I’ve been spending a lot time recently starting and promoting a lot of new sites to make money online for the Cash Quests Blog Network and it has made me realize some of the mistakes that I’ve made in the past when it came to creating sites.

If I had a time machine and the chance to do a few things differently, I’m sure that my profits would be few percentage points higher than what they are now!

But I’ve definitely learned some great lessons for the future:

Start like a professional

Too many sites start out looking and sounding amateur with the goal to become great as time goes on. It is much better to spend a few weeks before your site even launches making sure that it looks professional and works well. It is also great to start filling your site with useful content right from the start! Forget the introduction posts and just jump in to the quality!

Tip: Write your first week of content before the site launches and spend that week letting people know about your hot new site!

Define your site and stick to it

Your site should have strict boundaries about what will and won’t be written on it and you need to stick to these limits. Your readers may request you to publish posts on a certain topic but if they’re not within the boundaries - don’t do it! You’ll satisfy a small number of readers but lose a lot who feel the site has changed direction from what initially drew them to the site.

Tip: Stick to the topic and you’ll always find readers who are interested in the topic. Change the topic and your readers may change where they visit!

Think about the long term

Imagine where you want your site to be in 2 years and what steps you need to take to achieve that. Starting out on Blogger was one of my biggest mistakes and only considered Cash Quests in the short term without thinking of where it could be headed in the future.

Tip: Get your own domain right from the start! If you’ve already started - get one NOW!

Learn how to write effectively

Most sites on the internet are based 99% around the words that appear on the screen. You need to make sure that you’re using them effectively to achieve your goals. You should spend just as much time learning how to use those words as you should learning about PHP and HTML. You can often tell an amateur from a pro just from the layout on a single post!

Tip: Make reading Copyblogger part of your daily routine. If there isn’t a new post on every day - go through the archives!

Don’t underestimate the power of images

Images can be used on your site to illustrate a point just as effectively as anything that you can write. While most other webmasters are filling their sites with text, using images can provide a refreshing feel to your site that will help it stand out from the crowd.

Tip: Learn to use Adobe Photoshop and put those skills to use on your site.

The mistakes that I’ve made in the past have probably cost me a few hundred dollars and delayed a few of my goals but in the end it is about the quest. Learning from your mistakes is what will bring you profits in the future and help you realize your dream of making money online.

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