Make Money Online- the baby steps part 9

In this part of our guide “Make Money Online- the baby steps part 9″ we will cover what you can expect from your website timewise, once it is in place. The findings we will write about here are based on our own experience, and on the experience of friends and colleagues who are online veterans. While an online marketing expert can cut some corners and shorten the process of internet success considerably, we will try to provide a timeline representing what most first-time offenders are likely to experience. Note that this timeline is typical for individuals setting up their first content-based website from scratch. If you already have a physical business in place  or you are an old hand at internet marketing the process and success of your website can play out quite differently. But the timeline above is typical for most online entrepreneurs starting out. While it may look scary at first glance, try real hard not to blink. Pure perseverance will allow you to survive the hardships and put you on your way to making money online. The timeline presented below is typical for people who try really hard to make it, who are motivated and interested, and of moderate intelligence at the very least.

1. The first week. You have finally acted upon your dream of establishing an internet presence. You have read a lot of information on the internet about what to expect. Your expectations are high, probably a bit unrealistic. But that’s ok. You feel fired up. You have so many great ideas, it has been a tough job deciding on which one of your ideas to pursue. But you are now officialy on your way. You discuss your ideas with one or two of your closest friends, but you remain secretive. You wonder why nobody has ever thought of your idea before. It seems like an opportunity too good to overlook, a potential goldmine. You have scrapped down all these great ideas you want to incorporate into your project on a piece of paper. You dream of internet domination, and you can´t believe you waited this long to go after what is rightfully yours.

2. One month has passed. You have aquired some themes, photos, and other useful pieces of the puzzle. You´ve played around with your designated theme, and all those visits to support forums and late-night internet sessions reading about how to make money online are finally starting to pay of. You have started to fill your site with some content. Much of it has been posted just so you can admire the fruits of all that labour. The website looks somewhat functional although it may not be quite to your liking yet. It may not be finished, but at least it looks and feels like a real website. You feel accomplishment and pride. Your energy level is high and you are very motivated. There is no traffic, but who cares about that anyway. You focus on improving your site, and the motivation and energy you feel is still propelling you forward. This is so interesting and so much fun you can´t understand why it took you so long to try it out to begin with. You check the traffic on your site several times a day, and feel you have found your calling.

3. Six to nine months have passed. You have now officially made some money through AdSense, and although the sums are still unsignificant, it pumps you up. It feels like magic to make money online, but the fantastic feeling is slowly starting to deteriorate. You have improved your site and done your homework, and yet the traffic remains unsignificant, there are fewer backlinks than you would have liked, and it feels like you have reached a dead end. Maybe this wasn´t so easy after all. You start feeling demoralized. You start missing out on doing your daily website improvements. Why should you spend lots of time writing quality content when there is barely anyone around to read your pieces of mastery? For the first time since you started out you consider walking away from it all, or at least cutting back on some of the work you´re putting in. If you manage to push through this difficult period, chances are that significantly better times lie ahead. Experience have taught us that this period is the biggest stumbling block on your road to online riches. Make sure you stay alive in this epic battle, and chances are you can ultimately win the whole war. Perseverance!

4. Nine to eighteen months have passed. You are starting to see some improvements. For the first time since inception your website looks and feels quite imposing. Your daily improvements have really started to add up. You now offer quite a mouthful of quality content, and you begin to experience a rise in traffic and the quality of links you have been getting lately. Your website is no longer just another “dime-a-dozen” blogs or hobby projects. Your work is finally getting the recognition it deserves, and your site is starting to stand out in a positive way. You experience traffic above the 100 visitor-a-day mark on most days and you make at least $ 100 each month. You are still not pumped up, but neither are you demoralized. Things are starting to move in the right direction. If you just keep at it, something has got to give. The difficult times are behind you. You feel that the harvesting period is ahead of you. So you keep yourhead down, and continue to grind it out day after day.

5. Eighteen months to 4 years have passed. Your website is starting to feel like an internet powerhouse. Your content and success can no longer be copied easily. It is evident you have put in the effort and the world is beginning to notice. You get plenty of invitations, requests, collaboration proposals, and e-mails covering a wide range of topics. Your inbox is always full. Your skills have improved dramatically and you feel like a seasoned webmaster professional. Although you are better at what you do than ever before, your site is still consuming a big chunk of your time. And yet that´s ok. You are beginning to taste the fruits of all that hard work, and there´s no way you are letting go now. You have at least 30 000 visitors each month and you begin to believe you will eventually be able to make a comfortable living of your website. You are making around $ 500 a month at the moment and you know that you can improve on the monetization of your site easily. Chances are there are those who are interested in aquiring your site, or at the very least want to establish a mutually beneficial arrangement. You may feel a bit lost at this point in time, since it may not be evident what the next evolutionary step will be for your website. You may feel tempted to sell, and cash in on your efforts. You know you could always use your aquired skill set to extract profits from the online market further down the road, and yet it feels impossible to let go of your baby.

6. Five to ten years have passed. You have tried out your luck in several internet ventures. Some have gone quite well. If you haven´t struck gold yet, you can still make a comfortable living from your particular skill set, and you only have to work for short periods of time. You know most of the tricks in the book, and your lead time from idea to fully operational and implemented website has been reduced to ridiculous levels. If you keep putting in the hours and moving forward you will strike gold. But chances are you are already in a great spot financially speaking. You begin doing less operational work and start using your experience from a strategical point of view. You work less, yet you earn more. Only 2-3 % of all internet entrepreneurs ultimately reach this elevated level. Life is good.

So now you know what to expect. While nobody can truly guarantee anything the timeline we have outlined above captures the essence of the career of an interpreneur. Notice that it takes hard word, perseverance, a fair amount of intelligence, a knack for creating quality content and a bit of luck in order to succeed. There are no guarantees of success. There are people who put in the hours and never really get payed. In most cases you will know after 2-3 years whether you and your idea has what it takes to make it. The competition is fierce. Free information is everywhere. Individuals browsing the internet are reluctant to pay for anything. You need to fill a need better than the next guy in order to make it. You can make it, but you need to be aware of what it takes. Let´s go to the next part of our guide “Make Money Online- the baby steps part 10″ and learn about whether your idea is pwerful and original enough to play a winning game and make money online.