Reasons for Learning Internet Marketing

Find your BIG WHY...

There will be no doubt that learning internet marketing will be a long and tiring learning curve. So you have to have what any guru will tell you is 'your big why?'

Your reason for persuing your IM has to be there at the forefront of your mind or even the back of your mind every day. Eventually it will become a habit, or like your facebook addiction, a compulsion. It's the cake you keep adding icing in an effort to perfect or improve it.

You may have a 'Big Why' that you haven't fully acknowledged. Perhaps you have children that you want to spend more time with, perhaps, it's a flexible occupation that fits around your children, perhaps you just want to give up you day job, clear your student loan or automate your business results to reduce your stress and organise your lead generation. If you already have a business and website, many individuals want to generate an income from there website, making it pay for itself or put up a stronger fight against the competition. If you are just looking for a new hobby, great! That a valid reason too.

Be prepared for distractions

We all have our own reasons for delving into internet marketing. Some will take to it like a fish to water, while others may feel that they are bouncing around from one method or technique to another, becoming distracted with each new subscription and drained of energy and time. As you yearn to learn more, you will be bombarded with emails and guru's inviting you to webinars to sell you courses.

The Learning Curve: You forget more as time progresses. In order to maintain recall at its highest, revise or practice what you have learnt repeatedly soon after you have learnt it.

Time and persistence

It will take time and persistence to distinguish between that which you need to implement, and what is a distraction from your goal. 

The Learning Curve above (a model of how we learn and forget over time) identifies that if we repeatedly practice what we have learnt, we will maintain recall and longterm learning. If we don't practice or implement what we have learnt - we quickly forget - effectively, we have wasted our time, energy, money or resources that we have invested in our study.

So the key here to longterm results in internet marketing is to focus on what you are learning and continue practicing it everyday over at least 30 days. If your plan involves blogging or article writing, invest in a daily schedule of practice and study over a period of at least 30 - 90 days.

Use a diary if necessary to write down what you intend to learn, how much time you intend to invest and what you have actually done that day. By monitoring your actions, you hold yourself accountable.

Employ stress management techniques

There will be nothing that you can offer yourself except patience and a break. Get away from it all. Go for a walk, a holiday, take a trip even if it's to the shops for a day. Meditate and refocus your mind. Change from doing memtal work to something more physical. Go out and social with friends, old and new. You will soon find clarity and inspiration and return renewed if your why is still there.

First things first

But first you must put first things first and decide - do you have an interest or idea that you want to pursue and write about that will keep you engaged and vibrantly motivated for months or years to come? Just take a look at your own interests and pick out something you enjoy or think about consistently. It just needs to be something you can focus on and enjoy pursuing. Don't worry about whether it will make money - right now you need a topic to build your learning around.

There you have your first niche. That is where you can begin - by focusing on your niche market.

Links:
Tony Buzan: Mindmapping /Learning
Video on Learning Curve and it's financial implications