Not sure where to turn now, what's the next step?

Status
Not open for further replies.
DBWebDev

DBWebDev

$0.50/week
Oct 22, 2007
404
3
0
I've dabbled around with bits and bobs and making this little site and that - but basically I've messed around and not done anything productive. I'm making very little money and I guess I need to focus on one thing right now. Problem is I don't know what to work on.

I have about 7 hours a day, and so that's more than enough time to pull something off - I just can't think of what. I thought I was doing ok but looking back all I've really done is look on WF and check my RSS feeds!

I'm all for starting a big project that will produce a more stable income than some methods, and I want to diversify a little in that I don't want to put all my efforts into one site and then come out with nothing - more like one idea/type of site but many topics perhaps.

What I need clarification on is how do I go about it. I've heard people say that blogging is the way to go, other people say get into PPC - there's too much stuff and I just need to focus. I've done a tiny bit of PPC in the past and made some money but I'm wary about going into it again cos it was a long time ago and I don't just want to throw money down the toilet.

Really, I just want you guys that have been there in this position before - if you had all this time available and you were near the beginning of your IM career - what would you focus on, what would you do now knowing what you know now.

Thanks for any help, banging my head against the wall right now so I appreciate any response.
 


DO NOT START A BIG PROJECT if you are only starting out. It will burn you out. Start small with low expectations. Work on a blog as it will be easier for you starting out. Don't take days trying to design something and worry about whether it will make money or not, just do it already.

Grab a free wordpress template, a domain around the niche and throw in some adsense, start writing content every day for 2 weeks, I guarantee you will start to see cash rolling in by then. At that stage your feet will be nice and wet and you will have some confidence in your ability to make money online. Then build that one up and create another one.

Good luck
 
babyboy808 said:
DO NOT START A BIG PROJECT if you are only starting out. It will burn you out. Start small with low expectations. Work on a blog as it will be easier for you starting out. Don't take days trying to design something and worry about whether it will make money or not, just do it already.

Grab a free wordpress template, a domain around the niche and throw in some adsense, start writing content every day for 2 weeks, I guarantee you will start to see cash rolling in by then. At that stage your feet will be nice and wet and you will have some confidence in your ability to make money online. Then build that one up and create another one.

Good luck
Click to expand...
You forgot one important element: traffic.

I can write a post every day for two weeks on a WP blog and never get any traffic but my own.
 
There is a little more to it than just writing some articles for 2 weeks, you have to work on SEO as well, depends on your competition, how many people are interested in your niche, etc...

I would learn every aspect of internet marketing if your new, maybe you just need to keep reading and soak in all the information. I had prior experience in PPC before I got into affiliate marketing so that's what I went with and currently working on. I still learn everything to keep up with the industry I'm not really an SEO person, but I still learn it.

If you want to get into PPC (which is what I like for the quick traffic/sales), look for search engine vouchers they're all over DP. Then you're not really losing much and you can use that account for testing. Concentrate on long phrase targetted keywords that won't cost you much.

If you're not sure what to do yet, just start by making notes of profitable niches until you think of one or find one that you really like. Use search engine tools to find niches that have low competition and high searches, and then when you find a niche think how to get into it and make money, either through blogs, PPC, etc..

That's how I started since I knew I couldn't get into ringtones, or viagra, and was always thinking and making notes of small profitable niches. Not just the offers that are on your networks, try to find untapped niches. They are out there, you just have to think.

If you're on a low budget do a search for bum marketing, if you want to learn PPC look into Perry Marshall's Adwords Guides.
 
babyboy808 said:
no shit, it's to help him/her starting out, this is 1 way he/she can start earning and work from there.
Click to expand...

I'm just letting them know there is more involved since they are starting out and might not know what else is involved since you're making it sound so simple. Example:
I guarantee you will start to see cash rolling in by then.
Click to expand...
 
Writing content on blogs is a good idea since Google likes blogs so much it'll get indexed quicker and your blog will get crawled more frequently. However I'd rather purchase quality keyword rich articles than writing them myself. At the same time learn how to SEO blogs, which isn't really complicated, it's mostly just plug-ins you install to your blog and ping your blog after it's updated.
 
Sorry I forgot to mention just incase you don't know those WP plug-ins only take care of the onsite SEO, you still have to work on off-site SEO. Although you gotta start somewhere so start writing!
 
And don't forget to ping when posting. WP's ping is nice, but by default, rather limited. I usually use pingomatic, but i did pingoat the other day and results seemed better...
 
I've been away for a couple of days and came back to find lots of response so thanks a lot guys. All your advice is valuable and I'll take it on board - but I probably should have said that I'm not a complete newbie. I've read everything article I could ever find on making money online for the past 2 years on and off but I've only just gotten off my arse recently and done something.

Because of my very little experience in PPC, I'm thinking of delving into that again. I read a good post on Jon's blog about PPC arbitrage - he described it as a way to get into PPC because of the simplicity of it and I think I could handle that. However, I've heard on various places for a while now that Google frown upon this so I'm wondering how much control do they have over it and is there a way to do it without getting banned?
 
DBWebDev said:
I've heard on various places for a while now that Google frown upon this so I'm wondering how much control do they have over it and is there a way to do it without getting banned?
Click to expand...

From what I know that's correct, but from what I've heard you just have to use a different search engine. You can use adsense for arbritrage but you can't use Adwords to promote your site and vice versa. Somebody else that does arbritrage can probably confirm this.
 
The easiest way to get in to internet marketing is to actually find something that you care about working on. Pick a topic. For instance, if you play guitar, start a "Guitar Lessons" website. Post up a couple videos to youtube, add some tab info, copy some chord charts, etc. Transcribe some songs that you don't normally see on other tab websites. Basically, take a hobby, throw some adsense on it, and give it a little bit of time. It sounds like you have the time to put something together.

The other trick is to find a niche that you know really well that's not being very well served by existing websites. For instance, there are 20,000,000 gadget websites. Even if you like gadgets, don't waste your time.

Another way to get in to the IM game is to look for things that are 6 months to a year out. For instance, I remember working with some affiliates last summer that were already working on Wii fan sites. They spent 5-6 months building their communities, and made sure to pull every piece of news as it got closer to launch. Now those fuckers are everywhere, but the guys that got in ahead of the trend are the ones that rank high in the SE's and are pulling in good returns on their affiliate channels.

Moral of the story:

- Even if there doesn't seem to be quick money in it, find something that you could seriously see yourself working on every day for the rest of your life.
- Get ahead of a trend curve.
- Provide something novel. Something new and unique to the web that nobody else has thought of.

Good luck.
 
Thanks Dave, excellent reply. Really torn between PPC arbitrage and the whole "build a hobby site" so to speak. You know, I might do both - is that possible? Funny that you mentioned guitar lessons cos I am quite into the guitar so that is one good example.

So... would it make sense to have a guitar site for example that I update with videos, tips etc and daily spend time making it great - but also do PPC on too?
 
If you know the basics and have picked something you want to do, the next step is to get off the blogs, forums, and rss reader.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom