I meet two kinds of entrepreneurs at conferences.
The first are the people hoping to get rich quick. They listen to the speakers and they make notes but what they\’re really hoping is that someone will let slip a giant secret that will enable them to make a huge sack of cash. Their aim is to retire within a year and spend the rest of their life on the beach.
Those are the people who ask me to promote their products – products I\’ve never heard of, created by people I\’ve never met, that do things less effectively than other products already on the market.
They\’re going to be disappointed.
The Web doesn\’t work that way.
The other type of entrepreneur understands how the Web works.
They understand that building an online business starts slowly. They create content. They optimize their ads. They focus on traffic generation. Little by little, with a steady supply of good content, by following their stats and learning the techniques that maximize ad revenue, their site grows. It might take a year. It might take longer. But with perseverance and hard work, they end up with a site that has a steady flow of loyal readers – and a reliable stream of revenue.
Then, once they\’ve got a community that knows them, they focus on cementing that community. Through chatting and networking on social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, they give their readers a chance to like them. When that happens, they\’ll also trust them. At the same time, they look to automate the processes of their website — the content writing and the ad campaigns – so that the site largely runs itself, freeing them to expand the business.
That\’s when they start looking to promote larger value items. Instead of just creating blog posts and earning from the ads, they invest their time in information products that take longer to prepare and research but which cost more to buy and strengthen their brand. They learn how to launch them, promote them and distribute them.
Finally, they look to branch into other areas, growing their base and learning new skills and techniques all the time.
It doesn\’t happen quickly and it doesn\’t happen easily. But it can happen if you\’re prepared to put in the time and effort to make it happen. It\’s how the Web works.