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Make Money Online ~ Narrow Your Focus
By Jeffery Wood | October 29, 2009
You know what really irritates me? Rags to riches stories. Those irritate me not just because I’m bitter from not being one of them, but because I have to wonder just how accurate they are.
The generic model goes something like this:
SELF_PROCLAIMED MARKETING GENIUS: “When I started on the internet I had no clue what I was doing. I spend hundreds of dollars one one failed system after another.
I couldn’t pay my bills, there I was with barely enough money to buy a cheap cheeseburger and I ran across <insert the holy grail of internet marketing>.
So in utter desperation, I bought the [$197, $97, $47, etc] and now look at me. I rake in more money than Bill Gates. Just look at this screenshot of my Paypal account”.
Now before anyone tells me that I am perfectly clueless and that <insert favorite guru here> really did do that, I do know that some of those stories are true. Really, some are. But ALL of them?
Listen, when I started I barely had enough for a cheeseburger and I sure as shootin’ didn’t have an extra $197! If I bought a $27 system, then that’s $27 dollars that didn’t go towards a bill, and boy howdy, did I ever pay for that decision(s).
I mean really, all they had was some chump change, couldn’t pay bills and yet somehow came up with $197 dollars to buy a marketing system INSTEAD of putting food on the table? Especially after EVERY SINGLE OTHER SYSTEM FAILED????
That’s the part that gets me…they kept wasting money on systems and eventually one panned out. I can’t help but wonder how many of the other systems would have worked if they had devoted more time to it instead of running off to another.
Look, there’s good systems out there, there’s shoddy systems out there and there’s several that aren’t complete. Even my e-book, which is free unless you want re-branding rights, isn’t a complete system. In fact, mine isn’t a system at all.
It’s not intended to be. It’s intended to teach you how to set up a blog with some bare-bones keyword research in there so if you want to make money you have a starting point.
If you don’t want to use your blog for business purposes then it still achieves it’s purpose…to teach you how to set it up yourself.
I am mostly self-taught. I have a Hodge-podge of things I know. I’ve mentioned before how I piecemealed a system together (a really bad system) because I was, well, clueless. Now I have domain names that don’t fit my products.
Look at this domain: “Sweaty Shop”. It sounds like it should be an affiliate site for weight lifting equipment. But it’s not, it’s actually the name of my business (a play of words off of sweat shop, but sweatshop.com was already taken).
I should have named my business something else, or renamed it and got a different domain. I started out in retail and over time switched to marketing and now blogging (and marketing).
If I really wanted to do it “proper” I’d change my business model and the name, get a matching domain name, and make this into an affiliate site. But I just can’t let this one go…it’s my baby.
So I’m doing what I’m about to tell you to avoid. Hopefully you don’t have abandonment issues like apparently I do.
There’s different business models. Affiliate marketing, blogging, membership sites, and a handful of others whose names are escaping me at the moment.
Sometimes you can integrate them together and sometimes not, at least not right away. Choose a model that fits your personality, or work habits.
For example, I’m better at blogging than I am at affiliate marketing (though you may not think so) and a membership site is out of the question unless it is based on a fixed term thing like Micro-Continuity is.
Find a model that works for you, one that is going to work for your personality, free time, and budget. Affiliate marketing is really low cost until you want to drive traffic, then to drive traffic quickly, there’s costs involved. Maybe a lot of costs, maybe not a lot, that partially depends on the niche you’ve chosen and your keyword research.
Is there ways to get free traffic? Sure, but they tend to take time and if the product isn’t yours there’s only so long you’re going to invest your time into it before you want to set up another. Then you have to start all over again. Free traffic isn’t as fast as you’ll want it.
Blogging is even cheaper (in my opinion) and you can take the time to build up free traffic with your posts, but that’s also the downfall. You have to post. Regularly. Frequently. That was one of (and still is) my biggest fears about blogging…coming up with stuff.
Most blogs are aimed at just one thing (even personal blogs are about one thing, that person’s life and perspectives) so it should be something you can write lots about (unless you have the money for ghost writers).
Who’s “Sweaty Shop” aimed at? Well, I’m not really sure, you, I guess. Who are you? Bloggers I assume, but doesn’t have to be. My blog suffers from my scattered beginnings and really doesn’t have a focus. I touch on a lot of different things, but apart from the ranting and raving I did at the beginning I try to keep it useful or entertaining and not my personal diary.
That’s one of the reasons I said “If I was going to do it proper”. I’d choose a niche and blog about that.
Work on it and it alone until you make it succeed. Don’t get distracted by the latest and greatest because “A house divided cannot stand”. Once you are succeeding at what you do, then you can either replicate it or choose another model and work on that, because your first model is either 1) In maintenance mode or 2) In “Set and Forget” mode.
As of this writing, due to my not following this advice (the advice I was following at the time was “set it up and then go set up something else and repeat”), I have four blogs and three websites, that’s not counting the handful of “affiliate” sites where they host it, provide the content and “all I have to do” is drive traffic and the money will come rolling in. Yeah, sure, oh and lest we forget, several domain names that are just…sitting there. Doing nothing.
All of them need help. How many of me is there? One. How many of them? Seven. How easy is it to drive traffic to all seven at once? I think you get the picture.
Now in my defense, one of those blogs was set up for my e-book. It’s the site I walked you through step-by-step so I can justify that one, but it still just…sits there. I’ve been trying to work on it but goodness gracious, this one (the one you’re on now) needs to be my main focus.
Now you will hear the gurus and other internet marketers mention that they have several sites. I am not saying that having several sites is wrong. I am saying that you stick with one, and only one, until it is successful, then and only then, start another.
And since I signed up for every affiliate program under the sun that I ran across long before I even knew what an affiliate was…technically I have tons of things I could promote.
Talk about trying to pick something…it gives me a headache just thinking about trying to go through all the stuff I signed up for, much less checking them out and choosing one.
The key to being successful here (apart from choosing a good model) is focus. Be focused, stay focused. Get good at the one you choose, then do it again or try another but stay focused on that until it also is successful.
I’m getting there, and you’re helping me believe it or not. The feedback I get through comments, seeing the traffic patterns, page views, etc all help.
Interpreting the data properly is another matter…..
In my next post, I’m going to do a review on a product that I wish I had started with and quite frankly, I’ve been slowly making changes to the way I’m doing things to match what I’ve read.
Until then, don’t be afraid to drop the things that are not part of your current focus. Pick one and stick with it.
- Jeffery
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About Jeffery: Jeffery Wood, author of "Learn How To Set Up Your Own WordPress Blog And Forum" is a Part-Time Internet Marketer. |
Related posts:
- Make Money Online ~ Micro Niche Your Focus
- How To Make Money Online For Free Part One
- How To Make Money Online For Free Part Two
- Changing Business Models
- Internet Marketing Myth
Topics: Productivity, blogging, business | 4 Comments »
October 29th, 2009 at 11:34
The secret of success lies dormant in many people. This is because they think success is contigent on something outside of themselves; a guru or program.
There is no world-changing program or person. The seed for accomplishment resides in your mind.
Great post.
.-= Ryan´s last blog ..Ryan Biddulph Quotes: Visualization =-.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:12
I STRONGLY AGREE!!
Anyone who is interested in making money online – Find a system and then just stick with it!
From personal experience, you will NOT make money if you flitter around from one system to another. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t some ways that are faster than others –
What I AM saying IS: Do NOT expect a get rich quick fix.
While YOU MAY BE one of those lucky ones, it’s a business, just like most other businesses. You’ll have to put in some time and a bit of money on promoting and tweaking, etc.
It can be difficult and frustrating. However, before you give up on one, or get side tracked to doing another online system – give the one you’re working on some time and effort before you throw in the towel.
November 5th, 2009 at 07:14
Good post and good advice. One at at time done properly is a lot of work. I’m impatient,want to make money fast,and it’s not happening. Aside from low traffic, I’m spending lots of time reading and learning about “Why it’s not.”
Cheers, Barry
November 5th, 2009 at 08:39
Oh do I know how that feels. I started out in online business with a completely different focus than I have now. If I were to do it all over again…..
– Jeffery