Aristotle accomplished a lot in his ancient Greek life.  He can be credited as one of the founding fathers of western thought.  He studied and made observations about morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics.  In his free time he was a tutor of Alexander the Great.  A person like this is not common.  He has the ability to keep going and going – doing more and more.

How did he keep motivated?  What helped him get out of bed every morning and dive into his work?  Aristotle’s answer:

Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.

Goals.  Man needs to set goals for himself.  Without goals there is no meaning – there is nothing to strive for.

My Goal – Make Money Online Website

Who am I to doubt Aristotle.  I must set goals.  This website was started willy-nilly.  It was built with the intent of just seeing what happens. But that is not the right approach.  I need something to strive for.  If it helped Aristotle become one of the greatest thinkers of all time, I am sure setting goals will help this website.

The main keywords for this website are: make,money,online,website.  My goal is to be one of the top five results in Google search for the term ‘make money online website‘.  When somebody types ‘make money online website‘ into Google I want to see this website appear in one of the top 5 spots.  Currently for this term this website is nowhere to be seen.  I checked as far back as the 500th result.  No luck – not there.

Know The Enemy (the competition)

Before I tackle this goal I need to know who I am fighting against.  Who are in the top 5 spots now?  The best way to beat them is to know who they are.  What have they done to get there.  By studying who they are I can adjust my strategy to either mimic what they did to get there or find a weak spot in their approach.  Find something that they are missing, or not doing, or doing poorly.  Once I know how they got to where they are then I can do what they are doing and add a little more – that extra push that puts me above them.

The nice thing about the ‘make money online’ niche is that it is about revealing what you do.  So most of the blogs and website are about how they got to where they are at.  So it is only a matter of going through their website and finding out what strategies they recommend for online success. 

I am going to focus on two of the top 5 holders, because they have very different strategies.  And they are very good writers – they do a good job explaining how they got to the top.

A Brick and Mortar Website

The top spot is currently held by 2createawebsite.com.  It is a really good ‘Make Money Online’ website.  The owner is Lisa.  Her website made it to the top in what can be called the traditional approach – time, quality content, and persistence.  She started making money online in 1998 and has stuck with it.  By constantly adding content and maintaining a presence on the Internet she has made it to the top.  Hard work and time.  Posting on forums, answering questions by readers, making comments on other blogs.  By helping others her name became known.  Slowing, but steadily she gained readers.  10 years later, it is paying off.  Now she has inspirational youtube videos and tutorials, a busy forum and a popular blog.  She has become an trusted authority in the field.  Her opinion is respected.  She does not hide her identity and is completely honest about everything she has to say. 

Her website is a rock.  It is well designed, clear and well written.  Quality material, a great personality, and high ranking.  She does everything by the book and there is little chance that her ranking will fall.  Her website is like amazon, or ebay.  A trusted and quality site.  Exactly what Google likes.  Google rewards her by placing her website at the top.

Understand and Exploit

The website at spot 4 is makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com.  This website is almost the complete opposite of the one above.  It is not pretty.  No flashing graphics, logos or pull down menus.  Actually is it a basic free blogspot blog.  Simple design – black text against a white background.  His posts are extremely long, something that your ‘suppose’ to not do.  The owner is Grizzly.  He does not reveal his true identity.  All that is known is that he lives somewhere in Northern Canada.  His blog is only 3 years old.  He does not participate in forums and does not do any Internet marketing.

But he is in the 4th spot.  He is doing something right.  With his completely non-traditional approach he has manged to make it to the top.  How does he do it?

Grizzly knows how Google works.  He can think like Google.  He does not care about having a great website, or people thinking of him as an authority.  All he cares about is making money online.  So he focuses specifically on Google and does whatever necessary to make money with it.  The best way to describe it is that he understands the underlying principle of Google and exploits it.  He focuses in on the fundamental principles of Google and does whatever necessary to make money.  He knows how to force Google to put him at the top.

The great part is that he does not keep it a secret.  If you read all his long well written posts, he reveals exactly how he does it.  You need to read a little between the lines – but it is there.  And his proof is not in words, but in results.  Do a search for ‘make money online’ and there he is – on the top.  He knows what he is doing.

How Am I Going To Get To The Top?

It is not going to be easy.  Both of the above examples are smart people.  Masters in their art.  They have completely different approaches, but both successful. 

My approach will be to learn from both.  Not to copy their approaches exactly, but to combine the two.  To mix the two approaches into a new hybrid approach.  Have a traditional website – brick and mortar, well built, organized and pleasing to the eye; patiently become a authority in the field and gain people’s trust.  But also not ignore what Grizzly has to say,  his approach is untraditional but cannot be dismissed.

Hopefully, by taking bits and pieces from the people at the top.  Combining it in a new way and creating something new, I can acheive my goal and become a member of the Top 5 club for ‘make money online website’.

To find out how this post will help me towards my goal please see post How to Make Money With Jesus.

About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, There is a HOW TO in the Post, What YOU Should Do

A few years ago I owned and operated a data transcription company.  It provided the service of copying old and outdated 9-track tapes to CD.  It was a small company with only 4 employees and a few machines.  But it had big clients.  The tapes contained seismic data which oil companies used to determine whether there is oil in the ground.  Clients included Shell, Exxon and BP.  These clients did not come easy.  It was a year before any of them even picked up the phone.

A typical phone call:

Me:  Hello, this is Roman . Can I speak to Mr. Smith (the data manager).
Secretary of Mr. Smith:  Can I tell him what it is regarding.
Me:  I represent TMT – a data transcription company. I want to discuss with Mr. Smith data transcription services we provide that I believe he would be interested in.
Secretary:   Just a moment please…
[2 minutes later]
Secretary:  Unfortunately Mr. Smith is in a meeting. Can you please give me your contact information and he will call you back.

I give my contact information and waited for a phone call that would never come.  Variations of this happened everyday, many times a day, for the first year.

Running your own business has many perks.  You have heard them all before.  Be your own boss, work whenever you want to, pay yourself what you deserve, profits go in your pocket.  These are the positive virtues.  But there is a major aspect of owning your own business that is usually left out.  Relentless, unbashful, almost arrogant self promotion.  Trying to convince complete strangers that you are what they need.  That only you provide a special service they cannot get anywhere else.  You are special.  Use me – I am the best.

As an employee you rarely need to promote.  You simply turn dials, punch keys and pull levers.  You do not need to persuade anybody that you work for the best damn company in the world.

But if you own your own business  you constantly need to convince people that your company is the best.  And indirectly, since you own the company, you are the best.  When you finally break past the secretary and have the attention of a manager the selling begins.  Hello Mr. Smith, let me list the ways why I am the best, why you need me, why only I can provide what your need.

Self promotion makes you feel dirty inside.  Because you know it is not true.  The competition is very similar to you.  Basically the same service, the same product, the same prices.  Actually you are aware of faults in your business.  You see it from the inside.  Half the machines are in dire need of repair and the service level needs improvement.  But that is not what you tell the potential client.  To the potential client you paint the perfect picture – every brush stroke a work of genius.

A Webmaster Must Self Promote Website

Being a webmaster is like being a owner and operator of a company.  Not only do you have to make sure the website is running, you also have to promote it.  As you can infer from the above I cannot stand self promotion.  I hate it. I would never walk down main street in a red shirt with big white text stating: “I am the best – you need me”

But it has to be done.  Promoting your website requires convincing people to visit your website.  In a forum post you answer a question and then at the end of the answer you have to write: By the way, I have a great post about this topic – click here to read it.  Or you send out emails to subscribers stating how you have found some amazing information that they need to know about – visit my website for more details.  You make a comment on a blog: Great post, I make a similar point on my blog – click here to see.

Always promoting.  Me, me, me.  Everybody look at me.

Its a necessary evil.  Most likely your post is not the best, your website is not the best.  The visitor does not need it.  Without your website the world would not end.  But that is beside the point.  To increase your traffic you need to self promote.  Convince people to visit your website.  Make yourself look better then you really are.  Comb your hair, tuck in your shirt, smile and to anybody who will listen say: I look good don’t I – come visit my site.

The good news is that the dirtiest type of self promotion must only be done at the beginning.  At the beginning nobody knows who you are and what your peddling.  But as time goes on and the word spreads you can tone down the self promotion.  Others will promote your website for you.  They will link to your website, they will tell their friends.  They will say: look at this guy – he is the best.

Unfortunately I am still at the beginning.  Still self promoting.  Everybody look at me.

About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, What YOU Should Do