Trials and Tribulations of a Newbie!
By Peg Bastin
Do you remember when you were a *Newbie?* I sure do! I
believe I made every mistake known to man and probably
invented a few myself!
First, I subscribed to a lot of ezines. I began with with
40-50 and now I've got over 100 subscriptions. I'd say I
was addicted. I was hearing and reading everywhere how
ezine advertising will increase traffic to my website
resulting in more sales, and that's the bottom line right?
Only thing was, I didn't even have a website yet!
What I didn't realize was that almost all my time was being
consumed by reading these ezines. I read them because I'm
nosy, and was afraid I'd miss something! I spent two to
three hours daily reading, printing out articles I found
helpful, highlighting, organizing and filing the articles
that I might get a chance to use someday. Everyday - the
same thing - I read, printed, highlighted, organized,
filed...
Then one day it dawned on me that I wasn't getting much
accomplished because I wasn't focusing on what needed to be
done. I saved articles on anything that might be of use to
me someday in building a website, writing articles and ads,
marketing, building traffic, etc.
Talk about being overwhelmed with information. I had no
idea how to even build a website, or where to start. So I
wrote to some of the editors of the ezines and I asked for
advice. Every time I have written an editor with a problem
or asked a question they have always responded with an
answer or given me advice on where to find the answer. I
spent several hours on the phone with Jane Fulton, of
http://janes-place.com , discussing my options and she was
extremely helpful explaining what to avoid and what to
consider before I started anything. Thank you so much Jane!
I might never have attempted to build a web site without
the instructions of the Newbie Club, and encouragement from
these editors. On occasion I know I've made a pest of
myself, but I never got that impression from any of the
publishers themselves.
Little by little, my website was built, with tears of
frustration and absolute glee when I did something that
worked! I grinned for 3 days after I finally uploaded my
website to the Internet and everything worked!
Next, I had to learn how to write ads and post them.
Marketing is a whole new ballgame. I had way too much
information and a lot of it was beyond my capabilities and
financial situation at the time. I decided to do what I
could and just kept learning from that point.
The advice I would give newbies is to start one step at a
time. Learn as you go. I suffered from *analysis paralysis*
before I realized it didn't need to be perfect. You learn
from your mistakes, and you will remember more when you
actually do it yourself. Use the resources the publishers
provide, and by all means ask for help when you need it!
Don't ever give up!
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Written by Peg Bastin 2003
Best One-Stop Help Center For Newbies!
http://www.bastinmarket.com
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