I recently spent a couple of nights aboard the Queen Mary—once the largest and most luxurious ocean liner in the world; now a somewhat run-down hotel and tourist attraction permanently docked in Long Beach, California.

The proud Queen’s glory days are long gone. Retired from the sea in 1967, her once opulent accommodations are now old, worn, and ultimately depressing. Despite valiant efforts to maintain her original glamour, the money to keep her in mint condition is simply not there, and it shows.

The Queen Mary became a victim of a one-two punch in the 60s: fewer customers willing to pay for what she offered (luxury cruises), and competition from newer ships with far superior technology.

The stark contrast between old and new was clear when I saw a new cruise ship (the Carnival Paradise) dock next to the Queen. The Paradise is modern, efficient, popular, profitable and highly successful. The Queen is inferior, unable to achieve goals, has few customers, and is going broke—with little more than the memory of past achievements to give her value.

“Hey!” I thought. “That sounds like a great analogy for Internet marketers!”

So here’s my question… is your web site, blog, or online business more like the Carnival Paradise or the Queen Mary?

* Are you taking advantage of the latest technologies, tools and tips?
* Are you providing quality service to enough paying customers to make your efforts profitable?
* Do people who visit your site or use your product rave about it to others?
* Is your online business moving smoothly and efficiently along the course you have chosen?

If you answered “Yes” to most of those questions, congratulations! Your web site, blog or online business is shipshape, to be envied and admired!

If you answered “No” to most of those questions, I’m afraid your glory days are over (or perhaps were never achieved). You have two choices:

1. Abandon ship. You don’t have to let it sink; you can just dock it permanently and allow the occasional visitor to step aboard and enjoy it. But to continue sailing along the same course—hoping customers will increase, competition will disappear, and things will somehow improve—is futile and doomed to failure.

2. Retrofit, rebuild and relaunch. With enough time, effort, and/or money, even an obsolete rust bucket can become a sleek, efficient and successful beauty—if its original purpose is still sound and worth saving.

Sometimes the first option makes more sense, even though it may cause you some temporary grief. It’s hard to let go of our dreams.

But abandoning ship isn’t a bad thing once you realize it’s beyond saving. You’ll survive, and become free to devote your energies to creating an exciting new vessel that will take you (and your paying passengers) wherever you want to go!

With that thought in mind, I’ve decided to abandon this blog.

It was great fun to sail it around and test the waters. But that's all it was… a test.

Although I enjoyed it quite a bit, blogging about earning money onlines was never my passion–and there are certainly many, many far superior blogs in this overcrowded niche. This blog has become like the Queen Mary to me: full of fond memories, but not going anywhere. I have no desire to retrofit a ship that isn’t likely to take me where I want to go. (I do have a destination in mind and a specific course plotted to reach it with another vessel; I'm abandoning this blog, not my online business.)

So as I and this blog sail off into the sunset one last time, I wish you all the best on your voyages to success!