The Three Common Traits Shared By “Mom & Pop”
Web Sites Earning $100,000 to $600,000 A Year

This issue, I would like to share some personal insights with you that I believe will really help you to move forward in your online business goals.  The spark of inspiration for this editorial came when I was reviewing the interviews we have conducted for our new private site "Secrets To Their Success" http://www.SecretsToTheirSuccess.com where each month we interview two real people who have had extraordinary success on the Internet. 

Each interview tells a real-life story of hard work and dedication, but there are also messages that are not so obvious at first glance.  It is these underlying “common threads” that really interested me.  I wondered, “What are the common traits shared by these one and two-person Internet business owners that have allowed them to build web sites that generate incomes of $100,000 to $600,000 each and every year?”       

Since they sell everything from body building programs to designer soaps to courses on daytrading, “what” they are selling is important, but it is not the key factor in their success. Their ages, formal education, or prior knowledge of the Internet did not appear to be relevant to the ability of these men and women to make money online either. 

The closer I read, the more it became obvious that besides all of the strategies and techniques these people reveal as part of their “success formula,” there are actually three common traits shared by all of their success stories that have allowed them to grow their businesses to generate such extraordinary incomes…

Most of the people we interviewed had little or no prior knowledge of the Internet.  Typically, this was their first Internet business.  Some had never even turned on a computer!  And that is the first point I want you to know.  It doesn’t matter what your knowledge level is when you start — the important point is you need to begin.

You don’t have to do everything well.  In fact, you don’t have to do anything well when you start!  But you have to START.  Take the first steps (no matter how small) to move your web site dream into reality.  You don’t need to wait until you know “everything.”  

These successful netrepreneurs did not wait until their web sites were “perfect” or until they knew everything there was to know about selling on the Internet before they got started; they’re living proof that you don’t need to be an Internet marketing guru to start making money online.  I am sure you, too, have a great idea that has been percolating in your brain.  You just need to start.

The second common thread I want you to know about is that each one of these people focused on just one marketing strategy at a time, did it well, maximized profits, and then moved on to the next one. That’s why they also said that they know there is so much more they can do. 

There are many ways you can promote your web site:

• Some of them will give you a quick traffic boost (such as pay-per-click search engines);
  
  
• Others will establish your reputation more slowly (such as writing articles and providing free content for other webmasters);
  
  
• While others (such as finding strategic partners who will link to your site) will pay off well into the future for the work you do today. 

That’s the good news!  You don’t have to put a lot of pressure on yourself believing that you have to do it all or know it all.

To follow their lead, focus on just one marketing strategy such as submitting your site to the search engines, publishing your own newsletter, or learning about how to write effective sales copy… and then really master it.  Learn all you can and apply the knowledge as you learn it.  This is how you can generate $100,000+ from your online business — by focusing on one marketing strategy at a time.

Start by choosing the theme of your web site and then strive to become the dominant site serving your niche market.  Next, make a list of all the different ways to increase the sales to your web site and then decide which one will make you the most money and start with that one.  Leave the rest on your “to-do” list until you have squeezed every dollar out of the traffic generation technique, sales strategy, or design element you are working on.  There will always be loads of other ideas just waiting for you to use to earn even more profits.

These successful candidates confess to having made mistakes — costly, frustrating, and time wasting mistakes that could have been easily avoided.  This is the hard way to learn.  After all, you don’t have to be the one who makes the mistake to learn from it.  It is much easier to learn from other people’s mistakes.  They all said that they could have been earning a MUCH bigger income MUCH faster if they had only started their Internet education earlier and modeled the success of others. 

And that leads us to the third common thread I want to share with you which is… all of these people have committed to educating themselves in the most profitable marketing strategies and techniques.  You don’t need to personally conduct your own “trial and error” experiments to discover what software to use, which online resources are the most helpful, or which overall web site designs are producing the best results in today’s competitive Internet environment. 

Others have already cut a path through the Internet jungle for you.  Just get on the right trail and apply the strategies and techniques as you learn about them.  Great ideas are transferable.  What works for others can be adapted for your site, too.

Final Thoughts:

Building a successful online business is more of a journey than a destination.  What works today may or may not work tomorrow.  That’s why the learning process never stops.  The fact that the Internet continuously changes is the number one advantage you have over your competition if you stay ahead of the learning curve and they don’t.  Make a commitment to continuous learning.  Study top sites like the ones on http://www.SecretsToTheirSuccess.com and model your web site after them. 

These successful netrepreneurs are regular people who did not start out with multi-million dollar advertising budgets, huge staffs, or advanced technical knowledge.  In fact, most of them started out with almost no budget, by themselves, and with little prior knowledge of marketing on the Internet.  Your site does not have to be perfect to make money, but you can’t make money until you start!