Beginners to Internet marketing often ask me how long success will take. Some even ask specific questions like “How long will it take me earn $50,000 per year?”

Some might say there is no way I could answer that question.

Allow me to give it a try. Short of pure luck, how long does it take to build a $50,000 per year Internet business?

Let’s assume one is starting from total scratch without knowing the difference between HTML and SEO. More likely than not a full time job will be a huge obstacle; evenings and weekends will be the only time to spend on learning and building the new online career.

That being said, just how long will it take?

One of the first steps will be learning web design. I’d estimate 1 or 2 months of learning and practice are required in order to be proficient enough to create acceptable sites and landing pages. I am NOT talking about spending only a few hours each weekend and an evening or two during the week! This will require a LOT of work!

Any spare time during those first few months of learning web design should be spent studying search engine optimization, list building techniques, writing sales copy, etc.

After practicing web design and studying the basics of Internet marketing, its time to find a niche market to focus the newly acquired skills and knowledge on.

By the third or fourth month a website should be well into development. Content is king! Not only will much content have to be written, it has to be optimized correctly with SEO techniques.

A small, very niche site might easily produce a thousand dollars per month of profit. Making four thousand per month will require a larger niche or multiple sites. The larger the niche is the more difficult and the more time it will take to rank well in the search engines.

It could take 4 or 5 months to get a few pages ranking well in a niche with moderate competition. This is the best case scenario and will require massive action if in fact it does happen. (Tiny niches can rank much faster but have lower potential.) What do I mean by massive action? Getting up an hour earlier each morning, working almost every evening, and spending the best part of each weekend working the business will be required in the beginning.

Hint: Your spouse NEEDS to be on board with you in all this!

I think it is fair to say that after twelve months of focused action it is possible a site or set of sites could be earning $500 to $1000 per month on a consistent basis. Some people will earn much more and some will earn far less after that first year. However, I think $1000 per month is a reasonable number for someone who started from scratch.

The good news is that once one learns how to make that first $1000 per month, things become much easier!

At that point, all that is usually required is to “wash, rinse and repeat” in order to continue growing.

I feel safe in saying that once the $1000 threshold is reached, it should be reasonable to expect doubling it over each of the next few years. Therefore, by year two, the numbers might be up to $2000 per month consistently. Then, by year three I think it’s reasonable to see it double again. That would be near the $50,000 per year mark.

As I said, some people will have far greater success and even more will simply quit before the end of the first year. However, I think this timeline is reasonable to use as a goal.

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