You can fix up a rent house and make it a really nice place to live. You can paint it, landscape the yard, and even add on or remodel with the landlord’s permission. It could be a very cool house!

However, no matter how much work you put into it, the house is still a rent house.

Free websites like Homestead, Angelfire, Blogger, and countless others remind me of rent houses. Although beginners are especially drawn to them, they are not the type of place you should invest the majority of your work. Sure, places like Squidoo can enhance existing sites so long as the lense contain quality content. I simply don’t like the idea of using them as the “main course”…so to speak.

When the free sites are used as a foundation for an Internet marketing business it really shows a lack of commitment on the beginner’s part.

After all, a domain only costs ten dollars a year and basic hosting is under five dollars a month. Any beginner who opts for a free site in order to avoid these minimal costs is probably not ready to be an Internet marketer.

Besides the fact that free sites are just like rent houses, but free, they also handicap the marketer with many limitations. Oftentimes they do not allow certain scripts to run which the marketer will need down the road for one reason or another. Some examples are tracking, opt-in, and AdSense scripts.

Most of all, I can’t imagine doing all the work required to make a site successful while working with a domain that is not mine…and just to save a few dollars!

Many beginners may choose the free sites because they lack web design skills and the free sites offer wizards and such. The wizards can create additional problems with their duplicate and bloated code issues. I hear from many beginners who cannot get past the web design problem. Here again, if a beginner chooses a “free site” just because they are unwilling to learn simple web design skills, I question their commitment for building a successful online business.

Buy a domain and low-cost hosting, learn web design skills, and begin building your business the right way.

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Have you lost site of the forest for the trees? Many new Internet marketers have this problem. In their case, the trees are dollar signs! Besides simple lack of both knowledge and skills, trying too hard to earn money is the biggest mistake I see beginners making.

Beginners are so distracted with the idea of dollars flowing from their site that they lose total focus on what is important. Stop thinking dollar signs and think traffic! Every day I have beginners contact me with sites they have created which are producing next to zero. Many of them spend much effort and time to create a nice site with several different ways to profit with it.

Ok, fine, but what about traffic? In almost every one of these cases the beginner gave NO THOUGHT about traffic. “Build it and they will come” – That’s how most beginners think. Nope, it does not work like that! Before you build your first page for your site, you have to know the answers to these questions: – Is there too much competition for me to succeed in this niche?

- How much competition is too much and how to know?

- Are there really people who are searching for what is being offered?

- How do you know for sure they are searching for it? (Hint: online keyword tools are NOT the final answer here)

- How do you KNOW what the right keywords are to write content with? – And most importantly: Do you feel reasonably sure you can get some of your pages ranking on the first page of Google and/or Yahoo?

Do not fool yourself! Those questions must be answered before beginning any site. Otherwise, you could very well be wasting your time. Then, when you get no results, you will quit Internet marketing out of frustration. (I see that happen all the time.) Follow tried and proven methods, stay focused, and have patience.

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Too often beginners do things unknowingly which can result in their site being banned by Google. Here is a short audio about how to avoid this disaster!

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[ NOTE: This post applies to Work At Home Dads too ]

A large number of my clients and followers are either work-at-home-moms or are working toward that goal.

I probably don’t need to detail all the benefits a stay-at-home-mom enjoys; I know how greatly my family life improved when my wife was able to remain home.

Things were MUCH easier and MUCH less stressful for the both us (and we did not even have small children at home).

Plain and simple, when both husband and wives go off to work all day, things can be stressful. Add a child or two or four, and the stress goes up exponentially!

Beginning an Internet business is perfect for stay-at-home-moms! I suggest that any income earned from online ventures be thought of as “extra money”. A family’s financial situation should be stable enough to support the family without depending upon future online income… at least for a while anyway.

It takes time to build a successful Internet business, and the stress of feeling “under the gun” to produce an income creates negative energy which will greatly hamper success.

Here are a few reasons why Internet marketing is perfect for stay-at-home-moms:

• There is very little risk involved in getting started. One can begin a website and be successful with VERY little money.

No other business offers as much potential with such a limited downside! (CactusCanyon.com, our retail business is where we began our success online; it was started with a domain name, $3.95/month hosting, and a case of products costing $200!) • An Internet connection is required of course, but most families already are paying for the connection anyway. Dial-up will work, broadband is better.

• Internet marketing offers a flexible schedule. I realize stay-at-home-moms are limited with spare time…especially if they have younger children. However, imagine trying to build the online business while having a full time job outside of the home! A mom at home can always steal away 15 or 20 minutes here and there…sometimes maybe an hour or so at nap times!

• Any goal is achievable (I like this part best). Whether one’s goal is a few hundred dollars per month or a few thousand or more per month, Internet marketing makes it entirely possible. Be aware though, the initial learning process is still about the same. Also remember that the first $100 of income is the toughest…it gets much easier after that!

• The Internet is here to stay. The rewards of building an online business while the kids are home will continue growing long after they’ve left the nest!

Nothing about Internet marketing is difficult. However, there are many pieces to the puzzle; this aspect of online marketing is what scares many people off. At first these many pieces are simply vague concepts which can easily rattle anyone’s self-confidence.

It’s at this very point where the vast majority of beginners make the fatal mistake of trying to skim over the basics and then fall for a get-rich-quick scam. Many of the scams promise instant riches with little work and even less experience. I try my best to educate people about these.

No one who is successful in Internet marketing became that way with a “system” they purchased. Knowledge is what allows success. Please remember the old saying: If something sounds too good to be true, it is! There are no shortcuts to success.

How a Stay-at-Home-Mom Can Get Started:

First:
Reading and studying is the first step! There are many websites, forums, and blogs where successful people are ready and willing to help you…like right here! Right away the beginner is severely handicapped by her lack of Internet marketing knowledge. The first step toward success must deal with this knowledge gap.

Before attempting to “find something to sell”, before starting to build a website or picking out a domain name, before opening an eBay store, before all else, one must insure they have a basic education of Internet marketing concepts.

Next:
Continue reading and studying, but now begin working on skills. First and foremost are web design skills. Beware of claims that a website is not needed for success.

Yes, it is true; some people are able to make money without a site. However, I can’t emphasize enough how important simple web design skills are.

It is EXTREMELY difficult to make money online without the ability to create landing pages and at least small websites (or blogs). My wife and I would be at a job right now if it were not for our web design skills!

Start by simply creating a hobby site.

It does not matter if the site is related to a future business; just have fun with it while learning. The object is not to make money right away, remember. Web design skills will be part of a solid foundation for future success!

Continuing On:

Continue reading, studying and learning web design skills (this process never stops). Another must-have skill is SEO – Search Engine Optimization. Traffic is the key to any successful Internet business. Although there are other methods for driving visitors to websites, nothing beats having a site rank well in Google and Yahoo! SEO skills can ensure free advertising in the search engines.

Otherwise, site owners face an uphill battle of constantly working for traffic; it is far easier in the long run to use SEO to rank well in the search engines.

Putting it All Together

More than likely the first idea will not be one which eventually makes your money. Actually, it is very unlikely it will. That is what makes Internet marketing so great! It is very easy to run with an idea, see the problems with it, tweak it or simply start with a new one.

This is how it works with Internet marketing; “fail fast” and learn from the tests (we like to call it “testing” and not failing).

It is very important every beginner understands this aspect of Internet marketing. All successful Internet entrepreneurs have far more “failures” than successes. The good news is that a “failure” doesn’t hurt much monetarily and the successes can be substantial.

Finding a Niche

I go into great detail in my products about what makes a great niche. There is quite a bit to it, but most important is that the beginner has knowledge of the niche area and finds the niche interesting. This is important because content creation is necessary. Content is king on the Internet and it is far easier to spend time creating website content about a subject which is interesting and when a knowledge base for it may already exist.

On must understand the criteria for choosing a potentially successful niche. This is not a guessing game. There are no guarantees, but we like to be reasonably sure we have a chance of profiting with a give niche before plowing the required work into it.

One major mistake beginners make is to think too broad. Promoting a very broad area is simply not practical with beginners’ skills. In other words, being successful with a site about babies is simply impossible; that is too large of area with too much competition. However, a niche site about “baby allergies” is very doable! I spent some time doing keyword research in the area as a matter of fact.

Here is an idea a work-at-home-mom could take and run with if she has some interest and knowledge of the area.

A quick look shows that if proper SEO techniques are used, these keywords could prove very successful at driving traffic:

“baby allergies”
“baby allergy”
“baby food allergies”
“baby food allergy”
“baby milk allergies”

Considering the numbers of searches each month for these keywords, along with the number of competing sites, it would not be difficult for a site on that topic to rank well. This is just one idea I use as an example.

There are thousands upon thousands of niche areas just like this waiting for someone to profit from (not just about babies!..but about dogs, nutrition, headaches, gardening, cooking, and the list goes on and on and on!)

Always remember that narrowing the area down to a small niche within a larger topic is the key.

By the way, some may be asking, “How could I make money with a site like that?” Remember, getting traffic is the key. Almost any site with traffic can earn money. For example, simply creating an information site and having Google AdSense on the site will produce an income. How much simply depends upon how many visitors the site receives. There are many ways to make money with a site…once the traffic arrives!

Leave your comments below…I’d love to hear from you!

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Upon first glance, it may be difficult to see twitter’s potential as a marketing tool. For example, I had a twitter account for 5 or 6 months before I was finally convinced to take it seriously.

Once I began using it as one of my top marketing tools, it soon became my #1 lead generation source AND my #1 source for new sales!

Quite impressive I’d say!

I highly encourage every Internet marketer consider using it as one of their marketing methods. The traffic generation and relationship building opportunities with twitter are simply awesome!

Here are two basic “how-to” videos to help you get started with twitter:

Realize that it takes most people a while to get into the groove with twitter and fully realize its potential; just get started and hang in there. I promise you the results are outstanding!
You may wonder how I gained so many followers so fast. I was asked so often that I decided to package the answer! TwitterBlast contains over 60 minutes of detailed video outlining my EXACT techniques I use for building a large and targeted following.
The good thing about twitter is that anyone can build a large
following. You don’t need a high-traffic site or a list to begin rapidly building followers!

Here’s the link to TwitterBlast.

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When you first thought about venturing into the world of Internet marketing, you no doubt were looking at the many benefits and opportunities online businesses could offer. Then, after jumping in, you realized that success may take a little more time and work than expected.

If you have been giving your business plenty of time and effort and still aren’t seeing good results, I may have an answer for you as to why things seem to be moving so slowly. I work with many beginners and I see many of them falling into the same ruts and routines which prevent them from enjoying the success they seek.
Of course you first have to ask yourself if you are giving your business an adequate amount of time and effort. If you don’t feel you are, then that is another matter.

However, if you feel like you are working hard without seeing good results; the problem in most cases is focus.
I am assuming you have already taken my Internet Marketing Crash Course and have read or watched more than a few of my tutorials…at least enough to have a general idea of what Internet marketing requires.

If you still feel things are progressing at a snail’s pace, take a look at the focus issue.
Here is what I mean:
You know that traffic is the key to your success. You also know there are many ways to generate traffic. You know how beneficial search engine optimization can be. You understand the power of article marketing. You realize that AdWords is tough, but it can also be very rewarding.

You read how Twitter, Digg, My Space, and other social sites can generate large amounts of traffic. You have heard about Google’s love affair with Squidoo (although that is somewhat over now).
OK you get my point. You KNOW a lot about this stuff. You KNOW it takes work and you are more than up for the task.
Here might be a sample of your weekly routine:
You write and optimize a page or two of content for your site. You submit an article to EzineArticles. You tweak an AdWords campaign you are trying to make work. You post to Twitter once a day or so.

You update your MySpace page and added another page to your Squidoo lenses.
You feel like you put in a honest week’s worth of work. Just like last week and the week before that and the week before that and….
You know where I am coming from there too don’t you!
OK. You worked hard. But here is the problem.

In almost every aspect of Internet marketing, results from any one method are greatly enhanced as more effort is added to a given method. 10 hours of work spread across 6 or 7 different marketing methods will yield far fewer results than 10 hours focused on just one method; results began multiplying instead of simply adding up.
All 6 or 7 of the marketing methods you use are valid and help make countless Internet marketers very rich. However, you are only one person.

If you try and spread your efforts across all those traffic generating techniques, you will surely be disappointed with the results.
Instead, evaluate your time and choose just one or two of the methods and hit it or them hard with Relentless Focused Action!

Even if you only can do one at a time, you will see more results from that one method then you saw from the times you were attempting them all.
I won’t attempt to tell you which methods to use; they all can be very good traffic generating methods. In most cases, SEO should be the foundation.

However, the other methods work too. If Twitter is your thing, go for it! If you really get into writing and submitting articles, then go full steam ahead there. Pick methods you like. Otherwise, you won’t do them justice.

Test this for yourself. Take a look at where you are right now. Focus some intense marketing on just a method or two for a few months and watch the results. I guarantee you will see what I mean when I say Relentless Focused Action is the key to your success.

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Always think BIG when planning your Internet business! Always keep the desired results in mind. However, the BEST way to achieve GREAT results is to actually “think small.”

The Internet is a big place; a REALLY big place! This is both great news and not so great news. On one hand your potential market is huge. On the other hand the competition is also giant. You must know your limitations when competing on the Internet.

What exactly do I mean by a niche area? Let’s take the category of dogs. Say you wanted to make an all around site about dogs in general. Do you know there are 137 million sites which show up when you search “dogs” in Google? What chance would you or I have in ever showing up on the first or second page?

The amount of time and effort required for success with “dogs” is mind boggling! However, what if you wanted to specialize in “dog training videos”? There are only 137,000 sites with that phrase. It is absolutely possible for you or me to show up on the first page for that keyword with a fraction of the work required for the “dogs” keyword.

I see people making this mistake all the time. They think that by targeting a broad term, they will have a better chance of getting traffic. After all, there are over 35,000 searches per day for the term “dogs”. There are only a few hundred searches per day for “dog training videos.”

Let me ask you this: Do you want to show up on page 86 (at best) for the term “dogs”. Or would you like to be on page 1 for “dog training videos”?

Also, always remember there are usually sub-niches within your chosen niche. “Bird dog hunting”, “police dog training”, “hunting dog training”…and the list goes on.

Find a small niche you know a lot about and then hit it hard! There is a good chance you can even become the authority site for that niche in Google’s eyes!

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How many of these are working against your success?

1.    “I’m a failure” -  Many people simply can’t handle failure.
Successful Internet marketers call the failure process “testing”.  Failing is part of the game…get used to it and learn from those failures.

2.    Too many of you get stuck on trying one thing. The chances of that one thing working are pretty small…I don’t care what it is…the odds are against that idea of working. I don’t mean to have ten things going at once, but you need more than just one. This is especially true in the early stages when you are still finding what you are best at.

3.    You aren’t able to devote the time needed to succeed (and it takes a LOT of time) because you haven’t succeeded at getting your spouse to “buy in” to the idea. You NEED your spouse on your side while you are trying to build your business…trust me on this one.

4.    Are you unorganized? Do you waste precious time finding lost passwords or trying to remember where you saved something? Take stock of your organizational skills and fix the problems if there are some.

5.    Many of you think you can simply “Buy” your way to success. It can’t be done. There isn’t a product out there which will make you successful…not one. There are products which can guide and teach you, but in the end it is you who must put all the pieces together.

6.    Are you handicapping yourself because you think you can’t learn how to build simple and effective web pages? Or you think you don’t have enough time to learn such basic skills. If either of these is really true, than Internet marketing success in general will be a very long road for you.

7.    Many of you tell me a friend or relative says getting ranked well in Google costs a lot of money…or some other nonsense like that. You believe them because of who they are…not because of what they know about Internet marketing. Be careful of such well-wishers’ advice.

8.    Do you think building a list is something you’ll start doing after you are successful? Stop whatever else you are doing right now! Put a list building strategy in place today! Even if you don’t see a way to use a list yet, you will.

9.    For some reason, I hear many of you say you don’t want to sell anything of your own. You only want to promote affiliate products, etc. That’s OK, but you may be putting blinders on to fantastic opportunities around you. Are you really telling me that you wouldn’t sell anything of your own even if it meant spectacular success? I don’t think so. Keep your mind open to all possibilities!

10.    The TOP reason for failure is spending FAR too much time early on trying to make a few bucks here and there. This wastes time which could be spent learning the basic skills and concepts of Internet marketing for future success. Look at the big picture. Don’t get sidetracked on such short sightedness. If you hope to be very successful a year from now, you won’t reach that success by putting too much effort into make-a-profit-today schemes.

Be honest with yourself as you read these again. Recognize where you might improve. Remember, Relentless Focused Action will guarantee your success!

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Have you ever had a brick and mortar business failure? I have and it was NOT a fun experience. The painful losses may be what drove me to online marketing. The Internet offers the most attractive risk vs. reward equation you will ever find…period.

Here’s what I mean:

We began CactusCanyon.com with a $3.95 a month hosting package with GoDaddy. The domain name cost us $9.95 for a year.

We bought the first case of product at a wholesale price of $200. We made our first sale in a few weeks with the new website. (Needless to say, I was a bit excited!) We only purchased one case at a time for several weeks. I was determined NOT to “over extend” myself as I had done with the brick and mortar business.

Soon, the profits allowed us to buy 2 cases at a time…then 3…then 5…and it just kept growing!
My marketing was 99% SEO, so there were basically no marketing costs. Google loved the site and we loved Google. We learned a lot fast. All about credit cards, shopping carts, shipping, etc.

It was (and still is) a fun ride. After two years of running the business at night and on the weekends, my wife quit her job. The next year I quit mine and then began Weber Internet Marketing.

Could there be a better risk vs. reward example? If you have one, let me know. I’m having the time of my life right now and would love to have you on board! Click here for more information about  Platinum Memberships.

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