Like Competitive Street Fighter

I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not very good at video games in general and at Street Fighter in particular. I lack the execution skills and the patience, so I just end up being a button masher. And even though I don’t have as much time as I once did to play this game, I still thoroughly enjoy it.

Now, you might be wondering why I’m writing about Street Fighter on a site that focuses more on the dot com lifestyle and how to make a healthy living on the Internet. As it turns out, especially if you look at the competitive scene, there is a lot to be learned from Street Fighter that can apply to your Internet marketing and professional blogging exploits. Allow me to explain.

Start with Fundamentals

Most people look at a game like Street Fighter and they assume that what it means to be “good” at the game is the ability to execute elaborate multi-hit combos in the flashiest of fashions. However, fancy combos are really the last step in getting “good” at Street Fighter. It starts with the fundamentals.

You want to understand spacing. You want to understand how certain moves link together and why. You want to understand what are the best counters for specific situations. These all come before stringing together an epic combo. And the exact same thing can be said about Internet marketing. You should have a firm grasp of the basics before you attempt more advanced techniques. Otherwise, you’re just going to get frustrated and you likely won’t “win” either.

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Know Your Options

This is an extension of the previous point. In any given situation in Street Fighter, you have a near infinite number of possibilities. You could choose to jump in on your opponent. You could choose to walk forward. You could choose to throw out a fireball. Each of these options can offer advantages and disadvantages, so you need to decide which is the best choice at that precise moment.

And with making money online, you are also presented with a myriad of options and these can change just as quickly as in the heat of a Street Fighter battle. Recognize what your options may be and choose accordingly.

Vary Your Strategy

One of the pitfalls that many beginning Street Fighter players encounter is that they’ll discover a certain move or tactic that seems to be effective. So, they’ll use it over and over and over again. By contrast, one of the hallmarks of a successful professional player is the ability to vary their game and to be more unpredictable.

Relying on a single strategy for online marketing is also not a good idea. Eventually, Google will change its algorithm, other affiliates will discover that niche offer you’ve been promoting, or the nature of a social network will change. As with Street Fighter, in the context of making money online, it’s adapt or die.

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Study Your Opponent

Even though they all have access to the same moves and the same characters, you’ll find that competitive Street Fighter players all have different strategies, tactics, and personalities. This is why, at high-level play, you’ll find participants spending a lot of time reviewing older matches of their opponents, just as professional athletes and coaches study old tape. This way, they can expose weaknesses and adjust their approach accordingly.

With making money online, it also makes a lot of sense to study your competition. Indeed, you’ll find there are a lot of software suites that help you analyze the SEO practices of your key competition, giving you insight into what keywords to target and what backlinks you should pursue.

Learn from Your Losses

It goes without saying that we all want to win. It also goes without saying that we can’t all win all the time. Losing a match in Street Fighter can be disheartening, whether you get demolished or you lose by just a pixel of remaining health. Amateur and casual players just get down on themselves. Professional players accept the loss and learn from it. Going back to the previous point, they may “review the tape” to see what they could have done better.

You can probably guess where this is going. As you continue this journey toward living the dot com lifestyle, you’re going to encounter some speedbumps, hiccups, and stalls. Not everything you attempt is going to be a resounding success. Failure isn’t something to be feared. It’s something to be valued, because it’s how you’re going to learn how to win.

Love What You Do

Unlike some other professional e-sport competitors, professional Street Fighter players don’t make nearly as much money comparatively. The prize pools are getting better, but the fact of the matter is that most players participate in the competitive scene because they love it.

Make no mistake: a big part of making money online is about making money and it is certainly rewarding when you start seeing some huge checks come through the mail. At the same time, it’s even better when you love what you do. After all, the two most valuable aspects of making money online aren’t actually about the money.

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