We all have dreams and goals that we want to achieve. Many of us want to quit our 9-5 jobs and work freely at home, or maybe work out on the beach with your laptops. I mean, isn’t that why we all strive to push and make money online? But here’s the thing, your dreams and your goals are just that, they’re only dreams and goals; it’s the dream turn reality that we want. Of course, we cannot achieve that if we don’t execute.

It’s funny, just the other day I got some Chinese take-out and they always give fortune cookies. Of course, it must have been fate telling me she’s going to slap me silly because this is what the fortune said:

“Some people never have anything except for ideas. Go do it.”

Now, I would like to think I’m an idea man with a lot of ambition, but it should never stop there. I’ve come up with tons of ideas to make money online, get traffic, come up with new and creative things to separate myself from the herd but if I never execute those ideas and dreams then I’m just like everybody else.

A dreamer…

We all have dreams but unfortunately, not many of us do anything to push ourselves to bring those dreams to our realities. And although, some dreams may be a little out of our reach, most are doable.

Now, if you’re having dreams of swimming in cash like Scrooge McDuck, well, that’s just not logical and you need to stop watching old cartoons. Plus, I tried to swim in money before and believe it or not, it hurts. If you don’t believe me, try diving in a pool full of dollars and coins!

But luckily, most people don’t swim in money. And yes, you can make as much money as you want if you put your mind to it, execute your ideas and lastly, do not procrastinate because more than likely, you’ll never go back to it.

Even if the whole world tells you your ideas and dreams are stupid, don’t let that stop you. And don’t put it off because you shouldn’t care what the rest of the world thinks about it.

For instance, I used to think I was too short to play for the NBA but a guy named Mugsy Bogues just proved me wrong. He’s shorter than most of us (he was only 5’3 when he was starting in the NBA) and he will probably be remembered for that. A man in a land of giants.

But he had a dream, he pushed himself and he proved a lot of people wrong. See, he executed and made his dream his reality.

And of course, we all know Martin Luther King, I don’t even need to explain that.

You know what separates the real online money makers from the wanna-be’s? Well, besides the real money constantly being deposited into their bank account, it’s also the fact that these online money makers spend tons of time executing and working their way to their goals and dreams.

I’ve talked with people like Jonathan Volk, Paul of Uberaffiliate, Jason of Theuniversitykid on instant messenger and all of them are down-to-earth guys. But these are the same guys who are constantly on the internet, constantly working hard and constantly making money online. I mean, Jonathan has a goal bar on his blog on how much he wants to make a month, once he accomplished that, you think he just settled?

Nope. He just raised that bar even more.

See, personally, I’m not that type to set my goals extra high, I set it low. Once I accomplish that goal, I move to the next step and I just continue to cross these goals off my list.

My only problem, I procrastinate. Yes, I have dreams. And yes I work my way to bring those dreams to my reality but my only downfall is I end up doing it very slow because I’m a procrastinator. Lol…

And this post isn’t only for those trying to make money online, this goes for all those people who have dreams but just leave it at that. Honestly, there are only three words that I have to say (and no, it’s not “I love you”) but Nike made it famous…

“Just do it!”

I’ve read a few people who mentioned this before, if you’re making money online, do you really need a MMO blog to discuss it? Well, my answer is yes… but only if you’re actually making money online, willing to share some tips, and the fact that you need to set your priorities if you are going to discuss it on your blog.

I know a lot of you guys care so deeply for your readers, and so do I, but if a lot of your readers are going to your blog for making money online tips and you don’t make any (or enough) money then it sort of defeats the purpose. Plus, in a way, you lose credibility.

So, during the past couple months I haven’t been posting as much as I was earlier in the year. It’s not that I don’t want to - because I’m willing to help anyone that’s willing to listen and learn - but I simply have been taking on a handful of new projects. I mean, if I’m not making money online and some people know me as a MMO blogger, then don’t I lose credibility?

Yes.

Earlier today, I stumbled on a MMO blog that I’ve visited a few times before and my curiosity got to me so I checked their stats. Of course, their advertise page hasn’t been updated but after looking up some stats (besides Alexa, PR and all those other useless stats that don’t tell me anything) they’ve been averaging like 40-50 unique visitors per day.

Here’s the thing, they write a lot of posts about making money online, getting traffic and a bunch of “how to’s” but if they only gets 40-50 visitors a day (1,500/month) then why should anyone listen to them? What makes things worse, if they write posts on how to get traffic and they don’t, why would anyone listen to their money making tips knowing damn well they don’t make any (or enough) money?

What’s funnier is every aspect of my stats is better but they charge more to advertise on their blog than I do.

If you think I’m talking about you, then I probably am. Matter of fact that shot was taken at every single MMO blogger who have no idea on how to make money online. So, if you’re reading this and you run a MMO blog and make no money, then yes, I’m talking to you (all).

But back to my point, you should actually make money online first and then blog second. I mentioned that in a previous post but I figured I needed to mention that again.

In my case, I have my priorities, just like anyone else, of making money online because I need to pay bills and hopefully one day I can quit my day job. I try my best to manage a few blogs and post regularly but sometimes I just can’t because I’m so busy. Now, don’t get me wrong, if anyone needs help on anything that I can help with, I’ve always been there. Though, sometimes it takes me a little longer to reply back.

I mean, I care about my loyal readers and visitors and I will continue to help anyone and everyone that needs it. What I just have to mention is I have to set priorities to make money online to pay for bills but also, I don’t want to lose my credibility.

So, please bear with me!

And the picture is of Eva Mendes, it has nothing to do with the post but I haven’t posted a sexy woman for a while! And thanks to Matt for the suggestion!

Well, I wasn’t planning on posting this but then again, people should learn from my mistakes. Plus, it’s pretty easy to do and people should get in the habit of doing this; write all your posts and articles in a Word document prior to posting.

Now, it doesn’t necessarily need to be in a Word document, it could be a notepad, on a piece of paper, etc, basically, anything that you would have as a backup just incase anything happens.

And yes, that “anything” happened to me yesterday. I was writing the John Chow post directly through my Wordpress because I was in a bit of rush (plus, I was at work… my day job) and I basically finished the entire post… then my Mozilla Firefox froze!

Luckily, Firefox has an option to “Restore your last session.” Unfortunately, though, once I restored, it brought me back to where Wordpress last saved my post; which was only the first paragraph! So, I had to write the entire post over and of course, I didn’t remember every single point I originally made.

Now, I usually write all my posts on a Word document prior to posting that way I can just copy and paste it, plus, I can check for grammar and spelling mistakes easily.

Another reason, you should write a draft before posting. I know a lot of people don’t have time to do this (and neither do I, sometimes) but when I say “draft” I just mean a backup and something you can review or read before the post goes live and published for your readers.

Lastly, I know people backup all their server files regularly but what if one of those days someone hacks into your account or your server crashes and you lose all your posts? Well, maybe not all but usually when that happens you’ll lose your most recent ones.

Don’t believe me? Ask Jason of Theuniversitykid.com , it happened to him before. Also, it happened to Tyler Cruz of Tylercruz.com when his account got hacked into. Of course, it was one of the days where I guest posted so my post was deleted. Luckily, I was smarter back then and had a backup on my Word document!

The only thing was I made some minor changes directly in the Wordpress post, so I just had to remember what those changes were.

So all and all, wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry?

Oh, and the picture of the people grinding, I put that there because people need to "back it up." Okay, that was corny…

A lot of people tend to jump into trying to make money online too quick and they tend to overlook a few things.

First of all, a majority of people who make money from their blogs actually started making money online prior to it, or at least has a lot of experience in the field. Look at John Chow, Shoemoney, Uberaffiliate, Zac Johnson, and the list goes on. Maybe that was a bad example because I just listed affiliate marketers but notice how making money from their blogs came after the fact they already had their source of income flowing in?

Let me give you another example - I blog for a few different blogs, but I do it for fun a majority of the times. Though, I find various ways of making money online and my main source of income is not from blogging. One of the ways I make money is by designing banner ads and that has brought in a pretty steady income since I started it back in January. Surprisingly, the word has spread about my banner designs and now I do not promote or market it, and people still continue to find me.

Just imagine if I focused primarily on banner designs and promoted it like I do for my blog(s)?

When it comes down to it, you should handle your business first because your blog will still be there. Plus, you don’t need to post every single day, just enough for your readers to know that you didn’t abandon them!

And I know I’ve been bad the past few days but that’s because I was out-of-town attending a graduation.

A fine example would be Jason a.k.a. The University Kid (and I’m not trying to suck up) because he continues to find ways to make money outside of his blog. And if I read right, he makes a pretty good chunk of change and he’s willing to help people out with his ideas on how to make money.

But when it comes down to it, you should focus on your strengths and what’s bringing in your biggest and most steady income. In my case, I should focus more on banner designs but do not rely only on one source of income! That’s just one small thing people tend to do - put all their eggs in one basket. And if you do that, you’ll be screwed on those down months.

So, however you make money online, focus on that first and foremost before you blog. And if you happen to make a pretty good chunk of change from blogging, I guess that’s your first and second focus.

Nowadays, everyone is a blogger. Whether you have terrible grammar or your writing skills simply just suck, if you have a thought and are able to get your point across through writing, then you are a blogger. Of course, there are bloggers who are the best writers in the world and no one would ever know about it. And the most logical answer would be - Not all bloggers are good marketers.

Have you heard of that saying “if you write, they will come?” Or maybe you’ve heard people always emphasizing to “write, write, write” and focus on content and the readers will eventually come? That’s almost like saying “if you build it, they will come.” But say you did build something… in the middle of the desert or the Arctic… do you think they would still come? Maybe a few, but that’s just like your readers if you don’t market it.

I like to refer to Maki of Doshdosh.com because I kiss his ass he is a true blogger and a very knowledgeable person who constantly emphasizes to write great content and people will come. I even talked to him on Twitter, briefly, when I started my “Get Traffic” contest (which is still going on so please join!) and he mentioned that people can hold contests all they want to get readers but if your content sucks, then there was no point in getting those readers simply for the contest.

That may be true as far as the contest goes. But don’t think for one second that Maki isn’t a great marketer on top of being a great blogger. I mean, that’s how he gets thousands and thousands of readers and visitors; because he’s a great marketer. Of course, it’s his content that makes them continue to come back and subscribe to his RSS Feeds.

And if you don’t believe me, he’s on tons of social media sites helping others. You’ll notice the female anime avatars from a mile away. Yeah, some may call that “networking” but if you think about it, that’s also marketing. No one will know who you are or your site if you don’t network, socialize, market or whatever else you want to call it.

So, why am I writing this post? Well, there’s a few reasons:

1. I believe that if you’re trying to make money online, you need to market, social and/or network your product/site
2. You can in fact get tons of traffic without marketing but either a) you have tons of cash to spend or b) you write content for search engines and know a lot about SEO
3. You need to take initiative to get your message across, get noticed or want to make money… in general
4. Anyone can be a blogger but everyone can be a good marketer. If that was the case, then all these other MMO blogs would be making money online. But a majority do not.
5. If you aren’t a great marketer, there’s ways around that. Become close with A-listers and maybe, just maybe, one day they’ll help you out that one time and you’ll be well on your way.

In conclusion, great writer and bloggers doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be noticed. If you write and no one knows about it, then the message basically means nothing. It’s like that saying “if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a noise?”

It does. But no one is there to listen.