By Andrii Demianenko

If you have ever tried to make money online, then you know how difficult it can be. There is so much information on the internet, that if you type in Google "how to make money online," you will find a lot of related content, most of which turns out to be either garbage or doesn`t tell the full story. Internet has become corrupt, and the big "G" has turned into a playground for marketers to promote some affiliate products.

If you want to achieve something online, you need to know where to start - and that`s exactly where people have the most problems.

Let me tell you my story: I wanted to make money pretty early in my life - when I just turned 18. After reading Robert Kiyosaki`s "Rich Dad - Poor Dad" I wanted to become an investor, which turned out to be a really stupid idea; then I`ve tried MLM, but I felt really embarrassed promoting perfume, toothbrushes and other stuff to people I knew and didn`t know.

One day I`ve discovered blogging as a way to make money. I`ve created a blog about self- development and wrote each and every day, but almost no one read my articles, and that`s why I`ve decided to quit and sell my website.

Afterwards, I`ve tried affiliate marketing, putting Adsense on my blogs and other known internet marketing strategies - I still couldn`t earn a dime. I really wanted to quit this whole "make money online business," until I`ve realized where I`ve screwed up: I didn`t focus on only one internet marketing area.

Let me explain: every journey has its ups and downs, and, usually, it starts off with a series of downs. As I started out, I experienced a lot of failures and made a ton of mistakes. At that time, I saw failures as a sign to quit and not becoming better at a specific area. If I`ve managed to hold on and master one area of IM - I would have made money much quicker.

That is really the main point of this article: before you start spending your money on some courses that promise you mountains of gold, find out what you`re good at. If you like writing, learn more about article marketing and blogging; if you like communicating with people - learn how to market yourself on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets; if you like investing into real estate, but don`t have enough funds to do so - try flipping websites (buying them, improving and then reselling); if you want to become the "Google slayer" focus on search engine optimization. Find out how Google works: which backlinks does it love and hate, how to optimize a website for the best results, etc.

Now take a piece of paper and write down all of your skills, talents and abilities. Take as much time as you need, and if you have troubles choosing - ask your parents, friends, girlfriend/boyfriend to help you out. They can tell you all about your strong sides from a third view perspective.

After you`ve done that, find relevant blogs, forums, ebooks and courses that teach the skills you`ve chosen to learn. For example, Darren Rowse`s blog "Problogger" wrote tons of articles about how to become a better blogger; my blog Try To Learn More" covers various topics, including article marketing, flipping websites, SEO and others.

All you need to do is take action. As in everything, you will need to invest time, patience and money to achieve your goals. But if you follow my above tip, you will have a clear understanding of what our path should look like.

Andrii Demianenko is the owner of "Try To Learn More" - a blog that covers practical ways to succeed online.