The number one most important thing in internet marketing is "The List". Having a list of peoples names and e-mail addresses that are interested in your niche and have agreed to let you market to them is pure GOLD. It's a marketer's dream, and the bigger your list is the bigger your bank account is going to be.
Everything you do online should be geared towards building your list! Repeat: Everything you do online should be geared towards building your list!
If you're driving traffic to a site that sells something and making money from the sales, but don't have a way to contact the people after the sale in order to continue to sell to them in the future, then you're essentially wasting your time. Sure you might make a little money here or there, but you're never going to make the real money until you've got a list.
The people that are consistently making money online are the same people that have larger lists and their list size almost always corresponds closely to the amount they make.
Its as simple as this: The more people you're able to market to the more money you'll be able to make, and the more opportunities you will be presented with.
While a lot of online marketers have tried to build a list at some point or another, most have never stuck with it or gotten enough results to make it worth their while. The vast majority of marketers that are either building a list right now or have tried to build a list in the past never make it past a few hundred subscribers.
So why do a lot of marketers fail when trying to build their list?Two things. First, they don't set up the right foundation for their list building efforts. By not setting things up properly in the beginning, they end up not making money from the few people that do end up getting on their list. Second, since they aren't making any money, they get sidetracked by something else and move on to "the next big thing". Essentially quitting.
List building is more of a long term strategy. It's not something you can just start one day and then by the end of the week be making millions of dollars. You have to consistently add people to your list, and keep marketing to these people the best you can.
A little effort done consistently, on a regular basis over time is a lot more powerful than a lot of effort done for only a few weeks. Its kinda like the story of The Turtle Vs. The Hare.
By learning the right things to focus on, and by setting things up the right way from the start, you're going to see results very quickly. This in turn will keep you motivated enough to continue on until the real CA$H starts rolling in!