What does it take to be successful in the world of blogging and Internet Marketing?
Well, it seems to depend quite a bit on whose work you read or to whom you listen.
First off, you probably should define what success means to you and what you wish to achieve through your efforts. Have you ever heard of anyone getting into internet marketing to be unsuccessful?
Success seems to be a term that means different things to different people. The most common definition, at least in the area of making money online, appears to be ” favorable or desired outcome; also: the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.”
Just this past week I have read three different blog posts from people that have had different degrees of financial success through Internet Marketing and blogging. Each person has a bit of a different take on what it takes to be successful, but there is also a bit of unity in what is being said.
Burn The Ships and Hail Mary’s…
The first blog entry I came across was from Ed Dale. Now if you have spent any time at all searching the internet for ways to make money online, you will have undoubtedly come across the name of Ed Dale. Ed was the creator of the Challenge, a free 14-week course in Beginning Internet Marketing, which claimed more than 150,000 students since 2005.
In his post (no longer available) entitled “Burn The Ships and Hail Mary’s”, Ed based his premise on the reported story of Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez ordering his men to burn the ships in which they arrived in Mexico so they would know there was no returning to the old life and their focus would be on the task at hand.
Ed makes two statements here, and with the amount of expertise he has acquired over the years with internet businesses, these statements are quite credible.
“I’m surprised at the number of people who start an online business and take the same approach.
I’m even more surprised that right-thinking people would recommend this!”
Before taking off on a venture to create an online income that can replace a full-time income you already have, you need to ensure there is a base to take care of your most basic needs, the needs of shelter, food, clothing, and transportation. Without having these needs met, it will be quite difficult and perhaps impossible to focus your motivation on meeting greater needs.
Internet Marketing is one industry where the barriers to entry are quite few and getting started requires very little monetary investment. However, contrary to what some pitchmen will tell you, it is not necessarily an easy way to riches.
Give Up Your Day Job
Now Dave has a little different take on this theme. His blog post (no longer available) was entitled “Give Up Your Day Job.” Now Dave, in his own right, had developed a loyal following of folks who were interested in following his journey in the world of Internet Marketing. While his base of followers may not have been as large as that of Ed Dale, his success story is his journey and he has a special way of communicating that story to his readers.
Dave makes a bold statement in his post.
“If you want to make it in IM then give up your day job.”
Now to me, that statement tells me to burn my bridges, the lifeline to my past, and move on with my internet marketing efforts. In some sense that is true, but we need to read a little deeper into what he is saying.
Dave is also saying that you need to learn how to cope with a minimal amount of money. In other words, how to take care of the basic needs to which Ed Dale refers. Unless you can do that, you will always be worrying about how to cover those needs and that will take precedence over what you are trying to achieve online.
Your goal may be to achieve a full-time income from the internet. However, that will require a lot of focus and concentration, and the more hours you can devote to that, the better. However, to be truly successful, you will need to satisfy your basic needs, either with a steady income or with a substantial amount of savings. Without those worries, you can then concentrate or focus on your new endeavors.
How I Finally Forced Myself To Focus on Just One Niche (Okay, Just Two Niches!)
The third blog post I read this week was from Paula and Wanda at Affiliate Blog Online. The post was from a guest writer by the name of Ellen Braun and the post was entitled How I Finally Forced Myself To Focus on Just One Niche (Okay, Just Two Niches!) Paula and Wanda are two successful marketers that have stayed somewhat under the radar while earning a handsome income and enjoying the freedom and lifestyle that working for yourself online can bring.
While this particular post did not deal directly with quitting your day job or burning your bridges, it did deal with another issue with which many entry-level (I hate the word newbie) Internet Marketers struggle, focus.
Wanda and Paula readily admit on their website, once they scaled back the number of websites they were working and focused on those that were earning money, their overall income increased dramatically.
How Do You Define Your Success?
Those folks just getting started in IM will often spend an inordinate amount of time searching for all kinds of information on the internet, but then don’t we all? It is only natural to try to catch that shiny new bauble that catches your eye. Maybe there is something new in that e-book or program that will get me off the dime. These things are all perfectly good time wasters that will take you away from building your own business and your passive income stream.
Here we have three different writers giving their thoughts as to how to have a successful Internet Marketing business. While their positions differ considerably, they all have an underlying current of focus and motivation.
We all need to establish a goal. Let us determine what we wish to accomplish. Many experts recommend putting those goals and action plans into writing and keeping them in front of us for quick reference so we do not lose sight of where we are going.
We need to keep in mind that when we first start online, even though we think our idea is the “cat’s meow”, it still may not quite be the next multimillion-dollar site on the scene.
How do you define success? That was our opening premise for this post. In regards to Internet Marketing, for some success may be a few hundred dollars a month to augment an existing income stream. For others, it may be several thousand dollars per month to replace an existing income. For still others, success may mean earning enough to experience the freedom associated with not having to work for someone else.
Whatever your definition, do not give up on your dream.