[justd0it]

I am in serious need of a mentor. I am not going to go into great detail, but my mother raised me as the youngest with an entrepreneurial spirit. She always wanted to taste the good life and tried many business ventures while I was growing up. However, she was a nurse, my father a social worker. They had 6 kids, 4 of whom were adopted. They gave up everything for us. My mom was diagnosed with cancer 3 years ago and kicked butt for 2 years. It was Stage 4 at the time and she had months they figured. She got on a trial drug and we felt like we dodged a bullet for a while. Well, it went to the brain and this last year has been bad. In fact, the last month or two have been terrible. I know I am going to lose her this year and likely my dad as well. It looks like weeks to months and I see defeat in her eyes. I always figured it was okay she didn't "make it" because I was going to. I know I will, but I always wanted to show her the "other side". I am a 32 year old married father of 2 in Omaha. We do pretty good for ourselves, but I know now just how important family is and the ability to spend time with them. I also know I will never be truly rich and free working for someone else. I have tried various things over the years and have spent a lot of money on books and programs...but I haven't gotten to where I want to be. Not even close. I've not turned a profit once online. I need a mentor. Unfortunately, I am jaded a bit. I am in the IT field and it frustrates me I still haven't figured out the puzzle to making money online. I can answer any questions people may have, but I am looking for someone to work with me out of the kindness of their heart. It seems there is always a cost attached and I can't afford to pay a lot for coaching knowing there are advertising and overhead costs for my business on top of that. I guess I am looking for a someone who may not exist. I am a self starter, motivated, hard working individual. I'm not into a lot of emotional fluffy crap, so this is hard for me to ask for help. I now see though that time is of the essence, and I do need help. If there is anyone who TRULY has been successful making money online FT, and you are interested in taking on a pro-bono protege.....I promise I will not waste your time! I'm crying as I type this because I want my mom to know I am off on the beginning of the adventure she and I always dreamed of before she passes.

Thank you for your time
Matt

[Trust]

"I am a self starter, motivated, hard working individual."

Great. Start reading, ask questions.

[lostdeviant]

Matt,

You don't need to buy e-books, etc. to learn. All you have to do is this:

Make websites that people will find useful and add advertising and product links.

You need to pay for webhosting and your domain names. Later you pay to renew them.

I'm curious how you couldn't make a profit with this approach. Could you tell us more?

[justd0it]

One of the sites I currently have is loseinchesforever.com

The other is www. mjslearning. com (but the content building was taking more time than I could allot. I have 4 years experience as an IT instructor but do not have the time to build what I started)

I also started www. realhighroller. com

I do read, I have joined forums. I have been scolded by my wife for late nights online reading and learning. Guess what, no profit. I think I'd really like to see proof of a lot of the people in forums bragging about money they have made. There is always a product they are promoting. Many of them are not as successful as they claim, which is why they are the first to get defensive. I am looking for someone who is truly successful at this business and does not hold down a "day job".

I have setup accounts with adsense and adwords, as well as goclick.com (and am using them). I also have an account with aweber. I guess what I am saying is I'm not just whining.....I am open to ideas and am working. It'd just help to weed out the others who are in the same boat as me.

Thanks

[Trust]

"I am looking for someone who is truly successful at this business and does not hold down a "day job"."

Lots of people here like that. I tell you what I did. First time here, had no idea what anybody was talking about, so I left. Came back months later and just started reading everyday. I used the search function a lot, asked questions when I couldn't find an answer. I would start there.

I would forget about GoClick. I tried that awhile back, traffic was pretty crappy. I just stick to the main ones, Adwords, MSN, Yahoo. But slowwww and keep a sharp eye on it.

[justd0it]

Thanks for the info. I guess what frustrated me is that the only time I had click through was when I used goclick. I know they are closing up shop soon anyway. I have paid for clicks which I am fast learning is a waste. Tons of impressions, no clicks. loseinchesforever.com had an article of the day and bits of info. I scratched that and thought, go for one product here with lots of available tools, and put in a small adwords spot. I have ads on google, but am not getting a lot of bites as far as sales.....well, zero sales. Adsense is the only thing that has paid me, but it's a whopping $10 in a week. That isn't worth it for the amount of advertising costs. I'll search around and see what I can find. Eventually I'll hit the ahh ha moment.

thanks

[Rhia7]

Originally Posted by justd0it

One of the sites I currently have is loseinchesforever.com

You have to make the site appealing for the visitor.
As a visitor I would avoid giving you my first & last names with the e-mail for the "3 day e-course" (without seeing your credentials spelled out).

I wouldn't click the links about parasites or fecal matter.

You'd do better by writing about healthy meals and exercise. Feature products.
The 1st page of the site looks like you are using "scare tactics" without a positive balance.

The generic good looking woman that is featured on the page probably comes from a stock photography site and could be an example of what would lead to Jakob Nielsen's idea of "banner blindness" (her image, although attractive, doesn't do much for the site or the image does not contribute much to build the site's credibility).

[lostdeviant]

Why are you paying for advertising? I don't advertise any of my sites and I am doing this (affiliate marketing) full-time.

[lostdeviant]

I don't see how "useful" the lose inches site is supposed to be. Isn't that one of those hideous click-bank squeeze pages?

[AffiliateHound]

Successful affiliates are generally reluctant to let others view their sites, but if you look at such sites as Popshops and Golden Can, you can find examples of good affiliate sites that use their coding. I'm not saying you should jump into PS or GC, just that you could gain some insight by looking a how some affiliate sites are thought out and constructed.

[Hardaka]

I have ads on google, but am not getting a lot of bites as far as sales.....well, zero sales. Adsense is the only thing that has paid me, but it's a whopping $10 in a week. That isn't worth it for the amount of advertising costs.

Stop paying for advertising. If it isn't working, change tactics. Search the forum for threads about Digg and reddit (social bookmarks). Using those you can get yourself traffic. Sometimes it may not be a lot, other times it could be a lot if other people like the article or web page you submitted.

And 10 dollars a week is better than nothing. Think of it this way. I'm just going to assume you spend 100 dollars a year on hosting and domains. If you stop paying for advertising, use social book marks and other forms of free traffic, it will be like you turned a 100 dollar investment into 500 dollars in a year. Lets see wall street top that.

I know, that isn't enough to live on, but it can take time. Though you do need to make sure the websites you have offer value to your visitors. View your websites like you were someone else. Would you stay? Do you find something that helps you? Ask yourself those kind of questions and make any needed changes.

[mellie]

Realize that you are at the beginning of your business adventure. Money will not happen overnight no matter who your mentor is, it takes time and effort. I am quite sure your mother doesn't need to see you taking in thousand dollar checks to think of you as being successful. The entrepreneurial spirit is an approach to life. If you have demonstrated that, and if your mother also possesses that spirit, she already believes that you will be successful and make it.

Take a moment to let your mother know that in your eyes she did make it, she was successful. Let her know that because of her you have the "good life".

Having said that, you have the best mentors here at this forum. Reading and pulling it all together is the best approach because you will be more prepared to make adjustment as the business evolves. I would say that 75% of what you need to know to succeed is right here. The other 25% is your own individual approach and ability.

[justd0it]

Thanks for the feedback. This is a clickbank product and i just grabbed a squeeze page from the actual product site. The woman in the pictures is the same on on the product site. She is supposedly the doctor that came up with the product and seems believable. I do have another asp site I have build and should load there. It is just what you described. Health tips and tips, an article of the day, and a featured "product of the week" to review. Sounds like maybe I should go that route instead!

Thanks

[justd0it]

By the way, thanks to ALL OF YOU for the feedback. I will heed your advice and look into the suggestions. I will definitely be rethinking my traffic strategies as well. As for my mom, she is proud of me. Like I originally said, I didn't go into all of the details, but I think does know I will do all she wanted and more. She does know the spirit is there. I am just dealing with a lot in this and sometimes it hits me harder than others.

Thanks again to you all

[ProWebAddict]

loseinchesforever.com

1) Weight loss is a very competitive niche. It can be done but I wouldn't make it my first niche if I didn't know what I was doing. I'd keep working on the site though since you've spent so much time on it.

2)www. mjslearning. com

This could be very profitable for you if you took the time to develop and market it. Yes content building takes time but so does everything else. I'd bet you see more results if you build something substantial instead of just trying clickbank squeeze pages.

3) www. realhighroller. com

Another clickbank page.

I tend to look at internet marketing as a different thing than affiliate marketing. So far to me it looks like you are trying to do internet marketing, especially since you mentioned Aweber. My income shot up when I stopped doing that, and started promoting actual products; not ebooks, make money online, sign up for my newsletter so I can sell you more ebooks types of things.

It works for some but not for all.

Good luck with whatever path you decide to take.

[TheFashionista]

Look at each of your websites and answer the following questions:

1. Why would someone visit your website?

2. What benefit(s) do you provide the visitor?

3. What differentiates your site from your competitors? (i.e. why would someone choose to visit your site over others with similar products/content).

4. Why would someone return to your site?

Think about when you go to a website -- what keeps you on that site? What makes you decide to go back to the site? You want to gain credibility and offer value so that people will want to keep coming back to your site.

There are so many sites out there just trying to "sell" a product - and don't actually provide any value other than a link to a certain product.

Creating a website and getting visitors is not easy and certainly not something that is going to happen overnight. That is why it is important that you enjoy what you are doing -- instead of trying to make quick money.

Read the "Magic Bullet" thread and keep reading ABW. The people here provide a lot of useful information that will help you.

Good Luck to you!

[Rolet]

I want to say this thread is why I love ABW - a newbie comes to us, heart on his sleeve, honest about his intentions, willing to ask questions and not just take, shares information about what he has done and I felt no fear in his asking.

and what did the members of this forum do, you have all reached out with useful advice, and no one has "flamed" him. This thread makes me proud to be a part of ABW...

My advice, while you are building up the mjslearning.com, try starting a blog about either your experiences with your mother going through cancer, your life growing up. Make an online diary of the experiences you are going through and monetize it. The number of people who are looking to read how others are going through the same struggles they are, in regards to cancer, is astounding. You can help bring in some revenue with this and best yet, you can help another with your insight to the battles your mother is facing and how you are coping. My $0.02

[Lanadili]

The best mentor you will be able to find is all the people in this forum. Don't settle for just one person helping you, as you will only have that person's view on how you should do things. As you can see, by asking in this forum, you will receive many useful and great suggestions, from all different views.

Read as much as you can, use the search, and read some more. There is a wealth of information in this forum, enough for anyone to be able to "make it".

Good luck with your success!

[sfcom]

Welcome to ABW.

You say that you have many years in the industry. On your business page you show offerings of Dreamweaver, Flash, podcasting, etc.

So, why are you instead a "Clickbank crackhead?" Your advertised skills are way above that. Drop the get rich quick Clickbank e-books and move on to something that you would want to sell to your own mom or dad. You are not adding value to the overall internet by polluting it with redundant Clickbank pages. Get away from them and never look back.

You have the programming skills, so why let someone else do the programming for you? Start with a blank sheet of paper. Sketch what your imagination says to. Start programming it.

Have fun with your own original idea. Make T-shirts. Promote it on your car. Get business cards. Ask your friends in the industry if they can give you a link on one of their pages. Sponsor an event in your area, even a high-school musical or a soapbox derby.

Good luck to you.

-sfcom

[LincolnAve]

Hey justd0it,

I felt the same way when my mom died. I found out after she died that she was proud of me just as I was.

Luckily for you she has told you herself.

I'm not making money at "this" either, so I would be able to tell anything. If you want to 'talk" email me by clicking on my name. You may want to add you email address, so that people can contact you privately.

PM's won't work until you have 250 posts.

LincolAve

[justd0it]

Once again I want to thank all of you for your replies. They are all straight to the point with no bs. I sincerely appreciate it. This all makes a lot of sense. I think I have gotten sucked into the richjerk style of ideas and the clickbank mentality. I have learned things in these replies I didn't know were out there and available. I can tell you are good people and you certainly could have made fun of me or flat out ignored me. However, you took the time to give me feedback. I can tell this is a special group of people you have here.

Thanks again folks, it means a lot
Matt

[popdawg]

You are going to want that email edited out or made not live to help cut down on spam.

Was confused when I first saw this post as I thought it was posted by justdoit (Judy)


Edited to add:
Sigh ... Old ... sick ... back of the herd ... slow ... I'm the one the predators are hunting cause I can't keep up anymore. Once again, Trust beat me to it.

Thanks Trust

[justwright]

I would pick one site instead of concentrating on all three and start from scratch. Learn about seo, design, link exchanges, write articles.

[Steve Williams]

Just Do It

Welcome to ABW ! I hope you enjoy your stay !!

I am new to this too, so my help will be very limited. There are a few things I have learned the hard way and I am here to help any way I can.

I am not rich, I am not a genius and I don't have a big name. I put at the end of every signature {If I don't forget to} and I have never made a ton of money doing this stuff. Still, you'd be amazed at what I can contribute.

With that said, I am here to help any way I can and my help is free with out strings. There is no need for me to know you or for you to be my friend or for me to know WHY you need the info. If I know it, it is yours.

Lemme know how I can help !

BTW: I am guessing that you will get your answers in chunks from many people/ sources here. Just a guess though !

Steve

[Rexanne]

Originally Posted by Lanadili

The best mentor you will be able to find is all the people in this forum. Don't settle for just one person helping you, as you will only have that person's view on how you should do things. As you can see, by asking in this forum, you will receive many useful and great suggestions, from all different views.

Read as much as you can, use the search, and read some more. There is a wealth of information in this forum, enough for anyone to be able to "make it".

Good luck with your success!

Everything Lanadili said and ...

Ask specific questions as the arise and plenty of people here will respond - you might get different answers - pick which one feels right and soak up all the constructive advice.

I truly believe that, as a group, we're eager to help those who truly want to become part of this community. Sharing doesn't necessarily mean giving away your "secrets" or telling the world (in a public forum) what you're doing. You've shared who you are with your first post and that's what we value - honesty, integrity and being real.

You'll have more mentors than you can handle by becoming an active participant at ABW. And we'll all be cheering you on and helping you succeed in any way we can.

BTW - welcome!