When you started your online business you made a big (and maybe a scary) decision because you decided to venture into a realm where you probably didn't know everything you needed to know to succeed and you didn't have the money to hire others to create your web page, write your ad copy, create a product, etc.
I know what you're going through because I've been where you are. In fact, there are times when I still experience the "What should I do?" or "Should I try to ...?" feeling even though I've been doing business online for more than 4 years.
And I know how hard it is to leave your comfort zone of doing what you know how to do and trying to do something new and different. Every time you venture into a new area of internet marketing you worry that it might not work or you'll do it wrong. You worry about people seeing your mistake or losing money or getting complaints from unhappy customers or subscribers.
I really do understand because, like you, I often have the same worries. Plus, while I don't like admitting it, I've made plenty of mistakes, lost some money and have received complaints.
But...
Even though I've done all this, my business is alive and well.
Why?
Because we learn by trying. We learn from watching others. And we learn from our mistakes.
So today I am going to share 7 of the mistakes I've made in the past and the lessons I learned the hard way in an attempt to help you not make these mistakes and to give you the courage to leave your current comfort zone and take 1 more step toward building your online business.
My very first mistake was to try and build an online business in an area I didn't know or care to learn about. Because I wasn't motivated to spend time learning about this niche and because I was busy learning how to build a web page and get traffic, my first attempt failed miserably.
Lesson Learned: Either know about your niche or spend time learning about it. People are looking for "expert" information for a specific topic and don't want general information they already know.
A few mistakes later, I tried pay-per-click (ppc) advertising. And although I got clicks and even built a list, I hadn't learned my first lesson very well since I again was doing it in a niche I didn't really know or care about. As you may have guessed, it too failed and this time I lost money. (Losing money will make you really learn your lesson.)
After the ppc experience, I decided to stick with my true niche and avoid ppc, at least until I had more money to lose.
That decision lead me to 2 more of my mistakes which were: I bought solo advertising for affiliate products and used the pre-written sales material in the ads. I paid enough for my ads to go out to hundreds of thousands and got 0 sales. (There were no blogs or social networking sites back then so your results using these things may be different however, I'd still avoid using the pre-written sales and review material.)
Lessons Learned: Don't pay to advertise your affiliate link and don't use the pre-written sales material.
Now I might have made some sales if I hadn't used the pre-written material however I didn't have enough money then to try again so I didn't.
Not willing to give up, I decided to leave my comfort zone and create an actual ezine with information about my niche. This was a big and definitely scary step since it required knowing "expert" information and writing.
And of course writing content on a regular basis puts you at risk of sounding foolish and making grammatical and spelling mistakes. So guess what. While I've not been accused of being foolish, I've made plenty of grammatical and spelling mistakes. You've probably seen some of them.
Lesson Learned: If you provide good information and don't make too many mistakes in grammar and spelling your readers will accept that your not 100% perfect and only human. And this lesson can be applied to your web site too. (I've seen errors on "guru" sites and in some of their mailings, haven't you?)
Since then I've made other mistakes like waiting too long to try something new like using scripts to automate some tasks or site feature, wasting time on modifying a script that was way to big and complicated and forgetting to upload a thank you page. (Did the last 1 just yesterday.)
Lessons Learned:
- Always keep learning and growing your business. If you've figured out how to build and upload a web page then you can figure out how to install and use a "small" script package or start a list.
- Some tasks may require more time than you have to spend and need to be outsourced. (These tasks may have to wait until you have the money to hire someone.)
- Always make it easy for people to contact you in case you make a mistake. Most will be nice when they write and they will allow you to correct your mistake. If they aren't nice, then fix the problem in a nice way and drop that person from your list. (You don't have to associate with rude people on- or off-line.)
Yesterday I again stepped out of my comfort zone and announced the FriendsWhoCare Christmas GiveAway. Since it has no affiliate program because there are no offers inside the giveaway and because most of you don't have a list to share our giveaway with, I am taking a gamble that many of you will decide to start a list and those who do have a list will donate a gift. I am also gambling that you will share our giveaway with others so lots of people can join our ad-free giveaway. Just like you worry when you try something new, I am worried that I am making a mistake, it won't work and I'll end up looking foolish.
But until your online business is as big and successful as you want it to be that's what having an internet business is all about. You have to venture out of you comfort zone. You have to take a chance. You have to have some successes and failures. You have to keep learning, growing and trying new things until you get to where you want to be.
To Your Success,
Susan
P.S. If you would like to take part in our giveaway but have never been a partner in a giveaway before and have questions about what to do or how to do it, contact me.
P.P.S. Feel free to leave a comment.
Tags: internet marketing mistakes, 7 internet marketing mistakes
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