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Starting out in this industry can be rather daunting ... and at the same time it can appear to be a very easy way to make money.

Way too many people think that all you have to do is build a website or a gallery and then just sit back and wait for the money to roll in ... that's so easy! But of course they soon realise that life in this industry is not like that at all ... it's very hard work and takes real dedication if you want to succeed.

So if you've got over the notion that life here is easy ... and you're ready for the hard work because you really do want to succeed ... here are five tips to think about as you get started on the hard work.

Free
We've all heard the saying that there's no such thing as a free lunch and the same principle applies in this industry. Free isn't really free at all because there are always limitations or conditions attached. Free content is an absolute myth ... unless of course it's offered by a sponsor ... so don't even think of using it if someone offers it to you.

While it may be a good idea to start with free content from sponsors don't grow to rely on it because you're not the only one who is going to be using it and people won't stick around long enough to see your ads if the first thing they see is content that they've already seen 50 times before.

Cheap
When you buy cheap you are guaranteed of one thing ... you will get what you pay for. So don't be tempted to buy cheap hosting ... it's the very core of your business and when your website goes down because of a problem with your host you want to be able to call someone to fix it fast.

If you want good responsive hosting you have to pay for it and while it's not expensive it's certainly not cheap so be prepared to pay a reasonable rate for the things that are important for your business.

Build it and they will come
Hopefully you're still not believing that little piece of BS because it just isn't true. Of course you need to build sites and galleries ... lots of them ... but uploading them to your server is just the start. Once your sites and galleries are on line you need to start getting them listed with all the link lists and TGPs you can find because people won't come if they can't find your sites.

Yes, I know that going through the hassle of adding reciprocal links and submitting to every traffic source you can find is one of the most boring jobs on the planet but if you want to get people coming to your sites and galleries that's what you have to do.

Build and submit ... build and submit ... build and submit will become your daily ritual every day of the week ... accept it and you will succeed ... refuse to believe that's what you have to do and you will fail.

I can succeed by relying on search engine traffic
Don't believe it!

Oh I know that lots of people come into this industry thinking that they'll build killer sites that the search engines will love and so send them mad traffic numbers but it's not going to happen. The search engines' algorithms are set to reward sites that have lots of inbound links from other relevant sites so they're hardly going to notice new free sites or galleries.

Accept it ... it's the truth ... you're not going to get any worthwhile traffic numbers from the search engines for years to come.

Ask questions ... but don't trust the answers.
There are plenty of places online where newbies can ask questions ... and there are plenty of people out there who are prepared to supply the answers but are they the right answers?

How do you know if the person who is answering your questions has any experience of his own? Sure he may have a huge post count but is he giving your answers from his own experience or is he simply regurgitating something that someone else told him?

There's no way of knowing whether the answers you're getting are correct or not so don't trust them. Don't stake your future on them!

By all means take the answers on board and apply them to whatever it is that you're doing but try other solutions too. Even if the answer you got came from the respondent's own experience the fact is that in this industry what works for me may not work for you ... or anyone else for that matter.

Every time you ask a question you need to test the responses and never stake your future on something that you haven't tested for yourself.

I always remember a comment I read years ago from a very wise old webmaster who went by the nickname of Big Bear. The board I was on was talking about search engines and he said: "The truth about search engines is out there ... but you won't find it on any search engine board."

He was right ... the truth is out there but when it comes to this business you really do have to find it for yourself.

So I hope those five tips help you survive and grow to become an experienced webmaster who knows how to make a dollar or two.