Interview with “SMB College Life Blog” publisher Shawn Borelli

My name is Shawn Borelli and I’m currently a college student studying engineering. I developed www.SMBCollegeLife.com because I had a hard time getting into, and paying for college myself.  I wanted to publish all the information that I found over the years that helped me with my college education.  I’ve also been able to collect a lot of information from my friends who were other college students’ going through similar struggles. Shortly after initial development I found myself researching as much information about the college planning process in order to publish the information to help a larger group of high school and college students.  My dedication quickly turned from making a few bucks and gaining credibility to helping people, which is when the real development of SMB College Life took place. The SMB College Life Blog was developed as an extension of the website, allowing me to quickly publish useful college news any time, anywhere. The SMB College Life site and blog are still in not-for-profit development phase, and only released to a small group of people.  The site will be launched to the general public in July 2008, when the first SMB College Life Student Pamphlet will be released in high schools around the country.

  WJ:  How would you describe your profession?

I am currently a full time student, studying Mechanical Engineering, and I also work for myself making small sales on EBay to get by and developing SMB College Life.  I’m hoping to spend the summer working within the digital media industry and continuing to prepare SMB College Life for its launch to the general public in July 2008.  I’m hoping that my profession will change from a full time student to full time developer of SMB College Life. The greatest success in life comes from helping other people and that is what I really want to do.

 WJ:  How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications? Did you see yourself getting into this field early on? What did you used to do “in an earlier life” (prior career, if any)?

I got into online publishing last summer when I took a computer science course and need to find something fun to do that would help me learn computer programming.  Enter the World Wide Web!   I was hooked instantly and began spending a good amount of time learning programming through website development.  The website development turned into a passion for helping other students just like me, and SMB College Life was born. I soon started compiling pages of information that I collected myself and from college friends into reports which I later used as content on SMB College Life. 

 WJ:  What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?

There are many things that make online publishing a lucrative business.  The development of search engines was one of the most important things that helped online publishers reach their target audience.  Online advertising opened the doors to generating continuous revenue streams for established publishers and enabled bootstrapping for new publishers. It’s really not that difficult to implement a working business model online.  The hard part today is reaching your target customer.

 WJ:  In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?

In my opinion, one of the most exciting new developments to web publishing has been the availability and ease of integration of widgets.  With all of the current widgets available for free use it is easy for anyone to build a widget-based website without having to know much code.  Current technologies and consumer products are being built as widget-based systems and are a big hit on the mass market.  These systems will allow users to personalize their browsing experience, portable devices, media systems, and so much more.  The doors are opening to develop all new business models using widget- based systems. 

 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?

There are a combination of skills that makes one a successful webmaster.  Building a good reputation amongst your audience is one thing.  Content is another key to becoming a successful webmaster.  This is what people will be interested in, your content.  You can publish anything online but if it is not valid, useful, or interesting information than it will be hard to build an audience.  Marketing is the key to building an audience of readers.  If you can’t reach your target audience then they will never know about you and you’ll be writing to yourself.  You can build a credible reputation, publish hundreds of pages of content, successfully market directly to your target audience but if you don’t have some sort of business model in place then you will not profit from your efforts.  It takes time and money to publish online so you want to make enough to pay for your time and investment at the least.  Proper business models will generate streams of income that will help you to expand your skills and work on new things.  All these skills combined make a successful webmaster.  Programming is really secondary these days with all the resources available online.

 WJ:  Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for your business?

Specialization is a good thing for my business.  I’m not the best coder in the world, nor am I the most artistic when it comes to creating images and graphics.  It’s taken me some time to get to the level I’m at today with coding and design, and I plan to enhance my skills as I continue to publish.  The things that I specialize in are helping people, producing quality work, and creating something out of nothing.  I’ve focused my efforts on these skills and received additional help along the way to develop SMB College Life.  This will one day create more career opportunities within my business and help me to focus on my individual skills.

 WJ:  Do you think the industry is regulated enough? Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive? Which areas of online activity do you think NEED further regulation?

I think that the regulations on the industry have gotten better over the years but there is always room for improvement.  I think that spam regulations have gotten significantly better over the last few years as we no longer have to worry about five pop-up screens coming up every time we use our web browsers.  I know I only see one, maybe two per month which is a great step forward.   Tighter regulations need to be developed when it comes to spamming, especially email spam.  I receive a lot of spam in my inbox daily and this really troubles me because people are abusing email lists.  This makes it hard for legitimate businesses to send informative emails to potential customers without being instantly labeled as spam and deleted.  Ideally, I could have the answer to everyone’s student loan debt but I wouldn’t be able to reach anyone with the message because people would see an unfamiliar email address in their inbox and automatically delete my email.  This is because everyone is so used to unfamiliar emails being spam today.  Very frustrating!

 WJ:  What are the challenges the industry is facing today?

I think the challenges that the industry is facing today is seperating the legitimate websites from the one’s created by people who know how to cheat the system, fill a page with nothing but advertisements and take the search engine rankings away from the people who have good content and want to help others by reaching a target audience.  Search engines have gotten more refined over the years but more development needs to be done to improve the current system.  There are so many websites today, with the same exact content, that it is really hard to find the exact content you are searching for.  This only leaves room for niche search engines to take over and specialize in certain areas of the market.

 WJ:  What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?

If you are just starting out in the online business world be prepared to spend a lot of time learning new things.  There are some many little things that go into properly creating a website and publishing your content that it’s very hard to know them all when just starting out.  Be persistent yet flexible with your design and development as it will happen in stages.  Identify your target market early on and be prepared to work hard to try and reach this market.  If you are bootstrapping then be prepared to wait a lot longer.  The most important thing I’ve heard throughout my development of SMB College Life came from my grandfather.  He checked out the SMB College Life site one day and complimented me on the great job I had done on it.  The next thing that came out of his mouth was simple and effective.  He said, “How are people going to use your site if they don’t know about it?”.……………………..Thanks for reading my profile!

Interview with real-life college blogger, Jill Hamilton

Jill is a Journalism student in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada and has been blogging since 2001. She recently started a college blog Kill Jill Goes To College . She also is the creator of an online arts magazine Jill Pushed Jack  and maintains a directory for fictional blogs, Flogalicious .

Her official site can be found at http://www.jillianne-hamilton.com.
 
 WJ: How would you describe your profession?

The career that I’ll be entering after my program is Journalism. I especially want to be  involved in Entertainment Journalism. I think it would be a great experience, making a living by interviewing singers, actors, people involved in showbiz. I’d also like to work as a critic. I mean, who WOULDN’T want to get paid for giving their opinion on a movie, stage play, musical, concert or album? People are becoming increasingly interested in the lives of celebrities and riding that wave of interest is exactly what I plan to do.
 
 WJ: How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications?  Did you see yourself getting into this field early on?

Even before we had the internet, I thought it was such a neat idea: publishing your own work online for the whole world to see. As soon as my family got online, I started learning about websites, HTML and the many opportunities for self-publication that are available on the internet. I started making small websites, keeping an online blog and finally finding my place on the internet as a blogger and writer.
 
 WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?

I think one of the best things about online publishing is the fact that so many people are able to see what you’ve got to offer and read your words. Anybody on the planet with access to the web can read your thoughts and opinions and, for the most part, the reader doesn’t have to hand over a credit card to read those opinions.

Also, the production of websites like Wordpress and Blogger have helped a lot. People out there who aren’t that interested in learning HTML but want to get their articles and opinions published can do that very easily. In fact, with my own blogs, I prefer to use Wordpress just so I can focus on what I’m writing, instead of having to fiddle with HTML. I could if I wanted to, but I choose not to.
 
 WJ: In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?

Although not really a NEW development in publishing, video blogging seems like an  interesting way of sharing your opinions. For those of us (i.e. not myself) who are better at speaking than writing, it’s a great way to share your thoughts about different topics. Although, I think there’s also a downside to this: the revolution of writers that the internet has spawned could be cancelled out by video bloggers who don’t want to take the effort to put their thoughts in writing.
 
 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?

Some of the basic things that a webmaster should know are:
1) The use of proper grammar, or at least acceptable grammar. There is nothing worse than reading an article on a website that includes statements like “Thiz CD was awsum and I give it 2 thums up!!!!!!”. Not only is it annoying to the reader, it makes the writer look like an idiot.

2) The ability to put together colors that compliment and are pleasing to the eye. Whether you are choosing a pre-made theme for your blog or designing a layout for your website, making your place of publication is half the battle.

3) The most important thing, probably, is having something significant to share. Although  writing a personal blog simply for the love of writing is fine by me (since I myself do that very thing), the thoughts you are sharing must be somewhat important to someone, or else what’s the point?
 
 WJ: Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for the business of online publishing?

I think it’s a good thing because now each employee working for a website can focus on their job, whether it be writer or graphic designer. That way, each employee can become gradually better at their job.
 
 WJ: Do you think the industry is regulated enough? Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive? Which areas of online activity do you think NEED further regulation?

The only opinion I have on this would be that of people getting fired for sharing their thoughts on a personal blog. Although, obviously, there are things that happen within a company that should not be shared, but if a personal blogs about their personal life and they happen to mention where they work, they shouldn’t be reprimanded for it. The blogger should be able to express their opinions freely without losing their job.
 
 WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?

Have something important to say. Re-read what you’ve written before you post anything. Do link exchanges with websites like your own. Add your website to online directories. If somebody comments on your blog, be nice and comment back. Write articles for other people - but write for yourself first and foremost. That’s the most important person you should write for.

Domain Name Business Trends

The age of the Internet introduced many technological advancements when it comes to the distribution of information and how people do business - managing employees, selling, buying, advertising, and other aspects when engaging in a business. As a result, Internet-based media is now popular especially among the younger groups. One example of how the Internet is slowly shaping today’s information distribution and business industry is the concept of domaining.
 
Domaining 101
 
Basically, domaining is the act of monetizing, selling, buying, and developing Internet domain names. The domain names that are usually involved in this kind of business include those that are marketable (i.e. generic domain names) or those whose registrations have fallen in disuse but can still generate a reasonable amount of traffic. As part of the web address, the domain name precedes extensions such as .com, .org, .gov, and other kinds typically used. People who professionally monetize, buy, sell, and develop Internet domain names are referred to as “domainers.”
 
Controversies In The Domaining Industry
 
Domaining may promise financial benefits because of the Internet’s growing popularity compared to traditional media but this rise to fame has been smeared by several controversies. One such issue is domain tasting. Abused by some practitioners, domain tasting is the act of using the “5-day grace period” given by the ICANN (Internet Corporation For for Assigned Names and Numbers) to test out a domain name’s marketability. This is usually done by the registrant or by the individual who plans to buy a certain domain name.
 
Unfortunately, this practice has been deemed “controversial” by some because thousands of domain names are temporary registered to qualify for the “5-day grace period” but only a few are actually given full operating licenses. Another controversial issue in connection to domain tasting is domain kiting although the latter is quite different. In domain kiting, practitioners abuse the “5-day grace period” and delete a specific domain name and re-register it for another 5-day grace period. Practitioners of this illegal act end up registering a certain domain name without really paying for the service.
 
Another issue with regards to the domain name industry is domain name frontrunning or DNFR. In DNFR, a practitioner illegally acquires a user’s searched domain names and puts those domain names for re-sale. A company that has been accused of DNFR is Network Solutions.
 
The Latest Trends In Domaining
 
Currently, there is a “landrush” period starting from the 20th of February to the 12th of March, 2008 regarding domain names with .asia as their extensions. As a result, many domainers - people who professionally acquire, develop, and sell domain names - are now joining the “landrush” with the hopes of hitting it big time. The “.asia landrush” may attract plenty of domainers and investors but they should read and understand well the requirements and procedures first to avoid confusion. An issue that recently arose was the confusion on whether domain names with .asia as extensions are on a first-come-first-served basis or are offered through an auction.

Creating a Winning Dating Site

Dating sites are popular business these days.  Since the beginning of the Internet,
people have found that using dating sites is a great way to make new connections and possibly find true love. 

Additionally, webmasters have discovered that running dating sites is a profitable
business, however without the right Internet marketing strategies, no one will ever find your website.  So what are the best ways to create a winning dating site that will draw users globally?  Well, there are many techniques that webmasters use to ensure that their dating sites deliver the content that people need.  Yet, what you may not realize is the vast amount of competition that dating sites face against each other. 

The key to creating a dating site that draws members is in offering a unique promotion that other sites aren’t running, and that at times can be difficult.

One of the first areas to consider when creating a dating site is what type of dating
site you will have.  There are many different groups, religious affiliations, and
different groups that you may target with your site.  It is important to first determine
which group you are going to advertise to.  Some of the most popular groups include
Christian, Jewish, single parents, college students, intergenerational dating, gay and lesbian, or by geographical location. 

Since the competition between dating sites is high, you’ll find that webmasters compete with each other to gain the most members.  Typically this is accomplished by offering various freebies to get new members to join.  They may offer a discount on the membership fee or even waive the fee entirely. You’ll also notice that many Internet dating sites choose to offer a free E-book upon joining.  This is a very popular marketing strategy amongst dating sites because it is highly effective.  People love to receive things for free and if you want to attract members a free giveaway is your best bet.

However, what has been shown to be the most effective marketing strategy is to find a freebie or marketing tool that is completely unlike anything that the competition is doing.  It may be difficult at first to come up with an original marketing plan, but you’ll find that the results are well worth the effort. 

Another very popular marketing technique used by dating sites is to offer an affiliate program.  With this, the webmaster will pay a percentage of their profits to affiliates who advertise and market the dating site and then send traffic to the site. The webmaster pays the affiliates a percentage for the new members.

Your choice of Internet marketing strategies are a vital component to having a winning dating site, however if your site lacks sufficient content or has a poor design, your efforts will be in vain.  Far too often, new webmasters are so excited at the prospect of earning a significant income with their dating site that they fail to adequately build the site first, and then promote it.  You must take the time necessary to ensure that your site is ready for its members before investing your time, energy, and money in marketing your site.

Word Press Plugins Overview

Word Press is one of the most popular blogging platforms available today. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons that has contributed to Word Press’ great success is the availability of its many plugins.  The amount of Word Press plugins has allowed webmasters to create virtually any type of blog that they desire.  The plugins are a great way to ensure that you have all of the rich content and data that you need to create a successful and well-optimized blog.

Though plugins will enhance your blog, one thing is certain; plugins will do very little  good if you cannot find them.  The easiest way to find the plugins that you need is to visit the official Word Press blog and browse through the countless plugins located in their directory.  You’ll find that plugins range from the very simple to the more elaborate and perform a wide and varied number of services. You can select from plugins by categories  such as Most Popular and Newest.

Another amazing benefit that you’ll find inherent with Word Press plugins, is the fact that they are continually adding new plugins to their collection.

Widgets are a great way to add versatility and user functionality to your blog.  Widgets are easy to implement.  You can use a sidebar widget plugin to easily add content to the side of your blog.  You’ll also find that there are many plugins that not only make your blog functional for your visitors, but also practical for search engines.  These are a great alternative for those who may not be familiar with the intricacies of Search Engine Optimization.  Using one of the SEO plugins can help ensure that your blog is picked up by the search engines and given a good page rank as well as indexed in the top ten results. 

One plugin in particular is the Word Press All in One SEO Pack.  The plugin ensures that your blogs titles are in the best format for search engines, as well as creates Meta Tags for your blog and individual blog content.  This is an excellent plugin for those who are looking to increase their search engine placement.

Another very beneficial plugin for Word Press is the Google Sitemap Generator. 

Many people understand that site maps are a vital tool used to increase search engine placement, however they may struggle with the idea of creating a site map themselves.  The Google Sitemap Generator Plugin takes care of the work for you.

One of the essential advantages found in the Google Sitemap plugin is the fact that it will automatically update your sitemap every time you create a new post. In addition, the plugin will notify all of the major search engines that your sitemap has been updated.  This is an extremely valuable benefit to using Word Press over other blogging systems.  As the search engines remain up to date with your latest changes to your blog, you won’t risk losing your search engine placement as easily as you would with other blogging platforms.

Cleaning up a Domain portfolio ? Ask yourself before you decide to renew a domain.

Cleaning up a portfolio is a task few domainers look forward to. After all, it’s not easy  to let go of a domain. But as internet marketing expert Paul Forcey points out, a lot of domains cost a lot more to keep than what they give back. Renewal fees aren’t exactly cheap either, so. When you start getting those renewal notices, don’t just go clicking away — take some time to decide whether each domain is worth keeping.

Here are some questions to ask yourself before you decide to renew a domain.

Is it making money?

It costs real dollars to keep a domain, so it’s only worth it if it’s bringing in real dollars as well. If it doesn’t cover the registration fee and monthly fees, drop it — it’s not likely to start making money anytime soon. Choose the domains that make the most money as parked; these are usually the biggest (and easiest) profits.

Any good traffic?
 
Traffic is the main indicator of a website’s earning potential. But the operative word here is “good”. Traffic alone won’t bring in the bucks; targeted traffic will. So perhaps a more specific question to ask is:

Is there any traffic from your target demographic?

Of course, if it makes a fair bit of money parked, chances are it’ll make pretty decent money once you develop it.

Does it rank in the Big 3?

How many of the domain’s pages are indexed in the three major search engines(Google, MSN, Yahoo)? Having pages indexed in major search engines is valuable, so you’ll want to hold on to your well-ranked domains. Note that the supplemental results that come out in Google don’t count for much, so try to avoid that placement. Keep your inbound links up and make sure you’re not duplicating (or being duplicated).

 Is it still credible?

A domain may have been popular when you first bought it, but search engine standards don’t stay the same forever. For instance, .info domains are no longer very profitable as they’ve become synonymous to spam sites. Lesser-known extensions such as .biz seem to be heading in the same direction. If the site has gone supplemental on Google, renewing is much less likely to pay off.

What potential does it have?

How do you plan on earning off the domain? If all you have is a gut feeling that it’ll earn, try to find something more concrete. Click revenues are usually your best bet. If you’re relying on long-term ROI, make sure it’ll cover subsequent renewal costs.

Interview with Ty Hurd - independent Pro Blogger from TysBlog.com

Ty Hurd has a background in both real-world and online marketing. He has had the pleasure to work as an independent project, market, and event manager for clients such as Philip Morris,  Microsoft, Monster Energy, L’Oreal, and Motorola to name a few. Ty recently decided to put his marketing experience and interest in internet business together and started TysBlog.com  - a pro blog for pro bloggers.  He offers plenty of tips and advice on content and technical development, promotion and marketing, monetization and more.  He also throws in a post or two here and there for fun too. Here’s today’s post about getting highly ranked blogs to link back to your blog (essential for your SEO efforts):  ”An Easy Way To Get PR5+ Backlinks! Boost Your SEO! “ .  This should give you an good idea of what you might find in one of his daily post…
 
 
 
 
 WJ:       How would you describe your profession?
 

“I’m a professional blogger (among other things), but it takes more than writing skills to be a “professional blogger”.  To be a blog pro you need to be a jack-of-all-trades. First and without question you need marketing skills, then a certain level of technical skills (graphic design, web design, HTML, and the list goes on…),  your writing skills really come into play last.  I know bloggers that are very successful, but are horrid writers – they blog, they teaches, they help the “readors” (and that’s exactly how they sound… it’s too funny).  In addition to blogging I’m also a freelance professional photographer – but that’s a whole  other questionarie ”
 
 
 
 WJ: How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications? Did you see yourself getting into this field early on? What did you used to do “in an earlier life” (prior career, if any)?
 

“I worked as the lead technician and as a salesman for an telcom many years ago (circa 1994). One of the duties I volunteered for was to put together the new company website. I really had no idea what I was doing, but was I was fairly technically savvy, had leanred a bit in HTML, and figured I could, well, figure it out.  Several weeks later (more like a couple months), we had a  brand spankin’ new 50 plus page website. That was when I really started dabbling in web design and online marketing.  My next career was working in experiential and event marketing. I stayed in that field for years, learning about cross promotions, soliciting sponsors, marketing virally online ,and so on.  It eventually came to be the that the combination of my prior experiences led me into blogging professionally.”
 
 
 
 WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?
 
“Many would say it was the .com boom in the late nineties, otheres the advancements in the technology that drives the web, while still others might say the general public’s acceptance of the internet as a medium for sales.   I say — all of the above.  It would also not be possible without the ever increasing amounts of bandwidth available to anyone with a phone line or cable connection.  It’s like going from a corner store that had only one shelf, with room to hold one product, to a never ending plethora of anything and everything you might ever want.  All available on that same shelf, right there before you.
 
 
 

 WJ: In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?
 
“Blogs.  I’m confident someday they’ll take over standard websites as the your primary source of news and information.  We may even see ecommerce go the way of the blog.  This medium would allow merchants ever changing store fronts, daily specials, and so on.”
 
 
 
 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?
 
“WebMASTER? The budget to hire many different experts, consults, and programers.”
 
 
 
 WJ: Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for your business?
 
“It isn’t an issue for me at this point.  That’s one of the benefits of being a  blogger.  I can keep it simple and still succeed. Not that there aren’t a lot of things I would like to add and do with my blog but can’t as the list of available technologies is beyond my limted expertise (.PHP, HTML, JAVA – WTF?).  Hopefully I’ll make a truck load of money with my blog, then I can refer to previous question about “successful webmaster skills.”
 
 
 

 WJ: Do you think the industry is regulated enough? Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive? Which areas of online activity do you think NEED further regulation?
 
 
 
“NO!”
 
 
 
 WJ: What are the challenges the industry is facing today?
 
 
 
“With different technologies and new platforms coming out on practically a daily basis it can be hard to keep up.  A little standardization would be nice, but then again that might hinder progress and that’s something no one wants.  Another thing that may become a challenge is lack of net neutrality.  If the government and major telephone and cable companies (Comcast, Time Warner, ATT, and Verizon to be exact) start making the decisions on who gets access to the internet and how much each gig of bandwidth costs, the whole world is in for a different future online.  You can go to: http://savetheinternet.com/ to read more on the subject and sign an electronic petition that will automatically be sent to your congressman”
 
 
 
 WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?
 
“Read, read, read, read, and read some more.  Unless your goal is to be a specialized programmer working on one platform, you need to learn a little bit about a lot of things. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different technologies. Learn a little HTML, get familiar with .PHP, try some Flash. It’s really not that difficult to learn just a little – you don’t need to be an expert. Most definitely read a book or twenty on internet marketing.  Just do all you can to learn a little about everything. But most importantly, and I can not stress this enough – YOU MUST TAKE ACTION!  You might say that you’re gonna do it someday, but you know what? Someday will never come…  Be proactive and take action now and you will find success.”

Interview with George Elliot from Frameyourpets.com

frameyourpets.blogspot.com is a blog that is an offshoot from  frameyourpets.com website.

Interview with W. George Elliott — President of Bengel Publishing Inc. Owner and Publisher, Similkameen News Leader

The premise behind Frame Your Pets is ‘Where Humans Learn Tricks’ and the concept revolves around Eddie the Dalmatian and Magnum the Cat discussing simple steps to taking better pet photos. The program is called the Paws ‘n’ Claws Pet Photo guide and is a 13-part sent direct to your e-mail inbox text program. The blog allows for photos and links and hopefully revenue generation. The target market is specifically pet owners, but hopefully pet owners with cameras. Since everyone pretty much owns a digital camera, it’s a no-brainer. The helping people/offer is a humourous approach to learning how to take better pet photos taught by the pets themselves.
 

 WJ: How would you describe your profession?

I’m the owner/publisher of a small town weekly newspaper. I’m attempting to expand into the internet with a variety of target driven products.
 
 WJ: How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications? Did you see yourself getting into this field early on? What did you used to do “in an earlier life” (prior career, if any)?

Well, I got ‘talked into’ posting some of our printed product online by a webmaster friend of mine a few years ago. We launched www.thenewsleader.ca at that time. I never put much thought into the potential online until that website started raking up numbers in the 800-1000 unique visits per day mark. It took me at least another year to figure out how to ‘grab’ some of that traffic. In November 2007 I got involved with the Global Cash Flow Network, which actually taught me quite a bit. I launched www.bengelonlinestore.com from there. Once I figured out affiliates I started to do other things with them online.
 
 WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?

Well, the fact that there’s an extremely large population base to draw from it very hard to ignore. With my newspaper, I have a limited market. Online there appears to be no  boundaries.
 
 WJ: In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?

I think, since I’m still pretty new to this, the blog is probably one of the most exciting  developments. Free website hosting allows just about anyone the means to get into their own business at minimal cost. Those a huge developments versus setting up a storefront business.
 
 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?

Off the top of my head I think the Golden Rule must apply. After that, being helpful and willing to coach newbies are important.
 
 WJ: Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for your business?

I’m still pretty much a one-man show, but I hope to see this online division of my business grow to where I have to add more staff. It’s just part of the growth curve.
 
 WJ: Do you think the industry is regulated enough? Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive? Which areas of online activity do you  think NEED further regulation?

I’m pleased to see many blog sites and communities (and affiliates) have strict guidelines related to adult and other questionable content. We need to keep those forms of control present.
 
 WJ: What are the challenges the industry is facing today?

I’d hate to see the day when free hosting, free web tools and what not are gone. Greed will determine the direction those things will go.
 
 WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?

Simple. Be patient. Don’t give up. Link, blog and advertise.
 
My latest website is www.frameyourpets.com and it was launched February 2008. I’ve since added a network of blogs to my ’stable’ of products.

Interview with Guy Patterson who maintains Security Blog Nullamatix.com

Guy Patterson maintains Nullamatix.com , a technology, development and security related blog. Nullamatix offers the latest news and commentary on trends in network technology, site development, and network security.
 
 WJ: How would you describe your profession?
 
I’m currently a System Administrator that’s responsible for just over fifteen thousand users, hundreds of servers, and a portion of security and network related issues. The fast pace, demanding environment forces me to stay current as technologies continues to progress. I love it.
 
 WJ: How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications? Did you see yourself getting into this field early on? What did you used to do “in an earlier life” (prior career, if any)?
 
Prior to creating Nullamatix.com and really getting back into the online community, I decided a career in marketing and sales was what I wanted to do. After establishing a secure position with a successful telco company (Sprint), my long time friends convinced me my talents, skills, and abilities were being put to waste. A week later, I quit my job as a sales representative and started focusing on my true passion, computer security, systems, and information technology.
 
 WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?
 
The exponential growth of Internet users during the 90’s, and still today, sure helped. More users mean more available consumers; more available consumers mean greater potential to sell products and services. People, although an obvious gross generalization, realized at one point the Internet would become as common as the telephone, television, and even electricity.
 
 WJ: In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?
 
There are so many I’m unable to choose a specific at this time. I’m really interested in seeing Automattic’s continued development, that’s a start-up definitely worth watching.
 
 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?
 
This depends on a variety of conditions, including your definition of success. A set of skills every successful webmaster should possess, in my opinion, are: fluency in some form of server side scripting, basic organization skills, creativity, imagination, diligent work ethic, among others. Just as a side note, I recently read the term webmaster is no longer considered a reputable title, but should instead read web developer. Web development has become so expansive that becoming masterful at every aspect of modern web development is nearly impossible. When was the last time you spoke to a webmaster fluent in Photoshop, PHP, Coldfusion, .Net, Ajax, Java, javascript, database design and integration, XHTML, RSS, load balancing, query optimization, user interface design, etc?
 
 WJ: Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for your business?
 
Web development specialization is a huge advancement, not only for businesses, but for end users, too. The old saying, “two heads are better than one” comes to mind. When a group of specialized individuals collaborate as a team on a project, the end result is usually fantastic. Take a look at some of the amazing products Google’s released over the last few years. GMail, Google Reader, Adsense, all of which where brought to life by a group of specialized individuals working as a team. I’d say if this worked for Google, there’s a decent chance it’ll work for my business.
 
 WJ: Do you think the industry is regulated enough? Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive? Which areas of online activity do you think NEED further regulation?
 
Yes, the industry is currently suffering an abundance of restriction. With the ongoing Comcast & Sandvine issues, the United States Government able to grant immunity to telephone companies charged with warrantless wiretapping, net neutrality at risk, where does it end? The United States Government has no business regulating any forms of communication, including the Internet. For organization purposes, I still like the idea of migrating pornographic sites to the .xxx TLD. The idea behind .com (commercial), .net (network), and .org (non-profit organization), which isn’t strictly enforced, makes sense to a certain degree. Perhaps the Internet would progress with greater efficiency, providing a new level of beneficial enhancements in a variety of areas: productivity, speed, ability to exchange information, interaction, and more. Anything’s possible, right?
 
 WJ: What are the challenges the industry is facing today?
 
I would like to see an increase in support and implantation of standardization. Web development standards and information technology best practices are in place, and they’ve worked; why not increase the effort toward ensuring everyone’s on the same page, no matter the subject? For example, if a set of Linux standards existed, I wouldn’t need to know whether to use emerge, yum, apt-get, YaST, apt-rpm, or urpmi depending on which distribution I’m on.
 
 WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?
 
Read, study, design, implement, test. Read, study, design, implement, test. Some of the most successful Internet marketers share their success daily through ebooks, blogs, mailing lists, and forums. Find the real marketers and read anything and everything they’ve ever made available. I personally recommend Darren from ProBlogger, Daily Blog Tips, Courtney Tuttle, and Alan from Affiliate Confession. Go crazy and never think an idea doesn’t have potential to generate revenue. Go ahead and experiment with blackhat techniques (nothing illegal or against any TOS, of course), dip into the overly saturated ringtones market, start a mailing list, write a blog, find something you’re comfortable with, and more importantly, enjoy. You never know unless you try. The more you try, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you know. If these processes are consistently executed, you’re guaranteed to eventually generate revenue, which will only continue to snowball.

Interview with Dustin Verley , 19 year old internet marketer

Dustin Verley (also know as the Wealthy Hustler) is a 19 year old internet marketer and  entrepreneur. In 2000, he began messing with websites and now 8 years later he is running his own website and making money through internet marketing. His blog, Wealthy Hustler, was released in February 2008 and is now gaining quick momentum. The Wealthy Hustler blog documents how to make money online and earn freebie gifts as well. At the same time, it tracks Dustin’s lifestyle change from a small time internet marketer to a big time internet marketer (the level before Super Affiliate.)
 
 
 
  WJ:  How would you describe your profession?
 
My profession consists of two different careers if you will. Internet marketing and  entrepreneur. My entrepreneurial side emerges in the form of operating a website blog and a few more sites to be released in the future. My internet marketing side comes from promoting and marketing both online and offline products and services.
 

  WJ:  How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications?  Did you see yourself getting into this field early on?  What did you used to do “in an earlier life” (prior career, if any)?
   
I’ve had a few jobs prior to turning towards a internet career. Between 2004 and 2007 I had around 4 different jobs. My first job in 2004 I cut short and mutually terminated the job since I was in my freshman year of high school and wasn’t doing too good academically. The other 3 were jobs that helped me get through a few financial discrepancies.
 
I started website designing at the age of 12 (2000). Around 2005 is when I realized I was built to do internet marketing and although it took me almost a year and a half to two years, I finally put forth the effort in January 2008 and successfully made $402.95 (exact) on my first commission check. So yeah, I did see myself getting into the field early on but patiently studied internet marketing to keep from any issues.
 

  WJ:  What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?
 
I believe that the turning point is finding a problem and a solution when it comes to  internet marketing. The internet is called the “information highway” for a reason and if you discover a problem that you feel could solve many issues consumers suffer from, you’ve found yourself a winner. Its all about providing the consumer with something that will benefit them in the end.
 
An example would be a auto mechanic who has their own shop but needs to leverage the work by hiring another mechanic. Most likely, that auto mechanic is going to turn towards career sites like CareerBuilder, Monster, HotJobs, etc. He has a problem (needs another mechanic) and one of those three listed sites could be his solution.
 
 WJ: In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?
   
The internet is always evolving with new concepts and ideas so I couldn’t really say. It  seems like every day a new idea emerges and becomes the new big hit. The most exciting  development came back in the 1990’s with the finding of internet marketing, or at least in my opinion.
 

 WJ:  What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?

The determination has got to be the biggest. I’ll be real, I seen many people fail in the  long run because they couldn’t comprehend anything that has to do with websites. No matter whether its basic’s like HTML or CSS all the way to managing a website. You need the determination and patience. If you have neither one then websites isn’t for you.
 
As a side note, you don’t need to learn everything in website managing to operate a website. Although you can’t promote internet products through social media sites, you can always find a social networking site and get your little piece of the web.
 

 WJ:  Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows
specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for your business?

As of this interview I only operate one website which is the online money making blog at http://www.wealthyhustler.com and the work load really isn’t as heavy compared to a E-Commerce site. Although when I begin adding new sites, the work load may pick up so it may need 1 or 2 additional people to maintain. But I’m about passive income so I’ll most likely find a way to set them on auto pilot where little to no work is required.
 
 WJ:  Do you think the industry is regulated enough?  Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive?  Which areas of online activity do you think NEED further regulation?

I used to run a very small (5-10 listeners at a time) internet radio station. The one thing I discovered was the many un-licensed radio stations. The station I was running was for Indie (or Independent) artists. If your operating an internet radio station without the proper licensing that is NOT playing Indie artists, you may want to look into one. I’ve heard fines could be as high as $150k for EACH UNAUTHORIZED song played.
 
One other sector is internet taxes. I believe the U.S. government should make up some more laws that put internet taxes at ease. Right now, the only taxes I’m aware of is  self-employment tax. The great thing is though that things like your website hosting, your domain, your internet, etc. Simply whatever is required to operate your website business is TAX DEDUCTIBLE. That means you don’t pay taxes on that specific item. But don’t let it fool you, if your internet is used for both business and personal, only half of the bills is TAX DEDUCTIBLE.
 
 WJ: What are the challenges the industry is facing today?
   
Many people are providing fraudulent leads and sales. This gives internet marketing  (and blogging combined) a bad name because it turns advertisers off or requires them to put strict regulations in that is unsatisfactory to the legit performers. I believe that needs  to be corrected ASAP to help construct a better module for the legitimate performers and weed out the bad (or fraudulent) performers.
 

  WJ:  What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in  online business?
   
Be Patient… I couldn’t say it anymore then that. Don’t believe those late night infomercials promising internet millions overnight. It could be possible to make internet millions, but not without the proper research, time, and patience. These are your 3 key factors you’ll want to keep in mind. If your interested in learning about how to make money online and receive free gifts, then subscribe to the RSS feed on WealthyHustler.com
    
Please keep in mind that until April 01, 2008 there is a $50 RSS contest going on. All  subscribers will be entered to win $50 cash. Good luck in getting your internet hustle on,  and as the slogan implies, Work Smart. Get Paid!

Next Page »

Copyright © 2007 Webmaster Journal Domain Trends Webmarketing News · · Login

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• Furl
• Netscape
• Yahoo! My Web
• StumbleUpon
• Google Bookmarks
• Technorati
• BlinkList
• Newsvine
• ma.gnolia
• reddit
• Windows Live
• Tailrank

E-mail It

• To Address:
• Your Name:
• Your Address: