I'll give you two reasons why people give up. First, there's obvious reason that's right on surface in plain view. It's *HARD*. Don't believe anyone that tells you there's an easy way to make bucks online. There's not. It's hard. And hardest part is making first few dollars.

This means you may have to work very hard for a long time without getting much in return. Most people don't want to do that. They work hard for a little while, they get nothing for it, and they give up in frustration. So why do some people keep going?

This brings me to second reason that people give up. This one is deep down under surface. People don't really give up because it's hard.

People give up because they don't have a good enough reason to keep going.

If you're going to succeed, you need to have a *good* reason for working so hard for so little for so long.

When I first started online, I worked for four months before I made any profit at all (some people go much longer). But I kept going for so long without getting anything because I had a good reason. In fact, I had several good reasons.

Many people, if you ask them why they're interested in internet marketing, say that they want to make money. But that's not good enough. Money is only useful if you do something useful with it. You need to know *why* you want it.

Everyone has a different reason, but generally I think there are two good reasons to keep going.

Reciprocal links are becoming problematic, if you read recent articles circulating Web. Search engines are getting costly. Webrings can work if you have lots of room on a main page for posting, but it's getting difficult to find good size ones that will give you real traffic.

I've found a variation that is bringing increasing attention to my sites, and it allows me to share my interests with others and offer increased traffic to them. Have you heard of Top Sites, or Best Sites, lists? I love them. You go to a page that has a list of sites that specifically relate to your interest. Something like mini-directories. They have benefits that reciprocal linking used to have, without hassles. Something of a free advertising cooperative, actually.