Crawl before you Walk
My number one basic blog tip is that you have to crawl before you walk in the Internet world of making money online. It might seem like it is extremely easy when you are on the outside looking in, however when you are actually doing the job and making money it is not so easy.
Any true Internet marketer or blogger will tell you that it takes hard work to become a success on the Internet and you have to have exceptional talent to go straight to the top. I am not saying that it is not possible, but I am saying that its rare.
When I tell someone how I make money online from blogging a common reply is “Oh is that all you do?” Yes that is all I do! How can I possibly go into the real details of what I do? There are so many aspects involved in making money online that to truly explain I would need a few hours.
Image credit candrews
Starting at your level
When starting a business online you will need to rely on either your knowledge or your wallet. If you are not willing to spend money then you will be relying on your knowledge entirely. If you have limited knowledge then you need to start at a level that you understand.
I usually tell people that it is easy to build a WordPress website and many of us here know that this is true. However many people contact me when building their first website complaining about how difficult it is. The actual problem is never building the initial website, but what they have tried to add to it later.
For example a guy was trying to build an e-commerce website using WordPress for his first ever website. He did not have any money to spend and was struggling to get things working. He had built the WordPress website easily but ran into problems when he tried to mix e-commerce options with it.
How do I help someone like this? He has no background experience with websites, has not tried to crawl before walking, and basically he has jumped into the deep end. This is exactly why I tell people to “crawl before you walk” as this guy is now stuck at a point where he has to learn something difficult or quit. It is very hard to tell someone to turn back. Do you think he would listen?
Lower your expectations
You cannot build a mansion overnight and you cannot build a multi-million-dollar blogging legacy overnight. Of course again, it is possible for some people but others seem to be aiming too high and need to get back to reality. Ask any millionaire how they started out and they will tell you a story about hard work and constant rejection. Many, if not all use the “crawl before you walk” method.
If you do not have thousands of dollars to invest in your business, then you need to lower your expectations and do what you can. You also need to be happy with what you are achieving and not compare yourself to other Internet entrepreneurs.
I do not want to dampen anyone's spirits here, but if you aim to achieve goals within your reach then you will feel like you are getting somewhere. If you set yourself a goal that is beyond your scope you could be setting yourself up for a lot of stress as your expectations are too high.
Taking baby steps
My theory is that you should learn a new skill and use it, see if it works for you, if it does then use it again. If the new skill does not improve your business then move on and learn another skill. True success online can only come with experience and knowledge. It is the same with life, relationships, and everything around us. Of course you can learn from other people's experiences but you must be sure that they are true in the first place.
Taking baby steps when learning to make money online or blogging will make you an expert in the end. People will respect you because they have seen your rise to fame and endeavor to follow your steps. If you can crawl before you walk, the journey will longer but the rewards will be that much sweeter.
I like to build my websites with baby steps, laying the foundations for a solid business. Here is a free PDF report on how I build a website from scratch.
Using building blocks to crawl before you walk
When I say building blocks I mean knowledge and assets that you have accumulated on the Internet. Knowledge is probably the number one asset if you want to make money online. Another asset could be your websites or your content that you have posted to other websites. These are all building blocks that you should be using to improve your business. If you have been in business for a long time you will have many building blocks and the pile will get bigger.
Building your empire will be easier if you crawl before you walk because you will know which blocks go where. You will find the tools you need to create guaranteed website success and you'll be able to build a solid business that will be hard for others to knock down.
Learning to run
We all know that you have to crawl before you walk, but when you have mastered this skill the next thing is learning to run. Once you have got your online business flowing you cannot simply keep walking or crawling as the Internet is constantly moving fast. You at least have to learn how to move your business along at a slow jog.
How to crawl before you walk?
People study to be something for most of their lives but expect to learn how to earn a living from blogging overnight. Everyone is in such a hurry to make money now, but if you crawl before you walk, the money will come in good time. In fact, I believe that if you learn your craft correctly in the first place you will be rewarded even more in the long run.
I would highly suggest that all newbies should build a simple website and start basic promotion on it. Don't give up your day job just yet. When you see how it really works something will click and you will suddenly feel confident to move on.
Although I suggest you crawl before you walk, just make sure you do not get stuck crawling for too long.
Do you agree that if you crawl before you walk in the blogging world you can almost guarantee success?
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Yes this is very true thing whenever we are starting any business or post a blog we should take baby steps for it and we shouldn’t expect this thing, yes we will get good response from very 1st day because it is depend on us how we are presenting our quality of blog and one more important thing we should have best qualities in our post like best writing good language and some great video also include in that.
Hi sam
Getting a good response from your audience from the start will give you motivation to continue. Luckily this is what happened to me. People commented and sent me emails saying how they enjoyed my website, so I continued to add content..
Every type of activity starts with small steps that we do. You can’t leap at once and create a blog which is at the first position immediately. The most difficult thing is patience when you need to work and wait and analyze and create. I know many people who failed Internet business as they wanted immediate results. So, it was their choice.
Hi Anna
Yes I agree with you..Patience is important! Create, Promote, Analyze, Optimize
Many have given up because they were not willing to take the steps. You cannot just go to college to learn how to do all of this because nothing is available. We are creating history here.
Indeed. You have to start from the basics (crawl) and the evolve and evolve and evolve and… And a very important thing is to make mistakes and always learn from them. Before you can walk or run, you must fall a few times right?
Hi john
I have fallen so many times…Sometimes I wanted to give up, seriously, but I didn’t. I could tell a few stories about the failures I have had!! I just kept working and knowing it would work and it did..
Taking time to crawl and spending more time on crawling is great for any business, especially for blogging. The more we ground ourselves firmly on the basic steps, that will form a strong foundation for our future success.
Hi jane…I agree that a strong foundation is important for our future success!
I did my crawling time and now I am very confident about the path I am taking. In the old days I had no idea where I would end up.. I know now..
Thanks for the useful posts.
People who have just started online always want instant results. For example, they write a post or two and expect to get comments, they always check their traffic statistics, they check the number of subscribers, etc. You can see them on forums. They post things like “I got 2 visitors on my first day”. You can see that they care too much on these things when they should be focusing on others. So I’d add that focus is an important factor. I do believe that lowering your expectations is paramount, but it is not enough. Sometimes you do think that you don’t expect much, but in reality, you do! I know because it happened to me. Focusing was so helpful in my experience.
Thanks again.
Mouh
🙂
Yes it is hard for people to lower their expectations about blogging when everyone is showing cool income shots and saying how easy it is. This distracts people from the right path.
Yeah! Good analysis. This is the fact. Also thanks to author for guidance about crawl in step by step strategy.
Hi, mitz!
that is really true, an old saying slow and steady wins the race. I think same applies where, ahan it applies every where. Success is not get quick. It takes time , it takes you effort.
It takes your hard work and all these things.
and then patience.
Hi Usman
Slow and steady does win the race.. as long as you know how to speed up when the time is right.. Some people get stuck and never move on. Lets hope we all can run! 🙂
Indeed.. making money online blogging is not an easy thing to do and one must really understand that it is a step-by-step process. The analogy is exactly what it is, you can’t start walking in the beginning, let alone try running. Crawl first, learn the ropes and then start walking. Maybe after some months, you can try running 🙂
Very true DiTesco
If you start running before crawling you might trip! LOL This is crazy but all true.
Must print this and put in my wall, to remind me that there is no success business in one night, spending more time on crawling is great for any business, and keep learning, must do step by step, thanks for the post
Very attractive and informative post, Thanks for sharing this post.
This is a priceless information about making money online. I have gained so much knowing fully well that we need to crawl first before walking. Lowering our expectation also helps to train our minds to accept pain and win. You did well on this post. Keep them coming!
Hi michael
I agree with this….”Lowering our expectation also helps to train our minds to accept pain and win”
I ususally say that you have to learn to lose before you can win. Once you have failed enough there is no other options but to win…
I like the way you say it John…increase zeros in the annul income!!! Sounds cool! 🙂
some people wants immediate results however which sometimes, its not sometimes however mostly it damages you hard and you feels to confuse about your business. slowly and steady steps really brings you towards your success. that the best secret story for everyone but specially for newbies.
It is very hard not to expect immediate results when there are all those get rich quick schemes out there.. Hopefully we can have a level head and work our wat to the top.. 🙂
That was some very useful advice for any person wanting to make money online. It certainly doesn’t happen overnight.
Once you have learnt a system or a technique that works, taking “ACTION” is the most important thing to do. By taking consistent action and learning from it will help you achieve your goals.
Yes you are right it seems to be easy for the outsiders to earn money online, but face so many hardships during work. Therefore your suggestions to get experience first in the means of crawls before starting is appreciable. Thanks for nice tips!
Another great article Mitz. You are right, we must not in a hurry. take it slow and be patient.
Thanks joseph! Yep, take your time and build a rock solid business. 🙂
Sure! to rock sold business after a little while is better to run fast in the beginning. Thanks Mitz for guiding us in a lovely way.
Thank you for the reminder. I’m a newbie and I’m excited to find a fairly niche market that I’m excited about. I’ve been googling around for more tips as my traffic has kind of grown to the level its at quickly and then plateaued. I tend to be impatient, so a reminder now and again of what I’m trying to do is very reassuring.
I have to remind myself to calm down too! And even though you have success, you need to keep working so it will be solid, unbreakable success.
Woe….. you are the senior, still have you need to calm down in your highest professional career? BTW an informative and effective post. Thanks!
This is what people actually do when you share you online sales income with them but they literally forget there are over millions of websites with whom we have to compete and come forward.
Luvit.
I’m going to ask my wife to read this post, and pay special attention to your conclusion.
It is possible to monetize a blog fairly quickly, but for most bloggers, there’s more longevity and income to be made by not rushing for the first kerrrching they can.
Baby steps it is, and (depending on what you want to get out of it all) building a long term vision…
Nice work Mitz!
Hi Jym
I have a “long term vision” of never needing to work again. I only want to work because I love it.
The term ‘crawl before you walk’ gives the right attitude towards any new blogger or marketer. It is so wonderful that you have come out with such a quote because it tells everything that you want to tell. And you have explained it really well. Good work
Very nice article. My friends would rather say though that “don’t expect at all” rather than “lower your expectations”. Then, they’d say that “prepare yourself for every challenge”. I have weird friends. LOL.
Your friends sound cool Wesley…
I say “lower your expectations” so you can “get back to really” “get down to earth” “ground yourself” and then you will be able to “expect it all” because you have earned it… 🙂
Hi Mitz! It sure helped me a lot as well. This is not an easy to get instantly a good rank in the competitive market of blogging, but you make it easy to be understood. Thank you so much!
Oh thanks Matt
I try to keep away from the technical stuff because it is not always needed to learn about blogging.
Thanks Mitz, baby steps indeed are the way to go. I can’t imagine why anyone would try and build an e-commerce website with no skills and no money. My blog is very basic and I have basic internet skills and it took me ages to get it to look the way I wanted it to and that’s just the appearance – the internal workings are still a mystery to me.
Anyway, this is my first visit here and it looks like you have a popular site, congratulations. I’m going to have a look around and read some of your other articles.
LOL Hi Roz
This is Ileane’s site and I am just guest posting here…That’s the latest craze in getting traffic… 🙂
Hi! good attention for fast moving bloggers to work step by step with adopting best of the SEO strategies to grow in the blogging field. Thanks!
This is very true.. Have to start from one step at a time.. I always advice people to have a good content first before tweaking on the SEO part.. It’s like focus on the main course first rather than the side dish as most of us will remember the main course in a restaurant rather than the side dish..
Nice caution for us to get sure success and not to be aggressive to get much results in a short while time. Thanks author.
Hi Marmot
Yes it is best to take it slow and do things right. When a business is made right it will last for a life time.
Hi! You must crawl, before you can walk, before you can run. Just like a baby going through this process to learn how to crawl, walk, run, if you skip or try to step over one of the processes you will not have a good thorough overall knowledge and understanding of the art, and will experience difficulties later on.
Hi there
Sounds like you have summed my article up! 🙂
This is very true.. Have to start from one step at a time.. I always advice people to have a good content first before tweaking on the SEO part.. It’s like focus on the main course first rather than the side dish as most of us will remember the main course in a restaurant rather than the side dish..
Wonderful Conclusion from the post! It is the fact that quality work is much effective then SEO part. Also by regular work you should could got a lot of knowledge from others experience. Thanks for informative post in a unique way.
“There are so many aspects involved in making money online that to truly explain I would need a few hours.”
Not only does it take a long time to explain it, even after explaining it people will still not understand how much work it actually is.
Just writing a blog, not even all the things around it, not even the research. Just writing is already more difficult and time consuming then people on the outside can apprehend unless they have tried it themselves.
Great to read something from you here Mitz 🙂
I have a little smile on my face right now. I remember my days back then when I just started blogging freshly. It surely is the same as ‘you have to crawl before you walk.’ You have to go step by step to the discovery of the blogging world.
Become a baby and grow again! 🙂
It takes so much learning and experimentation on the process and gaining of money off the Internet.
Take it slow and remember it takes time to get somewhere. Good one Mitz.