Anyone need an apprentice? ;)

Hey guys. I have been lurking on this forum for a little while now, and I think it is great. A lot of you people have a lot of knowledge and talent.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone on here would mind being a sort of 'guide' for a newb like me. Please don't get me wrong. I am not looking for someone to "show" me how to make money on the internet. I really am not looking to come off as one of those "how do I make $500 in the next 5 days?!?!?" kind of people. I am very dedicated to getting somewhere with this, and I want to make my own mistakes and create my own methods and style. I won't be asking you for templates to use to get the biggest conversions and whatever. I won't learn anything that way. I am looking to dedicate 30 hours+ per week on this venture, and treat it like a proper business.

I am under no illusions. I know that this is going to take a lot of hard work on my part, and I am very disciplined when it comes to this sort of stuff. I also know that it will also take time, and patience. Possibly years to reach my goal. I am pretty familiar with website creation (html/css/php) but I am always working on getting better. I basically mean that in terms of the technical side of things, I won't need someone to teach me the fundamentals or anything. I really just would appreciate a sort of point of contact to advise me of what areas I should look into studying or experimenting with next, and just give me concepts and things to look into. A very basic roadmap of what key skills to get under my belt. As I say, I am somewhat competent with the technical side of things. I just need a little guidance with the IM side of things. Just someone to point me in the right direction, as this stuff can be a little overwhelming with all the inofmration, and concepts floating around on here. I like to try and find my own answers, so will only really ask specific questions if I cannot for the life of me find it any other way.


I think if anyone would be interested in seeing the satisfaction of guiding a newbie without "spoon feeding" them every step of the way, they should let me know. It may also be beneficial to yourself in the long run to have a potential JV partner one day, or someone to do favours for you if it helps them learn in the process (as long as it doesnt get to the point of exploiting me, and has educational value, hehe)

Although I am in no position to make demands of you, I would prefer if it was someone who has a decent bit of experience with IM. Preferably someone who is either living off of it, or is atleast making enough that they could potentially live off it. Not that I don't appreciate any and all advice given.

If the above stuff is too much to ask, then thats cool too. Just any general tips on "getting started" or things to consider would be cool if you post them. I have read most of the stickies in here, and so will probabaly just start by working through a couple of the "tutorial" ones, and experimenting.

lol if you put as much effort into trying out some things for yourself like the rest of us have to you would be doing well, if you need help search the forums or ask a question if you cant find what your looking for on here

To the guy who sent a PM, I will reply. I didn't know I had to make 15 posts before I can reply, so thanks for your patience. I'll try and post some things tonight to get up to my limit. Just need to find some posts to add value to.

Cheers Tommy.

I do intend to try a lot of things out for myself. Sometimes though you need someone who you can bounce ideas off of, or can go into deeper subjects with you that you can't necessarily do just by trying things out.

You make a good point though. The number 1 best way to learn this stuff is to just jump right in and make mistakes. I really just wanted a guide as a someone who has walked the road, and can steer me in the right general direction.

Think of it like Gandalf telling Frodo the direction to get to Mount Doom. He tells him the general direction to go. Doesnt tell him how to overcome each individual challenge

Renardine said:

Cheers Tommy.

I do intend to try a lot of things out for myself. Sometimes though you need someone who you can bounce ideas off of, or can go into deeper subjects with you that you can't necessarily do just by trying things out.

You make a good point though. The number 1 best way to learn this stuff is to just jump right in and make mistakes. I really just wanted a guide as a someone who has walked the road, and can steer me in the right general direction.

Think of it like Gandalf telling Frodo the direction to get to Mount Doom. He tells him the general direction to go. Doesnt tell him how to overcome each individual challenge

Click to expand...

Start out by learning WordPress, it's a Blogging platform and stick to mastering it until you have a self hosted blog online.

Can't do anything with you if someone had to teach you everything. The learning curve is to steep so, learn something that will attract someone willing to take you under the wing.

Funny you should mention that. I am currently learning wordpress. Although I can build basic websites from scratch, it looks like WP is the way to go. I have made a couple of themes for it, but they were just tutorials with my own twist, so I am slowly getting better at it. Give it a month or 2 and I think I should be a dab hand at wordpress.

Its good to know I was going in the right direction.

You need to start with a plan of action.

Forget about the website aspect to begin with, its no good learning stuff or buying software until you know which direction you are heading.

Think of or find a topic you know a lot about and are confident in writing loads of content for.

Open up the Google Keyword tool, and find keywords related to the topic you are interested in, try to find long tail keywords that get a decent amount of traffic. Get a good long list of keywords.

Spend the first two months of your internet marketing career, opening up a word document and producing loads and loads of original content articles 300 to 500 words related to your researched keywords for your wordpress blog.

Then setup your wordpress blog, add a decent theme, add some decent wordpress plugins and then start submitting 1 or 2 of the articles you have created each day.

Add monetization to your Wordpress blog, either CPA's. Google Adsense, Ads from affiliate networks etc.

Buy some linkwheel service either from BHW or fiverr to setup the backlinking structure for your website, buy xrumer blasts from BHW or fiverr and focus keywords on the individual spokes of your linkwheel to get link juice coming to your main website.

Either buy Article Marketing Robot or hire a service and spin some of your articles and submit to article directories with keyworded links back to your website.

And just keep doing more of the same.

You don't have to follow this plan to the letter, but i would make a plan of action before embarking on your future projects, it helps keep your mind focused on tasks in hand rather than chaotically trying to do several things at once.

GOOD LUCK!!

Excellent advise from JackSparrrow.
This should keep him busy for awhile...
If you follow it, you will have success...

That is really good advice Dighammer. I will definitely take heed. That is the stuff I am talking about really. I admit I am a complete noob on the IM side of things and knowing where to start can be somewhat confusing.

I will continue to hone my web design skills in the background, so they are ready when I need them, but you have definitely given me some food for thought. Actual content for the blogs themselves was something I was the most concerned about. I always wondered when I heard of these people with big networks of "blogs" how they got the content. I guess that when you start off, you have to do it the old fashioned way and do it yourself. Do you only start paying for people to write for you once you have a few successful ones going and some money rolling in?

I will definitely start looking into it immediately.

Cheers.

Hey mate,

I am quite new to this forum but i am also a web designer type person. Just make sure you learn internet marketing before webdesigning because out of the two webdesign is easier to outsource or buy templates where as the internet marketing strategies are and will be the core of your business.

There are quite a few stickies in this forum with guides in them taking a look through them will get you mind running with ideas

Good luck

If I could give one piece of advice it is that most people stay in the "learning" phase to long. In internet marketing you learn by doing. Sometimes you suck it up, sometimes you make a buck, and sometimes you make a thousand bucks.

I think too many people spend too much time trying to learn and being in that "learning" phase and just never take any action.

linkdropper4 said:

If I could give one piece of advice it is that most people stay in the "learning" phase to long. In internet marketing you learn by doing. Sometimes you suck it up, sometimes you make a buck, and sometimes you make a thousand bucks.

I think too many people spend too much time trying to learn and being in that "learning" phase and just never take any action.

Click to expand...

Agreed. You learn faster when you have skin in the game (time, money and effort). Don't try to be perfect, before starting. On the job learning is key. You will make mistakes. We all do....doesn't matter how experienced the IMer. Things change fast in this game!

You writing is good, you can start with freelance assignments on Fiverr, Freelancer, Odesk or BHW.

This will get not make you rich but certainly give you a few hundred which you can use as a start up capital in IM.

I doubt someone will guide you personally but if you follow some journals around here, you can pretty much get started in earning money. Look for the Crashed Challenge Thread here.

Once you get started in IM, its up to you how you can learn, implement, discover, manipulate things to your advantage.

Good luck!

Cheers,
HH