Are learning curves stopping you from making a profit?

May 11, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 17 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, Webhosting 

I was going to post this as a reply to a comment Delena Silverfox posted on the Weebly adds collaborative website editing post I wrote a few days ago, but I decided to make it a post of its own.

Here’s part of what she said:

…You make a lot of reeeeally good points here. Like the learning curve with self-hosting services. That’s the biggest reason I’ve kept my blog(s) on Blogger rather than anything else.

I’ve tried hosting with HostGator and GoDaddy, but when I got my URL and hosting, then went to the dashboard of my services and realized I knew absolutely nothing about how to actually get a site up and running, my projects were dead in the water. I just don’t understand how it all works. My brand of geek is more the sci-fi and gaming variety of geek….

Delena, you bring up a very good point — learning curves.

When I first started blogging, it was as a hobby. Later, it became an integral part of my marketing business. It was much more effective when blogs were new and there were few competitors. Now, my blogs convert much poorer than my tier-structured websites. That’s why I’m putting much less effort into blogging this year.

Every time we encounter something new on the Internet, there is a learning curve. Some things are easy to use — like Twitter. But, there is still a learning curve involved in learning how to use each of them effectively for our business and/or personal purposes.

For several years, I tested every blogging platform and every social networking site I encountered. Most were a complete waste of time and diverted me from actually working my business. Yes, my business is marketing online, so it wasn’t entirely wasted, but it did not help in producing revenue.

If I were in a different business, all of that effort would have directly competed with actually working my business and that would have been a Bad Thing.

I’ve known lots of small business owners who wasted months of time and put up really lousy websites, when they could have paid a pro a couple of thousand dollars and would have had something that looked good, attracted visitors, presented good calls to action, and produced results.

On the other hand, lots of small business owners tend to be generalists and do-it-yourself-ers. Many are highly skilled in several areas. I’ve seen lots of excellent blogs and websites that they built themselves.

In many instances — perhaps most — we’re better off getting better at what we’re already good at, rather than trying to improve those things we don’t like to do or are not good at.

So, each of us has to decide for ourselves where our skills are strong and where they’re weak. Also, we have to consider what we enjoy doing and what we can’t stand.

Then, time, energy, skills, interest, and profit have to be factored into your own personal equation to help you decide what you should do yourself and what you either don’t do or hire someone else to do for you.

It’s a case of penny (dollars) wise and pound (time) foolish. The one thing that small business owners all have in short supply is time and that’s what is frequently squandered in a misguided effort to save a few dollars.

A blog can be a really good thing for a business and I believe that a website is a requirement, but I don’t think everyone has equal talents when creating and maintaining them. In many cases, business owners would be much better off hiring a pro to build and maintain their websites, and hiring a professional writer — who understands the psychology of marketing — to write the pages and blog posts.

I just don’t see much of this being done by most small business owners.

To me, it makes good business sense to pay someone $500 (for example), if what they do produces an extra $1,000 (or any amount over $500). Not only does it produce a profit on its own, but it frees up the owners time to do things directly related to the business (or have time for a nap or a day off now and then).

I’m way off topic for a blog about affiliate marketing. These days, I’m splitting my time between affiliate marketing and promoting local small businesses. I see some similarities and big differences.

For those of us who earn our living by publishing on the Internet, it can be a very wise investment of our time and energy to learn how to build good, productive websites and blogs. That’s a core part of our business.

For other business types, it can be a huge distraction filled with multiple learning curves.

For those of us whose geekiosity runs to tech things, this can be a good way to build a business helping local folks who don’t understand it.

(Technogeeks usually have poor people skills. It’s a stereotype, because it’s true more often than not. They are wise when they team up with a marketinggeek who knows how to sell. Apple would not have been the same if it hadn’t been for Steve Wozniak teaming with Steve Jobs, both of whom were geniuses in their own realms.)

For folks whose geekforce runs to other things, I think blogging on Blogger and building websites using tools like Weebly makes a lot of sense. I just don’t see any reason why you should have to face the hassles, uncertainty, and displeasure of doing the tech things you don’t want to do.

I do think it’s a good thing to invest in a domain name you own and can market. You can publish through Blogger to your own domain. (You may need to hire someone to set it up for you, if you’re completely baffled.)

You can have your own domain name with Weebly, too. If you register a domain through their service, they’ll set up all the tech stuff for you. If you register a domain through a different registrar, you’ll have to do it yourself, or at the risk of sounding like a broken record, hire someone to do it for you.

I think it is important to learn all you can about your business and effective ways to promote and market it, but I think there is a limit that you reach at some point. Promoting your business and the products and services you offer is important. Very important. Learning to market your business more effectively is a good path to more profit, but don’t waste time when you don’t have to.

Are all the learning curves stopping you from making a profit?

Act on your dream!

JD

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I now have three primary blogs

February 10, 2009 by John Dilbeck · 4 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, John Dilbeck, Western North Carolina 

If you’ve been reading this blog for any time, you know that I’ve been struggling with my blogs and websites and how I’m going to focus my efforts more in 2009.

You’ve also noted, I suspect, that some of the posts I have here don’t really relate to affiliate marketing.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve created a new blog and resurrected another one, and now I have my three primary blogs set up for real work. There are a few more things I need to do, but they are ready to go.

21st Century Affiliate Marketing

This blog will be focused more tightly on affiliate marketing. I won’t be talking as much about Twitter tools, social networking, and similar topics, unless they can be tied directly to being a more effective affiliate marketer.

John Dilbeck And Friends

I’ve moved my John Dilbeck And Friends blog from it’s former home at johndilbeck.editthispage.com to it’s new home at JohnDilbeckAndFriends.com and now it is powered by WordPress.

This is the blog where I’ll be talking about social networking and other things in which I’m interested. It will be a general purpose blog, but I don’t plan on talking about politics or what I had for breakfast! ;)

Murphy, NC 28906

Finally, I’ve resurrected my Murphy NC 28906 blog, updated it to WordPress version 2.7, changed the theme, and added some bells and whistles. It will be used exclusively for talking about people, events, organizations, businesses, and things related specifically to Murphy, NC.

Because of more pressing issues, I neglected that blog for most of 2008, but it will be much more important to me in 2009 and in future years.

Before too long, I’ll be reintroducing my Murphy NC community and a announcing a brand-new website for promoting local businesses on the Internet.

More focused on my two primary goals in 2009

With these changes, I think I’ll be able to segment my efforts and focus on my two primary goals for 2009:

1. Continuing to build my affiliate marketing business and making it more profitable.

2. Promoting local brick and mortar businesses in Murphy, NC. I’ll also be doing much more offline marketing consulting with local business owners.

I hope this will make this blog more interesting to those of you who are interested in affiliate marketing.

What do you think?

Act on your dream!

JD

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