60 Solid Tips For Internet Marketing Success

Let's begin...These are in no special order. Use what you can...discard what's not important to you. This is mostly for people first starting out.

1. Focus on ONE thing - Don't try to do affiliate marketing, create your own product, learn every blessed form of advertising on the planet, master web design, figure out how to use Camtasia, master article and copywriting, and I could go on and on...all at once. One thing at a time.

In an episode of MASH, when Winchester first came on the show, he said to Hawkeye and BJ, "I do one thing at a time...I do it very well...and then I move on." There is a lesson to be learned in this. If you try to do too much at one time, you get frustrated and end up doing nothing.

2. Make a damn schedule! - Don't get up in the morning and ask yourself "What am I going to do today?" You should already know. This should be written out somewhere or put into a scheduler (plenty of these for your PC) and you should check it first thing in the morning. As you do each task, check it off. When your tasks for the day are done, THEN you can improvise...NOT before.

3. Get your desktop organized - How much time have you wasted looking for that book on Adwords because you don't remember where on your PC you put it? You should have a folder for everything. I'm not going to try to design a system for you because everybody is different. But generally I have one folder called ebooks and inside that folder I have subfolders by topic, Adwords, list building, testing and tracking, and so on. This way, I can find ALL my books on a subject...easily. It will save you HOURS of work.

4. Learn how to write...well! - I don't care what anybody says. Communication on the Internet is almost all of your business. Think about it. You write autoresponder followups, emails ads, sales copy, articles, even the correspondence to prospects emailing you with questions. Everything comes down to how well you effectively communicate with others. Sure, you can outsource all this stuff. But you better have some pretty deep pockets if you're going to outsource it all.

5. Learn basic design skills. - Graphics cost a fortune. Photoshop is $700. With a little persistence and time, you can easily design ecovers and headers that are good enough. I now do all my own design for my sites and it hasn't hurt my sales in the least. If anything, my latest product is selling better than any of my previous ones and I did all the graphics myself. It's not that hard. It's a valuable skill that will save you tons of money if you create a lot of products...which brings me to number 6.

6. Make your own products - Yeah, I know...you can make a lot of money as an affiliate marketer. You can make more money selling your own products. Think about it. The latest great product comes out and you decide to jump on the bandwagon and sell it along with every other Tom, Dick and Sally. You're going up against some of the biggest names in the business. You're only going to get so much of that pie. With your own products, it's all yours PLUS you have others selling it for you. Just no comparison between affiliate marketing and having your own products. I quadrupled my income once I created my first product after doing affiliate marketing for 2 years.

7. Advertising - I don't care if you have the greatest product and the greatest looking web site in the whole world. If nobody knows about it, you're just as broke as if you didn't have it. There are tons of advertising methods out there. Learn them ALL. Yes, one at a time, but learn them ALL. You can NEVER have enough advertising. This is what I spend a good part of my day on, next to number 9...

8. Eliminate Negativity – The family and friends who tell you that you’ll never amount to anything. You know what I am talking about. This is a killer. More people than you can imagine have given up on trying for success because everybody they knew tried to talk them out of it saying that they wouldn’t ever make it. This is probably one of the biggest contributors to failure. Tune it out…completely. You don’t have to be nasty to the people who want to destroy your dreams but don’t give in to them either. I can’t stress this enough. If you can do this ONE thing…the other 59 tips become a lot easier.

9. Write articles - Tons of them. Write until your fingers are numb. 67% of my income comes from articles that I have either submitted to Ezine Articles, guest authored on somebody's blog or posted on my own blog or site. Most of my day is spent writing. It costs you nothing but your time. Don't have the time? Have the money? Outsource it then. But generate as much content as you can. As it adds up, it brings in more money.

10. Build Relationships - This is easy to do. Do NOT approach people for JVs. Contact them and say, "Hey, how can I help you? No strings attached." You'll be surprised how many friends you make that way. I won't do any name dropping here because that's just tacky, but I have made a lot of friends this past year with some big names because I went out of my way to do something for them. Not all turned into JVs, but these people will remember my generosity. Give and you will get.

11. Finish what you start - So many people will start on a project, get so far, and lose interest or they don't know what to do next. Force yourself to finish what you start. It doesn't have to be perfect right out of the gate for crying out loud. It just has to be good enough to get out there.

12. Don't burn your bridges - You're not always going to agree with everything that somebody says and if somebody criticizes you for something, don't lash out at them. You never know when you're going to need that person down the road. There are nice ways to settle disagreements without slinging mud.

13. Be Professional In Your Business Dealings - You may make friends online, but when you're doing business, it's still business. So treat it as a business. If you're doing a JV, get a contract. If you're writing to somebody about anything concerning business, the tone of the email should be businesslike, not personal. This draws the line between the two and keeps it there.

14. Take Time To Relax - You're going to have those times when you just can't think of the next article to write, or the next line of copy, or whatever. Don't force it! Get away from the damn computer. Go for a walk. Do something. Just don't focus on work. Eventually, it will come to you.

15. Backups - I've literally lost my business because when I first started I didn't back things up. And don't just rely on one backup. Have several. External drive, off site, etc. You can never be too protected. I had 2 PCs crash in 3 days on me just recently (after I got my sh*t together). I was still protected.

16. Keep Your Eyes Open - The Internet changes daily. Keep your eyes open for anything new that can help you with your business. I'm not saying to jump on every new fad. I'm talking about information that is going to be critical to your business, such as changes in laws, changes in policies at Adwords. Know why people got Google slapped? They didn't read Google's changing policies. It's all there. Just read it.

17. Niche Research - New niches are coming out everyday. By staying on top of what's hot, if you're a Bum Marketer, this is an easy way to make a few bucks quickly, easily and with no expense.

18. Make a blog - Not just make a blog, but make it and update it regularly. Look at the top blogs, PR wise, on the Internet. Then take a look at how much content they have. That's how they got there. Content is king, queen, pope and overall ruler of the universe. Don't forget it.

19. Firewall and Anti Virus - The Internet is just plain dangerous...period! I've had more problems with trojans and viruses than I can shake a stick at. Since getting good firewall and anti virus software, I can't remember the last time I had any problems. This is a must if you're going to be online.

20. Blacklisting - If you have your own domains and products, and especially if you have affiliates promoting you, you MUST check to see if you're blacklisted regularly. You can do this at URIBL.com. Getting off the blacklist is easy. At least I haven't had any problems, though some have reported it takes forever for them to get around to you. Still, this is something you MUST do.

21. Web Hosting - Keep an eye on your web hosting service. Always know what they're doing, if they make any changes, if they install a new cpanel, or whatever. Keep an eye on your bandwidth. Try to anticipate any problems with your hosting before they happen.

22. Domains - Make sure you do NOT let your domains lapse unless you want them to. Here's a tip. If you're pretty sure that this is a domain that you're going to want for the long haul, wrap it up for 10 years right at the start. Then you don't have to worry about it down the road for some time. Also, keep records of when each of your domains is about to expire. Renew before that date.

23. Adwords - Don't even bother with it unless you REALLY know what you're doing. Adwords can eat up your advertising budget in a flash. If you have to pay somebody to train you, do it. Just have him prove that he knows his stuff. Have him send you screen prints, or better yet, videos of his accounts. I am speaking from experience. Adwords can eat you alive. Want to dabble in PPC? Use one of the cheaper services first to get a feel for it. Then when you think you're ready, move on to Adwords.

24. Keep Your Head - This is an up and down business and things happen. If you let yourself get too high, when the sh*t hits the fan, you're going to fall so far you might not get back up. If you go into this understanding that there are going to be good days and bad days and not let yourself get too high up or too low, you'll do much better in the long run.

25. Forums - These are gold mines for not only learning, but networking. Treat these forums with the respect that they deserve. You may not agree with all the rules. Too bad. They are not a democracy. So if you want to get the benefits out of them, you'll tow the line. It's that simple. The rewards in return can not even be measured in terms of how much success you'll have.

26. Be Honest - If you lie, eventually, you'll be found out. See, it's hard to keep all the lies straight because lies are things you have to remember. But the truth is easy because it's the truth. You don't have to remember the truth. Don't lie...not ever.

27. Customer Service - The customer is always right...period. Even if he's wrong, he's right. You're not going to change his mind with negativity. However, if you apologize for your mistake (even if it's his fault) and even go out of your way to make it up to him, you'll be surprised how many customers you end up keeping because of this.

28. Branding Yourself - So many people when they start their business, especially if they're getting into affiliate marketing, don't take the time to really create an identity for themselves. I did this from the very beginning by branding myself as the "no nonsense marketer", somebody who would tell it like it is no matter how many feathers I ruffled. And believe me, I ruffled quite a few. If you don't stand out, nobody is going to remember who you are.

29. Establishing Credibility - The Internet has gotten to the point where nobody believes anything anymore. So it is critical to establish as much credibility for yourself as you can. This is easier said than done, I admit, especially when first starting. But there are ways to do this. When first starting out, if you're promoting your own product, give it out free
to some people and let them try it. Let them see the value in it. If they do, most likely they'll provide you with testimonials that will help towards building your credibility. It won't happen overnight, but it's something you should be working on everyday because the more credibility you have the easier it's going to be for you to make sales.

30. Testing And Tracking - You put 20 ads out on the Internet and make a few sales. Problem is, you have no idea which ad brought in the sale. So how do you know which ad to kill and which ad to keep running? You don't. Testing and tracking, with so many variables to running a business, is so important that I can't stress it enough. This applies to ads, sales pages, or anything where you are deciding between using X or Y. leave this out at your own risk.

31. Not All PLR Is Junk - I can't believe all the PLR bashing I see day after day. PLR is only as good as what YOU do with it. If you take a PLR ebook on whatever subject it is, and rewrite it extensively, give it a new title and really dress it up, as long as the basic info in it is solid, you can have a killer product that is easy to sell, provided there is a market for it in the first place and that market isn't jam packed with everybody in creation going after it. Point is, PLR in itself is not bad. It's the lazy people who don't know what to do with it. PLR, acquired properly and with some thought, and used the way it's supposed to be used, can make for a very profitable niche business.

32. Outsourcing - Be very careful when you do this. Get everything in writing as far as what is to be done and when it's expected to be completed by. Yes, things happen, but as a paying customer you have the right to expect your work to be done on time and with the quality that you are paying for. Expect no less.

33. Study Buyer Psychology - Take as many courses as you can in this area. If you don't understand why people buy things, you can't sell to them. People do not buy things because they need them. They buy things because they think they will make their lives better. Then they justify the purchase by telling themselves they needed it. It's more complex than this, obviously, but that's the 2 cent tour. Study this. Your business will increase ten-fold because of it.

34. Protect Your Work - Thieves are everywhere. Just go to any of those crap share sites and you'll find your work all over the place. You can't absolutely prevent theft as somebody who is determined to steal your work will do it, but there are measures you can take to make it more difficult for them such as DLGuard and Willie Crawford's new HotLinkALARM. Use something...anything. Just don't let thieves have free access to your stuff without at least giving them a little trouble.

35. Build Your List - No, it is not a cliche. I sometimes make $500 in a day just sending an email to my list. The key is not to bombard them with offers day after day. Give them quality content, treat them with respect and then when you DO have something to offer, they are more likely to be receptive to it. Take a lesson from Paul Myers who probably has the best newsletter in the business.

36. Carry Around A Notebook - Or something. I can't tell you how many times I came up with an idea while I was out taking a walk. If I had a notebook or something with me, I could have jotted it down instead of having to hope I remembered it when I got home. Many times, I did not. Today, I have my little pad and I take it everywhere. This little pad banked me over $1700 in 4 days.

37. Don't Give Away Your Traffic For Pennies - Adsense fans can bite me on this one. Why give away your traffic for pennies, when instead you can replace those Adsense ads with affiliate links and make some real money. Yes, if Adsense is the only way to monetize your niche, sure. But if there are products you can sell, sell them. A good review will sell more products than all your Adsense clicks combined. After using Adsense myself for over 2 years and actually testing this out on one site, I can honestly say my ebook sales out perform my Adsense earnings by a mile.

38. Be Aware Of Scams - I'm talking about all kinds. Not just the crap programs that are out there, but the phishing emails that go around trying to get your PayPal and Clickbank passwords. You have got to be aware of what's out there or you can literally lose all your money in a heartbeat. This is probably one of the most important things you need to do in order to function online. One wrong email opened and replied to can literally be the end for you. If in doubt, when receiving an email, report it to PayPal or Clickbank or whoever to make sure it really came from them.

39. Proof EVERYTHING - I'm not just talking about your ebooks. I'm talking about everything you do, including your emails you send out. Make sure the link to your site is working and typed in correctly. All errors that you make that go undetected are negatives against you in the eyes of your prospect. It doesn't matter if this is fair or not. If a prospect finds a broken link in your email, the first thing he's going to think is, "Boy, can't even get a link right." Yes, you have to be as close to perfect as you can because people are very critical. They look for reasons not to buy from you. Don't give them any.

40. Know Your Payment Processor's Rules - Telling them you didn't know or you didn't read it when they suspend your account for whatever you do, is no excuse. They don't care. Yes, their TOS is gazillion pages long. Tough. Read every word unless you want to end up with your account suspended and all your money gone in the process.

41. Don't Ignore Public Domain - Disney made his fortune ALL off of public domain works. That's right. All his characters were all based off of public domain works. There is a ton of stuff out there that, with just a little modernizing, can be turned into a profit. For example, take an old public domain novel, get together with a graphic artist and render the story with photos. That's just one of many ideas.

42. Get A Mentor - No, I'm not talking about begging somebody to help you. I'm talking about digging into your pocketbook and finding somebody who has a proven solid mentoring program and use it. I don't know why people are so adverse to this. They'll spend $150,000 on a near worthless college education because they're taking political science and don't want to be a political scientist, lawyer or whatever it is you do with political science, yet they won't spend a few thousand dollars on a mentor who will actually teach them some skills that could make them a nice living. No, I'm not in the market for tutoring so don't even go there. But there are those who do this professionally. Ask one to take you under his or her wing. If you're serious about putting in the time, they just might give you a break on the price.

43. Think Residual Income - It's so much easier to get a person to spend $X month after month on a service that you're offering than to try to find new customers all the time. Membership sites do take a bit of work to put together, but in the long run, you'll be making an income off of doing the basic work one time. You don't have to be an Aweber to be successful. A small PLR products membership, or maybe a lead generation site like a Traffic Wave is a steady income earner. It beats having to create new products every 3 months unless you have something that is so incredible that people will be buying it forever. Not many of those around.

44. Get A Good Solid Handle On IM Terms - When people starting talking about things like SEO and backlinks or whatever, don't sit there scratching your head wondering what they're talking about. Bone up on your IM terms. There are a ton of them, so you've got your work cut out for you. There's a site that has a pretty good list of them at http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/.

45. Make The Most Of The Tools Available - I'm not saying that you have to purchase or use everything that's out there, but there are some tools that will make your job a whole lot easier. These tools run the gamut from keyword research to ecover creators. Get what you need but make sure that you're going to use it. Too many people get a tool just because it's the thing to have but have no real use for it. This is a waste of money and time, even if it's free. Every tool I have on my PC I use. If I download something to try and decide I have no use for it, I delete it from my hard drive. I don't want more crap cluttering up my desktop.

46. Multiple Streams Of Income - I don't care what it is you're selling, unless it's life itself. And even then, some people don't want to live forever if it means having to deal with the lunatics running the asylum. In order to prevent your income from drying out overnight, it's a good idea to make sure you have more than one way of making money. I have so much stuff out there, I can just about keep track of it all. But at least I know that if one thing goes South on me I have plenty of backups.

47. Video...Video - There is a reason that YouTube is ranked 4 at Alexa. People go there, in droves. If you can find some way to present your opportunity in video form, do it. You'll get a lot of traffic quickly if it's in a hot niche. Don't neglect this important aspect of marketing.

48. Stay Away From The Make Money Niche - If you're just starting out and have no credibility, stay away from the make money niche. You can't teach people how to make money online unless you've done it yourself. At least test out your "theories" before you present them to others. In the meantime, there are so many easier ways to make money online...niches that are much less competitive.

49. Read Your Spam Emails - NO, I am not kidding. They may be spam, but many of these spammers have killer email pitches. Learn something from them. Also do the same thing from the lists you belong to. Join the top ones. These marketers making 7 figures a year are literally putting out their advertising secrets right on the table for you. You can learn more from their emails than all the high priced ebooks in creation.

50. Don't Wait Until You're Desperate - So many people come here and scream that they lost their job and need to make money FAST. It doesn't work that way. Building a business online takes time and there is no quick fix. Don't wait until you HAVE to make money to decide you want to do it. Go about starting a business in a systematic way and you'll be much better off. It's a lot harder to work under extreme pressure. Believe me, I know. I am speaking from experience. Don't do what I did.

51. Set Realistic Goals - Don't start your business on January 1 and expect to be making 5 figures a month by February 1. This takes time. Set realistic goals. I started out by saying I just want to make my first sale. That alone took me 5 months. Then my next goal was to make a few hundred dollars a month, and so on. Last year I broke 6 figures. I still don't believe it. It seemed just like yesterday when I couldn't do anything right because I didn't know my butt from a hole in the wall. Set realistic goals. It will lessen the disappointment you'll experience if you don't make some lofty income mark.

52. Know When To Give Up - I don't mean specifically when to give up on IM totally. I mean, know when to give up on a certain idea. If you've created a product and you've promoted the heck out of it and it seems that nobody wants the thing no matter what you try, eventually you have to reach a point where you've decided that you've realistically put in a sufficient enough time into this project and it's time to just let it go. Otherwise, you could be spending the rest of your life on something that just won't sell. Of course, if you've done your market research, this shouldn't be a problem too often.

53. Barter - There's going to be things that you will need that you won't be able to afford at the start. So take stock of your skills and resources and try to barter them. I'm not saying this is easy because some people just want to be paid for the work they do or the product they sell you. But if you have a really marketable skill such as copywriting, you can use this to barter for just about anything. This is also a great way to build relationships.

54. Know The Law - Or get a lawyer. Doing something illegal, even if you didn't know it was, is no excuse and you're going to get in hot water regardless. Before you do anything that you think might be a legal problem, get advice. This goes for everything from disclaimers on sales pages to JV agreements.

55. Get Your Own Safelist Or FFA Page - People in the IM niche join safelists and post FFA ads. It is a fact of life. I've been monitoring these lists for 5 years and they never run out of people. By running your own safelist or FFA program, you can have access to thousands of people who will ultimately wind up on your list. This method alone generates 10% of my monthly income and I hardly have to do anything.

56. Learn From Your Competition - I laugh when people talk about secrets. Want to learn about copywriting? Go hunt out the top ranked product at Clickbank and study the sales copy. Want to know how to put together a killer blog? Go do a search for PR 7 blogs and see how they're put together. You'll probably find tons of content and a great layout. There are no secrets, because every one of these "secrets" has to be used to be effective. And when they're used, in some manner, shape or form, they're out there. You just have to dig deep enough to find them.

57. Don't Take Everything You Hear As Gospel - Including this thread. That's right. This is just one man's opinion. Whatever you hear, whatever is said to you, take it with a grain of salt and from the source from which it came. In the final analysis, do your own testing of a theory. Some things are more obvious than others. Others will take some doing to really get down to the truth. Even the part of this thread that says focus on one thing. Hell, some people can do 10 things at once and do them all well. I don't know how. I can't. But again, see what works for you.

58. There Is No Such Thing As Saturation - Yes, some niches have more competition than others, that's true. But there is no such thing as "There's too many people in this niche...I have nobody to sell to." You will ALWAYS have somebody to sell to. How well you do will depend on how well you listen to the other 59 tips of this post.

59. Think Crossover - Some of the biggest hits of all time in the pop music world were crossover hits. They appealed to both country western fans and rock fans. Or maybe R&B fans and rock fans. Crossover products are not easy to come by, such as an Aweber, which appeals to just about anybody earning a living online or running a business. But if you can come up with a crossover hit, you've got it made.

60. Be Yourself - No matter what you do or say, be yourself. Don't say something to somebody because you think it's what they want to hear. Don't try to be something you're not. It's okay to admit your weaknesses. I'm a techno dunce. I hate using software and scripts because I just don't relate well to that kind of stuff. I'm a writer primarily. I learned enough programming in school to be dangerous, but I don't consider myself a technical person. So I have no problem saying to somebody, "Hey, I need help with this because it's above me." Nobody is going to think less of you because you admit you don't know something.

Also along the lines of being yourself, don't try to come off as a hot shot if you're not. People will read right through you. I am no guru. I am not even close. I work very hard to make the income that I make. I'm not particularly smart when it comes to being really creative. I get a lot of my ideas from other people. I write many of my articles based on other people's questions. I need a little push to get me to think of things sometimes. I am not a creative person by any stretch of the imagination. That's why I failed in a career as a songwriter. I could make the notes, but I really couldn't create something really good.

This was a long report and a lot to absorb. So take your time with it. Remember tip 1.

Focus on ONE thing at a time.
 
Conclusion

I personally am sick of all the people online who are just out to make a buck and don’t care about the quality of the work they put out. If you know me, you know I am not like that, which is why I promote so few things. If I say something is good, you can believe that it is. That’s not to say that it’s going to be for everybody.

It is my hopes that this report and the material that comes with it helps you to build your business to what YOU want it to be.  Please remember to visit www.downloadpub.com for your FREE Internet Marketing Guides. I am adding new, fresh tips daily. If you ever want to email me, I always reply to them. Just send an email to:

tim@downloadpub.com

I truly want to help you succeed.

To YOUR Success,

Tim Christian Miller- www.DownloadPub.com