This post is written by as guest blogger Jackson Lin.
Hi, my name is Jackon, I’m an internet marketer, starting my affiliate marketing journey in 2009.
Fast forward to now I do SEO for clients and also have a variety of affiliate sites and Clickbank products. I was making a really good income before the panda slap, but I’m currently in the phase of rebuilding after Google sent a big panda and kung fu’ed a large portion of my profits. So why am I being so honest about my online income? Because I’m going to tell you something that you need to know if you want to succeed online. I’m going to talk to you today about one of the MOST IMPORTANT things when it comes to online marketing success.
- This has nothing to do with traffic.
- This has nothing to do with conversions.
- This has nothing to do with keyword research.
But this has everything to do with whether or not you’re going to make money online… or you’re just going to go through the endless cycle of buying crappy “make money online” products that claim to teach you how to make a full time income within 30 days.
So what am I talking about?
I’m talking about your mindset.
The way you think dictates your actions, which in turn affects directly what you do and when you do it. So what does this have to do with affiliate marketing you ask?
EVERYTHING.
I remember my first conversation with my mentor, Mark. I was so excited that I was able to get him on SKYPE and not only that, he actually responded, so that’s why I clearly remembered what he told me.
It went something like this:
Me: “What do you think is the most important thing to know about online marketing success? Conversions? Traffic? Affiliates? Tell me what methods I need to do in order to make big bucks online FAST”
Mark: “your mindset”.
Me: “…what?” (I was thinking, I don’t want some bogus Star Wars Yoda talk where he talks about “you do or do not, there is no try”, give me real methods that I can implement right now).
Mark: “the way you think affects whether or not you will succeed online”.
Me: “what?” (I was thinking, oh great, Mark’s going to go all theoretical on me and preach to me about some airy fairy concept that really isn’t going to help me much).
But guess what.
He was absolutely 100% right!
You might be thinking “why is Jackson telling me that his websites were smashed by Google”? The reason why I am telling you is this. The only reason that I was able to make an online empire in the first place was the way that I thought.I treated internet marketing like it was something that I’d succeed at. Or I’d die trying. And since I don’t plan to die any time soon, I’m going to try for a long time to make sure it works.
That’s why I was able to complete my first affiliate site within 4 weeks of taking Mark Ling’s course, when the entire course was structured for 13 weeks and at the time of completion there were STILL people in the forums asking “how do I decide what market I should enter”?
I didn’t say to myself “oh well, the course goes for 13 weeks, I should be a good student if I finished it in 13 weeks”… No, my mindset did not allow for that.
It was the way that I thought, that allowed me to rank for “forex broker”, “tarot reading”, “spyware blockers”, “registry cleaners” and “flight simulator” (prior to the panda slap) to be on my way to make a 6 figure income online at the time.
I didn’t say to myself “oh no, these markets are too hard to compete in, I should give up”… No, my mindset did not allow for that.
So do you think I’m going to let a little panda slap stop me from rebuilding my online empire? I think not! Now if you’re sick of reading about me, let me show you examples of other people who have succeeded. If you have ever spoken to Matt Carter (the owner of this blog), you’ll realize that he was able to get tremendous success online within a short period of time.
The way you THINK allows you to implement a step by step plan that results in taking proactive and positive action to build online websites that would in turn generate passive income. Your thought patterns force you to become problem solvers and get around issues that would have normally been “way too hard” to deal for the average person.
Let me put it to you another way. People who succeed online follow this thought pattern:
Overriding thought – I’m going to succeed at online marketing and I’ll die trying. So if they ever encounter a problem, they’ll actively go and “Google” the solution, go to “YouTube” the answer through a video tutorial or pay someone to fix it by hiring workers on Odesk.com or Elance.com
They are PROACTIVE at solving problems.
People who don’t succeed online follow this thought pattern:
Overriding thought – Let’s see if this works, and if not I’ll get a refund. So if they encounter a problem most of the time they’ll just think to themselves “oh this is too hard” and “I’m not qualified” then stop trying. Sometimes, they will go to forums, but instead of searching for solutions, they’ll go to forums complaining about a problem. After that, they’ll use their mind to justify their failure.
They are REACTIVE to problems.
What’s worse is that these people who fail, use their most powerful tool, their minds to make up excuses as to why it was perfectly acceptable for them to fail.
The only difference between these two kinds of people is the way they think. Your mindset, as I mentioned before (which Mark informed me a long time ag), affects the way you act and ultimately decides whether or not you’ll succeed online. So let me ask you this question.
How do you think about affiliate marketing?
If you want to learn more about my internet marketing journey, why don’t you take a look at Jackson’s super awesome marketing blog, so click here: Internet Marketing Tips
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Nice post Jackson! You touched on some really important points about the differences between people who win at internet marketing, and those who struggle, complain, and eventually quit. I think the ability to FOCUS is another quality that distinguishes the successful marketers…meaning, when you decide to succeed in a niche, or rank for a keyword, you have to be able to absolutely focus on the task in front of you and see it through, whether it takes a day, a week or months. And this isn’t easy to do, when every day on the forums and in your email inbox there are claims from “gurus” that they’ve got a new system that can make you a millionaire overnight. Ignore all that junk, focus on the task at hand, and get it done. Hope to see more blog posts from you, Jackson.
Great post Matt… Google Panda made some of the sites I have been working on changed its rankings. From page one to some 3 or even father than the 6th page.
But this post may solve the problem.
Thanks for the insight Matt. I do affiliate marketing as well. All of your posts helps, even if some are just cool reminders.
Great post Jackson , Inspired !
Nice post Jackson.
I totally agree that you have to not only want it but take the massive action to make it all work.
As a former science teacher, I know the value of proper experimentation and this serves me well for SEO.
And the more time you think about how you can’t do it, the less time you have to dedicate to becoming successful.
-Jim
hi matt, been following your blog for a while. and im having that analysis paralysis. having read couple of ebooks and bought other courses but havnt done much on them.
I guess my question is what would you suggest i do first to make money fast so i can quit my job and work at home and not work all day or the weekends?. i probably only have about 3 hrs a week to put on this online buissness.
your help would be appreciated. the reason why im writing is because i here youre a good guy, and a good marketer. thanks for your great tips.
Nice post Jackon, yes mindset is very important if you want to success in internet marketing journey, I have different experience with this Google panda, some of my sites rank well on Google after Google panda effect, I’m focused on high quality content and manual backlinks building.
How about you guys?
Great post Jackson, “Life is a state of mind”; mindset is everything.
P.S. I’m currently in China – if I see a panda I’ll slap it for you!
Interesting article Jackson.
Thanks for sharing.
Very motivating post and spot on. I’m one of those struggling complainers totally frustrated with having to learn a new career after losing my job to the current economy. Talk about a fish out of water! I think a component of the right mindset is discipline. You really need to dig deep to keep moving forward. Those head in hand days are becoming less and less and I welcome these posts as a friendly supportive nudge to keep moving. I’m new to Matt’s blog but now a fan. Thanks!
Great article Jackson. I receive tons of those crappy “make money online” product offers in my inbox every day. Since starting my affiliate marketing website in 2002, I have learned there are no short cuts to online success.
Thanks for your comments!
Remember, action taking is what you need to do in order to succeed.
Most sites that you make online, initially fail.
Let’s be honest here, at the time 95% of our new sites are going to be horrible.
Just like everything you do in life, you’re going to suck at it alot at first.
But after that, once you get past the learning curve and hard yards, everything is down hill from there.
Also, I’m in China at the moment too. Visit my blog and send me a message if you want to get a hold of me!
Jackson, I told myself I could do this!!! Now I’m feeling like nothing can stop me. With people like Matt, and yourself, shining the light to help get out of the darkness.
I took think I will make this work no matter what. I will be a super affiliate and have a successful internet marketing business. Thinks for the post and link to your blog.
This is great, Matt. Good info.
I was hoping you could tell me what your first impression of this new affiliate program is? A friend recommended it to me. http://www.onlinedrivinguniversity.com/become-online-affiliate
Hi there Jackson,
Thanks heaps for your post, I find I have been falling into the woe is me side of things, so your encouragement and guides have come at a great time in my affiliate marketing ventures.
thanks again
Jeff
Thanks from me too! My strongest motivator since the time my sites started selling is the actual sale by itself. I’m logging in my affiliate network account and check what’s going on. If there’s a sale or a couple of sales I receive an instant boost to continue.
I’m impressed how motivated Jackson is and his approach is definitely what I need.
That’s what I am. I am ready to learn anything to see that I succeed online. The post is really encouraging for people like me who start from zero.
Thanks… .
Thanks jackson — in the past ive took the easy way out by getting a lot of low quality links and now the google slap has hit me . Sometimes you get into a routine of just plodding along but I think your post is going to make me try harder .
Thanks man
Jackson, that was perfect. A positive mindset is essential for anything you want to do or achieve in your life, not only affiliate marketing. Infact I also believe that one really has to be extremely focused while at his workstation for his daily activities. While being online the distractions are simply too much to get swayed into other activities, a problem which I face very frequently. Thanks!