Mamas On The Web

Attention Newbies - Read this before you go any further!

January 11th, 2007

OK moms (and dads)!

If you’re just starting out with your online ventures, please read this before you continue.

I’ve been seeing so many of the same mistakes when I visit new sites. It’s the typical affiliate banner splashed everywhere on every page.

You may have heard that making money online is as simple as starting a website and joining some affiliate programs.

Well, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s not that easy.

Generating an income online is extremely hard and it takes a lot of determination and hard work. There have been a lucky few who made it big within their first few months, but from the stories I’ve heard, the tactics they’ve used have been a little shady or else they already had some ‘guru’ connections to help jump-start their sales and traffic.

So, if you have one of these websites with nothing but affiliate banners, stop reading this right now and go take them down. I mean it. Take them off right now.

Now that you’re back, here’s what you do.

Pick a topic or theme - It doesn’t do any good to put up banners for a million different products. It’s better to focus your attention on one specific genre like shoes or gardening.

Now write about it - Search engines love content, and obviously so do internet users. Take the time to write something that makes sense to your readers, not something stuffed with keywords for the search engine’s sake.

Become an expert in this field - Provide your readers with really good quality information. You can use affiliate programs as recommendations within your content, or you can set up a newsletter and promote them that way. If people trust that you know what you’re talking about, they’re more likely to purchase from you.

Promote like crazy - There are plenty of ways to market your website. You can use article marketing (my favorite), forum posting and advertising just to name a few. Try out one thing at a time and track and test it. If it’s not working, try changing something or move on to another method.

Stay consistent - Regular updates and fresh content are great for search engines and visitors alike. People can tell if your site is stale, so make sure you’re making the effort to keep it current and maintain your reader’s expectations.

If you can develop a regular routine and spend time doing all these things each day, you’re sure to have more success than if you just stick up some banners. It’s going to take time, creativity and some long hours, but if you can hang in there, you’ll be glad you took the time to do it the right way.

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Entry Filed under: General