The Wild Wild Web

The Wild, Wild, Web
By Stephen Kelley

It’s tough to succeed on the Internet. Starting your own online business from scratch, with no computer or marketing experience, turned out to be a little more time consuming than I ever would have thought.

The best advice I’ve received so far (and the one I would pass on) is persevere. Don’t give up on your dream.

While the time and effort invested now may seem huge, the rewards can make it all worth while. We all know the majority of jobs keep us Just Over Broke, whereas running your own business has the potential to solve most of your monetary problems.

But be forewarned: Running a business is not for everybody, whether it be online or off. Everyday, people are trying to start a business on the web and the biggest reason most fail is they are not getting enough traffic.

Everything I’ve learned about marketing online leads back to how much traffic you get. What you have to sell is not nearly as important as the amount of traffic you draw to your website.

Of all the ways to generate traffic, writing articles is one of the best. Certainly one of the cheapest. There is no better way to establish creditability in a world full of scams than writing articles that people enjoy reading. When you read enough of what someone writes you develop a feel for their personality. It takes the place of talking in the offline world.

I had to write this article ... and didn’t know how. Ever been in a situation like that?

After listening to others and giving it some thought I came to this conclusion: the only way you learn how is to sit down and do it.

Writing is learned, not gifted. While some excel more than others, anybody can learn the basics if they apply themselves. Just remember – you are unique and so is what you write

Target your audience. Who are you writing to? What are you trying to say? Those are the two most important questions you can ask.

I wanted to write this for the many who may find themselves in the position of having to write and not having any confidence in their ability.

Always keep in mind that the first draft is going to look nothing like the final product.

While most of us don’t speak well enough to be a super salesman or a dynamic public speaker, anybody in business knows, we have to speak well enough to converse with our customers.

I’ve found this to be true writing articles for the internet. I don’t have to write award winning novels or “Killer” sales copy; but I do have to write well enough it’s readable for the average person, well enough to connect with my potential customers.

The biggest problem people have with writing is they lack the confidence. But confidence only comes from doing.
Not being able to write for your customer online is no different than not being able to converse with your customer offline.

I never meant this to be a *how to* article but rather a source of encouragement for those who suffer from the “Blank Page Blues”. We sit and stare at that blank white page and don’t know where to start.

The best way to overcome this is to just start writing. You can always revise what you’ve written and you will only get better as time goes on. When you start at the bottom the only place to go is up. Just remember writing can only be learned by doing.