The Three Needed Things to Earn More Money and Profits in an Online Business

How does one begin and grow a successful online business which will produce a good deal of money?

Since I am a writer and have published online, I am working my online business, but there are a few things I have learned about how to earn money online and how to work with Google search engine and blogs. I have also learned to better understand the Google AdSense affiliate program. These are all keys to s succesful business. The other thing is to understand and accept that many things change and what you published a year ago might not work for you now.

There are three things that you need to begin a journey into the online business world. I will say the top one is time, but it might surprise you when I tell you what the other two are: Money and research. Not just keyword research but research on your topic.

I'll explain more in a second, but these three things combined are the only way to survive in the online world if you want to make this a job, or a career. No I do not believe in any get rich quick ideas, I believe in time and good research and a well published piece of writing which you edit over time. Yes, at some point all these things will make you more money, but it takes time and planning to succeed in this business.

Understand that in business time is everything: For some people, you will begin to make money right away, set a spefic goal in this, for others that same amount money can take a while. I'll give you a run down of my history in the online world:

2008- began a blog on writing (called Living a Life of Writing) and another blog on Transylvania (called Things about Transylvania.) Between these two blogs I had exactly one payout from Google AdSense in 2008. Traffic was slow to begin but it increased by the end of the year. I began to use Google Analytics by the end of the year.

2009- Began to expand My presence in the online world. I added two new blogs, and began to write on hubpages in August. I also began working on lens in Squidoo. This was time consuming but it helped me learn a lot and after some mistakes i started making more money than the year before.

2010- Began to focus on the second part of my business plan, getting traffic from search engines such as Google, but also began to learn about how social networking sites improve traffic. Joined RedGage as well. My three blogs are, as some will say, going strong in terms of traffic. They get traffic from both the search engines and the social networking sites.

The biggest thing is not that I have been around for a while, but that I have a business plan. I can use my business plan to figure out how long things will take. I actually looked at the time and how much I made in terms of my online business since I began in 2008.

Over time I have made a lot of mistakes, in terms of money,some more mistakes and a few more mistakes, but the biggest thing is that I stuck with my plan, what I had researched before I began my business. It took time to plan this out, but i am having fun with this now.

So, You Say Research... What do you mean?: Research is important. I could not explain how important it is until I did more of it. To survive on the Internet you need to know what to do, and when to do it.

Not so much how, that is important as well, but what and when and why. So I'll give you a few examples:

-Research why you want to start an online business. Is it to replace a job? Well, why do you think you have something the online world needs? When I began looking into starting a blog I went to other blogs and commented, and made connections to several bloggers. The reason is that when I began to build my blog, it was the way to get some need experience and foundation. Some of these bloggers don't blog anymore, but they have websites and other things so I still know they are in the online world. They have moved from one type of business to another. The one thing we all agree on is that it takes about 5 years to really replace a job. One advice from one blogger to me was write what you know and some will like it and some won't but never give up. This has lead to me being in the online world for almost two years, and yes I consider this a business, so in my view another three more years to go.

-Research where you you will be getting money during the lean times. Now some people love Google AdSense, other love Amazon or eBay, still other a number of other affiliate programs to make money. Again, this takes time to build up, so don't be surprised to find that one month you'll get a payout and then it takes a few months to make another. So at the start it is best to "throw you net wide" but not too wide to get burnt out. When you figure out what makes you money begin to focus, but keep an eye on your other work as well. By this also learn what makes or breaks you: money. Some traffic will come and hardly ever get you money, and then some will make money just by showing up (or something close to that!)

-Research where you will start and who can help you some will go to the nearest online community and begin by signing up and making comments, okay not a bad plan, but if they only knew! See, I advise this to anyone, you want to build your business see who is making the critical comments and if they are "worth it" Some simply try to make a nasty comment, and it takes me about 5 seconds to ask why they haven't made them before. Others help, and these comments are more needed to me and to any business. For example some of my best commenters are also my best editors, but you don't see that, they send me emails on where something is off. Now not to suggest you never make a bad comment, but beware how and when you do something. If you are just beginning at say Squidoo or hubpages or e-zine articles, the more experienced people will see a nasty comment for what it is attention grabbing. So, when beginning anywhere, make sure you know not only where--- but the rules of the new place.

Money: This is the biggest thing you will need before you begin your Journey in the Internet Business: A lot of people come into the online world and seem to think that without money they can survive for a few months and make it big quickly. I am sorry to say I am not one who holds this point of view.

So plan that you have some money either saved up or coming in at least for the first year or so, as that is the time when often you will find money is hard to predict. Of course some will say they have Google AdSense figured out, but the rules change and what was true say six months before isn't today.

Also, you need to learn the law of averages for a few things:

Google AdSense: For the most part 25% of all AdSense publishers make a payout of $100 dollars per month. So even you can make a payout once in a year-- this is to be expected. But remember this law of averages if you don't make a payout each month or every other month, well welcome to the club of 75. ( that is the other 75% who don't make a payout each month!)

What happens in the "real" world happens on the Internet: I've heard that 90% of all start up businesses fail or don't make a profit in the first few years. I also believe that this is true within the online community. Some make money in the first few years, and some don't, but keep at it and you will find that what you know and how you can explain it is everything in the Internet life.

Time And Time and More Time:Okay, you're probably thinking by now I've lost it. Here is something I have learned the hard way. Quality is not your grammar or "ability" to spell, it is the ability to connect and give something needed to your community and to the readers. Yes grammar and spelling are important, I am not suggesting they aren't.

Frankly, even if you consider yourself a website operator, you are still a writer. If you are writing for the pure enjoyment of writing, you are still in a business. This is hard for many but will mean that at some point, you will consider yourself, both a writer and a business person.

This of course takes time and some luck. This isn't about money or traffic but need. See in the "real" world people will buy something because they need it, but also they will buy because they want it.

On the Internet the idea is the same, people go to the search engine and type in "keywords" that get them to what they need, so it is a bit like magic you put in the correct keywords for your blogs or hubs, your traffic will come, but that of course will take time. The better you interact and improve your work the more chance people will come back, and you develop a foundation or reputation that your quality of help is good. Yes I am still a work in progress on that front.

I can say this right now, I have a collection of books, some which I thought would help and some which have, but for the most part my learning comes from doing, and I would say that since July 2008, I have put in about 2,000 or so hours in making my business work for me. Yes that is called a lot of time, and I can say I still have a lot to learn.

So Where do I go from here?:

Well what I did after a failed attempt at a blog, which I thought would help me, but really was just a beginning, was that you need to write out a plan.

Plan your business out for at least three months, (As in a business plan to promote your online presence) and then redo it and see what needs to be fixed up and changed. This plan should include how much time you plan to put towards making your business a success.

Learn about Google AdSense and other affiliate programs. I mean this. I am still learning but I have put a lot of time towards learning, and I believe that everyone can give some gems about improving your online presence some might work for you and some won't but learn from each experience both good and bad.

Most of all learn all you can and you will in time see success.

So, as always to your success.