I was wondering if anybody who currently makes a living as an internet marketer could give me some advice. I have just abandoned my attempts to make money on the internet after over a year of trying. I know a little bit. What is the best way to learn the skills needed as an internet marketer without necessarily trying to get the work done for yourself? I still have several hours a week to devote to it, but I'm not sure if I will be able to change jobs directly into an internet marketer. I'm probably going to get a business degree also. However I still am left with how to learn the practical day to day skills I'll need when I try to start a business in a few years. Should I try to get some work on e-lance? Just experiment at random? I'm not really worried about getting paid, but I'd much rather not spend a bunch of money for example. This makes it hard to buy some of the tools to play with. I know just enough for most e-books to be ineffective, most are too general and low quality for me to learn much. How would you suggest I learn more without loosing much money?
Tip 1: do not try to make money but have fun! Tip 2: take action. There's no better way to learn than by doing things yourself. ('Fake It 'Till You Make It', you know?!) And while you're at it, be sure to 'steal with your eyes': see what others do, and how they do it. Don't be afraid to copy someone's actions (NOT their products or sales pages!! ) if you think they could be profitable. Tip 3: If you need to know anything, just ask around. In my experience, most people don't mind to help... Greetz!
you need to put all the stuff you've learnt into action and maybe do some freelancing to seee what other webmasters are doing and what they're looking for so you can copy them...
You have to learn first what you gonna offer people. Best thing is trying it for your sites, that way you gonna have experience.
The consensus is that I should do hands on stuff. I should do freelance stuff though that I either am looking at/working with what others have done (successful websites) or am in a setting where others are giving me feedback on what I do. Correct? What's the best way to approach this? The first thing that comes to mind is to go to elance & bid (low) on an assortment of projects? I just am afraid of doing work where I don't learn as much as I could/should. For example when I worked for myself, I was not coached & made some high level mistakes that I would have liked for someone to tell me. Basically I'm looking for the highest learning return on my money. Thoughts? I appreciate your opinions folks.
/obligatory napoleon dynamite comment. You know, like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.
Well if you're good at writing, you can write articles for sites like Associated Content and get paid while your learning.
Work on getting your business degree..and as you are doing that...continue to read on about internet marketing...
I second that notion. But, like everyone else you start from the bottom and work your way up. It is only up to you how much you want to learn. Hardwork and having fun should also included in your learning process.
Your post leaves me a bit confused....You say that you tried IM for about a year and are now bagging it....IM is really pretty broad what specifically did you try for the year? Judging by your desire to get on elance and bid on jobs...is your main interest in site design? Or are you just looking for a way, any way to make money on the 'net? How much of the knowledge that you gained via ebooks and other reading have you actually put into practice? My short answer to the question is to first focus on one "skill" that you want to develop and simply work on it.
seriously, try PPC-Coach. Yes, I pimp it in my signature but I really cant say enough good things about this service.
My long term goal is to broadly have a stable business that I can grow (hire employees) and run full time. I don't see my day job skills as very marketable down this path. I guess this leaves it wide open. I do kind of assume when I start a "business" to want to do all/most aspects of my online affairs myself which may make individual skills through specialization harder. I ran a blog and started doing SEO. I also have an affiliate store front (software converting a product feed to a storefront). I have never tired anything other than SEO for traffic, but both affiliate links & ads for monetization. I'm fairly technical, so my "technical skills" (html, aesthetic looks, hosting, etc) are probably all adequate. My marketing skills (including SEO) aren't adequate. My interest in getting on elance is strictly getting hands on experience. Site design strikes me as easy (when I've done it). I'm mostly looking for the marketing & business aspects of this industry. I'd rather not bid on a site design project (or copywriting), but I'd be happy to run a ppc campaign for free. Also by the way I'm not looking to make money as a contractor, I'm just looking for the skills.
There are a few things I see "broken" on ppc-coach website from a conversion stand point that defeats their credibility. There join buttons on the landing page are just pictures that don't take you to the join page; you need to find the tiny join link at the bottom of the page. There were another couple things I thought was "incorrect" as well. I guess this is a sign I'm not completely clueless!