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Wondering how to get started online? Here are the 10 steps and the order in which to take them. |
 Karen Wilson Wehrle, online home business owner and knitting fool. Hello, fellow or would-be entrepreneur. Welcome to my online business blog. Thanks for stopping by. I’m Karen Wilson Wehrle, a long-time self-employed professional tailor, writer, eBay seller, blogger and now Internet marketer.
Did the world need another online home business blog?
Maybe not so much, but here’s where I’ll share my enthusiasm for life as an entrepreneur and making money online. When I got my first computer, income was my goal. Turns out it was nowhere near as quick or easy as I’d hoped.
If you’ve struggled too, we’re not alone.
I connected with a very successful online marketer who says it took her two years of fumbles before she learned the ropes. What messes us up? Too many choices! Not knowing what we don’t know! Too many folks who offer “help” that isn’t anything we can make head or tail of.
Online marketing is an adventure.
Even the best marketers have failed projects or results that don’t turn out quite as expected. Affiliate marketing is touted as good for beginners, an easy and inexpensive income builder.
Well, yes, it can be—if you don’t miss one of the many necessary steps in the process. Just one weak or missed link wrecks everything!
Let’s roll up our sleeves and follow proven success formulas.
No more chasing after all those bright, shiny easy buttons that promise riches overnight, right? Riches come all right–to shiny-button people who take our money but leave us ill-equipped to accomplish our dreams.
I’m here to help you sidestep mistakes and shorten your learning curve.
I’ll show you mistakes I’ve learned the hard way, so you can avoid many potholes. My goal is to help you cross a bridge over the huge chasm from desperation to success with online marketing.
One top secret–pick trustworthy people as help-mates.
No one can succeed on their own any more. Ask me how I know. I’m experienced, but no guru, not even a top expert. So why should you listen to me? What do I have going for me at last?
I’ve found several true experts we can trust. They teach us step-by-step how to succeed online doing exactly what they do themselves for an excellent income. Gotta love that!
Thanks for spending time with me. I’ll do my best to make it worth your while. Please tell me your story or share your thoughts in the comments. Happy online marketing and good fortune for us all!
Best,
P.S.
I’d love it if you would opt-in for a free report Top Easy-To-Make Blog Mistakes–And How To Avoid Them. Take this first step for curing an ailing blog. It’s there on the top left. Fill in your first name and email and click the Get Report button. Don’t let another day go by filled with frustration or failure!
 Setting goals for success with 3 kinds of done. Photo courtesy of Wayne_Parrack
Does setting effective goals give you trouble? If you feel defeated before you can even begin to achieve your goals, perhaps you need an extra kind of win. Let me present three kinds of done.
I Am Done!
I discovered this phrase during a 30-day blog challenge. Robert Plank, a man who gets things done in no time at all, loves to say “I am done” when he finishes every project. He wrote all 30 of his blog posts–in ONE day–before the challenge ever started!
Then what? He scheduled them to post automatically. Now he could interact with his fellow blog challengers through comments and tweets while he worked on other projects.
Git-R-Done
A colloquial phrase in the southern United States and Newfoundland in Canada, made popular by Larry the Cable Guy, “git-r-done” or “git-er-done” first appeared in Uncle Remus back in the late 1800s. Although I live in neither region, I have come to appreciate it very much.
This was my second blog challenge. Why do it twice? Because I worked very hard to git-r-done and won the first one! What does winning mean? I completed 30 posts in 30 days and told our leader, “I am done!” She posted names and web sites of winners on her blog so we get continued wonderful traffic.
Then what? I experienced such euphoria, such a sense of completion, because I was a winner! I realized it had been a long time since I’d actually finished something big. How about you? Life can seem so day-to-day with no real finish lines. Here was a taste of success that left me hungry for another jolt.
I’m SO Done With This Bleep!
The third kind of done has tremendous power. This is the kind of done where you become so fed up with the way something is that you Make A Decision. Whatever it is that you will no longer tolerate in your life, your decision changes everything. You have decided you’ll do whatever it takes to effect the difference you desire.
A clear vision, plan of action and taking baby steps helps the universe swing into action. You may discover incredible coincidences where the exact right person shows up with the exact right answer at the exact right moment and helps you succeed in ways you could never have achieved alone.
Setting effective goals with these three kinds of done in mind can bring you success in blog challenges, life challenges or business projects. Celebrate with “I am done!”
Best,
Karen
P.S.
Picture me going through the rest of my day singing, “I am done!” Aren’t you glad you don’t live with me? What goal will you set? See you at the finish line!
P.P.S
Go see how Robert Plank does so much.
 A cool cat in his comfort zone sits all alone! Photo courtesy of russelljsmith
How do you market your business? Start a blog, post often, use social media and add new products. Is any of this out of your comfort zone? Good!
Why a Blog?
No other web content is as tasty to search engines or people as a blog updated frequently with great information. Your content with keyword phrases your ideal customer types into their search box gets indexed fast and establishes you as an expert.
As readers read this or that post, they begin to know, like and trust you. You can invite your readers to take action which turns them into participants, then customers.
Why Post Often?
Each post is a web page that will pop up when anyone searches for the keyword phrase you wrote on. So after a year or more of frequent posting, you’ve developed quite a storehouse and lots of traffic bait. Link new posts to related old posts so your blog interconnects, which gives your readers instant access to posts they’d never dig for.
Fresh content keeps the search engine robots checking often for more fresh content. If you don’t post for a month, the robots don’t visit so often. Posting at least two or three times a week keeps up your writing momentum, increases traffic, builds relationships and more sales!
Why Social Media?
People come online for information first, for interaction with others second. Finding like-minded souls is always fun as you get to know them, get an insight into another’s life, share experiences with them. When you need a problem solved, asking a question on Twitter can get you lots of response.
If you’re on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as a basic start, you can provide useful tips, interact with others in real time and help them solve their problem. Be a giver and a helper, become known and familiar, then when one of your acquaintances or friends needs your product, who they gonna call? Not Ghostbusters!
Why Add New Products?
As you form relationships, you may discover other ways you can serve your customers. Things change, so what was once cutting edge feels stale. Make a new product that solves a new problem or extends your service. You might offer a beginner, average user and advanced version of your product so your customer self-selects their best fit.
As you venture outside your comfort zone to market your business, your experience and skill grow. Your ideal customer can find you more easily and benefit from your expertise.
Best,
Karen
P.S.
Don’t sit all alone in your comfort zone. Download a Free Report on how to avoid top easy-to-make blogging mistakes by visiting “Best Blog Video Course” and learn how to make your blog a master tool to bring new prospects and customers into your business.
 Achieve your goals and earn awards like this or better! Photo courtesy of eecue
In business and in life we often deal with circumstances that prevent us from achieving our goals. Here’s how to grow past your circumstances in four steps.
Dave Navarro’s Rock Your Day blog has an excellent article called How to Create the Circumstances You Want. It’s all about growing your mental muscles. It’s a bit of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and a kick in your backside.
If you’re sick and tired of some hard circumstance or other blocking your dream, his killer exercise is at the bottom of this post.
What Are Your Circumstances?
They’re facts. Period. You have two jobs. You have two kids.
Trouble arises when you slather an emotion onto the fact like palatable icing turning the fact into a tasty rationalization. We love excuses. They’re so much less work than finding a way over, under, around or through a hard circumstance. You tell everyone you can’t achieve your dream goal because you have two jobs and two kids.
Your Circumstances Are Tests
What happens if you accept the challenge of your hard circumstance? You look at it stripped of emotion and see what you must change in yourself to grow past this obstacle. Work it, baby. One day you’re past it. Home free? Of course not, silly. Life will present another challenge. Good news: you’ll be stronger and better equipped to deal with the next one.
Ready, Set, GO!
1. Consider one circumstance that you feel is the “brick wall” preventing you from getting the goal you want.
2. Now, imagine that you had no choice but to accomplish your goal. Imagine it as a life or death situation.
3. Brainstorm as many ways as you can to work around this circumstance or negate it entirely (even if it’s not an easy thing to do). Take your time doing this, because remember – you absolutely have to make this goal happen. Your “circumstance” cannot be used as an excuse.
4. Get cracking. Now. Your goal is waiting.
Sweet Words: I’m DONE!
Imagine your goal achieved. How does it feel? Your circumstance no longer exists as a block or a sad story you tell over a beer to a pal. Nope. It’s scotched, kaput, conquered. Isn’t it thrilling to do a happy dance and sing “I’m done, I did it, I’m done, done, done!
Did you grow your business? Create a passive income stream? Do you now see yourself as a doer who achieves goals instead of a dreamer or victim? That’s so huge!
Best,
Karen
P.S.
Thank you so much, Dave Navarro! I’m off to do your steps. Look out world!
 Social media at its best is word of mouth, friend to friend. Photo courtesy of AnyaLogic
An important part of online business marketing is using social media so you’re seen everywhere. The day a customer needs you, you’re handy and familiar.
How to Be Seen Everywhere
Create a profile for yourself at the big three: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Provide these sites with regular, helpful updates on you and your business with links to your good information. Make friends there. After you’ve established yourself there, created a Facebook fan page and joined groups, add your profile to more media sites.
There are Three Aspects to Social Media
You want consistent updates almost daily. For better response, make small contacts over the day in a trickle instead of a flood of tweets all at once. At least two times a week, spend an hour checking in with your sites, responding to any messages, interacting with and supporting other people. You can pre-schedule updates to come out over a few days.
Social media means social–people meet, chat, learn about each other, make friends. People don’t mind news about your business when given in friendly, helpful snippets. Spend ten minutes online when you can so you interact with others in real time, versus using only pre-scheduled updates unrelated to anyone’s conversation.
Provide tips people can use so you’re seen as a resource and an expert who cares about others, not just your bottom line. This helps foster invaluable word-of-mouth recommendations from your customers to their friends and contacts. Ask for their opinions.
Consistent Look and Feel Helps Brand Your Business
Use your same bio on all social media profiles, with a long, medium and short version you can use as needed. Use one photo of yourself when branding you, then use your photo or a logo when branding your business. If you have both a web site and a blog, use consistent colors people will associate with your business.
Your Brand Is Your Promise
Your logo or tagline is not your brand, just a part of it. You’re not a huge company like Pepsi with huge ad campaigns. Just the same, your brand tells people what you offer and will deliver when they connect with you.
Be a Giver and a Helper
Give your followers opportunities to buy about once every ten or twenty tweets so you’re seen as a person, not a soulless business machine. Use social media for your online business marketing wisely and well for best results.
Best,
Karen
P.S.
Remember, you run an online home business for greater income and fun. Do you know everything there is to know about branding with social media?
 An affiliate marketing business is low cost with huge profit potential. Photo courtesy of bfishadow
You can do affiliate marketing as a business or an a sideline for your main online business. Some tout it as fast, easy and low-cost. Let’s just see, shall we?
How Fast is Fast?
If you’re experienced online and decide some new product or service you bought is wonderful, you can join the affiliate program for it, get your affiliate link and recommend the product to your list.
Better yet, create a free report or ecourse that enhances the product, create an opt-in page for it and add a personal bonus for anyone who buys through your link.
This person could get at least one sale within 24 hours and feel it did poorly.
What If You’re Not Experienced?
You might not have used a product, so don’t know what you could recommend. So you’ must buy, use and review one. You maybe don’t have articles already written that you can repurpose into a free report or ecourse, so you must write them.
You may not have a blog yet, so you’d start a blog (better if you own the domain it’s on). You may not have a domain name for the opt-in page, so buy a domain name and hosting for the affiliate product’s opt-in page. You may not have an autoresponder yet, much less a list of people interested in what you say.
How Easy is Easy?
This depends on how much practice you’ve gotten with every step mentioned above–and more besides. An experienced person can upload a report in seconds. An inexperienced person could be stuck for a week, unable to get the settings right for logging in to their server.
An experienced person can create a download page or thank you message with a download link while drinking a cup of coffee. A newbie needs a checklist of every step, plus some assistance from an ebook, tutorial or friend.
Is It Really Low-Cost?
Yes, this part is quite true for everyone. You can join affiliate programs for free. If someone wants money before you can send traffic their way, go elsewhere.
You can write articles for free. It takes time and practice to make great titles with good keywords, provide good information and create resource boxes with a right bait.
You can spend under $10 for a domain name, around $5 a month for hosting and $10 a month for an autoresponder. Or you can start with a free site as a home base for your traffic. Just know you could be shut down if the site decides you’ve violated their terms of service by running an affiliate marketing business with it.
Best,
Karen
P.S.
If you’re not making the money you expected from affiliate marketing, which steps are you missing?
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