Even though my family are extremely supportive, they are not as motivated about my business as I am which is understandable. Of course they want me to be and depend on me to some extent be successful. And it took me years of basically saying’ you watch I know what to do now to make money online’.

Then there was another learning curve and yet another and another..

And you know what..

It never ends!

If you are inclined to learn and implement..

Learning is a never ending process. You can always learn and apply more. But there comes a time when you have to stop kidding yourself and actually implement what you have learned already and start enjoying the journey.

It’s a known fact that most people who buy books don’t read them all. People who like to read probably buy more books than they have time to read. And others may not always read a full book.

People who do read books and learn something new, probably never take action on what gained from the book. The knowledge is stored but never acted upon and most books are left to gather dust and usually forgotten about.

This is a generalization of course.

But the fact is that to enter ANY market you have to implement. You need to take action and you need to have something unique. Even if you take action and you don’t know if the action you are taking is the right one, taking some action is better than taking no action.

If you do actually take action and follow through you are probably 90% ahead of everyone else, because based on the 80/20 rule, most people simply don’t take action.

Compare this to learning to drive a car. You can read the books, watch videos and be an ‘armchair expert’, but you won’t actually learn to be an expert driver let alone a competent driver unless you actually get behind the wheel and do something.

So whether it’s selling on eBay, Amazon, through ecommerce channels or through other channels and in any market, you need to walk before you can run and actually do start doing something. I’m sure you’ll agree you can learn basics but you can’t become an expert or even proficient unless you start doing something and actually start ‘trying’ stuff.

Here’s something else I hear often..

“If every market is already too competitive then why even bother trying”.

Here’s why..

Take music for example..

I’m kind of eclectic so I tend to like all kinds of different music. But what if every musician out there said..

“I’m not going to write or release a new song because there are already too many musicians in the world and the market is already flooded with music”.

Of course that wouldn’t happen, because in reality there are so many different kinds of music styles and unlimited possibilities for new music to be created and people who like ‘creating’ and ‘adding value’ do it because it’s in their blood.

I have always said that the key to winning is having something different to offer. You don’t have to be radically different, you just need to be at the least fractionally different. Just different enough so that you, your music or your products are unique.

The same can be said for any market you enter on the internet. Be unique and make your products stand out – they only have to be slightly different to existing products to be unique enough to be winning products in their own right. This actually works better in competitive markets.

The good news is that it doesn’t take long to discover new ideas and strategies once you immerse yourself in a market.

What can you do to make your products that little bit different and what actions you will you commit to this week and actually complete..

It would be interesting to know!

I haven’t posted for a while because I’ve been busy training my employees following the system I talked about in a previous post Are You a Work ‘Droid?’ and I have realised I should have been hiring people a long time ago. However I wanted to refocus on my internet marketing road map.

There are a a tonne of ways ‘you can do’ internet marketing and a tonne of ways to make money. There’s even more ways to fail. I’m going to be totally open and just tell you how I do it. I am confident of being able to tell you this and be totally honest about how I do it because it’s no big secret. You just have to DO IT!

If you know it already then great I hope that what I am about to tell you helps keep you focussed, if you don’t know how to do it then this is how. These are the actual steps you can take to grow a business to make money online..

– Research Keywords with Googles Keyword Tool

– Check SEO page rank for competition

– Research eBay Pulse /Amazon reviews / Clickbank/Kindle reviews etc..

– Check Google trends

– Check commercial intent of keywords

– Check PPC ads for competition

– Choose one Bullseye keyword and a few similar keywords as your main keywords.

– Buy domain name

– Setup a website WordPress is the best platform as I write this. the quickest way to setup wordpress sites is to use the best web hosting Hostgator and use fantastico to install wordpess with a few clicks.

– Setup your website for SEO (Read Googles Guide for Webmasters)

– Setup analytics Google Analytics is free. I also use Getclicky with a ‘spy’ feature so you can see visitors interact with your website    in real time.

– Setup your pages – include a sales page and a lead capture page

– Write your first and second post

– Start a PPC campaign.

– Start getting a few links and push marketing by:

– Blogging, article marketing, directory submissions, high page rank links, social media, video marketing, and the list goes on..

– Improve and constantly test your sales pages and ads with Website Optimizer

– Build from there. Whatever you are selling or marketing for affiliate revenue.

If you are selling physical products sell them in more places: eBay, Amazon, Bonanza, Google product search, ecrator, Shopping Comparison channels and the list goes on.

– Create your own affiliate program with 1automationwiz.com.

– Sell related products/services to your successful products/services, also promote other products as an affiliate, cross sell-upsell.

– And start all over again building your websites, linking your websites etc..

If you manage to do this and you are making money, keep feeding content into your system, keep building traffic sources, keep posting articles, keep talking about your products and services, keep growing your email lists.

After you’ve done all that without getting distracted along the way or without being diverted without you even knowing it, and you are still making money  – well done you’re a star!

You then have more choices to make..

You can sustain and continue to grow your business yourself, or you can hire people to help you or do it for you – and start new seedling businesses.

You have to keep reinvesting time and /or money into your business to keep it growing.

Each and EVERY step above is a potential road block. Each step can take months of training if your are new to the area. Each step can be a potential mine-field and most people stop because they get stuck, get lost somewhere along the way or diverted without even knowing it.

So I made this post to remind both you and myself not to get distracted from a time-tested process for building businesses online and making money. Even if the tools change or the platforms change or more marketing platforms are added over time, this is the process no matter what new shiny object or latest marketing platform is released.

AHHH, I feel better already for writing that.

Now back to work!

Do you have a road map..

I recently returned from a long awaited and well needed enjoyable three day break this weekend. I actually went on a road trip around Northern Thailand and into Laos, hey you can’t help but relax there since there is nothing else to do but relax and enjoy the outdoors, culture and fresh air – a contrast to the hustle for space in Bangkok City.

Whenever I take a break at the beach or to another country or to the countryside I always appreciate the break and the time out and I even look forward to returning home and to my work which is more or less my hobby..

So, I returned to my house in Bangkok this time only to find that within just three short days, lot’s of things can happen.

The first thing I noticed is that the foot long Gourami fish in the fish tank was gasping for air..

(I actually bought this fish originally as a small one inch fish to keep the other small fish in my humble little tank company, I bought it from an old lady in a pet store in an ancient looking street in Bangkok, a bit like that store in the film Gremlins where Gizmo was found in that ancient, forgotten store in China Town.. anyhow the old lady ensured me that ‘this fish would not grow any larger’, or maybe  not!)

I’m sure it’s now a potential record sized  foot long Giant pink eyed Gourami probably worth a hefty sum to someone – anyhow this fish was gulping for air at the top of the six foot tank I was forced to find just to house the sheer size of this so called small fish..

It turns out the air pump I purchased only about 8 months ago had taken it’s toil, routinely recycling the gallons of water that runs through it each day. The Big fish and the other surviving little fish around it were all gasping for air and survival.

The next thing I noticed as I returned to ‘home-sweet-home’ was a trickle of water that was leaking through the roof into the living room.. the house next door had been vacant ever since we moved in about 2 years previous and the new tenants had just moved in only to reveal the undiscovered leakage between their shower and our living room.

I had been driving for about 8 hours that day so I shoved the ‘quick fix’ bucket under the drip in the roof and poured fresh water into the Giant Guarami’s tank, and hit the sleep.

The next morning , ‘home sweet home’ I went out and bought a new pump for the fish tank and called in the maintenance guys to fix the leak in the roof. At this point things are looking better and I’m feeling good and looking forward to checking what’s been going on online and getting back to routine and enjoying my hobby/business..

Sound simple right..?

First you turn on the computer, then you turn on the modem..

Easy…

or Not!

The damned internet adsl light was down.. (This is Thailand after all and sometimes Stuff happens, although I must admit you do get a much quicker response to customer service than you would back in the UK or any other country I’ve lived in for that matter)

Anyway, I finally got the internet to work and I was logged on..

The good news was, whilst I’d been away for three days my businesses had grown a little and sales were ticking over and were just as good as if  not better than before I left..

GREAT..

However, like anyone who has an internet business/hobby/entrepreneurial mindset, I always have a few things going on in the background and have a few new up and coming things going on..

However, when I checked the new seedling projects I had planted, they had been trodden by the dreaded Google Slap!

All the new projects I had been investing time , energy and precious enthusiasm into had been halted by the Google Adwords Slap!

You could compare this to snuggling up with someone warm on a cold night, and being thrown over you a bucket of ice cold water with chunks of ice cubes bouncing off your head, spoiling your warm patch.

Hey, I can handle a basting now and again but this is my livelihood I’m talking about and the livelihood of my family, my employees and my affiliates.

Sometimes you just got to take it on the chin..

I recall a saying Dad used to say a lot, I don’t know who quoted this but i just know Dad said it a lot, that is..

‘What can go wrong, Will go wrong’..

So although I had enjoyed a well needed break away, I returned to put it bluntly a pile of crap!

I’s going to happen, it’s life..

It’s not what happens but how you react to it that is really important..

With the title of this post being ‘Google Slap’, maybe you expected to see groaning, moaning

and efforts to grovel to Google..

Well, if this has or does happen to you, the important thing is to keep your composure, because it’s not what happens to you,

but how you deal with it what really counts, keep your composure and you’ll be fine.

The Google machine is truly amazing, however it has some catching up if it is to meet the sophistication and experience of the human brain..

If you get slapped by Google, take it on the chin..

You just have to keep your composure, think it out and get around it..

Keep smiling and relax..

(By the way as I was just about to post this, there was a total blackout.. Not so normal for a metropolitan city or even Bangkok for that matter – as I post this there is power in my laptop battery and the sound of all sorts of animals outside you don’t normally hear, probably reacting to the power outage..)

It just goes to show, If it can happen It’s going to happen and I love the challenge..

I hope you do too..

To Your Success!