Expertise Equals Income
I’ve noticed a difference between those who are extremely successful in their online business and those who just barely make it (maybe they’re full-time online but everything seems to be a struggle).
The majority of those who are extremely successful become an expert at one or more elements of building their online business.
For example, perhaps this person focuses time and attention on their copywriting. They become an absolute master as selling in print. They apply this skill daily to improve their conversions and make profits where others can’t.
Another business owner focuses heavily on the PPC skills. They’re generating massive amounts of traffic at half the cost of all their competitors.
A third person becomes an expert at content development. They’re shooting out a new product every week. And we’re not just talking about crappy products either. They develop good step-by-step systems for people to follow. You just can’t seem to keep up with their prolific content and product development.
Each of these becomes an EXPERT at some element of their internet marketing. I’m sure we could sit around and debate which of these skills is most important, but they ALL can spell a very profitable internet business when you focus on them.
That’s the key here. As I mentioned in my video last week, a mistake I made this year in my own business is trying to do too many different things. I’m cutting down my focus for 2009. Most beginners are much worse. They buy all the products about different subjects and try to become an expert in all of them at once. That’s a tough road to travel.
Instead, focus your talents and skills on becoming an expert in one aspect…and then develop basic skills or outsource the rest.
For example, let’s cover a few skills you could focus in on (choose one)…
1. Copywriting
Online marketing is about selling. With all the discussion of free content and traffic, eventually something has to be sold. Focusing on this skill means studying the masters, copying out great letters by hand, and really testing different approaches to writing to find out what works for you. While you could sell your skills (and most do starting out) you can also use those skills to start building your own business.
2. Creating Content
Prolific content creators have more products to sell, more content on their sites for SEO, and a better chance of coming up with that winning idea. For example you create one product the next year…but she creates 24. Who has a better chance of having a homerun winner. Obviously the person with more products does. In addition, you can use this skill to also generate traffic (for example you could start giving away some of your products freely to other marketers in your field to generate backend traffic from their sales).
3. Research
You’ve seen me recommend Glenn Livingston’s products and services very highly. He is an absolute master at researching markets to determine what they want…which can then be applied across the board to write copy that converts, create unique products that are exactly what people want, and put together follow-up information customers are searching for. Nothing surprises me anymore about what you can do with the right information.
4. PPC
What about those PPC masters? You know the ones I’m talking about…they spent tens of thousands of dollars monthly on Adwords (in addition to MSN, Yahoo, and others) while turning it into a fortune. A lot of marketers online don’t want to do any paid advertising, but that’s just dumb business when every time you spend a $1 you get $2 back. I’d make that trade all day long. There are affiliates who simply use their PPC skills to promote one affiliate program after another bringing in six figure monthly checks. But they didn’t do it by simply “trying” Adwords. They became experts!
5. SEO
Don’t want to spend any advertising money? Well you can then focus on search engine optimization. Get top positions for the right terms and make sales with or without your own products (build a list and sell affiliate products). Work with blogs, incoming links, etc. to become a free traffic generator for your own products and others.
6. Speaking
A lot of people don’t identify speaking skills with the internet, but look at how often we’re now using video. In addition, both teleseminars and webinars are ways to improve your conversion (you’ll often find it much easier to generate sales from that teleseminar instead of directly from the website). Plus, some of the best leads you could ever generate are offline leads that become customers (such as the ones you find from speaking engagements).
7. Management
What about those business owners who become experts at delegation and management of workers? I’m not talking about just outsourcing a couple of items. I’m talking about those who are good at managing people and getting the best results out of them. You can even find outsourcing companies who focus on this. You hire them and they get the projects done for you.
Which skill is the right one for you?
Notice that everyone of these skills is a marketable skill. They could and are being sold right now. There are copywriters, PPC services, seo services, professional voiceovers, etc. This leads us back to where I told you that everyone has to “Trade Time for Money” in one way or another when they’re starting out.
Even if you never sold your skills for an hourly rate, you still have to develop them to a level where you could. And I didn’t even come close to covering all the online skills we could have in this section. Think about it for a while though on those you know who are most successful. They often develop mastery in at least one vital skill and sometimes in a 2nd or 3rd one.
They don’t focus on doing everything at once.
Which skill should you focus on? I don’t know. Part of it depends on your background skill sets and your own natural abilities. For example, I can tell you from working with many clients that those who do best at PPC are often the analytical types. They love numbers and seeing the results from making small little changes. While the more outgoing personal people often do better generating their traffic through joint ventures and providing content to others (such as doing webinars with affiliates).
So I’m not telling you which skill for you to focus on, but I am telling you to focus on some sellable online skill in 2009. Which one will be your ticket to online success?
Related Entries:- 10 Ways to Really Make Money Online
- Art of Persuasion
- One Way to Success Online
- 5 Ways to Increase Your Income
- 7 Ways to Make Money Online
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Terry,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I have struggled with trying to do everything and have known that I needed to outsource more pieces of my business. Ironically the exact advice that I give my coaching clients.
I’ve been building a team of people to produce the work that I generate for my local clients. That way I can focus on speaking both for lead generation and content/product development in 2009. I believe that change will bring my business from mid 5 figures in 2008 to mid six figures in 2009.
Doug
Great post Terry. The need to regroup and simplify never seems to go away. There’s nothing like doing spring cleaning on a regular basis!
[...] we agree with the “Dean” – “Terry Dean” – to be exact, “Expertise Equals Income” and we advise newcomers to Internet [...]
Who you learn from when becoming this expert is also key. This blog and Terry’s products are a great place to learn this. Other websites by some so called “gurus” are only “experts” at over promising get-rich-quick results and taking people’s money. Point — be careful who you learn from.
Absolutely true! People need to focus on their strengths to make a really good living online. Excellent post.
I think you could also add becoming an expert in the subject of your particular industry. In other words become more of successful expert who can walk the walk and less of the “fake guru”.
Awesome, Terry. I was surprised to find you here… I thought you had disappeared from the Internet marketing scene. I remember devouring your content many years ago (when I just got started online). You were much younger then and one of the most powerful marketers. I am glad your content is still as good – if not better. I will surely be visiting more often, Terry. Keep it going!
Becoming a subject matter expert is extremely important in my opinion. Having a strong online presence through SEO is another (especially if you focus on e-commerce or blogging). Developing a name for yourself through action, experience, and “walking the walk,” as Alex mentioned, can be a great way to establish yourself as an expert.
Nice article. We have different skills and we can have a lot of skills. But the first thing to do is we must ask ourself….what is skill do we really want? A skill that we really love. A skill that we are enthusiastic. The point here is focus.
Hi Terry,
Most beginners trying their hands at making money online fall into the trap of trying to learn everything at once, just like you said.
Today they receive an email telling them about the great money that can be made with Adsense, and so they go and try that out.
The next day they try out clickbank affiliate marketing, then the next day SEO, next week PPC, and so on.
This is a sad thing but it’s definitely true. We need to guide these beginners to cocentrate and focus on 1 specific skill first instead of trying their hands at everything they come across.
Cheers,
Welly Mulia
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[...] Lohrenz presents Expertise Equals Income posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry [...]
[...] Lohrenz presents Expertise Equals Income posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry [...]
Good Terry, but I would like to add more things if you don’t mind. Beginners need hard work and determination to master all of the seven skills. The problem is, they are beginners, and they will join “the survival of the fittest” competition, and most of them will fail, and only a few will prevail. Remember, It’s not their survival which will make them success, but it is their response towards failure that will determine their future.
Great informative piece for all, also learn’t a lot from your other articles… Thanks for sharing at my carnival Terry. Important point by Yassar too. Keep up the goodwork.