When starting my journey into the internet world of marketing, I had no experience and no friends or associates to ask how this world works.
I had heard that there were successful people out there that knew how to make money on the internet, and lots of it. But how to go about it? Good question.
A person can do a search for information and courses on starting an internet business, and you will find yourself immersed in so many offerings that you finally give up reading them all and still have not found the key to open the door to your online business.
So Where Is The Key?
The key to your door would be found where-ever your comfort zone is. Let me explain-
There are so many con-artists and scammers out there that just want to sell you a bill of goods and take your money, then you find out there is no support, nothing. You just spent your hard- earned money on garbage. Beware of these types of offers. Go with your gut feeling when you are looking into a program to get you started.
That is your comfort zone.
For myself, it came in an email. I was introduced to two young men that were on the same quest back in 2006. They became friends in college, one was a lawyer, the other an english teacher. Not happy with their career choices, they went on a search to create an online business. After many years of learning the ropes the hard way and finally achieving success, they put together a program to assist others on the same venture.
The program is simple to get your website up and running in no time, and they also offer one-on-one coaching. The initial buy-in to the program was definitely not going to break my piggy bank and I was in my comfort zone with what they were saying the program offered. I made the initial purchase and within 48 hours I had my first website.
So You Have A Website, Now What?
The two men did not leave me without some answers. The program came with numerous video tutorials to get a person started with affiliate marketing. I was on my way. Or at least I thought I was. Boy, did I have a lot to learn and still do.
And So The Make Money On The Internet Venture Continues
I see so many people looking for an answer to how to make money online. That is why I am writing this post. First and foremost anyone considering this quest needs to realize that overnight success doesn’t happen online even though some people like to make you believe it does. It takes work, determination, responsibility, and integrity. Be true to yourself, treat others with respect, make sure you create a secure site for your visitors, and know the companies you affiliate with. There is nothing worse than spamming people with an array of products that you know nothing about just to gain a commission.
When considering this venture, first choose your niche. Think of what you have experience in and that you believe in. Maybe you are a great cook, are good at sewing, mechanicing in your garage is your favorite place to be, how about your garden, do you have tips and tricks to help others out? We all do something that we love, and that something is easy to create content about on your site. Then find companies to affiliate with that fit your niche.
Well That Sounds Simple Enough, Or Does It?
It is not that simple. Take my word for it and this is where your determination comes in to play. Find time everyday to educate yourself on how this world works. You will thank yourself later for it and your site visitors will also thank you for not having a garbage site. How will you know if your visitors like your site or what you need to improve? They will leave comments. Please reply to those comments, whether good or bad. It shows you have an interest in your visitors, as they are potential customers. They will share your site with friends and tweet your page. Tell your tweeters and friends thank you for sharing. Also make sure you have some type of analytics service set up on your site to find out where your traffic is coming from. You can learn alot from analyzing that data.
One site I have found that has a vast amount of information (for free I might add) is AffiliateXFiles. The site gives you information on affiliate marketing, article marketing, email marketing, blogging, and much more. They are a great resource to have in your arsenal of helpful sites to assist you on your venture as a new internet marketer. They rank very high in Google Search. That should tell you that there content is useful and up to date. Always be on the search for sites that have tips to help you make your online business grow. One blog site I like to follow is TrafficGenerationCafe. The author, Ana Hoffman, has worked hard on this site and she always has great content with a lot of tips and tricks.
Integrity
As stated earlier, always be truthful to yourself and your visitors. I started my first site a bit over 1 year ago. It has been a long road of learning, and I continue to learn something new everyday. I created my second site in January after being awarded a platinum pass to Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas. Thank you Affiliate Summit for that opportunity. It was an experience I will never forget and also led me to creating my second site which still needs an incredible amount of work to be done on it. Trying to keep up more than one site, especially when you have a day job, is work. I am making progress with both sites and starting to get more traffic all the time. That is where the determination factor comes in. Don’t give up after a few months because it will take much more time than that to even get your site found.
Be social. The internet is all about making connections. There are also learning curves involved in the social media arena. Take time to learn them. I know I am. Visit This is a great interview with Chris Saad of Echo posted on Affiliate X Files. You can also find out what Echo is and the services they provide here.
Find directories to get listed in. Make sure they are quality directories. That gives you more links back to your site. One I recently came across is Manta.com. There are numerous options when claiming your directory listing for your business with them. You are able to build additional pages or tabs that can be linked to different pages or products on your site. You can also link up all your social media profiles to your directory listing. Manta will send you weekly emails concerning how many people visited your listing the previous week. The best part is if you are a local business without a website, you can still claim a listing in this directory. The Manta directory listing is growing by leaps and bounds every day and they also included a member forum so one can network with others in the Manta community.
Last but not least, find quality tools to assist you in your pursuit of online business. One that I use and highly recommend is CommentLuv Premium. Click on the link for more information on my view concerning this quality plug-in. Thank you Andy Bailey for creating the CommentLuv Network.
So there you have it. A small slice of my journey into the internet world and some of the steps that I have taken. If you would like further details, such as what program that I initially signed up with, or some of the tools that I use, send an email with your questions. If you are contemplating starting an online business, hopefully this article has assisted in answering some of your questions concerning online marketing. More in-depth information can be accessed at Affiliate X Files Top 10 Affiliate Blog
Disclaimer: There are no affiliate links on this post, the only aff. link involved would be found if a visitor chooses to view the CommentLuv Premium post that is linked up to this. A must-read if you love CommentLuv.