August 19, 2008 – 11:18 pm
I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if some of you have already started blogs, niche sites, sniper sites or any number of other efforts to make money online. Perhaps you’ve followed my advice and visited some of the giants in the industry and have begun following their advice. Or, perhaps you’ve tried and failed in the past and you don’t see much hope for self employment through online efforts.
I’ve mentioned how the internet is littered with the corpses of failed blogs and websites and I’ve mentioned that the lack of persistence is one of the primary site killers out there. I want to give you a little bit of encouragement from my own experience.
As mentioned before, I am currently experimenting with various internet marketing techniques and, though it’s still far too early to give you a valuable review on effectiveness, I noticed the one thing that many first time bloggers probably miss before they throw in the towel… earnings (early on) are nothing you should get hung up on. What you care about is growth.
One of the things I’m working right now is keyword sniping. You can read my initial reviews of keyword sniping in my keyword sniping case analysis. I can’t take credit for the method and, again, direct you to the master on this topic over at Courtney Tuttle’s Internet Marketing School. I’ve setup several sniper sites and the earnings, so far, while better than I’ve been accustomed to, are still relatively low. And that’s where most people bail. That’s where most give up.
When you invest upfront energy and see maybe $3.00 the first month, you are disappointed but can live with it. By month three, your earnings might only be $5 or $6 dollars a month. In a world full of short attention spans, that’s probably enough for 50-60% of people to give up. Again, they look at earnings only and feel it isn’t worth the effort. By months 9-12 I’d expect fully 80-90% of those with dreams of internet wealth have jumped ship and resigned themselves to continued slavery in the day-job world.
As for the ones who stick it out, keep at it and eventually find success, they are the ones who are either stubborn as hell or smart enough to look beyond the present and into a future they are willing to patiently work towards. It’s the latter mindset I want you to focus on.
What if you didn’t look at earnings early on? Instead, take a look at your unique visitors and how much they grew from one month to the next. This is something you have control over. It is in your power to build an increasing visitor base through quality content, promotion and link building. I’m seeing as much as 51% growth in visitors on one of my sites and expect to see similar numbers on others as I continue to build page rank and back links. So let’s play a game and assume you make $4.10 your first month from a couple of your sniper sites but are also seeing 30% increases from the first month to the second.
Assuming the above conditions, you’re looking at $5.33 per month earnings by month two. Still sad. Project that out at 30% monthly growth and by the end of the year you’re averaging $73.44 per month earnings. Again, that’s hardly motivation to keep at it but stick with me here.
It isn’t until you think rationally and recognize that 30% growth over time really means something. By the end of year two you are averaging $1710.96 per month. Not enough to retire on, but nothing to sneeze at given that this is just from a couple sniper sites you don’t have to invest a lot of time in. But now consider this. Just 6 months later, assuming the same rate of growth, you would be earning just shy of $8300 per month!
Now I really have to inject some reality here. Your growth will eventually plateau and the numbers above from just a couple sniper sites are unrealistic. Conveniently, you can setup dozens of sniper sites if you’re so inclined. You likely aren’t going to see consistent 30% growth for years on end from a sniping blog but you WILL definitely grow if you follow the process. What you have to remember is that growth, not initial earnings, are what you need to be focusing on because it’s growth that will get you to that what-you’ve-been-striving-for point. Those low upfront earnings will sap your energy time and again if you lose that focus.
Keep your eye on the future and you’ll struggle through and keep at it until the real rewards start rolling in. Just don’t lose your focus and your focus should eternally be on growth regardless your business strategy. Be it growing your blog visitors, growing your page rank, growing your back links, growing your real estate holdings, growing your investment portfolio, your client base, your product line, etc. Repeat after me, “Growth, growth, growth.” That is your mantra.
Your dream of self employment will require you to think like an investor or a business person and a wise one in either camp never looks exclusively at the bottom line. There are simply too many important variables to consider and, at the risk of repeating myself, one of the most important is (say it with me again, folks) GROWTH.
Here endeth the lesson.
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