7 Surefire Signs that You’ll Never Be Successful Online

You have high aspirations for your blog.

You think about what it’s going to be like when it’s big-time and how it’s going to solve all of your problems.

I think everyone does. But rarely does anyone think about the critical mistakes that they could be making right now.

I haven’t figured out the key to success, but I can tell you the surefire signs that you’ll never be successful online and how you can avoid being destined to fail.

1. You Think that Your Content is Great

“I have a blog. I’m writing great content. I’m tweeting. I’m liking. I’m plus-one-ing. Yet, I’m not getting traffic, subscribers, or sales.”

You want to know the real reason? Your content isn’t great.

When you’re new at something, you tend to think that you’re great at it. The farther you get into it, the more you realize how much you have to learn.

Actionable: Strive to make your reader better off with every word that you write. If a word doesn’t have a purpose, axe it.

2. You’re Not Interested in What You’re Doing

Ever notice how hard it is to read a book that you’re not interested in? Imagine if you had to write it.

If you haven’t convinced yourself of the importance of your blog, then it’s going to be difficult to convince others.

Actionable: Choose an audience and topic that you’re truly interested in helping and writing about.

3. You Don’t Make Your Audience the Hero

Ever watch a great movie and think, “What was it about that movie that made me enjoy it?” The secret? Great screenwriters make you feel like you’re the hero.

You can do the same with your blog.

Brian Clark recently wrote about how great writers make audience the hero by helping them overcome their extreme ordeal and seize their treasure.

In order to do that, you need to understand your audience. Like, really understand them, where they’re coming from, and where they want to go. To figure that out, ask them. Get to know them like a best friend.

Actionable: Run a survey, post a poll, or build the question, “What are you struggling with?” into your auto-responder.

4. You’re Not Making Connections with Other Influencers in Your Niche

Business has and always will be done through people. The Internet doesn’t change that.

If you want to get ahead, you’ll need help from others. People pull strings for people they know and like.

For your success online, the most important people for you to know are the bloggers and influencers who already appeal to your audience.

Actionable: Find them. Comment on their posts. Reply to other people in their communities. Send them an email thanking them for what they do and recommending how you can help. Whatever you do, don’t start your relationship by asking them to do something for you. (For the record, offering a “free” guest post with just two backlinks doesn’t help them.)

5. You’re Not Selling Anything

Unless you’re independently wealthy, have a day job, or comfortable living outside, you’ll have to eventually make money from your blog.

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to do that.

In general, you can sell one of four things:

Your audience. You can sell ad space, write paid reviews, or paid directory listings.
Your products. Digital or physical.
Others’ products. Through affiliate marketing.
Your ideas. To get speaking and consulting gigs.

Actionable: Either offer something for sale or decide what you’re going to sell.

6. You’re Not Committed to Continuous, Meaningful Learning

“What worked a month ago probably won’t work today. The Internet changes so quickly. It’s impossible to keep up. You have to stay on the bleeding edge if you don’t want to get left behind. Blah, blah, blah…”

Too many people come up with too many reasons not to start learning.

The Internet might change, but people don’t. Before you can appeal and sell to people, you need to understand them. Then you need to study the strategies that people use to attract and help people.

Good: Read blogs.
Great: Read books (maybe Web Domination?)
Greatest: Do things to see if they work.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I have to learn.

Actionable: Find a book that’s going to teach you something and read it. Act and repeat.

7. You Don’t Know the Result that You Want

You want to have a big website, help a lot of people, and make a lot of money, right? That’s like saying, “I want to go to the restaurant, sit down at a table, and eat good food.”

How can you get what you want if you don’t know exactly what you want?

A better intended result is 100,000 unique visitors per month with 10,000 active subscribers so you can help many of them for free while a portion become paying customers or high-end clients.

Actionable: Think about the ideal situation or outcome for you and your blog. At what point do you accomplish your goals? Then visualize how you’re going to get there.