Hi everybody, Vance invited me to guest post here on his blog. Some of you might know me either from my main blog or from a forum. I go mostly under the nick name of hospitalera on the internet. Update July 22, 2018: Hospitalera’s blog is not live anymore. It’s sad to see how many bloggers have given up and quit. I would say at least two thirds of the bloggers that I knew about 5 to 8 years ago are now missing from the blogging scene. I’m leaving this post up to document what it was like 8 years ago. I have removed the links which now go nowhere. And some might not know me at all 😉 But enough of me, let me ask you a question:
Have you made a dollar on the internet today?
Yes? Great, you can proceed to one of the other great posts on this blog, for example to Getting Blog Traffic from Twitter But if you haven’t, you should keep reading.
Does the following description fit you?
You have bought a couple of ebooks, joined a few membership sites and paid forums, perhaps you even have bought one or more make money online – coaching courses. But you never earned a single dollar, despite all of your investments. Or you earn a few now and then, but still not enough to break even, not speaking of making any profit.
And do you know what else? I know exactly why you don’t make any money. You never made any money online, because you never started to implement what you have learned. You never started your first site (not even a free blogspot blog) nor did you ever write your first article on hubpages or elsewhere. You are still learning, you are still researching and you are still spending money on ebooks, courses and coaching programs instead of actually earning money on the internet? If this is correct, then this blog post is for you 😉
Making money online, no matter if with blogging, article writing, affiliate marketing, building of niche websites or a combination thereof, is very much learning by doing. If you never actually implement what you are learning and reading about, you will never gather any experience and never know what works for you and what not. So, lets get finally started, shall we?
1. Step to making your first dollar
Take an empty sheet of paper or open a fresh document in your text editor program. Dot down what the things are you know a lot about. What are you an offline expert in, and in what field could you become an online expert? What are you passionate about? In short, what could become your niche market?
2. Step
Sign up for hubpages and start to write articles about things you are knowledgeable about. Write the best articles you can about a topic you are really knowledgeable in. Ask yourself the question: What would I want to find and read when I look for information about xyz? Again, write as best, as informative and as exhaustive as you can. Write the best possible answer to each query a reader might have.
(Please note a message from the author and editor: 3. Step is not missing, it was absorbed into the 2. Step).
4. Step
Look what works and why. NOW you can use all your knowledge and research you have done so far about internet marketing. Write articles and see what works and what doesn’t. Which hubs get traffic and which convert this traffic into dollars and which not. Which keywords = topics work best with which monetizing method. Repeat which methods work and don’t insist on doing what doesn’t work.
5. Step – Make Money
Will you make money with your first hub? Most certainly not. With your fifth? Perhaps. With your tenth? Most likely, if you continue to write great content and to learn from your own experience.
What about keyword research? Competition? Planning? Having a system?
If you are like most people on the internet, then you suffer from information overload regarding all these topics. The only way to actually see the bigger picture and to learn is to DO SOMETHING! Remember the first Harry Potter book? When Hermione gets attacked by the mountain troll? Harry tries to help, but gets himself in trouble and shouts at Ron for help. What does he shout? Do something, ANYTHING. The same is valid also here. You have to do something, anything, to make a start.
So, are you ready to start NOW to make money online, or will you wait just a little bit longer? Will you sign up for free to HubPages today AND publish your first article also today? Or will you wait until you know it all?
Leave a comment and tell us what you think and how it’s going.
You can even put in a link to your first hub in the website section of the comment form. That would mean you have not only published your first hub, you also have build the first back link to it.
Before you go tweet the post and bookmark it.
So, go ahead, make your first dollar – NOW.
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Filed under: Make Money Online
What ever happened to step three, is that a secret or do we have to pay you money to get the answer? 😀
I can honestly say the only thing I have every paid money for, as far as making money online, was for a list of survey sites that pay you to take surveys. Man what a con that was.
Although I have made some money doing surveys it’s nowhere near as much as what I’m making by blogging. But you are definitely right in saying that the only way you will start making money online is by actually making a start.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Scientific Revelation Explaining Why Some A Listers Are Assholes =-.
Vance Reply:
May 5th, 2010 at 12:24 am
Hi Sire,
Thanks for pointing out that step 3 is missing. I read the post quite carefully and yet I didn’t catch it. I must have not paid enough attention to the numbers. We’ll correct this oversight shortly.
I will let Hospitalera answer most of the comments but I will chime in once in a while when I feel the need.
I think that making a start is always the most difficult part since we all tend to be perfectionists to a greater or lesser degree and it seems to us that we need to learn more before taking the plunge. I know enough people who are struggling that way.
It’s the inertia that needs to be overcome ASAP and once we get going it’s much easier to keep in motion.
The other day I accomplished a task that I was dreading and resisting for weeks and it really took only 3 days of concentrated effort. It’s amazing what we can do if we just take action instead of trying to have everything perfectly lined up and ready before we start.
Vance
Sire Reply:
May 5th, 2010 at 12:52 am
Procrastination is more than just a big word, it’s what stops people from doing things today because they think it’s best left for later and then never get around to it.
Like you said though, once you actually make a start it’s not as bad as it looked 😉
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Skysa Could be The Coolest Add On For Any Blog =-.
Vance Reply:
May 5th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Yes, it’s procrastination but also the desire to do things right and perfectly that is combined with it.
Perhaps a fear of failure plays a significant role too.
The mind is a wonderful thing but it is not perfect no matter how much it wants to and tries to be and sometimes it ends up sabotaging itself with analysis paralysis.
It’s good to snap out of it and just do something productive.
Lol, seems by writing and re-editing I mixed numbers up a bit 😉 I combined my original step 2 + 3 in one and forgot to adjust the numbers, my mistake ;-( No, there is no step missing. And no secret to reveal you have to pay for. Sorry to hear about your bad experience with surveys, one thing that kept me away from this make money online route is that it is to much like a real job. You have to do the same stuff over and over again, whilst when you have great content written, you promote it and hopefully earn money without touching it much in future. SY
PS Anybody else sees funny characters instead of the “speech marks”?
.-= hospitalera´s last blog ..Cool Market Samurai Tips- Keeping Track =-.
Sire Reply:
May 5th, 2010 at 12:55 am
Oh, I’ve actually had a good experience with surveys, the bad experience came from paying for what was supposed to be a comprehensive lists of survey sites, but turned out to be a pile of crap.
Still, it was because of that bad experience that led me to create my website listing a whole heap of legitimate survey sites, all for free and from there to my blogging career.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..How Commentluv And Keyword Luv Can Boost Your Comments =-.
hospitalera Reply:
May 7th, 2010 at 8:59 am
HI Sire, I was looking around your blog, but couldn’t find the survey list you mention. Care to share? SY
.-= hospitalera´s last blog ..Cool Market Samurai Tips- Keeping Track =-.
Sire Reply:
May 7th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Yeah, I should really add a link to it shouldn’t I? 😀
The site is called The Elusive Pot Of Gold and it’s my first ever website which I designed from the ground up so don’t be too harsh when critiquing it 😉
Although it still get’s traffic I haven’t done much with it since blogging stole my heart. I really should update it one of these days.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Stand By Me And We Will Become Better Bloggers =-.
Procrastination is the art of taking all day to decide what to do tomorrow. It is an effective strategy to make it appear as though you are busy but in fact you are doing nothing or, more likely, going backwards.
Vance, what you say about doing something, anything, rings true in not only the IM world. Of all the things you suggest on this page, having a system and doing something about it are the glue that will hold it all together.
Take a look at my most recent post and I am sure you will agree, there is only one biggest and best internet marketing idea …
Cheers, Michael.
.-= Michael Pedzotti´s last blog ..Do Inspirational Ideas Distract You? =-.
Vance Reply:
May 7th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the comment. Procrastination is a very complex thing and the only answer to it is taking action.
Ideas are never ending and since there are a zillion ways to make money online it is very easy to get trapped in looking at ideas in place of doing what one already knows can and should be done.
Taking one idea and acting on it to the very end is the way to go. After that the next best idea can be acted on until it’s brought to fruition.
The best ideas without action are just like movies played in your head. When the movie is over you have exactly as much as before minus the time that was spent dreaming and thus wasted.
Dreaming is good while resting but not in place of doing focused work that is necessary to produce the results that will make money.
Vance
And like the Chinese say, the longest journey starts with the first step — or you never go anywhere 😉 SY
.-= hospitalera´s last blog ..Cool Market Samurai Tips- Keeping Track =-.
There is nothing I don’t know about procrastination – I should write the ebook LOL But I think the other side of it is fear – fear of failure and even fear of success! If you’ve spent a long time working for others then we are not used to taking risks and learning from our own successes and failures – but every successful entrepreneur seems to have failed at least once!
I’ve tried to be very clear on my blog on what works for me and makes me my money – but I still have people emailing me pretty much asking for the “secret” – there isn’t one – unless its called WORK
.-= Lis Sowerbutts@Passive Income´s last blog ..My Sites Have Dropped Out of the SERPS – Does Google Hate Me? =-.
Vance Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:25 am
Hi Lis,
Thank you very much for this comment. I was hoping hospitalera would come and answer it but I think she’s too busy with other stuff.
Procrastination is composed of many things that are pulling the strings behind it and I think you are right in saying that one of them is fear. But failing is necessary before any significant success. And to fear success is to like staying at the failure stage.
I think we all go through this at one time or another which is natural and OK as long as we snap out of it relatively soon and move forward.
And of course there is no secret or a magic wand that creates success. Work is behind every success and the sooner people realize it the better.
Vance
Vance (and Lissie also), I have read Lissie’s comment as soon as she posted it 😉 But I didn’t see any need to comment on it. She expresses it very nicely 😉 SY
.-= hospitalera´s last blog ..Cool Market Samurai Tips- Keeping Track =-.
Vance Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 11:14 am
Hi SY,
Yes, Lis is very expressive. Not much one can add to what she says but I always like to acknowledge the comment was read and insert a few words.
I look forward to meeting you, Ricky and the blogger cat Oscar soon.
Thanks for this brief comment.
Talk soon,
Vance
I strongly agree that the only ones, who haven’t made money online are the people that never really tried doing so. They just read and read, but don’t do anything to achieve their goal. Maybe the problem is lack of motivation. Whatever the reason is, one can’t expect gaining something, when he hasn’t made an effort. Great article! Keep it up!
.-= Daniel Sharkov@Marketing product reviews´s last blog ..Micro Niche Finder – An Innovative Research Tool =-.
Vance Reply:
June 18th, 2010 at 9:13 am
One of my fiends online says that the only people that fail online are the once who quit before they give themselves a real chance to succeed.
It does take time and a lot of work to succeed in anything. Succeeding at making money online is no different.
Vance
Yep, I always wonder about the amount of people that sign up for something like hubpages and then only publish one or two hubs (or none) and then give up. Even if you write and publish only one hub per day, at the end of a year you have 360+ hubs that make you some nice passive income, SY
.-= hospitalera´s last blog ..Make Money with the Market Samurai Affiliate Program =-.
Vance Reply:
June 18th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Hi SY,
Publishing one hub per day would be great I think. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or two.
This is something to think about or better yet implement very soon especially if one wants to make that first dollar online.
I wonder how much one can make on average with one hub.
Vance
It is true that there are still many people who think that they won’t earn real money online. Don’t they realize that this also applies in the real world? The one who sacrificed the MOST will also be the one to FULLY ENJOY the fruits of his labor.
Felicia @ No deposit poker´s last blog post ..Video- WPT Bellagio Cup VI- Moritz Kranich takes home the tournament
Vance Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Hi Felicia,
It’s not easy to believe that one can make money online for most people and for a good reason. Most people don’t make it. They give up too soon. Once the first dollar is made though, it seems more doable. But there is no easy money online and most are let to believe or want to believe that there is and they just keep looking for the easy way if they don’t give up completely.
Thanks for your input.
Vance
The main problem is that a lot of scammers prey on people that want to make money online and seduce them to buy into their super-secret softwares, teaching courses and so on. As that never works (the only one that gains is the seller) people get the impression that making money doesn’t work. And they are right, it doesn’t work over night, but if you are willing to put some serious work upfront, you will reap the money later. And with work I mean publishing great content and building valid back links, SY
Vance Reply:
July 21st, 2010 at 9:40 am
I would add that there are a lot of good courses out there too but no course is going to do it for you. And no course I think has everything in it to cover everything. This is why it is tempting to keep on buying more before implementing what you already know.
I agree 100% that nothing really happens unless and until you publish good content. After that you need to build some links and get traffic.
Nice to see you back and comment SY, it’s always a treat.
Vance
Vance,
There’s just a lot of work in starting out in IM so those words, “Do Something”, are really the main message. Do what you know to do and tweak it along the way.
Cheryl
Cheryl *IM* Jones´s last blog post ..Thank you to my visitors
Vance Reply:
August 14th, 2010 at 1:03 am
Hi Cheryl,
Welcome to my blog. You are right about doing something. It’s so easy to get bogged down and overwhelmed and not to know where to start in the beginning and sometimes even later on. It’s taking action consistently that makes things happen.
Vance
To me it wasn’t the firs dollar that was the hardest. It was getting organized so I could scale my business appropriately. After that things really started cookin. Our business is a world of ADHD people. I find the focus the hardest.
Ben@H1N1 Symptoms´s last blog post ..Is it h1n1 swine flu or the regular flu?
Lol, count me in the ADHD group also 😉 I agree, focusing on what you know works is the hardest bit for me also. I know that it works, so why do you I have to do it again??? SY
Hospitalera´s last blog post ..Which Aweber Alternative Should I Choose?