One of the biggest problems with trying to build your own source of online income is that you will constantly be bombarded with new ideas, information and opportunities that all look like they could be the ultimate method for making money online. Until you have actually experienced success in one area of trying to make money online, you will be questioning which one of these areas holds the most promise for you. You will wonder if one of the other methods would be more effective than the one you are working on right now. You will be wondering if there is another way you could get better results and faster results with less amounts of work. Here are some of the things you might encounter:
- You will try to emulate some famous blogger who looks like their method is really easy to replicate. Once your blog gets enough traffic you are hoping that you will be able to make money from it somehow.
- You may have heard of people getting rich with Google Adsense by driving lots of traffic to a website where enough people click on those ads. It is very easy to see yourself building websites that just show some basic ads on them. You think that because this method is so easy to try out that you will give it a shot. You think that if you just had enough of these websites, maybe you could actually make a living from this.
- You will read about how someone is making a killing with affiliate marketing by selling other people’s information products like the ones on Clickbank. The more you think about it the more you realize that a business model that promotes other people’s products like this is a potentially great one. You can see yourself making money with this method without having to do too much work.
- You will read about how someone says you need to focus on SEO so that you get free traffic that is easily monetized. The more you study that information, the more you realize that they are right. There is lots of money to be made with learning how to do great SEO.
- Then there are the people who say that all the big money is in social media marketing. They tell you that you can throw up a few videos, build a blog with lots of followers, build a network of people with Twitter or Facebook and build a list of email addresses of people who share a common interest. Then you sell that list products for a profit. It sounds great and looks like a perfectly legit business model.
- Inevitably you will see something about some person making a huge amount of money by driving traffic to websites with Pay Per Click advertising. Maybe they are doing it with Google Adsense. Maybe they are doing it with Facebook. When you hear a little bit about how they do it, you easily become convinced that you could learn how to do what they are doing.
- Low and behold you come across someone who says that the real money is in making and selling your own information products. When you start digging into this area you realize that there is massive potential here. Maybe this is the best approach to take? It makes sense that the people who are actually producing the products are the ones who are making a real killing.
The thing is that you can see yourself potentially making a successful go at any one of these methods. Then you get confused as hell trying to decide which one is actually best for you. This is especially true when you keep hitting roadblocks or just keep working without seeing results.
So what is the solution?
The answer is to focus on just one method right now until you have seen it through to completion. If you have already begun building a business around one of these models then it would be in your best interest to forget about all the other ones temporarily. The truth of the matter is that there are successes and failures in every method of making money online. Those people who succeed with each method became successful because they were able to get good enough using that method. If they didn’t stick with that method long enough and with enough focus, then it is likely that they too would have failed with it.
Everyone who gets really good at making money with one particular method will tell you that their method is the best for making money. Of course that is what they are going to tell you. They probably actually believe it too because they have experienced it firsthand. That doesn’t mean it really is the best or that it will work for you. If you were to apply yourself fully and really dedicate yourself to it, then maybe it would work out. But, the same thing can probably be said about the methods you have already started working on. You just need to master them as much as possible.
There is money to be made everywhere if we apply ourselves properly. It is more a matter of focusing on what we know needs to be done with our existing projects. Everything else that presents itself to us is merely a distraction that keeps us from completing the exciting projects that we have already started working on. Trust me on this one. Stay focused on completing the one thing that matters the most to you right now. The other opportunities will still be there tomorrow and next year. Don’t worry about missing them. That is one of the best things about working online. The opportunities are pretty much endless.
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Hi Kathy,
I think this is an excellent post and one people really need to pay attention too. It is very easy to get caught up in the monetizing madness, if you let it.
With my sites the type of monetization I do, varies. One type, or a few in some cases, works better on come sites and don’t do so well on others.
The key, as you pointed out, is finding what works best for your sites and realizing what works for one blogger might not automatically work for another. I tend to play around with monetization for a bit, find the ones that work and stick with those.
Yes. You definitely should tweak your monetization to find the best way. And yes, what works for one blogger might not necessarily work for you. How true is that.
I agree Kathy most people will give up before they give it a chance to succeed. I do believe all the methods you describe above can work but you need to find the one that is right for you.
Exactly the point I was trying to make Danny.
Great advise. That is the route I’m taking…try something and give it enough time to judge it before overloading myself with adding more to the mix.
You are smarter and wiser than most people.
Hey Kathy,
I got it right :)
The reason the failure rate is so high in IM is because anyone with $20 can start a blog. They see the promises of easy money, and keep hopping from one opportunity to another, before giving any a real chance to grow. Then quit.
It takes time to learn your craft… even on the internet.
Take care,
Neil
“It takes time to learn your craft… even on the internet.”
That is the plain truth. There is no free lunch. There is no magic bullet.
Pretty solid advice. You are absolutely correct when you say that you have to focus on an area and pretty much attack it. Just keep going at it, one day it will come.
Persistence is one of the fundamental traits of successful people.
And then there are people like me who’ve been working on it for years and still doesn’t make all that much money. I average close to $100 a month, and it’s taken me 6 years to get to that point. Sure, it’s better than nothing, but I have to admit that I’ve had higher aspirations than that, and still do.
Wow Mitch. Now that is perseverance.
I figure I just don’t know any better ;-)
I don’t make much money blogging, but I don’t worry about it either. I agree that one should stay focused on completing the one thing that matters the most to them right now. Great advice Kathy!
Not everyone blogs for money Rose. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, there are many other benefits besides money. I think that a lot of the bloggers out there who claim to be blogging for money are actually blogging for other reasons. I say this because they do not do the things that they know they need to in order to earn money. I think they start out wanting to make money, but soon discover all these other benefits like meeting cool people like you. Then they forget that the real reason they had started blogging was to earn some extra money from home. I have met countless numbers of really cool people, but I digress.
Solid advice Kathy. I have to admit that in the beginning I was one those guilty of thinking that using all methods at the same time will boost my earnings like selling bananas :) Boy, was I so wrong. Since I have realized that there are things that work for others and for some don’t, I have taken the approach of focusing my efforts on only a few methods. Even better, not only did I focus on specific methods, I went all the way until I got paid, i.e., completing the cycle. Another problem with using to much methods is that it is difficult to reach their minimum payout, and in my experience I found myself with bits and pieces of money that I could not use because I have not reached the threshold. Anyway, excellent post and one that everyone should pay particular attention to.
Glad you liked it DiTesco. The fact that you kept going with one method until you got paid is probably why you are more successful than the average person.
I just took that page from my own experience. I never made jack squat until I learned to focus on doing one thing to completion. I had to force myself to pass up on new opportunities until I finished the ones I had already started. For me that was really hard to do.
This is so very true Kathy, many times in the past I have started something and have not seen results as quick as I would have liked to so I moved on.
Until I stopped doing that and started focusing on one area I began to see the fruits of my labor.
This post is a very good reminder to me however, if I suffer the frustration that comes with a money making venture.
Sooner or later I think everyone learns that they need to focus better. It is only natural that you started seeing results once you started to focus.
Kathy, I’m walking away with the thing that sticks out most to me and that is “focusing on what we know needs to be done with our existing projects.” One pitfall is blogging for me is distractions – I read something here and try to apply it. Then I go to another and add a concept that I see there. And so on and so on, an idea here, a rule there and before you know it nothing is accomplished and I’m just as confused as I was before I started!
Ileane, who has been my personal friend for more than 20 years, says I have a short attention span. I think that is so funny because it may be true … I like to say I get bored easily. It sounds nicer. ;-) Thanks, Kathy!
Sounds like you know exactly what I am talking about. It is very seductive to hear about a new method that people are killing it with. You immediately think that “maybe you could crush it that way too.” The truth is that maybe you could. There are so damn many opportunities to make money online that I have a really hard time closing my eyes to them. I have the urge to test every single method out there. But, unless you have a solid team to outsource work to, there is no way in hell that you could possibly test them all in a reasonable amount of time. You have to learn to tune those other opportunities out until you have successfully executed your exisiting business model. Then you can automate everything that you possibly can to free up time for more opportunities.
That is kind of what I did with this blog. I waited to launch it until I had my other projects tidy enough and automated enough where I would have some time to build this one. Not to mention, finishing a project is so liberating for your stress levels. Whether or not it becomes wildly popular, at least you know that you executed it.
Thanks for visiting my site Kathy. Laptop crashed on Friday and the techies are still trying to find out why!!! I am in my local library typing this and trying to catch up with all my commenters to my site.
As a newbie to blogging, I can really relate to this topic as I sometimes feel like I am taking in so much that I have information overload! To concentrate on one thing takes discipline but it definitely works. I am now getting more frequent visitors to my site by doing just that.
Patricia Perth Australia
Hey Patricia,
Libraries are great tools. Apparently they offer internet in Australia just like they do here in the U.S. My family uses our local library more than ever. We use it to get books to read though, not for the interent.
That is a nice little topic you chose to make a niche blog about. I wish you success with it. I am interested to see how you are going to monetize it.
When I first saw it, I certainly didn’t think you were a newbie. I thought you were an experienced internet marketer building a thin affiliate or MFA site. I will be watching you with some interest to see how the site develops.
Hi Kathy – Great post on such an popular topic. Making money anywhere – online or not – isn’t easy. If it were, more people would be doing it!
You’re right that it’s easy to jump ship to the next product that comes out, because it promises even better results and in a shorter time frame. We drop what we’re doing in the middle of it, much like an unfinished flip project on a house.
I used to tell my friend, “money is the easiest thing in the world to sell.” That’s why the new products and services are so attractive. All they are doing is selling money, something everyone wants to buy.
Cheers,
Tia
I used to tell my friend, “money is the easiest thing in the world to sell.” That’s why the new products and services are so attractive. All they are doing is selling money, something everyone wants to buy.
I never thought of it that way. You are right though. They are selling money.
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Great post Kathy. As I am writing myself about making money online I realize that it’s just such a repetitive topic. And of course there are many people that are making money online. Some are making more money then people working the typical 9 to 5 job.
Anyway what I wanted to say is that I completely agree with you. I have been making the mistake of trying to focus on several different things. But really you should just focus on one thing at a time.
By the way Empire State of Mind is a great song ;)
Alicia Keys is da bomb!
Stay focused Julius. That is the fast track to making money online.
We’ll see ;) But I will definitely keep you updated on my progress :P
This post is perfect words for me to read right now! I have a ‘personal’ blog right now, while I was learning the ins and outs of blogging and promoting and hosting, etc. I had a plan of what I wanted to do to start an online business and monetize a blog, but I kept reading about so many different things, it is easy to get distracted! I need to decide to go back to my original idea or if one of the others is more promising, and once I make that decision, do my best to stick with it.
Thanks for the helpful info!
Bernice
Hi Kathy! This is the first time i read your article. You are right! People tend to try out every method to make money online especially for the newbies. Focusing is important. Thanks for your sharing! I think i will focus on SEO first.
You are right Bernice. Bouncing around too much will get you nowhere. It is better to see one idea through to completion so that you learn as much as possible from that experience. Then you will get better with each new project. If you start out bouncing around doing five different things, you aren’t going to learn anywhere near as much about any one thing. That means it is going to take you a lot longer to get good at anything at all.
Kathy, You have done an excellent job of outlining the most common strategies for making money online and your emphasis on focus and perseverance is exactly the reinforcement I needed to hear. I love Healthy Opal’s observation – “monetizing madness,”. That is exactly what it seems like. There are so many experts and opinions it’s overwhelming. My strategy has been to launch my blog and continue to nurture it in hopes that it becomes an authority site. I expect monetization of that blog to be a slow growth and my goal is to create my own products to offer there. I’m now at the point where I really need to start generating income. So, I’m moving on to affiliate marketing. I won’t throw out what I’ve done but while maintaining that (perseverance), I am going to implement my next strategy and focus on it.
Thanks for the reassurance Sherryl.
Good luck with building your website. I will be popping in.