Get Your Website Up Fast!

My assumption today is that you have an idea of what you want to do and are ready to get your website built. Great! However, if you are like me you may tend to get lost in the design or look-and-feel of your site's layout. Advice of the day - whatever you do stop this behavior! Why? Because this is the kind of thing that will waste hours of your time. 'But, but, but', you say, 'I want my site to look great.' Yes, everyone does. However, it is one of the single most time consuming tasks especially if you are not a graphic designer.

Based on my own abilities to do graphic and text layouts I would say that my efficiency rating is about 5-10 to 1 - meaning that what takes me 5-10 hours to do graphically I can do in 1 hour of article writing, site text and links. Think about that - if I build my own site I may be spending 20 hours on the layout and 2 to 4 hours on the content. Now you tell me which is more important!

Regardless of my argument - what is important is getting the content out on the web before anything else. Many miss this point all together. I could, for example, create 5 articles, 3-4 intro and about pages, and a site map and get it loaded on a new domain in a day. I could also start the first blog entry as well. This content would not need a layout and could just be a basic CSS XHTML layout as you can see in the CSS Zen Garden site without CSS skin and with CSS skin. That way the search engines can immediately begin spidering my content. I do not need to worry about my visitors yet since the site is new and very few will find it in the next few weeks. However, now I have the luxury to work on the layout and start building links without trying to complete the entire site first.

Get your content out there first! You'll be glad you did!

The Very First Thing You Should Do

I've met a fair number of people who like to do some part time work, consult, build sites on the side, and also try to become new internet marketers. Recently I heard a cry from a couple of people asking what they should do when first trying to break into the online marketing business.

Here is the problem at hand for many of the newbie marketers out there - panic, impatience, and impulsiveness. If you are in this business to try and make the quick buck because you are panicked and out of money, or, you find yourself drifting between products, methods, affiliates, and the next big wave then you are on the wrong track. I'm going to be blunt here but you must stop what you're doing and think this through.

As you probably know only about 5% of those in this business are really making significant money to be completely independent. And of those, only a handful are multi-millionaires. The problem most keep running into is what I call 'the big sell'. That is, the hype associated with this industry. Much like anyone I was struggling with the same question 4 years ago when I started.

Now, I know you are excited and anxious to get started and have very high hopes. But, if you move too fast and don't sit back an evaluate what you really want you can waste a lot of time and money. I know I did! Thankfully, with a significant amount of time and effort I was able to make back what I've put it and earn some more. With that in mind stop and ask yourself this question: Am I going to market to marketers or market products and services? What I mean by this is - are you going to create new marketing strategies and/or be a marketing affiliate, or, are you going to create and/or sell a product?? Make sure you answer this first.

Then, as I noted yesterday: Are you going to get into an online business that you enjoy? This is important!! I suggest getting away from your computer and taking a walk - try to imagine what it would be like if your online business was a success. What would you really want to be doing that drives you?

Take a look at Digital Photography Review. Here is a guy who loves photography and has turned his passion into one of the best digital camera review sites on the internet and makes a living doing it. Yes, the site is now huge and has a massive amount of content. But, he started somewhere.

Also take a very close look at Holly Mann's site: Honest Riches Pay close attention on how she's taken all of the best online marketing strategies and put them into practice. If you've learned most of the basics and you've studied her sites you'll see that she has jumpstarted her business in record time!

And the last thing I must note is that you are starting a business - remember that. If you haven't created a sole proprietorship or LLC to get started (in the USA) then you are losing money right away. A sole proprietor is a business entity that allows you to deduct any expenses (domain names, web hosting, ebooks, advertising, computers, software, etc.) on your taxes. Be sure to do that at a minimum before you start. Just register with your state - the fees are low (typically $30-$50 total). You will save money on all of your expenses. (Note that the closer you get to becoming a corporation the higher the protection of your business).

Marketing What You Love to Do

Ah, this topic will drive me into a frenzy the more I think about it and talk to people. And, frankly, it is the antithesis of the current trends in internet marketing. Why, might you ask? The answer to this ties directly to my last blog entry on AdSense niche marketing and the information black market. People are throwing niche websites left and right on all kinds of topics - mostly targeted at the highest paying keyword phrases. Besides the other problems I mentioned before this also stabs right in the heart of who you are.

Let me explore this a bit differently. Let's say your real passions are golf, drinking coffee, and reading non-fiction books on science. Besides that you are an expert real-estate lawyer and have a plethora of knowledge on that subject. Now let's look at some of the highest paying keyword search categories:

DUI, Mortgage, Refinancing, Sex, Travel, Health, Gambling, Entertainment, Legal Help, etc.

Many budding internet marketers are choosing highly rated keyword phrases to put up niche Adsense sites focusing on these areas as well as others. But, why would you put up a niche site on lazik eye surgery if you love golf, coffee, science and real-estate law? The answer, simply to make money, of course! The goal of most niche sites is pure profitability. I'm not saying that making a profit is bad - all I am saying is that doing work only for profits will eventually burn you out. There are a number of packaged niche products you can buy to quickly jump into high-paying markets. But, once built do you really care about the information any more to drive these sites forward?

If you happen to be one of the lucky ones whose interests fit a high paying niche then good for you. But, don't be discouraged! You can typically find something that fits your passions and interests that can be managed to an income source. If you love to collect things then build on your collectables - if you love coffee then build your niche around coffee. Just remember that it will be ten times easier for you to add original content to anything that you really care about.

Can You Make a Living on AdSense? Don't Count on It!

Coming out of a recent session regarding niche marketing and AdSense that has swept through the IM world I felt a sense of an unhealthy direction for the future of this practice. If you haven't heard niche marketing in conjunction with Google's Adsense is very hot right now and a number of marketing gurus as well as opportunists have jumped on the bandwagon. This has been an excellent example of Google actually creating a new industry that didn't exist before - the information black market.

Now, I don't want this to sound too alarmist but the researching, refactoring, rewriting and reselling of information is rapidly becoming a dark art. By this I mean that information for the pure sake of profit is starting to devalue what the internet's higher goals are - universal access to information. But what kind of information? How can one establish what the quality or the motivation of information is?

Let's take an example - two people decide to publish information regarding a topic such as a niche health care issue. One does it purely for the public good - the other purely for AdSense revenue. Does this have any relationship to the quality of the information? Who would you trust and why? What would be the determining factors?

This is a very complex question and has no easy answers. Nevertheless, the search engines are looking very closely at this problem. If you were a search scientist at Google what high level criteria would you use to rank motivation? How would you score a site who's pages are covered with AdSense ads vs. pages with only pure content? I'm not sure how this is going to be answered but this very issue is rapidly rising to the top.

Are You Measuring Your Success?

I've noticed that a lot of new, struggling marketers out there are having difficulty understanding key concepts around metrics and key performance indicators. Also known as KPI these measurements help reflect the strategic performance of a company. In large businesses this would be classified under the term 'business intelligence'. What does that mean?

If I asked you to sit back and tell me exactly how you would know if your business is doing well - how would you respond? Would you simply say "I'm earning some extra cash?" That might be fine. However, do you know some of the basic metrics of your business? Do you understand how many new customers you are collecting, the profitability of your AdWords ads, the percentage conversion rate of your affiliate partners? These are all KPIs for your business.

Now, you certainly do not have to get into this amount of detail to begin with. But you might want to begin measuring your internet business with simple statistics such as your AdSense ad channels, AdWords conversions, ebook sales through Clickbank, top referring sites, monthly profitability, etc. It's really not that difficult to do and can give you a good sense of what your business is doing without relying on your gut feelings. Are you able to simply say home much you have earned this month and how it compares to your previous months? How about how much you have spent (this is typically the naturally ignored metric)?

Here are some of the potential benefits of using KPIs:
Productivity, Profitability, Quality, Cycle Time, Growth, Innovation, etc.

Take a look at Eric Peterson's Blog called Web Analytics Demystified when you have some extra time. This is a great place to learn more about internet marketing KPIs. If you start simple and start soon - your online business will benefit from it.

Pssst!! Here's a Secret - How to Make Money Online

Ah, the age old question - "how do I make easy money online without any effort"? Guess what, unless you are a lotto winner the answer is 'you cannot'. Please listen to me when I say this - you are not reading this to just make money - you are trying to establish an online business. What's the difference you might ask? The difference is a business has a vision, plan, growth potential, focus, etc.

"But", you might ask, "I can just be an affiliate and make extra money, can't I?" Yes, you can. However, you cannot make the kind of money needed to become an independently wealthy or earn a full living online. Now, you might counter with examples of those who have done it - but I would say they have a vision and direction but just don't know or have the business education to realize it. Take a very close look at some of the leading internet marketers like Mike Filsaime, Neil Shearing, Michael Cheney (affiliate link) and Derek Gehl. They are making serious money online because of their commitment and vision of their business. (This goes back to yesterday's posting on driving business growth).

Internet Marketing Secret - there is not an easy way to make money online, but, there is an easy way to learn how to build a business to make money online. Study the names above very carefully, take notes, find their links, see what they sell and list their core business focus areas. If you are patient, and truly productive you will make serious money. It will take effort and a little time.

Driving Online Business Growth

It is amazing to see the plethora of internet marketing, work at home, wealth online and similar guides out there. Once you start seeing all of the possibilities your mind tends to swim with ideas. Someone is making millions on AdSense, another is selling ebooks like crazy, others are using anti-marketing to drive curiosity seekers, and so on. Where do you start?

The biggest problem that 95% of those trying to break into online marketing is sustaining productive growth. By this I mean defining daily time to your project and business to drive revenue. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, it's not.

The greatest secret that online marketers rely on is the fact that most buyers have huge dreams but very little productive drive. Most online products are purchased but never used or used only inconsistently. The chore of working on something day to day is too difficult for many - they're always looking for automated wealth.

In order to drive traffic to your site and build your business you must sustain a certain amount of productive work every day. What is productive work? That is work that directly affects your revenue. Unfortunately, reading this right now is not productive work for you - it will be in the future. Building your sites, adding content, writing ebooks and articles, etc. is productive. If you are like me you enjoy finding new products and learning the trade - but many times it is overwhelming and your head starts spinning.

Here's my advice: focus on a single project, build it daily, add content, add links, add rss feeds, get your list started - it will take some time. Try to curb you tendencies toward reading blogs, getting excited over the next new product, and reading forums. I'm not saying you shouldn't educate yourself - just don't forget that education does not directly drive revenue - it only gives you more potential to drive revenue.

Getting There Part 2 - Blind Luck, Profit Puppy, Affiliates and Chuck McCullough

Now, of course, I'm in a very dangerous mood because I've lost $150 right away and have no real plan. Getting a bit frustrated I find an ad on Google for a new MLM advertising campaign. It had just appeared and getting in early was the key. Being terribly naive as I was I jumped at the chance - only to discover this was some kind of offshore business (I'm getting embarrassed just thinking about this). I threw $59 into it and by complete and total luck I wound up making $400 in about 1 month. This was a very bad omen and learning experience for me - because I threw another $59 in and absolutely nothing happened after that. What was I thinking? (I wasn't - it was all gut reaction and blind dollars).

Feeling a bit high and low at the same time (I was up $150 now) I knew I had to do some more research (I wish I had called it education). What was this business all about? How where these gurus really making money online?

So, I got online and began to search Google with terms on 'internet marketing', 'online profits', 'get rich online'... you know the drill. Even by this point in 2002 these search terms revealed a host of online schemes, affiliations, products, services and more. I thought it might be better to focus on the money and not so much on the marketing side (another newbie mistake). Again, using gut reaction I stumbled upon Rob Rawson's Profit Puppy site. Here was a kid in Australia making thousands a month just referring people to his own affiliate sites. Frankly, I wasn't overly impressed at that time but felt he might be on the right track with his site being a directory to other sites with affiliation. (I now think he was either a brilliant early adopter or just plain lucky with his timing). I still get a few Profit Puppy marketing emails to this day and love what he has done over the last 4 years online - my assumption being that he is older, wiser and probably a lot wealthier.

Reflecting on my Neil Shearing untargeted affiliate marketing campaign I starting searching the net for some experts on how to start an online business and not make the same mistakes I was making. Just a segue here - it is funny as I think back on my behavior at home trying to earn some extra money on how much of my past exeperience in business and strategy was completely ignored. I can't quite tell if this was due to a bit of desperation for a few extra dollars or just that it seemed like a fun exercise. Regardless, I never sat back and strategically evaluated what I was doing. More on this to come.

My search was now focused on mistakes and not making them. Enter Chuck McCullough's Affiliate Mistakes (link is gone). This was my 2nd ebook purchase and a real learning experience. Chuck's guide pinpointed the exact mistakes I was making and gave me my first education on affiliate marketing. Chuck had been in the affiliate marketing business for while and seemed to have some great experience. His other site, Affiliate Match, was highly ranked for some time. Alas, Chuck has left the online marketing business but his sites are still out there and Affiliate Mistakes is still a good purchase - so, if you are reading this someday, Chuck, I thank you for being my first online mentor and a great person to work with.

So, now armed with a few dollars and a little education I was ready to try again. Enter Google AdWords - (if you have used AdWords you probably know where this is going). I set out finding some high paying affiliates and immediately placed some AdWords ads this time a bit more targeted. This was exciting - seeing my online statistics virtually real-time and seeing actual traffic to my affiliates. The mentality was addicting - higher ad rate, more clickthroughs - more stats, etc. What happened? I generated a few sales and spent about $500 in advertising. Now I'm down about $200. 2002 was not looking like a very good year online.

Sitting back I decided I needed to educate myself and take a break. In 2003 I focused on consulting and building web sites and started to really examine what it means to be an online marketer. Thus the birth of the Agile Marketer. (Much of what I've learned since 2004 will be talked about in this blog in future articles).

My Story - Getting There, Neil Shearing and Jackie Ulmer

The call came on a hot July day in 2001 - the company is closing its doors for good. The internet boom is over. I had joined this company a couple of years earlier with very high hopes and excitement that the boom was on and I was a part of it. Here I was in downtown Manhattan working on a major retailer's new website feeling like this was a new beginning. Leaving behind a standard, large corporation at that time didn't seem like much of a risk at all considering they were countering with bonuses and stock options.

I knew I had to find a job fast and called my friends at my old company - very fortunately landing a position in late August 2001. Just 2 months later, post 9/11, and the hiring freeze was on. In the meantime, with the economy down and my web interests still bubbling I stumbled into the weird and somewhat chaotic world of internet marketing.

Neil Shearing's site ScamFreeZone.com and ebook, Internet Marketing Blueprint, was my first exposure to the possibility that someone is actually using the internet to make a living online. I loved the book and I was immediately hooked! Being a web programmer / technical manager this seemed to be something I could easily do (little did I know - this opinion probably cost me 2 years of real learning experience). I decided to become an affiliate (not really knowing much about affiliates) and had stars in my eyes (actually $ signs). I threw out a non targeted ad with my direct affiliate link and, guess what, lost my $99 immediately within a week. Oops, lesson 1 - learn something about advertising and maybe a bit about marketing.

So in my next search for help on actual marketing techniques I came across my 2nd guru out there - Jackie Ulmer. She is a master multi-level marketer and seemed to understand how to market an online business. Her products and services have changed over time but her marketing passion and message have not. Just by reading her web material on StreetSmartWealth.com and her other articles I was able to start to pick up on what you need at a higher level to start down a path to success. So, again, I paid a $25 membership fee to a MLM company and starting looking at how to sell something like this online. Bad idea - after thinking about it and tempted as I was I felt that my personality was not a good match with MLM. (Don't rule Jackie out, however. She is a great marketing resource).

So, my first mistakes were now etched in my mind (now being $150 in the hole) and I knew there had to be a better way for me. More to my story in my next entry.

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