Thursday, August 31, 2006

7 Short Term Solutions For "I Don't Know How To"

Much of the email I get from subscribers include statements
like: "I am still learning" and "I don't know how to ...".


And although I have an advantage over some of you because I can
read programming code and understand what's going on even when I
can't write code in that language, I can still understand where
you're coming from. In fact, it's because of my background both
as a programmer and programming teacher that I have great
admiration for those who struggle to teach themselves how to
write and use web programming languages along with all the other
things you have learn to have an online business.


But today I am not going to give you another coding tip to
learn, or give you a pep talk about keeping up the good work or
tell you how to handle information overload. (If you are going
through information overload there's an archived tip inside the
Member's Area you should read.)


Instead, today I am going to make a statement that many internet
marketers probably don't think I should make.


You don't have to know how to do everything to get your business
started or to get it growing.


So rather than tell you the basics like get a domain name and
hosting account, create a web site, build a list, learn to use
AdSense or other pay-per-click services, create a membership
site, etc., I want to share a few alternative that may solve
some of your "still learning" and "don't know how" problems.
These are short term solutions to get you started but allow you
to have a web presence to practice with and give you some time
to learn and experiment with what you're learning.


7 Short Term Solutions For What You Need To Learn:

  1. Don't know how to create a web page -

    1 solution is to create a blog at a free blogging service like
    Blogger.com. They're easy to set up and even if you don't know
    how to modify the template you can still start adding content
    that will be archived. The template code has some very advanced
    coding techniques like the use of CSS and dynamic content
    commands however once you know a little about basic HTML you
    will be able to begin making some modifications. Your
    modifications will go inside the <body> section and you'll find
    the template code full of comments telling you which part of the
    blog page is being done with that code.

    You can experiment with your blog and use it like a free online
    training tool. If you want traffic to it you can use it that way
    or you can just use it for yourself and not share.

  2. Don't know how to use FTP -

    For me, this is not a problem. Not because I know how to use FTP
    (which I do) but because I don't use it.

    I currently own 3 hosted web sites, all on different hosts, and
    every 1 of them has a control panel that allows me to upload
    files without using FTP. And these hosts are not an exception.
    Every other hosted account I've had access to has also had some
    form of administration control panel that allowed the same
    thing.

    While some will say that the best way to get your files uploaded
    is through FTP, I actually don't know of any reason why anyone
    would ever need to use it since I've uploaded web pages,
    graphics, ebooks, script packages and everything else through
    the easy to use control panels provided by the hosting account.
    The only advantage for using FTP that I know of is that it
    allows you to upload complete folders with your web files rather
    than having to create the folder and move each file separately.
    And since I don't upload complete folders of information that
    often it's easier and faster to spend the time doing it through
    the control panel instead of getting an FTP program set up
    properly. (Maybe I'm just not geeky enough.)

  3. Don't know how to set up an autoresponder -

    If you can read and you're able to learn simple things then you
    can set 1 up. You can learn the bare basics using a free one
    like FreeAutoBot.com until you're ready to spend money and
    understand some of the more advanced features.

    When I started my newsletter I used a free service provided by
    Yahoo and FreeAutoBot.com for some niche lists. Since I moved
    the newsletter off of Yahoo several years ago I don't know if
    they still provide the service but FreeAutoBot.com is alive and
    well.

    Set up a free account, subscribe to your own list, play with the
    autoresponder until you're comfortable with how it works and
    then get into the habit of sending email to your list.

    It won't take long before you're comfortable enough to move onto
    a bigger and better service. And when you do move your list you
    can ask them to re-subscribe or just keep both places to send
    your mailings. (If you ask them to re-subscribe be prepared to
    lose most of your list so I'd suggest you do this while your
    list is still very small.)

  4. Don't know how to find and use keywords correctly -

    This is a problem everyone shares and the only way you'll learn
    how to do it is to get started. If you do it wrong then you
    really have nothing to worry about unless you've abused the use
    of keywords by over using them because no one will know about
    your web page.

    So get that page set up with your best guess for the proper
    keywords. Then as you learn more about how to choose and use
    them to get search engine traffic, go back and modify your page.
    (Search engines like to see pages that get updated frequently -
    especially when it's the content that's getting changed.)

  5. Don't know how to use AdSense or other pay-per-clicks -

    If that's the only reason you don't have a site up then you're
    just stalling because there are so many other ways to get
    traffic to your site. And while pay-per-clicks are an extremely
    good way to get traffic they can also get expensive until you
    have a good conversion rate.

    I very seldom use any pay-per-click services and recommend you
    don't try it until you either have a page with a high conversion
    ratio or have some deep pockets.

  6. Don't know how to install some type of automatic script -

    There's a lot of hype out there telling everyone they should
    have a free membership site or a free directory site or a free
    giveaway site, etc.

    Hey, it's just hype because I've had this site up for more than
    3 years and started the free membership area last year without
    installing a script. And while it may not have some of the bells
    and whistles that are provided by a script, it gets the job
    done. Also, it wasn't hard or complicated. I made 1 simple
    change through the control panel on my host to make 1 folder a
    private folder and then put all the pages for our area inside of
    that private folder. No script - No database

    Now having a directory site or a giveaway site and using an
    automatic script with a database would really make things a lot
    less work overall, even those types of sites could be set up
    without 1. Giveaways usually last for a short period so while
    you may have a lot of manual work during the giveaway, it would
    only be for a short while. Directory type sites are meant to
    last so if your heart is set on having one then you probably do
    need to learn how to install or pay someone to install a script.
    If you do it manually and the site starts getting the traffic
    you're hoping for you'll have to hire someone to do the work a
    script would do automatically.

  7. Don't know how to get traffic to my site -

    First, until you have some place for the traffic to go then you
    don't need it.

    As you're setting up your site or blog take a few minutes
    everyday to investigate all the ways of getting traffic. After
    you've seen some of the ways to get traffic, pick out 1 or 2 and
    start using them when your site is available.

    Getting traffic is something you'll always be working on so be
    prepared to refine what you're using and to increase the number
    of ways you get traffic as you work to grow your business. Just
    remember, you don't have to use them all when you're starting or
    even after you've had your online business for awhile.

"But I don't know to (fill in the blank)" -

There's a lot of things we don't know how to do when we're
getting started and I've just scratched the surface with the
above list. But it's OK if you don't know how to do something
because it may not be something you need to do right away. If it
is something basic like a creating a site, building a list or
getting traffic then use the available free workarounds to get
started and keep learning.


There are very few who start an online business with enough
resources to pay to have it all done for them and even fewer who
must do it themselves and already know everything there is to
know.


The most important thing to learn about having an online
business isn't knowing how to create a web site, how to build a
list, how to get traffic to your site or even how to make a
sale.


The 2 most important things to learn are:

  1. Learn to conquer your fear of the unknown and your self doubt
    and get started with you plan. Unless you break the law, only a
    few "jerks" will care if you make a mistake and most of the time
    no one will even know you made 1. After you've taken that
    1st scary step you'll face others that are just as frightening.
    But as you conquer each of these steps they begin to get easier
    and less frightening.

  2. There's always something new to learn. No matter how much you
    learn it seems that there is always some new technology or
    someone who's improved on the use of an old one. So after you
    have the basics figured out you'll need to keep learning or get
    left behind in the dust.

Once you've mastered the 2 most important things to learn the
rest will follow. And if you need some time to learn the basics
there's usually an easy short term solution available.


To Your Success,
Susan
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter
http://www.friendswhocare.us/newsletter

PS While I've listed the use of blogs, control panels and the
use of private folders as short term solutions they are also
very good permanent solutions. After you have your site set up
using the control panel to upload your pages you can start using
your blog to drive traffic to your site and your site to drive
traffic to your blog. And there are other ways to use a blog to
help you with your business but that's outside of the scope of
today's tip and 1 of the things you can learn about after you've
conquered the basics.