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YOU CAN GO IT ALONE!
The Game Of Life!(Though I never have played it, for pleasure or lucre),
In which, when the cards are in certain condition,
The Players appear to have changed their position,
And one of them cries, in a confident tone,
"I think I may venture to go it alone!"
While watching the game, 'tis a whim of the bard's
A moral to draw from that skirmish of cards,
And to fancy he finds in the trivial strife
Some excellent hints for the battle of Life,
Where-whether the prize be a ribbon or throne-
The winner is he who can go it alone!
When great Galileo proclaimed that the world
In a regular orbit was ceaselessly whirled,
And got-not a convert-for all of his pains,
But only derision and prison and chains,
"It moves, for all that!" was his answering tone,
For he knew, like the Earth, he could go it alone!
When Kepler, with intellect piercing afar,
Discovered the laws of each planet and star,
And doctors, who ought to have lauded his name,
Derided his learning, and blackened his fame,
"I can wait!" he replied, "till the truth you shall own!",
For he felt in his heart he could go it alone!
Alas! for the player who idly depends,
In the struggle for life, upon kindred or friends;
Whatever the value for blessings like these,
They can never atone for inglorious ease,
Nor comfort the coward who finds, with a groan,
That his crutches have left him to go it alone!
There's something, no doubt, in the hand you may hold;
Health, family, culture, wit, beauty, and gold
The fortunate owner may fairly regard
As, each in its way, a most excellent card;
Yet the game may be lost, with all these for your own,
Unless you've the courage to go it alone!
In battle or business, whatever the game,
In law or in love, it is ever the same;
In the struggle for power, or the scramble for pelf,
Let this be your motto-Rely on yourself!
For, whether the prize be a ribbon or throne,
The victor is he who can go it alone!
- ---John Godfrey Saxe
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Most people insist you can't go it alone. Do you listen to them? Aren't they just verbalizing their own fears, or trying to talk you into joining them so THEY can make some money? Aren't you tired of all that? Trying to harvest other people so you can make money?
In the real world when you work for someone, they pay you. Joining an MLM and paying them is not the real world. If you have to pay someone for working for them, then something, somewhere is WRONG! Someone is going to lose money and that someone is probably YOU!
There are many ways to make money on the Internet, but the best way is to come up with a unique idea/plan and run it yourself. A little imagination/ingenuity in this wide open world of the Internet can get you a fortune. Are you one of these people?
If not, then get yourself some good products to sell and whether your one of these people with a good imagination, or just simply a good, hard worker, then get busy!
You CAN go it alone and this page will teach you how. If you're really serious about going into business and GOING IT ALONE, read the following carefully, and then check the programs that are on the next page.
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Get a good product, a good idea or a new innovation plus a web page that people will want to come back to. To get them to come back, give away good quality graphics, keep a news program on your page, a place for them to post ads, a link to a free classifieds page, (preferably your own-you can get one on the next page-I own 4 of them) or constant upkeep on news of your favorite hobby. Once you get your traffic, keep it. Make people want to come back and put a suggestion right on the top of your page that they bookmark it.
KNOW HTML. A WAY TO LEARN THAT'S SOOOO EASY!
If you don't know HTML then you had better learn--THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. If you're your own boss, there are some things you have to know how to do. There's a free hands-on tutorial site (I like FREE-whenever possible, things on these pages will be free, including updates) where you can learn it "quick and dirty" in about an hour or two--and it is so easy! Go to: www.davesite.com. In this tutorial, you actually get to do it and see the results as you're learning. It is great. When you finish, you will be able to set up your own pages. Also, listed on the next page are 5 different places where you can post ads using HTML. Now you can post there with confidence. If you want to learn more and become more advanced, then go to: HTML Goodies. They have a great site with hundreds of free tutorials on an easy to find index. They also have a learning site, but it's not hands on. After the davesite, you'll know what it is you're looking for--the htmlgoodies site will provide it.
Design your own page. You can get someone to do it for you for $400 and up to $24,000, but no one knows better than you do what you want. (Get a professional designer later, if you want, when you're rolling in dough). Make your page pretty and pleasant. Use soft colors that blend well. LAY OFF THE ANIMATION, APPLETS AND HEAVY GRAPHICS. This is a business page, not a floor show. And the more graphics, the slower-loading your page is. People on the Internet, for some strange reason, won't wait. In real life, a minute is a minute. On the Internet, a minute is an hour. Weird, but true. Use small, quality graphics-.bmp or .gif. If you add more pages, continue the same design so people will know they're still with you and haven't gone to someone else's page. Make the links to your other pages clear. Be consistent and clear as to what you have and put things on your pages in an orderly fashion, not pell-mell for grabs.
If you need a free web page, go to freeyellow or angelfire (Hint: when going to places, http://www is almost always in front of the name, and .com after. So freeyellow would be http://www.freeyellow.com. You can find almost anyone this way. Some domain owners, like I do, drop the www. I like to make it easy as possible for people to find me.)
Join all the traffic generator programs you can find. The 3 listed on the next page are the strongest ones on the Internet. You should join all 3 of them. And any others you can find, as long as they're free.
FREE CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING SURPRISE!
Then advertise like crazy. A rule of thumb for advertising is-you get an average of one response per 30 ads. Surprised? You may get lots of looky-lu's but only one, maybe two, solid visitors who come and really want to see. It's like the banner statistics and the difference between impressions and click-throughs. Loads of impressions (surfers who look for a second then leave) and solid click-throughs (visitors who are really interested in what you're offering). You'll soon find out it's true! I never said it was "easy". This is why you need a web page for people to keep coming back to. Traffic is hard earned and you have to keep it once you've earned it. Most entrepreneurs do not understand this and it is why they fail.
I am NOT a fan of posting ads, either classifieds or FFA links, with submission software for several reasons:
The majority of people who go to the classifieds do so to post ads. Very few go looking for things. The ones who post manually see the top ads that are there, and this is where you get your potential customers. They see your ad when they go to post their own.
Submission software posters are within frames and do not get to see any of the newest or latest ads. And most have no idea what's new or what the latest offerings are. Nor do they see your ad. Submission software is self-defeating and I can't believe that so few people understand this.
The only good thing that has come from it is that I have some pages that have loads of classifieds on the one page that I can post from. It takes me a minute or so to put in the information. What takes so long is the loading of pages. I got the FFA Blaster and I posted to it, but the database is the same as everyone else who has the FFA Blaster and eveyone is using that. Who saw my ad? I saw no increase in my traffic as a result of using it, and it was just taking up space on my desktop, so I finally deleted it as a waste of time. You can decide for yourself whether or not you want to use them. You can post hundreds and hundreds of ads in a short period of time, but frankly, I'm more interested in results.
Add one person a day, post 30 ads, add two a day, post 60 ads, etc. I know. It's boring as hell. I spend 90 percent of my day posting ads. And that, my friend, is EVERY day.
You can go after the person who told you that having a business on the Internet was glamerous with an axe later. Right now you're going to be too busy.
Get a tracker for your page, eXTReMe or Webtracker and watch the difference in your traffic daily, when you post a lot; and/or are too lazy or not in the mood to post. I went away for only a week during the holidays, and couldn't believe how my traffic dropped. You must advertise every day. Eventually you will get to a point where your page becomes well known and traffic will seem to come to your site on it's own steam. But it won't happen tomorrow and you have to work really hard to get it to that point. Join all 3 of the traffic generator programs on the next page. All three of these programs are really strong and will be a fantastic addition to your ad posting. You can advertise these programs, asking people to join, and put your own page address in the ad. I use them almost exclusively to bring people to my site.
Get several 3-ring notebinders (you're your own boss now, so you'd better get organized) and a 3-hole key punch. (At Office Depot, if you're near one, you can get 3-hole punch paper for $3.49 a ream. Saves you work!)
A DAILY TO-DO LIST AND STICK TO IT!
Now, get yourself a 4 x 6 card and list all the daily things you have to do-like:
1. Post my first 30 ads.
My personal opinion of spamming is that it's harmless. Most people who are spamming are trying to make a living. A few jerks spam like crazy trying to get rich.
I spend 20 minutes to a half hour in front of my recycle bin every day going through my "snail mail". Trees are being cut down for this and now they're even going into our rain forests for it. Of course, the government gets paid for all this "snail mail." On the Internet, I can get rid of the same amount of mail in ten seconds with a few clicks of the mouse. I wish they'd go after pornographers the way they do spammers. A child clicks on one of those porno emails that has no warning, and the damage is irreparable-no click of the mouse can take it away.
BUT..........
And this is a plaintiff plea. NEVER REPORT ANYONE FOR SPAMMING! I have been reported and it is one of the most unpleasant experiences in my life. I would never do it to anyone else; even my most hated enemy.
I received an email offer from a place where I posted an ad. I responded with an offer of my own. They, in the meantime, had given up their classified ad and they reported me for spamming. Dirty tricks? Yeah! Unfortunately, there's people like that out there in cyberspace. If you're going to be in business, believe me, you'll meet them. Avoid them where possible, and take it all with a grain of salt. Don't let them get you down. Most of these people are the ones who couldn't make it, or are too lazy to make it and they're bitter. It's better to feel sorry for them then to be angry at them. AOL told me I was spamming by responding to their offer. Their offer was spamming as they did not have the notation on their ad page, "Your posting here gives us permission to send you an offer by email!" But AOL said just because they did it, did not mean that I could. I got one warning. The next complaint and I'm out.
DO NOT GET REPORTED FOR SPAMMING!
Stay away from Bulk Emails. Watch out for opt-in mailing lists. A lot of mean, narrow-minded people join and try to trick you into spamming. Just because someone sends you an offer in email, does not give you the right to send one back. Bounce-back letters, regardless of what anyone tells you, are a form of spamming. Your in business for yourself and you've got too much to lose to stoop to spamming. The only email offer that you can legally send out, is one where they specifically ask for the information in question. And, the email that goes out from your classified page if you get it from Leading Edge Classifieds. They have a notation on their page at the top, when you enter any of their categories, as follows: "By submitting this ad you agree to receive "One Only" email from the sponsor of this classifieds site. The email will confirm your listing and contain a promotion of their product or service..!" And that's it in a nutshell. Anything else is spamming.
I have made it a rule to rely solely on my advertising. I NEVER, EVER send out offers by email anymore, in any way, shape or form. I don't send out advertising in the guise of Newsletters, I don't keep mailing lists and I wouldn't touch bulk email with a ten foot pole. The hard part was the bounce-back letters. It was almost automatic for me to send out an offer of my own to one I received. I even had an "Offers Received" folder where I kept their offer along with mine, not realizing that it was not proof that I wasn't spamming, because according to ISP rules, I was spamming. I did not specifically ask for their offer, nor did they specifically ask for mine. All I had in that "Offers Received" folder was proof that we were both spamming. And, you know what? I soon realized it was like a dog chasing his tale. I seldom looked at their offer and, I'm sure, they seldom looked at mine. Bounce back letters are nothing but running in circles and a wasted effort. What I'm getting now are people who are interested in my offer and not just someone trying to sell me. And I don't have to worry so much about being accused of spamming.
Sending out email information by autoresponders is fine, but even then, you have to post an ad to get them to use the autoresponder in the first place. It's great, if you're posting ads where you can't use a web page address and only an email address. Frankly, I'd rather have them go to my web page. Pictures speak a thousand words. As for sending out all these so-called follow-up emails? Another form of spamming. Forget it. I tried it, and all I got for my trouble was "remove requests." And the ones that are being sent to me drive me nuts. If they don't respond the first time, the 2nd one they'll delete and the rest will get you "remove requests." Send one follow-up if you must, but you take the risk of being accused of spam. And the potential risk of irritating a possible future customer. You never know when they'll show up again and your follow-ups could come back to haunt you.
YOUR SIGNATURE LINE ON EMAILS
Use a two or three signature line on all your emails. Line 1-your name. Line 2-your email address. Line 3-your web page address. Nothing more. No advertising.
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2. Check statistics on all web pages (tracker or extreme) and post in a 3 ring notebinder.
3. Check all Email boxes and answer Email. Put relevant emails (to be saved-newsletters, waiting on info, passwords sent by email, etc.) in folders. Print out very important emails and put in 3 ring notebinder. READ YOUR EMAIL--including all offers--and be on the lookout for anything new!
4. Post more ads (list all your favorite places to post ads-keep track of what you've done and what's left to be done).
Add to your list as needed. Get a second 4 x 6 card and keep them handy. When you first go to your computer, turn it on, then grab the 4 X 6 cards every single day, before you do anything. Make sure you get those 30 ads in the very first thing. Then if anything happens, you'll know you'll get at least one new person that day. Keep that list in front of you and follow it faithfully.
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