It’s
been just over a year since I began a subscription to Wealthy Affiliate, marking the
point when I felt I could make money in affiliate marketing and wanted
to pursue it very seriously.
My
first six months were very productive. I started a couple sites and
wrote articles linking to them. I updated my blogs and kept pretty well
on top of things, keeping a log of publishings and posts so I could see
my progress at a glance.
My
second six months, not so much. Warm weather came in and I put off
sitting at the computer for colder days. I just never realized how
difficult it would be to get back into the swing of things.
But
with a New Year comes new opportunities, so I’m going to hold on to my
internet marketing dreams for a little bit longer. I’m carrying on into
2014 with the same desire to succeed, but looking back at 2013 to see
what I can learn.
Here are my 8 “resolutions” I plan to implement and remember throughout the upcoming year, in no particular order.
1.Try
not to take on too much. When I first started out, I never took into
account there was going to be a learning curve. I may not have picked up
as quickly as others, so my progress may be less. But not only was I
trying to learn the business, I was trying to create content for two
websites, maintain a blog for each website and submit articles two
separate article directories for each site. All in all, I set myself up
to have to create 8 posts and pages a week, never mind the learning I
still had ahead of me. Slow and steady can win the race.
2.
Focus on a niche. My first site, “Learn Meditation” was much too broad
and I found myself going in way too many different directions. I plan on
narrowing my next site to a smaller niche, letting me focus a little
better on the site instead of how many different variations of the site I
can come up with.
3.
Work on it every day. Even if it’s only 30 minutes a day, that time
adds up. After a week, you could have more than 6 hours invested towards
learning and creating, whereas if you waited until you had a block of
time to work on it, you may never get to it.
4.
Create a reasonable schedule. I have five children running around the
house at any given time. I found it reasonable and necessary to take an
hour a day away from the chaos and work on my writing, in private. I’ve
tried to just “do it when I can”, but as you can see, I haven’t written
anything in 6 months, so I’m hoping this schedule will help keep me on
task.
5.
Remember I’m responsible. There’s no one else creating and contributing
content, no one else to push me when I don’t feel like writing and no
one to hold me accountable for anything but myself. It can be difficult
to self motivate sometimes, but there’s no way around it in order to be
successful.
6.
Have reasonable expectations. When I first started this endeavor, my
hopes were to make enough money from affiliate marketing the first month
to pay for any subscriptions or programs I was going to invest in. The
fact is, I knew nothing when I started out and never took it into
consideration. It takes time to learn and build a respectable presence
online.
7.
Make mistakes. At first, I was so afraid to publish something,
re-reading it and constantly revising it. I would spend way too much
time second guessing my work. This year I’m going to try to remember
that I won’t learn unless I make mistakes.
8.
Stick with Wealthy Affiliate. Even though I haven’t been working on my
websites over the last few months, I maintained my subscription to WA
for the day I knew I was going to start working on it again. So, here I
am!
I’m
looking forward to see what the new year will bring. These little notes
may not seem much, but are easy to forget and frustrating when you let
them get to you. And I do that way too often.
Have any ideas or advice to improve productivity? Please share below! I can use all the help out there!
Thanks for reading!
