5. Spending money on a pre-made site or traffic - You would be mortified if you knew how many THOUSANDS of affiliates I manage who have been basically hoodwinked into buying a ‘pre-fab’ or ‘cookie cutter’ pharmacy site that looks EXACTLY like *THOUSANDS* of others. They’re told how much money they’ll make, how they’ll have to do NO work, it’ll all be done for them. And, if they spend just a LITTLE more (eye roll) they’ll even have a ton of traffic to their brand new (crappy piece of fool’s gold cyber real estate) site! It’s bull. Trust me, it’s bull. Unfortunately, more than a few have a $10k credit card bill to show for their mistake - I kid you not.

I was in journalism for 10 years. I’m a single mom of six. I’ve bartended, I’ve waitressed and I’ve worked in an office. And ya know what? I’ve NEVER worked harder than I have worked online for the past 12 years. NEVER. This is not a piece of cake. It’s not quick money. And, answer me this ONE question: IF this traffic these folks have is so good. IF these stupid little look-alike sites they build make SO much money, why in the HELL aren’t they keeping them for themselves and retiring as millionaires? I’ll tell you why. Because they can make more money off of a doe-eyed newbie or a senior citizen who doesn’t know any better than they can with their OWN SITES! Think about it people! It’s not rocket science!

Now, that said…the ONLY things I think you should spend money on in the first *year* of webmastering and site-building are:

a) hosting. Get a decent host, this is worth it. This is as important to your web business as your home is to your family. Two good places to start: http://www.michellewatersonline.com and http://www.godaddy.com/
b) content - purchasing articles is acceptable simply because good content is the king of the net (and the queen is traffic, btw). Two good and reasonable places? Here ya go: http://www.contentarts.net/about.html and http://www.growtechbusiness.com/ I’ve used both and both are solid, although I do like contentarts a bit better.
c) necessary software - things like a good html editor, graphics program, ftp, etc. Nothing fancy, just the basics
d) an accountant - IF you made more than a few thousand dollars in the first year

That’s not much, huh? Well, the best blogging platform software is free at http://www.wordpress.org/; education on how to get traffic, market, build sites, run your business, etc., are free all over the net - I mean, look at the site you’re on! I’m not charging you a dime! Also, check the right sidebar for other good resource centers and forums as well as some good freeware software.

My point is, you’re here to learn to make money, not go broke, right? Then learn. Learn, read, ask, experiment….LEARN, don’t SPEND! Trust me, you’ll ge there faster if you spend more time learning than you do spending

4. Using a Free Host - If life has only taught you one thing, it is “Nothing is for Free”. You can bet your bottom that free hosts aren’t really free. Just look at the basics of a free host. The take prime real estate of your site or blog for their “ads”.

You have no ’stake’ in a site - ie: owning your domain name. And, most of the time when hosting is free, there are severe limits on what you can do to your site. On some, the sites are cookie cutter (ie: like thousands of other sites on the host) and you have NO control over design or content. On others, let’s use the popular blogging free host, WordPress.com as an example, there are major limits as to what plugins and templates you can use for your blog.

There are times/situations when using a free host is ok. To me, there’s only two reasons I would use a free host for is a blog on blogger.com, wordpress.com, etc., or a ‘lens’ (page) on Squidoo.com.

Reason 1:  Well, each of these sites has built in eyeballs. They are spidered regularly, already have traffic built up and can be phenomenal traffic ‘pumps’ if you use your sites on these types of hosts to lead your visitors to your ‘real’ sites. It’s not that you can’t make money from one of these, you can. But as you grow and learn, you are going to want to try new things, take on new projects, experiment and build on your ideas and these types of setups just will not work for that.

Reason 2: I’m just starting out and honestly don’t have the money to invest in paid hosting. If that is the case, I’d go with wordpress.com over ANY OTHER OPTION; and I’d build Squidoo lenses. :o)

3. Building a Banner/Link Farm - Building 1 page with little content of value and a gazillion banners or affiliate program links. There has to be a reason for a visitor to take more than a cursory glance at your site and trust me, a 3-mile page of banners and BS ain’t a good enough reason! Give your site visitors something they can sink their teeth into - good information they will find useful - and they, in turn, will come back. This also builds trust, so when you do recommend a product or service, your site visitors are more likely to pay attentiion.

Also, if it looks like you’ve just slapped every banner you can find onto your page, it’s obvious your site visitor that you really believe in nothing. I mean, any old banner for any old product will do, right? Take some time. Surf your site as Joe Black down at the gas station or Mary Pearson over at the grocery store. Try to see your site like a new visitor would. Do YOU like it? Do YOU find anything useful? Would YOU bookmark it and come back? If not, fix it so that you would!

2. Time management - You heard me correctly. This is a business whether you believe it or not. Do NOT spend productive hours on a forum. Save that for later. Get your work done pronto and then play. This is what I do. I post on the forums first thing in the morning to get me started, then I go to work. As soon as I am done with my normal activities I head right to the playground! Some may say posting on forums are great, and I agree. I post on them often. But I make sure I have finished my work. Same goes for any other distractions. Do NOT let them interfere with your work. How are you going to make money if you spend all day playing bingo online? You’re NOT!

And now onto the #1 mistake a newbie can make….

1. Giving up - This is absolutely the number 1 mistake a newbie can make. Some people think they can put up a banner farm (see #4) or a crappy little site and make a mint. You’re WRONG. It’s not that easy. This business is like learning a new hobby. Can anyone just rebuild classic cars? No, you have to have a talent for it. It may take you 6 months or more to figure out what part of this industry you excel in. But once you figure it out, you then have to maximize your talent 100 fold. This is the path to riches. Experiment, Learn, Experiment, Learn, When you find what works, duplicate the tar out of it and NEVER stop experimenting and learning!

Now let’s also touch on something. You are making a big mistake if you have been doing this six months or more and only dabbled in one aspect of this industry if that aspect isn’t making you any money. You must move on. If something is not making you money after a reasonable length of time, drop it like the ton of bricks it is. Why waste your time?

There have been many projects I have worked on that have just failed. It takes a good businessman to recognize his or her failures and move on. This is something not many newbies these days know how to do. Just remember, there is enough gold out there still, you just have to find your way to it.