What I learned about Internet Marketing in 2012

Although I have been a blogger for a while now, 2012 was the year I discovered Internet Marketing. I am not sure how I came across Pat Flynn’s blog, Smart Passive Income, but I did. I was hooked! I started listening to his podcasts and thought, “Wow, this guy knows what he is doing and someone I should be following.” From there I started experimenting with creating blogs and trying to rank them quickly. Most of it was just experimenting but in April I decided that I wanted to start a blog about making money online, and this blog was born.

As I look back over the last year I can see where I have learned about Internet Marketing and a little more about blogging. I met others who were trying to do the same type of thing I was. I found new blogs to follow and a new direction to pursue.

This past year I learned that making a lot of money on a blog is a lot of work. It will not happen overnight and might not even happen for a while. But if that is your goal, you just need to work towards it. Never giving up is a very important step. After reading all the blogs I have about people who have made it, that is what they seem to have in common. It can be hard when you set up a new blog and get no response. Just because you put words in a post does not mean the people will come and visit you. This can be frustrating because to you, your post is amazing and you want everyone to come visit you. When you write a post you have to do a little work to get it noticed. Social media, forums, emails and blog commenting are some of the best ways to get your blog out to the rest of the world.

Another important lesson I have learned this year is about focus. When you first fall into the Internet Marketing world it can be pretty exciting yet overwhelming. You start to get a lot of ideas and it can become too much. You can’t focus on 100 different things at once. It just isn’t possible. I have learned to scale back. I have learned to pick and chose. In the end it would be better to have success in 1-3 ideas then no success on 20 different ideas. I also remind myself that I can always work on other projects later. I don’t have to do everything I can think of doing right now.

The third thing I wanted to talk about that I learned this past year is how others can help you in your journey. From sharing your posts to offering advice, it is great to network with others and be able to help each other out. If we are all working towards the same types of goals, why not help each other out?

Internet marketing is still a new world to me.  As I start to really figure it out I feel more and more confident that this is the direction I need to go in. So as 2012 ends and 2013 begins I plan to learn more, blog more, create more and get a little closer to my goal of making a full-time income online.

What have you learned in 2012?

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