Let's work out a plan of action!

Hey everybody, I am back online! Have been for about 3 or so weeks, to be honest. I just had to play “catch up” with my real life, after 5 weeks offline and a business to run it took (and still takes) a lot of time to re-organize and get up to date with everything. So my Internet Marketing has – again – taken a bit of a back seat.

If you have been reading my blog you have seen that, after lots of trials and errors, I have finally come to realize that the one way for me to earn a living of the Internet is “Building Niche Websites” and earning money through those sites with Google Adsense and Revenue from Affiliate Programs like Amazon.com or Ebay Partnernetwork.

Building Niche Websites is not the only way to earn money on the Internet, for example you can build email lists, too, but I have come to realize that it is not for me as I do not want to have to constantly write emails to my list to make money from it. It’s just not me. Admitted, if you do it right you can probably earn a hell of a lot of money from it, but you need to be prepared to put the expertise and hours into it.

When you build niche websites and monetize them, if you do it right you will have a fair bit of work to do at the beginning, but once you have got yourself established it will become a lot easier to maintain.

No matter what you decide to do – it is absolutely vitally important that you get yourself organized and have a plan. I just read through a post I made about getting organized back in July last year, and I am sad to say that I am back at exactly the same spot as last year. Stuffing around on the net but not achieving anything.

Have a good look at yourself – are you doing the same? Are most of us wasting heaps of time on the Internet trying to make more money but doing it without a proper plan of action, thus failing miserably and asking ourselves WHY?

For me, I also will have to sit down and think about my approach to establishing my niche websites and driving traffic to them. To date it is all over the place with no real direction, and that’s why nothing much has happened to my earnings over the past year. They have pretty much stayed the same, and that’s a pity as it could have been quite different if I was organized and focused.

So, make a plan, and work with it and on it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, you can always make it better over time. You just need to start.

If you also work with niche websites, one plan of approach could be to set aside a day a week per site (depending how many you have) and just work on that site on that day. Even if it’s only 1/2 hour. Work out what’s important and when and how to do what you have to do.

Please, we have to make sure we do not end up as the next Internet Marketing Casualty – we all need more self discipline and less distraction.

A very good online tool to getting organized and creating “mind maps” to keep you on track is “MindMeister“. It is definitely worth having a look at.

I apologize to you all in case I sound like rambling on, it’s just something I find really, really important and have big trouble doing myself. I am very upset about it, and I want to just remind you all of how precious our time is and how we waste it so often by being unfocused, and therefore not getting any further to achieving our goals.

The Naked Truth

This is a post that has been a long time coming. I think. I just didn’t know that it had to come out already!

I am having a hard time finding good and valuable information which I want to share here with you, information which hasn’t already been said on countless other blogs of  much more advanced Internet Marketers than me. Internet Marketers that are having success online. That can write and captivate their audience. Simply people that are much more believable than “old me”.

See, I started looking into “making money online” in September 2007 – just about 2 years ago. At that time I had literally no idea what I was doing and had no computer-/website-/blog-technical knowledge whatsoever. Hell, I had never even heard about the term “Affiliate Marketing” or “Blog”. I had to learn everything from scratch. I fell for literally countless scams, make money online, survey and data entry schemes and overpriced “learn how to make money online” programs.

I learned, had set-backs, paid more money, and spent hours, days, months trying to work out how to earn some cash on the Net because everywhere I was told it was so EASY! The breakthrough always was around the corner.I neglected our home business (ice cream franchise), my children, my friends. I neglected my health and sanity because I stayed up every night till 12 or 1am, absorbing the masses of information thrown at me and trying to make sense of it.

I didn’t give up. I was (still am!) passionate about Internet and Affiliate marketing, and my 2 year efforts have paid off just enough to keep me going. Just…

The Naked Truth #1:

It can take a loooooooooong time before you see any (mentionable) results.

***After 2 years of spending every spare minute online to make some money I am earning between $100 and $250 a month from my online “ventures”. Whooopedoo!

There are many different ideas out there on how you can make money online. One thing I have come to believe (and what the “good guru’s” will let you know, too) is that if you want to be successful online, you need to have a website or blog. I mean, you are on the Web, how do you think you are going to make money if not from a website/blog??? Problem is, you need to find something to blog (or build a website) about that is going to make you money, and then keep researching and updating your creation and drive traffic to it to make it work.

It is also widely believed (in successful bloggers and IM’s circles) that if helps a lot if you have your own personal “Internet marketing blog” where you blog about your journey and successes to riches on the way. Kind of like I have here   It’s just, – when you start out, you don’t really know what you are doing. You can’t give great tips to anybody. You are a nobody!!! There are so many others out there with lots more experience and success, how can you compete? So go and rack your brains on what great tips you want to give everybody who happens to stop by your blog and be interested in what you have to say. Sounds harsh? Well, it’s supposed to! That’s how I feel quite often when I am supposed to update my blog here. Sure, I have learned a lot, but it doesn’t seem important enough or “new” enough (I squeal with laughter now – new??) to insult anybody with it. But giving up? NO WAY!

See, there is something you can do to make yourself heard just a little, and to add actual value to your community of readers: Don’t try to be a professional, don’t try to “teach”, but just tell it like it is from your perspective, what you have learned and how it has affected you. Be genuine and be yourself. There will be others out there who still have to get where you are now and who will value what you have to say.

The Naked Truth #2:

You will need a blog or website to make it online. You will have to keep updating it. Do the research. Learn. Write posts. Generate traffic. It’s all hard yakka. It takes a lot of time. No “easy money” here. At least not for most of us for the first few years.

***I am in a constant state of pressure as I keep thinking “what should I post about next”. Spending valuable time researching topics. Trying to create backlinks to my blogs by commenting on other blogs, being active in forums, writing articles, creating squidoo lenses…

Let’s face it, most of us start off by doing it part-time, in our spare time, at night after a full days work. We’ve got all these ideas and expectations, and then we become disappointed if any form of success takes too long. Well, here is my advice: – Suck it up, and keep going! And if you lose your drive or interest, or it becomes all too hard for you, then it might be time to say Good-Bye to the dream of making it big online. Because

The Naked Truth #3:

To be successful here you need stamina, and you need to be driven and passionate. You need to be ready to sacrifice your free time. Internet Marketing needs to become your favorite hobby.If you don’t think you can do it – don’t.

We are also tempted to try different systems, whatever we come across that sounds viable should be tested as we might be missing the program that might actually deliver us the easy online riches we desire. It’s every Affiliate and Internet Marketers biggest downfall – the variety and bombardment of opportunities and information online. We stop focusing on what we have to do and jump from this to that and back and forth, ultimately achieving nothing. So here it is, the

The Naked Truth #4:

To make it in Internet /Affiliate Marketing you need to be organized, disciplined and have a clear focus on what you need to do next, and what your steps are to achieve your goal. Nobody else will get you organized or make sure you stay on track. It’s up to you, and you alone! Remember: You are trying to be your own boss here, so you have to live up to it!

***I am far from focused, organized or disciplined, otherwise I would already be earning a lot more than a measly $100 – $250 a month, believe me! The amount I am earning is a direct result of how focused, organized and disciplined I have applied myself to my home business so far. I might spend countless hours on the computer fooling myself, but I am not being productive.

If focus and discipline are one of your downfalls, too, there is a fantastic video you should watch, created by no other than Eben Pagan. I am not telling you that it is magically going to solve your problems for you, but it will give you insights in what you can do to help you along with being more focused and productive. I think I will have to watch it a few more times! Improve your productivity dramatically

Are you turned off yet? Don’t be – what I want to do with this post is to let you know that Affiliate Marketing is no road to “easy money”. I don’t want anybody to go on and think that you can make money easily through Affiliate Marketing. So don’t quit your day job over it just yet! It takes time, it takes effort, it takes discipline and much more. Am I disillusioned? You bet! Am I ready to give up? NO WAY!!!!!

The fun only starts now….

1. Affiliate Marketing is FUN!
2. Affiliate Marketing will make you money, once everything falls into place. Just DON’T GIVE UP!
   
3. Affiliate Marketing is a journey of discovery and learning, and personal development.
4. As we learn, we will get better at it, which will lead to success!
   

I personally love Affiliate Marketing, for me it has been a roller coaster ride all the way. Up and down, and around, and the amount I have learned about Affiliate and Internet marketing, and about building websites and other technical things, is amazing. I know I am not there yet, but I can see different things working. It might take a long long time to get to where I want to be, but I will not give up and I know I will get there eventually. It is all a matter of sticking with it, and being aware what Affiliate Marketing can or can’t do, and what is involved to make it work. We shouldn’t be scared or put off or disappointed, instead we should look at what we have achieved so far, and how we can improve on it. Keep learning, keep exploring, and if something works, great, build up on it! Keep going!

Phew, I have exhausted myself writing this post! But I had to get it off my chest. Affiliate Marketing is a great way of making money online, but you need to be aware that it’s not going to be overnight. It requires a lot of hard work and dedication, and then some more. But if you stick with it, you will reap the rewards eventually. I know I will!

Off to have a coffee
now, tada!

IM Death Trap

The other day I got quite a shock – I discovered that I had actually fallen into one of the affiliate marketers death traps – once again! I am sure you can relate to what I am going to talk about – not having enough discipline to work on what is going to make you money,  and instead letting yourself get sidetracked by everything else, like checking stats (my oh my, I do that a lot! – Especially since my Adsense earnings have gone quite crazy!), checking out all the new programs that are being offered in the overstuffed inbox, and all the while thinking I am doing something useful. Because I was occupied and spent lots of time on my computer!

Can you relate to that? This particular behaviour is actually quite common to many, many Internet Marketers. I mean, you do work from home (even if it’s at night time after your full day job and everything else that’s going on in your life), and it’s not like you “are going to work” for somebody else. You are working for yourself, and that quite often becomes a death trap, because even though the flexibility and working from home is what you ultimately want to achieve with Internet Marketing, when having the flexibility it can be quite hard to stick to a routine and actually get things done. That’s why it is so important to focus and work out a plan, schedule the tasks you want to achieve and discipline yourself to actually get through with it. I am just as guilty of not doing it as others!!!

Being Productive?

I just sat back today and suddenly thought – what am I actually DOING to make money at the moment; the last few weeks? Don’t I have great ideas on what my next steps are going to be? I am all fired up every day when I sit at the computer, ready to rock and roll, and a couple of hours later I realize that I have literally done nothing but surf. Not good if you want to build a business, I can tell you!

So, it is really important to discipline yourself if you are working from home in your own time. Here are some tips on what you can do to get back on track (no, should do):

1. Work out the best days and times in the day for you to sit down and work undisctractedly. Write them in your calendar if you have to! And then stick to them, just as if you were going to a job somewhere. I mean, if you work for Woolworths from 8 to 4 then that’s when you are at work and do your work – you should treat your Internet Marketing just the same, like a job, and assign an appropritate time to it.
2. Take the time to sit down and work out exactly what you want to achieve next (short term will do fine for starters) – like building a blog about Jack Russell Terriers -, and WRITE IT DOWN. Not just on scrap paper, make an effort to make it look nice.
3. Write down the steps of action you have to take to achieve that goal. Assign numbers to the steps, in the order you need to do them.
4. Give yourself a kick in the butt and discipline yourself (Ouch, I just did!)! Meaning – start using the lists you have just created, on the days and times you have assigned for your Internet work. Follow your own plans step by step. Stop being hitchhiked by other things. It is easy for the mind to wonder off if you haven’t got a structured plan laid out, but now you should have one so NO EXCUSES ANY MORE! Have the plan in front of you at all times. Stick it to the wall if you have to!
5. I am just going to say it once again, because this is so important: Do actually write everything down on a piece of paper. Write it down. And then write it down.  Oh, did I tell you to write it down??? Having your goal(s) and action steps on a piece of paper makes them much more tangible and will seriously help to “untangle” your mind and streamline your behaviour.

Hopefully you can find some useful advice for yourself in this post. I had the urge to write it because I discovered that I had slipped back into my old bad behaviour of spending hours in front of the computer, having all these great ideas in my head but because there was no structure, no “real” plan, nothing written down to guide me along, I never started with anything and just went “surfing”. Death, really, it is. Nothing is going to happen if you don’t make it happen. I was just so angry with myself that I had to get this off my chest. So please try not to fall into the same pit. Make me happy.

New Years Resolutions

It is upon us again! – The other day I was just stunned when I thought about it; last years celebrations seemed like they happened only yesterday!

Have you all got your New Years Resolutions together? I hope they are not the same as last year, because hopefully you have managed to do what you had planned for the past year.

Anyway, I have got a list of some New Years Resolutions for Work-At-Home Internet and Affiliate Marketers, and pretty much anybody who runs an online business from home. Here is the top 5 list – if you manage to stick to these, you will be much more successful in the coming year!

1. FOCUS. I will focus on one project at a time and work on it until it is finished. I will not be distracted by watching videos on YouTube, Surfing my favorite Social Networking Sites, or doing other stuff that is not closely related to the one project I am working on. I will also cut down the time I am checking my stats!
2. SCHEDULE. I will create a schedule for my working hours and stick to it. If I want my online business to succeed, I need to treat it like a business, not a hobby! I will set myself a “work-time” and only when I have completed this work time will I go and do other things on the Net.
3. PLAN. I will work out a plan of what I want to achieve and write down the steps I need to do to achieve it. I will follow these steps and not be distracted. Breaking it down step by step will help me to get my thoughts in order and become more productive. I will be able to eat this Elephant!
4. FREE TIME. I will allow myself “free time” when I will not sit in front of the computer and work, but spend quality time with my family and relax.
5. COMMITTMENT. I will commit myself to sticking to and achieving these resolutions. I will make it work, and I will be successful! Otherwise, I might as well go back to my day job….

With this list of resolutions I want to wish you the absolute best New Year 2009, – make it a killer year!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR – Petra

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Improve Productivity

I just had to throw this post in today, what I just found is too good and has to be shared straight away. Especially as I think that the theme about productivity and information overload is so important and also the biggest stumbling block for every Internet Marketer.

If you think you could do with improving your productivity a little (or a lot), I might have just found the best ever information for you EVER. I have just come across a blog which I think is absolutely FANTASTIC. Every, and I mean EVERY Internet Marketer working from home should have a look at it. It is called “Wake Up Productive”, and it’s creator is no other than famous Eben Pagan.

He has posted a video on there under the title “How To Manage Yourself And Your Time (And How To Dramatically Increase Your Personal Productivity)”, and in this video he is teaching some of the most important tricks and techniques for managing your time to MASSIVELY improve your productivity. He believes that you can get a LOT more done in a LOT less time, and in this video he is showing you exactly how to to do it.

>>Improve Your Productivity<<

I hope you will enjoy what Eben has to share with you, and that it will deeply impact the way you do business – from home!

Cheers!

Information stress in front of the computer

As Internet Marketers, we all have to deal with completely overloaded email inboxes as we get pretty much all our information through the internet. I guess at least 95% of us (Internet Marketers, that is!) suffer from that kind of information stress and overload.

There are just way too many emails coming in every day to even think about reading. So you end up scanning them, opening one here and there, getting caught up in clicking through the links that have been provided, not doing any productive work.

You are scared to delete any of these mails as you just might miss this oh so important piece of info that will get your internet marketing efforts to the next level….. Don’t we all know it?

I say that it is at least 95% of all of us that suffer from it because – that’s the amount of Internet Marketers that fail in their business! And you know why? Because we don’t know how to deal with this information stress, and as a result we completely lack focus. The number one cause of failure in Internet Marketing is lack of focus!

We get caught up jumping from idea to idea, wanting to find THE program that is going to earn us heaps of money in the shortest amount of time, terrified that we might miss the latest tips and tricks and programs! Everywhere you look on the Internet there are people wanting to know how to make money online, and realistically less than 1% of them actually focus on a project and create an income. That is pretty sad news!!!

To earn money through the Internet it is absolutely VITAL that you FORCE yourself (and I say force because yes, it is hard, but it is doable!) to FOCUS on what you are doing, and don’t let yourself get distracted.

Focussed and on target!

Pick a goal, make a plan, break it down into baby steps, and FOCUS on it. If you can do this, you will at the same time realize that you have taken care of your information stress, too! Because you have made a conscious decision not to be distracted by this flood of unstructured information any more. Because you FOCUS on what needs doing, not on what might be around the corner.

Hey, I didn’t say it was going to be easy – it is probably the biggest challenge you will face in Internet Marketing (maybe a bit like giving up an addiction), but it is what will make or brake your success. Without focus there is no direction, and without direction there is no goal.

Let me know what you think. Do you agree?

On one hand it is a great situation to be in, to see all these opportunities opening up and to be able to pick and choose the ones you think have to most potential to get you where you want to be.

On the other hand, exactly because of this flood of information and opportunities, many, many people fail in making money online straight before they even really start.

Why?

Because they don’t take action! They don’t take action because they are literally shocked into inaction by the amount of information out there. Many before have already fallen into the trap, and unfortunately many more will follow still. it is called “Information Overload”.

When information overload happens, it can be that

• you delay making decisions
• you make rash decisions and therefore maybe wrong decisions
• you make no decision at all
• you do not work actively on creating an income!

It is like you have become trapped in a flood of information that has no destination and makes you swim around in circles, if it doesn’t let you drown altogether.

Well, guess what the most important thing is if you are in this situation:

You must take action! The majority of people never make any money online because they don’t take action on the information they have, or they give up too quickly. PLEASE don’t become one of them! – It took me quite a while to figure that out, I was a great reader/learner and “no or little action taker”.

But how do you act if you have so much information and can’t decide what to go for, you ask? There is no easy way out – you will simply have to take the plunge (hint: take action!) and make a decision on ONE program/plan/product that sounds good to you, and then ACT on it. Focus. Follow through. ACT.

If you have too many choices of what you could be doing, make the decision easier by first picking out 3 – 5 things you are really interested in doing. DO it! Then you can narrow it down to one (yes, one!). Then TAKE ACTION and make that one work.

It is great to read all the information on how to earn money online, there is just so much valuable input out there and you can learn tremendously from it, but still it will get you only so far. You have got to DO something about that information.

So, simply ACT on it. I say simply, because in the end it is simple.

Whatever you get into, you will only achieve success by taking action. Simple. Small step by small step.

Find out the difference it will make in your life if you become an ACTION TAKER.

I would like to hear whether you have been in the “information overload” trap, and what you did to get yourself out. I bet you it was simply taking action and doing something!