Although at the time I had heard of blogs, however, I didn’t know you could make money with one and I certainly didn’t understand how to be an affiliate marketer.  I knew people were making money online, but I didn’t know anything about how this was possible.  The more I read online, the more questions I had.  It took a great deal of time and frustration to sift through all the hype and scams, but finally I did find some really good programs that worked for me.

One Week Marketing and Word Press Goldmine along with Rob Benwell’s Blogging To The Bank have given me the tools and understanding I needed to begin an online affiliate marketing business.  These are very low cost systems that, if you commit to following their steps, will produce results that steadily increase over time.

Learn your internet marketing skills.  Learn keyword and market research.  Learn Wordpress.  Learn Squidoo.  Learn to write articles and sales copy.  Learn SEO techniques.  Learn social media optimization.  Learn all you can – I have mentioned some really good free resources in my previous posts “5 Free Education Resources That Every New Marketer Needs To Know” to help you grow your skills.  And guess what?  After a short time you will have gained real money making knowledge that most people will never know or understand.

Internet marketing and SEO techniques are also what local businesses are beginning to see the real value of, especially blogs and SEO.  More and more job listings are looking for people with internet marketing, SEO and social media skills.  Does this spark something in you?  Internet Marketing can be a valuable new skill.  Learn how to create wordpress blogs and you could have yourself a nice additional side business in your local area – installing wordpress blogs for local businesses.  Who knows, it could be your main business over time.  Every  local business should have a blog for several reasons including:

• posting regularly adds valuable, searchable information to a site
• they can quickly become an authority site in their local market
• a blog can open up a dialogue with their customers/readers and get valuable feedback
• Wordpress is really a “content management system” and they can easily manage and update their own content
• Wordpress blogs make great looking websites that are easy to customize and update

In summary, I am saying that it is very profitable to learn all you can about internet marketing and creating wordpress blogs.  These are valuable skills that have the ability to create many new job opportunities for yourself.

2.  Less Memory Firefox takes up less hard drive space than IE.  Explorer comes already pre-programmed with a lot of space wasting applications and junk.

3.  Faster Firefox downloads web pages much faster than IE.  Fact.

4.  Cleaner Interface Much less confusing and less cluttered than IE.  You’ll love it.

5.  More Features Firefox features the use of plug ins and add ons.  You can customize your home page with any type of look, theme and functionality you want.  The plug ins and add ons are for you to choose for your specific needs.  I even have a Squidoo tool bar that saves me a tremendous amount of time.  Anything you need or want can be found when you click on Tools “Add Ons” from the browser.

6.  Download Manager is a really cool feature.  Whenever you download or upload files a copy will be stored here – until you delete.  You can go back and retrieve it any time you want.  There have many times I couldn’t find a file (too many icons on my desktop) and I would go to the Download Manger and open it from there.

7.   View Page Info This feature is very helpful in Internet marketing.  When you right click on a page and then click View Page Info all sorts of great information about that page pops up including the keywords.

8.   Search Engine Firefox comes with an integrated search engine which is defaulted for Google, but you have many to choose from.

9.   Tabbed Browsing This is much faster and less confusing than opening all those windows.

10.  Superb Pop Up Blocker This blocker is definitely superior to IE and easily customizable.  Test it on a pop up blocker test page and see the results.

There you have it.  We are online for hours and hours each day and security and speed are a must.  FireFox  is extremely easy to use and FREE.  I promise that you will be glad you switched.   Download FireFox here

1.  Not understanding that there is no “one magic formula” for making money online. Well, there are only 2 ways to make money online – sell your stuff or sell somebody else’s stuff.  But there are probably close to 50 ways to do those 2 things – including the latest  “flipping” websites, blogs, lenses etc.  This is known as virtual real estate, right?  In the beginning you learn each step -  one at a time – get good at it – then move to the next step.

2.  Not knowing when to jump in and get started.  You can get so caught up in learning, studying, reading etc., you will be online for hours – just categorizing websites and information away for later use (then you’ll forget about them).  There is no perfect time – you just jump in the water and start swimming.  So start slow – maybe with Squidoo.

3.  Learn one skill at a time.  Master it and then learn another skill like setting up wordpress blogs and niche sites. Whether it is building Squidoo lenses or article writing etc.  Learn each piece of the puzzle really well and then build from there.  When I made my first Squidoo lens it took me nearly a week!  They are really good practice for building word press niche sites later on.  Squidoo lenses will teach:  how to crank out good content,  the art of design and making something visually stimulating and interesting, basic marketing principles (AIDA) and the art of preparation.  Before I begin a lens I have a checklist to follow etc.  I can now make 3 lenses in one day.  And you will, too.

4.  Not joining a forum soon enough.  It took me some time before I joined one as everyone kept insisting all online marketing is a scam etc.  It is not – and they do not know anything about the industry.  There are membership forums and free to join forums.  It’s up to you which way you want to go.  An excellent free forum is the Warrior Forum.  You can look for answers, ask questions, join a mastermind group or just find an IM buddy.  You can save a lot of time and frustration this way.

5.  Not utilizing Skype.  Skype is unbelievably easy and efficient.  It is a free web based communication tool.  If you find a mastermind group to join – you can have  group chats with voice or instant messaging.  Get a web cam and get comfortable being on camera.  One day you may create your own YouTube videos at some point.  Web cams are inexpensive at Target or Walmart.  I don’t like the way I look on camera, but video is a very important marketing tool.

6.  Having a good routine and sticking to it.  If you don’t have a day job by choice or what not (like me) then it’s very important to keep a routine going.  Get up early and be at your desk no later than 9:00 am.  Work regular hours and take small breaks when you can.  Stop at a normal time – no later than 8:00 p.m.   I got in a terrible habit and this would make me lose valuable working time.  I would work all day – up into the early morning hours….sometimes until 2 or 3 a.m.  My eyes would be so strained that after a few days of this kind of rigor I would have to stay completely off the computer to let my eyes get back to normal.  Plus the late nights – I couldn’t get up early…..  See what I’m saying?  I also have a family to take care of and I was computer obsessed.

7.  Signed on too many email lists. In the beginning as you search for information and learn the industry, you will sign up for every freebie under the sun.  At first it is all new and you  benefit from it, but after you round the learning curve you will see that they have become distractions.  Don’t let this happen – they will eat your valuable time and before you know it – it’s late in the day and you’ve got nothing accomplished.  Either trim those down or put them in a daily folder and set aside a certain time each day or night to read and discard quickly.

8.  Listening to Others. Internet marketing is not a scam.  The ones who say this do not understand the industry.  Keep going.  It is a lot of hard work and you can make a very good income working from home.  You will find a formula that works for you.  A secret of success is finding a niche market that is something you are passionate about.  You will be thinking, dreaming, eating and sleeping this market and it becomes much easier when you like it too.

Standard marketing principles remain the same, but it’s in the execution of those principles that can bring on the states of confusion.  By execution I mean – blogs, websites, lenses, articles, videos, webinars, teleseminars and meetup groups.  Then there is also the web 2.0 and now the social media craze that you need to master.  Web 2.0 is a term for the Internet of today.  No more is the web made up of static stale websites.  Web 2.0 means an interactive web and that anyone and everyone can now have their own presence on the internet.  This is known as “virtual real estate.”  By the way if you haven’t yet – you need to buy www.yourname.com.  If you are serious about internet and affiliate  marketing you especially need to have your own personal virtual real estate.  If your name is already taken by .com then use .net.  If that’s not available use hyphens or put a number somewhere, www.yourname1.com.  Even if you don’t know what to do with it, you soon will.

Social media is the latest hottest thing.  In fact it made the news that Ashton Kutcher had 1 million followers on Twitter – the first ever.  Even Oprah did her TV show on social media and posted her first tweet on TV.  Social media is – Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and several up and coming ones.  Right now, Twitter is number one.

What I’m saying to you is that it is very normal to be confused and overwhelmed with internet and affiliate marketing.  There is a ginormous amount of information to learn and process.  I have stayed up until 3:00 a.m. many, many times trying to absorb this stuff.  Then came part two – information overload!!  I learned a little about a lot of different interrelated processes and found myself nearly right back where I started – staring at a blank screen wondering what to do next.  I had information overload and became struck with “analysis paralysis” and couldn’t function.

So, fellow beginner marketer keep following these posts and I’ll help clear a path for you to real success.  You need to learn all you can about internet and affiliate marketing.  Then you need to follow a clear workable marketing plan, keep yourself focused (more about that later), and once you get your system going – rinse and repeat.

If you believe you can…..you can!