mortar business. I think hard work and patience pays over time. Do not be discouraged, keep working and success will eventually smile on you.

I feel like if you give up all that work is for nothing, keep with it! I am finally making some good money and I don`t even have my own site yet. I do plan on in the future building a list and a website/blog to support that. Overall, don`t give up and rinse and repeat truly works!

hi Sammy,
did you, by any chance, made another "make money online" or "tech gadgets" blog?
is the 200 visitors that you have, are mostly coming from stumbleupon and other such sites... ?

If you are on a niche and you got 200+ search engine traffic a month, i would say you are doing a great job. Now try to scale it up. Here are a few things for you to do:

1) Add articles - try writing 800+ words article, atleast 3 a week. Try to write on topics that are searched, your title matters and so does the description. Don't focus on the keywords much, just make sure you are writing for your readers.

2) Do guest posts - find quality blogs on your niche and try to get a guest post on those blogs. There are plenty of such blogs that accept guest posts, just make sure to send them your best content and it will be a worthy link.

3) Keep the posting schedule and keep working hard. You will see results but they will come slowly. Don't get disappointed, perhaps in the next 6 to 8 months, you can reach 200+ daily visitors too... just keep up the hard work.

4) Do a bit of social media work as well - Good to keep an active twitter and facebook page.

From there on, just keep adding articles and things will improve.
cheers,

It is always hard on the beginning. You should work hard and learn as much as possible when you start your online business if you want make money. It it is not easy, but if you put some effort into it success will follow.

I'm terribly sorry to step in and p7$$ on your bonfires but...it isn't
that difficult to make money.

The money you make will be in direct proportion to the value you are putting out.

If there's nothing coming in....then you may now know why.

Honestly...(I mean really honestly) are you putting out value?

A few blog posts is NOT great value if I can get similar information elsewhere.

Good Luck.

Hey,
Its nice to see that you are not giving up on that.
Newbies who decide to try and make it online are come with unreal expectation of how their journey will look like. "FAST EASY MONEY". this is what people are hearing about all the time and the unreal promises fade away as fast as they come.
SO, really, just wanted to say, that i can tell that you are here to stay and its great.
This is definitely not the last frustrating post you will write. But don't you worry about that. what you will learn from that, will only help you to understand which way to go.

Making money online has to be approached like a long-term business.

I have making money online since 1997 and have had some awesome years, some lousy years, and 2012 looks to be the best yet!

In 1997, I was quite the newbie *but* I had the right product at the right time with the right mentor who opened the right doors for me and I cleared 250K that year.

I cleared that as well in 2005 when I broke the Google code.

Other years have been extremely slim or really good or, meh?

So, for all my past 15 years of making money online, here's my secrets.

1.) Build your list.

No matter what you're doing, build your list! Back in 2005, I was ranking in the top 10 for any keyword imaginable (remember Google Adsense for 'mesothelioma lawyer' back then?), but did NOT bother to add optin forms.

Been kicking myself ever since.

2.) Benefit your customers.

Over-deliver on your products. Give customer-care followups. Every now and then, give a free gift to your list members.

3.) Become an authority in your niche.

That's kinda common-sense - if you're the go-to person in your niche, well....everyone goes to you!

4.) Write products and make it worthwhile for affiliates to promote you.

The plain fact is, by yourself, you will NOT make it into the big leagues.

You need to make it worthwhile for affiliates to promote you. That means that when you're starting out, offer 75% or 100% affiliate commission.

Your affiliates will profit with money and you'll profit by growing your list.

It will take time and it will take effort but it will definitely pay off in the long run.

Hope that helps!

For me, making money online is easier than any "job" I've ever had. It's been a long time since I had a job, but as far as I recall, at pretty much all jobs, your employer wants you to keep yourself busy with stupid bean counting tasks that are not only every bit as tedious as SEO backlinking and other IM tasks, but actually way worse, because they aren't even building toward any actual goal.

yeeeeeaaaaah.

I'll take the tedious parts of IM over the tedious parts of office work any day.

Of course it's going to be hard work to establish an online business if it was easy everyone would do it with huge success. The hard work should not be seen as a deterent though nor should it be pointed out to potential online entrepreuners as one. The hard work is a given.

I believe the main thing that holds people back is a fear and impatience in not seeing results quickly (when they are working hard). Even more so if they have responsibilities such as a mortgage etc. Unfortunately I see online business as that which people turn to when they get desperate and want to make money fast. They come in without a plan and invariably don't see results quick enough even if they put in hard work. That's why there are so many threads about how to make money fast, what to do if you are desperate etc. If people approached this like a normal business in the real world they would be a lot more successful.

Thanks

G

too true! I personally made no money in my first year of internet marketing! I actually lost around $7000!

However with patience, persistance and dedication I now live the life I always wanted and work for myself and have recently acquired brand new offices in which to expand my business.

If you are new at internet marketing then please remeber one thing, all the information you need to succeed is out there if you have the persistance and dedictaion to find it, take it onboard and use it! Google can be your best freind if you want it to be so if you are going to do anything in 2012 I wuld suggest getting off your ass and finding the information you need to help you suceed online. Oh and I mean that in the nicest possible way

I also understand that not everyone will find it easy to succeed online on their own and if you happen to be one of those people then I would suggest doing what I did 3 years ago and find yourself a suitable mentor from who you can learn from, copy and implement everything they do until you areat a level that you can go it alone.

Whatever you decide to do, may wish you all the best for 2012!!

For most newbies, from what I've seen, this is true. For some, succeeding might come naturally and be relatively easy. For others, it can be profoundly difficult for a variety of reasons. Many struggle for a long time. But whether success is easy or hard, it's definitely harder than most of us want it to be.

Ron

It really all starts with, as others have said above, what you are offering. To gain traffic from Google via Organic search you have to "earn" it. You do that with lots of great unique content and a lot of backlinks to your site. The fact is that the Internet, just like everything else, is becoming more and more competitive and Google only wants the "cream" to float to the top - so you have to be that. You have to be one of the best sites in your niche. Now, all that, of course, assumes you're talking about organic traffic.

The "build up" phase (the time it takes to getting profitable online) is what, in my opinion, is beautiful about Internet Marketing. It's simple yes, but not easy. And for that very reason it truly separates the men from the boys when it comes to being successful. Anyone can throw up a site in 10 minutes yes. But making a full time income is a totally different story and takes a tremendous amount of perseverance and determination, much less getting to the six and seven figure milestones.

And then there's the other thing... why is it that just because you don't have a boss so many people think that it is "easy"? The fact is that many people need a boss and being able to structure your own work day, goals and weekly tasks is not something that everyone is cut out to do - and that's okay too...

Good luck and stick with it...

Making money is always hard work - whether you have a "regular" job or work for yourself. You need to always remember to treat what you are doing as a business. If running a blog is not satisfying, remember there are many, many ways to make money online. I believe everyone should explore all options that may make them happy in their business. An old offline example that I have always remembered refers to the gold rush. "It was the one's that sold that shovels that made the money - not the gold diggers."

If you focus on how hard every step of the way is, that's all you're ever going to see. Working towards your goals becomes a chore - then tendency to get overwhelmed, drag ass, etc etc etc

You built your blog, you're increasing traffic. A lot of people don't even get THAT far, so consider that a Success.

How can YOU expand on that Success? Starts with perspective.

I'm not going to pretend that shifting perspective is any walk of the park - years of mental conditioning (particularly if it's nasty) vs foreign idea... you can bet which side will win, unless you consciously give your energy to that shift in perspective.

It can be done.

You've already got a few accomplishments under wing. Provided that this is what you really WANT to do, stick with it and expand on your achievements. Ask yourself... what will YOU focus on?

Thats why I started with the low hanging fruit, then worked my way up.

I agree with the rest... Making money was never easy at first. You have to have that goal that will keep you on track. Otherwise, you will surrender earlier that you'd expect. It's a difficult journey that you need to learn. But once you figured it out and you get the hang of it - it will be one of your sweetest success you can ever feel

Wow! Guys is it really that hard to make money online? For some maybe but for me it's not that hard! The thing is you have to learn what to do to make money and then you have to do it! It's really is that simple! Now if it takes you 12 months to learn what to do and another 12 months to do it then it might seem hard to you.

You guys are very inspirational. I haven't given up hope. I may have had only 200 uniques last month but it wasn't hard to get that many and my bounce rate was 6% and over 9 pages viewed per visitor so I obviously have good content that keeps them there reading. I haven't had any optins yet though. I am going to change it up and offer something else as a give-away.

And this month I am shooting for at least 400 uniques. See if I can't double it up.

No it’s not easy, but it’s worth it in the long run. The trick is to NEVER give up!! Good luck!

We've all been through the struggle and started out as newbies...don't be discouraged keep it up!

If you keep doing this, in 1-2 years from now you'll see that what you did so far could have been done much faster. It's called experience and it takes time to get it, but there's no shortcut really.

Well if you don't get anywhere you could always take up trying to sell info to other internet marketers.

seo its an old difficult world! try out something else, and dont expect to become rich in one single day, seriously!

positive thoughts means just one thing: positive income!
wish you good luck!

It seems to be that when you really really need it to get off the ground is when it is hardest. Look to some of the gurus and notice how they seem to generate money every time they send an email. Look at big product launches and they win the prizes (more money and swag). There is a saying that I have heard many of times since entering this industry. It is hardest to make your first dollar, after that, it typically gets easier.

Hang in there, have faith and keep working!

Cheers!

I recommend you guys check out Jim Collin's good to great.

Related to this post, check out the chapter that talks about:

The Flywheel Effect

The Doom Loop

Although that book is more of a corporate read, i found those principles to make me take independent project with lots more patience and diligence since i go in expecting the challenge.

IM is just like exercising. It is going to be hard and painful in the initial stages but you become stronger if you carry-on and ends up being easy at the end of the day.