You can now create a website in about five minutes. You can sign up at a blogging platform, write your first post and read it online instantly. The next day, you can receive your approval email from Google, and the same day see your very first AdSense click.
The first building blocks of your Internet business can be incredibly fast. But don't let them fool you. Building that business so that it has firm foundations, multiple and reliable revenue streams, and a future that will let you quit your J.O.B. and work on your own terms takes time.
It takes time to build traffic. It takes time to test and optimize ad strategies. It takes time to figure out what your readers want to see and which topics deliver the best responses. It takes time to figure out which affiliate products to offer and how to offer them. It takes time to build a mailing list. It takes time to create new sites so that you're spreading your business.
It even takes time to figure out how to find the time to do all of these things.
I understand you want success now. Everyone does. But the kind of success that can come overnight is the kind that's also spent by the end of the day.
Real success -- lasting success - requires planning and a long-term strategy.
Work begins on each edition of My Top One Report at least two months before we send it out. It takes time to commission, write and edit the articles, then lay out and print the magazine.
I have a stack of content lined up and ready to go on all my sites, so that there's never any panic about what to post. We can still respond quickly on my personal blog if something important happens -- like a change in the FTC's guidelines -- but on the whole, the system is set up and the content flows online smoothly and according to plan.
And we have strategies in place now that hopefully will put me where I want to be in a year's time.
Of course, things don't always go the way we expect them to. But if you plan for the future and expect success to come only after you've invested time and effort, you should find that you get exactly what you hope for...eventually.
What are your thoughts? Please leave your comments below!
I think most people simply do not have the patience and they give up when something is not making them money right away.
Took me about 7 months until I saw my blog generating cash. My advice have patience and build your blog. In the meantime, don't quit your day job
Joel,
You are spot on, because I have some businesses where I worked on them for years and they are now paying off, while the ones I start now take advantage of the work I have done in the past, so I can get cash flowing from them much faster.
If it weren't for the groundwork I laid out in the previous 3 years, this year would be lean.
Thanks for the KaChing!
Micheal
Good article Joel. There are no get rich scheme only go broke quick!
Every successful business takes, time, dedication and hard work!
Your words are wise counsel. Unfortunately, some believe in living in the now without any thoughts to the future. There is a movement about living in the Now (short term approach) as long as there exists preparation through proper strategies and initiatives. This is poor strategy because there as you mention needs to be a focus on planning for the future both short time and long term. Unfortunately, some will get on this new bandwagon because it appears to be easier than planning for the future (long-term strategy).
Joel,
You're absolutely right. These days when it comes to getting up and running online, all of the obstacles of technology are pretty much gone.
But the reason why many people fail is because they fail to plan.
While having an editorial schedule that is built out months in advance may be a little out of reach for someone just getting started, it is a good idea to have a basic idea of what your model is and how you will get content out on a regular basis; rather than waking up and deciding what you are going to do day to day.
Looking forward to seeing the next issue of the Top One Report.
Sincerely,
Brian T. Edmondson
Great post Joel. The number of times I have wanted success overnight and failed is huge. I've now learnt to calm down, spend profits wisely and ficus on SERPS and traffic building.
Nice article Joel....!!
Wonderful information dude...When I started out online entrepreneurship I thought about becoming millionaire in one year.
But it didn't..
It took one year for reaching income = expense.
Keep posting.. I like your posts.
It is sometimes very hard to focus concentration on a single plan when every moment a "new and shinier" object is sent to your mailbox. Please give me the virtue of patience and narrowed vision to achieve a long time goal !
And agree with Leanne above, many do live in the now for the fast "buck" but hopefully when they are long gone (with a fresh batch arriving every day) we the planners and slow strategists will be still here.
Can't agree more with:
"if you plan for the future and expect success to come only after you've invested time and effort, you should find that you get exactly what you hope for...eventually."
If you do everything needed for your site promotion - a litle bit of everything, one by one - you are bound to succeed.
I have only just started working on my website promotion - only just started! And one of my pages is already the 1st on Google, by a keyword which is not very popular - but it is my 1st step of my site promotion. Very encouraging!
Lena Morrish,
Publisher, InternetBusinessBTS.com
Hi Joel -
You are right - this is the "iceberg theory". Only about 10% of the iceberg is seen, but it is sustained by the 90% of what is not seen.
I have always said (and thought) that any "overnight success" is simply an overnight appearance of what has been building for a long time (the 90% that is hidden).
Of course seed sowing is a similar analogy. So many sow their seeds into their business (get the website up), and then keep pulling up the seed to see if it is growing. Then (as some comments before me pointed out), give up way too early. Lack of patience, as Moneymonk pointed out.
I am working hard on the foundations, and know that one day soon the 10% will rise above the water :-)
Joel,
This happens to be one of the most honest and realistical articles I have read. I am fairly new to Internet business and I can tell that I have my fill with all of these "empty promises" and "fairy tale" offers that lead to dissapointment and frustration. With the "it takes time" approach you presented in this article I believe that more people will wake up and smell the coffee and realize that anything that is worth it's weight in gold will take time to come to fruition! Thanks for the great article.
-Rory
You can start Blogging in seconds. WordPress lets everybody run a blog website without programming or special knowledge. But then knowledge is required to advance and build traffic. Looking forward to your next Top One Report.
Although i am yet to start reaping the benefits of online business,what I am reading and seeing appears incredible.I can't wait to get the bucks rolling in.Please give me inspiration fast.
Thanks Joel,
That is some good advice, I'm in the very early "building block" phase you described. At this early stage, with all the discoveries and changes, I've found it difficult to stay with my original plan. The current challenge for me is to establish the long-term strategy you've laid out.
Good timing!
Thanks,
Tom
You are right, Joel. Not everyone has an enough patient to wait for success: build strategy and work, work, work ...
Thanks Joel for making this post. The over hyped marketing messages we are flooded with daily is majorly the cause of this thinking that you will start making thousands of dollars immediately without experience or website.
I was a victim of this when I started newly on the Internet, however, I was determined to continue building my business even though I wasn't making money anything. And I'm glad I didn't give up then. I've been able to learn a lot about how things really work and I'm glad to say I've started making some money, which I'm still working on to make bigger.
If you are just starting out on Internet marketing, please don't buy those marketing nonsense promising you tons of cash without you doing anything. The truth is that you must work on the business to build it to the point that it can start making you money.
You will need to write or re-write articles for your site, and you will need to do certain things that are necessary to promote your site. Even if you are using software to do these things, which I advise (I use them), you will still need to set it up and fine tune their outputs - these are still work.
Wishing everyone a more prosperous year 2010.
Learning how to market on the Internet is a very interesting topic. I think most of us learn from other marketers who are marketing products disguised as courses on how to do it, how to make money on the Internet.
I think the reason that so many people have not made it, is for at least two reasons.
1. Because it is not as easy as the sales letters make it sound.
2. There are a lot of people out there that are trying to make a buck showing people the way and are really are not very good at it.
This certainly was the case for me. I have been at it for over 2 years now and I am just starting to see some cash flow.
Most people are not willing to wait that long to see the results. It takes a never give up attitude and that is were the 80/20 rule starts to kick in. (80 percent won't)
There is a learning curve that hardly ever seems to be discussed in those sales pitches.
Hi Joel,
I am agree with your article, it's really took a lot of time and we must be patient to be successful online or offline.
Nice article.
I use Site Build It (SBI) as my web host. There is a lot that goes into a successful website. The logo at SBI is a tortoise if that tells you anything.
True words of wisdom Joel. I've been at it since 56k Modems were the fastest way to get online, and can tell you from experience that building a solid, long lasting business is the way to go! Nobody plans to fail - but many people fail to plan...
Yes, this is a great post from Joel.
Thank you, Joel for sharing wonderful information with us.
Marketers, (that's everyone these days) must hang in there and grow your on-line business and keep up with the changes. I didn't know
you could place more than one blog on blogger.com. They, Google, have improved that site a lot! It even have a lanquage interpretation widgets.
You can even write in another language!(I touched the controls by mistake and it started type in God knows what language.) The adsense, on that site is almost on automatic control!--once you organize your layout of how you want that site monetized. Right now, Google can adsense my dreams. It's nice to see some dollar signs starting floating on my adsense account!
The only thing that's lacking is the speller check on the Blogger.com site. They need to bring it back! I'm presently looking for my dictionary. Speller checks sometimes pick up typographical errors for you. It's hard to see when you double type certain letters.
Congratulation to Joel on the development of the KaChing Button and apple approval of it! How exciting is that!
Best Success to everyone for the New Year!
Love, Peace, and Blessings,
Thelma Harcum
Hi Joel,
This is probably the first article since I started (about 8 months) which tells the truth about making money online.
I've read all the comments here and I see people experiencing the same what I'm experiencing. This is a confirmation that we are on the right way to building a foundation of our online businesses.
I like the sentence "But if you plan for the future and expect success to come only after you've invested time and effort, you should find that you get exactly what you hope for...eventually."
Makes a lot of sense. Planning is really an important step.
I think one of the absolute toughest things for me with respect to achieving internet success is the lack of often tangible, measurable results.
I create a web site and it isn't indexed by Google.
I create a new page article and it gets very little traffic initially.
I write an ezine article and they take forever to approve it and when it does get approved very little traffic comes through it initially.
I try on-page SEO and my page remains poorly ranked.
I try building backlinks to my site and another site with less backlinks remains above me.
On and on it goes. I do some work, often a lot of work, and don't see the fruits of my labor till way past when I would have liked to have seen it.
In that sense it takes faith. Not a religious faith per se (though without a faith in God I would be utterly lost) but faith in the unseen end of internet success. And it takes persistence in pursuing that end to achieve that success.
Perhaps a better way to phrase it is dogged determination that simply will not let go.
Added to the lack of visible, quick, and tangible results that can by itself be so frustrating and/or discouraging there is also the weight of having loved one's not believe as we do that the ultimate end of achieving internet success is worthwhile and something worth continuing to pursue.
They see the same lack of results and immediately start thinking that we are wasting our time.
Quite frankly it's a wonder anyone ever persists to the point of success in all this.
What keeps me going is people like you Joel. People who have been there and who have achieved success. You put your pants on just like I do. You have no more inherent gifting for internet things than I do (at least I don't think you do :)). You have to juggle your time to get things done just like I do.
It is the encouragement from hearing stories of success from others like yourself that continue to inspire me and give me hope that I too can achieve the internet success I am looking for and that I am not wasting my time pursuing it.
Carlos
So true! I especially like what you said here "It even takes time to figure out how to find the time to do all of these things." I have found that the learning curve takes longer than you think. Just learning to put up a form, edit a video, etc. takes time. And once you figure out how to do one thing there is always something else to master which will again take time. My favourite Nike quote "Just Do It!" could not be more true. As long as you are doing something each day towards online success it will come, just maybe not as soon as you thought. Thanks!
2010 is my year of content creation and generation. I have over 170 dot com websites to build.
Hey Joel,
Spot on mate, my wife and I have been blogging for about 14 months now, yes we are making some money from all our blogs, even the blogger by google blogs,but as you shared all ready it is taking time to learn and also time to find time to get it all done, but we are having fun why we learn and grow our blogs, our major goal for 2010 is to outsource a lot of the work, so we are more free to stick with been creative & strategical planing elements of our business model.
A very profound article, Joel. I left my job end of last year and enthusiastically plunged headlong into an online business and after 11 months of no success, come to realize that there was no such thing as instant success as many gurus claimed their products could deliver.
On hind sight, I should have build up a business (whether online or offline) while keeping my daytime job. I should have left my job only when my online business(es) were generating enough to sustain me.
Yes, building anything takes time. It's a lie that internet based businesses produce instant wealth. That's as frequent as the moon turning blue, not as sure as the sun rising tomorrow.
Hi Joel :)
Thanks for the advice :) I actually just started to get into Google adsense (almost 2 month) and now my total earning is $11.68. I know is only a small amout of buck but for me, i proud of myself because i also can earn money from internet! Day by day i spend a lot of hours of managing my blog and try to get more traffic to coming in.MORE TRAFFIC = MORE KaChing!. I'm dreaming to earn $10 per day :) and hopefully it will become true for another 1 month.
I was think about this that it is so easy to make an Account and it takes a long time to reach Adsense Payout but I think Google love it because there are millions of Bloggers who have yet to reach Adsense Payday and if those Bloggers never reach payout Because they Gave up. Then the Money is Googles just think How many Bloggers have less than $100 in their Adsense Account if it was only 1,000,000 with an Average of $25 in their Account then that is alot of Money that Google will never have to Pay. But if there was no Adsense then the People would have never Earned the Money in the First Place it's just how Good a Company Google is.
Hi Joel,
Thanks for taking me to this beautiful and industrious site; I am new in this
business and I been encouraged to continue by your advices and teaching through examples even in this site. I believe by this spirit and your kind
assistance very soon I will begin to earn money. Please continue to assist me
to the best of your ability. Be kind to visit my blogs sites and correct and advise me accordingly: www.conflictresolutionhitches.blogspot.com
www.familypeacemovement.blogspot.com
www.advocatingconflictresolution.blogspot.com www.conflictintheheart.blogspot.com www.peaceworkstrategy.blogspot.com www.fightingreligiousconflict.blogspot.com
Samuel.
A million thanks
Great Advice Joel!
Time for me to map out 2010 and next week.
One thing I need to do is never sit at my computer without a plan for what I will get done. I spent too much time today researching software, cleaning out emails, and unfollowing inactive people on twitter.
I am going to build a simple list of what I will get done tomorrow and it will include a plan a bit further out than a day.
Clay
Yes that right it's easy to make website or blog at this time but it's not easy to make money until you find the secrets.
but now I have find one of the secrets that make free traffic to may website for free, and make money everyday.
The importance thing is keep learning from another people, and just do it.
Many people fail to achieve success because their expectations don't match reality - especially online, people expect to make money easily & when they don't they give up.
Effort & commitment is directly proportional to success
I so much agreed with what Moneymonk said. Most people don't have patience and they give up when things don't go as planned. Someone mailed me yesterday after going through my blog and asked how I get traffic for my blog. He said he's been blogging for 11 months but yet to earn even $10. I advised him not to give up as not giving up is the only secret to success. Truly, lasting success requires planning and a long-term strategy.
I just started Google adsense (yesterday) and hopefully I should start earning soon - with hard work and diligence.
This is a great post because all to often many people just throw in the towel when their work is not generating income. So many people are itching to get out of the rat race but give up too soon with the daily action steps that will bring them success. No matter what you do (job, consulting, network marketing, internet marketing) it takes hard work and commitment.
I don't know well English language !!! Sorry...
This is a very encouraging post to me. Because it tells me that it pays to hang in there over time. This doesn't mean that I can just expect to throw content out there over time and expect to be successful. The key ingredients are getting the right coaching, learning the ropes of an internet business, and putting in consistent testing as well as creating the right systems. Any worthwhile success comes with time: that's the truth.
You are so right - content in the next 10 years will be King - we have to give our audience revelance.....
But the secret is - how do we turn our content into a paid for service - even the newspaper are asking themselve this exact question........
Not sure how you are doing it but, I will be a careful student
Completely useless article. Nothing new. Same recycled materials. Yes, yes, yes, we know it takes time. If somebody is planning to quit their job because they crated a blog in blogger, that person is a fool. No need to remind them that it is not possible. Is their any strategy for success discussed in the article? Noooooo. What a waste of time reading this crap.
Hi Joel
great article I am Reading and replying via your app on the apple store. Most people who get started online quit as they think they can get rich overnight. It takes hard and consistent effort to make it online.
Keep up the awesome work
Simon Stepsys
Hi, I am a complete computer illiterate. I was looking for help about setting up my own website and I stumbled onto this site by accident but I have a question for anyone who would be kind enough to answer me - all these comments about making money from the internet, do they relate to anything you actually produce or is it just websites or blogs that only contain ads. Can anyone who has a website put ads from Adsense onto it and does this somehow generate money? I am trying to get a website going with gardening advice, something I am passionate about but it is very hard when you know nothing about how, where or what on websites. Is adsense something I should consider using? Or is it only for websites which sell something? I appreciate that you may not wish to give advice but thanks.
This is wounderful you are bing very up front and this is all i need to move foward time = money long term.I just started two days ago i have long way to go but i will work hard to learn more for my family and then give back like you are doing this is very cool man. Thanks
You're right. Anyone who wants a free lunch in life is not qualitfied to be rich. I think people should learn the art of starting the journey to success early enough. This will enable them to give enough time to learn unlearn and relearn until success shows up.
Good job, joel.
I really like this post. I am a beginner blogger, and have felt somewhat frustrated at time. Although I do love blogging, and I love people's comments. I would like to be a more of a success. But I will keep working hard. People seem to like my writing. And I like to write for them.