11/01: What Are Your Online Goals In 2009

Photo Credit: Last NYC Hero

Looking forward to 2009 I decided to answer a few points that I see time and time again online in both the "make money online" and internet marketing arenas. There is a constant stream of people joining the mass ranks of those trying to make some money from the internet and, as people keep reminding you, many of those people will fail. If you believe the statistics at least 95% of them!

I'm no internet millionaire or guru, but my experience has shown that it takes a lot of work and dedication to make any money at all online. For a few, massive success on the internet has been quick in coming but I would suggest that for the vast majority, it's going to be a lot more difficult. Most honest people will tell you that it took them some time to find a successful venture and that it certainly didn't happen overnight.

To kick off 2009, here are a few suggestions to both the new hopefuls just taking their first steps, to the frustrated and hard working hopefuls who have yet to make a dent. This is the most basic of advice, but it is truly important:

1) Decide on a business model and plan of action at the outset and try to stick to both.

2) Learning is vital and time consuming but learning is only half the battle. After you learn - do.

3) Be prepared to invest in your dream of making money online. At some point you will have to pay for the things you are going to need, whether it be information, software, advertising, the expertise of others, web hosting etc. Whatever your budget, try to invest wisely in the things you really need.

4) Leading on from number 3. Many things are available for free including information and advice and some of these things can be very good. However, if you have expectations of making tons of cash without spending any you will be disappointed. When you do find something for free, expect to have to put in some good old fashioned hard work to see results from it. Joining free "programs" and systems will only ever work if you follow the instructions and take action. Many people write off good systems and tools as a waste of time because they do not do anything after filling out their details on an opt-in form for example.

5) If you are new to the whole idea of making money online, please do not be taken in by the thousands of websites making fantastical claims of wealth, no matter how alluring the sales pitch or the slick graphics. Mostly, any money you give them will just disappear into a black hole and you will be left feeling cheated, let down and foolish. Move on and.......

6) Don't ever be tempted to send money to complete strangers in return for nothing more than the promise of loads of money arriving in your bank account or at your front door via UPS, Fedex or anyone else. Things like this are doomed to failure and are often illegal to boot. Don't be fooled by slick videos or websites - look underneath the gloss and glitz and tempting claims. Always ask yourself this - what am I getting for my money? If the answer is nothing but promises, remember that "a promise is a comfort for a fool". If, as they claim, you are going to earn a lot of money, ask yourself where it is coming from. If it is just from more people like yourself being persuaded to hand over money for nothing, walk away. You really will be doing yourself a favor. Most of these types of "programs" are variations of the Ponzi or pyramids your great, great grandmother would have warned you about had she been alive to do so.

I always suggest that you think of any of these things by taking the internet out of the equation.

Has anybody given or posted or deposited thousands or even hundreds of dollars to you or your bank account in the past? Did they do this without knowing who you were and solely on the basis that another complete stranger told them to do it? If it did happen wouldn't you be the tiniest bit surprised and perhaps think that they were a little crazy? If I met you in a bar, struck up a conversation and suggested that you send a certain amount of money to half a dozen people whose names I handed to you on a piece of paper and claimed that performing this action would guarantee to make you rich wouldn't you be inclined, just slightly, to laugh in my face? Thought so.

Have you ever made a mistake that you are embarrassed or more than a little reluctant to admit for fear of being seen as a fool? Sure, haven't we all? Remember that if you made a mistake that cost you a fair wedge of money, you'd more than likely be reluctant to talk about it or, perhaps to try and recover what you'd lost, be outright untruthful and pass the promise on to others until you managed to balance the scale again, telling yourself: "well I fell for it and I know that others will too". You see the pattern here I'm sure. So please,do not think that these scams will make you any money - if it were as easy as these people claim, we'd all be wealthy already :-)

7) Think. Whatever you decide to try and profit from, you are going to need visitors to your websites, blogs, ecommerce pages, affiliate links, opt-in forms etc. Without quality visitors and potential buyers you will not make much money. This is probably the hardest thing to achieve for any small online business. 

8) Whatever you decide to try in 2009, be it blogging, niche marketing, ecommerce, affiliate marketing, list building, product creation.....my last little slice of wisdom is the good old standby "Do not give up". You will experience lows and failures and sometimes pressure from others to just throw in the towel, but keep going. When you fail, dust yourself off, look again at what you've been doing and if you can think of improvements, try them. Eventually you may have to concede that certain things do not work for you and sacrifice them for other untried methods or entirely different business plans.

If you're hoping to start making money online in 2009 but have yet to decide on what you are going to do, my first suggestion would be to get yourself a relevant domain name and a web hosting account and start building some form of online presence. The possibilities really are so varied and numerous that it's impossible to give you a blueprint or guarantee of success but it is, as far as I'm concerned, a very good place to start. There is no magic bullet and if it were easy the conventional capitalist society as we know it would not even exist :-)

As for me I have a lot of things planned for my own online efforts and I hope you will all continue reading - we'll see how they turn out by this time next year!

Have a great 2009. I wish you prosperity and success, but more than this I wish you health and happiness.

TCH