A few months back while reading an article about the impending sale of WPDesigner for a whopping $65,000 – I ran across a handful of comments about this young guy named Marc, who bought OneMansGoal.com from Bryan Clark over at Website Flipping University. This $10,000.00 sale is exciting I know, but after a number of weeks simply following Marc in his new found venture, I decided it was time to start looking a little deeper at what he was and wasn’t doing.

“My goal is to stop being a wage slave and write my owner ticket (create my own trust fund) by purchasing and developing online assets.” - Marc@ OMG

My decision to speed up this post was driven by the lack of recent activity on Marc’s blog as well as the refusal to communicate with his readers.This article will show newcomers the first hand the importance of dedication to this craft we call blogging.

“Focus, focus, focus, focus and then when you think you’re done… focus some more!”

The Make Money Online niche (MMO), is likely one of the hardest markets to penetrate. If super saturation and incredible failure rates don’t get you down in the dumps… the critiques you’re likely to get is enough to make you roll over and play dead! So the question is… Are you the right guy for the job? Marc thinks so but what worries me is his “multi-talented” mind set. Is this bad? Not really, but what Marc and thousands of other bloggers fail to realize is that blogging can be a full time business requiring more time and energy than you may have initially expected… especially if your hand is in more than one cookie jar like Marc’s.

“I currently live in Durango, Colorado and I am a Realtor and Bartender. I started learning about making money online on the 30th of November 07 and have been studying a ton about the topic since then.”

The market is tough, and only tough guys and gals that can keep a handle on the stresses should attempt such a feat. If you’re going to get involved in the blog world, especially the MMO niche, be prepared for the long haul with plenty of rainy days and drizzle of income until you make a name for yourself. I think under estimating the demands was Marc’s first mistake and it’s starting to show.

“What’s your purpose?”

I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m one of the most hap-hazard people around. I’ve built hundreds of websites, designed numerous blogs, and tried over and over again to write some of my own. In fact this blog is my first attempt to stick with something for the long haul, so I guess you could say that I’m not just a finger pointer. I’ve got to remind myself daily to focus on my blog’s purpose and it’s not as easy as one might think.

I’m not entirely sure of why Bryan Started OMG, but I can assume it was to make some cash. I can also assume that his “goal” was to build a full time income from his blogging efforts. The blog sold… and then Marc stepped in and overnight reverted the content back to where it was months ago. His knowledge didn’t match the current content flow and now he’s paying the ultimate price. Buying OMG and not being prepared to supply the “proper” content is fatal mistake number two.

“Focus = Success!”

In a comment I recently left on OMG, I offered a few important pieces of advice that I really wanted Mark to take seriously… he has yet to even respond much less take action. Here are some excerpts regarding Marc’s focus…

“…the title “one mans goal” is a bit misleading to any new visitors who happen across your site and can’t figure out exactly what it is you’re offering.”

As you can see, I started my comment subtly telling him to find his focus again and re-discover his purpose! I then decided that better advice would be to tell him why 95% of his visitors are actually visitors…

“The fact is that no one is here to learn how to install WordPress or any other “how to” technical information (try problogger for that). We are here because we want to see you go from “Zero to Hero” and share along the way. THAT IS THE ONLY REASON WE ARE HERE AND DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE!“

And just in case he didn’t catch my drift the first two times, I added my closer! It might be a bit biased, but I think that I offered Mark some great advice here.

“Your BIGGEST selling point right now is simple. You spent 10 grand on this website when most business savvy folks wouldn’t have done that simply out of principle and lack of existing profitability. However, you did, and we want to follow you throught the successes and failures. THAT IS WHY WE ARE HERE. There are not to many guys out there who have made a successful blog from nothing so you’ve got the potential to do great things here.”

When I think about it, I’ve just given Marc a years worth of advice here. I only wish that I had someone to take me by the hand and say “Hey PB… you’re suck at giving advice… we only visit your blog to see how stupid you are” Yep, like or not negative press is better than no press… Marc needs to step up and start taking advantage of what he’s got. Not focusing on what his readers really want is Marc’s fatal mistake number three.

“To comment or not to comment? That is the question.”

It’s a pretty well known fact that commenting on a blogs is not only a way to build traffic, but also a great way of filling the gap between posts and inspiring great discussion. Addi’s blog is the perfect example of what it is to create a dynamic discussion so newbies take note!

Marks latest mistake has been to not be involved in his own blog. As I’ve already mentioned, Marc has gotten some great advice from both myself and others to which he has yet to reply. Aside from that, he rarely ever responds to his comments and it’s obviously starting to make the natives a little restless. Since there are literally thousands of articles out there about commenting, I won’t get to much more into it in this post. I will however tell you all that Marc has committed fatal mistake number four… not participating in his own blog.

In closing I hope that this article will help some of you get back on track by looking at a first hand account of what happens when you neglect your pride and joy. Marc, thanks for being a way to the means for anyone who finds this article useful, and as always, if you need something, just drop me a line and let me know!

-PB