If you had to put together a top five list for things that kept you from making money online, what would be on it? I actually wrote down six things, and here they are:

#6 – Blogging. I use to blog several times a day. Blogging is not evil, but it was keeping me from working at things that made me actually money. I now only blog a couple times a week, is more of a journal. I try to avoid sounding commercial or heavily promoting anything.

#5 – Forums. Again, I use to visit a handful of forums multiple times each day. Great resources when used in moderation. But be careful as they can consume hours of your day without leaving any money in your pocket.

#4 – Social Sites. Arg, the time wasted looking through tweets, Facebook posts, and Myspace pages. If I had spent that same time on my sites, I’d probably be relaxing on a beach somewhere.

#3 – Email. I use Outlook, and had it set to download new mail every 5 minutes. I found myself checking it and reading new mail every time it came. Hours and hours wasted on email. I have now check my email twice each day, if that. Once at lunch, and once about one hour before I stop working for the day.

#2 – Environment – It took me a while to realize that what I allowed to surround me and my desk was keeping me from working efficiently. I usually had a TV on while I worked. Gone. Then I moved the desk to a room with a door. I bought a more comfortable chair, a bigger monitor, and a wireless mouse.

#1 – Myself – I am lazy, and it took a long time for me to realize there is no such thing as overnight success(or Get Rich Quick). It takes alot of time and effort to make money online. It is still the easiest job in the world, but you don’t get compensated unless you TAKE ACTION!

One of the most common questions I am asked is how I generate so much free traffic to my websites. Here is a list of methods I personally use to generate free traffic online:

1) SEO – The best way to generate free traffic is optimize the heck out of your website and get it ranked in the top tier search engines. Millions of people use these search engines each day, and you would be crazy not to try and capture some of this traffic. This is intimidating for many beginning internet marketers becuase they may not have much website programming knowledge. If this is you, don’t worry. I have found a way to develope a site with very little prior programming knowledge, which also naturally ranks well in search engines. My secret? Wordpress. Get it, install it, use it! I have converted all my sites to wordpress.

2) Forums – Go where your traffic/customers already spend time online and connect with them. Locate the top three forums in your niche and join each of them. Many forums will allow you to link to your website through the signature. Make sure this is allowed first, and follow the forum rules! Browse each forum daily and start adding QUALITY replies to the ongoing threads. If people find your conversation helpful, they will naturally follow your link for more quality content.

3) Video – I am just breaking into video, but the traffic has been huge so far. Using your broadest keyword, create a quality video with solid content for 1-3 minutes, and upload to YouTube. You do not have to record yourself, you can record your computer screen with a program like Camtasia. It may be tedious to create videos at first, but hang in there. Now that I have some experience, I can do 10 or more videos each day.

4) JV – Joint Ventures aren’t just for Make Money Online Guru’s and don’t have to involve money. If you are looking to bump your traffic, connect with someone in your general niche. Offer to feature them as a guest on your podcast, introduce them to your email list, or have them guest blog for you. In exchange, ask them to allow you to do the same on their internet sites. You can also try a banner or text link exchange. Just make sure that this adds value to your new partner and your visitors.