Last Time I checked, 1 Step Per Day...

I recently got an email from a reader asking for advice on how to generate traffic to a website built using the
cloud living model.

Of course the answer were already clear to both of us, and it is in fact written in the book itself. So what was the real problem?

The real problem is that we are not accustomed at doing something small everyday until we reach a result after many weeks or months. We know that we can’t see results initially, but after a while we give up because we don’t have a solid system that supports this kind of lifestyle.

Dreamland

I have already listed some things you can get by dedicating a few minutes of your time every day, so I wont repeat myself here. Still, I think it’s useful for everyone to stop and think how far you could get if you were doing something every day. Don’t focus on execution, as it’s not important right now, just think at what you could achieve. If you have trouble doing this, try to imagine what would have happened if you had spent the previous two years working every day on your major goal.

Great results can be achieved by doing something little every day.

I personally like to think that by working every day on my websites, I’ll be soon able to generate enough income to pay my bills. Your goal may be different, and in fact you can have many of them as you’ll see later.

How to build a bridge from where you are now to where you want to be

The following is the system I have started to adopt in the previous months and that’s proven to be very effective for me. It’s not something complex, in fact I’m a strong believer in simplicity.

Step 1: Identification

The first step is to identify what you want to have. Following my precious example, say that I want to make some money online by working from home because I want to have more freedom.

At this point I set a long term goal and then I identify the steps I need to take to get there. For me they are simple: build websites that generates money. To be more precise, I’m following the cloud living model, so what I need to do is to setup affiliate websites.

Step 2: Finding the Rosetta Stone

At this point I search for the single thing that provides the most benefits in what I need to do. In this case I know that the most important thing is to get loads of traffic from search engines and to a website that can easily convert if a visitor is interested in the product (suppose you want to buy a bike, it should be easy for you to buy it on my website).

Just to prevent misunderstanding, I don’t buy all the spamming tactics, and I always try to provide something useful.

Step 3: Execution

Based on the research I do on step 2, I know I have to setup a website and to generate backlinks for traffic. Creating a website is not hard, as it’s also explained in great detail in the guide itself. What’s hard instead is to generate traffic, therefore I know I have to generate tons of backlinks.

Step 4: Routine integration

At this point I know that the difference between success and failure is how well I rank on search engines, so I take the most important thing (generating backlinks) and I integrate it on my daily routine.

You said daily routine?

Daily routines is on of the most effective ways to get things done. A daily routine is extremely useful when you want to accomplish something big by taking small steps every day.

I don’t consider my daily routine part of my work, but it’s still something that I must to do every day.

This is how my daily routine works.

1. I identify a single activity that I can do every day to move closer to my goal. It must be something that I can accomplish in less that 20 minutes ideally. Some examples of tasks includes stretching, building a backlink, reading 20 minutes, etc.
2. I have a list of these things that I have to do and I wont go to sleep unless I do all of them. It’s not important that I do all of them in the same moment. For example I may read in the evening and do stretching in the morning. What’s important though is that I have a physical list of these tasks always with me.
3. I don’t focus on the results at all. Following the backlinks example, I don’t check my ranking and sales every day, as I could easily get discouraged initially. Instead I set a minimum of six months or one year of execution and I quarterly check the results. In the specific example of building backlinks, I also keep a record of where I post my links, as it will be useful when I want to adopt the same technique for other websites. I can do this because I know I have a system that works, and checking stats is only a negative side effect.
4. I learn from the results. After one year, I’m be able to see if what I was doing was worth it or not. In any case I have a very valuable experience, and not just the benefit of doubt. If, after a time period of at least six months I still see no results at all, I may revisit point one and two to see if I can improve what I’m doing, but I always recall that great results comes to those who are willing to wait.

Great results comes to those who are willing to wait.

Creating your daily routine.

If you are new to having a daily routine, you may be tempted to create a huge list of things to do. In fact, we all have many things we would like to accomplish. Unfortunately, if you have too many items in your daily absolute-todo-list, you may feel overwhelmed and discouraged after a few days.

Instead, take the single most important thing you would like to accomplish, and start with it. Find a step you can take every day and that will take only 10 to 15 minutes to execute. Commit yourself to try this system for 30 days and then decide if you are willing to continue.

After one month, you can start to insert new tasks in your daily routine, but ideally you want to have less than 5 total items.

If you are lucky enough to have all the day free, you can have daily routines that takes more than 15 minutes to execute, but always be sure you can do them every day without feeling overwhelmed.

Conclusion

It would be nice to know the areas where people struggle the most, and then find pragmatic solutions to those specific problems. I always talk by direct experience, so I may miss some important things sometimes, but feel free to leave your advices or requests in the comments.

Posted on December 01 2009

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