This post was guest blogged by Greg Walker of New Poker Affiliate.
Having the title of ‘webmaster’ or ‘Internet marketer’ is something that is going to be of interest to a lot of people. Such is the case that as a webmaster, it’s not uncommon to find friends and family intrigued by your line of work and asking questions to find out more about what you are doing for money… everyone wants to know how to make more money these days. As these conservations progress, you will eventually bump into to question: “Can I take a look at your website(s)?”
Now lets imagine for a second that you are having a real life conversation with someone and you have just ran into this question… how does it make you feel? Are you chomping at the bit to find the nearest computer and show them your site? Or are you feeling a little sheepish and searching furiously through the ‘excuses’ folder in your head to try and avoid showing them your site? The reaction to this simple question will often highlight a lot about your focus as a webmaster.
In my opinion, making a website to be proud of should be the number one goal for any aspiring or current webmaster. I’m not going to lie and say that I’m not driven to work hard to make more and more money each month, but I see the focus of making a website that I am proud of as an essential stepping stone on my way to increasing earnings from my online endeavours, and so should you.
The key point I am trying to put across in this article is that if you can make a website that you are proud of, the chances are your site is going to be successful.
If you are thrilled to show other people your work when asked, it shows that you have taken pride in what you have created, and this will be apparent in the final results of your endeavours. Web browsers love websites that are full of useful content and information, and so if you are making websites to the best of your ability there is little doubt that your visitors will appreciate your efforts, and your site will naturally become more popular (and more profitable if you know what to do with the traffic).
However, if your main focus is to just make money whichever way you can, you are like to be the person that cuts corners looking for the easy way to make money. It’s always easy to spot the people that create sites with the intention of making money before they create something resourceful, and they rarely amount to anything. The people that set out to try and make money with as little effort as possible are doomed to failure from the start.
On the other hand however, if you aspire to create a solid resource that visitors can benefit from, you will have a site that will stick around for a long time, making you money for months and even years to come.
As unfortunate as it is, it’s all too easy to forget about the fact that the content you write for your website today could be helping or entertaining someone tomorrow. It’s easy to just see your visitors as stats rather than real people, and not even realise that the work you have put into your site has proven to be beneficial in some way. But if you can constantly try and remind yourself that the content you are writing or the work you are doing on your site is building a resource that is accessible to people across the world, it makes it far easier to make a website to be proud of.
Each blog post, article, diagram, image, video, design, guide you create is a permanent resource that will help or entertain someone some day.
You can work incredibly hard writing useful content and developing great sites that attract thousands of visitors each month, yet never receive a simple “thank you” for your troubles. However, for those lucky few, that little “thank you for your website, it really helped” email from time to time never fails to put a smile on your face, and a drive to continue to better your site for the next thankful visitor.
Always look to make the best website you can so that you can make yourself feel proud of your achievements at the end of the day. Your profits and rewards may not be instant, but I can guarantee that you work will not be going unnoticed. Take pride in your work, and let your efforts show up in your earnings in months to come.