Yesterday I was having a think back to when we were really struggling to make a living online….and actually it wasn’t that long ago. And as I was thinking about it, I wondered why it took us so long to start making a decent income.
We had been working really hard on our websites on a daily basis for over two years but were nowhere near to making a living from it. In fact the only thing that kept us going was knowing in our minds and hearts that this would eventually work if we put in the hard yards.
As I thought about it, I realized that it wasn’t just one thing that finally did it for us – instead it was a series of actions that got us to where we are today. They are what I call ‘massive action’ tasks (you’ll know that phrase if you read or listen to Tony Robbins).
In other words, as we reached a stage where we could see that the amount of input wasn’t reaping the rewards, we changed our tactics and instead of continuing to do the same tasks everyday, we took massive action to take us to the next level. Now we are by no means experts at it, and really at the time we didn’t even equate what we did to taking massive action….we just arrived at the conclusion that we needed to do something extraordinary if we were going to make this work.
I love the saying – “If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got.” This happens a lot with people trying to make money online. They continue to do the same things day after day and wonder why they aren’t getting the traffic levels they want or the income they are trying to achieve. If you really want to leap ahead of the rest, then you need to take massive action.
Here are just some of the things we have done in the past that have taken us to the next level in our internet business:
1. Added massive amounts of content – At the time, we had read about two guys online who were adding something like 20 posts a day. We knew 20 posts were just a little beyond our capacity so we decided on 8 posts a day for one of our product blogs. That meant we had to each write 4 blog posts each a day. I did all of mine over the weekend. I think Wanda staggered hers over the week. It gave us a lot of articles to write but we did it.
The effort paid off and the result was that it made a big difference in the amount of traffic to the blog and a huge difference in the amount of our affiliate sales.
We didn’t end up doing it forever – from memory I think it was a couple of months and then we started to reduce the number of articles steadily over a period of time. The funny thing was that the traffic didn’t decrease – it stayed at a steady level and continues to increase as we add content at a more manageable pace.
2. Changed the Quality of Our Content – We have a lot of blogs and a lot of content, but I can say with all honesty that a good proportion of our blogs have a lot of rather inferior quality content. This is because at the time we weren’t really thinking about our readers but more about making a dollar. When we changed our focus to providing more value to our readers, we noticed a huge difference in our income levels….and I mean huge. This was a major turning point for us. You can read a little about how we write our product reviews here.
3. Concentrated on Less – What do I mean by this? Well we focused on only one or two websites instead of 20. This made a big big big difference….I know that’s a lot of ‘bigs’ but I need to emphasise the importance of this one. When we were working on all our blogs, we were really spreading ourselves too thin. It just wasn’t effective for us. The trick is to focus on one thing until it starts making you money, then and only then do you move onto the next thing.
4. A Change in Thinking – I think this one was a key ingredient for us. We needed to change our attitude to things particularly in relation to making money online. I remember us having a discussion about why we weren’t making the income we wanted and we came to the conclusion that the only people who make money online are those that tell other people how to make money online.
Well we know that’s not the case now but that was our thinking back then. After all we were working ourselves to a frazzle and getting nowhere, so that must be the reason. We all know this is a fallacy and product sites work extremely well, thank you very much.
5. More Time for Ourselves – It was at this point that we also started to work on ourselves a bit more rather than just the business. This meant that we started to take time out to exercise and to spend part of our day listening to self improvement cds like that provided by Tony Robbins. Funnily enough, the more time we took for ourselves, the more productive we were in our internet business.
Don’t let anyone tell you that making money online is quick and easy. For the majority of us it’s a hard slog. But there is plenty of opportunity for everyone and that is why we want to share our story with you in the hope it will encourage you when it seems that things won’t ever improve, just hang in there it will get better.
Just remember to:
- provide quality information for your readers
- look after yourself, physically and mentally
…and really believe that you can do – because you know what – You Can!
I love your point about ‘Concentrate on less’. Over committing is what has always let me down and 2010 is the year of focus for me!
.-= Tom | Free Squeeze Pages´s last blog ..Your Small List Can Equal Big Profits =-.
I still find it hard to focus on only one or two things. I am constantly looking to try new things but that’s not always a good thing.
It’s a strong urge for sure, it’s what held me back for MORE then 2 yrs.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..The Time Has Come. The Deal Is Done. It’s Time To Move!! =-.
Paula,
I remember the days when I tried to maintain several blogs. I did but not of them got the time they needed or deserved. Now I just run 2 main ones and have a few on the back burner – just ticking over that I do nothing with.
Within the last few months, I’ve also got the stage where I have much more time for myself. I now have time for exercise and relaxing!
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Income Blogging Guide Closing =-.
That’s great that you’ve found more time for yourself Andrew – I really believe that the more time you devote to yourself the better your business runs….within reason of course.
That’s exactly what I’m doing now…reviewed 2009, saw what was working and what was not (that was obvious because 90% of what I was doing wasn’t working), then moving forward with a new plan. Mine includes doing more actually…more posts with product reviews on one blog, article writing and maybe some PPC for a website. Of course, in between doing online marketing for my clients :) But I agree, the step back and redo/renew approach works.
.-= Charlene´s last blog ..Social Media and Animal Shelters? =-.
That’s excellent Charlene – not many people actually stop to see what isn’t working so the fact that you have done so puts you way ahead of the rest.
Although I am not a make money blog per se, I am generating a small revenue stream. I was able to locate one of yore review sites and really like what you are doing on it, quite an inspiration.
:)
.-= Ms. Freeman´s last blog ..Is There Value in Guest Blogging? =-.
Thanks Ms Freeman. We’re constantly improving our review sites because we can see the value in it. Each improvement provides better value to our readers and in turn better value for us in terms of increased traffic and income.
I truly believe tips #2 & #3 go hand in hand. I think it’s a far more reachable task of creating high quality for just a couple or few sites versus a large number of sites.
Did you change any marketing plans or did these steps automatically take care of that for you?
.-= Aaron´s last blog ..Mastering the Shift =-.
We didn’t have any marketing plan. These steps really just came to us when we felt the need to do something different because things weren’t working the way we wanted them to.
Thanks for this post Paula. Great advice as usual.
It’s coming up to one year since I started on building my site and I’m still waiting to see some real results.
I discovered quite quickly that there were so many ways to get sidetracked if you are not careful, especially with So many offers that arrived in my email box with the next great offer. I have become very discriminating as to what I subscribe to.
On a personal level I have spent too much time sitting in front of my computer this past year and not paid attention to other important things. It certainly doesn’t take long to feel the affects of neglecting exercise also it’s important to have a bit of a social life. I plan to do things differently this next year!
.-= Shirley´s last blog ..Grandparents – How to Enjoy Your Grandkids =-.
It’s so easy to get sidetracked on the internet – we have the world at our fingertips. I am the worst for that although I have improved considerably over time. I’ve stopped subscribing to new things and unsubscribed to a heap of ecourses and the like. It just takes up too much time.
It’s good to see that you are going to spend more time on yourself. It really is so important I think. We tend to neglect ourselves in this business.
Excellent article as usual!
Your #1 is something I’m REALLY looking forward to with this blog move change I’m doing. Since I’ll be republishing each article one by one, with comments, I can also write new ones in between meaning at least 2 or more each time.
I don’t know about more though, I still like to space for comments. This way, those that have been following me a while can by-pass the re-post and go for the new one, while new readers only have 2 to contend with.
I’m not saying you don’t so please don’t take this personally, but I care way too much about comments and the community feel, to overwhelm readers with too high a post count all at once. :)
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..The Time Has Come. The Deal Is Done. It’s Time To Move!! =-.
I do agree with you Dennis. The blog you are reading now wouldn’t really lend itself to adding massive content but a product based blog is a whole different story. If I were to add 3 or 4 articles a day to this blog I think people would get overwhelmed and as you say, you would lose those comments.
Oh man I totally flaked on where you mentioned “product blog”, sorry ’bout that. You’re quite right on that and I will try to do the same on mine when I pout them up.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..The Time Has Come. The Deal Is Done. It’s Time To Move!! =-.
Paula — thanks for the tips. I find a handful of blogs are helping me move in the right direction and this would be one of them. While I maintain and post on 3 sites, it is a bit much and overwhelming at times, though not from the blogging aspect per se. It’s more in trying to find the correct audience per blog and driving traffic to it.
I’m still at a loss as to making income from them other than the work I derive from the services part of CreativeAce. The affiliate side of the house is slow if non-existent at this point. Although, truth-be-told I have only started adding affiliates in the last 3 months.
Time for oneself is always a good idea. I know when I’m stuck in my writing, getting out in the fresh air and moving inevitable unsticks me, but then writing was never a big issue for me. Selling, now that’s a big issue for me.
.-= CJ @ Online Technical Writing´s last blog ..A Blog is NOT A Website =-.
It might be worth you concentrating on just one blog. You could just continue to write for the other two as that comes easily to you but devote everything else to just the one.
Great tips, Paula. It’s always good to concentrate on the customer first and other things second.
.-= Shirley´s last blog ..Happy Birthday To Me! =-.
That’s right Shirley. When we do that, good things start to happen.
Paula,
I like the change in thinking portion of your post. All of us bloggers can afford to step back a question are assumptions from time to time. I think sometimes we get too focused on one strategy regardless of whether it is really working for us.
Brad
.-= Brad Harmon´s last blog ..Jesus Says Use Your Boss’s Money to Make Friends? =-.
Exactly Brad. I’ve been spending more time lately on thinking about what really works for our online business. There is no point continuing to do something if there is no real benefit to it whether that be monetary gain or simply just the pleasure of performing the task.
I really like the massive amount of contents thingy. I have been struggling lately to add daily contents but my schedule really does not help me at all. I hope I can find more time to update my site contents :(
.-= Rian´s last blog ..There is no Facebook Theme and Facebook Layout Available =-.
Adding massive amounts of content won’t work on all sites. I wouldn’t do it for this blog but it works extremely well on product based blogs.
Hi,
You’re right! You need to stay focus on one thing before going to an other. Find a very goal and drive to it. It’s like a scientific formula for success: See your target, Keep it in your sights and Hit it.
About content, you need to have real content about the topic of your blog or site. Because it’s easy to have content, but related content is the key. You will have more old visitor coming back to look at your site and new one coming from the “word of mouth”.
May your success be more than you can hold!
Nicely said.
Hi everyone,
I am 3 months into affiliate online marketing I have learned a lot. I did not even know what a traffic exchange was was until I started searching for ways to make money online. Another thing I have noticed in my short experience is there is sooo much garbage out there people are trying to sell. It is hard to tell which programs to become affiliated with. I think this is how I would like to make a living though.
To everyone’s success,
Michael Benti
Yes there are a lot of shoddy products out there. There are a lot of people just trying to make a buck so they dish out all sorts of garbage and it can be difficult to weed out the good from the bad especially if you are new to internet marketing.
I think one of the things that has helped me massively over the past few years has been outsourcing work. This means I leverage my time so much more effectively and can get better results faster.
That’s something we still aren’t doing enough of. However we have made it a priority to outsource so we are going to be sitting down to work out what we do and what tasks we can get others to do for us.
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One thing that I’ve been hearing again and again lately is to focus on one site and keep at it until it’s in profit before moving on to another.. I really have to start taking this advice lol.. Thanks for reminding me :)
It definitely makes a massive difference when you focus on just one thing at a time.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that making money online is quick and easy. For the majority of us it’s a hard slog.”
Same goes with offline business. No easy way out and no short cut to succeed. The more we give the more we’ll receive. Thank you so much for sharing this.
When people said internet business is an instant money machine, I should think twice. ;)
Exactly! For some reason a lot of people have it in their heads that making money online will be easier then starting an offline business. Both take work and effort.
Just came upon this article, in looking through your old posts. It is amazing that if you stick with something you will succeed. You just have to believe and keep at it. Thanks for reminding me when I needed it most.
It’s definitely a requirement of this business in my opinion. Too many people give up just when they are so close to getting there.
Awesome! You have nailed a very important secret and that is to take care of yourselves. Health is truly wealth. You cannot manage your blog well if you are very sick. So, the body must never be rejected or taken for granted.