My first blog post and I am going to copy and paste from the forum!!!   I didd this a couple days ago and have had great response - so I wanted to share. 

WARNING: THIS IS LONG!!!
I don't blame you if you don't read it - but I believe if you are new - this is valuable information to get a head start. This is what I have struggled with and figured out over the past two years of trying to make Internet marketing work for me.

#1 MINDSET
You absolutely MUST have the right mindset to achieve at running an online business. Well, any business for that matter. If you don't believe - I mean TRULY BELIEVE that you WILL be successful - you have already failed!! This is sad but true. You need to listen to every motivational speaker that you have time for. Follow the people that are already a success - understand how they think. You will start to see a pattern in the mindset of successful people in any business.

Over half of the battle is believing in yourself. Putting your fears aside and overcoming the desperation that we all feel at some point. Fear and doubt WILL paralyze you. Do NOT be afraid to fail. You WILL get it wrong sometimes. Hell - probably most of the time. What you see as a failure is actually a learning experience that puts you one step closer to success.

You WILL NEVER FAIL - if you stick with it long enough. Improve who you are, get rid of what is holding you back and BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!! Never say you CAN"T - it is not that you can't - it is that you choose not to. You cannot wish, hope and dream success. You have to MAKE it happen - it is your life and your responsibility to make your life what YOU want it to be.

#2 FIND A HUNGRY MARKET - NOT A HOT PRODUCT
THANK YOU TRAVIS SAGO!!! If you are not watching Travis and his wife on <!-- m -->http://www.projectmomblog.com<!-- m --> - you need to stop reading and go there now. The people that find immediate success - understand this. You MUST know your audience and KNOW what they are hungry for.

You need to be the person selling water in the desert to people who have not had a drink in days. This is KEY. I am not going to elaborate too much on this - Travis says it all.

Once you know there is a NEED for something - you don't have to be very savvy to sell it to people. Don't forget that we are not selling - we are HELPING people. This makes you feel good - gives them what they need, you make some money and everyone is happy.

#3 PICK YOUR PRODUCT
If you have found a hungry market - go find what will solve their problem. If you can't find a good product that will help them - You have hit GOLD. You can create what will help them.

There is soooooo much emphasis put on gravity for clickbank products. This makes it very confusing for someone new. You need to stop listening to everyone else. You have already researched what you audience wants - if you know there is a product that will solve their problem - then by all means - promote it.

You may have to find a different angle if it is a competitive market - that is okay. There are thousands of untouched keywords in every niche. Use your head and go for it!!!! What do you have to lose????? Nothing....... You will only gain experience and be one step closer to SUCCESS!! If you don't make any sales - you have found something that doesn't work in that niche - so move onto something else - until you find what DOES work in that niche.

#4 KEYWORD RESEARCH
This is a hard one. There are many differing opinions about where you need to be. You need longtail keywords that have high search volume and low competition. This is easier said than done.

Please do not think that you are going to find ten 'great' keywords, put up a lens (or whatever form of landing page you use) - write ten articles and become a success within a month. It does NOT work this way. There may be a few out there that have hit everything just right and can make it happen. However, generally it takes several longtail keywords. Some you will rank for - some you won't.

The keyword research tools are just a 'guesstimation' . You can't rely on Google or anything else to be 100% accurate. I would say most are not even 70% accurate.

You need to understand the concept of keyword research - but you can't dwell on it and let it hold you back. There are ways to break into highly competitive keyword terms. The key is to take action and find what works for you.

After trying out so many different opinions - I truly believe that each individual operates differently at different levels of competition. Find YOUR comfort zone. Try different things - see what works and what doesn't work for you. Track your results - refine and repeat what works FOR YOU.

#5 - TAKE ACTION _ MASSIVE ACTION
We have been told to pick one niche, have one website, one product and promote the hell out of it. Then, we have been told - don't limit yourself - get all you can out there and keep moving.

Here is the deal. Once again it works differently for different people. PotPieGirl shows us how to test several markets and then when we find one that succeeds - milk it for all it is worth. Others will tell us that you can become profitable in one niche - with one website.

THEY BOTH ARE RIGHT!!!! It depends on what YOU want to focus on. Someone can correct me if I am wrong - please do. It depends on how YOU want to start out. I personally get bored writing and creating about the same thing over and over again. If you have only one site - it could take months to add content - article market- start getting traffic and then making changes to convert that traffic.

If that fits YOU - then DO IT!!! There are also several methods like PPG's OWM and Mike and Pete's EOS - that teach to put out as much quality content as you can - drive traffic as quickly as you can and then pick the ones that are profitable and drill down.

It all depends on what fits you and what you are more comfortable with.

Which ever way you choose - you will have to take MASSIVE ACTION to see success. One Squidoo lens with 10 articles is not going to change your income substantially. One website with ten articles is not going to change your lifestyle.

Whatever method you choose to follow - STICK WITH IT and TAKE MASSIVE ACTION!!! I would be sooooo much further if someone would have told me this in the beginning.

We become accustomed to hearing about overnight riches and people making thousands a month in a short amount of time. IT IS NOT TRUE!!! Anyone who has succeeded in internet marketing has taken MASSIVE ACTION and FOCUSED on what they were doing.

#6 KEEP MOVING
Keep moving forward. Keep learning, analyzing and tweaking. Don't expect your first campaign to make you rich. Don't expect your first twenty campaigns to make you rich. You need several things to come into play to be successful. Everything you do - will NOT make you money. Don't expect that because you will become disappointed.

You MUST have a hungry crowd - the right product - the right keywords - connect with your audience.........the list goes on and on. You WILL figure it out if you keep moving forward.

Do NOT let anything stand in your way. A failure is a frame of mind - you can either take it as a step closer to success or you can take it as "I did it wrong and I can't do this". If you choose the later - you might as well have given up before you even gave yourself a chance.

#7 MINDSET
No, I didn't mess that up. I know I already talked about it. It is so important that you understand this. You are not going to make sales with every campaign you put out.

You are going to bust your ASS and you are not going to see any return from it!!! YES - I said it, read it again!

What you are going to do is LEARN from it - When I say 'return' I mean monetary return. You are going to come across your perfect niche with the perfect keywords. You are going to work hard at that ONE thing for weeks and it is not going to go anywhere!!!

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble - I hate to be so brutally honest. The truth is that - anyone who is successful has BEEN THERE. The only difference is that they didn't let it stop them. The successful people didn't let internet marketing kick their ass - no matter how many times they got beat up.

They got back up on their feet and they did it again and again and again.....

#8 The Scary Truth
I have written all of this and now I am going to tell you the daunting truth ------ I have been doing this off and on for two years. My best month has been a $300/month. No that is not a typo ---- a $300/month!!!

I read stories about people making it to $300 after two months of internet marketing. Yes, it pisses me off - but I keep going!!! Maybe they are smarter than me - maybe they just got lucky. I don't know what it is. I do know that I will keep going until I make it.

Do you want to know when my $300 month came? It was when I took massive action. I didn't play in forums, I didn't spend my time learning and buying product.......I spent my time taking action and getting content out.

I don't want to discourage you - I just want to be honest.

This is what keeps me going in internet marketing: I will not be able to go out and get a job that pays me six figures a year. I don't have the time, resources or desire to go to college and learn a skill that will pay me six figures a year. I WANT my family to have a six figure a year income. Internet Marketing is the ONLY thing that can allow that to happen.

I want to thank you if you have made it to the end of this post. I want to thank everyone here at WA that has taught me these things to move forward: Travis Sago, PotPieGirl, Pete, Mike, Marcus, X2, JDPacero, the guy with the elephant as an avatar(sorry, I can't remember your name) I am sure I am leaving people out. Thank you to all that devote your time to help people like me!!

If you wouldn't mind - I have an ulterior motive here.......If I made this more in depth - offered links to motivational videos - went in depth about markets and keyword research - would this offer you enough value to pay $7????

Any comments and constructive criticism is GREATLY appreciated.