How to Apply The 80/20 Rule to Make More Money Online

When you’re running an online business, or any business for that matter, you naturally want to make as much money as you can.

But time is not limitless, there’s only so much you can do in a day. So how can you make more money without working longer?

The answer is simple.

Look at what you’ve already got and use that.

Now this may sound obvious and at the same time confusing, so I’ll explain.

Say you have a website (or 2 or 3) and each of them is making money.

That may be great, but what if you want to earn more money from the website/s you already have instead of creating more?

That’s where the 80/20 rule comes in.

You need to look at all the things you’re doing to earn money every day. Your time might be taken up with

• Article marketing
• Product creation
• Guest posting
• Blog comments
• Affiliate marketing
• And more…

From all these things, which gives you the best return for your efforts? In other words, what’s producing the most sales?

For instance, you might be spending 4 hours/week writing and submitting marketing articles and 1 hour/week posting blog comments on other people’s blogs.

And when you look at your website stats and your sales stats, you might see that when you post blog comments it brings far more visitors to your site and creates a flood of sales, while your marketing articles produce only a fifth of those results.

This is the 80/20 rule.

You’re spending 80% of your time (4 hours out of 5) writing articles to produce 20% of the results (one-fifth of the sales). 

Whereas with your blog commenting, you’re spending only 20% of your time (1 hour out of 5) to produce 5-times the results (80%) of your marketing articles.

So you can see just from this quick example that you need to either:

Post more comments and write fewer articles

or

Improve the results from your article marketing.

Another way to apply the 80/20 rule is to look at the page view stats for your website, see which pages get the most page views and perhaps think about writing more articles like that.

Also, look at the products that sell best and get more like them.

You can also change the prices of your products by lowering or increasing them to see if it makes a difference or bundle your products or add bonuses so that you can make better offers to your customers.

Remember that many customers who buy online, only do so if they think the value of what they’re buying far exceeds the price they’re paying.

Changing what you sell or how you sell it can impact sales and make you do less work (20%) for more sales (80%)

Apply the 80/20 rule in every area of your website and every area of how you work.

Do more of what’s working and stop doing/improving what isn’t.

80/20 Sales and Marketing: 

The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More

By Perry Marshall

https://amzn.to/3E1eSWm

Finding The Time and a Place to Write

One of the biggest problems that some writers face is finding time to write.

If this is a problem that you always face, then this is the best advice I can give you:

You'll never FIND the time to write.

You have to MAKE the time to write.

No one has 'Free Time'. There's no such thing so don't go looking for it.

In order to find free time, there would have to be a part of the day where you're not using your time for other things. In other words, you're looking for a time where you do nothing but sit and stare into space. That's your free time.

Does that sound like a part of your normal day? I don't think so.

If you want to write, you have to make the time to do it. This will mean giving up something that's less important like watching TV or socializing.

This will seem hard at first, but before you know it, writing will be a part of your daily routine just like everything else you do.

And if you already have a full-time job and a family and you feel that you really just don't have the time to complete The 12 Month Writing Challenge, remember this:

It's a challenge. It's not meant to be easy. And if you look at your daily working routine you'll see that you have pockets of time all over the place.

You can write in your lunch hour, on the train, get up earlier to write or burn the midnight oil and go to bed later.

You just need to have the drive, determination and laser-like focus to do it.

And once you start writing and you get to know how long it takes you to complete something, then you can plan better and streamline your whole system of working.

Just remember that if you really want to be a writer, you have to stop making excuses for yourself. You need to work at it and make it work for you.

Have a Place to Write

I have a place where I write. I have a small desk in my library at home. I also have a laptop computer and a printer and a small chest of drawers full of papers and notebooks in my library.

This is where I mostly work. It's a cosy room and feels relaxing.

Sometimes I sit outside and work, either on my back covered patio or on my front porch. Some days I even work in the park or at the local library (it's air-conditioned on a hot day).

But mostly I work at my desk in my library.

I read a lot and I've read much about other writers and how they work. And one common thread of most writers is that they have a place where they write. Most of them have a time when they write too.

Having a place to write works in several different ways -

It puts you in a writing mood.

It's easy to keep equipment at hand.

Others know you're always busy when you’re in your writing place.

There are fewer distractions.

It's easy to organize your writing place so that you're not distracted by the TV or a nice view (don't sit facing a window).

And once you've established a place where you write, other family members will quickly learn that when you’re in your writing place you’re busy and don’t want to be disturbed.

And as you start earning money, other family members might start to take your writing seriously.

Sign up to learn more about writing and earning money.

https://ruthiswriting.com

How To Work With The Razor-Sharp Focus Of A Zen Monk

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

The hardest part of running your own online business is staying focused.

It’s easy sitting down and getting your work done when you have a 9 to 5 job with a boss looking over your shoulder. But it’s a whole other world when you’re working at home on your own with no deadlines and no accountability except to yourself.

Self-discipline is easy to say but can be hard to achieve.

So if you’re having trouble with concentrating and getting your work done, then you need to practice having the razor-sharp focus of a Zen monk.

Can you imagine how great it would be if you could have complete focus on whatever task you were doing and forget about everything else? Just think of how much you could get done and how well you’d do it?

How Do Zen Monks Focus?  

Zen monks (and all monks) focus by only ever concentrating on one thing at a time.

If they’re gardening, they’re only focused on the plant in their hand. If they’re walking they are focused on each step as they take it. They never think ahead as to how the garden will look or what they’ll do when they reach their destination. Instead they concentrate on whatever they’re doing in each moment.

How Can You Focus Like a Zen Monk? 

Working this way requires forward planning. If you want to achieve the same kind of focus, then you need to plan ahead so that you know what you have to do and when to do it.

You also need to break things down into tasks, not projects.

For instance, creating a website is a project. Finding a hosting company, building a web page, writing content, are all tasks that make up the project.

Planning ahead frees up your mind by removing all the clutter. Clutter is the worrying you do over other tasks you still have to do.

Zen monks not only have clutter-free minds, they also have clutter-free lives. They own very few possessions which frees them up so that they can spend more time on what’s important to them instead of cleaning and maintaining possessions they don’t need.

You can also rid your own life of unnecessary clutter. Sell or donate what you don’t need and you can have more room for living.

Don’t let distractions clutter your attention either. When you’re working, ignore the phone if it rings and don’t check your email all the time. If your phone alerts you to emails and messages all the time, turn it to silent and put it in a drawer in another room.

Keep Your Focus Longer 

If you find that your focus starts to wane, take a five-minute break. It can be helpful to work in short bursts of 30 to 40 minutes and then have a 5-minute break to go and make a cup of coffee or pat the dog. Just do something unrelated to your work.

Breathe More 

When you work hunched over a desk for too long you may find that your breathing becomes shallow.

Zen monks believe in the stress-reducing and focus-inducing power of slow deep breathing.

If you find you’re hunching over your work, sit up with your spine straight and take a few slow deep breathes and it will clear your mind and help you to focus more.

And stay away from excuses - I’m too tired, I’m too stressed, I have writers’ block. These aren’t reasons for not working. They’re only excuses.

Whenever you feel yourself procrastinating, say “No Excuse!” and get back to work.

Take A Leaf 

The late, great copywriter, Eugene Schwartz, worked like a zen monk and he earned millions of dollars from his writing.

So take a leaf out of his book (figuratively speaking, not literally) and make sure that when you’re working, you’re working in a ‘zen’ state.

Start simple and don’t overwhelm yourself.

All you need to run a successful online business is a computer, an internet connection and the ability to focus like a zen monk.

And if you’re reading this then you already have the first two.

So now...how’s your focus?

The Power of Concentration

By Theron Q Dumont

To make the greatest success of anything you must be able to concentrate your entire thought upon the idea you are working on. 

The person that is able to concentrate utilizes all constructive thoughts and shuts out all destructive ones. 

The greatest man would accomplish nothing if he lacked concentration. 

Download this free ebook, plus many more at:

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/free-ebooks.html

Why I Love Article Marketing!

By Charlie Page 

I do article marketing every week and always will.

If you are not doing article marketing now, or trying to but not succeeding, let me share why I love it and how it can help you too.

Article marketing works better than many paid methods of advertising.

There are two core truths about article marketing:

One - article marketing creates totally free traffic year after year after year. I still get traffic from articles I wrote and submitted in 2007!

Two - Blogging IS article marketing. So if you have a blog now, you are in the article marketing business already!

Here are the top ten reasons I love article marketing:

1. Article Marketing works

If you look at the history of what work online you will see a pattern. There are short term players who create a big splash, then fade away.

There are SO many people who have promised "the next big thing," that have climbed the gravity ladder and then fell, never to be seen again.

Then there are long term players.

Men and women who share their knowledge openly for the benefit of all, knowing that people who like their message will respond and buy their products.

Three examples are: Paul Myers at TalkBi, and Brian Clark at Copyblogger, and Jimmy Brown at Imstitute.

All three are article marketers, all three have thriving businesses and strong reputations.

2. Article marketing builds credibility

When people trust you and believe what you say, they buy from you. They listen to you. They rely on you.

They trust you. This is more valuable that almost any other asset you can earn. Yes, I said earn. There are no shortcuts here. You simply give your best.

I make sales every time I send an email to my list. Why? Because I have worked hard to give the people on my list true value, before asking for anything in return. These are good people who want to learn, grow and have a real business online.

You can join my list and read helpful articles for *years* and never be required to buy anything at all.

That activity builds trust. Best of all, it helps people.

And that's what's it is all about. At the end of my days it won't be the money I will be counting - it will be the people helped. Not preaching, that's just how I see it.

If your focus is giving, more than receiving, it will all work out. The making money online part of the equation will take care of itself. I have seen that happen many times.

3. Article writing can be outsourced

Don't want to write or like to write? No problem. You don't have to!

However, there is both good and bad news-- when it comes to outsourcing.

The bad news is that you can't expect to pay $5 per article and end up with a good product. You'll end up with some spun article that will get you slapped.

The good news is that there are terrific writers online who love to write, love to work from home and will write excellent articles for an affordable price.

These articles will belong to you. They will be your articles, never to be sold or used by another person. You own the copyright.

The best writer I know online is Meredith Pond. She doesn't even know I'm writing this, but she is flat out the best in the business in my view.

Two more resources I use personally are Elance and VA Classroom. I have purchased excellent copywriting at both.

4. Article marketing is durable

The lifeblood of the Internet is information. Without unique high-quality information Google goes out of business.

When YOU become the information supplier, you are rewarded with more and more visitors, year after year.

I still get visitors from articles I wrote years ago!

My motto is simple -- do the work once and profit many times!

Article marketing does that.

5. Article marketing pre-sells

While giving away content is great, you still need to sell something, right?

With article marketing you can do both.

An article marketing approach (to pre-selling an idea) would be to start a blog about your idea. You write articles about the hows, whys, what to do and what to avoid, etc. Post to your blog. While using social media, like Squidoo or Facebook are great, remember your own blog is KEY.

Now people visit your blog and read informative articles without any pressure.

When they do this, they will be pre-sold on the idea and very likely buy from you --- the friend who helped them get their questions answered and was so helpful.

And because your blog will live online as long as you want it to (unlike an ad that runs once and is gone forever) you have created real leverage.

You've done the work once and profited many times.

6. Article marketing creates better visitors

When you write articles that help people (like this one I hope!) you can place those articles on sites, like article directories and on other blogs, for other audiences to enjoy.

When that happens you reach more people and they get to know you for the first time.

All without spending any money!

So why "better" visitors? When people read your article on another blog or article directory first, and then visit your blog, they WANT to know more about you.

Visitors coming because they WANT to know more is far better than the person who just Googles and clicks.

7. So few are doing it well

Marketing online is funny. Once something is discovered that works well, you can count on some "shortcut" or "three click miracle" way of doing it popping up.

It happened with article marketing.

The hype boys noticed that article marketing worked, and created spinners and robots and scrapers to "do the work for you." These miracle inventions would even submit your articles for you to *millions* of websites!

Of course, that doesn't work. But people bought into it, spending their time and money trying it... because it sounded easy and fast.

If the same people had saved their money, and written just two articles a week during that time, they would be so much farther along.

With so few doing article marketing well, now is the perfect time for you to get in the game.

8. Articles can be repurposed

I also love that articles make great content on other venues. Here are a few ideas:

Use short snips from your articles on Twitter.

Post excerpts to Facebook.

Add articles to your follow up series

Combine articles into a report that becomes your viral marketing piece.

Make a Powerpoint presentation from your articles and create video for YouTube and other sharing sites.

Record your videos to create a podcast.

Combine articles into a book to sell on Kindle or on your own blog or site!

Write the article once and profit many times. Good motto.

9. Article marketing creates quality back links

When your articles are published on other websites you get a link from that site. When those sites are of high quality, Google pays attention and gives you more attention... and more visitors.

Simple, really.

The thing is, you just can't fool Google. So why bother "blasting" your article to "hundreds of thousands" of blogs or sites that no human will ever visit, when you can do it right.

10. Article marketing builds your list

There is no better list builder out there. While list swaps and solo ads are *faster* at building lists, article marketing will bring you *better* subscribers.

How are they better?

Because they have already read your work and like it. Now they want to know more.

And having someone want to know more about you, and what you offer, is extremely powerful.

So there you have it, the 10 reasons I love article marketing so much. Let me encourage you to get more information about article writing and article marketing.

It's morning on the Internet my friend. And now is the time for you to stake your claim and build your business.

Because having an automated thriving online business is a beautiful thing indeed!

------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie Page owns the Directory of Ezines and is the author of 10 books about Internet marketing. Through his membership sites and personal consulting, Charlie helps people achieve their goal of independence in record time. Can Charlie help you? Find out at http://www.CharliePage.com

The Crucial Importance of Article Marketing Speed

 “Money loves speed.” This is something I learned from author and online guru Joe Vitale. (https://mrfire.com) And it’s so true.

It works for article marketing too.

You see, some people think that to earn more money writing articles, the quality of your writing is most important. But I disagree.

The writers who make the most money are those who outwork the others. That’s why writing more articles can earn you more money. 

Wasting time correcting your work and worrying if it’s good enough won’t help. But writing faster will, because the more you write, the better and faster you’ll get.

I was reading about someone recently who writes 100 articles a week, and his articles are all over 1,000 words each, and this is only part of how he earns money.

How does he do it? He said he simply collects every idea he gets and sits down and writes every day. He said that writing is something he’s very fast at because he does it so much.

So if you treat every idea as a gift and write it down straight away, you’ll never lose one.

Write fast, publish fast, submit fast.

It’s not thinking about doing something that keeps you motivated, it’s productivity.

The more you do, the more you’ll want to do.

And now would be a great time to start.

How to Write An Article in 15 Minutes or Less
Including Research, Writing and Proof Reading
https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/15.html