As you probably know all too well, making money on the Internet is difficult. Things are always changing, there is no guaranteed way to succeed, and advice often conflicts. However, after months of making money on the Internet, through web writing and niche blogging, things are finally clicking into place. Here are a few of the things that I have learnt:
1) Don’t Jump the Gun – The hardest thing about trying to earn money online is waiting for the results. We all want instant gratification these days, and it can be easy to get ahead of ourselves.
When making a website we might not spend enough time to do the proper research – instead we dive in head first, buying domains and hosting and reeling out articles. This can be fine; it can be exciting! But it takes time to realise what is a good idea and what isn’t. Jumping the gun only wastes our time and deprives us of possible earnings.
2) Be Patient – This is similar to the above point, but it deserves a point all of its own. I have come to realise that making money on the internet is about being patient. Thousands try, and thousands fail.
What makes the difference between a failure and a success is hard work and perseverance.
3) One Step At A Time – There is a wealth of information out there when it comes to building websites, blogs, writing for the web, article marketing, SEO, affiliate marketing and so on. There are so many ways to make money off your website, and so many ways to bring in more visitors. But try to complete them all and you’ll get overwhelmed.
Perhaps you feel you’re missing out if you don’t get them all set up right away. What I’ve come to realise is that you will only really be missing out if you don’t take the time to use each method to its full potential before trying to learn something new!
4) Save Money – Another problem when it comes to online business is the temptation to buy every product going. Every piece of software that can help you write articles, every information eBook on how to become a success, every course that teaches you the secrets of getting rich.
Here’s one secret for free: spend all your money and you won’t get rich! Instead, learn things one and a time and only use your profits to buy more.
5) Use Your Own Judgement – It’s all very well to follow successful online entrepreneurs step by step, but at the end of the day some things rely on your own judgement. I always look for an answer, but sometimes I look for that answer from my own intuition.
This is a skill that’s gradually learnt over time, with each step you take up that ladder towards online success.
These are all things I have come to learn from my months of making money online, both through writing for clients and through building my own blogs. I’m still learning, but at least now I’ve got some basic principles to stick to.
~ Web Career Girl
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May 19th, 2009 at 1:18 am
#4 is tough. That’s why I put myself on a budget after a few months of unregulated spending. Now I only spend my profits, which I can afford to do since I still work. Hopefully when I actually need the income to pay the bills, there will be alot more to go around!
Twitter: pfincome
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May 19th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
What a great list. I know that I have experienced all 5 of them in my 1+ year of making money online. I agree with Carrie that point #4 can be very difficult. I use to fall into this trap but now will only buy a product with money I have made online after doing a lot of research on the product.
In regards to #1, I fell victim to this as well. When I first started out I was buying .info domains left and right from GoDaddy for .99 cents thinking I was going to have all of these great websites up and running very quickly. I actually only use about 10% of the ones I originally purchased.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Great info! I definitely got caught up in the instant gratification cycle before I started focusing on the writing niche and slowly expanded!
May 21st, 2009 at 4:32 am
Haha this was so me when I first jumped into things. I’m a little more relaxed in my zealousness now, but I definitely need to apply one technique before reading about more.
May 29th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Thanks for this! I am in the very early stages, and every day I beat myself up mentally because I haven’t done more, and that I still have so much to do and learn etc. This helped ALOT!!! Now I am more calm about what I’ve got to do, and I am pleased to see that what I’m doing, like researching, being patient, and not trying to do everything all at once, is actually the right way to do it.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:04 pm
pfincome – I definitely still have that problem, but I am getting better and remembering to give it a little time and always think twice.
James – It’s always best to focus on what you’re good at.
Donnella – I think we will always be excited working online, but yeah seeing things through is very important too.
kbowers – Thanks for leaving your comment. I’m glad that it helped
You’re so right – doing everything at once seemed like the best idea to me at first, but then I realised it meant I would never do anything properly. I think the most successful people online are the ones who see tasks through 