The 5 things I wish I had known!
If only someone would have told me when I first got started online!
I started online because I needed to make more money! So that means I did not have any extra money to spend. I began searching online for an answer and guess what! There were a whole lot of answers out there. I wish I had known or would have been told about the pitfalls of internet marketing before I got caught up into the day to day grind. From day one I got caught in the trap of try this or buy that? I just didn’t have
the money to spend on things when I didn’t even know what they were.
So I started joining everything that said “free”! Guess what! Free costs a lot of money and a lot of time. But (that’s a big but) free was better than nothing! I had to start somewhere!
These are some things I wish I had known or someone would have explained to me in this whole process!
Your email list is your number one priority.
Here is the bottom line. In my 15 years online I have never seen a single person succeed for very long without having a list of their own.
Content is King!
But it’s a whole lot more than that. High-quality content will attract your perfect audience. People who want to hear from you. An audience who need what you offer. People who will grow to like you, trust you and buy from you again and again.
Consistent effort outperforms everything!
Don’t despise our days of small beginnings. When it comes to your work online, consistent effort outperforms the big push every time. Put another way, posting to your blog every day will outperform the big dreams of fast riches. You can control your own efforts. You can’t control how others behave. If I had a dollar for every time I got ripped off by a get rich quick scheme, I’d be rich.
There Is No Magic Button
Perhaps like you, I fell for the magic button garbage in the beginning. The “no effort, no learning, fast results” lie was just impossible to ignore. It sounds odd to say this, but I was fortunate in one respect. I was too sick and too broke to chase the “magic button” lie very long. I speak with people almost every week who have lost a lot of money chasing the “magic button” solution. It’s heartbreaking to talk with them. But I do it for one reason. I’ve been in the trap and I know the way out. My duty is to serve.
You Do Not Need To Buy Everything!
I know this sounds crazy coming from someone who sells things online for a living. But it’s true. You don’t need to buy everything. I often caught myself buying the same program again because I couldn’t remember where it was and if I had gotten a copy of it. That would be like having four autoresponder accounts and never using them, just because a program you were joining required that you purchase it. Believe it or not that happens regularly. You join a program and they won’t accept your autoresponder, they require you purchase their recommendation (typical way to make money) but the issue is as a subscriber you have to make the final decision on what you do.
Here is a core set of activities that pay off big time.
- Post to your blog every day, or write a post for your blog to be published later.
- Send a recommendation to your list every day, or write one for later.
- Track results every day and see how you can improve them.
- Research how to reach new audiences every day.
If you do these things every day I truly believe you will be amazed at the results you get over time.
My best advice is this.
- Make a list of the things you need to do in your business.
- Write down next to each item one tool you need to get the job done.
- Start using only those tools and nothing else.
Taking these steps will make life easier. None of us need five word processors or three ad tracking tools or four ways to analyze traffic to our sites. But what we do need, what we desperately need is simplicity and clear thinking.
There you go – my list of the five things I wish I had known on that fateful day so long ago when I decided I was “going to make a living on the Internet.”
It’s been a great journey. Thank you for being part of it.
Donnie Ellis
TrafficTips4U.com
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