The Challenge 2010

The Challenge 2010: Module 7/Day 7 – Where To From Here?

Well here it is, the end of the road. BUT The beginning of a new road. A road that you can step onto with confidence.  You see, whether your site got the final green light or not, what you have achieved is MASSIVE!

You are one of the few (compared to the 10,000's online) who actually know what to do to get started online. You realize the importance of research.

That by following a detailed process of evaluation, testing, and more evaluation, you are ensuring that what you move forward with is worth your time, whether it be a site you sell, or a site you build onto.

So what's next?!

Take a look here: What  you have learned are the most important fundamentals to build yourself a strong foundation in internet marketing. Both with your knowledge and what  you create from that.  And it is truly only the beginning.

There is A LOT more to learn, a lot more that we want to teach you,  You have actually passed your own test, You got this far. So round of applause to all reading this. In fact on your feet!

You deserve a standing ovation!

Where To Go From Here

After seven modules and a lot of effort from all involved, you are finally here. We hope that you have learned a lot and gained a lot. Now you might be asking yourself, "where to go from here?" In The Challenge you get to the point where you have tested a market. But what comes next?

You could redo The Challenge if you feel you have more to learn from our free training materials, or you might to consider looking for some paid work to utilize your new skills. Or possibly, you might want to consider taking your online marketing to the next level with one of our membership programs. Ed introduces our two membership programs, Challenge Plus and the Immediate Edge, and outlines for you what each of the programs primarily consists of.

Starting with the new look Challenge Plus, Ed walks you though the site and gives you an overview of the monthly format. In Challenge Plus the lessons are not so much step by step as they are grouped into series of content. The Challenge, lessons are delivered as videos, transcripts and even audio files.

Related Resources

You can find all of the related resources to today's content below.

Post-Challenge Webinar
Click here to register for the Post-Challenge webinar. Get in quick as the webinar room can only handle 1000 people.

Challenge Plus
Click here to find out more about Challenge Plus.

Immediate Edge
Click here to find out more about the Immediate Edge.

Handy Tip - Momentum is key. Now that you have started your internet marketing journey you need to keep the momentum going. Whether that means redoing The Challenge, signing up for one our membership programs, or finding some more training elsewhere, just keep at it. Keep refining those skills and keep learning new ones. Internet marketing can be a rewarding business but you always need to keep educating yourself as things change so fast online.

The Challenge 2010: Module 7/Day 6 – Mistakes Marketers Make

I generally like to focus on what is right. What you need to be doing to further grow your online business. However it's also important you are aware of some of the common mistakes that Internet Marketers make. So that you can avoid them for yourself:

Today, Jon Dean from Immediate Edge talks more about building back links. Some of these mistakes are through taking the wrong advice, others are from simply not listening, and deciding 'I know best'.  Whilst we can not control how Google and the online world responds to us There are some principals to follow that are going to lessen our chances of failure.

 Click here for 2nd video "Sourcing Backlinks"

How To Avoid The Mistakes Marketers Make

Today Ed talks to you about the mistakes that marketers make and how to avoid them. Learning what not to do now will save you a lot of pain down the road. Also today, Jon from the Immediate Edge shares some valuable tips on how to source quality backlinks using Market Samurai.

Every online marketer that has come before you has made mistakes, without exception. Being prepared is the key. Mistakes will be made and if you at the very least know what's coming it makes it at the very least easier to deal with.

Ed's first tip on avoiding mistakes is to be aware of the way Google works. In the online world, educating yourself and understanding how Google works is critical. When it comes to your websites there are only two factors that you are in control of. One is your SEO onpage optimization, which we have already taught you how to do in The Challenge, so one less thing to worry about there if you have followed along and implemented everything correctly.

The only other element you have control over is backlinks. The number and the quality of the backlinks that you generate for your site is only thing you can actively continue to do to keep moving your site up in Google's rankings. If you keep up with your practice of 30 minutes a day, and you use that time backlinking, you are going to move your site up the rankings. The Challenge has only scratched the surface of what is possible in creating backlinks, and we take that a step further with Jon's lesson today. As with anything, to learn move you need to keep educating yourself.

The main mistakes that occur though, are in your mind. You will have your moments of self-doubt when you get a negative result testing a market, as many of you will have experience this week. The important thing is to not let it stop you. A negative result is actually a positive as you have saved yourself months of time and effort.

The second mistake that people make is thinking that the internet marketing lifestyle is an easy or glamorous one. It's hard work. An example is between the excitement of picking a market and then getting all of that traffic that allows you to test comes the grind. You just have to dig down and get the work down that you need to do. It's a simple as that. A lot of people hit the grind period and give up. It takes discipline and sustained effort.

In Challenge Plus, another advanced program where the focus is on a lot on the fundamentals of running an online business and using your time effectively (using the clock). Which leads us to the third mistake people make. Believing that time spent in front of the computer equates to working and getting things done. Nothing could be further from the truth. Taking action, writing articles, creating backlinks, they are activities that grow your business. The 30 minutes sessions you have been actively participating in during The Challenge has been focussed action, producing a result.

The final mistake that people make is that they ignore the Symphony of Four Parts. In order, market research, traffic, conversion, product. Too often people work through this out of order and hit problems. In The Challenge, we've only really covered the first three. In Challenge Plus, they cover product creation more in depth.

In Jon's lesson for today, you will find out how to source backlinks for your site using Market Samurai. By going into the Promotion Module you can choose places to find sources for backlinks from web 2.0 services, blogs and forums. All you need to do is tick the box for the sites you are interested in and click the "Find Backlinks" button. Market Samurai then goes out and returns results that are based on the keyword being researched.

Using an example, Jon shows you how to sort through the results. Every site/page returned has an "Analyze" button (or you could just click the "Analyze All" button), that will tell you if a site provides follow or no-follow links, whether the blog allows pingbacks, what the Google pagerank of that page is, and tells you how many incoming links are going to that specific page. Ideally, if you want to pass pagerank to your site then you would choose pages with the highest pagerank possible that also allows follow links.

The process for creating your backlink couldn't be easier. Just click on the link title and the site will open inside Market Samurai. You then just follow the process for creating the backlink that the site offers you, ensuring that you use an anchor text link where possible. Obviously you need to be intelligent about it and contribute to the conversation as well as creating your backlink.

Jon also shows you how pingbacks work. Simply put, pingbacks are reciprocal links where both sites benefit. On sites that allow it all you need to do is create a link to their page on your site, and in turn their site creates a link back to you. Market Samurai has features in the Promotion Module that makes finding and creating pingbacks for your site as simple as you could possibly get.

These two strategies for creating backlinks are both easy to source and easy to implement. Your responsibility though is to build backlinks in a way that both adds to the existing conversation and is always relevant to the market you are in.

Action For The Day -

1. Do a free writing activity on your view of the four mistakes that marketers make. Be honest with yourself about where you feel you are and where you can improve.

2. Use the Promotion Module in Market Samurai to get yourself a few quality backlinks.