Hi all! Its been awhile since I've posted in the main forum, so I thought I would start a thread that has been at the top of my mind lately... From experienced IMers, what are your top 5 tips for newbies?? I'll give mine below, and I encourage you all to post your valuable, actionable tips in the thread! Lets see how many people we can help get to their first dollar online! Okay, my top 5... 1. Focus on traffic first. Absorb everything you can about getting traffic. Everything else you learn, from affiliate marketing strategies to blog income to product creation and list building are completely useless if nobody sees it. I am speaking from experience... I learned things backwards. I knew everything BUT how to drive traffic. Once I learned to drive traffic, I got hooked... Now I absorb everything I can on traffic. Even if something only contains ONE new piece of info, it is enough for me! 2. Focus on building responsive lists in the niches you want to work in. If you can build a list, there are potential buyers in that market. Even if you only market affiliate products to them, a list is an income stream. 3. Stay out of the IM niche until you're ready for it, and have something truly valuable to offer. There are lot of people with six figure incomes (and higher) who aren't remotely involved in the IM niche. And that isn't just some lie the gurus tell you to keep competition down, I personally know of people who have been making VERY comfortable livings outside of IM for years. The IM niche has high refund rates, more customer service issues, and is a much harder market to break into in most cases. Some may have a different experience, but from those who have gone from outside the IM niche to promoting IM products, most of them agree that it is more difficult. 4. Outsource, outsource, outsource. Once you can afford it, figure out what makes you money when YOU do it, and what makes you money when it gets done in general. Things like article writing and copywriting can be left to the experts for better results. And I don't just say that because I'm a copywriter by trade, I say it because of what my (and other service providers') clients experience. If someone else can make you MORE money by doing an activity for you, or if you can make more money letting someone else take care of busy-work (like emails and customer support), then outsource as soon as you can afford it. 5. Think ROI. Stop buying into the dream, buying every product that promises you millions. Develop a plan of what you want to do, and only purchase products that do two things... One, they work into your plan. They will help you achieve part of your plan faster, cheaper, or better. Two, they have a conceivable return on investment. Don't pay $1000 for something you don't beleive willl bring $1000+ back. And don't think of things that follow that criteria as an expense. It is not "lost income", or money you could have spent on food or bills (unless you can't buy food or pay bills if you make the purchase, in which case you need to remember your priorities!). Instead, it is an investment in the future. So, what are your top 5 tips for newbies? - Mustafa
Like it! I made the mistake of trying too many different things, gets confusing, stressful and doesn't get you nearer to your goals. Like you say you need a clear strategy and then stick to it. I break my day and week into sections, I don't try and do too much at once but do a little variety of things each day. Anyone thanks for the post!
tell all your friends about your site, and get them to tell their friends and so on....thats how i get traffic for my site.
Why you did not include the most important one? You missed this: Use your email as handle in forums to collect email addresses... LOL
People often forget basics while promoting their websites .The best principle in internet marketing or any other niche or even in your life is KISS(Keep it simple stupid)
No matter how much traffic you have, or tried all the marketing strategies in the world; if you are NOT selling a product that will NOT solve the problems of your visitors, then they will not buy it... The next top four? Repeat my tip 4 times...
Probably the biggest thing I can tell people is I did not start making serious money online until I just focused on one website. I started with one website and got it built up and profitable before I started anything else. Before that I would work on like 5 websites at a time and they all made me $2-$5 a day but when I focused on the one website it made me easily over $100 per day which was a lot better and not as much work. Become a authority force in your niche.
Yes that's so true. It's good to have different projects going but you can easily get overloaded, if you really focus on one or maybe two sites, have a clear strategy and stick to it your start seeing results, not straight away but over time your get there. 1) Keep it simple 2) Learn from the best 3) Give people what they want! (Most important)
Nice list but I think it's more geared toward someone passed being a newbie. Things like ROI and outsourcing and areas newbies won't be reaching for some time. I think as a newb myself I would've like to have heard more about #1... What are some tried and true methods for traffic building and #3 when one is ready for IM some tips on that would have been a good read. Good post, just think it's just post newb and more for those who are more in the middle going from newbie to next level
I guess I will be the super newb...what's "IM" mean in your context above? I was kind of having this struggle myself. My main site is pretty general, so I wanted to create other sites that were more specific, to link back to the main site. When do you consider your main site "done" if you will? I seem to have a new idea about every hour, and then I want to jump on it...but when do you feel your one website is OK to swift your focus away from and start building up the second, third, etc?
Good list, in summary commit to something and it will pay off. I know several wealthy entrepreneurs and all of them commit to only thing only. People need to stop trying to do next thing that will bring them quick cash. That's way there are so many internet marketing gurus out there. They know people are always looking for the next best thing.