The $1,000,000 Question - Where To Start?

rothschild

rothschild

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I really want to learn more about internet marketing but I'll be honest - I have zero clue where to start.

If anyone could point me in the right direction of which threads/posts to read first, it'd be mighty appreciated.
 
@rothschild Reading random stuff around the forum won't hurt you. At some point you will narrow down your interest. While reading make sure to write down acronyms, approaches, tactics, tools, and all the stuff you consider to be useful to you. Start to segment the information by different criteria. Do it like you are creating your small IM textbook.

Set yourself a goals, let's say you want to build site about ninja turtles, if you don't know how to build it, and you have a question, just google it, find articles, tutorials etc. read them, understand them as much as you can, and finally apply that knowledge (do not enter into a state of "paralysis of analysis"). After that cycle you will gain a few points on that skill you've worked on. When you have the site you will want to make the next step: marketing. You will ask yourself: how can I market a website? Well you got a question, why don't you google it?

When you are about to ask a question on forums, make sure that you've done as much as possible to gather and analyze information about the problem, and if you have not yet found answer, ask away. This way the chance to get appropriate information improves significantly.

In conclusion: if you are not ready to invest time, money and a lot of efforts in it, stay away from this industry bro. You have to give in order to take.
 
As @MeEatBrains said, try to pick a topic in which you are interested. From there on you simply need to take action (i.e. build out your site/product/service/whatever) and along the way you will be able to narrow down your questions. IMO it's hard to tell a newbie where to start. We all have different interests and IM is just a way of delivering a product.
You might find that SEO is a complete waste of time, or Social Media just doesn't fire you up. And you end up focusing on Paid traffic acquisition. Try out different things on a small scale and you will quickly find out what will keep you awake at 3AM (or not).
I believe that this is one of the best methods, which is also how I started out. Better than pulling a Tai Lopez and reading books all day.
Fail, learn, fail, learn, small success, learn...
 
Don't pick whatever you are interested in, it will go nowhere. Learn how to do a proper keyword research, get some tools that will help you and find the keywords that generate revenue and bring in traffic. Optimise, traffic leak, become a big brand. Get to a $x/month goal and flip.
 
@MeEatBrains, @Saiten, @turtle & @badya122 thank you for the advice. I've spent most the night reading like a mad man.

Right now I'm starting at zero but i'm giving myself 2 weeks to digest and understand before taking action. My initial website ideas are something to do with either golf or watches. I've just bought the keyword research guide from SEO Nick which will hopefully explain what to do when researching a niche.

Once I understand the keyword research the plan is to look for opportunity in either of the two sectors where people buy product or quest for information to improve. Then I'll buy a domain and look for someone to produce the initial 10 blog posts for the website using the technique that @MetaData outlined in his post.

Question - is it worth assessing how much scope there is for traffic leaking before building a website?
 
rothschild said:
I've just bought the keyword research guide from SEO Nick
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Bummer, all you really need is to find a couple blog posts that explain how to research keywords to get yourself going. There really isn't any magic bullet secret sauce to it that hasn't been talked about for free. Nothing against that course in particular, I'm sure it's fine but also totally unnecessary. Try not to fall into the mental trap of "I paid for this information so it's more valuable than the free stuff out there that's been discussed ad nauseam." Also we've got something on the horizon that is going to make a lot of info-product vendors at least a little bit sad, so just hold on a sec before you buy any other lessons from anybody.

rothschild said:
Question - is it worth assessing how much scope there is for traffic leaking before building a website?
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I read this as "It it worth looking at how much potential there is for traffic..." and the answer is yes, definitely. Watches and golf are both very poised for such endeavours, IMHO.

There's something to be said about starting a site that's about a topic that actually interests you, especially when you're just starting out. You can absolutely make a profitable site about golf or watches, those are both huge niches with allllll sorts of angles you can tackle. I've seen so many people slaughtering in the weirdest little niches that I'm having a hard time even thinking of an interest that doesn't have any potential for a website. I think for anyoness first site the main focus should be learning the ropes, trial and error, taking chances, learning as much as you can and assessing what works and why (and what doesn't, and why) and just getting a feel for the process, seeing what aspects you enjoy and where you excel.
 
Thanks again for all the assistance so far guys; the good news is that the information is starting to sink in.

@MetaData - I can't wait to find out more. It will give me more money to spend on starting my business. Right now I'm pretty excited about starting a golfing website. I think high-end watched might be a bit more difficult to make money from where as pretty much everyone that I golf with is looking for something to help them improve whether that be their game or upgrading their equipment.

I'm far too excited about this right now. I've put in 5 days of annual leave next week to really focus on taking action and getting a site launched. I'm going to treat it as a "normal day" so I'll be starting at 7 and finishing at 6. I'm an organisational freak and I've put a back of the napkin plan for next week together to make the most of my time:

Mon - Keyword research, niche selection and initial business planning.
Tue - Buy domain, buy hosting, figure out and install wordpress, create social media profiles on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Make a list of at least 30 relevant fodums related to my niche. Make a list of at least 50 relevant blogs related to my niche.
Wed - Build first "money page" and 2 supporting articles as MetaData outlined here https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/topic-sites.915/. Start adding some content to Facebook page to make it look active and pay for some liked through Facebook ads ($50). Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of 5 forums.
Thu - Create accounts on 5 sites that allow me to share content. Write 2 articles for each and share 5 posts/images for 5 of the accounts. Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of next 5 forums.
Fri - Repeat Thursdays process for the next 5 sites. Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of next 5 forums.
Sat - Build second "money page" and 2 supporting articles. Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of next 5 forums.
Sun - Post in intro sections of remaining 10 forums. Find 3 bits of content for Facebook posts for the week that people would enjoy seeing pop-up in their feed (as outlined here https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/the-social-media-beast.410/#post-3721), review how facebook advertising campaign went. Plan forum interaction plan for next 30 days (so I can make best use of my breaks at work).

Questions - i have around $200 to invest in this each month. Where should I initially be focusing my money to get the best return? I am tempted to use $50 to kick start my facebook page and then the other $150 to have a few leak-worthy blog posts written for me which means I can focus on the marketing of each article which is what I am most excited about.
 
@rothschild I think that's a good niche (I haven't looked into it with any depth) but off the top of my head there's a LOT that golfers spend money on, not to mention travel and accommodations (The travel angle can lead to some biiig commissions), plus it's not one of those niches where they're too savvy to ever click an ad.

Random example of a traffic leak that just popped into my head: Find a forum about baking or something and start a convo "Xmas ideas for hubby?" (Hey my guy loves three things. Golf, food, and me (In that order.) I'm thinking of getting him #7 from this list because he's in a better mood after golfing a good game and it gives me more time to bake uninterrupted. Sounds like a win win but I'm curious what everyone else is getting for their fellas this year!) - And you'd have an article on your site like "14 Perfect Gift Ideas For Your Golf-Loving Husband"

Anyways...

Yeah plan sounds reasonable, I can't see any red flags except that I'd hope to get a lot more done during 11 hours on some of those days. As for the budget, spend it on things you need as they come up. If you don't spend it all, put it away for next month, don't spend just for the sake of spending.

Domain, hosting, you're pretty much good to go... (There are some cyber monday deals on hosting right now so if you can grab that today it's probably better than waiting.) A Small Orange has 75% off with coupon "MONDAY", they're owned by the "big evil hosting corporation" but their support is still A+ so they're def good for people who are just getting started. Their cheap yearly shared plan won't be able to handle any significant traffic, tho. You'll probably want something to track your positions in search engines sooner or later, we're affiliated with SerpWoo who go way beyond that by showing you the whole landscape of the SERPs, competitive data, and the Keyword Finder is the gravy on top. There's not a lot of other subscriptions that I have personally... some stock photo stuff, Adobe creative cloud, Office, I think that's about it? I'm sure other people might be able to suggest some useful tools and expenses, but all you really *NEED* right now is hosting and a domain.
 
rothschild said:
Thanks again for all the assistance so far guys; the good news is that the information is starting to sink in.

@MetaData - I can't wait to find out more. It will give me more money to spend on starting my business. Right now I'm pretty excited about starting a golfing website. I think high-end watched might be a bit more difficult to make money from where as pretty much everyone that I golf with is looking for something to help them improve whether that be their game or upgrading their equipment.

I'm far too excited about this right now. I've put in 5 days of annual leave next week to really focus on taking action and getting a site launched. I'm going to treat it as a "normal day" so I'll be starting at 7 and finishing at 6. I'm an organisational freak and I've put a back of the napkin plan for next week together to make the most of my time:

Mon - Keyword research, niche selection and initial business planning.
Tue - Buy domain, buy hosting, figure out and install wordpress, create social media profiles on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Make a list of at least 30 relevant fodums related to my niche. Make a list of at least 50 relevant blogs related to my niche.
Wed - Build first "money page" and 2 supporting articles as MetaData outlined here https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/topic-sites.915/. Start adding some content to Facebook page to make it look active and pay for some liked through Facebook ads ($50). Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of 5 forums.
Thu - Create accounts on 5 sites that allow me to share content. Write 2 articles for each and share 5 posts/images for 5 of the accounts. Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of next 5 forums.
Fri - Repeat Thursdays process for the next 5 sites. Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of next 5 forums.
Sat - Build second "money page" and 2 supporting articles. Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of next 5 forums.
Sun - Post in intro sections of remaining 10 forums. Find 3 bits of content for Facebook posts for the week that people would enjoy seeing pop-up in their feed (as outlined here https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/the-social-media-beast.410/#post-3721), review how facebook advertising campaign went. Plan forum interaction plan for next 30 days (so I can make best use of my breaks at work).

Questions - i have around $200 to invest in this each month. Where should I initially be focusing my money to get the best return? I am tempted to use $50 to kick start my facebook page and then the other $150 to have a few leak-worthy blog posts written for me which means I can focus on the marketing of each article which is what I am most excited about.
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You should focus on only one website. Just 1. @CCarter will come here and fuck you hard for this. :D Be afraid, very afraid.

No, but in all seriousness, don't build two website. Work on only one. Otherwise you will probably flip the table after a month and say that "This internet thing" doesn't work.

Seriously, look at this: Building the foundation for a start-up

Now open it again, and look at it again and let it sink in. That is how my traffic graph looked when I took another project for a week. After that it took me another week to get things going back to as they were.

So think about starting that second site again. Better work on some content or traffic leaking.
 
Once again, thanks for all the support guys. I'll make sure that I sign up with Orange Hosts asap to use the voucher and sign up for SERPWOO free plan initially.

This forum is already proving to be epic! I feel like i've learnt more in 24 hours than I did in the first year at uni! @MetaData that's such an awesome example - I would never have thought about using that way to get visitors.

@TacoCat I'm certainly not planning on running more than 1 site at a time I was just outlining my two initial niche options.

I'm looking forward to diving in to all the leaking stuff; my brain is racing with ideas right now.
 
Sat - Build second "money page" and 2 supporting articles. Any remaining time spent posting in intro threads of next 5 forums.
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Ehh, excuse me. I thought you were going to build another website, now reading that again I understood that you want to build a "money page" inside that website. My bad.
 
My first ever site, with knowing very little and not having any resources available like what's here at BuSo, was a golfing website.

Get an idea for where you want to go for you revenue stream. I focused exclusively on club reviews, and did decent money on Amazon selling accessories pitched in the articles.

Also, there are plenty of small time club manufacturers that offer affiliate money, especially on single clubs like drivers. It's been a few years since I let that site go but look around, back then I was making $20'ish per driver I sold on an affiliate click. There's was a surprising amount of long tail searches on specific clubs/sets. If someone's searching for Ping i20 driver review they're already looking to buy one, once they land on your solid review/sales page they're gonna click your affiliate link and pull the trigger. Easy $$

Don't let your scope be huge for the first one, there's big boys in the space that you don't have the resources to compete with right now. Dig down, do due diligence in your keyword research, and find that one vertical that you can survive in and make some easy $$.
 
I couldn't wait until next week to start my keyword research so I started last night; there are hundreds of terms waiting to be targeted. I'm going to bring my plans forward and start on Friday night straight after work - this will give me a couple of extra days to build the momentum.

@Chupin thanks for the tip, it seems that there are lots of great programs out there. I'll be interested to see if they perform better than Amazon.

@TacoCat I read your post where u stopped promoting your site; do you find that you build traffi momentum over time to hit those high numbers sort of like building on the last days traffic?
 
rothschild said:
I couldn't wait until next week to start my keyword research so I started last night; there are hundreds of terms waiting to be targeted. I'm going to bring my plans forward and start on Friday night straight after work - this will give me a couple of extra days to build the momentum.

@Chupin thanks for the tip, it seems that there are lots of great programs out there. I'll be interested to see if they perform better than Amazon.

@TacoCat I read your post where u stopped promoting your site; do you find that you build traffi momentum over time to hit those high numbers sort of like building on the last days traffic?
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I do think that you build some momentum, but it doesn't really affect the big picture so much. I've had the traffic increase in the past month due to finding new sources of acquiring traffic. You can see in the November update the three arcs before it drops (due to me taking some days off) every time there is a new, bigger arc I've found a new traffic source.

I think the momentum is responsible for about 1000 - 2000 users per day.
 
Honestly, the amount of help this forum has been is astonishing.

I think the best thing I've done was create a plan - on Friday, I knew exactly what I needed to to. I stayed up till 3am doing keyword research, making a list of relevant terms grouped together with supporting terms under the money keyword and planning out my week off work.

Yesterday I bought a domain, hosting and a premium wordpress magazine theme from Theme Forest. I've registered social media profiles on Twitter, Facebook, Pinteres and Instagram.

When researching blogs to follow I found a couple of those "top 100 golf blogs to follow" type posts so I just loaded them in to Feed Demon to make reading blogs part of my daily ritual. I had more time left over once we'd put the Christmas tree up and cooked dinner so I took the time to register profiles on forums as I discovered them. Total of 38 related forums so far - need to find 2 more for a nice round 40!

Today I've pulled together 1 x 1200 word "best xyz guide" and I've created 2 x supporting articles like "what to look for when buying your first xzy" and "10 things to avoid when buying xyz" which were both over 600 words. After posting this update I'm heading over to Facebook and I'm going to start building my following on there. I'm also going to hit up 5 forums and post a nice "howdy, how ya'll doing" on each one just to get my name out there.

Tomorrow as per the plan I'm going to register profiles on those article sharing site and write a couple of quick articles for each.

Questions - When registering forum profiles, should I use the same username across each? Also should I use my brand name on the article sharing sites such as tumblr?
 
rothschild said:
Questions - When registering forum profiles, should I use the same username across each? Also should I use my brand name on the article sharing sites such as tumblr?
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There are two approaches to this.

First, you on those forums are "an official representative of golfblabla.com" - then you use your "official" admin name or pen name or even brand name - golfblabla.com. But you can't post any stupid fillers in this case, and you should watch your reputation very accurately.

Another approach, is that you "a random user" which chats around and in some point in future drops links to your site. In this case, surely all profiles must hold different names, otherwise it's just a huge footprint. And you don't want it, right?

And - best luck.
 
@Golan, after thinking about this more I think that the best approach is to take it platform by platform. Some profiles, such as those on competitors forums are going to be best unbranded, however on other popular forums with no ties to competitors I feel representing the brand might be the best option.

I'm ahead of plan with a couple of days in hand, I spent the afternoon contacting website owners with resources pages asking if they would be kind enough to add my site to their page. So far, so good - after only sending 50 or so emails, I've had 4 people add links already. My thought process for this is that a big brand would have many types of backlinks from many different sources so these resource links fit in with the big band ethos.
 
@rothschild Are you using any outreach software to handle (and manage) all the mass sending to your outreach targets? Furthermore, have you started to test both your subject lines as well as the pitch content of your emails themselves? I've found it best to identify the largest relevant audience possible to pitch content (or resource links) to, then pull 30% of that population, slice it up into seven smaller test groups - and send versions testing several subject lines (say 3) and different pitches (again 3) using these to test different types of pitches all leaning on psychological triggers (to the greatest extent possible).

One note to be sure to keep in mind when it comes to email is to put tremendous effort into your subject line - and stay cognizant that the only purpose of that subject line is to set and expectation and get the click, from there worry about content in the email.
 
@NickEubanks I'm not using any outreach software at the moment - just a Excel and Outlook. Do you think it's worth using outreach software from day1?

I've started to test subject lines on a sort of A/B basis where 50% will get subject line A and 50% will get subject line B - do you think that you need to have real statistical significance or do you think you can go by gut feel?
 
rothschild said:
@NickEubanks I'm not using any outreach software at the moment - just a Excel and Outlook. Do you think it's worth using outreach software from day1?

I've started to test subject lines on a sort of A/B basis where 50% will get subject line A and 50% will get subject line B - do you think that you need to have real statistical significance or do you think you can go by gut feel?
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TBH at this point you can absolutely go by gut feel, although if you have enough of a test population to actually GET statistical significance; why not?
My favorite software for testing subject lines and content is CampaignMonitor. Best of all, opposed to most of the EMP's out there you only get charged when you send, not every month based on list size.
As for Outreach software, while BuzzStream is a great place to start, my team uses Pitchbox and really likes how flexible it is and just how creative you can get with nested merge fields, plus jCoop recently put out an awesome guide that breaks down literally everything you need to know about how to get started with it.
 
rothschild said:
I really want to learn more about internet marketing but I'll be honest - I have zero clue where to start.

If anyone could point me in the right direction of which threads/posts to read first, it'd be mighty appreciated.
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Brah... that 30 Day Crash Course is like 500 pages. Its the first, last, and only 500 pages I wish I had read when I got started. Wouldve saved me like 4 years of farting around!
 
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