Why You’re Not Making Money Online – and How You Could Be
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Affiliate marketers are constantly inundated with information on the next, greatest product that is going to make them a millionaire. But if all of these products work, then why aren’t we all millionaires? Here’s the answer: the problem isn’t always with the programs.
What? “The problem couldn’t possibly be me, could it?” you ask. Well…here’s the thing; there are a lot of scams out there, and there’s also some really good products that actually can help you make money online. But not all people make money using those products. Why is that? Because the greatest system in the world won’t work if someone’s not really putting the effort behind it.
A lot of online marketing systems claim to be able to make you money while you sleep. Those are the ones that you need to stay away from. Those are the ones that are trying to scam you. Making money online, like making money anywhere else, takes time. If you work very hard at it, and are very good at it, then eventually you will have systems set up that will make money for you with little maintenance on your part. But that time is far, far down the road for most of us. And there’s a lot of hard work between now and then.
Not that it isn’t possible, mind you; I’m not trying to discourage you from trying. I’m just trying to dispel the notion that the get-rich-quick schemes work. But with a little old-fashioned elbow grease and a good plan and system to follow, it is very possible to make money online.
Unfortunately, it’s also possible to be trying very, very hard and still failing to make money online (I’m just a bucket of sunshine today, aren’t I?) You need to make sure that you’re working smart, not hard. That way you’ll be making the most of the time you’re putting into your online business.
One of the first mistakes people make is splitting their focus. They’re very enthusiastic, which is great, but they also want to try everything all at once. Pick one area of IM, learn all you can about it, become successful at it, before you move on to the next.
If you try multiple things at once, you won’t be concentrating on any of them, meaning none of them will be successful. You’ll then chalk it up to the fact that the programs don’t work, and that it’s not possible to make money online. It won’t occur to you that you’re the reason you failed.
Make sure you’ve done your homework; find a proven system to help you out. Then when you’ve found the one that works for you, make sure you get the most out of it. Become an active member, help out other people and they’ll help you out in return.
You need to approach making money online the same way you would making money offline: work at it, use the resources available to you, and make sure you dedicate enough time to it for it to succeed. There’s plenty of money to be made online, just make sure you’re one of the success stories, not the cautionary tales!
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Excellent post. You are dead right. It is so easy to lose focus and keep stumbling along to next big thing. We’ve all done it! Each day set goals, each week sets goals, each month set goals, and yep, each year set goals. Work hard on specific tasks that move you forward to you goals. Steve
It’s hard to make money on the internet sometimes. Trying new things can help.
Excellent post. So true!
You are a ray of sunshine in this post. I often find the cold hard truth to be the best kind of post though. The truth can hurt but what you don’t know can destroy you.
Jonathan
http://truthcanhurt.com
How true your words are, John! We are constantly bombarded by the “next best thing” and can so easily get distracted. Laser targeted is what we need to be to be effective and smart.
I agree with you about concentrating on one form initially and getting super good at it, whether it be article marketing, commenting on blogs or some other such SEO tactic, before moving onto tackling another.
John, I am so happy to see what you write. I am a very new newbie (since 6 months only on the net) trying to learn everything and I cannot say how often I meet scams. As we live in a worldwide crisis, I think it is the 24th hour to start a new Internet marketing culture: more truth, less hype. Your attitude is amazing and gives us hope that it is possible. In Europe we say to such people: remain as you are!
Hello J… I agree with every word of the above post, and have written the same points online myself, We are a community of affiliates and working together with a plan makes us stronger! working alone makes the road to success harder and a lot longer.
You have a point there and I do admit that I am having a hard time doing some seo on all of my blogs.
I think that I will forget the 2 others and then try to concentrate one blog at a time. Maybe I would try to work on my gadget’s blog on June and then work on my entertainment blog on October.
Ok, but someone should told us about that before we have started trying to make some cash!
Also not only the promises are bad, the single spot in this dispute is our determination!
Thank God I found the best way and now I have a regular income!
On the flip side, making money online doesn’t necessarily mean working 18 hour days, 6 days a week. There’s also a big element of luck (or “blessings” as I like to call it) along with smarts involved in any success story. That said, making money online does require hard work. No if’s, and’s, or but’s about it.
Hi John (or Jason
),
Thanks for posting this! This is such a great reminder that there’s no such thing as a get rich to quick program! Whatever online marketing programs you buy will not work if you don’t put the effort to learn it and apply it with focus. Even in learning something, we need to learn it with focus with a goal to actually be able to apply it, not because we think we’d be better off if we know more (I learned this from Rich Schefren RLA, btw). In the online world, unfortunately, the more we know, the more overwhelmed we’d get. I learned this the hard way! It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with all the plethora of information online. To sift and sort through which ones to focus on is the difficult part. Set your goal in your online marketing effort and then create a plan with the different milestones in your plan. Creating milestones will give a sense of accomplishment that you actually DID something to move you closer towards your goal. It’s better to move bit by bit with one direction, towards your goal, rather than move fast learning everything and not move even closer to your goal. What’s your goal? Drive traffic to your website? Do you want to do that through PPC, SEO or affiliate/JV? Pick one and run with it!
Great reminders. My goal has been to get one set of sites running at full steam ahead (6mos to 1Y) and then move on to the next.
I have be committed to the time frame and not stress when after day 59, my goals still haven’t been met. It might not happen until day 365.
I also have to be realistic with my expectations. It would be very tough to rank in 30-days for a word like bank, but I much longer tail phrase should be attainable.
How true John.
I am new to making money online and have been following way too many “gurus” and got scattered.
Thanks I’ll start my focus now.
Larry
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Great advise! I find myself so overwhelmed with the load of information that keeps getting slung at me, that I can’t think clearly about what I need to do next. Too much at one time can actually be paralyzing!
So very True Cow, so true.
I have gigs and gigs of ’stuff’. I can still get caught up in the latest launch. It takes a bit of learned discipline to pick a course and stay the course. The online world is full on distractions. I have been trying to pre plan time on my computer and online. Before sitting down, decide what you intend to accomplish. Then sit down and do that first, before wondering off onto a different system, different project, ect.
Probably one of the biggest pieces of advice I recieved from Jeremy Palmer in his Black Ink Project. He said once you start implimenting your ’system’ stop buying. You do not need every one of the latest launches. You’ll empty the bank account and not make a dime back. You must work on one thing at a time, and complete each task/project before starting another.
Seems like simple advice, but in my experience, you have to work to stay focused.
Cheers!
Jeromy
Wow say what you mean, you don’t hold back, and that’s good for all of us
Information overload will cause most of the newbies spliting their focus. Agreed with you that lack of focus will become “Master of None”.
To Your Success
Bryan Hee
I think the old saying if it is too go to be true it probably is goes with all the make money online easy programs
You are dead on. Too people many get on the net thinking the internet is a magic thing that spits out magical big fat checks instantly. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it is great. It is like any job you must work at it and learn it to figure out how to make it work for you.
Also think about your passion. Find something that you are 200% passionate about and use that as your advantage. Think about it would you want to run a website about dirty sweat socks and talk about dirty sweat socks, learn about dirty sweat socks, network with other people who have a love dirty sweat socks. Probably not. Find something you are passionate about learn it, live it and love it and you will turn it into cash if you have drive and determination.
I have built and sold one internet business. I am now discovering passion and learning the ways of the social online networking but I am focusing on something that I like to do. It shows in what you do and how you do it and people, especially in online social media marketing appreciate it.
True stuff Cow, you gotta be focused. Last year this was my problem, I was brand new, so I chased everything that looked good.
I ended up doing a whole bunch of not much lol, I mean, I made a lil money, but nothing like I should or could have if I had the same focus last year that I do now. It’s a learning step though.
Towards the end of 08 and into 09 I made specific goals, to learn specific skills, and stop playing “IM Popcorn” with my time.
I will say, this year has already proven to be more profitable for me then my entire profits of 08. Yes, it’s true I was just starting out last year, but I had pretty much the whole year to “get it together” but it took me until the end of the year before that part “clicked”.
So, I can definitely agree with this post man, it’s not the systems, though some of them are wack, it’s the focus.
Some systems may be very good, but if it’s not in line with what you are currently working on, then it isn’t for you. I think the hardest part is passing on the new “gadget” because you know it doesn’t fit into your immediate goals. Took me a while to get that one down, I always felt like I would “miss out” on something.
peace.
The best thing you could of said in the beginning was “Because you read too many blogs”.
I think it is important to remember that when you are trying to make money online it is something that you have to put effort into, you have to work hard at it and be realistic with your goals and how you think you will achieve them. Keeping on top of new strategies and ideas in your niche will help you with your goals.
seriously JC, pretty shallow post. You are losing your edge, no joke man.
shame shame
AL
lol.. whatever
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! Do not listen to those “I made this amount of money and so can you” scams!
-Mike
So true!
I’ve seen far too many people trying to tackle so many things at once.
This is the best post you have ever given us, John Cow. I agree with Michelle, we are overwhelmed with garbage. Who do we trust? Delete all your emails. You can just google and get any hot new launch you want. I need just one plan that works!
wow, that’s awesome. I’m really not into money making thing, but just recently i learned something “new to me” that was referred to me by a friend and i made some money overnight. Now, I’m getting interested. and i know i had to make an effort in doing this. You really got a cool blog. I’ll visit you again! that’s a promise!
Hello J… I agree with every word of the above post, and have written the same points online myself, We are a community of affiliates and working together with a plan makes us stronger! working alone makes the road to success harder and a lot longer.