There is such passion on both sides of this argument – but be careful, most of it comes from people who have never built a successful business OR realized the full extent of their passion.

They have opinions, but one must ask – "how much are those opinions worth if they are not backed by first-hand experience?"

Based on real-life experience – here is some advice, based entirely on fact…

The road to financial success AND personal fulfillment is to start a business that combines the best of your personal passion and fundamental elements of a strong business – those being desire, willingness to pay and relationship to your market. 

Here's a great example…

Through thouands of sales of The Ultimate Information Entrepreneur's Success Package, we have helped a small army of writers - book writers, freelancers, wanna be writers – who have tremendous passion for the act of writing…they absolutely love writing and would ideally spend every waking hour on their craft.

Yet – most of them come to us because…

1. They can't find the time to write because they are too busy working other jobs – most are broke and have to deal with many challenges in their lives – not exactly a situation that prompts maximum creativity
2. They are freelance writing for pennies on the dollar.  They pick up extra projects, write about things they are not really interested in, are forced to re-write to please the editor – bottom line is they are NOT enjoying what they are doing
3. They have incredible, passionate ambitions – some with projects near completion, but they can't figure out how to turn their passions into reality — in such a way to continue spending more and more time on the craft and business they love. 

As writers, their passion is for expressing themselves through the written word, some love the art of teaching, simplifying while others love to tell a story and entertain…but all wish to control their time and energy to spend as much time on their passion as they can.

Just as some love to build businesses, teach or train, develop software, paint or express themselves through other art forms…writers are not directly motivated by making money – they don't always look at their craft as a business per se. 

However, the reality of the situation is that they must pay their bills, they must pay for materials, to get their books printed, to get a better computer or software to write with, to market themselves so others know about their work, etc…

Feed Your Passion By Starting Your Own Business

Those that do NOT find a way to make money from their craft cannot spend near the time they wished on doing what they love – instead they must sneak in a few minutes here and few minutes there, but eventually become frustrated and angry they can't get more time to do what they want to do.

On the other hand, those that learn to direct their craft in a way that is in-demand by their community – learn to direct their focus to an area of specialization, learn to teach others, learn to market themselves find themselves getting more and more time to direct to their passion – AND they have to worry less and less about the bills being paid.

I can tell you, based on personal experience with customers of Information Product Success Package – the writers that fall into the first category often end up bitter, unfulfilled, even angry that they have been jipped out of a lifetime of enjoyment – they haven't been able to achieve living in alignment with their greatest passions. 

Of the second group – this is where you find the success stories, the writers who have been able to give up a job they hate (or at least move into a lower stress part-time position) because they are generating profits from their writing – and they get to CONTROL the topics, subject matter AND get to interact directly with their market getting immediate and ongoing feedback on their writing. 

Yes, you really can start a business by marrying your passion with a commerce model based on making profit – for every topic or mode of writing you can think of, there is a business model that can make that venture profitable…the sooner you move to a model like this, the sooner you can be more deeply fulfilled and live in line with your passions.

What are you passionate about?

How have you – or can you turn that into a viable business?

Jeff

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A big part of the struggle to earn money online has been, and continues to be the idea that you can tap into fast money streams that already exsit online and drink from this well without priming the pump.

The reality is that there are different business models for earning money online, and until you learn these business models, you can go crazy bouncing around from program to program, technique to technique and website to website.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON THE INTERNET?

Here are some of the business models…

1. Information Portal – where you publish a mountain of targeted, high quality information where you monetize your traffic through advertising.  The goal is to target a large niche across many different interest areas in line with advertising trends online.  In other words, to really excel at this business, you need to understand the advertising industry – whether it is pay-per-click, pay-per-impression, pay-per-lead, banner or space advertising, etc…You then match published information with advertising revenue and continue to grow your information portal. 

2. Affiliate marketing – this business model has similarities to the information portal model with the exception that you must understand what products and services people are buying and line up your information and content with those product offerings.  Your goal is not to align your content with advertisers, but instead align them with high-profit affiliate programs. 

3. Ecommerce stores – closely linked with offline brick-and-mortar businesses, the objective here is to set up your own online store that offers a range or catalog of highly relevant products to offer your customers.  These are typically physical goods products and often depend on either an affiliate model or understanding aspects of wholesaling, drop-shipping and other behind-the-scenes business arrangements allowing you to earn commissions on products you sell to your audience.  A good deal of making money in this model is matching critical skills in internet marketing with business contract and distribution agreements. 

4. Information publishing – this one appeals to people who either have existing knowledge to share with their audience or who understand the massive opportunity afforded to those that organize information into packages that directly lead to desired outcomes for their prospects.  Packaging information into ebooks, books, courses, home study programs, seminars, membership sites and the like is one of the fastest growth opportunities and best ways to make money online.  This is the focus of our latest 45-Day Information Product Profits Video Series and Support Site.

Of course there are variations on each of these business models as well, but the critical point to understand is that each model requires a different approach to every step of operationalizing your online business from picking your niche market and business idea through product selection and development and into internet marketing. 

No wonder so many people are confused when it comes to understanding how ot make money online – turns out they mistake the fast money promise of internet marketing with an online business model when the exact opposite is true – focus on the business model then use internet marketing to get your internet business growing fast.

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These are critical points in our professional lives, but they often come few and far between AND they typically leave us with the feeling that we wished we had made that decision years ago. 

In other cases, we are struggling with our current income level and no matter how hard we try, it more or less stays the same…it's like someone is standing over us pinning us down by standing on our chest. 

After reading Rich Schefren's latest report – "The Entrepreneurial Emergency", it's now Crystal Clear how all of us can instantly look around and MAKE those breakthrough, ah…ha moments happen now instead of waiting them to happen to us years down the road.

If you haven't got your copy, here's where you can still get a copy at no charge —

Tomorrow afternoon, Rich will be launching his latest coaching program…I am part of his Business Growth System, and all I will say is that I've never received more value, more fundamental business information in ANY other coaching or information program.

With this program, Rich has developed a set of processes, techniques and methods pulled from 7 and 8-figure earning business giants that allow restrained, frustrated and over-worked entrepreneurs to quickly identify and overcome constraints freeing them to make massive financial and personal progress

Rich outlines just a sampling of these breakthroughs in his report where you will also get access to some of his most fundamental findings in this area of overcoming constraints. 

If you are at a stage of your personal and business life where you want to pinpoint that major SOMETHING that takes you 10-15 times farther than your current situation – then you will get tremendous value and results from this program.

You can find out more here…

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To understand consumer behavior, the fundamental of web marketing, we need to put ourselves in the role of someone (even ourselves) when we search online.

When you use the internet search function you are proceeding based on a very specific, tunnel vision interpretation of what you want…for example, you want to learn how to build a wood frame in your basement. 

You typically are NOT looking to go an find large portals, discussion forums or other social-like sites where a bunch of people hang out and share ideas and information.  That's not in line with your purpose when you use directed search.

Fair enough.

Indeed, as internet marketers we cater to this understanding by optimizing our content along the lines of helping our users find the best content, the answers to their questions fast.  The assumption we have is that if they get good, precise and relevant information from us once, they will come back and perhaps explore more of our content and buy our own (or related) products from us.

This is a good strategy, and is directed by our understanding of the mindset of the internet user who performs a search.

Web marketing strategy turned to search engine optimization and new online marketing techniques to align our offerings with the mindset of a user that reaches their site via a search…but is that now changing?

What, then is the mindset of someone who consumes social media?

Isn't that a fascinating question, especially given that there are millions and millions flocking to sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter each day.  Social media must definitely be part of the marketing mix when you grow your internet business.

I too am addicted to some of these sites and here's why – I like to Explore.

I call people who hang out with social media "Explorers" – they are trolling around linking up with friends, adding content all with the intent of exploring waiting for the chance to find someone or something that they hadn't previously thought of.

For example, each day I end up with insight into some aspect of internet marketing I would not have previously thought to search for just by monitoring my network of peers on Twitter.  I am exploring.  It's exciting, fun, painless and can be quite useful. 

Search is no longer exciting – it's a necessary utility to find information, but like anything else we do again and again mechanically, we tend to become very efficient at it and tune out anything other than the very mechanical process. 

That's why, over time the liklihood that someone will click on ads associated to their search has become less and less as we become more efficient at using search to find an answer to our one question and move on.

With social media though we are "open" to discovery, open to finding new things, new ideas, new information and unique products and services. 

It is this "Explorer" mentality that is especially attractive to those of us who study the behavior of those online – consumers of information and products. 

For any of you who have built your business by following the 45-day Information Product Profits Program available through our InfoMarketer'sZone site you know the power that social media and new online marketing strategies can bring to your web business.

So, when you think about whether to sign up for your own Facebook or Twitter account, or when you consider how much time you should spend around social media marketing, keep this in mind…by becoming an Explorer you will meet other explorers and for most online markets, more sales will go to the social explorers over the coming months and years. 

Think of it as a new online marketing technique that leverages a brand new channel to reach your customers in the context within which they want to communicate – they will be more open to your messages, content and information if you meet them on their terms.

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Coming in at a weighty 60-pages, you would think that it would follow the normal 59 pages of fluff with a page of useful information, but that's NOT true of this report. 

When I reviewed this report a second time, it began to hit that I spend most of my time focused on solving problems or thinking about challenges that are really NOT the CORE challenge to growing my business. 

Rich's report explains exactly why that is…and how the biggest names in online marketing go through the exact same thing just before they hit it REALLY big. 

Make no mistake, Rich's Uncertainty Syndrome report is most useful to those who are already building or growing their business, but seemed to have reached a ceiling – where they can't figure out how to push through resistance and get to the next level. 

Here are some key takeaways from Rich's report:

1. We're working harder and having less enjoyment as entrepreneurs than ever before…certainly automation, leverage and outsourcing help put your life back into balance, but now there is something new he brings out in this internet marketing report that I hadn't considered previously that will make a massive difference in my own business

2. This one took some convincing, but his examples proved to me that our own brains often convince us that the least important challenges are the most important resulting in a great deal of wasted, mis-focused time while the REAL problem escapes us completely and continues to restrict our growth potential. 

The bottom line is that there are finally reasons we can put our finger on in our businesses that explain why growth slows, why we hit resistance at certain points in growing our online business and why we need to look at things a little differently to quickly see the TRUE reasons.

Download the report RIGHT HERE – you won't be sorry.

Jeff

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Rich's report reminded us that we can move the ceiling and turn a tidy little online business into a JUGGERNAUT while building around a model that let's us continue to live life – you know, that time freedom thing we all have in the back of our head?

Turns out all of that is possible.

So, my life has changed, and so have thousands of other people's lives – that's why I can't WAIT for Monday September 8th when Rich holds a very special anniversary call to update us on the Internet Manifesto. 

With names like

–Mike Filsaime
–Joel Comm
–Frank Kern
–Jim Edwards
–Ryan Deiss
–Jeff Walker
–Brad Fallon
–John Carlton
–Jeff Walker

I won't say anymore because this call won't be for everyone…Rich's strategies and business models are only useful to those who want to move FAST and build BIG – if that's not where you are today, then his strategies will likely not be of value to you right now.

That's ok…you'll get there too.

But, if you ARE ready to shift into a higher gear, it's not often you get access to these guys, and we know that Rich delivers terrific information every time – even if this is a special, complimentary private call. 

You can find out more and reserve your spot by heading over to:

One Time Only Private Seminar Call…

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Which brings me to the often asked question – how do I effectively redirect blog traffic into an opt in list email signup?

You are right to question this as this can be a little tricky since most blog visitors like the fact that they can visit your blog on their own terms and don't have to rely on email updates to find out what you have.

The first advice is to get an opt-in form up on your site from a top autoresponder company – I like this reliable autoresponder service, but you can use others as well.  They all allow you to quickly create forms for each campaign that can either be inline or pop-in forms. 

Second, create a dedicated page to market your opt in email list incentive…an ebook, report, or access to some special, high-demand information.  Every few posts on your blog you should try and link back to your opt-in page to let people know about your terrific giveaway…in the context of your quality blog post. 

You'll need to make sure your incentive is something people REALLY, REALLY want, is high value, catches their attention and where the value is communicated effectively.  eBooks are ok if you put your #1 benefit up front so your prospect is passionate about what they will get when they opt-in.

Using this approach you should be able to see in the neighborhood of 5-10% opt-in to begin with, moving up to 15% plus over time as you tweak your copy and get better at forwarding your highest quality traffic to your namesqueeze page. 

Most important of all is to get started right now.  Get your opt in email forms in place, even if you don't have the perfect incentive yet, you will begin to see some signups – you can improve them over time.

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I know what it's like to try and operate an information marketing business part-time, to struggle wtih marketing strategies that are ineffective, that waste your time and leave your wallet empty.

So, let's change that – OK?

The foundation of successful online business is content…that's how you pull in big traffic, how you get listed on the search engines, build confidence in your visitor so they buy from you – it is the key to all internet marketing. 

In fact, we focus very early on traffic generation using content in our internet marketing strategy program for some of the leading online information marketers on the web today.

Plain and simple, you need to be producing content consistently to grow your internet business. 

We wrote a blog posting a while back that talked about taking your business seriously – being professional rather than an amateur (if you missed it, you can read it here…

http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/blog/online-business/are-you-a-pro-or-an-amateur/

Developing content properly is a top internet promotion technique, but only if you follow the rule of consistency. 

Writing a bunch of articles for a week followed by nothing for two weeks with another article 4-weeks later is not going to cut it – instead, you need to be working a content creation plan.

Does that sound strange – a "content creation plan?" 

For most of us getting started in web marketing, our content creation plan is dependent on what we feel like when we wake up in the morning right? Or, we let our schedule dictate when we are available to develop new content…

      We've Got To Change The Way We Develop Content

The reward is that Google will rank our content much higher, we'll receive double and triple the free traffic and we'll see our orders go way up.

Sporadic creation of content is not the best way to drive traffic to your site though – you lose momentum, miss out on steady streams of traffic and leave big money for your competitors to collect.

Even (and ESPECIALLY) if you have limited time to spend growing your online business each day, you can use your time more effectively and get 10X the results by following these principles of content creation…

1. Pay attention to the almighty keywords.  Use Google Adwords keyword research tool to look up and find new principle keywords that people will use to locate your products, services and information. 

But don't stop there…

Go beyond the principle keywords into "related keyword" listed under the main keywords returned when you use the Google Adwords keyword tool. Take each related keyword and look it up as a new "main" keyword and you have another list.

You will have a list of keywords into the thousands, even tens of thousands.  As you develop your content, you now have the keywords to target in the title, a few times in the copy to make your content much more effective in drawing relevant traffic to your internet marketing business.

2. Start by writing articles – how-to articles are always popular so long as you are targeting questions that your marketplace tends to ask.

Then, re-purpose your articles by turning them into blog announcements or postings, audio podcasts, audio recordings, YouTube videos or even Stream TV show content – that way you get five or six times the impact for each piece of content you create.

3. Take one day each week and focus on creating a higher quality article that corresponds to blog postings and articles that are getting lots of inbound links…in other word, focus on producing one really good piece of "link bait" each week.  The marketing strategy behind attracting inbound links and interest is syndication of your content syndicate your content allowing you to leverage the traffic at other hub sites within your niche market.

4. Turn an article into a press release and submit one or two a month to get added inbound links and traffic as part of your marketing plan.

5. When you get the hang of writing articles and can run them off in 10-15 minutes you'll want to consider packaging a few articles linked by a theme into special reports, a PDF that your users will find even more professional, higher value and that will produce additional linkbait as others within your marketplace link back to your report.

6. Oh, and yes, it's alright to outsource some of this.  There is an army of very good writers and marketers hanging around places like guru.com and rentacoder.com just waiting to outbid one another on your projects. 

Finally, and MOST important, use these smart content techniques consistently by making them part of your content plan.  Set up a plan for article writing and syndication on a regular basis.  If you can do it daily – great, if you can only do it twice each week, that is terrific too…you will still see some amazing results in your internet marketing business after taking consistent, regular action over time.

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The post was about the difference between an amateur and pro, even though he didn't come out and say it, this was an explanation of why some people reach the top in business, finance, and life while others continue to dream but not achieve.

We all have passions, dreams and things we have great potential to make a difference – but only professionals choose to take their passions seriously while amateurs give less than a 110% effort.

That is evident in any field – dedication to realizing lofty goals takes serious dedication, prioritization of what is important in your life and sticking to your plan no matter what.

For instance, when I interact with our members over at InfoMarketer'sZone about building their six and seven-figure information publishing businesses, I can tell almost instantly if they take their business seriously.

Almost without fail, every member has dreams, passion and even desparation in their desire to live the life of an information publisher – and yes, it IS a terrific life, but…

Only those who take their passion and dreams seriously achieve their dreams. 

What does it mean to be serious about information publishing and marketing online?

1. You commit to multiple techniques for developing a relationship with your market.  Amateur information product marketers try and push products on a market, professionals develop a plan for providing value up-front in exchange for the chance to nurture a partnership with their marketplace that (if nurtured) continues to pay growing dividends year after year. 

2. You give before you get – keep the faith.  It's an odd thing with business, a sort of invisible karma if you will…to receive you must first give to your market.  Here's why this always works.  When you give value to your market, suddenly their defenses are lowered and you are given a rare opportunity to see what they really want and need allowing you to further deliver value – the more value you deliver the more wealth you will accumulate.

3. Professionals know that they can't do everything and that the more in tune with their passions they are, the more they organize their life around their passions, the less interference and distraction and the more productive they become.  Amateurs let life happen to them, perhaps poking their head out of the hole once in a while to give a sudden burst of energy, only to be distracted by something else in their life – achievement doesn't happen that way. 

For information product professionals, this means that you must choose what is truly important to you – if you want your own successful infoproduct on the market in 45-90-days then commit to a plan that will GUARANTEE that you achieve that goal.  We offer the Ultimate Information Publishing Success Checklist at InfoMarketer'sZone, but it's up to YOU to plan your days and weeks around the checklist…you need to make it a priority just as any professional would. 

4. Professionals make a committment to themselves which spreads to those around them that they have a firm plan, commit to consistent and guided action and are working tirelessly for the good of those they serve in the market.  Certainty of plan and action attracts the same.  Tell me if you have noticed this, I certainly have…amateurs seem to attract other amateurs and professionals attract other professionals.  As an amateur, it's tough to understand why this happens – why you seem to be excluded from the "boy's club", but when you commit to a professional plan and course of action, it becomes clear that professionals make it their priority to only deal with those as committed and results-oriented as they are. 

5. Professionals take responsiblity for where they are completely.  If you have been dreaming about launching your own ebook, report, home study course or other information product for months or years, but haven't succeeded, then that is on you, nobody else.  That may sound tough, but believe me, when I've looked myself in the mirror and stepped up to admitting it is MY responsibility for where I am, great things follow.  Suddenly you are focused on solutions to problems, ways around obstacles instead of the obstacles themselves.  You become a problem solver instead of a victim and with each challenge you overcome you make gigantic progress toward your goal. 

Are you ready to step up and REALLY become a professional in critical areas of your life?  Are you ready to turn your amateur interest in starting or growing your business into a professional committment that will take you miles ahead of where you are today?

Seriously, you MUST face this question, some decisions will be YES – I'm ready to commit professionally to achieve my passions, while other decisions will be the opposite.  The very fact you are asking these questions and making these decisions will move you ahead in your life – after all, the journey is as fun as ultimate achievement isn't it?

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Nope, it's not skill or intelligence.

And no…it's not enthusiasm or desire either. 

What about time, financial resources or support around them?  Nope, Nope and Nope.

What is it…Marlon Sanders has put it brilliantly on one single page that everyone MUST read right now…

Read "We Are All Destined To Be Marketers" right now.

If this doesn't make you go Ah – Ha!

Nothing will.

Jeff

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