8 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Trying to Set Up An Online Internet Business

I know you've been there.  You thought it was easy to make money online through setting up a website or blog, purchasing a domain name or even picking up a free domain name through Blogger or Wordpress, linking affiliate products to it from Clickbank or Clicksure, added some Adsense ads to generate some free money, optimized the website by adding some really good keywords, added some content, then you've sat back and hoped that would attract a lot of free traffic and the money would roll in.  Sounds good, but sorry it doesn't quite happen like that.  What people don’t realise is it still takes a bit of consistent hard work and sweat equity before the money starts rolling in.

Here's a list of common mistakes people have made when trying to make money online:

1.    Thinking you need money to start your online business.   Well to start off with, you don't.  You can set up a free blog through Blogger.com or through Wordpress and just follow their tutorials.  You can even go search on Youtube and find out how to set up a free website or blog.   If you want to get started Blogger is one of the easiest ways to start.  It's quick, easy, and it's free, i.e. no monthly webhosting fee, no need to purchase a URL.  Once you've set that up just link some Adsense ads into it, write up some content or articles.  Go over to Ezine Articles and find some free content there and copy and paste that into your site.  But just remember, give credit to the original source.  Read the copyright rules in Ezine Articles to save being penalized.  But hey, you're just getting started here.  Of course the best information should come from you.  You can add your own content later when you get more confidence or have more time.  Just get it started and get your site online.  You don't have to be perfect because you can change it as you go.  Then sign up into Clickbank marketplace, which is also free, and find some products to add to your site.

2.    Thinking you have to hire a Webmaster or Web designer to design a website or have a lot of experience to a blog or website. Guess what?  You don't.  Just follow the tutorials in whichever site builder you want to use, e.g. Blogger or Wordpress or search Youtube or the web on how to.  There's a lot of free information out there.  Use it to get started.  Start generating money first, and then maybe later purchase other things to automate some of the work and free up some time.     

3.    Not having a goal.  It's so important to have a goal, and WRITE IT DOWN.  Just write it on a piece of paper, in a notebook.  What I've always done is purchased these really cheap school notebooks around the time they're on special, or just use your kid's old notebooks they haven't used.  They're easy to carry around or store away for easy access.  Read your goals every morning and every night if you can, a minimum of once a day.  You will be amazed at what that will do.  Believe me, it works!   When writing down your goals, use the S.M.A.R.T. principles:  Be SPECIFIC, MEASUREABLE, ACHIEVABLE or ATTAINABLE,TIME-BASED.  Set long term goals and then break them down into short term goals.  It's important to break down goals into tiny steps, e.g. daily goals.   Have you heard this, "How do you Eat An Elephant?  One bite at a time."  That's how a goal should be; one step at a time - one bite at a time. 

4.    Not having a plan.  You've got to have some sort of plan.  Would you build a house without a plan?  No, I didn't think so.  Not having a plan is like sailing a boat without a rudder.   First of all, work out how much time you are going to commit to this business.  If you work full time as well and want this as a part time business, work out how much time you can afford to build it.  You can't use the excuse that you don't have enough time.  Believe me, some of the most successful internet marketers in the world have started off working full time, and having other family commitment to cope with.  It's a myth when they say you have to have 8 hours of sleep a night.  You only need 4.  Most people sleep for about 7 to 8 hours a night, but only 3 to 4 will be quality sleep.  You just need to learn how to relax or wind down before going to sleep.  Read a book, read your goals, listen to some soft music.  I go to bed about 10.30pm most nights and my internal clock wakes me about 4.30am.  I'm up at 5.00am, check emails and my business until 6.00am and then do exercise for an hour (another article on it's own).   Break down each step.  Here's something to start you off:

·         Set some Goals

·         Find a niche market (Niche Plan)

·         Find a product or products to sell on Clickbank

·         Create a Blog or Website

·         Monetize your Blog, e.g. add some information, content or articles, add affiliate products, Adsense, Keywords, etc.

·         Drive traffic  (Traffic Plan)

     Of course these have to be broken down even further adding times to them as well (timeline).  For me, when I started I spent a minimum of an hour a day in my business, learning, adding content, creating traffic, checking email, adding comments to Facebook and Twitter, etc.   Remember if you had a laptop, Smart phone or Ipad, you can be anywhere in the world building this business.  Isn't technology great. 

5.   Lack of confidence in themselves.  The best way to conquer this is build up your knowledge base.  Search the internet for ways to build up your confidence.  Learn all about building a business online.  All this information here will take time for you to work through.  You will be working through Clickbank tutorials, website tutorials, Youtube lessons.   A half an hour a day building up the knowledge will pay off in the end.  Just don't EVER give up.  It took me 2 years to make money online because my brain got overloaded and I just went off into different tangents.  Of course the best way to succeed at first is to follow someone else who's been successful, but their programmes can cost.  Start off for free and then when you've got the money later, purchase programmes.  But please be careful what you purchase.  There are lots of scams out there, believe me, I learnt the hard way, but the good news sometimes you have to fail to win, that's how you learn.  I want to save you from making those same mistakes I did.  If you're unsure search Google and type in the programme they are selling then the words "scam".  But read it properly because sometimes these sites are just trying to take you away from a good product and intice you into buying something they are promoting.

6.   Being a perfectionist.  Yes this was my problem when I started.  I ended up wasting time tweaking this and tweaking that, and then ended up wasting a lot of time.  Don't worry about being perfect at first.   Just get your site on line.  Make your website simple, don't add all the bells and whistles to it.  Check other people's sites out - check out what's good and what's bad in their site.      

7.   Procrastination.  I'm sure we all do it - procrastinate!  This is where your goals and plan should kick in.  Write daily goals (a daily list) of what you want to achieve.  Try and stick to your plan and times you set for yourself. 

8.   Not being clear about a niche.  Focus on what you love.  There are lots of niches out there, e.g. weightloss, dog training, health, etc.  Check out Google Adwords which is free.  This will allow you to add a particular keyword, for example "dogs", and it will come up with what people are searching for to do with that subject or niche.   Again, focus on a niche that you love.  It helps to keep motivated. 

To learn more on how to make money or creating websites, just add your details in the Optin box above and I will email you three free ebooks on how to make money.  I will also forward you a copy of another great ebook on Blogging Simplified.  Feel free to share other comments or mistakes people can make while trying to make money.

Good luck!

 

How to Make Money Online through Affiliate Marketing

What Is Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is a way of promoting online business through affiliate programs and advertising that pay the affiliate (or publisher) a type of commission based on the amount of business their website brings the merchant company.

It's a form of revenue sharing or commission based advertising. The term "affiliate marketing," however, is often associated with network marketing or multi-level marketing and therefore many companies prefer to use the term "performance marketing". Affiliate marketing is the most cost effective sort of marketing there is, and is actually incredibly efficient.   For this reason, many companies (especially those that started in the early days of e-commerce) owe a tremendous amount to affiliate marketing (amazon.com is a good example) and it has now become normal for companies to include affiliate marketing in many of their plans.

There are three types of compensation methods that are associated with affiliated marketing. The first type is Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per Mil (CPM).  Basically, the affiliate earns by how many clicks the advertising site generates, or by just having the advert published on the website.   But because of click fraud and many other questionable tactics, CPC is no longer the general form used for affiliate marketing.  Generally, companies now either use CPA (Cost per Action) or CPS (Cost per Sale.)  The first is based on how much the advert generates interest by the clicker to actually buy or register at the advertised site, the second is based strictly on sales. In other words, an affiliate is paid if the clicker actually purchases something on the advertised site.

How To Become A Clickbank Super Affiliate

Making money through affiliate marketing is one of the most rewarding careers one could ever have. What's good about this business is that anyone can join and make their way to success. Affiliate marketing has been known to be cost-efficient, assessable method of conveying long-term results. In fact, you can start even with a shoe string budget. And with affiliate marketing, you can have the benefit of working from home and enjoying the freedom and flexibility of working for yourself.

But there are also some people who failed in this kind of business. It could be because they lack knowledge and tactics. If you are a web site owner and you want to join in an affiliate marketing business, you should know where to get good affiliate programs.

Clickbank is an ideal place to start. Here, you can find one of the largest affiliate marketing programs in the industry. You just need to visit their site, http://www.clickbank.com and secure a clickbank ID.  From the Clickbank's home page, proceed to "Earn Commissions" and look for the products and services that perfectly fit you and your site. These products are typically ranked according to their popularity.

Clickbank is one of the affiliate networks that serve as a 3rd party between the web merchants and the associated affiliates. It is responsible in providing the technology to deliver the merchant's offers and campaigns. The affiliate network also do the job of collecting commission fees from the merchant and giving it to the affiliates involved in the program.

Clickbank provides you a large and increasing network of publishers or affiliates to tap into. To be more specific, clickbank has more than 100,000 affiliates who are experts in finding potential customers for your affiliate program. The reason why more and more affiliates are joining Clickbank is obvious – the process of gaining commissions in this network is absolutely fair and transparent.

For web merchants, joining Clickbank is so easy. You just need to sign up in their site for free and allow them to sell your products. Keep up a promotional web site that gives your potential customers detailed information about your offered product or services. At your website, you must also maintain comprehensive technical support pages for your product. In return, Clickbank will promote and sell your product, give customer service for your product, allow their affiliates to pass on traffic to your web site, enable you to encourage new affiliates to advertise your web site, furnish real-time sales reporting for you and the affiliates and send you and all affiliates a paycheck  twice a month.

If you're a Clickbank affiliate wannabe, you surely won't find it hard to be a part of this network.  First, you are required to place their link on your website and if you don't have a Clickbank account, you need to complete the Clickbank affiliate form and create your own account.   Then, if you already have a Clickbank username, you are free to choose whatever marketing tools you want to use, bring in more clicks and generate more sales. After selecting marketing tools, you can now get your affiliate link.

That's how simple it is to join Clickbank. But being a Clickbank super affiliate is no minor achievement. It means you need to possess the ability to sell lots of affiliate products. You also need to have expertise in search engine optimization, email marketing, newsletter marketing, reciprocal linkage, link exchanges and other methods of promoting your merchant's goods and services.

Among the secrets to become successful in affiliate marketing is to come up with a good content based website and put your affiliate links in all your content. Your main purpose here is to give your visitors good quality content about the things they are interested in. Set aside the job of selling. It must be done by the sales letter page you are transferring them to.

Promote multiple affiliate programs in your website but don't promote everything the world has to offer. Just choose the affiliate programs that fit your site and focus on it.  Then, it is advisable to automate the whole process, giving you more time for other ventures. Yes, you've read it right! Automation is another key to become a super affiliate.

Of course, you have to spend more time in reading, learning and taking up the changes in affiliate marketing business. Through this, you'll remain on top of the trends. If you are knowledgeable with online marketing, you'll understand how important it is to stay up-to-date.  In this kind of business, what worked and what was accepted few months ago may not work at present. So always see to it that you know what's new in affiliate marketing everyday.

It's really hard to be a Clickbank super affiliate, but you shouldn't say NO to the thought of giving up. Bear in mind that in affiliate marketing business, you need to develop persistence, patience and knowledge. These traits will teach you to carry on no matter how tough the job is. Also, check your statistics. This will help you find out what is working and what is not. Make necessary changes if needed but do it one at a time and be patient.

Don't forget that in affiliate marketing, everything won't take place overnight. And it will not happen without blood, sweat and hefty time commitment. Again, just encompass patience, persistence and knowledge; then do above mentioned tactics. Before you recognize it, you will start gaining profits. Believe me, the fruits of all your efforts here in affiliate marketing will be way too sweet.