Information Overload And Where To Start

I received an email from a new BANS user saying that they are suffering from information overload. She is new to online marketing and website creation and has been trying to read a ton of everything to get up to speed. This is a very dangerous thing to do for both newbie and veteran alike. You can get so bogged down and pulled in so many directions that nothing will ever be done. Below are a few guidelines on what every newbie should be focusing on and the order they should do it in.

1. Know Your Platform: It does not matter if you use BANS, Wordpress with PHPBay, Blogger or straight HTML, you have to understand how to use the platform correctly and make it dance on command. This should come as second nature before you move on to anything else. You do not need to be a code guru by any means, but knowing how to use the platform is the cornerstone of which your foundation will be built on. I see several veterans in the business who use it wrong and I guarantee they suffer because of it. I have suggested in the past that one should have a test domain setup to practice using whatever platform they are using. Do not advance to number two until you master this.

2. Understanding Onsite SEO: Search engine optimization of your website is crucial if you intend to get any traffic from the search engines. From meta tags, to keyword usage to site structure. You must learn it if you want to succeed. There are various free sites and information on this very blog that will help you learn it quickly.

3. Niche & Keyword Selection: Before you tackle any site you need to know if the niche is profitable and what keywords you intend to target. Targeting a niche too wide early on is a common mistake made by newbies. The tighter the niche and the longer the keyword phrase you target, the more likely you can penetrate the niche in the early stages of your development of an online marketer. There are plenty of free and paid tools to help in this process. Most noticeable, Traffic Travis. Regardless of the tool you decide on, it is important to understand how to use it as well.

4. Onsite Original Content: The days of the thin affiliate doorway site are long gone unless you are buying targeted traffic. Even then, a surfer now wants and expects to be engaged before throwing their hard earned money around. You need original content and lots of it. This should be targeted as well keyword wise and goes hand and hand with onsite SEO. The thicker the site is content wise, the more doors into your site you will have for getting some organic traffic. If you can't write content yourself, pay for it. It is well worth the money spent up front and it is yours forever. If you choose to copy and paste, be prepared not to get any love from the search engines.

5. Traffic Generation: If you have confidently mastered steps 1-4, you are now ready to generate traffic to your site. This is perhaps the hardest process to learn and stay dedicated to. Learn how to build targeted backlinks to your site through article marketing, link trading, social networks and the other various ways of building backlinks. Great onsite content will build links naturally, but you must know how to and understand how to build your own traffic as well. There are tons of free traffic building articles and techniques to learn all over the web, but none should be tackled until your site is ready for the traffic.

6. Continued Learning: The online marketing business is always growing and changing. You should always be reading your favorite and trusted sources for learning more about online marketing, but do not let it eat up all of your time. All learning with no action is worthless. Do not get off on tangents. Learn what you are trying to learn and then implement it. Getting pulled in too many directions at one time is a certain death blow for online marketers.

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