Internet Marketing -
Surviving the First Year
By: Keith Thompson
So you've decided to take
the leap into deep water and
go into business for
yourself, specifically into
Internet Marketing.
Congratulations! This was a
smart decision, one that
will eventually reward you
with all the dreams you can
dream. Your challenge now is
to survive that 1st year.
Hopefully you're reading
this early on in your
endeavors, and can make the
adjustments necessary to
keep your enterprise afloat
and your bank account
buoyant. Here are several
things the "gurus" neglected
to mention along the way to
building your own internet
marketing empire!
1 - Who are you listening
to? There are a lot of
people who've made a lot of
money, and they're all too
eager to tell you about it,
frequently in the form of
their latest product. It's
very easy to find yourself
tuning in too many voices,
instead of riding one horse
till it either gets you
there or is spent. Find a
niche that interests you,
find products that are
either yours or through an
affiliate program, and focus
entirely on your plan, not
allowing yourself to chase
rabbits.
2 - What is certain! And
that is that the real money
to be made in internet
marketing is produced in the
following ways: owning your
own site(s), your own
products, your own opt-in
mailing list, and your own
vision! Think about it! Not
one of the internet
millionaires to whom we look
to for advice has lacked any
of these for very long. You
bought their products off
their sites, joined their
mailing lists, and to one
degree or another shared
their vision. If you haven't
already, begin immediately
to build your own empire.
Build a site, start learning
about traffic, linking,
opt-in lists and all the
other essentials necessary
for long-term success.
Affiliate marketing will
only take you so far. In
fact, most of the top
affiliates have several of
their own products!
3 - The learning curve.
There is a certain amount of
information you simply have
to either learn (or pay
for). Don't discount the
fact that this will take a
little time. One doesn't
discover how to build and
market a fully- optimized
web site in a month. Or
three! This is; and because
of the fluid nature of the
web; always will be a
work-in-progress. Do what
you can do every day and
come back tomorrow for more.
Don't be discouraged when
the money takes a while to
appear; if you do this
right, when it does show up
it will be worth the wait!
4 - A support system. Get
one. Don't plan on
supporting yourself from
your business right away. It
took the best at the very
least several months to
start seeing any real money.
Don't despair if you turn
out to be mortal, too. Give
yourself a chance at this;
the rewards are simply too
great. I'll leave you with a
quote that sustained me many
a night: "I am not afraid of
storms, for I am learning
how to sail my ship." -
Louisa May Alcott
(c)2004 by Keith Thompson
Keith Thompson is the
webmaster of Internet
Marketing Here and Now!,
featuring the latest and
best tools for your internet
marketing business.
http://www.internetmarketinghere.com
Email -
keith@internetmarketinghere.com
