Lessons Learned From Going Online

Going online was a  huge step for me and with this post, I want to give you the lessons learned on my journey going online.

It was in May 2011) when I started to learn what internet marketing was and what I could do to make some money.

My biggest mistake was that I wanted to learn everything as fast as possible. Wanting to learn was not the problem but trying to do everything at the same time was.

Because I was so green as grass I tended to believe everything that I read or heard. I subscribed to many lists looking for information but little did I know that I fell from one sales pitch to another promising me fortunes if I buy this software or buy this book and implement everything they say.

After spending hundreds of dollars on a lot of no good push button get rich software or incomplete eBooks I started to realize that this was not the way to go. I was running around in circles starting one strategy but at the same time starting another one in a different niche not knowing what I was doing.

I was getting so much information in a short period of time that I didn’t have time to digest everything and before I knew it I was suffering from information overload.

If I knew then what I know now I would have done everything differently but that’s talking after the facts. Just to help you make the right choices, I have written down some pointers which if I had known a year ago would have made things a lot easier for me.

Learn As You Go

What I mean with this is, if you know nothing about a certain subject, let’s say for instance, you want to learn how to set up a WordPress website and you have no knowledge whatsoever, go to Google or YouTube and search for that information. You will be surprised how much information and videos on that subject are available for you and the best part is it’s free.

Just start to gather that information and begin to implement it. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes because you will learn from those mistakes.
For every problem I came across I just entered the problem in Google and I could choose from a huge number of solutions. Just pick one and see if it solves the problem. You will be amazed.

If you don’t want to do it this way then I can recommend a very good mentor (Chris Farrell) who will teach you everything from scratch. How do I know he is a good mentor because I was one of his students? If you know absolutely nothing about setting up a website or making money online then he is the mentor you need.

UPDATE: Chris Farrell’s Membership does not exist anymore

Nothing is more gratifying when you can say I made my first website all on my own.

Don’t buy things you think you need. This is the biggest problem with newbies who just started in Internet Marketing. Believe me, I was one of them. Newbies tend to believe everything that they read or see and are looking for a way to earn money as fast as possible.

I bought nearly everything that came under my eyes believing that this is the one that’s going me make me money (that is what they’ll tell you on their sales page). Before even starting to use the product I just bought I was already looking at the next one.

Reading the sales page of the seller made me feel if I don’t buy it, I’m missing out on something big but after purchasing the product and going through it, I was disappointed because it didn’t work out like they said it would.

A bit of advice: If you come across a product you think will bring you riches or that missing piece of information, try looking for reviews of that product on Google. Here you will find out if the product is a scam or if it really delivers what they are advertising. Only if I had known this then, it would have saved me a lot of money.

Don’t think that you will earn money instantly. When I finished building my first website I had the idea that it was going to generate income for me but I soon found out that there was something missing in this equation.

If you believe everything you read about making money online then you would think it’s very easy and that’s what I thought too but the truth is different. I made the squeeze page, created the free gift, set up an email follow-up sequence in my autoresponder, and hoped that I could make some money but one thing that they forgot to tell me was how to get visitors (traffic) to my squeeze page.

For me, that was the hardest part. I tried a lot of systems that could generate traffic but it didn’t bring the constant flow of visitors I needed for my website to generate money.

Using free traffic methods takes time and hard work but if you want traffic fast then look for the paid traffic methods. It will cost you money but if you do it right you can earn your investment back and make a profit at the same time.

Learn Basic Technical Skills

You don’t have to be an expert but you do need some basic technical skills. If you already know what a Cpanel is and HTML and how to use FTP then you already know sufficient to get started. Again you don’t need to know everything just the basics.

What you don’t know you can again use Google and YouTube to search for instruction videos and information blogs or you can do what I did and join Chris Farrell’s Membership and he will teach you everything you need to get started.

If you don’t want to spend the money on a mentor you can find a lot of free information on the Internet but you will have to invest a little bit of money to get started.

This money is needed to buy a domain name ($10 a year) and web hosting ($10 a month). Of course, you can go for the free websites but you don’t have full control of the website. It is possible to have a basic website online within 24 hours.

The most important part is that you take action. Don’t be a perfectionist at this stage, correct your mistakes as you go along. This will save you time and the best part is that you get to learn from those mistakes. Search for successful people in your chosen niche and model their system.

I’m not saying copying but modeling. You don’t need to create your own system at first to be successful in Internet Marketing. There are a lot of proven business models you can follow. Search for blog posts or websites of experienced Internet Marketers and product creators.

Study their sales letters and squeeze pages on how they capture customers, subscribe to their email list, and learn how they use their sales funnel and their follow-up email sequence.

I found a few marketers that I thought were honest and ethical and provided great value. These marketers became my mentors and they allowed me to use their system.

Speed Up Your Success, Get a Mentor

Before I looked for a mentor I did what I mentioned before, searching on Google and YouTube. After a while, you realize that it takes a lot of time to search for the information you need and to be certain that the information is correct.

It’s good to be independent but it might take you a very long time to actually get any results if you do everything by yourself. After searching for a while I came to the conclusion that I was missing something but I didn’t know what. This was the moment that I needed a mentor to help me.

By coincidence, I came across my first mentor Chris Farrell. From him, I learned the basics. He teaches you through instructional videos what to do and how to do it. You can say I watched over his shoulders while he was explaining. As I said, these were the basics, the first steps into Internet Marketing. After going through all his videos I came to a point where I wanted to go deeper and learn more advanced techniques, so I looked for a mentor who could teach me the more advanced techniques.

The name of my second mentor is James Francis and at the time of writing this post I’m a student of his in his Online Income Masterclass (Update: This program no longer exists) which I highly recommend if you want to learn more than just basics.

Finding someone who can guide you step by step and make sure you do it the right way, is a very powerful thing.

A Few Last Words

My journey into Internet Marketing doesn’t have to be yours. What I mean by this is that you can learn from my mistakes and avoid the things that don’t work or are too advanced if you just starting out.

Before spending money on a product, do some research on the product and product maker and read what everybody is saying. Just go to Google and put in the product name or product maker followed by a review and then make the decision if you want to buy.

Keep in mind that a lot of products have a refund guarantee so that you can find out if the product works for you or not. If you don’t like the product or it doesn’t meet the expectations that the product maker created on his sales page, simply request a refund.

This I didn’t know until much later (months later) otherwise I would have requested a lot of refunds.

Like any business, you need to invest money to make money but invest wisely and do your research.

My last mentor is John Thornhill with his Partner to Success program
In this program, you will learn everything about creating your very own product and how to promote it.

It is expensive but well worth it.