I’ve done more internet marketing work in the past few days than I have in the last 30 days combined. I finally posted all of the articles I need for my website and now I’m moving into the off-page SEO part. Spinning and submitting articles is probably just as boring if not worse than writing the article in the first place. I’m just kind of pushing through anyway but I know this is something that I’ll be outsourcing once I get my system (and money) together.
I’m still patting myself on the back for doing this. It takes faith to put all this work into something that may not even produce any sales. I feel like I made a lot of mistakes with this website but I know for the next time I what I won’t be doing. I’ll probably take a break from such a huge project when I’m finished with this one. Maybe I’ll work my way up from micro-sites that have already proven to be profitable. That would be an easier risk to take when it comes to creating a 30+ page website.
I got so much done in the early hours this morning. I published like seven articles that I’ve been sitting on. I’m so proud of myself. This website that has been haunting my dreams is just that much closer to being done. While in my super productive mode, I noticed a new feature on Traffic Travis; the Difficulty rating.
According to my Traffic Travis my test phrase “i love trees” is medium difficulty to rank for. I love this new feature. I have the professional version of the software but my guess (I really don’t know) is that this is available in the free version too. Regardless of that, I highly recommend the free version of TT because it is a great keyword and SEO tool and most important it’s free.
Productive procrastination is what I call this time I’m taking right now. I haven’t updated my blog much at all lately but I happen to have a homework assignment that I should be writing now instead of this. Since I am a chronic procrastinator this seems like the perfect time to write on my blog. I also have new thoughts to share because some major changes have taken place.
I feel kind of silly writing about my personal life like someone else is really listening, but this is live on the internet so there is always a chance someone other than I will read this. Anyway, big changes for me within the last few weeks. The first change is I moved. I was living with my parents and now the babies and I have our own apartment. This means my monthly expenses have probably just quadrupled (I’d rather not think about the exact amount). So I now I have four times the expenses without an increase in income. For a moment this was a stressful thought to have but I have decided to embrace it. I have a bit of a savings buffer for now and I have faith that I will always have what I need. The challenge of actually being able to afford my rent is inspiring in a way.
Also, I broke my rule of not buying anything until my website is finished. I kind of went crazy and bought two products but they were both products I’ve had my eye on for awhile and I fully intend to take advantage of them. Just a few hours ago actually I purchased Conversations with Travis Sago (I didn’t even know it is also called the 4 day money making blueprint) and Outsource Method. It’s only been a few hours but I have no buyer’s remorse at all; probably because it wasn’t an impulse purchase. The only thing I regret is not purchasing the Outsource Method the first time I was introduced to it because I swear the price was $100 less back then.
I also cheated and bought Keyword Elite 2.0 when all the hype was going around. It didn’t fit on my netbook display and I couldn’t really see what the big deal about it was so I returned it. I do have my eye on Micro Niche Finder and I plan on buying that software soon, maybe when I have time to actually do something with it. The dang website still isn’t done.
I’m so excited about the Outsource Method though…I seriously need it because time is a resource that is scarce around here.
Anyway, I feel like this is an important time to mark in my journey because the bar has just been raised. I have no excuse not to do my homework now.
Ooh wait, I know what else I wanted to say…
I tend to get obsessive over things. I get fixated on an idea or an item I want often. My new thing is the Mac mini media center. I won’t get into the technical details of it, but now I have a few thousand dollars worth of items on my wishlist. My imaginary affiliate checks are already spent. I mean whatever is left after rent and utilities.
I couldn’t be the only one who does this. What are some of the first things you would buy when you “make it?” (or what were they if you’re already there)
Wealthy Affiliate Platinum starts today. It’s 4 AM and I just can’t write a huge drawn out post about this but I did want to drop a note to anyone that may be browsing through my blog.
Here’s the short version:
- I love WA; mostly because I received my first commission check shortly after joining and applying what I learned.
- For the next two weeks you can get a week-long membership for $1.
- Platinum is the new and improved version of WA and the upgrade doesn’t include a raise in membership fees.
If you need a place to get started in affiliate marketing, Wealthy Affiliate is a great place to do it. There are some good people there that will help you out when you get stuck. Seriously, with the trial offer that’s happening there’s no reason not to check it out. Here’s what I would do if I took a $1 Wealthy Affiliate trial membership.
My summer is officially over. School has started again and that means I am back to trying to fit a million tasks into the few hours of free time that I get in a day. I’m realizing that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing for me. I seem to be someone that needs a little pressure to get things done.
I got pretty lax about finishing my website. It still isn’t done and I haven’t put much work into it. It is such a burden at this point but I have promised myself that I would complete this project and I will. I am itching to get started with another site and I almost did but I think I should finish this first. I must set up a schedule and just get it done.
Back to school for me and back to work on my internet business. My enthusiasm for all this is fading, but I know persistence is what separates the winners from the losers. If I quit now, I will definitely have lost.
Yeah so, I’ve been spending less time on my affiliate marketing activities lately. I don’t feel bad about it because of course taking care of my family and myself is more important to me than trying to make money online. Besides, thanks to the wonders of outsourcing, I got more accomplished in the last few weeks than I could have possibly done on my own. It’s crazy how I seem to have less and less time to do things other than chase babies. It’s cool though, I know this baby thing doesn’t last forever so I am just grateful to witness it all.
To anyone out there who is reading this, thanks for sharing this journey with me. It really is encouraging to see visitors and comments.
I have decided that if I am going to be successful in internet marketing that I will have to outsource most of the work I need done. I’m not sure where I thought I would get the time to research and write all of this content but I simply don’t have it. I am super excited about this decision and I really feel that this is the best way for me to go. If I don’t get this work outsourced, I can foresee only frustration in my future.
When you don’t work, you don’t see progress, and when you can’t see any progress, you start thinking about quitting. I don’t have time to keep going at this pace. I am doing so little on my own that I can’t even expect to see the results I’m hoping for. What’s even worse is I’m starting to hate the work. It feels like a homework assignment that I just don’t want to do. I can’t wait to move on from this.
My first experience with outsourcing was in the Wealthy Affiliate jobs section. I’m going to leave that arena alone for now and try Elance. I feel like I will have more qualified bids to choose from on Elance especially since the niche I am in has nothing to do with internet marketing.
Yay, I made a sale early this morning. I love the idea of making money in my sleep. I am motivated by this tiny sale ($10) because it comes from my first One Week Marketing campaign. I really had no idea what I was doing and the whole campaign was abandoned and incomplete. I know so much more now and I would have done lots of things differently if I could go back.
For one I wouldn’t have even used that product. I have some guidelines for picking a profitable niche now and this particular product would not have passed the test. I actually didn’t expect to ever make a sale of this product because after several hundreds of hops there were none.
Yep, I am newly motivated by this sale. It is just a reminder than sometimes the work you put into internet marketing is time-released. All the articles and web pages I put up months ago are still working for me and the more I do the better my chances are of earning some money.
When I joined Wealthy Affiliate is when I got “serious” about internet marketing. I tried making money doing other things online and I never really understood what I was doing wrong. All I knew was that people were making an income from home using the internet and I wanted to be one of them.
I’ve been thinking about what I’ve learned so far and how some of the more important lessons could have helped me a lot in the beginning. Three important ideas come to mind.
1. You need to take time to plan and research.
This is a three part step: time, planning, and research. A quick google search in a niche you know nothing about isn’t going to help you. This is an important first step that can easily be overlooked when you are new and excited and eager to start earning money. My advice to any IM newbie is to take it slow. It can be painful to move at a slow pace but the alternative of trying to clean up a poorly planned campaign can be even more painful.
2. You will get lots of great ideas, but you can’t work them all at once.
Just a little bit of knowledge in internet marketing can open your mind to all sorts of possibilities. This can be a good thing if you remember that you have develop each campaign one at a time. Throwing up 20 poorly planned websites is not likely to be as successful as five websites that are complete with valuable content and an established market. Doing a million things at once is a good way to lose motivation because it will seem like nothing is working, when the fact is that you haven’t given any one project a chance to work.
3. Watch your spending.
If you are going to spend money on your internet marketing education or developing your sites, know what you are spending a have an immediate need for what you buy. Especially when it comes to ebooks and courses. If you can’t begin putting a service to immediate use or begin applying what you intend to learn right away, don’t buy. Don’t buy into scarcity tactics because you won’t miss out on the latest and greatest thing if you don’t buy today; later and greater things come out all the time really. Also don’t expect magic to come from an ebook, expect to work for your desired result.
So, those are a few things I wish I fully understood when I started. If anyone out there has some newbie tips to add, I’d love to read them in the comments. 
Times are tough. Not really, I just haven’t made any sales in awhile. But I know why I haven’t made any sales, it’s because I’m still developing my site and there are virtually no sites linking to it yet. I’m moving slowly and I know not to expect fast results at this point. Still it is getting frustrating, so I have to take note of my small victories.
I wrote two articles on ezinearticles.com for my affiloblueprint site. The first to get accepted got about 23 views and 1 click. Not a big deal at all but it still gives me a link back to my site. The second article got about 900 views and 100 clicks in the first day. I was really excited about that because this article is my most successful article to date. So my small victories are getting some articles published and getting traffic to my site.
I have been following the blueprint to a tee (except for installing analytics, I haven’t gotten to that part yet but I was curious) so this my first attempt at building links. This is the part where it gets exciting.
