The past year was pretty odd for me. It was more challenging than I was used to in a number of ways. But the Zen folks say that adversity and change are always required for growth. I lived it this year and do feel that to be true.

I absolutely believe there is a silver lining attached to every single negative that comes your way. It’s up to you to find it though. If you don’t believe in that silver lining philosophy 100%, you’ll forever be stuck with the negatives and never enjoy the growth and advantages life’s kruddy stuff brings along.

The krud in your life has good sides. But you have to uncover and find the good stuff it also offers.

Ok, let’s move on; I think you get my point.

Let’s talk about earning income online.

I speak with many beginning marketers and have a good “feel” for what’s required for their success. Following up with many beginners has taught me how to spot the ones who at least have a chance of success.

Basic and Required Factors For Success (in my opinion):

1. Completely non-technical people won’t make the cut. I define “non-technical” here as a mindset. None of this is rocket science; anyone can learn it…UNLESS there is a complete fear of technology. For example, some beginners are petrified by the wp-admin screen and simply can’t overcome it. My response to them is that there are other ways, besides Internet marketing, to make money at home. They need to explore other options they have.

2. Time is money in this business. Too often the scams have convinced people they can spend a few hours a week and build a successful business. Of course that thinking sells scams, but that is all. Many people simply don’t have the time required. They have a job, a family and not enough time to devote to the process. I won’t specify a minimum time here, but I can tell you, in the beginning anyway, 3 or 4 hours a week won’t cut it.

3. Those most likely to achieve success down the road are NOT strapped for cash. When someone tells me they are laid off and need to learn Internet marketing in order to make their coming house payments, I encourage them to find as many part-time jobs as they can for now. There is simply no way to learn this stuff and make it all come together if you feel that much pressure. It’s not paint by numbers; your head has to be in the right place to fit the pieces together correctly.

4. Successful people enjoy the “process” of Internet marketing. No, none of us like 100% of all the tasks involved, but we have to enjoy 90% of it. Otherwise, the very difficult process of building an online business is simply too much work for those who do not enjoy the process.

5. Support from friends and family really helps. I won’t say that your spouse has to be ALL the way on board with it in the beginning. I am living proof you can make it work even without that early support. Also, one of my most successful students overcame tremendous family pressure in the beginning (now he’s well into the mid 4 figures each month and on his way to 5). But wow, it sure helps if you have some support…or at least not have any anti-support. My advice here is to invest as much time in communication as possible to ensure you don’t let any negative energy build around you. (meaning…don’t keep your nose glued to your computer screen every possible minute while neglecting too much time with your spouse. This neglect, along with making ZERO income in the beginning, is pretty tough for most spouses…surprise surprise.)

There are many other minor factors that help the process along of course. But I believe those 5 are pretty important for everyone beginning the process.

Someone just wrote me who was very upset. They had been working hard at getting backlinks to their site for several months. But when they checked their progress in a backlinking tool, it only showed a few dozen backlinks!

As a side note, it’s a good thing they contacted me because when I looked at some of the methods he was using to get backlinks, it was obvious he didn’t really understand how to use anchor text. …but that’s another story for later.

I say it all the time, but I’ll say it again: Backlink tools are NOT accurate….None of them! Plus it seems they can take forever to update with new backlinks.

Therefore, these tools cause beginning marketers to think their efforts are not paying off. But in this video I show you just how off-the-mark those tools are.

My advice to new marketers is to backlink in the correct way as much as they can. Everyone needs a system where they get backlinks on a regular basis. It cannot be a “hit and miss” activity. Plus, one’s methods have to be reasonably correct in order to get the most out of process.

After you watch the above video, go here to see one of my favorite Backlinking Tools.

My VA’s and/or I use that tool virtually every day. But no, as a beginner you do not have to have a tool to begin backlinking; it can be done manually in the beginning (we all start that way).

If you have any questions about this process, post them below in the comments.

I had 2 people this week ask me the same question; I bet there is an email going around about it.

Here’s the question:

Will affiliate marketing still be around in a few years? (He was worried that if he put all the work into now, it might all be wasted if affiliate marketing dies.)

Here’s my answer:

I told him that I didn’t know. But also, I told him I did not care. He seemed shocked at first I would say such a thing.

I quickly explained what I meant. I told him there were four aspects to online success.

1. Choosing an area to market (Find a niche)
2. Building websites (Not just with such things as instant site builders, web 2.0 sites, etc.)
3. Utilize a method for getting traffic to the site (via SEO, social media, etc.)
4. Making income with the site’s traffic

Items 1, 2 and 4 above are the easy parts. There are tons of great niches, and they are easy and quick to find once you know how. Plus, anyone can learn to build a simple and nice looking site. Also, making income on the site IS easy…once the site gets targeted traffic.

That leaves #3. That is the tough one. That is where all the work is. #3 is why 97% of beginning marketers never succeed.

The original question is about #4. Affiliate marketing is one way to monetize a site now. If affiliate marketing goes away tomorrow, no problem…we will simply use another method. Right now there are AdSense ads, banner impression advertising, selling clicks directly, lead generation (then selling those leads), selling your own stuff directly, etc.

Who knows what new methods will evolve down the road.

I told him I was not worried if affiliate marketing goes away or not.

As long as people spend money online (that is one thing that seems a given), we will ALWAYS be able to monetize targeted traffic to our sites. There will ALWAYS be advertisers who, in some way shape or form, want access to our targeted traffic.

Again, if your niche selection is good, and your site attracts plenty of targeted traffic, you will ALWAYS have methods to monetize that traffic.

So let’s deal with numbers 1, 2, and 3 above. #4 really is the easiest part and will always take care of itself one way or the other.

Steve

http://www.Talk-To-Steve.com

Did you hear about EzineArticles’ fall from Google’s grace a while back? When Google did their last big update, it hammered many of the article directories. Almost overnight EzineArticles’ traffic dropped 80%. That was no doubt a bad day for them…to say the least.

Most of EA’s income comes from AdSense. And we all know that Adsense is a numbers/traffic game. So we can assume their income all but dropped by 80%  too…almost overnight.

Two things happened because of EA’s fall.

1. EA has become MUCH pickier on the articles they accept. They believe, and rightly so, that Google stopped seeing them as a provider of quality content. EA had allowed too much spammy content. Now they have REALLY buckled down. If you have been having problems getting articles accepted, you now know why. In fact, they have gotten too difficult for me to deal with. I have stopped trying to submit to them…it was wasting too much of my time. You can do what you want in that area, but believe me; they are NOT required for your success.

2. After this happened, all of us begin hearing how article marketing is dead. I can’t tell you how many emails I get from other marketers saying article marketing no longer works. Of course, 99% of the time, they were trying to SELL me on an alternative plan/package!

If you have followed me for very long, you know I tell you how it is…no hype or scare tactics.  Here is what I have to say about article marketing:

It STILL WORKS!

We used it before Google’s update and have never stopped. For my sites and my clients’, we submit from 10 to 20 articles per day using a wide variety of submission software. We get thousands of links like this. We constantly gain brand new rankings for new keywords and consistently bring up the rankings of existing keywords using article marketing.

NOTE: You do not have to submit at our level to have great success with your smaller niche sites!

Article marketing is not our only method for link-building. But it is 80 to 90 percent of our off-page SEO effort.  Like I said, IT WORKS! Do not believe anyone who tells you otherwise…Period.

BUT…and here is a big “but”. You have to do article marketing the correct way. I just spoke with a person who had tried article marketing; he had little success with it he said. Come to find out, he was using one of those spammy submission services. Again, you HAVE to do it the right way or you are wasting your time.

If you feel like you are spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere, you probably just need a bit of direction and focus on tried and proven methods that work.

If you are serious about jump-starting your efforts and willing to work hard, let’s talk. Find more details about talking to me here:

Talk To Steve Here

Dedicated To Your Success,

Steve Weber