So to help those who are thinking about having an online business and to those who've started but are getting discouraged because it seems to take forever and are thinking that there must be a quicker way - This tip is for you.
First let me say that very few become overnight successes and if you've been struggling for awhile trying to get your site up, get some traffic to your site or make some sales from your visitors then you doing some things right. The overnight "wonders" who became successful in a short time are the exceptions and had something like previous experience or lots of money when they started.
For the rest of us who come online with no experience in anything that would help get a site up or advertise or convert visitors to buyers and who must learn how to do everything ourselves, there is a lot to learn, a lot of work to do and a lot of time to wait before there's money coming in.
And it's during that time of learning, working and waiting that many new online business owners fall into some of the same "waste your time and money traps" as those thinking about having an online business.
So to help you learn from some of the same mistakes I and others have made here's a list of things to avoid because these are the most common ways to fail fast.
3 Ways To Fail Fast
- Get Rich Quick Schemes - Someone promises you that you can make money in little or no time or you can make money with little or no work.
This is the number 1 reason most people fail online.There is so much hype out there about how easy it is to make money online it's easy for inexperienced or discouraged people to be persuaded to spend money to get cash quickly.
Don't do it because "Get Rich Quick Schemes" don't work!Oh, sometimes you may get in at the top of a pyramid scheme and make a few bucks but it won't last. And, if you've associated your name with the scheme you may find it harder to get a legitimate business going since people will associate your name with the failed program.
And while most who try a "Get Rich Scheme" will just quit and give up when they don't make any money, there are some who will try several "Get Rich Schemes" and lose lots of money looking for the "Right One" before they give up. - No Business Strategy or The Wrong Business Strategyis the second biggest reason new online businesses fail because most people want to get their business up and making money fast.
Now in case you're not sure what a business strategy is, it's your business plan. It includes what your business will look like when you start, how you intend to get traffic, possible things you may have to modify, future plans for growing your business and of course your goal.
"Throwing a web page online and buying traffic to make tons of money" is not a good business strategy for a beginner. In fact, even those who have hundreds or thousands of affiliates driving traffic to their sales pages put more into the business strategy for their sales page than this.
So if you don't have a business strategy, get one. And if you've got one and it doesn't seem to be working, start modifying the things that aren't working. - Trying To Become A "Super Geek"
A "Super Geek" is someone who knows how to do all the technical work for your online business and develops all the code to get all the latest "bells and whistles" on your site. Sure, you have to know some things to get your business started but you don't have to be a "Super Geek".
Automation is great, audio is great, video is great, etc. but you don't need all of it when you're first starting. In fact, one of the things I love is how most of the sites selling audio and video packages don't use their own product for their sales page. If these things are really necessary to increase sales then why don't they use them to increase sales? It would sure help me think harder about getting them.
The bottom line is, after you've mastered enough web programming to get a simple page online you should be spending at least 80% of your time driving traffic to your site. If you want to add more technical stuff then learn about it and develop it in the 20% of your time you're not using to get traffic.
Every successful online business person has had to learn how marketing on the web works. For the 90% who failed, they failed because they didn't take the time to invest in the right education. The 10% who succeeded know that to be successful online you must not go down the 3 most common paths for failure: "Get Rich Schemes", not having a plan and trying to be a "Super Geek". Instead, they invested their time and money into learning how things work and they continue to learn as the web changes.
To Your Success,
Susan
PS Today I was going to write about how to install a small 7 file automation script on your site. However, after spending more than 2 hours with it and never getting it to work I've decided that the number of files and whether or not they use a database does not determine the degree of difficulty in using an automation script. (I have large automation scripts that use databases uploaded and working on 2 other sites. And while getting the scripts uploaded and working was fairly easy and straight-forward, modifying the code to look and feel like my site takes a great deal of time and programming skill.)
So until you've mastered a lot of basic web skills like html, autoresponders, uploading files, getting traffic, etc., I recommend you put off automation scripts until you have time to master some of the more advanced skills like php and cgi programming and installing databases.
Susan
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