Lifestyle and Discipline
Living the internet lifestyle requires discipline.
We have the joy of being able to live wherever we want and work whenever we want, but with that freedom also comes the need for discipline.
You have to discipline yourself to stay on target.
A lot of times beginners are simply told to action…and that’s great advice. But what action should they take?
If I get up and run around in circles, that’s taking action. In fact, that’s exactly what a majority of beginners do. They discover the Internet and just what it can do for them. They think about the dream. Then they buy an ebook. And they do that for a day. Another ebook comes along and they buy that one. Then another.
Soon they’re running around in circles like a dog chasing their own tail trying to do EVERYTHING they read at once.
That’s an exercise in frustration and a disaster waiting to happen.
At night they dream about PPC, JVs, Social Media, SEO, Affiliates, Products, eBay, Amazon, Dropshipping, and Forums. Oh MY!
Today they try a little bit of Adwords. It doesn’t go well at first (it almost always takes some practice for new user to get it converting well for them).
Then they read on a forum or in a newsletter about social media, so they try that for a while. It generates traffic, but they don’t make any sales.
So they go searching for the next missing piece that will make everything work right for them.
What they’re missing is systematic disciplined action.
Let’s take PPC for example. You can go setup an account easily. You study some good PPC materials to help you get started. Maybe something from Perry Marshall, Glenn Livingston, or Ed Rivis (none of those are affiliate links, just good products).
You work hard to find the right selection of keywords. If you listen to Glenn, which you should, he’ll tell you to start with surveying your market. So you’ll put up a survey page. Because Google is so picky about your landing page, you should put up multiple surveys for your different potential audiences (the visitors from different related keyword phrases can have a wildly different mindset).
You create multiple keyword ad groups so your ads and your landing pages can be as targeted a possible.
Now you set about writing ads. The easiest way to get started is to study all of your competitors ads in that term. Examine each one to find what hook they’re using in their ad if any. How are they standing out from the others, if they are at all. Then pull together the best possible ideas and write multiple ads for your each keyword group. You always want to be testing one ad against another in each group.
Next you’re going to want to install Google Conversion Tracking so you can see which ads and keywords are producing the leads and sales at your website. Some of your keyword phrases won’t be profitable (no matter how well you researched them). Some of your ads might produce clickthroughs, but they don’t convert.
Once you find your results of the survey and switch over to a lead generation page or sales page, you’re going to need to test this landing page. Use split testing or multivariate testing to test your headlines, pricing, graphics, intro, etc.
Wow…that sounds like a lot of work!
It is.
It’s not really hard work, but you do have to be systematic and disciplined.
What do most beginners do when they get started with Adwords? They pick some popular keyword phrases. They set up a couple of ads. They run the visitors right to their normal sales page. The results aren’t pretty.
The ones who are successful 3 months down the road are the ones who dug their heels in and experimented at every step in the process (keywords, groups, ads, landing page, followup, etc.). They continually improved their sales system.
And that’s where it comes to the reward. Once they have the system refined, it often only takes minor changes to keep improving it. They can keep profiting from what they setup for years to come. You might say, “But what if Google slaps them?” This is what happens when Google decides your advertising isn’t relevant enough (again all the way through from keywords, groups, ads, landing page, etc.). They’ll simply improve their refinement in each area again.
What if they want to now setup more campaigns? Do you think it takes them nearly as long the second time? Not a chance. They’ve worked hard to establish the skill they can keep using to create profits.
The key is they had the discipline to do what it took each day to make their campaign work.
You might not be focusing on PPC. Maybe it’s blogging and free traffic you’re after. Or perhaps it’s JVs. Or maybe it’s your affiliate program. Or perhaps you use offline advertising such as postcards to drive visitors to your site.
It doesn’t matter which method you’re using. What does matter is the people who just touch the surface are NOT the ones who make a fortune in it. The ones who become the big winners are those who keep digging through each of the layers of a subject.
I could choose any other subject and we could discuss all the layers involved. Let’s take blogging. You can have to do your research to find out what people are already searching for online. Then you produce regular updated content…with a strong push of a large amount of content in the beginning. You need to build relationships with other bloggers. You have to monetize the blog. You have to be disciplined in both the content creation and the partnering with others.
Whatever you’re doing, take time to write down all the elements involved in the process. How can you improve on each item? How can you keep improving on it?
That takes discipline.
Winners have the discipline to keep going while they’re learning. They set themselves up with a schedule and stick to it. Even if something doesn’t go their way or they get discouraged, they keep moving forward.
Do you have the discipline to run your own Internet Lifestyle business?
Related Entries:- What Is a Landing Page?
- Breaking All the Adwords Rules
- Why Do People Fail At Adwords?
- 7 of My Favorite Blog Posts
- 7 Adwords Secrets
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Awesome, thanks Terry. Once again, cutting through the hype to deliver solid gold content.
A big problem I see others facing is the fear of losing money. They shy away from doing something correctly because sometimes it means taking a small loss when you first start out (your Adwords example is a great one, and the same can go for outsourcing free advertising, banner ads, etc.).
The reason that I’ve seen people flock to the next bright shiny object is because the sales copy of that bright shiny object actually says “it’s easy, anyone can do it, and it takes no work to make millions of dollars”. Who wouldn’t follow this? What the copy don’t say is: “and it took me 2 years to get there”.
I recently had someone who I was coaching quit because she wasn’t able to face the facts of business: it requires good, solid, effort day in and day out to make a profitable business work. I covered it here: http://www.capitalistguide.com/blog/jobs-vs-businesses-its-a-mindset-thing-30.htm
Thanks again Terry, I wish I could write as eloquently as you.
Once again Terry, great article.
Everything that is done online in terms of business is all about trial and error. If something does not work for you, try to do it another way.
Test, test, and test some more to see what strategies can bring you better results from what you did in the past.
I have been online for a little over 5 years now and can tell you that one of the most important things to do, if one does want to succeed online, is to never give up no matter what happens.
If things don’t work out for you, keep moving forward and don’t give up.
I say that I have been online for 5 years but 3.5-4 of those years I have been struggling to make money.
I have seen so many people try to make it but quit too fast.
Anyway, thanks again Terry.
Tal
Thanks for the tips. I’m just in the process of doing this so I’ll take your advice with the testing over a few months.
I reread this post about 4 times.
Great post as always. Sometimes I feel that we don’t always realize all of the things we are doing to thwart our own success.
There may be another problem involved in coming up with the systems that lead to progress. If we don’t have these systems in place, and are not following through on building them, something else may be at work. Our bad habits may be getting the best of us.
The trick is to identify, and change these habits so that we can build, and more importantly, follow disciplined systems.
I’ve started a series of blog posts exploring habits, which I’d be interested in your reaction to. It could benefit a large number of people including myself.
Thanks again!
-Tim
TERRY!
I did a whole review on your blog marketing strategy (In My Humble But Accurate Opinion!) on Monday night – and I uploaded the video today – and I go to link to you and you have totally changed your theme and wrecked my review!
Since I keep telling everyone about you and we have totally different coaching programs (I’m not YOU for sure) – you should put in in your blogroll.
(blushes) LOL
Site looks good –
Rick Butts
Hi Rick,
I don’t think my blog marketing strategy has really changed any. Sure the design has changed a lot but as with everything else, it’s a test. You can still see where I’m focusing new visitors (to the list) and I will continue to overwhelm you with content to get you prepared for the higher level products.
Terry