Internet Marketing Blog

Too many or none at all? While there is no magic number it is a good idea to find two or three internet marketing blogs that you really enjoy, because they can help you on a day to day basis when you are developing your online business.

Why is this?

Why should you pay attention to what anyone else is saying when it comes to doing your own thing?

While you shouldn’t let any internet marketing blogs run the way you do things, they can be of enormous help when you are building your own knowledge of online business and how things work.

It could be said that they are of more use when you are a newbie, but that’s not necessarily the case. The internet marketing blogs you choose to read on a regular basis may change over time however, as your own needs and tastes change.

As a newbie you will probably be grateful for a certain level of more basic information and advice. As you progress in your own online career and your knowledge develops these initial sources of information may become too basic for you to get any more real enjoyment and knowledge from. So you will probably progress onto more advanced internet marketing blogs that will help you to negotiate the next stage of your career.

But how many should you be reading?

This is really a matter of personal choice, but as a general rule if keeping up to date with them all means you aren’t getting your own work done, then you’re probably reading too many. Two or three is about my limit – and if one ceases to become useful I replace it with something that appeals more to my level of knowledge at that stage.

There are plenty of internet marketing blogs out there – all you need to do is find the ones that will help you the most.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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Too many or none at all? While there is no magic number it is a good idea to find two or three internet marketing blogs that you really enjoy, because they can help you on a day to day basis when you are developing your online business.

Why is this?

Why should you pay attention to what anyone else is saying when it comes to doing your own thing? While you shouldn’t let any internet marketing blogs run the way you do things, they can be of enormous help when you are building your own knowledge of online business and how things work.

It could be said that they are of more use when you are a newbie, but that’s not necessarily the case. The internet marketing blogs you choose to read on a regular basis may change over time however, as your own needs and tastes change.

As a newbie you will probably be grateful for a certain level of more basic information and advice. As you progress in your own online career and your knowledge develops these initial sources of information may become too basic for you to get any more real enjoyment and knowledge from. So you will probably progress onto more advanced internet marketing blogs that will help you to negotiate the next stage of your career.

But how many should you be reading?

This is really a matter of personal choice, but as a general rule if keeping up to date with them all means you aren’t getting your own work done, then you’re probably reading too many. Two or three is about my limit – and if one ceases to become useful I replace it with something that appeals more to my level of knowledge at that stage.

There are plenty of internet marketing blogs out there – all you need to do is find the ones that will help you the most.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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I’m not talking about online, I’m talking about offline. Networking is an essential part of building a worthwhile internet business, because it leads you to all kinds of interesting people. But just as you don’t spend all the time sitting in your computer chair staring at your computer screen (you don’t, do you?) neither do a lot of other people. Actually getting out and meeting with other internet entrepreneurs at seminars, get togethers and all manner of other meetings can be a great learning experience, and a golden opportunity to get networking.

Meeting new people face to face can be difficult

When you think about it we’re used to getting to know people online – replying to emails, posting blog entries, replying to other peoples, and all manner of other things that don’t actually involve holding a conversation.

But there is one important thing to remember when it comes to networking face to face. We all have plenty of things in common as internet marketers. We’ve all surfed the same sites; we all rely on the same – or similar – methods of promoting our sites; we all experiment regularly with products, web pages, layouts and getting in touch with our customers, and we all know how we started out.

That is a lot of knowledge we can share through networking – and a lot of conversation starters as well.

Quite often the worst part of meeting anyone new is in trying to get a conversation started. That’s not exactly a problem if you visit an internet marketing convention because you know that everyone in the room has internet marketing in common. There is a huge array of subjects you can start talking about, and while you may not gel with everyone you will certainly be sure to click with some of the people you meet.

So get out and about more often and leave your computer at home for a change. Networking can help you in more ways than one.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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Web logs, to give them their ancient sounding and somewhat archaic name, were begun so that people could share their thoughts and feelings with the world at large… or at least with a small corner of it. But when internet marketing took the world by storm and more and more everyday average people started making money online, the idea of monetizing your blog came into being.

Some people disagree with the practice, feeling that it degrades the whole point of having one somehow. I don’t subscribe to this particular theory. I can’t see any problem with monetizing your blog – after all, it’s your blog and surely the main thing you should be interested in is the overall quality of it.

The only thing you need to be careful of is stepping on the toes of the site that hosts it for you – if you have a free account. If you are monetizing your blog and you’ve got your own hosting and domain sorted out then you’ve got no worries. If you’re relying on the goodwill of a free site then beware that there is a cost for that free service – namely that a lot of them don’t tend to like you making money from it.

As usual your watchword should always be quality

Always keep one eye on your content and development needs when you are in the process of monetizing your blog, to ensure they don’t get left behind in the dust. If you can keep your readers happy then there is no reason to suppose that earning some cash from your efforts is in any way a bad thing.

And supposing you get some naysayers that disagree? Don’t worry too much about them – you’re the boss after all, and you’re the one that has to pay for the hosting fees every month.

Enough said?

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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If you have your own blog you might have come across the concept of widgets by now. These are quirky little things that give your readers information about something, or make your site a little more user friendly. They can also be used to your own advantage as well – you can use bookmarking widgets for example, to make it easy for people to bookmark your blog to revisit again later.

But some people tend to fall in love with them, sometimes even to the extent that their pages are smothered with them. In serious cases the site seems to exist only as a platform to show off the latest and the greatest widgets, with little or no thought given to why the whole site was started in the first place.

Is this you?

Have you fallen in love with them a little too much? There’s no doubt that they’re extremely useful, but sometimes even the most wonderful tool can be a burden when it’s used all the time. Let’s say it loses its effectiveness, and its very presence distracts from what the blog is trying to say.

There is no magic number that you need to try and adhere to, but if they are not adding any real quality to your site then you need to ask yourself why they are there. Is it because you saw them and fell in love with them, and simply had to show them off? Do they enhance your site at all?

If they do then great – you’re doing a grand job and you should carry on serving your readers exactly as you are now. But if updating your widgets is beginning to take on more importance than updating the rest of your site, you may have an addiction that you need to curb.

So be warned – widgets can be harmful.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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There is no better way to attract the attention of new, existing and potential customers than by giving away some freebies. Ebooks are ideal for this purpose, as they can be worth their weight in gold if the information contained in them can benefit the reader in some way. They are also easy to send and can be written in a reasonably short space of time.

But they can benefit you in more ways than one too

If you’ve seen those marketers who are forever writing e-books and giving them all away for nothing, you would be forgiven for thinking they must be nuts. After all, they’re not earning a red cent on them are they?

Well… not directly, no.

But by encouraging the world and his wife to pass on that same e-book to anyone they want to, they are ensuring that their name and website address is passed along too. Not to mention any other affiliate links that might be in the text.

In this sense, giving away e-books for nothing can be one of the most effective forms of advertising there is – and you should think seriously about joining the ranks of marketers who are already doing it.

The e-books don’t need to be too long, but they do need to contain useful information. If they don’t say something different, or benefit the people reading them, then there is really no incentive to pass it along to share that information with others.

With time and practice you’ll be able to create freebies in no time, and pass them on to an ever increasing network of contacts that will be happy to pass them along to everyone they know as well.

Why pay for advertising when many of the free methods available – just like this one – work just as well, if not better, and keep working for months on end?

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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People are drawn to passion. It seeps into everything and becomes irresistible to those who discover it. We might be talking about the greatest love story of the century, but in this case we are referring to the enthusiasm you should be feeling about your particular niche in internet marketing.You might be surprised to hear this, but choosing which products to promote purely because they bring in a huge commission every time someone buys one isn’t the best way to go about establishing an income for the long term.

Okay, you might make some real cash by doing this

How much are you really going to enjoy the process of getting it? Why not try and find products related to a subject area you are really genuinely interested in?

By doing this you are guaranteed to become an expert in that subject – that will bring in a bigger audience for whatever it is you are promoting. You will also deepen your knowledge and natural level of interest in your subject – which could lead to more opportunities for building and profiting from your knowledge in the future.

Just imagine being able to spend all day writing books and articles about your favourite subject to sell online. Lots of internet marketers do just this, and they aren’t the ones who are still working a full time job as well.

There is something infectious about reading something written by a person who has a real knowledge and passion about something. You can tell when that person loves what they do and has a real desire to share that knowledge and help others in the process.

Now that is the kind of person you are most likely to buy something from, wouldn’t you agree?

Passion really can ignite your business and send it soaring, so make sure you choose your subject carefully.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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We tread a very fine line when we’re marketing our wares online. No one likes to feel as though they’re being pushed into anything, and even when we’re sitting in the comfort of our own homes browsing the internet, it can sometimes feel as if we’re being sold to over and over again.

Of course we want to make sales if we are marketing our own (or other peoples) products, but we don’t want to annoy people in the process. We want them to remember us for the right reasons and come back and spend some more money with us in the future.

So how on earth do we achieve that precarious balance?

How do we sell without selling? Perhaps the answer can be seen in some of the best blogs the internet has to offer. The most popular blogs are invariably those where the writer has a real interest in what they are writing. Slowly their audience builds until they become a real authority on their chosen subject.

At that point, if they want to monetize their blog they could do so quite easily without being at all pushy. It would simply be a matter of integrating some Google ads in there, plus a couple of referrals to relevant sites or products that they know their readership would probably go and find elsewhere anyway.

There are certainly plenty of bloggers who start their blog purely as a means to make money. But are they more successful – or pushier – than those where the subject comes first?

I suspect the best blogs are those where preparation meets opportunity – in short, the love of a subject and the interest in it meets with the knowledge of how to make that pay the writer in the process.

In my opinion, if you need to be pushy to try and make some sales, you’re missing out on something vital somewhere.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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You can’t and won’t please every customer you ever sell something to. Some people will take you up on your money back guarantee, some will love your product, and you’ll always get a few who will buy it, keep it, but still let you know how disappointed they are. The lesson here is to pay attention to what your customers tell you and see what can be learned from it. In order to do this you need to take out the comments that really aren’t any use at all, such as ‘I didn’t like it’ - if there is no reason given for not liking it then that isn’t much to go on. The same goes for those few unfortunate people that are just plain nasty with their feedback. You do get these but luckily they are in a minority. Don’t let them get to you if you’re unlucky enough to get one.

What you are looking for are the constructive comments that people give you

Now it should be remembered here that you don’t need to act on any of them, but it is worthwhile reading them because they may have a valid point to get across. For example if someone tells you your freebies are a little old and have already been round the internet a few times, then you might want to think about creating some new ones of your own. However if someone has read one of your e-books telling them how to make money on eBay and they haven’t made any, then you might not want to change anything. If the method you have detailed does work (and you know because you’ve tried it yourself) then it’s safer to assume that the fault lies with the person trying it. It’s all a question of perspective - all you need to do is make sure you have the right one.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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Every day on the internet, the next big thing is being promoted heavily by marketers all across the world. You know the kind of thing – you get half a dozen emails from various people whose newsletters you subscribe to, telling you they’ve found out about a fabulous opportunity you simply have to know about.

How tempted are you to find out more and get involved?

There’s nothing wrong with jumping on board if it’s something that has potential, it’s genuine and you have a real interest in it, of course. But you need to be wary of developing the nasty habit of constantly jumping from one new thing to the next, without staying long enough to really make anything of any one opportunity.

This is where you need to have focus and determination. Don’t get distracted by new things every time they come up in front of you. Stay on course and put the required effort into what you are doing at the moment.

If something comes to your attention that fits in with your other promotions then it may be worth looking at. The danger comes when you end up flitting from one thing to another, acquiring lots of affiliate opportunities in so many diverse areas that it’s hard to keep track of them all yourself, let alone promote them effectively.

If you specialise in promoting items related to self help subjects and you are building an audience for these products, then steer clear of anything which isn’t related to self help. Why pick up on something that you need to go out and find a whole new audience for, when it’s far easier to pick products you know your current audience will like?

That’s why the next big thing isn’t always going to be big for you, so make sure you take it on for the right reasons, and not just because it’s new.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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