Hello BHW,
I have worked in Corporate America & Retail for almost 10 years now and contributed to many fortune 500 companies. I have realized that I was always overworked, underpaid, and taken advantage of. I am now going to pursue my own ventures. My career paths have been heavily involved with sales and strategy roles. I have worked in 10+ states and 2 countries at the age of 22. I have just began my IM journey and so far I have a few questions left before my official launch... But this is what I have accomplished so far:
With absolutely no web hosting experience.
No forum experience other than a few posts here and there on a video game forum back in the day.
Only social media I have ever had was Facebook. (and Myspace way back when)
Broke as sh!t (I currently paid for my hosting and wordpress theme by maxing out the only one CC with funds)
What I have/will do:
- A fully operational "Landing page" that I am using as my "home page" to my website. From here I link to forums, blog, have announcements and news. It's a 1 page "homepage" that networks all my other pages. (this only took me about 40 hours of pain, and two server backups from my webhosting... as I have no idea what I am doing)
- A fully operational blog that is 90% finished customization. Lots of space for content. I plan to write 1 new blog every 2 days, do 1 weekly video towards my niche - and then I plan to share the mainstream "top dog" videos and chopped up articles here and there as support and hopes for extra followers. I plan the blog to have displayed around 20 thumbnails with texts of other articles I have written upon opening the page. Neatly.
- I will be very active on all social media. I signed up for nearly every account including reddit and pinterest, I also downloaded an app that notifies me when someone posts in social media or if my keyword are posted about. I plan to use this for prime time marketing opportunity. The early bird getting the worm, ya dig?
- My forums are in the works - base is done. I need to work on adding content. I have about 16 forums in total (including sub-forums and stuff like 'introduce yourself', etc.) and I want to have two informative posts in each forum before my launch. I will supplement the information and almost copy it from related blogs. I have around 10 main categories and 20 sub categories of blogs I would "tag" stuff with... They are mostly the same subjects.
- I also displayed a "donate" or help our cause page. We have a fantastic cause that I see a lot of people openly donating to as it is. (can anyone provide tips on this... Like, totally avoid, bad tax implications, etc?)
So, I have literally spent roughly 12-20 hours a day (not kidding) for the last week or so building my vision. And plan to continue for another 3-4 weeks until it's finished and ready to just be "updated and maintained". It just hit me and I had to do it.
What my strategy is - is to have 3-5 clickbank products (for now) that I market in form of review. I will write my blogs, post on my forums, and link on social media only those 10-20 categories I spoke of, that highly involve those 3-5 products. I plan to of course drop some affiliate links in almost every blog, forum post, and anytime I post "new content". I have my affiliate link set as a subdomain that redirects to my affiliate link... So like I say,
"wow, that's a cool idea. I saw something similar. Check this out at <my subdomain with a related name so it's not sketchy> " And when they click it, it redirects to my affiliate link, then it obviously redirects to their pitch page. (is that a good idea? I read it on google and just did it, but I have noticed that I pissed google off at some form of link shortener... So that's why I did this redirect stuff..)
I have obsessed with learning how to get my products visible... But I have a few concerns answered before I go public...
1. I have absolutely no idea how to track my links properly or the traffic on my sites - I am looking for up-to-date guides... Most stuff I see is from 2010-2012. I am hoping someone respects the time I put into my post and returns the favor. This will be a very useful learning thread and a journey of a very determined and relentless man.
2. Once I get all of my content and I want to openly promote it (I am trying to build a place where people come to share ideas and talk about my niche) but I have no followers on any social media! I plan to be very active and follow/friend as many related parties as possible. But what is a good way for me to obtain a great "boost" at the start? I would prefer free ideas but am willing to spend maybe $50 if there is a good, reputable service that is worth the money.
3. My structure is to make a blog, then make some forum posts about it. Publish blog with link to forum for discussion as well and hope for registration. Link my homepage (the one pager) every time I post something. I have affiliate links on some threads in forums. I have affiliate links in blogs. None on homepage. Is this at least a reasonable idea?
4. Should I openly advertise my 3-5 affiliate products in place of adsense banners or other ppv/ppc ads? Would it seem way to "buy me now"?
5. For starting out, if you could invest $25, $50, $75, $100 as a startup business - what would you buy with each allotment of money? (4 answers please)
And my last one... What is a free service you wish you knew about when you started?
*** I will edit this post once I fully go public with my full guide. This is to get the thread started and help educate/motivate others - and of course educate me. lol ***
I have worked in Corporate America & Retail for almost 10 years now and contributed to many fortune 500 companies. I have realized that I was always overworked, underpaid, and taken advantage of. I am now going to pursue my own ventures. My career paths have been heavily involved with sales and strategy roles. I have worked in 10+ states and 2 countries at the age of 22. I have just began my IM journey and so far I have a few questions left before my official launch... But this is what I have accomplished so far:
With absolutely no web hosting experience.
No forum experience other than a few posts here and there on a video game forum back in the day.
Only social media I have ever had was Facebook. (and Myspace way back when)
Broke as sh!t (I currently paid for my hosting and wordpress theme by maxing out the only one CC with funds)
What I have/will do:
- A fully operational "Landing page" that I am using as my "home page" to my website. From here I link to forums, blog, have announcements and news. It's a 1 page "homepage" that networks all my other pages. (this only took me about 40 hours of pain, and two server backups from my webhosting... as I have no idea what I am doing)
- A fully operational blog that is 90% finished customization. Lots of space for content. I plan to write 1 new blog every 2 days, do 1 weekly video towards my niche - and then I plan to share the mainstream "top dog" videos and chopped up articles here and there as support and hopes for extra followers. I plan the blog to have displayed around 20 thumbnails with texts of other articles I have written upon opening the page. Neatly.
- I will be very active on all social media. I signed up for nearly every account including reddit and pinterest, I also downloaded an app that notifies me when someone posts in social media or if my keyword are posted about. I plan to use this for prime time marketing opportunity. The early bird getting the worm, ya dig?
- My forums are in the works - base is done. I need to work on adding content. I have about 16 forums in total (including sub-forums and stuff like 'introduce yourself', etc.) and I want to have two informative posts in each forum before my launch. I will supplement the information and almost copy it from related blogs. I have around 10 main categories and 20 sub categories of blogs I would "tag" stuff with... They are mostly the same subjects.
- I also displayed a "donate" or help our cause page. We have a fantastic cause that I see a lot of people openly donating to as it is. (can anyone provide tips on this... Like, totally avoid, bad tax implications, etc?)
So, I have literally spent roughly 12-20 hours a day (not kidding) for the last week or so building my vision. And plan to continue for another 3-4 weeks until it's finished and ready to just be "updated and maintained". It just hit me and I had to do it.
What my strategy is - is to have 3-5 clickbank products (for now) that I market in form of review. I will write my blogs, post on my forums, and link on social media only those 10-20 categories I spoke of, that highly involve those 3-5 products. I plan to of course drop some affiliate links in almost every blog, forum post, and anytime I post "new content". I have my affiliate link set as a subdomain that redirects to my affiliate link... So like I say,
"wow, that's a cool idea. I saw something similar. Check this out at <my subdomain with a related name so it's not sketchy> " And when they click it, it redirects to my affiliate link, then it obviously redirects to their pitch page. (is that a good idea? I read it on google and just did it, but I have noticed that I pissed google off at some form of link shortener... So that's why I did this redirect stuff..)
I have obsessed with learning how to get my products visible... But I have a few concerns answered before I go public...
1. I have absolutely no idea how to track my links properly or the traffic on my sites - I am looking for up-to-date guides... Most stuff I see is from 2010-2012. I am hoping someone respects the time I put into my post and returns the favor. This will be a very useful learning thread and a journey of a very determined and relentless man.
2. Once I get all of my content and I want to openly promote it (I am trying to build a place where people come to share ideas and talk about my niche) but I have no followers on any social media! I plan to be very active and follow/friend as many related parties as possible. But what is a good way for me to obtain a great "boost" at the start? I would prefer free ideas but am willing to spend maybe $50 if there is a good, reputable service that is worth the money.
3. My structure is to make a blog, then make some forum posts about it. Publish blog with link to forum for discussion as well and hope for registration. Link my homepage (the one pager) every time I post something. I have affiliate links on some threads in forums. I have affiliate links in blogs. None on homepage. Is this at least a reasonable idea?
4. Should I openly advertise my 3-5 affiliate products in place of adsense banners or other ppv/ppc ads? Would it seem way to "buy me now"?
5. For starting out, if you could invest $25, $50, $75, $100 as a startup business - what would you buy with each allotment of money? (4 answers please)
And my last one... What is a free service you wish you knew about when you started?
*** I will edit this post once I fully go public with my full guide. This is to get the thread started and help educate/motivate others - and of course educate me. lol ***
