What is it about this business that causes people to take on too much? It’s something we had a problem with in the early days, until we got focused and on track, but for some reason it reared its ugly head again and we found ourselves back in that position all over again. For some weeks we were finding it difficult to stay focused on any one thing. Things just weren’t flowing as well as they should and we knew it was because we had been taking on too much. When this happens the work-flow becomes scattered and you start to spread yourself too thin so nothing of any consequence ever gets done.
As we were discussing this the other day Wanda said “I wish we had only built one website when we started – things would be a whole lot easier now.” And that in a nutshell is what it’s all about when it comes to being a successful internet marketer. If you can manage to focus on just one thing you can’t help but be a success. The more you take on, the longer it will take for you to make money and the less time you will have to do anything.
We not only had our niche websites but this blog, the new review website plus constant requests for interviews, joint ventures, the public domain projects we were working on, products we needed to write reviews for, constant emails to answer and on and on it went. We were even in the very early process of creating a membership site of sorts. No wonder we were feeling burnt out and a little frayed. As a result we seemed to be stuck in the same place with nothing really moving forward. Our earnings pretty much stayed the same even though we were doing more work.
Another sign that things weren’t flowing was that we would tend to flag after lunch and we really had no enthusiasm to get back to work so we would end up watching a video or going shopping, not that there is anything wrong with that, but it doesn’t help your business.
We knew something was wrong. But fortunately this time it was easy for us to figure out what that was because we had been through it all before when we were first struggling to make money online. Back then we were working on all of our 20 or so websites at the one time and it didn’t work then so why were we essentially doing a similar thing now? Go figure!
You’d be hard pressed to find an internet marketer who isn’t taking on too much. In fact, for some reason many internet marketers take on so much that they often work longer hours than they would if they were in a regular 9 to 5 job. I don’t see the point in that. One of the main reasons we came into this business was for the freedom it could give us. To me, it is more important than the money.
So ultimately we don’t want to be spending long hours working. Fortunately for us working on this business is an enjoyable experience for the most part so we don’t really consider it work. However, there are other things we would like to be doing so we don’t want to turn it into a 60 hour a week job.
Now this is just our story but I know that the majority of people reading this post will be experiencing a similar thing. Its hard not to because although making money online is simple, we make it as complicated as possible. And all those complications hinder our ability to make it all work.
In it’s simplest form, making money online involves choosing a product or service (your own or someone else’s), creating a page to promote that product or service and getting traffic to that page. What makes it complicated is how we approach it all. Instead of keeping it simple we do everything we possibly can to make it difficult. And the reason why it becomes a difficult process is that we don’t trust the process to begin with – we don’t trust it because it takes a while for that process to see results. In other words, it takes a while for it all to start making money.
So what happens with most people is that they create a website to promote a product and work for a couple of weeks getting traffic to that page but they don’t see any sales. Everyone tells them that they can make money overnight on the internet so why aren’t they?
So the doubt starts to set in and they think they are doing something wrong. So that website is ignored as they go out and find out what they can do to fix it. They end up on a blog or a forum and everyone is giving advice about which method works and which doesn’t. So they’ll buy another ebook, or two or three because each one has a better method for making money online. Only each one of those ebooks tells them something different so they are already confused as to which way to go.
By this time the first website is totally forgotten and they have three or four more websites on the go. Everyone says to add lots of content but there isn’t enough time so they go and buy some plr content and spin it or they get someone on an outsourcing site to write a hundred articles for a dollar a piece. Of course you aren’t going to get much for a dollar an article but who cares if the quality isn’t there – its content and Google loves content right?
By this point they have given up on backlinking because it is too difficult and time consuming so they start to look for easier ways. So they will happily pay a monthly fee to be part of a backlinking blog network that essentially gives them poor quality links or they will invest in various different plugins that will automate the system for them or pay someone to get them thousands of backlinks overnight.
Now they have 20 or 30 websites going because it is so easy to get them up and everyone says that the more websites you have the more money you will make but that’s not working either. Fortunately there is plenty of helpful constructive advise on the forum they regularly attend and someone says that they really only started making a decent income when they had over 100 websites. So off they go and spend hours building more and more websites.
By this time a year has passed and they still aren’t making much money. The hundred websites aren’t working since there is no time to backlink to them and you can’t really afford to continue to pay some backlinking company or blog network to get backlinks for you and you realize that those links weren’t much good to begin with. Plus the amount of time it takes to maintain them is quite draining and there is really no time left in the day to spend with family or friends.
By this time they are almost ready to give up but another email turns up in their email box with yet another method of making money online and it only takes an hour a day and they can be making money within weeks. It is totally different to what they have tried so they create a whole new website thinking that this will definitely be the one that makes it for them and they do everything it says in the ebook and three weeks later they still aren’t making any money. So they start to doubt the process again and forget that website and start looking for other new and easier methods to make money online.
Do you see how we’ve come full circle here? This is what I like to call the ‘affiliate marketers never ending cycle of doom’. I don’t think there is anyone out there who hasn’t gone through it and you can go through it over and over again for years and years. It’s a never ending cycle of creating more and more websites, buying ebook after ebook and going from one money making method to another without experiencing much success.
What to do if you know you are taking on too much
To be successful at all of this, you really have to be self aware. In other words, you need to step back on a regular basis and take a look at what you are actually doing. In most cases you will find that you are taking on too much. But it’s not only that, you will also find that you are never giving anything you take on a chance to really work.
Imagine that if instead of going through the affiliate marketers cycle of doom the fictitious person above focused on only one website for a whole year. Or even better, what if they focused on only 5 product reviews for a whole year. Most people would never consider doing something like that because they think it is too risky. What if none of those 5 pages ever ranks or what if the product I chose doesn’t sell? Yes, there is always that risk – unfortunately there are no guarantees in this business but I think most of us would agree that if we spent a year on just five pages of content you would see some magic happen.
If like us you are finding yourself with too much on your plate then here are some tips to help you get through it:
1. Spend a few hours writing out exactly what tasks you do on a daily basis. (I actually like the Action Enforcer software for this as it gives you a report at the end of the week that tallies up your tasks and the time spent on them so you know where you are spending most of your time.)
2. Once the list is written, take a look at it to see which tasks you are doing that are helping you to move forward with your business and which ones are just time wasters. You can set up two columns for this.
Time wasters are usually things like hanging out at forums for extended periods, Tweeting for hours at a time, Facebook, tweaking website themes, reading blog after blog, answering emails and so on.
‘Things that help you move forward with your business’ include things like backlinking, writing product reviews, reworking product reviews, writing content, and even more backlinking.
3. The ‘time wasters’ should really take up no more than an hour of your day. Anymore than that and you are wasting your time UNLESS you are actually making money from doing these things.
The ‘things that help you move forward in your business’ column should take up the majority of your time. If you want a simple easy working life then all you need to be doing on a daily basis is either writing really good content/product reviews and backlinking. It’s simple and you don’t need flash and fancy tools to do it. All you really need is just patience and a good work ethic.
Each individual task you undertake during your working day is either going to help you to move forward or it is going to waste your time. So as you work during the next week think about whether the task you are working on is actually helping you to move forward or not.
4. The next step is too look at the number of websites you are working on at the one time. If it’s more than two then that is too many. However, looking at your websites is just one part of the story. To really reduce your workload there is a better way and one we have spoken about in a previous blog post. What it involves is focusing on pages rather than websites. This works particularly well for people with multiple websites. In a nutshell it involves finding five pages on all of your websites that are getting the most traffic and reworking them to provide better quality content and then backlinking to them to increase the traffic even more. You can read about it in more detail here. When you start focusing on pages instead of websites things happen a lot faster. Life is also a lot more relaxed as you have more time in your day and things are a lot less frantic.
What did we do?
Since determining that we were taking on too much we decided that we would go back and start to work on one website at a time. We are tidying up some of the old ones and focusing on pages on those sites that are getting a bit of traffic. We are reworking those pages to provide better content and are choosing quality products to promote.
We have also put a hold on all interviews we are doing (except for ones already scheduled) and have decided not to create any membership sites or work on any new projects for the time being. We will continue to write for this blog and send out our newsletter but our primary focus will be our websites. So essentially we have less on our plate.
As soon as we made that decision, we both felt a tremendous sense of relief. And funnily enough since making that decision our income has increased. It’s like the universe has confirmed to us that this is what we should be doing. We also are back to enjoying the work and will happily work all day.
We have our focus back and it’s a great feeling.
Great post, & I agree completely about focusing in on one or two things.
“And funnily enough since making that decision our income has increased. It’s like the universe has confirmed to us that this is what we should be doing.”
I’ve had that experience many times. When I focus on taking the most joyful path, which is also the easy path of least resistance, things flow better right away. Synchronicities begin to appear, and my income increases within days – hours sometimes! Yet I still keep forgetting, and fall back into thinking I have to do the ‘hard work/massive action’ thing to improve my results (I guess we’ve nearly all been brainwashed into that mindset in this culture, and it’s certainly rampant in the IM world). Then after running in circles & getting stressed out for a while I kind of wake up and remember that trying to bang it all into place the hard way doesn’t work nearly as well. So I let go and start ‘aligning and allowing’ again. Maybe one of these days it’ll stick lol
“Synchronicities begin to appear, and my income increases within days – hours sometimes!”
That’s exactly what happened to us. It was only a day or so since we made the decision to reduce our workload and the money started to increase. I really think that less is more with this business. Do less but do it well.
As my mentor and friend, Tab, an established copywriter herself would tell me, “Focus, focus, focus!”
Hi Paula and Wanda,
It always seems like when I read many of your posts, you’re talking about me. I know that most of us in IM have been down the same road though.
Since getting Amazonian Profit Plan, I haven’t even been tempted to buy any other shiny objects. My site isn’t making much money yet but notice I said my “site”. As in one. Traffic is growing and even though the sites only 6 months old it has a PR1 rating which is pretty cool.
Thanks again for your ebook and insightful posts.
Jerry
Excellent Jerry. There is no reason why you would need a second site at this stage. If you stay focused on that website the traffic will increase and the sales will follow.
The reason that we take on some much is because or minds and imaginations work so fast. We are able to physically carry out all the things that we want to do when we think about them.
This either leads to spreading oneself too thinly and doing everything badly so simple procrastination where we then choose to play on Facebook, forums or twitter.
At the moment I try to write down all the things I want to achieve for the day and then reward myself by checking out my google reader, feeding twitter and visting the forums.
Tiptopcat
That’s a really good idea to leave the forums, Twitter and Facebook as a reward once you’ve completed all the tasks for the day.
The best way is just to keep everything closed while you work on just one thing. I find if I have my email open for instance that I will be tempted to read the emails as they come in. So now I answer emails in the morning and then close the email screen and don’t look at it again until the next morning.
I’ve had to hook up my Action Enforcer to a cattle prod to keep me off of Google+. Seems to work. :)
Scheduling these things out and using a reward system are definitely the way to go.
LOL, yes I think that a cattle prod would definitely keep you focused James.
Hello Ladies. Just curious on your thoughts on the recent (well not that recent anymore) google panda update. Did your site get effected in anyway?
No we weren’t affected Steven but that’s not saying much because it was a very poor update in my opinion. Too many innocent website owners were affected. I have noticed however(from the emails we’ve received from some people) that many who were affected have had their rankings reinstated over time so maybe Google fixed their goof.
Greetings ladies, and thanks again for another interesting, informative post. Recently, I followed your suggestions about scaling back on the number of sites I was working, and have been focusing on creating lengthy reviews on those sites…can’t wait to see the results. Keep the posts coming!
I hope you had a chance to read the post linked to in the blog post above about what to do if you have multiple sites. That is pretty much the process we are going through with all of our sites at the moment.
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2010/11/26/what-to-do-if-you-have-multiple-sites-but-are-not-making-much-money/
A great article and one most of us will relate to. It’s the waiting to see results of your labor that is the toughest thing which does tend to take many of us in search of the quick fix especially as so many IM promise it’s so easy to do.
I have been going over product pages trying to improve them. Also for now I decided to just focus on keywords that are already ranking quite well and get more backlinks to those to try to move them up even more rather than be adding any new or focusing on ones that are not even on the radar screen yet.
No matter how many times I delete and unsubscribe from email lists unfortunately our emails do get into the hands of others that we have not subscribed to that send out more emails with fantastic offers so if I don’t recognize the name and am not subscribed I block it without opening.
There are a few I would say I trust and they are the ones I don’t hear from very often only when there is something useful to share, they are not the ones bombarding my email box stupidly telling me one day that this is the program you need to be successful it’s the best they have seen and then tomorrow low and behold they have another best one. I am done with those people.
You are right focus on what’s in front of us and not be going off in all directions.
Thanks Shirley
“Also for now I decided to just focus on keywords that are already ranking quite well and get more backlinks to those to try to move them up even more rather than be adding any new or focusing on ones that are not even on the radar screen yet.”
An absolutely perfect strategy Shirley!!
Well thank God you will continue to work on th8is blog and newsletter! I would really miss you gals if you stopped!
We would miss you too Cathy. You are one of our most faithful readers. It’s always good to see you here.
Taking on too much seems to go with the territory in the affiliate marketing world. Very wise to recognize the early signs and pull back. In so many ways this comes back to what you wrote about in the Amazonian Profit Plan – find what’s working best and concentrate on that until it is working even better – then move on.
We all need to take a reality check now and then on just how we’re spending our time and whether it is effective use of that time. Thanks for the reminder.
That’s right Dawn I think we get so caught up in what we are doing that we fail to see whether it is actually working. Looking at where we are spending our time is crucial in this business or any business for that matter.
Thanks for that post – I really needed to read that. It’s wonderful how the universe provides what we need at the right time and if we’re receptive we heed the advice. I’ve been back at that point of going in circles and not focusing – focus, focus, focus – I need to do just that!
Cheers ladies!
Just spent some time at your website Sue. I couldn’t stop reading. You’ve written some great posts. Well worth checking out if anyone is reading this comment:
http://www.susanwoledge.com
I think almost every Affiliate marketeer recognizes this issue. The problem for me (and maybe more people) is that one of he first things you learn is that you should never put your eggs in 1 basket. You need to to diversify your sources of income, hence multiple sites, ventures and networks come into play. You can’t do it all(not even us multitasking women!) and there are a lot of distractions.
Email & tweaking themes were my guilty pleasure, so I no longer have my email client picking up mail more than once per hour and tweaking themes is something to be outsourced. Things have been picking up since then.
Definitely agree about the diversification. This is such a fickle business so diversifying is a must. The problem is that most people start to diversify too early on. What’s the point of diversifying if you haven’t made any money from the first money making method?
My entry into the affiliate world was influenced by gurus who touted the hundreds of websites approach. Get each website earning $100 per month and you’re good as gold. Made sense to the novice. But reality sunk in as managing those websites became impossible. Mix in a full time job, and what began as an exciting new venture became a source of frustration. I kept hearing of others becoming successful, while I just worked at it.
Amazonian Profit Plan reignited my passion for this business. And helped me redirect my energies. I’ve tailored back significantly. Focused on topics I really care about and can create solid, knowledgeable content that I’m proud of. And, that I think adds value. The earnings have creeped up. My enjoyment has increased substantially.
That’s so good to hear Grant.
I think people are starting to realize that the multiple-site approach just doesn’t work. Well it might work but it takes so much effort that it’s really not worth it in the end. Working on just one thing at a time is so much more relaxing to the mind and as you’ve found it’s much more enjoyable.
That’s a great post and something every new IM needs to hear from the word go! Since purchasing the Amazonian Profit Plan it has come as a monumental relief to understand that I don’t need 200 sites to be successful!! I have started to make some sales on my Kindle site which is great and I have spent a lot of time trying to work out how to structure another site which I built before the APP. However, I have spent way too much time on the thinking and not enough time on the doing. I decided to do a reading with my angel cards not long ago and guess what came up? Focus and make a list. So I have made the list and feel that I have started to move forward. For me as a “newbie” I still find that a lot of my time is taken up with learning new things – I just signed up for AWeber so want to go through all the training videos. So being on the learning curve still can be a bit time consuming.
“Focus and make a list”…I like that. So simple and yet most people won’t do it.
We are all on a learning curve Jan. It’s part of being in this business because nothing is ever stable. Things change constantly so it’s a never ending process to keep up with it all. But at least it never gets boring.
I’m as guilty as the next person of falling for ‘the next shiny object syndrome’ and losing focus.
You’re so right: When you focus on just one or tow things, you can make them grow significantly! I’m so proud of my 4 figure monthly amazon income, even though it doesn’t yet cover the mortgage: it’s table and it’s the result of months and months of focus!
Very nice Joy…a 4 figure monthly Amazon income!! Just wait till Christmas hits – you will love that time of year for sales.
Thanks, Paula!
I meant that the income is stable, not table, lol!
My goal is to out-earn Paula & Wanda in a year or two… I hope you won’t mind;)
Anyway, it’s all about the process you outlined: Getting the reviews up and getting traffic to them! I just did a review of a product and posted it in a comment on the manufacturer’s Facebook page yesterday. Today, that manufacturer’s status on Facebook is: “Hey, check out this great review of our product – link to MY page!”
Joy, that 4K is awesome! I can’t help loving examples like yours, as I’m taking my first steps on this road. The more people I hear from who are actually making real money from their hard work, the more I believe I can do it, too.
Also, that little trick of leaving a Facebook comment for the manufacturer is such a good idea. Kudos. :-)
Hi Joy
Just popping in to sat I love your cow cartoon graphic! Very eye-catching. Where did you get that created?
Thanks, Rachel. I think having a good design is part of this whole process. (I know that I always click the back button when I get to a poorly designed page.) This site is still a work in progress. I got the cow mascot from logonerds.com. If you search the Warrior Forum for posts by logonerds, they may still have a coupon code up.
Thanks for that Joy.
I totally agree that you can get lost and feel very behind on your goals when you have multiple websites. That’s why when I bought the Amazonian Profit Plan I decided to pick one product and follow the system all the way through until I felt I understood how to market a product successfully. Staying focused has greatly reduced the stress and feeling of being “scattered” all the time. I’ve put in around 25 hrs/week for 3 weeks now on my campaign to promote my product, but I had a very unpleasant thing happen and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this situation.
My site (which was previously built and indexed a few months ago, but was too generic) use to appear on page 2 near the top when I did a Google search for the exact name of the product. The site is the same name as the product. I just checked it today and it is now on page 8. I’m so bummed. Is this typical? Does this happen to a site when you first start pushing out your campaign? I’ve done over 2 dozen press releases, a Squidoo Lens, a HubPage, set up a FaceBook page, and posted several classified ads and articles. I have not overdone any of the marketing to the point of excess so I don’t know why Google has kicked me to page 8. Anyone know why this has happened? Will my future efforts make it worse, or will I gain ground as I do more marketing – and more time passes?
You will have received my email by now Susan but I will repeat the response here for anyone who is in the same boat.
This happens to just about everyone and it is one of the most common emails we get from people…so you aren’t alone.
The only thing you can do is just keep at the backlinking. Your page will probably return in a few weeks and then might pop back again and then return – its just Google doing their dance. No one can say for sure how your site will rank – only Google knows that but at this point in time what you are experiencing is all part of the game.
Thanks for posting this Paula – it’s proably something a lot of newbies like myself need to know!
Hey princess, your Action Enforcer software link is sending a Database Connection Error. Just wanted to let you know. Have a nice day and hope it gets fixed soon.
Okay now its working fine. Just checked it again 5 minutes and 2 failed attempts later. Nevermind.
This is an encouraging post for me! I’m taking things slowly this year just because of other things going on in my life but sometimes I just feel this pressure like I should be doing IT ALL. I have two sites that I’m focusing on, the others I’ve pretty much abandoned. If they make enough to cover their domain fee, I’ll renew it but I’m not going to put any more work into them. Then I also do have a personal blog, but I’ve been taking a break from that too. I guess it’s important to remember that everyone is different and I shouldn’t feel like I’m behind the game just because I don’t even have 10 hours a week to work on my marketing. Eventually my kids will grow up and I’ll have a bit more time, right? :)
I understand what you mean by that “pressure to do it all” feeling. That’s what I have been experiencing for quite a while hence the decision we made to reduce our workload. I have so many ideas in my head and would love to be starting different projects but I know that we can only do so much.
Hi
I find the biggest distraction is emails. What I am trying to do now is close my G-email and only check every hour. I then find I can focus a lot better
Great post by both of you, you talk such common sense, that is why you are doing so well.
Thanks
Kathy
I’ve gone even further than that Dan. I read and answer emails in the morning and then close it off completely for the day. I figure I don’t receive anything that important that it can’t wait a day. It actually feels quite liberating doing that.
I just had to drop by and say “Great post!” Paula & Wanda! :)
Thanks Yolanda. I read your ‘Closed Indefinitely’ post some time back. It’s pretty much what we did when we realized that we were adding poor quality content to this blog. Back then we deleted all of the posts – didn’t even archive them and just started from scratch. It’s a much better feeling when you focus on good quality content.
I recommend to anyone that they read Yolanda’s post here:
http://www.paidinpassive.com/2011/06/24/closed-indefinitely-because-i-was-wrong-and-i-intend-to-stop-adding-junk-to-the-web/
Just read Yolanda’s post. Wow! My wife and I have made the same realization about junk and quality content. It’s shifted our approach and it’s much more rewarding to create something that could have value. Just this morning we received an email from a reader on how one of our articles helped them. While we’re not making money on the site, yet, it made us feel wonderful to add value to someone’s life.
I think that is why many people fail. For many this business is all about making money and nothing more. When you can help someone in the process it becomes so much more satisfying.
I think your post can be summed up in 3 words.
QUALITY CONTENT WINS.
I think the problem is that most people have lost sight of what the original incaration of the internet was all about, and that was opening up a whole new world of information for the masses to digest.
What happens now is that if there in’t a dollar sign attached to the site, Internet Marketers aren’t interested, not realising most of the time that information and knowledge is the reason for the search initially.
Everyone becomes traffic and list oriented, but just consider these words from Confucius for a moment.
“Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.”
As true then as it is now.
You’re so right about how the internet has developed. I have been on the net since 1994 and back then when you created a website it really was just for the hell of it. Making money was really the furthest thing from most peoples mind.
I love your articles. They always inspire! I’m ready to get back to work on my site after taking a few months off. Thanks for the encouragement.
Nice to hear Elisabeth! And you can find more inspiring articles on our Staying Motivated page here:
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/staying-motivated/
Hey Paula and Wanda, thanks for the great article and insight into the importance of focusing on just one or two websites. I run two sites and focus on writing articles, product reviews, backlinking and guest blogging.
What do you think of the products that say they automate the process of getting traffic to your site, thus eliminating the need for article writing and backlinking? I am a bit weary of such products. As experienced IMs, what is your take on these products?
Thx, Ken
I’m wary of anything that has the word ‘automated’ next to it when it comes to internet marketing. Do you have a specific example because there are different types of automated generating traffic systems.
The product was from Anik Singal, I believe and the product called Commission Domination states all you have to do is fill in some information keywords and hit go. No need for article writing, backlinking or Seo and you will get tons of free traffic. Do you know of or use any such product? I suspect the only one making big money is Anik.
Thanks Ken
It’s a bit hard to tell without actually buying and using the product. But I found a discussion about it on the Warrior Forum that highlights the good and bad. It appears that there are a number of upsells which is to be expected.
http://www.warriorforum.com/internet-marketing-product-reviews-ratings/424838-commission-domination-review.html
Reading this was funny, because I can completely relate to it and I realize that what I’m doing is wrong. It’s so incredibly easy to spread yourself thin, buying more and more domains (they’re so cheap!) while your effort just keeps getting diluted because you can’t possibly put enough of it into each of your sites.
The funny thing is, once you stop doing that and really focus hard on a few sites, like you said, you will probably start to see the positive results.
Some great advice here.
(the website I linked here is not one that’s had a lot of effort put into it… more of blog – sort of a neglected take on this website, actually. :P)
I know about buying more and more domain names. We were forever thinking of new things to do and of course we would immediately buy another domain name to add to the list. We have close to a hundred that are sitting there doing nothing.
Guilty as charged. Yep, I too have over complicated things to the point that I don’t know which page or site to backlink to anymore, because I have so many. If I had just the one (maybe two) things like net marketing and all that this includes would be much easier and go much smoother.
But alas I too have succumbed to the net marketing monster and now need to re-evaluate and focus on one site to take it to max profit potential.
Re-evalute is the name of the game for this week. Thanks for the much needed reminder Paula and Wendy.
I really believe that taking time out to re-evaluate is crucial in this business. We tend to get caught up in it all and don’t stop to even think about what we are doing on a day-to-day basis.
Wow, this described me to a tee. In this business it takes time to get going. Patience is a must as I have learned. But the other thing I have learned is that there is so much information out there that one can spend there entire time on forums buying ebooks and what not that they will never make any money because they are busy reading and not doing what it takes to make money.
I think you have inspired me that at the very least I will take a step back every once in a while and take a look what I am doing for my business. So great post as always and one that I certainly need to re-read often.
I think it describes most affiliate marketers to a ‘T’ Charles, us included! We were able to write that blog post because we have been through it all ourselves. I think it’s all just part of the apprenticeship. It’s kind of hard to avoid.
I had almost 2 dozen domains that I had bought with grand plans to make them my next income earners, but never got around to creating the websites. I let them all expire this month with GoDaddy. It was kinda scary because I thought I was letting go of something of value, but then I realized it was actually freeing me to make better use of my time to focus on the domains that are/will create my retirement income.
Just getting that into my head was a major shift in my thinking. And, as you mentioned in this post, a great sense of relief from the stress/guilt of not working on these multiple sites. Working on only a couple at a time is way easier. Thanks for a great post!
Getting rid of domain names and websites is a bit like de-cluttering your house. It does have that freeing feeling that you describe almost like a weight has been removed. It’s hard to do though – we still have a lot of domain names sitting doing nothing and it’s very hard to let them go.
This is just what I needed to read right now, as a countermeasure against all the “spin 100 more articles! buy product X!” hype out there.
I have been working on 2 websites at once and I already feel overworked, I can’t imagine working on 20. And the lure of new keywords, new domains is out there…
I will definitely come back to this to remind myself to FOCUS. And not on the next new shiny thing. :-)
LOL, yes that ‘lure of new keywords and new domains’ is a hard one to resist. Even now, I have an idea for a new website but I have to hit myself over the head and say ‘are you crazy?’…like we need another website.
I find myself falling into this trap over and over. Thank you for reminding me that I need to stay focused on a very few projects for them to succeed. I have found that the more I work on one area of my business, the better it gets, the faster it grows. I am not sure why I tend to forget this on occasion. I think I will print out some relevant quotes from this article in 48 point type and post them on the wall over my monitor. Maybe that will help keep me on track. LOL.
I think we all need to be reminded every now again to stay focused. We were off track for a while there but happy to say we are back and working solidly again.
And that’s a good idea to print out relevant quotes. We do that as well and add them to our whiteboard as we find new ones. The latest is more of an affirmation than a quote:
“I am so grateful now that money comes to me in increasing quantities through multiple sources on a continuous basis”
I also try to repeat this affirmation by Bob Proctor as often as I can this summer.
Great article, as always! Just in time I needed to read it – like a balm for my soul.
Please keep sharing your wisdom with us!
http://stayyoungandvital.com/2011/05/06/moroccanoil-oil-treatment-review/
Hi Ladies,
Great post and just what I need right now. I guess the next question is does anyone have advice on how to sell domains and/or websites? I’ve got a bunch to unload. I guess I could just wait for them to expire but it would be great to make even a little money on them if I could. Any advice? Because of this post you have convinced me to focus on just one site. I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling overwhelmed with too many sites. Thanks again.
A lot of people use sedo.com but there are other companies that are similar.
We’ve never sold domain names and websites before but a lot of people make a business from it.
You could also try Adsense for Domain Names. If you have an Adsense account login and look for Adsense for Domain Names. It basically allows you to monetize your unused domain names by adding Google Adsense links etc.
If you received our latest newsletter we provided more info about it there.
Ed Dale (another Ozzie!) always raves about https://flippa.com/ for buying and selling sites………
Glad you got your mojo back guys!
Here in Norway ‘everyone’ takes the summer off (4 weeks usually) and heads for the hills, great tradition.
Was raring to get back to work this week though, not because I was bored of the holiday, but rather the break really fires you up and I kept a notebook of ‘great ideas’ to develop!!
I nearly didn’t hit ‘submit’ as I don’t want to add to your ‘distractions’, tell you what, treat this as a rhetorical comment!
Stay well
LOL, that’s okay Ian, we don’t think of our readers as distractions so please keep leaving comments.
I really enjoy writing for this blog and answering comments even if it doesn’t make us much money. It’s not always about the money – we want to enjoy the process as well.
And I love the idea of keeping a notebook of ‘great ideas’. I have new ideas every day – usually they come up while I am meditating so I should keep a notebook handy.
I am not sure I understand the one site and 5 products concept. Are the five products all in the same category and related to each other or are they entirely different products.
They can be in the same category or different categories and they can be on different sites. So you might have five related products on one site or you might have five totally unrelated products on the one site. Or they can be on totally different sites.
We think in terms of pages rather than sites. So although we have over 20 websites we don’t work on all the sites at once. Instead we work on individual pages. So on one site we might work on 2 pages, on another site 1 and another site 3 pages.
Hi Paula
I want to go through my understanding of what you’ve said to make sure I’ve got it right.
a) On Amazon’s home page there is ‘Shop All Departments’.
b) When you hover your mouse pointer over one of the Departments such as ‘Home, Garden & Tools’ there are 13 categories to choose from.
c) Select one, say Power & Hand Tools, and there are ‘Featured Categories’, one of which is ‘Power Tools’.
d) Under Power Tools there are Drills, Saws, Sanders etc
e) My understanding is that each one of these would be one of my product categories eg: 1.Drills, 2.Saws and 3.Sanders.
f) I could then add two more products from the 13 categories in ‘b’ above.
g) This is where I m confused. If I look at Saws there are 2093 results and eight different types. If I look at the breakdown of the eight types of Saws there are anything from 120 to over 200 in each type.
Where do I go from there. Obviously I can’t write reviews covering each type as there are too many. How do I go about this?
If I choose to put all my five product on one site, don’t I have a problem choosing a domain name to cover all these? Sorry this I so long?
Try not to think in terms of websites. Instead think in terms of pages. We always start off finding five products. These are products that are worth promoting so they get really good reviews. These products can be related or totally unrelated.
So say for instance I find five cordless drills. Then I would create a site called cordlessdrillreviews.com and place those five products on that site.
If instead I found five kind of related products like a cordless drill, an electric saw, and an electric screwdriver and a spanner, then I might create a website called powertoolreviews.com.
If on the other hand I found five products that were totally unrelated like a diamond ring, a cordless drill, a baby crib and so on I might create a site called mytopreviews.com.
So you can use any of those options.
I’m speechless… Seriously, I think you’re describing me in this post except the fact that I’m working with dozens of pages not sites. And each different page targets one different product on Amazon or Clikbank.
I’m sticking with my computer at least 8 hours a day. I’m still in college and I have some time to spend, but I don’t think it’s possible when I have a 9 to 5.
I built webpages, they’re not as high quality as they should be, but I keep building them. I do some initial backlinking with article distribution and free blog network posting. I do blog commenting and forum post sign as well. All of them in just a few days then I go to the next product and the next page.
I’ve had 17 of them so far on Squidoo (it’s free you know), about half of them are on page 1 for the targeted keywords. And I have traffic going through my affiliate links. Only trickles of traffic but they’re all very targeted traffic since I’m aiming at long tail keywords. I’m waiting for my first conversion but nothing happened yet. I think it’s the content I put on my lens that causes this.
I think I’m in the exact circle you’re talking about. I’m focusing on too many but none of them make a decent impact in exchange of my efforts. I work to exhaustion some day. My back hurts (even when I’m still 23) and I don’t want it to be a real issue when I get older.
Paula and Wanda, can you please share with me your experience working in this business. I think I need some sorts of advices from people who did it like you two. How many hours you work each day when you first got started? Did you work on weekends? Backlinking is important, what percents does it cover in your total workload (80% or 90% of the time)? How long does it take your very first focused website to make a real income?
I know they are not written on stone. I just one to consult your wisdom. I know I have to work if I want to see results. And I believe in this business and its simple process.
Thanks a lot if you can help me!
Duy.
When we first started in this business we were both working in full time jobs and we would spend any spare moment working online…even during lunch hours at work. And yes we worked on weekends and at night after work. Looking back now it really wasn’t necessary to work that hard and it really wasn’t getting us anywhere. It took around 6 years before we finally figured out that we really didn’t need to be doing all that work and that’s when we started to focus in more. So we started working on just one site and only a few pages on that site. We also realized that it was important to write good quality reviews. Once we did those things and also changed our affiliate links to Amazon things started to change for us.
I suggest that you read the post below and also some of the other posts on here about how to write product reviews.
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2010/11/26/what-to-do-if-you-have-multiple-sites-but-are-not-making-much-money/
I appreciate your sharing Paula :) Now I can see some parts of the road ahead. I will try my best to stay focused. Hopefully I can make something worthwhile in the near future!
Oh no! Tell me I’m not adding to your cycle of doom. I’ve emailed you a billion times this past week. :X
No never James. We’re happy to get your emails.
We spent all of yesterday going through the book and only got half way through. Will finish it up today and get back to you ASAP.
Thank you for the post Paula and Wanda!
Even it’s very comforting to know that almost EVERYONE goes through the same procedure :) of becoming a profitable Internet marketer (not me yet, still spending many times more than I earn online) it would be nice to have a clue when it can happened … quiet a rhetorical question…
Having 5 review pages for the last 4 months (got about 160usd in Amazon commissions) I placed another two out of pure desperation… got more things to care about now :)… I took one year off from my job to make it online… it seems I have to go back where I left… not an easy journey…bu it’s great to know that that someone could do that… it gives a hope!
Is August considered to be a ‘bad’ month for sales? Wonder why in spite of traffic is increasing the sales go down….
Thanks again for sharing your experience!
Elena
Don’t feel too deflated about having to go back to work. I did the same thing. I left work myself at one point thinking that I would be able to spend more time on the business but it wasnt to be. I had to go back to work for another year and a half before I eventually finished up again.
In terms of sales for August, it really depends on what you are selling but in general we don’t usually see sales drop. We tend to have sales drop from about March to June and then it starts to slowly build up towards Christmas.
Send me an email Elena if you want me to take a look at your website to give you some advice.
Dear Paula & Wanda,
God bless you! I think I waited too long or as you say, I was not leaving this “Cycle Of Doom”. I think when this “Cycle” meet procrastination you are really out of the path! Since 2001 I am saying to myself that I can’t do it since english is not my mother language. Finally I decided to start with something, anything and even if I have only 3 reviews, I started! I got first page on google and now I want to learn some backlinking. I hope i can stay focused even it seems it will be a long way. Many thanks for what you are doing!
Nice job Daniel. You’ve done well to get that site up and the reviews going.
If you have some spare funds you can always go to Elance or a similar site and get someone to rewrite your reviews so that the grammar is correct. It shouldn’t cost too much for a few reviews.
Thanks, but you think my site will not eventually convert if I don’t go to Elance in this stage?!
You won’t know the answer to that until you start getting traffic. So work on that first. When the traffic starts to flow in then you will be able to see whether the language issues have any effect on conversions.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your information. My son and I have just started up our business and we can’t imagine where we’d be without your invaluable advice!
Happy to help Michelle. We really want to see everyone succeed in this business.
Amazing post! This is completely real. It touches any marketers heart. At least mine :). I also wrote an article on Ezine@rticles about this issue that I titled “How to Earn Money on Internet – The Constancy Key”, but it is too far away from the quality of this one.
As I went down reading it it seemed more and more like I was reading my own story. Thank you.
By the way, would you mind if I put a link to it on my site?
I think it’s ‘real’ for most people who are into internet marketing. We seem to all go through it but it’s all a good learning experience since we learn better from our mistakes than anything else.
And yes of course you can link to the post on your site.
You must have looking over my shoulder and watching everything I was doing. You have more or less described me to a tee.
Some very good advice there too.
I had one garden related review site that I had worked on from December to finally reach No. 1 in Google for one keyword when it got hit in April by Google Panda and disappeared altogether. April is the time when gardeners start spending so I lost out on all that work and had neglected my other two sites as well.
I´ll be taking on board what you have said.
This is a risky business and you’ve experienced that first hand. I hope your site has come back since the update. I have heard from a number of people now whose sites went off the radar during the Panda update but have since bounced back.
This is my first time posting but it won’t be my last… I am suffering from this right now. I’m so focused on working EVERY angle and as a result I get much of NOTHING done in the end. This blog came right on time. I’m definately looking forward to reading more of what you ladies have to say.
We still focus on too much as well Eric and have to keep stepping back to see what we are doing. It’s so easy to want to create a new website or buy another ebook or try out something new.
If you have a lot of things on the go it can be very hard to drop some of them in order to focus. We really know that feeling well.
Giving your time to time wasters can really destroy your scheduled task of the day. Believe me it will make you procrastinate and tend to do the task the next day. Time wasters could be twitter and facebook and other social media entertainment, unless of course if you are using them for your business.
Twitter, Facebook and similar can be fantastic but they can also be major time wasters. I can get sidetracked easily so I avoid them as much as possible.
Great post. I warn folks on the Warrior forum all of the time about the building 100 websites each making $1/day mentality.
I’ve been there and done that. I had 33 and I pulled my hair out trying to figure how to manage and promote them. Had I just pick 1-2 and dove deep for a year, the income would be staggering.
As soon as I figured that out Amazon discontinued the program in Illinois. Now that I am back in my home state of Ohio, I’m going to build ONE website and EXPLODE it! I know a guy the earns over $10k/month from 1 single AMAZON website……just 1!!!
Great post!
PS-I did Tweet this post.
You could actually make $10,000 a month from one single page. It is possible.
I definitely agree with you about not building hundreds of websites. Most people think in terms of quantity – the more websites they have, the more money they will make. Nothing could be further from the truth. The less you have, the better you are likely to do. Quality beats quantity any day.
Yup, certainly having dozens of websites to manage is not a good idea. I don’t completely agree with the concept of having just 1 or 2 sites and working only on them, however. You need to diversify – even if you do your best to do everything right, your website might still get whacked by the next incarnation of the Panda, Adsense might choose to disable your account for whatever reason or Amazon will stop working with affiliates from your state. In other words – do not spread yourself thin, but be wise enough to diversify sufficiently, just in case.
The problem is that people diversify too soon. There is no point diversifying if the first website isn’t making any money.
I wish I found this wonderful blog sooner. I learn internet marketing from a local trainer who taught that we need to make 50-100 mini sites to earn decent income online. Currently I and my partner have 6 minisites and it is so hard to focus. I guess I have to rework on them instead of making yet another mini sites.
Creating a lot of mini-sites can work but it takes a hell of a lot of work.
If it were me, I would choose just one of those sites and focus on that.
Girls, Girls…WOW! as usual you brought something so true. When I read this I saw myself doing almost the same at the very beginning. The best part is about buying more and more eBooks, which each is to help you to grow rich quicker. Hehehe, we are so blinded by everything what supposed to do things for us. No more! No more! How many emails I get a day with all those great products which are one of the best now and next day is new one, which is one of the best they ever heard of and next day…and next day…I unsubscribed from many, but I think they share emails, because I stop one, I get almost the same from someone I have never subscribed to. Another catch many do is, when you buy a product you are automatically on the list, which I believe is shared too :-( Thank You Paula and Wanda for your fantastic posts.
Yes, unfortunately we get a lot of spam emails from lists we have signed up to in the past even though we have unsubscribed. Many share their lists which I don’t like and once they do that it gets more difficult to unsubscribe from them. I simply mark them as spam now so they go straight into our spam folder.
Paula,
Tell me this, if I have a how to BBQ website as opposed to BBQ grill review website, would the focus of my website too broad to add BBQ grill reviews? Or should I be building more product review sites and not add so much about other BBQ tips?
You might want to just have a think about the types of people you are going to attract based on the type of website. For example, a How to site might only attract people who already have a bbq and they are only looking for information on how to use it effectively. Whereas a review site is going to attract people who don’t currently have a bbq.
Which one is likely to make sales? I suspect the review site.
That is so true… they probably do have BBQ grills. How about product review pages being on the root domain and cooking tip pages all interlinking back to those pages, would it be a good idea or should I not include cooking tips at all? I think I could ask my outsource team to write those tips easily, that’s why I was thinking.
I would still include cooking tips. Google loves content so the more you add the better and cooking tips are a nice way to go about it.