money for my life

Internet Marketing - Are You Taking Inventory?

By now, you should be seeing what it is going to take to succeed in the world of Internet Marketing. It isn’t enough to have a website. It isn’t enough to paste a product on the site. If you do that and watch your bank account, you will be sorely disappointed. A lot of places that promise you the world with little or no effort don’t tell you the whole story. 

There is work involved.

It takes concentrated, tireless effort to generate traffic. Sites like Google or America Online are established and don’t have to worry so much about promotion to get traffic. They did in the beginning. But once established, getting new people in the door was not as important as getting the old people to stay. You have to provide value to the customer/visitor to earn their trust and earn their business.

Take an Inventory.

You should keep a list of things that work. After a while you will notice by tracking your visitors (usually through webmaster tools or the cpanel) that there are certain days of the week that you attract more visitors. My site usually attracts about 19-20% more on Saturdays than it does on Fridays. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I notice that the content that I post on Fridays and Saturdays matters to visitors. You start to notice that the use of long keyword phrases tend to increase your visitor rate as well. Keep in mind that what may work for you may spell disaster for others. Keep trying until you find the perfect mix for you.

When I first began, I didn’t have any affiliate sites linked on my homepage. But after experimenting a bit, I am discovering those that work well. You can experiment with your sites as well. Just keep an open mind and the goal in focus.

Have a GREAT day!

Tags: goals, internet marketing

Internet Marketing: I’m So Excited!!

It is amazing that Internet Marketing has the ability for you to earn decent money. Thirty years ago I can recall the dawn of the personal computer. There were dreams that were written about that went into detail on how music would largely be done on computers. A lot of it is done that way nowadays, but there is something about the ability to actually play an instrument. There was talk about telecommuting to work and never having to leave your home (that is closer to a reality for many people than was ever envisioned). But to actually make money on your own as an Internet Marketer was unthought of in those days, but now it is a booming industry in which you just need a computer and some guidance.

Is it easy? No. Despite what the pitchmen and pitch women will tell you, it will not happen overnight: there is some work involved in it. Unlike what they would have you believe, you don’t just turn on your computer and the money starts flowing to your bank account.

If only it were that easy.

Just as a star athlete doesn’t get to their highest level of excellence without hard work at the gym, you will never succeed without your own hard work. How much? Ask yourself some questions: How much money do you want to make? What is the time-frame for earning this money? How much time are you willing to devote to this endeavor? Are you going to spend any money in the process? How much? Are you willing to do research to find out the information that you need to succeed? Are you going to have anybody mentor you? Is any of this written down?

Of course, this just scratches the surface of the soul-searching that is required to have Internet Marketing success. I honestly believe that if you have the desire and willingness to work, you will be successful beyond your current dreams. Success begets success.

Have a GREAT day!

Just as a star athlete doesn’t get to their finest without working out at the gym, you will never succeed unless you put in some time and effort. How much? you may ask. It depends. How successful do you want your Internet business to be? What are your goals? Who is yo

Tags: goals, internet marketing, success

Internet Marketing – What Drives You To Succeed?

Sometimes it is not enough to want to succeed in Internet Marketing. Many people just purchase a website and stick a product on that website and are disappointed when their PayPal account isn’t overflowing with cash. That fits the definition of a pipe dream. Just wishing for success takes more than a wish. There are people that dream of winning a million dollars in the Lottery, but never even bother to go to the store and purchase a ticket.

Write it down.

There is something compelling about writing your goals for Internet Marketing. What do you want to accomplish? How much money do you want to make? There is a difference between saying more money and saying $100,000. If you have twenty dollars in your pocket and somebody gives you a quarter, guess what? You have more money.  Goals need to be measurable. You will know when you have $100,000. It can be measured.

Goals need to be short-term, intermediate, and long-term. What do you want to accomplish in the next two month? The next year? Ten years from now? Once you know where you want to go, develop a plan to get there and break it up into steps that you can attain in measurable increments.

Review the goals often. The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that people will write a lofty goal and, once January 1 has passed, it is put away until the next year. When you look at your goals every day, you reaffirm in your mind that which you want to accomplish. Set aside some time every day to review and even revise your goals.

Have a GREAT day!

Tags: goals, internet marketing, web traffic

Positive Mental Attitude and the New Half-Year

So, today is July 1, 2009 and this is a GREAT day to take assessment of how you are doing, where you are headed, and what can you do to get you there in the most efficient manner. Traditionally, we look at January 1 each year to set goals (resolutions) to lose weight, make more money, get out of debt, etc. Why not the second half of the year to do the same sort of analysis? I believe that it is a good idea.

How is the traffic to your Internet Site? The traditional things have been done and it is found that posting every day on my website (pinging it of course) helps to increase the ranking on Google search engines. I found that when a day (or two or more) is skipped, the ranking tends to go down a bit and the website is further back in the ranks.

What else can drive your traffic? I found that writing articles on ezinearticles.com helps because three months after the article is written, I still get an occasional hit on the website. I have also discovered Twitter and now update my “tweets” every time that I have a new post both here and on one of the blogs that I write. That has helped tremendously.

Now that I have an ebook out there, I do the same things for it, but I am also looking for low cost ways to advertise that book. I haven’t yet made the time to explore fully pay-per-click for this book, and when I get some spare time (what is THAT?) it will be spent looking at that. Perhaps there are things that YOU can think of.

Have a GREAT day!

Tags: article marketing, goals, internet marketing

How Can You Have A Positive Mental Attitude On A Monday?

THAT is an excellent question! It is a question that you probably ask every Monday. In the traditional work week, one would work eight hours each day Monday through Friday. Of course, time now are not what we would call traditional. There are so many variations of the forty-hour week now: Some people work four 10 hour shifts with three days off, some people work 3 twelve hour days with four days off, some work a blend of that with 3 ten hour days, 1 six hour day, and a short 4 hour day. Whatever your work week is and whenever it begins, the first day of that work week is usually the toughest to keep a positive mental attitude on.

It is a challenge.

But, it is one that can be met and easily surpassed if you have the habit of a positive mental attitude. It was mentioned a few posts ago that you can choose to look on the bright side of life if you please. I am not advocating a PollyAnna-type of approach to where everything is bright and shiny and happy, because it is not. Train yourself to find the good things that are happening instead of focusing on the bad things. Your mind is a wonderful tool that has the ability to draw you toward that which you think about. If you have a sniffle and you focus on how poor your are going to feel, you will start to feel worse. If, on the other hand, you focus on how good the other parts of you feels, your sniffle will diminish in importance.

It works this way with Internet Marketing as well. If you focus on how little money you have and how little money your website is generating, despite how well-planned and well-designed it may be, you will continue to get little trickles of traffic to your website and pennies in your pocket.

Focus on how well you are doing! See what changes make more traffic come your way! Be flexible enough to make and accept changes as they assist you in your goal to become financially independent (or you may have a smaller goal of making an extra $100 a month, but you don’t have to limit yourself to just that).

What you think about, you bring about. For example, I have been thinking about writing an ebook on how to eliminate credit card debt fot the last few months, and because that was a dominating thought in my head, it finally came into being (you can get your own copy here). It works the same way with any goal you may have, it all begins with a positive mental attitude.

Have a GREAT day!

Tags: goals, positive mental attitude

Internet Marketing Success - What is YOUR Goal?

Goals are one of the things that a lot of people have a lot of problem with. Having clear, written goals, it a key to success, not just in Internet Marketing, but in any aspect of your life that you would like. What are goals, you may ask? Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich said that a “goal is a dream with a deadline” There is a difference between dreaming about something and having a goal. To me, a dream has implications of fuzziness and a feeling.

Let me explain:

Let us say that you have an idea for a book that you have spent a lot of though on. When you dream about it, it is just wishful dream-filled thinking. You picture in your mind sitting down at the keyboard of your computer and typing away. You picture having people around the world link up through their computers to download your book and the smiles on their faces when the download is successful. Is there any action involved in this? Is there any definite time-lines that you have and are meeting along the way? NO!! It is only a dream.

When you make your dream a goal, a mental transformation is made in which you now have a deadline or timeframe in which to get there. You write down your goal and break it up into easy-to-take steps. You spend one hour each day dedicated to reaching this goal. Your first goal is to have ten chapters for your book. You spend isolated, dedicated time each day to get that outline done. Then you have a goal of having three or four points covered in each chapter. An hour (at least) each day is spent on this. Your book slowly takes shape.

Which one gets you closer, a dream or a goal. The goal, of course. Such it is with life.

Stop dreaming and devote the time to convert your dreams into goals. You can do it!

(by the way, I just finished an ebook about credit card debt elimination called  Never Surrender!!)

Tags: goals

Internet Marketing - You Have to be Flexible

An story keeps running through my head as I think about what was posted yesterday about the need to be flexible. There is a lot more to say than the few words that were typed out yesterday. The story goes about the great mighty oak tree that had lived for over 100 years. Strong and proud, it had weathered some years of drought, some years of excessive rain, even a small wildfire. One day a strand of prairie grass was near the oak tree and the oak tree was in his usual bragging mood admiring his reflection in a small nearby pond. “I am mighty and powerful and you, little sprout, will never be as grand as I am.”  Suddenly, the skies darkened and the winds began to blow. The might oak stood his ground and almost laughed at the growing wind. “I am mighty and powerful, this wind is nothing to me”, he boasted. The storm worsened and it grew dark. The next morning the mighty oak had been toppled because as the wind gained strength the tree had not had any flexibility and the wind finally won. The strand of prairie grass, however, was still standing as it was before. The winds at time had the grass laying flat against the ground, but because of its flexibility, it was able to survive.

You have to be flexible to survive in Internet Marketing also. Don’t be so rigid that you will not be able to see what works and what doesn’t and change accordingly. Have a plan, of course, but also be willing to change your plans as necessary. Don’t believe because what has always worked wil work for you in the future because, if there is any one constant in the world, it is change. Things will change. Be flexible to adapt to the changes so that you can be more successful.

Have a GREAT day!

Tags: change, flexibility, goals, internet marketing, success

Internet Marketing - You Have to be Able To Be Flexible

When your quest of becoming a successful Internet Marketer is set, you have a single-mindedness of purpose (as discussed yesterday) and your a determined to make a go of it. In your mind you envision the success that you will have, the things that you will do, and the path that you will take to get there. That’s GREAT!! But…what if something happens that is not in line with your goal? Do you give up? Do you quit? Do you drown your sorrows in drink and never recover?

NO!!!

You become flexible. If you were planning to drive from your home to a city 30 miles away, would you turn around, go home, park your car, and give up because there was a red light at the first traffic signal that you came upon? I doubt that (or you would never have left your home). You simply adjust a bit and continue on your journey, being flexible and able to adapt to the changes that may occur along the way.

Such it is with Internet Marketing. There are millions of ideas and plans out there to help you succeed. Not all of them will work for you. Some plans call for you to produce your own e-books for success. You may not have the desire to spend the energy required to write a book. You move to something else. You find a plan that calls for you to outsource work and make money as a contractor. Maybe that isn’t your cup of tea, so to speak.  The thing is, there is some way, some method, some program out there in which you believe with every fiber of your being that you will be successful at doing and, in the process, make some decent money at.

But you have to be flexible to try the things that don’t work until you find the things that do!

Have a GREAT day!

Tags: flexibility, goals, internet marketing, making money on the internet

Internet Marketing - Single-Mindedness of Purpose

Another key in successful Internet Marketing is having a single-mindedness of purpose. Huh? You have to know where you are going and keep your focus on the end result, not being too easily distracted by the noise on the side attempting to keep you from reaching the goal. You will remember that yesterday we talked about deciding and how making a decision is to cut off all possibility of anything that is not your decision and your subconscious will kick in to assist you.

When you become distracted, it is harder to succeed in your dreams. Distraction is a great way to keep a small child from crying. How many times have you seen a parent with a small child who is antsy in the store hand them their keys to keep them entertained. You know that when you decide to make a go of Internet Market and making money on the Internet that there are bound to be distractions and things that “come up” that are demanding your energy.

I am single-minded when I drive. I have a thirty to forty-five minute commute to my work each day (no matter which job I am working at) and my goal is to get from one place to the other. I tend not to look at the scenery or notice the detail of the cars that are driving and staying in their lanes. I have often driven by my wife who was headed the other direct, but never really noticed here because I was on the mission to get to where I was going.

The same applies to having success in the realm of Internet Marketing and making money on the Internet. When you choose to take this path, you will become consumed and sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information out there. You just have to stay focused and quickly scan the information for tidbits, clues, and hints that will help you to succeed.

You can and will succeed, especially when you put your mind to the goal.

Have a GREAT day!

Tags: goals, internet marketing, making money on the internet

Internet Marketing - One (of many) Key To Marketing Success

I enjoy reading other ideas about Internet Marketing and how the one in any particular article are the ONLY ones that work. Unfortunately, there is more than one way to skin a cat. You can take many paths along your road to online success and I am just presenting another one. This particular key could be considered as the only one that you would need, but perhaps it is a starting point instead. It is at the use of this key, doors will open up to you that you never before though possible (hence, the word key). It isn’t fancy, it isn’t new, but it is powerful in and of itself. What is that key?

DECIDE

Decide literally means to cut off. When you decide to do something, you subconsciously make the choice to go toward reaching the goal. Your body responds by putting all effort into that. Internet Marketing success is the same way. You must decide to make it successful. Don’t use weak language and say “I guess I will do a good job at making money on the Internet”. Does that sound convincing? If you saw that somebody else had said that, do you think in six months you would see their name on a lot of articles about Internet Success? No. What about if you instead said “I will definitely make $100,000 on the Internet by December 31, 2009″ Apply the same scrutiny. Will they be successful? Probably, but you know that whoever says that will be a lot closer to being successful than somebody who “guesses” they will be successful.

Decide! Do Something! Make a move toward your own success!

Have a GREAT day!

Tags: goals, internet marketing, making money on the internet, success