I was reading a blog post the other day, which talked about doing things your own way when you are working online – not just following the “herd mentality” and doing everything the way the experts tell you is the only right way.

This post might get long winded, and maybe go a bit all over the place, so I do apologize.  I tend to write as though I am talking, and as happens a lot of the time I am talking, I can go in about 5 different directions by the time I am finished!  But, I will do my best to keep you with me;-)

I have been working online for a few years now – and I am proud of the fact that I have never sold myself out to make money.  What I mean is, I know there are markets, and niches I could go into that would make me very good money.  However, I can’t – in my own conscience – do it.  Not that I am saying that those who do are bad people – but I just know that it isn’t something for me.

At the end of the day, I am accountable to me, and my kids.  Truth is, my number one job is being a mom – that is first and foremost.  And, I can’t let myself go into a market that I myself am not comfortable with.  

But – that isn’t the real point of the post.  The point is, that when you are working online, as it is with any job, you need to be who you are, and you need to be doing things that are in line with your beliefs and your personality.  The experts can tell you to go and do a hundred things – but if you don’t believe that what you would be doing reflects who you are, then you will have a hard time being committed to it.

Now, I might take a lot of heat over this – but, I personally have always had a very hard time going and doing a massive social bookmarking campaign.  I have tried to do it the way the experts say I have to – but I do feel sometimes like I am taking advantage of a service that really isn’t meant to just post links to my personal pages.

Don ‘t get me wrong – I have stumbled my pages, I have “Digged” them, submitted them to tons of others, but I do still have a hard time setting up profiles on hundreds of social sites just for the purpose of building the links back to my site.

I know that there isn’t anything really wrong with it – but for some reason, there is just something about it that I feel is a bit “spammy”.

Perhaps that is why I don’t have a huge following on my blog – although it could also do with the fact that I had left it sitting idle for almost a year too…….I do have some RSS subscribers, (Thank you, by the way!), but I am nowhere near the numbers of some of the really big blogs – and don’t know if I ever will be.

Some days, I feel like I am writing to myself.  I don’t know if I am writing any useful content – I hope that I can give some entertainment to some of you, and maybe even offer some advice and tips that can help, but it is difficult to know sometimes if you are really doing things right.

I love to write – and that is the reason I am blogging.  I would love to have a huge following some day, but I will have to find my own ways to build the traffic to my site – methods that I feel comfortable with.  I want my readers to know that I am genuine – when I write something, it will be as honest as possible.  That is who I am – and I am not going to change that.

I know that some people would say that I will be eaten alive in the “Online Marketing World”, but I believe that everyone has their own way of doing things, and I hope that by remaining loyal to who I am, and who I would like my kids to be, then maybe I will be alright and carve out my own little corner on the internet that allows me to make some money, doing something I love.

I am not saying not to take any advice, or follow any techniques you are being taught – far from that!  You will not learn anything new if you aren’t prepared to try what experts are teaching you.

But, don’t follow blindly.  Make sure you are learning techniques that you are going to stick with – or else you will continue running in circles wondering why everyone else has succeeded online, when you haven’t.  The truth is, if you aren’t comfortable with what you are doing – then you won’t keep doing it.

Take blogging for example – I think one of the reasons I had such a hard time committing to this blog in the beginning was that I was being told – “You need to research keywords, write articles around them optimize everything for those keywords, repeat every day for a new article”.  And, that is great for article marketing, and for niche blogs – but for a blog that I really wanted to enjoy, and to offer genuine material for my readers – that just wasn’t something I could commit to every single day.

Now – if I post once or twice a week – I am happy.  I am sure there will be times I will go longer – and maybe some days, I just might have more than one thing to say.  I don’t know – but I will follow my gut on that one.

And – hopefully, I have put this article together in a way that makes sense.  I know there is alot of information out there – find something you love, learn all you can – take what you feel is right for who you are, and start applying it.

That is how you will “make it”.