There is alot of threads/posts on DP geared towards "the process" of what you have to do to make a website/blog. What about you?!? Enough with the article marketing, blog writing, target markets, keywords, backlinks, social bookmarking, social networking, tweeting, SEO and everything else.... What do you personally have to do to succeed? Without personal goals and dedication, you won't get anywhere if you are trying to make money on the internet. I started online about a year ago. I used to write articles for a couple other sites to make side money for spending between my college classes. Then, I became an editor on a site called Bright Hub, and have a pritty steady income off of that for what I need during college. So, I had some extra time and through the article writing, I found DP. I then got into Article marketing, just because I was in the habit of writing so much (especially so much for such little pay), so things like writing articles for Ezine and a blog is a breeze to me. Since I figured out sites like this can help start to build a website, I started off with a couple different ventures and failed at a couple of them (mostly because of lack of interest on the topic or because I was interested, but knew little to nothing about it. I figured out you need goals and dedication, along with knowledge of what you need to do, all put together into a topic you know about and love will get you success. Not saying what you need to do is unimportant, but once you know what you have to do (like article marketing, gaining backlinks, and building your site), you pritty much only need to get to work and do it as much as you can. After you have learned the ropes of the internet business, you need to have dedication and goals to keep you going. So, what were your goals that got you to where you are now? What were your goals when you first started? What is you most successful website and where is at now (# of backlinks?, traffic values, page rank, etc..)? What goals do you have for that site that keep you going? Personally, I have a couple older websites that are kind of... there and running with low maintenance, along with my newest project, my blog. My blog is only about two weeks old, but it is already getting around 40 total views/30 unique views a day. It is a niche blog targeting a select group of cars in the tuning industry. My 1st goal was to get everything set up and started. At the end of March, I posted 3 posts within that week, and started at everything. (Still not done... but moved on to goal number 2 to get things rolling!) My 2nd goal was to get at least 10 uniques a day. Not too hard, but its my first time starting a blog and wanted to figure out what works, what doesn't, and what I should expand the most on. Found out that Ezine, a car social network with car profiles (kinda like facebook, but for cars), and Facebook are going to be my major ones starting out... until I got more views. My 3rd goal, which is still a current major goal, is to break into the car social network's visitor market and figure out how I can use them to gain quality links from the site to mine, to get targeted traffic and gain PR. I have found my process with this, and it is working! It got me 5 links to my site from Pr1 + pages in the network, which is getting me around 10 to 15 views a day from those links... Can't wait until it grows to 100+ links with 1,000 to 1500 views a day. Now that I got the process down... it's all a matter of time and work! My Long Term Goals/ongoing goals: 1.) 1-2 posts a day 2.) Work on getting those links from the Car social network 3.) Work on getting links from related sites (link exhanges) 4.) Guest Blogging (for traffic, backlinks, etc..) 5.) Write at least 10 articles to Ezine each week, for backlinks and traffic source. 6.) Develop more on Facebook. (create a group and get some friends to help me invite tons of people!) 7.) Start a local car club with the site. ( I have a group of 23 friends, all with turbo'd cars. My plan is to figure out where we can get sponsors, how we can spread the word, make sure members go to car shows, races and events, etc...) This will get me physical advertising and build a local community in my State. Maybe it will grow into a larger car club across the US!! 8.) Build a forum to go along with my site once I get a good amount of views. 9.) Monetize and make money... (I already have the layout of everything planned out, along with how I will monetize. I will probably sell links {depending on PR}, sell banner advertising, get a sponsor, create a store for car parts listing an affiliates products, sell review posts, etc..) 9.) Have a successful blog after 2 years. (By the end of college.) I am sure more goals will come as I proceed... Just all I can think of right now. I plan to make this a lifelong commitment. Since I have been in the car tuning scene for around 5 years already, I have good knowledge about the industry. Also, I am currently in college, meaning I have a very good amount of free time. I used to fill it with video games and skateboarding, but building my website is something productive, I seem to be addicted to it, and it is a time investment that may pay off. So, I plan to put almost all of my free time, which is the time spent not out with friends, working on my cars, or in class, into building my blog, which is at least 8 hours a day. It'll be like a full-time job for the next 2 years. By that time, I sure hope my 5840 hours of work, the time I will have spent working on the site after 8 hours a day for two years, will have made everything I want complete and I will be able to make posts and just do maintenance. I highly doubt I will take the simple route of maintenance, as I always looking to make better changes and create new ideas, but I would like it to be an option by then. So, here. I gave my simple update with my goals and current blog status. Give us an update on where you are and whats going on with your website. Share your best website, how long it took you to get where you are, how successful your website is (# of backlinks, monthly # of unique views/ total views, earnings a month, etc...), and anything else. If you want, please post your goals. Personally, I love goals and think they got me to where I am now and help guide me to where I want to be, so I would like to read up on what everyone else's goals and plans are. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to hearing from everyone!
Whew ! That was a long one, but I'm with ya! Mine is easy. I have a lot of sites, but only one blog that i consider a success so far and that's the one in my sig. My goals were simple, I wanted to write about the niche because I love it so much and have a lot of experience in it, and I wanted to be better than all the other small timers trying to tackle it, and eventually get as much respect as the big timers. When it comes to SEO, I am lazy, so I figured the only way to make a splash was to make others in the niche notice me, and link to me, and so far I have done that, and I continue to make it the best it can be. After starting a crap load of sites, doing PPC, and article marketing for different niches, I started paying more attention to my original blog and it has paid off so far, although I wouldn't call it a success yet (monetarily), it does pay a few bills..but it can do a lot better. I wouldn't call it my most successful site, because the combination of the others makes more money, but it is the one I like the most and have a passion for. Where it is now ? Around 400-500 uniques a day, with some good spurts of over 1200 last month, and averaging about 1300 page views a day. Revenue? I hate doing that, and will probably never put it up on a forum, sorry. Links ? I don't know, it holds steady at a PR 3-4, ranked 1 or 2 for some good key terms, DMOZ listed, and I have been quoted on New release promos and covers. My basic goal, was to make it the best. I am light years from where I started in April of '07. Back then no one would pay me much attention, because honestly it kinda sucked, I looked like an amateur...now I don't want for posts, my email box is full everyday with promotions, events, promos, and just about everything new in the industry that comes out..before it comes out, and now people request to be featured....far cry form before when nobody would pay me any attention. I get promotional items by mail everyday to review, and invitations to Major Events and Clubs. That is really the kind of success I wanted with this blog...for it to be considered an industry publication, and not just some guy blogging about his favorite music. When people Twitter,or email me and ask how long I have been working for the website, and who should they talk to about some press, it's a pretty good indication that it has come a long way. Everything I do online, all started with this blog. Every site, domain and PPC campaign was financed from this blog, and now Internet Marketing is my full time job. Some people would call that a success, but in the grand scheme of things, I am still so much a noob in this business.