Welcome to Internet Habits!
My mission is to help you achieve your business goals.
Let me help you start a website, develop a personal productivity system and gain the skills you need to make money online (without it taking over your life).
The goal is to work less and make more.
Below, you’ll find the steps you should take…
I’m Here To Help You
I’m Pete Williams, the creator of Internet Habits. My goal with this blog is to help you achieve more.
Check out the About page if you’d like more info about the website and me.
If you’re here because you want to:
- start an online business
- develop new habits to help you achieve more
…then you’re in the right place.
I’m here to provide you with honest online business advice.
I’ll take action, test and then share with you what works. That’s what Internet Habits is all about.
I lead by example.
Step 1: Take Action
This website is for you if you’re committed to growing yourself and/or your business to reach your potential and succeed.
Whether you’re new to blogging or looking for ways to improve yourself, this page is designed to point you in the right direction so you get started on the right foot.
The content on Internet Habits is written in an easy-to-follow format to make learning nice and straightforward.
The best way to reinforce learning is to put it into action, so choose a relevant step below and get started!
Here’s an easy action step to get the ball rolling:
Subscribe to Internet Habits – It’s Free!
If you haven’t already, subscribe to the mailing list. It’s the easiest way for me to help you.
Plus, you’ll also receive exclusive email-only content.
Step 2: Set Up Your Online Marketing Platform
To run any business online, you need a platform from which you can operate. Once this is set up, you can work on creating the systems that allow you to make money online without needing to be present.
In other words, you put in the hard work upfront and then continually reap the rewards later.
Sounds good, right?
It certainly is good, but it’s not easy. There’s a lot of hard work required to make money online, and it takes time. If you’re looking for a get rich quick scheme, go get scammed by the internet marketers that prey on false hope.
I’m here to tell you the truth and share with you what works, but it’s down to you to put in the effort and take action.
Choose Your Marketing Platform
When setting up an online business, your marketing platform needs to be a website. At this point, you have two choices:
- A free option such as Blogger, Tumblr, or WordPress.com
- A self-hosted website
This is a relatively easy choice. The free options are very limited:
- Restricted control over website design, functionality, optimisation and monetisation
- Your domain name will be an extension of the service provider’s name (e.g. If I chose Tumblr as my platform for Internet Habits, the website address would be https://internethabits.tumblr.com/ instead of https://internethabits.com/)
Most Importantly: You’re vulnerable to any changes made by the service provider you choose.
What happens if you break their terms and conditions?
They could remove your website, and you would lose your business.
FAIL!What if the service provider closes?
Again, you would lose your business!
FAIL!Recommended: Self-Hosted WordPress Website
These risks and limitations are why I recommend you avoid the free options and make the sensible decision, choosing to set up a self-hosted website.
It’s the more professional choice, and it gives you complete control.
To self-host a website, you need to purchase hosting. The hosting company I recommend you use for your first website is Bluehost . I trust this company, and it’s where Internet Habits started out.
For a step-by-step guide on how to set up a self-hosted WordPress blog, please check out my tutorial. It’s easier than you think:
Step 3: Get The Tools To Make Your Life Easier
If you’re interested in the tools, services and apps I use and recommend to help run a blog, check out the Resources page.
I consider these the essentials:
Bluehost Website Hosting
Plain and simple, you need somewhere to host your website.
Bluehost are a sensible choice for your first website. They’re inexpensive to start with, easy to set up, and one of the handful of hosts WordPress.org itself lists on its hosting page. As with any host, check what it costs when you renew, not just what you pay today.
If you’re in the UK, Krystal is a good alternative: a UK company with UK-based support.
You can switch to a more expensive, managed web host once your website has a large audience and good income. When starting out, save your money and go with Bluehost .
GeneratePress WordPress Theme
GeneratePress is hands down one of the best themes available for WordPress, especially if you care about performance. Combined with GenerateBlocks, this lightweight, block-based theme builder allows you to build virtually anything without touching a line of code.
It’s written with the latest coding standards, which will make your site compatible with future changes to the web. It’s also mobile-responsive, cross-browser compatible, and follows all WordPress security best practices.
It prioritises the essentials for your website to achieve optimal performance for your visitors and search engines.
It’s not just the theme that’s great, either. If you need any help, the GeneratePress support team is fantastic.
Whether you’re building a website for eCommerce or to blog, GeneratePress has you covered.
I’ve used GeneratePress on other sites, and it’s hard to fault. Internet Habits itself is built on Bricks, a theme and visual builder in one. It’s a brilliant option if you want full control over your design, but it has a bigger learning curve, so if you just want a fast blog, start with GeneratePress.
You could also check out the WordPress themes by Blocksy (great for beginners), Neve , or the all-in-one option, Divi from Elegant Themes .
Kit Email Marketing
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is my number one recommendation for email management and automation.
If you want to know why, you can see a comparison of what I consider the best email marketing service providers here.
If you’re new to email marketing, they offer a free plan !
Two other options are worth knowing about. MailerLite is very easy to get to grips with and has a free plan too. And if your site runs on WordPress, FluentCRM lets you manage your entire email list from within your WordPress dashboard. It’s what I use on Internet Habits.
LeadPages Landing Page Builder
Having an email list for your business is an absolute necessity. So, it makes sense to have a tool to help you build a list. That’s where LeadPages comes in.
LeadPages is a super easy-to-use tool for creating high-quality landing pages. With tons of templates proven to convert your viewers into subscribers (or buyers), you’ll be able to create opt-in, sales, webinar, and thank-you pages within minutes. It also comes with split testing, built-in analytics and conversion stats, so you’ll be able to tweak your pages to capture even more leads. LeadPages works with both WordPress and non-WordPress sites.
Step 4: Develop Your Personal Productivity System
Once you have the platform to market from and the tools to help build and captivate your audience, you can benefit from a productivity system to help you get things done.
The best place to start is the productivity section of My Bookshelf. It’s where you’ll find the books I recommend for building a system that works for you.
Step 5: Marketing: Make Money From Your Website (or Blog)
Once you have a website, you need to create content, promote that content, and offer your readers something to buy.
This doesn’t have to be your own product; you can promote someone else’s as an affiliate.
Affiliate marketing is when you promote someone else’s products or services and share the profits from the sale.
When done well, affiliate marketing can grow into a real source of income. It takes time, though, and results vary a lot from person to person.
It has been responsible for a huge part of my success online.
To help you replicate some of that success, I’ve created this free guide to share my top affiliate marketing tips:
Step 6: Invest In Yourself
Stop and think for a second…
Is there anything you want to get better at?
Assuming the answer is yes, would you rather figure out how to get better at it by yourself or learn from people who have already accomplished it?
It makes sense to shorten your learning curve. That’s where the following information resources come in handy:
Books
I’m a huge fan of books. They’re one of the easiest ways to invest in yourself.
Do you want to learn from the world’s best businessmen and women?
Read their books. They usually share their best ideas, thoughts and experiences.
You can be mentored by the best in the world just by reading their books.
For a list of my favourite and recommended books, check out My Bookshelf.
Courses
Working through a course and then implementing what I’ve learned is probably my favourite way to develop new skills.
Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.
Jim Rohn
I enjoy online courses in particular because they allow me to progress at my own pace from the comfort of my home office. Plus, in most cases, you don’t have to apply to be enrolled in the course. You buy what you want and get instant access.
My Resources page contains a list of some of my favourite online courses.
Seminars
Seminars are a great way to learn with the added benefit of networking.
Why is networking beneficial?
Networking allows you to build relationships that could deliver results in the future.
You could develop a relationship that presents you with a lucrative business opportunity. Opportunities like joint ventures, speaking and writing gigs, partnerships, etc.
What happens if you run into a problem and need advice?
There are some things that Google can’t answer. However, someone in your network may be able to point you in the right direction.
You could even arrange regular get-togethers in the form of a mastermind. This is where a group of people with common goals and interests get together to help each other work through challenges using each other’s collective intelligence.
Plus, people in your network may even help to promote you.
Oh, and there’s always this:
Thank You
Finally, I’m a big believer in gratitude. I appreciate you!
Thank you for taking the time to read my content. I hope that Internet Habits becomes a valuable resource to you both now and in the future.
If I’ve helped you, please let me know about your successes. If I can help you further, please let me know how.
If it relates to a specific blog post, leave me a message in the comments section below that post.
If it’s for anything else, the Contact page is the best way to reach me.
You can also find Internet Habits on Facebook and X (previously Twitter).
I look forward to hearing from you.
To Your Success!
Pete Williams
