Top 5 Tips for Beginners.

[Nick Carlson]

We've all been there.

At one point or another, all of us were beginners at this crazy thing called internet marketing. So, in the spirit of giving, I thought that we could all share 5 pieces of advice for anyone looking to break into this industry. I'll start us off.

1. Start with a Topic you love.

• There are going to be a ton of obstacles if you are just starting out. If you don't pick a topic you absolutely love, you will get discouraged, and most likely give up. In the beginning, make things easy on yourself, and pick something you love. There are 10,000 people out there competing for #1 in google for "Home Mortgages". There may only be 100 competing for "Remote Controlled Boats". Pick something you love, and become a big fish in a small pond.

2. Avoid short term trends.

• Many people who start in this business are looking to make a quick buck. They think all they have to do is put up a few websites about mesothelioma, hotels, and home mortgages, and somehow the money will just start to pour in. This is so far from the truth, it ain't even funny. Avoid the "Topic De Jour", and pick something you are going to stick with long term.

3. Never stop building.

• Like I said, there are going to be a ton of obstacles when you first start. But it's important to never give up. It's not easy to attract visitors (and retain them). It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. But trust me, once you start getting checks every month (or week) without even doing any work, you'll know your time building sites was well spent.

4. Learn a scripting language.

• You don't have to be a programming geek in order to make money. But it is important that you know whats going on behind the scenes with your website. Plus, these days, if you want to make it, your site is going to be dynamic. Pick up a good book about Php & Mysql, and dig in. Or just check out some of the articles on sitepoint.

5. Learn to design well.

• This is a biggie in my book. Some people could care less about design, but I think it's very important when marketing your site. If your site has valuable and unique content, it won't matter what your site looks like. But all things being equal, the site with the best design is going ot get more attention. Learn CSS, and check out sites like www.cssvault.com and www.cssbeauty.com for inspiration.

[Haleden]

Thanks for the pointers.

Just one question. I've actually done and been doing those 5 things for a while now... without much success. So at what point do you drop the project you're working on and decide to try something else?

[mhdoc]

I would quibble a little with number four. Not that it isn't correct, just that it might distract a novice from spending time writing content. It's possible to generate decent money from 40-50 static pages. You also learn a lot building those first pages that will be helpful later when the benefits of a dynamic site make it worth the effort.

Haleden, are you able to get good stats about what search terms people use to find your site and what pages are the most popular. I frequently find visitors search in ways which seem very strange to me so this kind of traffic stats is very helpful in targeting key phrases.

[Lawyer101]

[quote=optimus prime]We've all been there.



1. Start with a Topic you love.



I can't agree with this more. I have started jokes websites, videos websites, history websites, and even a porn website. These sites got nowhere because I just didn't feel like working on them after a day or two. I love the subject of law and I am going to stick with this subject.

[Nick Carlson]

Originally Posted by Haleden

Thanks for the pointers.

Just one question. I've actually done and been doing those 5 things for a while now... without much success. So at what point do you drop the project you're working on and decide to try something else?

What are you basing your success on? What's your metric?

There are two types of sites: Those that attract advertising dollars, and those that don't. This is more of a spectrum, than a discrete group. Almost every topic is going to have advertisers, but there are some that don't. Even then, if you have enough visitors, you can still show generic ads like the smilie-campeign.

Before dropping a project, I would take a good hard look at why it failed. If you don't know why it failed, give us some background information, and mabey we can help. You may have lacked a plan, had unrealistic goals, marketed poorly, etc. If you don't know why your project failed, then you won't know how to fix it, and you'll keep repeating the same mistakes.

I think the biggest problem people have is building back-links. The programming-savvy people will spend a countless amount of hours prgramming there site. But when it comes to actually sending out emails, and hunting for back links, they might spend 30 minutes, or a few hours tops. Marketing, and link building has to be a constant process.

[AllClicks Robert]

I've seen many publishers follow many of the above tips and do well.

Another thing I'm a firm believer in is building a related network of sites. ie. if you are doing an Ford Mustang site think about doing a Chevy Camaro site then a Dodge Charger site, etc.

[aspen]

I would question some of those, such as learning a programming language or learning to design well.

You can easily pay to have those things done for you, they're not necessary to managing a site.

[5StarAffiliates]

Great tips optimus prime!

Some people will disagree or have different tips they think are more important. The point is this is a great thread and will grow to be helpful to a lot that are just starting out.

One thing I would ad (NOTE: not mandatory AT all and not for everyone - just a suggestion!)

One way to minimize the learning curve and get into revenue more quickly is to learn from a guru - or a marketing training system. There are mnay out there and some are just hype. 2 in the affiliate marketing world that I happen to believe in because I have talked to affiliates that have found success and swear by the methods are James Martell - http://www.jamesmartell.com/ and the Affiliate Classroom - http://www.affiliateclassroom.com/

Again, this way of getting started is not for everyone, but if you can research and find a training program that you feel is good - you can pay to learn more quickly and overcome some of the trial and error that can burn people out and make them want to give up.

[ozgression]

Aspen's right, you don't need 4 or 5 (i don't know how to do either very well).

I would say that learning SEO and online marketing will be more beneficial.

[leesteadman]

I agree with optimus prime on a few points, I would amend/reorder to this way:

1. Definitely something that is close to the heart. Favourite sport, favourite interest, what you do for a living etc and won't lose interest in (for a long time anyway)

2. Have a solid plan. Even if it's a hobby web site, have a solid plan like a business plan setting budgets, strategy, what target audience/market your aiming at, how your going to benchmark/measure success of the web site (probably money, or if it's a community web site it might be active member count), what your short/mid/long terms goals for the web site are so you know if you getting anywhere or just going nowhere and should throw the white towel in.

3. optimus said it one, don't stop going unless you are seriously straying away from the path set in your plan. Measuring your web site's success and having goals to reach for helps you feel achievment when you reach them or come close and keeps you going.

4. Having a good knowledge or researching to find the apropriate programming language/web software/Content Management System (try many already setup demo's before you install: www.opensourcecms.com) is more important I think than becoming a propeller head at one skill as outsourcing or using Open Source has many more advantages to knowing PHP or ASP inside out - a feature that tells visitors 'who's online' isn't going to make a lot of difference to your success, but if you know that Drupal (CMS - www.drupal.org) is good for managing online communities and is completely Open Source and uses Open Source platforms to run on, that equals virtually zero upfront investment to get a dynamic community web site up and running quickly, your saving loads of time and haven't spent a penny, don't forget to give a little back if you go the Open Source route in the form of a donation or even just helping in their forum for a bit. If you know that Web CEO (www.webceo.com) can get you good Search Rankings and comes in a free version, that's free Search Engine marketing for you sir, suits you sir.

5. Agree a well planned and designed web site is crucial (in terms of visuals, page layout, navigation, content structure, content creation/article writing guidlines, usability, management/moderation) and sticking with the plan so content is original and fresh, keeping any publicly interfaced areas (forums/comments/polls) well moderated, refreshing the ranks if some members become 'dedicated fans' they may be prepared to help with moderating a part of the site

[leesteadman]

Maybe could add K.I.S.S. as # 6 if that's allowed as I think starting out simple and progressing is very important. Trying to be like Amazon from day one just aint gonna happen and giving visitors something worth visiting in a simple way will possibly be the foundations for starting out with little technical knowledge and on a small budget then getting bigger/more advanced gradually. Also has the plus of not alienating visitors with hard to figure out features.

Also of worthy mention for beginners is a (free) monitoring service (like www.internetseer.com) as you probably might start by hosting your web site on your home computer or a cheap/free web host, either of which may not be very reliable and with starting out, probably will make the occasional blunder or have downtime for something or other for which a monitoring service will notify you of (all be it, your email doens't go down with your web site, say if you were maybe playing with your DNS manager and set the wrong settings!!!)

[casbboy]

Great advice. Here are my favorites:

Start with a Topic you love. -true, then you'll love what you're doing and won't mind spening 10+ hours a day on it.


Never stop building. -keep adding content and at least have one project or 'upgrade' going at a time.


Learn a scripting language. -building a solid database takes time. but saves days when it is complete.

Ryan

[Fahd]

1 is probably the most important for long term success!

[casbboy]

I agree, option 1 is most important. Because, you may start the other four kind of wrong, but, because of your love of the subject, you will put forth the extra time to 'polish' them up.

Here is another suggestion, one that I have stated repeatedly:

textlinks, textlinks, textlinks

Insert your site into every free directory available. But don't be afraid to spend money. Find a site with good traffic and a minimum PR5 and try to get site wide run for around $20 a month. May need to buy six months for this discount... but the traffic and search engine response is worth it for sure.

The increased traffic will also increase your drive to work on the site... a win win

Ryan

[techmonkey]

1. Don't create another Webmaster site. We don't need 50 billion of those. Find another interest and pursue that.

[Nick Carlson]

I wasn't trying to build the Bible of online marketing, here. I was merely offering my advice.

One doesn't need anything to be successful. However, the points I outlined will surely speed things up. Sure, you can pay someone else to do everything. But financially, I didn't have that option when I was first starting out.

Some people put up a single site coded purely in HTML 3.0, and make a killing. Others spend a lifetime programming a site to infinite complexity and make nothing. What I'm saying is, know what your site is doing. You don't have to be a programming God. But at least be involved enough so that you know what's going on behind the scenes.

And SEO, yes SEO and SEM are extremely important. More important than the points I outlined? Well, that's debatable. I'm not trying to outline the 5 most important tips. Just 5 tips from my experience, that I can offer to new-comers.

[lostseed]

I agree, and CSS Vault is a beautifull site

[ozgression]

optimus prime, I understand what you meant, kind of.

But, people looking to make money out of this industry are far more better-off putting their time and focus into marketing - as opposed to coding and design. You can have the best looking, professionally coded site, but it doesn't matter if no-one visits it.

[Nick Carlson]

Originally Posted by ozgression

people...are far more better-off putting their time and focus into marketing

I agree. Hence, the topic of my orginial post, "tips for beginners in internet marketing."

Originally Posted by ozgression

You can have the best looking, professionally coded site, but it doesn't matter if no-one visits it.

No doubt about that. But if a beginner puts up a flash site that has a 10mb intro with no skip button, who's going to look at it? Learning proper design doesn't hurt.

Again, these arn't The TOP 5, handed down from Moses.. They're just 5 tips I came up with. I'm sure we could all come up with 100 more if we tried
(and I hope we do).

[Fahd]

Gotcha!

I've been racking my brains trying to figure out why optimus_prime sounds familiar. Any plans to revive www.iwpaa.com ?

[Nick Carlson]

Nevermind.

Look, if you have a problem with the 5 tips I posted, please voice your opinion.

But at least offer some advice to beginners too. Helping beginners was my primary objective when posting this topic, not starting a debate.

[Nick Carlson]

Originally Posted by Fahd

Gotcha!

I've been racking my brains trying to figure out why optimus_prime sounds familiar. Any plans to revive www.iwpaa.com ?

Yes, unfortunately I havn't had time lately. I moved back to the US a couple months ago. And I just started school this month. I'm the president of my entrepreneur's club at my school, and I'm about to ship to a new piece of software.

When I first started to rally support, I was hoping that someone would grab to reins and take off with it. Unfortunately that didn't happen. I don't mind being the interim president, but I won't have the time for at least a month or two.

[ozgression]

Originally Posted by optimus prime

No doubt about that. But if a beginner puts up a flash site that has a 10mb intro with no skip button, who's going to look at it? Learning proper design doesn't hurt.

Nope, proper design doesn't hurt. But, anyone with knowledge of internet marketing probably wouldn't put-up a 10mb flash intro anyway.

Originally Posted by optimus prime

Again, these arn't The TOP 5, handed down from Moses...

Or Jesus for that matter.

Originally Posted by optimus prime

But at least offer some advice to beginners too. Helping beginners was my primary objective when posting this topic, not starting a debate.

Mine too - I believe I was offering advice. Don't get defensive. Anyway, I said straight off the bat that I agree with your first three tips.

I am just telling beginners that they are better off learning the art of SEO than the art of php unless they want to be a freelancer. But, we are talking about successful website publishing, aren't we? I don't think design and coding should be in "the top 5 tips", thats all.

Coding and design can be important, but most sites that make money look like rat sh!t. And, money is why we are in this game.