Internet Marketing is a LOT of Work
It’s true. It really is a lot of work! Reading all this crap about people who make hundreds of thousands of dollars by only working 10 hours a week (or whatever) is just not true! There is a lot of work involved to set up an run an internet based business. And I’m having a hard time keeping up. I’m sure that after a year or two, once everything is automated, and I have the cash flow to get some outsourcing on the technical aspects of th business, then I can get away with working four hours a day - if it’s that successful. I expect it to be. But that’s goign to take time!
Right now I have my product ready for my next sales page. But I’m running into a lot of difficulties. My motherboard crashed on my computer at home, so I’ve been without internet for a week. In fact, I’m not using my home computer now…. I haven’t been able to get that working, either. I have a technician coming on the weekend to help get things going.
On the bright side, I did sell another copy of my incorporation manual (available here). I put up an article about incorporating, and the next day I got a sale. I think there’s a relationship there. I need to do a lot more article marketing, since I have barely scratched the surface of that one. Oh, Jeff, thanks for the “long tail” keywords advice. It took me a while to figure out what you meant with that, but once I did, I realised that I already knew the concept, just not the label. You seem to really know your stuff. I hope you succeed to the extreme in this! Just watch your spelling and grammar in your writing - I did notice a few of those errors. It takes away from your credibility, especially if you use article writing.
It’s funny, I actually make more money from my articles than from my products! I’m hoping that will change, since the articles are a lot of work to make any decent money from. And it’s constant, since the articles quickly become dated. At least in my niches there is a lot of direct demand. I suppose there always will be, especially for the financial products. Yes, my latest product is a budget workbook/program and an eBook to go along with it. I’m thinking of doing a scaled-down version fo the eBook to give away for marketing purposes. I think that will help a lot!
Right now my biggest obstacle is time. REALLY. I can barely manage to keep up with my daily living, let alone get things going for this business. But I am determined, and I will get it working! I expect to have y product page up on Christmas day, tested and working, so that people can buy and download the spreadsheet. I only hope that I have the right concept for this product. I also intend to sell ti quite a bit throguh others. Jeff, email me about that, okay?
I’m also planning on using a couple of free sites to help market my products. Squidoo is one of those. I have a rather interesting concept on how to get some decent leads through that and some other sites. Hopefully that will boost things quite a bit. One thing at a time. I think this spreadsheet has a lot of potential, and it’s easy enough for anybody to use. And then anyone can learn to manage their own personal budget and home finances using a tool that I designed. I know that I use it, and it has saved me from making mistakes in the past - I’d be lost without such a thing, in fact. And that’s what gave me the idea to search this niche and see if it was viable to develop a more complete product for others to use. This is a really big niche, that I think isn’t served very well. So, I plan to fill that gap right away! I have the expertise (hey, I do have an MBA and have worked in managing finances for 10 years now). You can’t get better expertise than that!
Now all I need is some more time…
And a few more places to sell my products…
I’m open for ideas, and would love to hear what people think about getting a spreadsheet or program that would help them to manage their personal home budget, as well as some tips, advice, and instructions on how to better manage their finances. I’m also thining of including some time management worksheets, just for their usefulness. Kind of as a bonus for anyone who wants this stuff. Any comments?
December 20th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Yeah, I know I have got to watch my spelling. On my articles, I use a spell checker, AND proof it about 3 or 4 times before I submit it. I usually submit my articles to ezinearticles, and then to a list I have of about 10 - 15. (not at home right now, so I can not check my list)
I just installed these on a site I am currently reworking, http://www.google.com/analytics/ This will help you determine where most of your traffic is coming from, your bounce rate(this is the rate that people just push the back button, or do not stay on your site for very long, less than 30 seconds I think), and how people find your site. Its a great FREE tool that allows you to track how your site is doing, and where you might improve upon it.
Sorry I did not explain the “long tail keyword” term. I have the bad habit of assuming people know what I am talking about, I have got to learn to explain things a little bit better.
BTW, you have great timing for the budget spreadsheet. With this nasty recession that has taken a hold of most of the world, this will be a great product to start selling. I was actually working on one for myself, and I currently use it, very simple one though.
I have some things that you may want to take a look at. An RSS feeder list for you, which you can submit your blogs to, and get better coverage with them. And a ping list as well, so you can ping your blog, so it gets crawled faster.
I was wondering, have you found a method to martket your site with? The reason why I ask is because there is a lot of methods out there that people are using, and it is working for them, but that does not mean you need to use them all. You just need to find one good method that you like to do that works. This has been my problem for a bit, not being able to focus on a single good method of creating a site, and then marketing it. Ive been having an information overload problem, that usually stalls most people. I am slowly getting out of that so that I can get things moving. My goal is to test the markets with different affiliate products in different niches, to see which one is the best to get into, this will create seed money for me, so that I can grow a bigger and better business. PLUS, the websites that do not make good money, I can flip them so someone can give it a try (and make a couple of bucks as well). Lets say the site only makes 100 - 200 a month, if it has a good
traffic base, can still be sold for a bit. A lot of the time, people just buy the websites for the traffic.
I have 2 or 3 great plans that I am fleshing out, but they do require me to have some seed money, and a bit more time on my hands to develop.
And one last thing, your comment of the 100k in a month by some of those so called “gurus”, its only half true. It can actually happen, but not at the start. These guys build many many lists over the years, and create their own products, and then sell them to these lists, and that is what makes them their 100k in a month. The power is in the list. Your goal of 120k in a year is very very doable, with the right plan, and proper testing of certain products. Think of it like this, its only 328.77 a day. And this can even be done while you sleep. As long as someone is looking for your product, and its marketed properly, then there is no reason why you can not attain the goals you want. HOWEVER, it has been said quite a few times, that its hard, if not impossible to do it with just ONE product of your own, AND with just one time customers. You need multiple products of your own, AND have a list that you can continue to offer products to.
I will email you later when I am home,about that software you use for autoresponder, and about the promotions for your new product.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Sorry I was not able to email you, I had a computer situation that needed my full attention. It resulted in my reformatting my main hard drive, after trying to fix the problem over a 12 hour period of time. I did not get the computer up and running until 5pm sunday, however the on board NIC refused to work, so I am going to have to pick up another card. UGG.. I did hook up my secondary computer last night, so I will email you later, I hope. So this means I did not get any work done over the weekend, which is really bad, because I had some things planned. Trying to get out of the slack mode, and put this into over drive.