I wish I had just a dime for every hour of wasted time I have observed in my corner of the Internet marketing world in the past few years. I have beginners constantly ask me for advice and opinions on sites they have ALREADY WASTED TIME ON.

It’s sad really. They are so excited about their chances of getting rich online. That lasts for about 2 weeks usually unless I can intervene and set them on a correct course.

I just saw a beginner’s new site in a forum post he was trying to promote it in. The headline read:

BREAKING NEWS
The Guide You Need.

To Increase Energy Levels.
Loose Weight and keep it Off,
Without Dieting.
Feel Great while Enjoying the Foods,
You were Meant to Eat.

There are only about half a gillion other offers out there saying the exact same thing.

My oh my….I’d say he probably spent a good 20 hours from start to finish just learning how to create and get that site published…at least….and probably a lot more.

What are his chances of ever making one sale?

You know the answer to that.

Imagine how much further along in the process he would be had he spent those 20 hours really studying and LEARNING about niche marketing, how to get traffic, and building sites that sell.

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A work at home mom contacted me about starting a part-time online business. She told me that she didn’t “want to get rich”. All she really wanted was an extra $500 a month.

Her tone implied to me she believed, that since she “only” wanted to earn $500 per month, the process should be relatively easy.

That way of thinking frustrates countless beginners.

Here’s the deal:

Forget $500 per month!

Just setting up systems that earn only $100 consistently each month is no simple task. Since beginners severely underestimate what’s required for online success, only a small percentage of beginners will ever see that first $100…much less have it each month.

Ok, enough of that…how about some good news?

The good news is that, although that first $100 is tough, once you know how to make $100 each month you already know how to make $500!

Believe that; there is no truer statement about online marketing.

Once you have something getting just a bit of traction, all that’s required then is to simply “wash, rinse, and repeat” the process. It could be in the same or different area. The point is that once something is working, it’s a simple matter to ramp up the process.

The most exciting part of this is that going from $500 to $1000 a month is MUCH easier than going from $0 to $100!

So what’s my best advice for getting to that first $100? It’s pretty simple really.

1. Learn the simple techniques for choosing niches that work for you.
2. Learn how to make simple websites.
3. Learn how to get no-cost search engine traffic using SEO.

That’s it! That’s all it takes for anyone to enjoy success online.

Learn the 3 steps here.

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One of the biggest dilemmas many of my new students face is deciding what direction they should go online. Many of them already have a passion they want to extend to Internet marketing. Others have products of their own they wish to sell.

But many of them spend far too much time “fretting and stewing” as to what their Internet business should look like. Most of them are suffering from not seeing the forest for the trees.

If you suffer from this problem, why not look at affiliate marketing? Virtually anyone who can create a simple site can profit in this area.

Here are the requirements:

1. Be able to create very simple websites
2. Understand how to pick niches you can compete in (there are virtually thousands of them)
3. Become familiar with SEO (search engine optimization) and know what is required to rank on the first pages of search engines

That’s it! Anyone can do this. Sure, there is some work and time involved up front in learning the above, but once you get it down the sky is the limit!

After learning these steps, get an account with Commission Junction. They have thousands of both large and small niche products you can promote.

We promote about 25 tiny niche products in this way. I’ll give you just one example of how we do it.

Go to Google and search for: Triple Greens

You’ll see several Cactus Canyon web pages there on the first page of the results. Although it’s a very small niche product, there are a few thousand people a month who search for it. We promote that product via Commission Junction. The vendor offers a trial canister for no cost and they pay us $15 for each person we send to them requesting that trial offer! What a deal that is!

And to make it even better, the vendor has a great cross selling process. So many of the people we send there also buy other products at the same time; we get 12% of those sales.

As you can see, the few web pages we have promoting that product are very simple. Nothing fancy is required.

Now imagine taking that same technique and using the “wash rinse and repeat” method for the next product…and the next…and the next!

Oh, and another thing, in those tiny niches almost no additional work is required to maintain good ranking once they are achieved. Therefore, those affiliate pages we get ranking well are about as close to a “money tree” as one can get!

Because they are affiliate products, there is no work required on our end for the sales. The Commission Junction checks just continue coming month after month with almost no extra work on our part.

Like I said above, ANYONE can do this who wants to. There aren’t many easier ways to earn monthly income online.

If you are committed to learning this process, I want to help you!

I created SEO4X for just that purpose. It’s the easiest and quickest way to learn how to pick the niches and keywords. Plus, it outlines the step by step process for gaining 1st page Google and Yahoo rankings.

If you do nothing else, just browse my SEO 4X site at:

http://www.SEO4X.com

I have videos and articles there about how you can begin building your own monthly income once you understand and apply SEO.

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Too many beginners believe they can build a home Internet business with zero investment. There are free marketing methods one can use, however…

Watch the following video for details for using free methods of online marketing. There are right ways and wrong ways to use these methods.

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For a variety of reasons, beginning Internet marketers usually start with affiliate marketing. Although affiliate marketing is a tried and proven method for achieving success online, the majority of beginners fail to ever see many or any results.

I’ve listed below the most common mistakes beginning affiliate marketers make.

These are in no particular order.

1. Free Classified Submissions – Classified sites are all but a complete waste of time. Buyers DO NOT search the free classified sites and few of the listings ever get ranked well in the search engines. The only exception is with Craigslist…for some niches.

2. Free Sites like Blogger and Squidoo – Sure, these free sites are great to supplement an existing and “real” web site. But most beginner throw up a small Blogger site, paste some affiliate ads on it, and then wonder why they get no sales. Worse still, the beginner creating these sites doesn’t usually have a clue about picking niches and keywords…much less search engine optimization.

3. E-mail Blasts – There are so many reasons NOT to do this; I won’t get into all of them here. Paying $49 to blast out an email message to a million people is simply a foolish waste of money.

4. Going 100% Free – Are there ways one can succeed with affiliate marketing with zero investment? Sure. “Bum Marketing” is the chief method associated with “free”. However, beginners too often equate free with “quick and easy”. There is nothing quick and easy about affiliate marketing. Beginners severely underestimate the amount of work and time required to succeed.

5. Making Web Sites – Most successful affiliate marketers have web design skills and/or are skillful with WordPress blogs on their own domains. Beginners will buy or try almost anything to avoid investing the time to learn these skills.

6. Buying Short-Cut Packages – “Begin earning $500 a day tomorrow….No experience needed….No website required…Work just one hour a day…” If a new affiliate marketer believes they can succeed with a “package” like this, then I have some ocean front property here in Oklahoma I’ll sell them too.

7. AdWords – PayPerClick LOOKS so easy on the surface. I know that no matter what I say here, most beginners will have to try it anyway. That’s OK. However, AdWords beginners should set their budgets no higher than they are willing to lose each day. Beginners can expect to lose 100% of their daily budget 99% of the time in the beginning as they learn.

If you would like to add other beginning affiliate marketing mistakes, please post them!

Click here to watch my Free, “getting started” videos.

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I know I’ve been rather quiet for the past few months; I thought I’d update you as to what we’ve been up to.

About 3 months ago Kay and I both had the urge to get back to “our roots”.

Plain and old fashioned Internet marketing is what got us out of the Rat Race in 1997. At that time we had a number of affiliate, AdSense, and retail sites in place and earning enough income so we could quit jobs in education. Then for the next 2 years we focused on creating content, packages and programs for teaching Internet marketing. During that time we niched down and focused almost entirely on our SEO 4X training package.

We created traffic systems for the SEO 4X package and are pleased with the results and the freedom those systems have provided us. With the extra time, it became a no-brainer for us to use that time to go back and work on our first love – basic Internet marketing.

In the past 3 months we have focused on building new affiliate sites, tweaking and adding to our current AdSense sites, and ramping up traffic and sales at Cactus Canyon. All the projects require search engine optimization for obtaining that all important aspect of online success – TRAFFIC!.

SEO is such a sweet deal!

We built the Cactus Canyon site in 2005 and 2006. Since then, 99% of all its traffic has been from no cost, organic search engine results. The site was ranking well in 2006 and became our cash cow which allowed us to “retire” from our jobs. The cool thing is that I did almost ZERO work to the site for the next 3 years and the traffic and sales just kept rolling in because of the initial SEO work.

Even with almost no work, the niche was small enough that the site remained ranking very well and generating continuous income month after month, year after year since then.

THAT is what I love about SEO! The work I do today is rewarded for a very long time to come.

However, we always knew Cactus Canyon had far more potential. Plus we knew from past experience that a small amount of work on niche affiliate sites can reap substantial and continuous incomes month after month, year after year.

So for the past 3 months we’ve been very focused on increasing traffic and sales to all our sites and building new ones. The truth is that we know a LOT more about SEO and basic Internet marketing than we did 3 or 4 years ago. Therefore, the focused action we’ve taken the last few months has produced very exciting results. Best of all, these results from a few months of focused work will continue flowing in for a very long time to come.

We will continue with our Internet marketing “fun” until we are ready for a change of pace again (That’s what makes working for yourself so cool!).

Plus, I’ll still be working with all my SEO 4X students. I devote a certain amount of time each day to SEO 4X and enjoy very much teaching and helping others enjoy their own online success.

With the SEO 4X program I teach the exact and proven methods we use for building our own income producing sites. The students in SEO 4X have access to my private forum, monthly teleconference calls with me, and many additional resources.

Sure, Internet marketing can be learned without help (I learned it pretty much all by myself), but the shortcuts, tips, and tricks my students learn are invaluable with respect to reduced time and frustration.

If you aren’t a student yet, watch these videos and learn more about the SEO 4X coaching program:

http://www.SEO4X.com

Dedicated to Your Success,

Steve Weber

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Have you noticed how FAST these years fly by? The older I get the faster they seem to come and go. Most people spend more time around each New Year reflecting on where they are and what they would like to accomplish in the next year. It’s definitely a great time to set and/or adjust your dreams and goals.

Don’t take wrong what I am about to say; I think dreams and goals are great.

Literally millions of people will be actively thinking about and setting new ones for themselves in the coming week. I think that is great.

However…

Just like the saying, “Words are Cheap”, so are dreams and goals.

Out of those millions who set new resolutions, how many do you think will actually see a fraction of their goals reached? I’m not a negative person at all, but I think I can safely say that answer is “not very many”.

With respect to your business goals, how can you break that pattern and actually see great progress toward your dreams in the coming year?

The answer is really simple.

There is no luck involved.
Nothing but an average IQ is required.
It doesn’t matter “who you know”.
A magical epiphany of insight is not required.
Past “failures” don’t matter a lick.

Once again, I point out my favorite 3 words for success:
Relentless Focused Action

That is ALL that’s required for your success in the coming year.

Relentless: I don’t mean you have to go “nose to the grind stone” 24/7. Relentless only means CONSISTENT. It means you don’t dabble here and there at it “when you have time”. You set high, but realistic goals depending on your life situation. THEN you put yourself on a daily/weekly work schedule. THEN you STICK WITH IT…no matter what. AND you DO NOT require immediate satisfaction as a requisite for sticking to the schedule. (Expecting/needing quick satisfaction is the #1 reason people ditch their dreams.)

Focused: Here’s the kicker. Hard work is NOT a guarantee for success. Read that again! You can work until you are “blue in the face” trying to market earth worm pie recipes. No amount of work will make that idea fly. Before you set your goals and plans of action, you must have a relatively solid foundation of knowledge for what’s required. You aren’t and don’t need to be an expert marketer in the beginning, but you do need a foundation. Remember that whatever time/money you invest in educating yourself puts you miles ahead of the rest. Most people’s need for immediate satisfaction causes them to skip over the “boring” part of learning.

Action: Like I said, dreams and goals are cheap to set. If I had to list just ONE factor that is common to successful people, it would be ACTION. Those who reach their goals have learned this real “secret” to success. Turn off the TV, stop surfing around the web, get up an hour earlier…whatever it takes…but you just gotta put action behind those goals and dreams. Again, 24/7 is NOT required. What IS required is a FOCUSED action plan which is followed RELENTLESSLY.

I may not know you personally. I may not know your individual dreams, goals or current skill levels. But here is what I DO know about you and your dreams and goals:

When you reach them, you will have followed the path of Relentless Focused Action. There really is no other route. The more you look for shortcuts or “quick and easy”, the longer you delay the real process for reaching your goals.

If you are truly “ready” and prepared to reach your goals, what I have written here will resonate with you; you will “get it”. You’ll then be one of those few who not only have a dream, but will also REACH IT in this coming year.

I can’t wait to hear about your successes as you apply Relentless Focused Action in the coming year!

Keep In Touch!

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Many beginners think that if they choose a very large area like weight loss, making money, insurance, Internet marketing, etc.  they will at least get some “crumbs” so to speak.

NOT SO!

Remember that it’s always best to have a small slice from a small pie than NOTHING from a large one.

And nothing is what a beginner will surely get if they try to tackle a large area as their first project. The amount of time and work required in those large areas will frustrate the beginner. In fact, they will likely quit their Internet marketing endeavors entirely.

Secondly, they are not even sure if what they are doing is working. That’s why small niches are so good for beginners; the feedback is much quicker. The beginner is able to see results very quickly and then knows their techniques are working.

With that quick and positive feedback the beginner can then go into larger and larger areas as they tweak and ramp up what they know works.

Also, the beginner needs to know if what they are doing does NOT work. If only poor results in a small niche are achieved, then surely attempts in a larger area will fail entirely.

Steps for Success:

• Learn the basics and build the required skills
• Find a small niche
• Market to that niche
• Wash, rinse and repeat for larger niches and areas once successes in very small niches are achieved.

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I talk a lot about niche marketing and how important it is for a beginning marketer to find a small niche to market to.  The reason I usually give for this is that the number of competing sites is much smaller than the number of competing sides in larger areas.  This makes it easier for the individual marketer to get their message seen.

However, there is another very important reason that niche marketing is easier.  There is a marketing principle that states that the broader the market you are marketing to, the less effective your message is.  So, when you market your product to a gigantic group of people who are not segmented in any way, your message is diluted down.

Your message is not nearly as powerful as if you were to pick out certain parts of that market to market to.  For example, let’s take dogs.  The area “dogs” is very, very large.  If you have a dog product to sell, simply marketing to dog owners in general is not as effective as focusing on a subgroup.  If your product is dog training for example, “how to train your dog to heel or how to train your dog to sit” is a more focused niche to compete in. Likewise, it is much more effective to create a campaign that markets directly to those people who are seeking information on how to do those specific tasks your product teaches.

Another example: If you have a product that teaches dog owners how to potty train dogs, then you specifically market to dog owners who need that information on how to potty train a dog.  Your marketing message is then crafted specifically to match your product to a specific audience who is interested in your product.

Although we don’t often talk about the advantage of niche marketing from this angle, it is just as important to market to a smaller group as it is to avoid the large numbers of competitors in a large area.

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Years ago I was the manager of a fitness center. There was always a HUGE spike in business beginning January 1. Massive action was taken by all those who resolved to lose weight and be healthier by “this time next year”.

Of course you can guess what happened next. By February 1, half of those who started a program had already quit. By March 1 all but a few of the New Years’ members had disappeared. Out of the whole newbies group, only a couple would still be working out “this time next year”.

I see the same pattern with beginning Internet marketers. GUNG HO is their keyword in the beginning. But gradually and surely, their lack of commitment weeds them out.

OK, I’ll cut right to the chase.

By nature, all humans have an evil “lazy gene”…you, me and everyone else. It’s a whole lot easier to get up, go to work, come home to eat, watch some TV, and then get up only do it all over again.

That’s called a “RUT”.

What will that rut bring you by “this time next year”?

Of course you KNOW the answer.

In one of Clement Stone’s books, he writes about the first requirement for success being the ability to take sustained action. He points out that the rate of “taking action” is directly proportional to one’s discontentment with the current status quo.

In other words, if you’d like a better life, you have to WANT IT badly enough to take action and go after it!

I was in that boat and I DID want it badly enough. I took the action and I’m reaping the rewards. I understand the level of effort needed to achieve success and change old habits.

Now I want to help you.

I want you to look back “this time next year” with a proud sense of accomplishment for what you have achieved.

Here’s an email from a beginner asking the typical “how to get started” question.  You can read it and my reply here:

http://www.seo4x.com/new-marketers.htm

If you want a dramatically different life by “this time next year”, let’s get started!

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