From Zero To Hero!

Being a veteran on the web and having run many different websites and businesses, the biggest problem to overcome while doing business on the internet is getting out of the blocks.  When you first put up that fancy website you’re so proud of you are on top of the world, but then when you have only ten people trickling in all month, you wonder why you even started such a venture.  Getting traffic to your site no matter how beautiful you think it is takes a lot of work and doesn’t come easy. While it is true if you build it they will come, the problem is they may only be a pig farmer from Nebraska that accidentally stumbled on to your real estate site while looking for a used tractor and a lawyer who now wants to sue you because you violated someones trademark!

Discipline and Patience, The Key To Internet Success

The secret is staying disciplined and of course being very patient.  The truth is it will take you a good 6 months to a year to get a website off the ground.  If you expect too much too soon you’ll only be dissapointed and end up quitting.  But if you take the slow and steady approach and create simple attainable goals, you will often keep the passion alive.  For example instead of expecting 10,000 visitors to your site in the first month, shoot for 500.  Then work your way up to 1,000 and upwards.  Progress is the key and if you keep at it over the course of time the dividends will start coming in.

Blogging To Express Yourself & For Profit

Blogging is a great way to both express yourself online and make some extra money.  For example with this new blog I’m simply trying to add a good five or so posts per week and if I keep at it in two years I’ll have over 500 pages of good quality content.  I don’t expect to make any real money for a good while and so I simply focus on writing steady posts and trying to slowly increase the traffic. 

So if you have a new website and are frustrated because nobody seems to ever find it, hang in there and give it some time.  One of my first websites I put on the web about 9 years ago was about golf.  I remember I started getting some consistent traffic and good search engine rankings.  But in about a year I gave up on it and the domain is now one of those cookie cutter search pages.  I often wonder if I had kept that site going how well it would be doing today 9 years down the road.  Perhaps I would be retired now! The key on the internet is patience and time.  If you can do nothing else write, write, and write good content and build up your site.  The search engines love websites that offer fresh daily content. 

The American Dream Online

While your handful of visitors and $10 per month profit may not be the American dream, keep at it and that $10 extra per month could turn into $1000 a year from now.  Since it is so easy to put up sites these days and blog, put up a few sites about topics you are passionate about.  Now in a year with a little more work you may be making $3000 per month.  Stay the course of time and focus on progress not perfection and keep your goals short term and attainable. Good luck and don’t give up!