Copyright © 2003-2004 Jack Humphrey

What you are about to read is the whole truth about marketing your website the way that professionals do it.

The vast majority of people with websites have literally no idea how people like me get targeted traffic and make the kind of living that I do. Even though I have written a course on the subject, and even though many of the things I am doing are obvious with a little research on my sites.

People think I have a magic bullet, a formula that, with the click of a button every morning, brings thousands of visitors to my sites who buy everything they see while I drive a Humvee around town laughing at all the people who still work for someone else.

I am going to tell you, right here and now, what is being done by the high-traffic websites that are making money. You may not like what I have to say either.

Take notes because you are still going to have to learn how to do these things later. This article cannot possibly cover the details, but the clues are extremely insightful.

First, successful websites that pull down big numbers every onth in visits and sales all have one thing in common: the owners are dedicated and work their fingers to the bone for their business.

Surprising? It shouldn't be! If you are surprised then you still believe that you can get something for nothing in this world and it's time to stop, right now, that poisonous thinking!

You, like hundreds of thousands of others who are in business for themselves online or off, have to make a decision to become a real business person. This means education, research, application, and long hours.

Show me an opportunity that guarantees you don't have to do anything or learn anything, and I will show you a failure about to happen. Believe me, I have been in business long enough to see IT ALL!

Successful website marketing campaigns include a heavy dose of networking.

No one goes it alone and succeeds online. That's a fact. Even if the only name on your site is yours, there are people along the way that help you turn your dream into reality.

Mentors, joint venture partners, authors, teachers, coaches, banks; behind every successful online marketer there are literally hundreds of people who have helped them make their fortune in one way or another.

Open up to this fact and become a networker. Seek out people in your niche who can help you and ASK for their help!

There is no free lunch!

Being in business is not something to take lightly. Thinking you can open up a web store and only pay for hosting and a shopping cart in order to make thousands of sales or your service or product is ignoring the facts all around you.

Deep down you KNOW no one succeeds in starting and running successful online business for nearly free. But if you let the hype catch you up in a whirlwind of fantasy and impossible dreams, then you are going to be stuck in a situation where there is only one outcome: failure.

Spend money on your business. You need training materials, software and other tools for managing your business. For gosh sakes, you actually need tax advice and excellent record keeping.

I mean, if you really ARE going to be a successful business, why in the world would you ignore the most basic necessities such as tax advice unless you really don't (deep down) think you are going to succeed?

Successful websites utilize other peoples' influence and traffic to the fullest.

I get recommendations from all over the globe for my products and services. It comes with a lot of hard work building a reputation, talking with hundreds and thousands of eople about my business, making deals, exchanging links and recommendations, but the payoff is huge.

By networking my butt off, I have made contacts with people and businesses that have helped MY business dramatically.

Successful sites saturate their market with links, articles, referrals from affiliates, referrals from partner sites, testimonials, product reviews, and anything, anywhere else it can be had.

I want my potential customers to run into links to my sites ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE they surf. That's the goal. With that kind of goal, you should NEVER be out of things to do in the first year of your business.

Most successful online business owners take the time to answer emails from customers and prospects in detail, and are willing to talk on the phone if need be with possible customers.

People seem to think this is a slow and boring process through which you will never get rich. Which is why there are so few truly successful profit generating websites on the net.

The misconception that you should automate absolutely every part of your online business in order to cut down on “face time” with your customers and prospects is the single most damaging misconception about doing business online ever.

The number of life-long customers you can generate in a year's time by taking time to really connect with individuals one-to-one is staggering. It can literally amount to several thousands dollars more per year for your bottom line by simply being available to your prospects and customers.

Being “real” and answering a phone is such an incredible novelty these days online that people make their decision to buy simply because they could reach you!

Successful online businesses never quit innovating.

Business owners with websites that are profitable are always on the move and always reinvesting in their business in the for of furthering their marketing education, keeping up with new technology, and making new contacts.

To create a business that will support you for a lifetime takes constant, unceasing vigilance and determination in the beginning.

Dedicated business owners are smart enough to know that overnight riches are nothing to count on - they don't even think about that. If it happens, it happns.

Successful business owners are such hard workers that they might not even notice or remeber the very moment that they finally “arrived” at their benchmark goal for their business!

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In the end, it all comes down to work. This article will turn a lot of people off once they see that I never made a dime of my money online “overnight with no work.”

I am not concerned with those people. I am concerned with connecting with the few people who come to understand this fact and STILL decide tht going into business for themselves is what they want no matter how hard the work is.

To saturate your market and come out on top, you simply have to be everywhere your customers surf.

Simply? Well, yes! Hard work has nothing to do with whether success is simple or not to achieve. Hard work comes with everything you do in life to be successful at ANYTHING.

Simplicity in this case mean that ALL you have to do is work hard and smart and you will reach your goals.

It's a simple formula people like enry Ford and Bill Gates used and that's proof enough that anything contrary you hear about succeeding with an online business is bunk!

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Jack Humphrey is the author of “Power linking 2: Evolution” at http://power-linking-profits.com and CEO of http://webmastertraffictools.com. His most recent article “Taking Advantage of Slumps” appeared in October 2003 “Sales and Marketing Excellence” magazine.

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