Why You Need a Strategy to Earn Money Online

As much as you want to make some extra cash online right now -  if you don't have a strategy you might just be floating in the ocean of internet marketing without a real sense of where you're going.  In most large companies having a strategy is a key component to a business plan and direction setting.  But, many times people confuse a strategy with a plan which are two very different things.  A strategy requires some training on strategic thinking to help you define potential opportunities for the future. How does this apply to you online? Let me dig a bit deeper to show you how you might apply it.

What is a Strategy?

Have you ever met someone who was so meticulous that they planned out in detail every step and task in detail?  Or, have you ever met someone who was so creative, inventive, yet so disorganized that they didn't know what day or time is was?   A strategy is can be thought of as the intersection of the two.  A strategy is not necessarily a plan nor is it just a set of creative ideas. The best way to think of a strategy is mix together the best of 'inventor/innovator' thinking with 'planner/organizer' thinking.  This is the essence of strategic thinking.

Making Money Online with Daily Work

Continuing from yesterday I wanted to talk more about how the site, 'Make Money Online' was able to dominate that very same keyword phrase. If you felt the urge to examine Alan's site in detail you might have noticed one interesting feature - virtually daily posts centered around his core keyword phrases. What's even more amazing is that he used completely free methods to reach his goal! Astonishing!

Let's do some simple math on what he might be making right now from that site. Twelve medium ad spaces for $120 a month = $1440, two large banners for $300 a month, and text link for $180 a month = $1920 / month just in advertising alone. Using those numbers alone you can see that day to day focus can really pay off in a high performing niche. Plus, it shows that you don't have to have an expensive, fancy site to do this.

Do you Really Want to Learn How to Make Money Online?

Well, an interesting start to this blog entry, huh? How to make money online? Yes, yes - everyone is out there pitching money making ideas. But, I have to start this with my noticeable absence from blogging - why no posts - what's happening in this year?

The real secret here is that I've gone deep into research and education . What do I mean by that? Over the last 8 months I made a pact with myself - walk away, dust off all of those internet marketing ebooks I've purchased over the last 4 years, go heads down and hunt for every possible tip I can find - add to that some serious online research specifically on successful SEO and Email list techniques.

Well, I can honestly say that I've picked up even more from the online research of successful sites than the library of ebooks (most have the same information) that I now own (at my current count, 27)- but, both have convinced me of some certain rules of success. Frankly, the basic rules of online success are easier than you think.

But the first rule I want to stress to you, the reader, is that making money online comes down to your mindset - yes, you! One of the biggest scams out there today is the mass of top marketers selling products to beginner marketers over and over until they walk away with millions. You say 'Hey! I want to do that!'. Well, I've got news for you - they've got a huge advantage - they've got money to repackage and sell you again using top copywriters and product packaging. Not to mention they have your psychology in mind - the hungry beginner; ready to conquer the world of online marketing and make millions!

Where they have the advantage is that only a very small percentage of the population will buy something, and, an even smaller percentage will have the ongoing motivation to keep doing it. So, back to that first rule - you have to change yourself first! You have to prove that you can do the day to day work (yes, I'm going to say it is work!) to succeed. Writing little tweets on Twitter is easy, creating a Blog is a bit harder, building a decent website is even more work, and writing a successful ebook or valuable, deep content is very hard!

So, I ask you - 'do you really want to make money online?' Or, from the seasoned internet marketer's viewpoint - 'do you really want to invest yourself into an industry that takes hard work, dedication, education and long term commitment?' Notice that the marketers don't ask you this question - because most of you will run to the hills!

Look, I don't want to scare you - but to be truthful. My best success online has come for daily commitment - that's where I've earned big dollars. My worst examples online have been quick-hit profits that promised immediate gratification and success.

Don't stop reading! Here's my motivational side - what's really missing is that anyone can do this! Yes, even the most inexperience newbie can be successful. Patience and daily work is the key - it is going to take some time. But, if you stay motivated, stay focused, set long term goals (say, over the next 12 months), establish your business ( Internet Marketing 101: Business Before Web ), you will start to see some dollars coming in.

With that said, I have an assignment for you. I want you to type this phrase into Google - "How to Make Money Online" (192M results without quotes and 2.1M with quotes) and specifically look at the top 10 results. If you haven't noticed - about 2 or 3 of the results are blogs. Go to those blogs and look at their archive history - how long have they been blogging? Take a look at their content - what is unique? Note down why you think they're successful -based on content, keywords, dialog, even subtle psychology. I guarantee this will be a better education for you than any ebook.

IM101 Step 1: Start Internet Marketing with EPIC Steps

I've spent most of the spring working on providing you the free advice necessary to get started online. You'll be seeing a combination of blog entries, articles and emails (for those who have subscribed) that tell you exactly step by step what you need when promoting and monetizing your online business.

My goal is not to provide all of the deep details of each step - you can learn these from any of the ebooks I promote. I'm going to focus on the action steps with a brief explanation. My only assumption is that you understand how to use some of the basic internet tools, services and strategies (again, any of these can be found in Newbie List Machine or Honest Riches).

So, let's get started!

I hope you've spent some time reading and reviewing my free ebook, Passions to Profits. This should have solidified your basic online idea - your first starting point. Remember, this idea is based on my EPIC principle: basic Education, Passion, your key Idea, and focused Control. I'm telling you right now that if you follow this principle you will succeed! Just by getting one simple education guide (E - Education), understanding what you love to do (P - Passion), going online with one idea (I - Idea) and staying focused for a duration (C - Control) the dollars should start to appear.

Next, be sure to review my previous Agile Marketer posts:

Business Before Web
Website Hosting
Get Listed in Search Engines Early
Use the 80-20 Rule to Make Money Online
Where to Focus Your Marketing Dollars

Read, review and get ready! Part 2 is coming soon - differentiating your online email IDs.

The Big Leap - Waiting for the Improbable Event

Sometimes just building your online business is not enough to make the next leap. Can you be prepared for improbable events to make money online? This is a question I asked myself after reading a recent book (which I won't name right now until I am done).

I think that many of us start building online businesses the way you would build any regular business - by starting out slowly and growing it organically over time using proven techniques. However, using this method has a tendency to blind us to what might occur online - that is, the sudden, unexpected event that would propel us up into the stratosphere of internet marketing - something so big, so viral that you would never see it coming.

The thought has occurred to me that this might be the reason why some marketers are where they are today. I'm not saying that they didn't put any effort into what they did - but, they had a vision into something where most people have blind spot - that is, the improbable event.

Think of it this way - imagine you spent thousand of hours buying stock based on advice from the experts thereby slowly and carefully building a large, diversified portfolio. After some time (probably many years) you would see the fruits of your labor with consistent, secure profits. This is obviously something very scalable - the standard method, hard work, no chances, etc.

Now, imagine you tried to see the future by investing in only very small, risky, low cost stocks that focus on new ideas that haven't really caught on yet. Most likely you would see most of your money not doing anything at all - in fact, it would probably decline over time.

However, in the small stock example there happens to be one company whose ideas will spread like wildfire in the future - a kind of viral growth. When that happens suddenly your one investment amongst many may jump 1000-fold - guess what, you just become a millionaire! What just happened? You've prepared for the improbable event.

What if I wait and the improbable never occurs, you might ask. If you only look for the improbable you may or may not be successful - that's really not the point. But, if you mix your normal growth with an eye on the improbable I believe you get the best of both - building your business with mindset to what is invisible, improbable, of future potential, possible viral and simply amazing.

Are You an Expert?

Recently a friend of mine sent me a link to the current issue of the Harvard Business Review. Although I like to read HBRs articles from time to time I usually don't have enough time to dig into them due to the sheer amount of quality content. However, in this case I made an exception.

The article, called The Making of an Expert, had me immediately and completely engrossed from the first paragraph. It is a topic I have pondered before but not to the level of detail that K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely, the authors, did.

The basic premise behind the idea is that inequality of skills may not necessarily due to innate talent or brain chemistry but just simply a significant amount of concentrated effort over a long period of time. When you see any kind of virtuoso or sport superstar do you presuppose that the person in question had some kind of disposition for that talent in the first place? I know I did. Nevertheless, the author flies in the face of this notion and states the following premise:

Becoming an expert is not about innate talent or skill but about spending a significant number of hours of concentrated effort on the skill directly. In fact, he goes on to say that approximately 10,000 - 15,000 hours is needed to become a virtuoso.

I've thought about many people that I have known over the years and their level of skill. Does Author's theory fit my own experience? A very good friend of mine was a supurb guitar player. By the time he was 16 he was in demand and noted for his talent. Growing up with him I knew specifically how much time he devoted to his skill. He started playing when he was 9 so had 7 years under his belt. I know that based on his habits he probably averaged out to 2 hours a day and that may be a bit high - however I'll give him the benefit of doubt.

Working through the numbers means that in those 7 years he devoted about 5000 hours of time to his skill putting him in an elite group of guitar players within a local region. I can think of other cases as well such that it seems the time to get even to an elite status my be within the 3000-5000 hour range. I would even suggest that doctors go through this kind of effort during their residencies to boost them into an elite status (3 years at 10 hours a day average is about 10,000 hours) although I think that true concentrated effort may be half that. Nevertheless, the goal is to build on top of the effort spent in med school.

Now I'm not going to argue that there are innate talents, physique and smarts that give one person an advantage over another. No doubt that some will excel much faster than others. But the author's argument is that those who are young and coached get a distinct concentrated effort advantage.

Here is my own theory based on the article
2500 hours - considered very skilled, very good.
5000 hours - excellence
7500 hours - master
10,000 hours - expert or virtuoso

What does that translate to your own work? If you spend 2 hours of concentrated effort a day you will be a very skilled pratitioner in your field of study in 3 years (about 2200 hours). This could be applied to any skillset be it sports, academics, business, arts, and even working to make money online, etc. Of course, 2 hours of concentrated effort a day is quite a bit for any adult.

Whatever your intended knowledge and skillset this article might be a good measuring stick for your own success.

Slow Down Culture

I'm not really sure who wrote this since I received it from a friend via email. I must say that it did make me stop and reflect on how we approach our own work with goals of trying to earn money online quickly.

Stop, read, pause and reflect - I hope you enjoy this:

---------------------------------------

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working
for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here
takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and
brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general
sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to
posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with
the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate,
debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown
scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its
renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at
the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We
would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the
entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I
didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked,
"Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the
entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he
replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever
gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement
establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time
to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing.
Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what
it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger
movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness"
generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity"
(life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the
"quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per
week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have
established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%.
This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the
fast and the "do it now!".

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower
productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality,
productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It
means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time.
Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined
and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the
simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter
and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.
It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious
quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality
of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a
girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any
minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant".
Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it
when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time.
Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live
the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have
equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The
difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to
live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you
while you're busy making other plans".

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are
many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in
this globalize world.

Author Unknown

Where to Focus Your Marketing Dollars

Many beginning Internet Marketers struggle with how and when to spend money simply because they usually don't have very much to work with. So there is a constant conundrum about how and where they should prioritize their expenses. Should they focus on paying for websites, advertising, ebooks, hosting, PPC, articles and content, site development, or autoresponders?

The simple answer to this is that unless you have a very solid business plan and good funding trying to start with everything is just too overwhelming. Almost every ebook and forum out there talks to the importance of content and your list. Just what does that truly mean?

It means that before anything else you should collect a starting amount of content; that is, free articles, PLR articles and privately written original information. This should be the focus of your work and it has the highest amount of productivity to monetize your sites.

The reasoning behind this is that many spend too much time focusing on the look and feel of their site rather than the content. Even the simplest graphical task to tweak a site can take hours. In addition, wasting hours and hours of effort on html, css and page layout is not going to drive that additional profit gain that you could have received just by having clean content on your site.

So, if you don't have time to worry about designing a site and managing it's layout I would strongly suggest using a blogging service. My personal pick is Blogger only because of the freedom they give you to add scripts and modify the templates to your liking. Wordpress has better layout options and more complete blogging features but will not allow scripts. There are some newer options as well that I haven't tried yet but should be just as easy to work with.

The other aspect of where to focus your expenses when first starting out is to think about your list - that is, those leads and customers that you can market to over and over. Many seasoned internet marketing veterans talk about how much more they could have made if they had only started building their list much sooner rather than later.

With your list being so important you should seriously think about getting a quality autoresponder as one of your very first expenses. In fact, some autoresponder services allow you to setup a free list (with advertising until you pay) to get started. I prefer Aweber.com only because it is very easy, has one of the highest delivery rates and has unlimited responders for all of my various projects

The care and feeding of your list should always be your priority and the start of your future as a bonafied online marketer.