The One Year Millionaire

When you think about any major project that lies ahead of you, you know that there will be some trial & error. While you wish that everything will go smoothly, the chances are against you will most likely make a few mistakes that can be taken as learning opportunities. This issue will focus on making sure that those mistakes aren’t the same ones that other marketers have been facing all along! Here is a list of common internet marketing mistakes to avoid:

• Not Optimizing your Web Site for Search Engines.
  If you don’t plan to optimize your site for the search engines and don’t think about the little things that will ultimately help you rank higher then you might as well abandon the idea of getting traffic from search engines! A few easy simple you things you can do are make sure that your title has keywords and is considered to be SEO friendly, your URLs on your web site are static rather than dynamic, and your content is written well with keywords on your topic. Search Engine don’t like dynamic URLs and if you use wordpress for blogging purposes then static URLs are just a couple of easy clicks away! All you need to do is go to OPTIONS > PERMALINKS and follow the simple instructions to set your URL to more be more SEO aware!
• Not Updating your Content frequently.
  If people notice that your content is not updating often then they will have every reason not to return to your web site! They aren’t expecting you to pump out a new article every twenty minutes, but writing an article every day or every other day is not the most difficult thing in the world! If you update your content regularly then you will learn to expect returning visitors. Try to write 3-4 articles per week and take a break occasionally to maximize your productivity!
• Not Registering your Own Domain Name.
  I think that this is just one of those things that hurt a lot of people when they start doing internet marketing. Everyone wants to start from step 1 and skip to step 50. They don’t want to put in the money, time and effort but they want to make money online! If you take the time to register a domain for as little as $6-7 then already your image as a webmaster and internet marketer has been boosted tenfold!
• Not Writing for your Readers First.
  I spoke on this in detail a couple of issues back. One of the biggest mistakes that I noticed on a lot of blogs and niche sites is the fact that they almost lack readability because they are so concentrated on keywords either to try and climb in the serps (Search Engine Results Page) or they are trying to display specific google adsense ads. Write for your readers before you consider anything else and you will see traffic and money follow soon enough!
• Not Cloaking your Affiliate Links.
  If people know that you are making money through an affiliate link then the chances of them clicking it have went down already. If you have you web site covered and plastered with more affiliate links than content then you need to start re-evaluating what you are doing on the internet. Are you trying to sell and make money? or are you trying to scare away potential buyers? Cloak your links and you will see a definite increase in your CTR (Click Through Rate).
• Not Appearing to be an Authority.
  If I give you the impression that I know what I am talking about then you are going to put much more trust in me than if I were to tell you that I am doing nothing but guess work! No matter what your niche is, you have to appear to be an authority on the subject. If you have a web site about flowers and gardening then you have to be an expert full-seasoned gardener who grows plants as a hobby and as a profession! If you have a web site about a sport then you have to know the sport inside out; or  at least make it seem like you do! Readers will give you that much more credibility if they believe that you know what you’re talking about.
• Not Following Through With your Actions.
  If you say you are going to do something, then do it! This can be in any form whether it is working on writing new content or building backlinks to increase your Page Rank. If you take action you have  a fifty percent chance of success, but if you don’t then you have a zero percent chance! Which one would you choose?

If you take a careful look at the list above it is all pretty straight forward stuff that is almost common sense to anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in this business. If you want to make money online then you are obviously going to face obstacles, but don’t fall victim to the same ones over and over again. Remember to research your competition and learn from their mistakes as well!

In the next issue of the ‘ONE YEAR MILLIONAIRE‘ I am going to talk about the importance of cloaking links!