I started my internet marketing career as a forum poster and slowly worked my way up. I have made a lot of mistakes on my way up and with every mistake came its own lesson. The more mistakes I made , the more I learned and the wiser i got. Never hold your self because you fear you'll screw up. Every one screws up. Trust me , everyone . Today, I am gonna share few strategies that have worked wonderfully well for me and I am sure it will work for you. * Buy off you competitors :- This is what has changed the whole internet marketing scenario for me. I bought off 2 big sites in my niche just as soon as I got established myself. That is the key. Never miss out on the opportunity to buy off your competitors . A double listing for a keyword always helps. * Always Squeeze in for a little more:- Wherever possible, chip in as many revenue sources as possible. I am not suggesting you fill your sites with tons of ads and popups though. My download sites are mainly monetized by cpalead and leadbolt. I integrated a few clickbank and paydotcom products just to test them out. I soon started getting sales. This might not be appropriate for affiliate sites which intend to sell products. But having multiple revenue streams always helps. * Start Small :- Whenever I start something , I start it small and slowly build upon it. Every market is a different story and it takes a while before you get a knack of what exactly is going on. Things become a lot more easier when you are not in a hurry and the site is built gradually. It does take patience but its always worth it in the long run. * Make time not revenue your benchmark:- People always judge a site by how much it makes but they seldom notice how much time it takes to make that much. I am better of having sites that make 100 $ a month for me with 10 minutes work a day then one that makes 1000$ but takes 2 hours a day to maintain. That is why most of the experienced marketers dread forums as they take a lot of time to maintain . * Always have a Plan B :- You should always be prepared for stuffs you think might go wrong. Recently, cpalead ( my major revenue source ) has been going through a rough patch. They've been taking one stupid decision after. I knew they would go down one day or the other. So I had a backup plan ready already with leadbolt. They recently made all their high converting surveys premium , I had to shift to leadbolt because they wouldn't not allow my sites for the premium offers. Remember, always have a Plan B ready , when you even sense even a faint chance of something going wrong. * Keep your competitors close :- Always keep an eye on what your competitors are up to. Promotion strategy , backlinks bla bla bla.... It helps. I usually , like to borrow ideas from my competitor and improve further upon them. Its saves me time and effort , as starting from scratch is always a pain. Also , never miss out on opportunities to mingle with people in your niche ( competitors ) . It always helps to have them at your side. * Don't keep all your eggs in one basket :- I like to make a lot of sites and keep them hosted at different places. So when a market collapses or a server goes down I always a have a place to get back to and start off from. Similarly, i use a variety of different passwords, all my accounts have different passwords. I know its a pain to remember but it does reduce the risk by a considerable margin. * Always know when to fold :- I learned this from my friend william. Don't push your sites too hard. If it doesn't look profitable in the long run. Step out, if you think its probably not worth it. I started off a Rapidshare premium generator site recently and monetized it with cpalead. I had big plans because I knew premium generators does pull in a nice amount of traffic in a short span of time and as a matter of fact it all went according to plan. I saw massive amount of traffic in no time and then I put my gateway on. My conversions were terrible. Soon I realized , I wasn't even making enough for the rapidshare accounts I was pumping in. I had warez traffic and that does not convert for shit. I didn't see much prospects for the site so I stopped promoting it. All the above mentioned points took me a while to realize. Probably, I learned them after making a lot of mistakes. You are bound to screw up , its just what you learn from each 'screw up' that counts. Hope, I ve helped. Source : Soul web works
Keeping an eye on your competitors is very important. I always have a 3rd eye watching those sites and matching what they do, backlink for backlink. And adding my on backlinking techniques usually overtakes them after some time. But if you can copy as much as you can of their backlinks, most of the time you will catch and pass them.
Kudos to you dude! I am just a starting internet marketer and I am trying to see where and what is the most profitable, practical and workable earning scheme for in the internet and I guess that whatever I choose I should really start small and do not let my hopes too high especially in early months.
Morales....you are approaching internet marketing in a wise manner. Keep your expectations realistic to start off. Start small and find the best method of marketing that works for you and stick to it. Treat it like a real job, which it is and will turn into. Internet Marketing takes time to work. It is no magic pill or some genie pops out of a bottle and grants you 3 magical wishes. But in due time you will learn an immense about of IM knowledge. And the sites you build, whatever method you choose, will start to earn sales. Just practice patience. And always keep that in mind. Your hard work will prove fruitful.
Thanks a lot people , I may not be the best writer but its getting the idea across that counts . Do subscribe if you like my blog !
I like what dude91 says about getting your point across. Alot of people are hesitant to do article writing or create blogs because they think they can't write. You don't have to be a good writer to get your point across.
Congratulations! Your marketing strategies are very good. You really have to pay attention to what your competitors are doing. Here is an interesting way to spy on the keywords your competitors are using: http://www.spyfu.com/ All the best!
Great post, full of sensible advice. I would like to add: concentrate on getting one traffic method to work, and work well before you move on to another. Many people are quick to jump from one method to another without really getting anywhere and continue to do this for years, wondering why they never make any money. If you're into CPA, ebooks, PLR, video marketing etc. then get that to make a profit for you and then expand on it before you try something else.
Thanks for bringing a life into this thread. Well, I personally feel you should focus on one thing at a time when you are starting out and when money starts coming in you can multi-task. never ever rush into things.
Nice tips, always keeping a handle on your competitors will give you the extra edge, especially when algorithms change