Build it Right to Learn How to Make Money Online

Ok, listen, don't make the same mistake that I did not that long ago. I built a fairly successful site a couple of years ago that was moving up in the Google rankings - I can't say it was one of my more carefully thought out sites, but, had a fair amount of content nonetheless.

You see, about a year ago I started to get very excited about keyword optimization by focusing more on my blog titles, headers and highlighted information. Thinking that I was helping my other site, I went in and altered all of the headers, meta tags, main page title, etc. Guess what? Google dropped my site like a rock out of their top listings. Ouch - that's one tough way to learn how to make money online!

After sitting back and pondering this a bit I realized that I had shot myself in the foot by over optimizing (and, really over thinking) the problem at hand. Google got it as well - my site had changed too much - thus the search king had to re-index it. Lesson learned (or, as the oddly say in England 'lesson learnt').

Today's web marketing lesson is all about building it right the first time - why keyword optimization must be a priority when you plan and prototype. Yes, you can change core keyword phrases along the way but, you must do it very gradually. That's really beside the point here.

What I want to stress to you is the need to start with good keyword research first - targeting your core keyword phrase and then all relevant variations on it. Let's take a great example that, I think, will show you how to approach this problem with some powerful ammunition for your own work.

If you've done some research online for sites devoted to earning money online - you may have noticed a site appear about 1-2 years ago for the search term 'make money online'. Go ahead and type it into Google without the quotes.

The #1 site is Alan Liew's Blogger site (yes, a Blogger site!) - here's a screenshot:



Now, if you pay special attention to his site you'll see that the keyword phrase 'make money online' is the predominate term on his site - from the main page and throughout his post titles and links. What's not quite so apparent is that all inbound links to his site are also titled 'Make Money Online' from forum posts to articles.

What Alan did right was focus immediately on the keyword phrase he desired to dominate and did it in about two years! Kudos to him and his perseverance - his example is a complete success in a massively competitive market (157,000,000 results).

This shows that staying the course with your keyword phrase is one of the most important steps to building your site. Be sure to use one of the keyword tools out there to find a phrase you want to market to and stick to it! If you keep diligent - you will succeed.

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Do you Really Want to Learn How to Make Money Online?

Well, an interesting start to this blog entry, huh? How to make money online? Yes, yes - everyone is out there pitching money making ideas. But, I have to start this with my noticable absence from blogging - why no posts - what's happening in 2009?

The real secret here is that I've gone deep into research and education . What do I mean by that? Over the last 8 months I made a pact with myself - walk away, dust off all of those internet marketing ebooks I've purchased over the last 4 years, go heads down and hunt for every possible tip I can find - add to that some serious online research specifically on successful SEO and Email list techniques.

Well, I can honestly say that I've picked up even more from the online research of successful sites than the library of ebooks (most have the same information) that I now own (at my current count, 27)- but, both have convinced me of some certain rules of success. Frankly, the basic rules of online success are easier than you think.

But the first rule I want to stress to you, the reader, is that making money online comes down to your mindset - yes, you! One of the biggest scams out there today is the mass of top marketers selling products to beginner marketers over and over until they walk away with millions. You say 'Hey! I want to do that!'. Well, I've got news for you - they've got a huge advantage - they've got money to repackage and sell you again using top copywriters and product packaging. Not to mention they have your psychology in mind - the hungry beginner; ready to conquer the world of online marketing and make millions!

Where they have the advantage is that only a very small percentage of the population will buy something, and, an even smaller percentage will have the ongoing motivation to keep doing it. So, back to that first rule - you have to change yourself first! You have to prove that you can do the day to day work (yes, I'm going to say it is work!) to succeed. Writing little tweets on Twitter is easy, creating a Blog is a bit harder, building a decent website is even more work, and writing a successful ebook or valuable, deep content is very hard!

So, I ask you - 'do you really want to make money online?' Or, from the seasoned internet marketer's viewpoint - 'do you really want to invest yourself into an industry that takes hard work, dedication, education and long term commitment?' Notice that the marketers don't ask you this question - because most of you will run to the hills!

Look, I don't want to scare you - but to be truthful. My best success online has come for daily commitment - that's where I've earned big dollars. My worst examples online have been quick-hit profits that promised immediate gratification and success.

Don't stop reading! Here's my motivational side - what's really missing is that anyone can do this! Yes, even the most inexperience newbie can be successful. Patience and daily work is the key - it is going to take some time. But, if you stay motivated, stay focused, set long term goals (say, over the next 12 months) you will start to see some dollars coming in.

With that said, I have an assignment for you. I want you to type this phrase into Google - "How to Make Money Online" (192M results without quotes and 2.1M with quotes) and specifically look at the top 10 results. If you haven't noticed - about 2 or 3 of the results are blogs. Go to those blogs and look at their archive history - how long have they been blogging? Take a look at their content - what is unique? Note down why you think they're successful -based on content, keywords, dialog, even subtle psychology. I guarantee this will be a better education for you than any ebook.

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