I’ve been working at internet marketing solidly for a few months now and have not really made anything happen yet. My first instinct is to get discouraged and frustrated. But, I know that is not a productive emotion.

Instead, I am going to sit and think about why that can be, and work on changing the things that aren’t working and replace them with the things that are working. That is what I suggest you do, too. If you are wondering why things aren’t working out, tear yourself away from the computer and grab a pen and paper and brainstorm. Answer these questions:

• What are you trying to accomplish?
• How have you been trying to accomplish it?
• How far have you gotten? Have you reached your goals? Why or why not?

Three simple questions - but if you spend enough time on it, you should have at least a page from your notebook filled up. Most importantly, you should have some insight into how you will succeed.

Do you want to see my answers? Here they are:

What am I trying to accomplish?

Make a full time income online ($400 a day) with internet marketing.

How have I been trying to accomplish it?

This week I’ve been using the following formula:

1. Select a product to promote.
2. Come up with some keywords that relate to the product.
3. Start a blog with the main keyword and post it at using several of the other keywords on the list.
4. For each keyword, start a squidoo lens, a hub on hubpages, and submit one article to ezinearticles. All of these are pointing to the blog.

And that’s it. It seems simple enough, but maybe there’s something missing.

This is the product I’ve been promoting: Ewan Chia’s Work from Home Special Report. It’s only $14.95 and filled with a lot of great information on how to do affiliate marketing, sell your own products, and make money on ebay.

Has it Been Working? Why or Why Not?

It has not been working. I think there are several problems with my approach:

1. I chose a product in a highly saturated niche (internet marketing).
2. I am using all the main keywords. This is not good in a saturated niche because my little, free blog doesn’t stand up all that well to the better known sites.
3. I am not using any real methods for driving traffic to the blog, the lenses, or the hubs.

So fixing it seems rather obvious. Find good keywords. Start a blog in the niche that has its own personality. Drive traffic to the blog.

All of this work I am doing and documenting because I am creating an eCourse that I will be offering for free. But before I offer it, I need to test things out. I want to make sure that when I share the method with you, I can back it up and KNOW that it works.

A little personal pep talk came in an unlikely place today. I was sitting in my living room watching the coverage of the Celtics victory parade. One of the announcers said that throughout the year, there was a light shining on the ceiling in the spot where championship banner number 17 would go. It was a reminder for the players - that was the goal - that is where they wanted to be. And in June, it happened for them. They won the championship against the Lakers, a classic match up.

On the surface, it seems kind of hokey. But if you think about it, they did what people tell us to do - visualize success. Almost every “start your own business” book I’ve read at least mentions that you need to visualize success. When the players caught a glimpse of the light in the empty spot, that’s exactly what they did.

So that got me to thinking… how could I do the same thing? So I took a pen and a small piece of paper and I wrote a “400″. I’ve taped it to my desk, right at eye level. That’s the income I’ll need to make per day in order to get into the six figure zone. I actually got that idea to write the income goal like that from a life changing ebook I read called 5 Bucks a Day - it is an inspirational book about learning how to focus on small successes instead of waiting for the big numbers. All those small successes add up to help you reach your goal.

Have you ever tried to promote something you knew nothing about? I have, and even though I find moderate success by doing so, I feel that I could be even MORE successful if I bite the bullet and pay for the products. Let’s do an experiment. Let’s see which one holds more weight:

• You can make money writing articles with Constant Content.
• I made over $1000 dollars last month with Constant Content and it’s free to sign up.

Neither of these statements are actually true. I’ve never made a dime with CC but The idea is always there. I was just using it as an example.

So, from now on - every product or service I talk about on this site I’ve either purchased and experienced or used the service and decided that I liked it. I think recommendations hold a lot more weight. Don’t you agree?

If you decide to implement it, don’t lie. It is easy to write words. But integrity behind the words is also important.

It’s so easy to spend hours at the computer working with what I do - writing and internet marketing. But there is one thing that I learned - if I spend too much time at it, I plateau. No new ideas, losing my gusto for the ideas I do have… In order to get fresh material I need to get out into the world. This is something I still need to work on. Here are some things I enjoy:

Fitness. I make time each day to go to the gym. Three days a week I go to my tae kwon do class. The other two or three days a week I spend doing cardio. I also walk with a weighted backpack throughout the week whenever I feel like it to get in shape for hiking. And I also hike on the weekends.

Foraging. This is one of my biggest hobbies. I’m an herbalist so I like to get out there in the woods and in chemical free lawns and go nuts. I have chickweed growing under my water faucet, lambs quarters growing in some of my flower pots, and there are dandelions all over the place. It’s satisfying knowing that my lunch was fresh picked and come from outside.

Arts and crafts. I want to learn how to draw. I love crochet. I tinker with soft pastels. I even enjoy coloring. I can’t even remember the last time I completed a craft project. It’s been at least a year.

Books. I love to read but I don’t do enough of it. So today I think I am heading to the book store to see what’s new in the literary world and see if I can find some new magazines to query.

Music. I love to sing, I want to learn guitar, and I’m always listening to music. The great thing about this is I can listen to music while working. But I can only listen to classical and downtempo (bistro music) while working otherwise I’ll just be tempted to sing or dance. So I need to make time for musical pursuits beyond that.

Cooking. I love cooking. It has been SO LONG since I hit the kitchen and followed a new recipe. Food writing is also a great joy. It’s been over a year since I’ve had any food articles published.

This is a good jumping off point and I see the potential for some niche sites and blogs in here. What kinds of things do you guys enjoy? Can you turn any of them into any business ideas or articles?

I had a fun and action packed weekend in the mountains. Now, it’s time to face the reality that I need to get back to work. That’s okay - I love what I do for a living. I have some exciting projects lined up, and some of them will benefit you. Stay tuned because I am developing a free ecourse on how to find success with internet marketing. I’m testing the routine out right now to make sure the steps I’ve come up with to help you actually work.

In addition, I’ll be working on my eHow articles, updating my lenses and hubs and creating new ones, and submitting articles to Assocated Content. I have financial goals and I am not on target for the year yet, so I need to step up my game a bit.

So it seems like I am going to have a busy week. It’s not uncommon - working from home is wonderful. I work hard, and at times I feel like I play hard too. It’s all about finding balance and making sure I have a life outside of work.

When I first started out as a freelance writer, I had a hard time telling people what I did for a living. Looking back on that time, I have no idea why. I’ve learned that if I speak confidently about what I do, people will respond to that confidence. When I faltered people would stare at me, waiting for more information. My family members constantly told me to get a “real” job.

Over this past weekend I saw a comedy show and I was in the hot seat. You know, that seat where some poor sap answers the comedian’s questions. When asked, “What do you do for a living?” I said, “Writer.” Of course, he made fun of that a little bit. He said, “It’s complete sentence day for the writer in the room.” It was funny and I didn’t care. People weren’t laughing at me and my profession. They were laughing at the comedian’s joke. That’s a difference I wouldn’t have made when I was first starting out.

So if you’re a beginner, how do you get to that point? For me, it was a gradual change. As I become comfortable in what I was doing and as I had deadlines and other things to keep me busy, I had no problem telling people about what I did as a living. And it is this confidence that helped me land new jobs.

I’ve thought long and hard about how I can help people get that confidence. So I’ve put together a short list of tips and techniques you can try. It’s better to practice this from the beginning of your career. The sooner you gain confidence in your abilities, the easier it will be to reach your personal goals.

• Say, “I’m a writer” to everyone who asks. Don’t stutter or elaborate. Leave it at that unless people ask you questions.
• When people ask where they can see your work, point them to your website.
• Get business cards printed that say you’re a writer. Include your website URL.
• If you don’t have a website, get one for free at blogger.com, wordpress.com, or any of the other free sites.

And that’s it. That’s all you need. You’re not out to prove to these people that you’re a writer. You’re simply telling them. Too many writers turn those innocent questions into a defense. Remember, it’s not proof people are after - they’re simply curious.

If you don’t want to spend money on business cards, try Vista Print. You get 250 free cards that are high quality. They have over 40 templates to choose from if you get the free version. You can pay for add-ons, but you don’t need to do that. Stick with the free version and you’ll have a card that is professional enough to advertise what you do for a living.

I’ve been really stepping up my efforts to getting traffic to my website. There are an absurd amount of things that I can do to get that traffic, but I chose seven of them to focus on.

1. article marketing - since I am a writer, putting together an article marketing campaign will be a breeze. My focus is on ezinearticles.com but over time I’ll submit to other sites like searchwarp.com and goarticles.com.




2. squidoo lenses - I have a few lenses set up right now and I am getting a few hits a day from them. What if I had 50 lenses or so set up, all pointing back to my blog?




3. hubpages - I only have one hub set up but that will change soon. My goal is to have a good amount (say fifty or so) of quality hubs pointing to this site.




4. forums - I enjoy participating in forums because I learn a lot - especially from places like the Warrior Forum. I get some hits already from that one forum (I put my blog URL in the signature) but plan to get involved at other places.




5. visit blogs - One of the reasons why I love blogging is because I enjoy visiting other people’s blogs and commenting and learning from them. I always leave my blog URL when asked to provide it in the comment form.




6. twitter - I enjoy micro-blogging at twitter. It’s a blast and I’ve met a lot of cool people. And it is a great way to get hits to my site after I make a new post.




7. stumbleupon - I’m almost surprised by how successful stumbleupon has been for me. I stumbled one article about a week ago and ended up with 1000 hits to my site that day.

I remember what it was like when I was in school. Summer hit, so that meant “summer job”. Back then, I worked in the heat at the local amusement park checking the seat belts on the roller coaster, or patrolling the Antique Cars to make sure people weren’t turning them into bumper cars.

Things have changed. With internet businesses going stronger than ever, there are a lot more options. Sure, high school and college students could spend their summers scooping ice cream. But the possibility of getting something started online is also there.

To honor that, Ken Envoy is running a summer special on his popular Site Build It! system. This is one of the best tools I’ve found that helps you build your internet business from the ground up.

I’ve spent a lot of time buying ebooks and trying different methods. If I had to do everything over again, I’d choose one high quality product to teach me the ropes and not waste my money on anything else.

Get it now because the “Summer Sandals” $100 special is only going on until June 21 and then the price will go back up.

Right now it’s taking me a lot of discipline to stay focused on my current project. I’ve been working on it non-stop and progress is a little slow. As I’m working through it, it’s easy to get frustrated, stop, and move on to something else. Too easy.

In the past few days I’ve found myself looking into such business opportunities as starting my own homemade chocolate making business, mystery shopping, and I even had a thankfully brief sojourn into the world of paid surveys and get paid to programs.

In the end, I return to the task at hand - to learn how to make money online through affiliate marketing the right way. Building a proper business online can be a fairly slow process. If I jump from project to project before anything gets completed, I’ll never see the success I want. I’m using the Super Affiliate Handbook to help me learn and I’m loving how thorough it is.

I’m sure a lot of you can relate to this one. Have you ever signed up for something that you THOUGHT would bring in a substantial amount of traffic… only to realize that you may be lucky if it brings in one new reader a day.

I’ve been there.

I’ve signed up for social sites, participated in forums and discussions, done article marketing, used social bookmarking. Some of these things have worked for me, and some haven’t.

That’s why it’s important to keep track of your stats. I use statcounter - it’s a free tool that has served me well and meets my needs for the moment. The important thing is to try one new thing for bringing in traffic at a time so you can track and see whether or not it’s working. Things that have been successful for me:

• Article marketing
• Squidoo lenses - Links coming in from my lenses
• StumbleUpon - I stumble my best posts
• Warrior Forum - I have my website in the signature
• Other Blogs - when I comment, I leave my website URL

Some people have had success with other techniques, such as link exchanges and Pay Per Click campaigns. I’ve tried other things that haven’t worked - such as paying attention to my Facebook account and visiting other forums. Those ended up being time wasters, but there was no way to know that going in. It was only after I started tracking the stats that I figured it out.

I haven’t tried PPC yet, but it’s on my agenda. What traffic generating techniques work for you?