Over in the forums there’s been a lot of talk about different tools, software, applications, and plugins that helps us improve our results as internet marketers. I’m loving reading the different opinions and experiences and thought it’d be a good question to open up to the wider community – what are your favorite tools?

I suspect most of us will probably be DYING to include affiliate links, but please control yourselves and refrain from posting links.

Perhaps it’s a keyword research tool, perhaps a site builder, perhaps a plugin for your blog, or some sort of cloaking software – what do you love? Anything goes! List your 3 favorite tools – but limit it to three!

I am guilty of complaining. I’m sure we’ve all done it. But really, it’s time to move on.

Ever since I started working online earlier this year, I have come across experienced and talented people who complain that things aren’t working for them. If I had listened to these people back then, I probably never would have persevered through those early days/weeks. Now I understand why things don’t work for these affiliates – they don’t follow the steps. They think they know better.

Luckily, I have experienced enough of my own success to know that this business does work – if you work it. From my own experience I know that if you follow the steps outlined, eventually, they work. Believe it or not, some people do know what they are talking about.

Internet marketers with experience in other areas sometimes approach this business and the training tutorials with skepticism and doubt. Perhaps they think that they know better? They prefer to do things their way. Sometimes they skip steps or barrel ahead thinking they can take a short cut. That’s okay – if things work out for you. But if you’re not successful, maybe its worth going back to the beginning and following the steps?

When you are starting out, it pays to learn the foundation first, then build up from there. You can’t expect to walk onto a baseball diamond and play in the major leagues on your first day. We all start out in little league and work our way up.

Losing money on campaigns is annoying and stressful for all of us. If it’s becoming a pattern for you – change it!  Go back to the beginning and follow the steps outlined. Don’t skip over parts, don’t jump ahead, don’t take short cuts.

Follow the steps and you will find success.

Okay, so they’re not “Jedi Mind Tricks” but here are a few things you can do when you’re feeling annoyed, frustrated, or overwhelmed with things.

These 5 little steps help me stay motivated:

1. Focus on the positive – Getting bogged down in negativity will not help you. Avoid it at all costs. Focus instead on possibilities, potential, and opportunity.
2. Network with other internet marketers – Make friends, get involved in forums, answer some questions for newbies, read and post on IM blogs.
3. Learn something new – if you’re into PPC, try SEO. If you’re stuck on Facebook, try Yahoo for a change. Step out of your comfort zone and shake it up a bit.
4. Look how far you’ve come – Chances are you’re a long way from where you started, and you’ve learned a lot. Give yourself credit for your accomplishments.
5. Set an exciting and challenging goal for yourself – It should be something exciting, yet achievable within a relatively short period. Get excited about it!

These simple tricks can be used to brighten an otherwise gloomy perspective.

Good luck to you! Keep things fresh, new and excting!

We all hit major (and minor) roadblocks along the way. Everyone gets frustrated in this business. Perhaps you just don’t know where to start. Maybe your polls aren’t getting traffic. Perhaps your offer stopped converting. Or your Facebook ads get disapproved more often than they get approved. Whatever your drama is – you are not alone. Feeling “stuck”, overwhelmed, irritated, frustrated – it’s all part of the territory.

I am feeling “stuck” today. I have several projects on the “go” right now. Some are doing well and others are not. Although I have a clear plan of what needs to happen, I just feel like I need a break.

There is so much going on in my life and in my business. I am the mother of three young children. I’ve been helping several people with their polls. I am learning a lot of new things at AffiliIT. My head is spinning with possibilities today. I sat staring at my “to do” list this morning feeling overwhelmed.

The good news is that I know this won’t last long. Whenever I get this feeling, I take a step back, walk away from my desk, and do something fun.  I know that later today, I will return to my office with renewed energy, enthusiasm, and positivity. I know that this feeling will pass. And when it does, (probably in just a few hours) I’ll be back to work with a vengeance!

Hope your day is a great one!

With all of that I have started doing my own launching, which is a combination of different methods I have learned and so far it is going rather well. The first campaign, on the first day, I spent $3 in ads and made $36.50 That was pretty exciting. Now I just have to scale it up. By the end of that day, I was at $8 in ads and $54 in sales. Awesome ROI.

What I have learned that so far seems the most important is choosing the keywords. While my bank is still growing, as I am adding to it, I don’t take a lot of chances, so I pay extra attention to what keywords I use. I am currently not throwing a ton of keywords into a campaign and seeing what sticks.

I know some people like to have small campaigns with what can be called buy keywords, and then there are others that have huge campaigns because you never know for sure what is going to work, and I agree with both. But I think for starters without a TON of cash have to be careful and pay attention to the keywords they use.

On the other hand, when you do strike gold with a campaign you must scale, right? For instance the campaign I talk about above had 80 keywords, carefully chosen.

Anyway, my point in this post is the more campaigns I am putting together, the more ads I tweak and the more keyword research I do, the closer I feel I am getting to success. It isn’t the courses, the one on one, the webinars, or any of that, (while a lot did help) it is the hands on training that you remember most, and I think that is the most important part. On the job training!