10 Tips for Online Marketing Success

Fridays with Vicky 150

Kind of crazy but I’ve been doing online marketing for 10 years.

I’ve learned a lot, made too many mistakes to count and I have definitely grown as a person.

I’ve made money, lost money, built sites, deleted sites and there’s been a lot of changes over the years, BUT I’m forever grateful for the journey.

10 Years…

I want to share a few things that I’ve learned along the way…

What 10 Years of Online Marketing Have Taught Me

1. Be Thankful for Right Now

It’s easy to see all the things that we don’t have all the things we want but don’t yet have accomplished. Being thankful and grateful for right now for what we have today, will help reach the success that we want.

You might be thinking what does this have to do with websites or online marketing?

It’s all about attitude and how you choose to look at things. You can complain that you should have stared a year ago, you can complain about not having the right education, you can choose to give up because it’s too hard…

You can focus on the amazing opportunity that you actually do have here, to create something for yourself long term that could generate an income. You can be thankful for having the means, a computer and the willingness to make this happen.

You can see the progress you have made and how far you’ve come compared to where you started. This might mean that you put up your website and are looking for ways to improve and succeed or you might still be in research mode, either way, trust that you are moving in the right direction.

You can choose to be thankful for right now, for how far you’ve come or you can look at what you don’t have. Is the cup half full or half empty?

I used to get super disappointed when I set goals and didn’t reach them. I was so focused on the outcome that I didn’t enjoy the journey. I couldn’t see how far I actually had come compared to where I started.

I’ve learned to enjoy TODAY a lot better than what I used to! Appreciating right here and right now and being in the moment.

Most nights I write down, things I’m thankful for. On top of my list, I have my family, my kids, and my husband, but I also include that I’m thankful for the sales I made today, for the content I created… the list goes on.

Focus on the positive and you’ll start seeing more of it.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have dreams and goals, you should, that’s very important, but appreciate where you are at, appreciate the journey and it will be a lot more fun.

Trust that you are at the right place at the right time, whatever that means for you.

2. Make a Deal with Yourself to NOT Quit

If you are thinking that if this doesn’t work out, you’ll move on to something else, then I will save you a ton of time right now and say don’t even start.

You will FAIL.

You probably will write a post that does not rank very well in Google. You will probably do a social media campaign that does not get much exposure at all. You might even build a site and decide that’s not at all what you want to do…

BUT here’s the deal… or rather make a deal with yourself saying… I WILL NOT Quit.

Don’t do it! As long as you stay in the game, as long as you learn and adjust you will find a way to eventually make things work for you. Most likely you will find a way that works really really well for you!

Sure I’ve thought about throwing in the towel at times, like when one of my sites got hacked or an affiliate program got shut down that I was making good money with…

I’m not sure if it was the DRIVE to succeed that pushed me through or the FEAR of failure, I guess it doesn’t matter. But, the thought of losing my freedom, spending less time with my kids and limiting my traveling… made quitting not an option.

WHY do YOU have to make this work?

3. Patience Is Your Friend

Here’s the truth, it will take time to build a successful business. It will not happen overnight, it will most likely not happen over a couple of months either, patience is your friend.

I do a case study on a niche site that I run, where I share income, traffic, and other statistics. After 6 months, I was 265.36 in the red, yes I was losing money. Initially, I had costs setting up the site plus I outsourced most the content.

Quitting after 6 months would have meant that I lost money on that site. I was patient, I kept plugging away and year two the site made me $15,767.08

Glad I didn’t through in the towel after 6 months…

The same thing goes for generating traffic organically via Google and other search engines. You have to be patient but over time if done right you will gain rankings. Here’s a chart from the same case study site, showing rankings in Google.

Building an online business takes time, be patient with it.

4. Know Where You Are Going – Set Goals

I have a BIG goal that I’ve been working on for a few years now. I’m not there yet but as long as my daily activities are supporting my BIG goal, I feel that I’m on the right track.

We all have different goals. You might want to create a site that has X amount of visitors each and every month. Maybe you want to make X amount of sales each and every month. Maybe you want to become a best-selling author…

Whatever your goal is, do your daily activities support your main goal?

To reach the main goal I like to break things down.

Say you want to have 100,000 visitors to your blog next year. That might sound like a lot but if you break it down that means 8,333 visitors a month, about 278 visitors a day…

How can you get to 278 visitors a day?

Create new content? Promote the content that you already have submitted to social media?

Figure out how to get those daily visitors and you’ll be on your way to reaching that bigger goal of 100,000 visitors in a year.

5. Learn the Basics Really Well

Whatever direction you decide to take your online business in, learn the basics of the trade really well.

I do a lot of content creation with the purpose of ranking it in Google and other search engines. If I rank the content well that means I get free traffic to my site for months to come in some cases even years.

To create this kind of content you have to know the basics of it. You have to know how to use keywords, you have to know how to write engaging content, you have to know how to get your visitors to convert, to do what you want them to do, click a link for example.

This is not hard to learn, I learned it all through this program here. But you do need to learn how it’s done, you have to implement it and you have to do your own trial and errors to see what works for you.

Looking at the case study I mentioned earlier, the site has been growing with organic rankings over time because I learned the basics and found a way that works for me.

6. Become Awesome at One Thing at the Time

As a mom working from home, multitasking seems to be my middle name most days.

But, to become really good at something you need to spend a lot of time doing that one thing, right? One of my favorite soccer players, David Beckham, for you ladies :), he didn’t play a little bit of soccer, a little bit of basketball, a little bit of hockey… he played soccer. He focused on soccer, put in his time and became a great player.

That goes for anything. Take on a challenge – write content that ranks well in Google for example. Learn the basics, practice and become really good at it. When you have mastered that, sure you can take on another challenge. Maybe you want to master PPC or Pinterest or create your own product.

Master what you do before you move to the next thing.

7. Don’t Underestimate FOCUS

After ten years you would think I would add websites to my portfolio but NO, I get rid of them. Let me be a little bit more specific.

Back in the day, it was pretty easy to rank small niche sites focused on specific keyword phrases. I won’t go into details but I had a ton of small sites, little money makers that were working pretty good for me. That’s not at all how I operate today. Today I focus on a few sites, I work with them long term and make sure they run well. I focus on a few products and get rid of the ones that no longer serve me well.

Another thing I want to mention when it comes to FOCUS is the “shiny object syndrome”. Jumping from one thing to another is not going to solve your problems. Buying program after program thinking it’s THE solution, is not going to work.

There are no secrets!

What is there?

hard work, determination, and perseverance

Focus on a few things and do them really well!

8. Consistency Will Build Your Business

The “boring” truth about succeeding with online marketing is… consistency. Consistency will build your site, it will help build your brand and online business.

Consistently submitting great content to your site, will allow it to build and grow and over time become more of an authority site than niche site.

Do a few things really well on a consistent basis will move your forward, will help you grow.

It might not be the most exciting thing, to do keyword research and writing content each and every week BUT consistently doing so will help you rank in the search engines. It will help get traffic to your site and with traffic, you can get sales…

The action you are taking on a consistent basis, are they bringing you closer to your goals?

This is a great question to ask yourself. Surfing the net will not bring you closer to your goals, submitting 2 posts weekly might…

Find out what works for you and put your focus on that. There is not one model that will work for everyone. Whatever it is that you do, find out what works for YOU. When you find that focus on it and leverage it.

9. Never Stop Learning

Online marketing is constantly changing. There are new things to learn, new social media platforms to work with, updates and changes are constant. Never stop learning!

Knowing what to do in your business is of course very important. What I’ve realized for myself though is that working on me is crucial.

My thoughts and feelings around business and money, pushing through that invisible glass ceiling, believing in myself…

Keep learning the trade is a must, working on me has been a game changer.

Where I Keep Learning About Affiliate Marketing

When I first started out I kept jumping from program to program, trying to find “the secret to success”. I knew I had to learn how affiliate marketing was working but I always felt that I only got half the story. I felt that there was one piece missing and that’s what I needed to really make it work.

Have you had that feeling?

When I joined Wealthy Affiliate I felt that I was in the right place. They had all the affiliate marketing training that I needed, they had a supportive community, they had everything in one spot that I had been looking for. Most of all I felt that they were honest and didn’t leave any information out, it was all there.

That was 10 years ago and I’m still enjoying this online community, still learning from them.

Where I Keep Learning, and Discovering Things About Myself

I never realized how many thoughts and feelings I had around money, I guess I wasn’t very aware, they were just there. The problem was that these were believes that I had taken on in many cases growing up. Nothing wrong with them but thinking about it they are not MY believes and a lot of them are not TRUE to ME.

Things like…

Money is the root of all evil
Earn money the hard way
Money doesn’t grow on trees

I Rather Believe…

That money is NOT the root of all evil
That it doesn’t have to be hard to earn money
I know money doesn’t grow on trees, but I believe there is plenty of it

There’s a lot to this topic…

One thing I knew but had to really think about is that my monthly income doesn’t reflect my personal worth. Of course, it doesn’t BUT I don’t think that it’s uncommon to mix the two though.

When things are great, business is booming and money is flowing in we feel pretty good about ourselves. When things are not so well, sales are lacking and the money is slow, it can be easy to get pretty hard on ourselves.

Denise a 7-figure business owner and her Lucky Bee money Bootcamp course has helped me work on money blocks, thoughts and feelings around money, but most importantly help me discover things about myself that I wasn’t even aware of.

Keep learning the trade is a must, working on me has been a game changer.

10. Hang Out with People That Are Successful

Join a community, a mastermind group or get a mentor. Hang out with people that are doing what you want to do. If you want to build a website and make money from it, seek out people that are successful website owners, that know how to make money with them.

You want to be around positive people that you can identify with, people that you can say… that’s what I will be doing, that’s what I want to accomplish. People that are supportive and understand what you want to do.

I know it can be hard when your family or friends are not very supportive of your online journey, it can even push you in the direction of giving up… It can be very hard if you are not getting the support that you need.

BUT surrounding yourself with a group of people that know what you are talking about when you say “WordPress” or “content creation” can be a savior. Be around people in person or online, that are positive about online marketing and understand the ups and downs you go through. This kind of support, encouragement, and understanding has been vital to me.

2 Communities That Changed My Life

I’m lucky I have a supportive husband and family but they don’t understand what I go through on a daily basis when it comes to my online business. That’s one of many reasons WHY I’ve been a member of Wealthy Affiliate for the last 10 years. Yes, the same place I mentioned earlier in the learning section.

WA is my online marketing community, my to-go-to place to talk about marketing related things with people doing the same things, these people get me.

Wealthy Affiliate taught me the basics of online marketing and gave me the tools to create the freedom me and my family have today. That’s why I do what I do – the freedom.

To me, freedom means spending a lot of time with my kids, husband family, and friends. Traveling to places we love. Going for a walk in the middle of the day if I feel like it, or spend way too long having lunch with a good friend. I will forever be thankful for the freedom we have.

Comments

Sam Solo says

December 19, 2017 at 1:33 am

I really like how you focused on your outlook on certain belief systems regarding money. I can imagine that if you have a more positive outlook on making money then you will naturally end up making a lot more. I’ll have to remember to analyze my true beliefs regarding earning money.

10 Tips for Online Marketing Success – What 10 Years of Online Marketing Have Taught Me

What 10 Years of Online Marketing Have Taught Me