Make Money with Your Blog

One of the greatest advantages that are available to those who have an established blog is the ability to make money with sponsored ads.  By allowing advertisers to use your blog for their purposes, you can earn a percentage or commission when ads are viewed and then clicked.  There are a number of different advertisers that enable partnerships with blog owners and you can easily pick and choose the ones that you would like to work with.

Undoubtedly, the most popular way to make money with your blog is to sign up with Google Adsense. 
Google Adsense will customize targeted ads towards the content of your blog and you will earn revenue for the ads that are clicked.  It is important to read through Google Adsense’s Terms of Service before adding their ads to your blog.  You may also find that it is most beneficial to read their tips and strategies.  You’ll find that there is more to making money with Google Adsense then by simply adding their code to your site.  You will need to determine what size ads are best for your blog, what color matches or complements your layout best, and where to display the ads as well.
 
However, with time you’ll find what works best for both you and your readers, and begin to find that your earnings will increase.  There are also a wide variety of other programs that are similar to Adsense.  By incorporating these with your blog, you will earn revenue when anyone visits the sponsors. Some additional sites include Adbrite, BlogAds, Yahoo Publisher Network, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Kanoodle.

The Best way of making money with your blog is to sell advertising directly to advertisers.  However, you should consider placing a disclaimer somewhere on your blog that let’s your readers know that there are sponsored ads being hosted on your site.  This is just a fair practice and will provide you with peace of mind, knowing that you have covered any legal avenues.  When you choose to work with advertisers directly, you can determine the amount you will charge for the ad, what size or type of ad you will display, as well as how you will display it.  You may also find that once your blog begins to pick up in traffic and popularity, advertisers may contact you regarding a partnership.  Then you can negotiate an arrangement with the advertiser yourself.

In addition to Google Adsense and selling advertiser space, you may also want to join affiliate programs. With an affiliate program you add advertiser links to your site and earn a share of the revenue when they make a purchase with the company.  Affiliate programs range from high-end corporations to up and coming smaller companies.  Many bloggers find that affiliate programs are very profitable as they can easily choose programs that are useful for their readers as well as complement the nature of the blog.

Finally, if you have a very popular blog with loyal readers, you may want to consider adding a donation or tip jar to your blog.  This encourages your readers to give you a donation to help contribute to hosting fees; it is often associated with a PayPal account to make contributing easy. 

Interview with adult webmaster Jscott, the owner of MyCashProgram.com

Jscott is the owner of MyCashProgram.com. MyCashProgram was created in 2007 kicking off with only 1 solo girl site of an asian teen NoiKanya , she is an 18 year old Thai girl who has been excited about her site since Day One. JscottCash is his resource site created for a guide for other webmasters and has been around for 2 years, but Jscott has been creating adult freesites, tgps, and blogs since 1998.

 WJ:  What experiences prepared you for your current role as a webmaster/online publisher?  What did you do prior to your current business?

My prior work experience was dealing with medical insurance claims in the midwest USA, nothing from that previous job helped at all in my current online business. I found the online marketing business from just being curious about the internet, I was fascinated by it, and one thing let to another.

 WJ:  If you can only pick one, what is the SECRET ingredient to succeeding in online publishing/the webmaster business?

The secret ingredient to succeeding in online marketing in my opinion is to find something you think the customers will like, create the website and stick with it, through thick and thin, so I’d say, you have to believe in the “product” you are selling, and also provide for it everything it needs, so there will have to be some investment, seems nowdays a lot of webmasters try to find another way around having to invest in their business.

 WJ:  What do you think of Web 2.0 and how has it impacted your business?  What is the next trend for user interactivity?

Personally I love web 2.0, I love the interaction between the surfers, I like how it opens them up and gets them to speak, rather than the site owners as it was before. I only wish web 2.0 was a bit more regulated when it comes to stolen content used on tube sites. Tube sites have definately impacted my business, sales and profits, I have no idea on how to track how much it’s impacted me but it has done some and I’ll assume it’s minus’d quite a bit of sales from my adult sites.

 WJ:  Should the Internet be regulated?  Are there any parts of the Net that could use regulation?  Please explain your position thoroughly.

Sure I think the internet should be regulated, I think mostly towards hate websites, spam, and illegal pornography, stolen content.

 WJ:  What is the future of affiliate marketing?  Where do you see yourself in this future scenario?

I think the future of affiliate marketing will be long and strong. The internet is still very new and has a long way to go before it is obsolete, if ever. My future of affiliate marketing will be to build my own sites to sell, so I’ll be owner and affiliate to bring in mostly all profits for myself rather than splitting with the site owners. Also I’ll be leaning towards more mainstream projects like surfer forums in many different topics, travel, food, clothing, etc.

 WJ:  Please discuss your future plans for your web properties and other future developments.

My future plans I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, plus add on new projects like I’ve mentioned above, new mainstream websites, blogs, and forums, and I’ll keep maintaining my current tgps, blogs, paysites etc, I plan on hiring more staff to help build my network of sites to a much larger scale.

Improve Your Blog’s Popularity – Important Marketing Strategies

A blog is one of the most important marketing strategies that you can develop and implement.  A blog provides an excellent way to stay in touch with your customers, promote new products and services and establish yourself as an expert in your field.  However, your company or business blog will do very little for your business if no one ever finds it.  In addition to developing a highly useful and beneficial blog, you must ensure that your blog is popular and that people can easily find it.

The first step in making sure that your blog is popular is to make certain that it has a user friendly layout, is easy to read, and makes use of good headings, subtitles, and makes content easy to find. One of the biggest mistakes that many people make is to add too many graphics, bright colors, sounds, or videos on their blog.  You should also make sure that your blog is easy to download.  If your blog takes several minutes to download, you may lose visitors and potential customers before they ever get the chance to review your products and services.  If you need to include sounds, graphics, and videos try to include them in individual posts and not as the basis of your layout.  It is also a wise idea to limit the amount of posts that are displayed on your front page.  Once you have created a blog that is easy to load, provides great unique content, and is overall user friendly, you’ll find that your visitors will bookmark your blog and share it with others.

It’s also important to realize that blogs are meant to be shared, and one of the best ways to ensure your blog’s popularity is to burn its feed.  Using sites like Feedburner will allow you to enable your blog’s feed and share it with users through a subscription basis.  Feedburner also provides you additional stats and information that will let you determine how popular your blog is, how many people are subscribing and what content seems to be performing the best.  These tools are invaluable when it comes to determining the overall popularity of your blog.  Burn your feed and share your subscription page through your blog and websites. This is an excellent way to build awareness and increase your blog’s popularity.

In addition to your RSS or XML feed, you may also want to add a newsletter to your blog.  By combining your blog with a newsletter you can ensure that many people will continue to sign up for your services.  If you give away a free promotion or trial service with your blog, you’ll attract plenty of new visitors and traffic as well.  The Internet is a socially friendly place and word of mouth still continues to be a great form of advertising.  By giving away high quality free gifts, your visitors will spread the word, increasing your popularity.

You should also consider joining social networking sites and encourage your blog readers to share the stories that they like or found interesting.  Sites like Digg, Technorati, MySpace, Facebook, and more makes it easy to integrate with your blog posts and will increase your blog’s popularity seamlessly and easily.

Interview with Author and full-time freelance writer Donna Sundblad

Author and full-time freelance writer, Donna Sundblad, resides in Georgia with her husband, Rick. In her desire to help other writers, she started her Pumping Your Muse Prompts  blog in 2005 to not only challenge and inspire them, but also as an extension to her creative writing book Pumping Your Muse. In like manner, her Anthology News and Reviews blog provides anthology markets for a variety of genres as well as reviews of published anthologies. Donna is the author of a young adult fantasy novel titled Windwalker and has another YA fantasy novel due to be released in 2008 titled Beyond the Fifth Gate. She edits for several online publications and her wish is to assist other writers along the way to publication.

  WJ: How would you describe your profession?

I’m a full time freelance writer and author of three books with another two works in progress. I’m a regular content provider for LoveToKnow.com where I serve as the Business Editor and Diet Editor. I’m also the Fantasy Topic Editor for Inspired Author and the Sr. Non-fiction editor for epress-online. I guess you could say I edit as much as I write, but it’s all part of the same business. When I fill out my tax forms, I list my occupation as “writer” and I love it. All my work is done by telecommuting which is great with the current gas prices.

 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 taking the step to full time freelancing, I worked for 12 years on an island in SW Florida as a rental agent on the island of Boca Grande. When I started that job, the office had one computer. By the time I left, everyone had their own computer. That just goes to show you how fast things change in a short amount of time. While still working, I started taking online writing classes and developed my own website. It opened a whole new world of communication. Once my first book came out, I started looking for ways to help other writers that would also promote my books. It’s been a process as I learned the importance of social networking, promotion and marketing.

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

When I decided to seriously write in 2001, I was working full time in real estate rentals so I looked for online classes. I found them at Writer’s Village University where I’ve met people around the world. That online community is more than willing to share what they know with one another, and many of those contacts know much more than I do when it comes to the web. One of those contacts by the name of Shri Henkle led me through the maze of technology, online publishing and marketing with her advice and books. I’ve also learned a lot through my experience with Inspired Author, too, which is run by Suzanne James of Grace Publishing. She’s been the source that’s taken me to a new level, teaching me about things like Page Rank, how to use FeedBurner, Adsense and how to build a following and fans. That may sound like basics to many, but that’s how growth happens — from the foundation up. Information exchange and then putting what you learn into practice.

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

RSS advertising; this week I read that the internet has already exceeded television-based advertisements in the number of gross advertising impressions served. I know this isn’t real recent news for many, but I’m just learning about it and am looking into it because it’s another exciting opportunity to build my online presence.

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

Dedication, organization, a willingness to learn and of course the ability to communicate in written form or find others who can write for you. Dedication because you need to religiously update your content even when you don’t feel like it. Organization helps balance the different aspects needed to become successful including time to promote, time to write, and of course Social networking which opens the door to a host of experienced webmasters. You’d be surprised how willing people are to help you once they get to know you.

 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?

This is a good thing, but you’ve got to learn how to use it. In the past, I tried to be all things to all people. I wanted to help people lose weight, learn to edit, how to write, how to be organized and so on. I’ve learned to narrow my niche. I’m a writer. That scope broadens to help aspiring writers along the way while I continue to build my brand but my sites all have a writing theme.

 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 not one for more regulation. Giving the government power to apply restrictions and regulations can open a real can of worms for internet users. It would give government the power to apply levies and taxes to certain goods. Users of the Internet should control the content they look at and the applications they use. If some of the current legislation being considered right now gets passed, we may be looking at a whole different internet class system, because it promotes creating a two-tiered system. One for those who can pay and the other for those who can’t afford to pay as much.

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

Like I just said, if internet usage becomes regulated, our access to the information highway may be detoured. For those of us who make our living on the web, this can stifle creativity and research, curb originality and take away our free and open marketplace. Other than that, keeping up with the latest technology and tools is always a challenge. That’s why social networking is such a valuable asset. When someone mentions something I don’t know about, I start asking questions. Traveling in social circles on the web is like a treasure hunt. You never know what you’ll find to help you build your online presence.

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

Choose something your passionate about and establish yourself as a guru. You’ve got to care about your topic, or it will just become another job. But passion isn’t enough. You’ve got to get out there on the social networking sites. Talk yourself up. Stay current on what’s going on within your market. Read the news. Know what the hot topics are relevant to your business and what the latest tools are to help you build your online business.

Writing Articles Service Marketing Tips

If there is one thing that the Internet is founded upon, it’s words.  Words are the backbone of everything online and if you have a website or blog, you need words to create your site. 

Writing articles is one of the most effective ways that you can ensure that your site or blog is all that you have designed it to be.  There are many benefits to be derived from writing articles and all of them will help promote your website and ensure that you are a leader in your field.

If you don’t feel comfortable writing, then you may be interested in hiring a writing articles service that will write articles and additional content for you.  When you use an article writer, you will get the benefit of great web copy as well as retain full rights to the articles.  In fact, when you arrange with a writer to have your content ghostwritten, you can put your name as author on any of the content that you write. You should always make sure that you clarify the terms of the agreement with the writer before hiring one.  Make certain that you and the writer are in full agreement regarding the rights to the articles.

Once you have great content for your website, you’ll find that your search engine placement will increase.  This is in direct correlation to the types of articles that you purchase and place on your site.  When it comes to article content, the more the better.  You simply can’t have too much content.  As your search engine placement increases, you’ll find that traffic to your site increases as well.  This is one of the best ways to build your site and drive traffic to it.  As you see the traffic increases, you’ll want to make sure that you are marketing your site effectively.

A very popular and effective way to market your site or blog is to take one of the articles that you have purchased and to place it on one of the E-Zine sites.  You can create a link box that has information regarding your website, as well as your expertise in your chosen field.  When you add your URL to the box, everyone who chooses to add your article to his or her site, must include a link back to your page. This increases your site’s visibility as well as proves that you are an expert in your field.

Another way to use an article writing service to market your product and site, is to have about ten to twenty articles written, and then to compile them into an E-book.  You can sell the E-book or choose to give it away for free.  Free E-books are a great way to drive traffic to your website. By having your visitors sign up for your free newsletter and letting them download the free E-book, you’ll find that visitors will flock to your site in droves.  By using article services wisely you will find numerous ways to market your site and your products. 

Difference Between Social Network Sites and Old fashioned Dating Sites

As the Internet has grown and spread world wide, it should come as no surprise that people are using the Internet as a means for meeting new people.  Today, the Internet is the catalyst for starting new friendships, finding lost loves and being virtually introduced to new ones, and advancing your professional network.  However, when it comes to Internet dating sites and social network sites, there are a few differences.  Every Internet site is not the same.  Understanding these differences will help ensure that you can choose the site that will best meet your needs and live up to your expectations.

The first main difference between social networking site and dating sites is cost.  The majority of social networking sites are free to join and use.  In fact, the major networking sites, such as Bebo, Facebook, and MySpace are 100% free to use.  This is a major advantage to many people.  It doesn’t cost anything to browse through other user’s profiles and to send a request for him or her to join your network.  Without any major effort or time commitment, you can easily build up your network and meet a number of new people.  Social networking sites are designed to allow users to create a public profile and browse through other people’s profiles, thereby initiating contact with those whom you believe you will have something in common with.

Dating sites operate differently from social networking sites.  First, dating sites are not free. They are designed to provide a service and play the role of matchmaker.  There is also a third party involved with dating sites.  For instance, dating sites may use different methods to help determine which couples would likely get along with one another.  The dating sites are geared and designed towards ensuring that couples meet and make a romantic connection.  This is not the case with social networking sites – put simply, dating sites are designed for romance and social networking sites are designed towards friendship and networking for work related goals.

Every company has a target market base; this is true when it comes to both social networking and dating sites. Though many people may find true love through a social network site, these sites aren’t targeting singles or those looking for dating and relationships in general.  Most social networking sites target teens, young adults, and those who are looking to create networks of friends.  This creates a wide gap and constitutes the basic differences between both dating and networking sites.  Dating sites are targeting singles and those who sign up for memberships are interested in pursuing a romantic relationship.  They are not looking for simple friendship; therefore the company must spend more time in helping the user create his or her profile.  With the influence being on creating relationships, members who pay for a subscription to a dating site expect certain results.  They also expect a higher degree of privacy then is normally accompanied with social networking sites. 

As more people are looking for relationships, dating sites will continue to grow in popularity as they offer a more tailored service then social networking sites.

Interview with LaTease – professional blogger and photographer

LaTease is a 47 year old divorced mother of two adult children who taught her everything she knows about the internet.  Her eldest son would have been 26 years old this month (April 6), however he succumbed to complications from Juvenile Diabetes in 2005.  LaTease holds a Journalism degree from Wayne State University (Detroit 1991) and has written/freelanced for a variety of newspapers including the Oakland Press and the Michigan Chronicle.  She’s held a variety of jobs like production assistant for a local TV station in which she produced, directed, videographed, ran sound boards, graphics generators and more.  She’s have definitely done the television thing.   In addition, She’salso served as the local public relations director for the gospel group “the Clark Sisters”.    Everything She’s done in life has centered around media, so online integration was a natural step for her.  Currently, she authors 3 blogs: Celebrity News Dot Com , Teasa’s Blog Marketing Tips  & Funny Offbeat News And Videos . She currently resides in the Metro Detroit Area, while her 24 year old daughter lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

 WJ: How would you describe your profession?

I am a professional blogger, and photographer, one who gets paid to blog and take pictures.

 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 have been marketing online since 1999 starting off with a product first promoted on the Oprah Winfrey show called “Viacreme.”  Prior to that as well as addition to that I have been a marketing consultant, a sales rep, a 9-1-1- operator, all in corporate america, cutting my teeth.

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

When Google came to town.  Before then, we publicized our links in newsgroups, similar to forums.  Google helped legitimize websites that earned it, while also sending worthwhile traffic and longtime friends.

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

Social Media Networking.  It borrows from the newsgroups and forums and creates an online coffee shop experience for the user.  In the right group, looking for the right info, these are valuable tools.

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

Patience, willing to learn new things, willing to unlearn what you learned yesterday, ask for help.  Don’t worry about the cheese moving, because while you were worrying, it moved 3 maybe 4 times.  I live, eat, sleep, and dream of my online business.  It used to be quite disturbing for my partner, until the money started coming in.

 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 always good because it allows for niche markets.  You can cater totally to people who are really interested in your products and services.

 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? 

Regulation is not good for online activitiy.  Here’s why: on the internet it is the ultimate case of cloak and dagger.  You can create identities, photos, etc. and never get to the real person.  As Shrek would say, you can create “layers” of deceit. However, as far as CP, etc is concerned, the authorities have let the child kiddie preyers get too big of a head start on them.  They have allowed the criminals to be smarter than them.  Right now, the authoritites are like dogs chasing their tails.  It would be great if they could just set up sting operations inside MySpace and catch all the predators that frequent there, but it takes two to tangle and unfortunately some of the kids getting caught up are willing participants until something goes wrong.  It is quite sad.

 WJ:  What are the challenges the industry is facing today?
 
From a blogger/writer/photographer perspective, it is merely the trust factor.  You see on the internet you can pretend to be whomever you want, and people know this.  Consumers are smarter than we give them credit for.  So, you spend lots of time, building true relationships, lasting ones that you must be willing to do in order to be successful.

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

Read first, act second.  Don’t just sign up for the first affiliate marketing offer you get.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Link Building Strategy for your Online Blog

One of the most important aspects of maintaining a blog is building up traffic.  There are many methods and strategies that people use to ensure that their blogs receive daily traffic.  This is a necessity to build up readership, prove that you are an expert in your field, and sell your products or affiliate ads.  No matter what type of blog you have, one thing is certain, without daily traffic, no one will know that your blog exists.  A great way to increase the amount of traffic that your blog receives is by developing a link building strategy.

There are some key elements to consider when developing a link strategy.  The first issue to take into consideration is the fact that you don’t want just any site linking to yours.  You must develop relationships with people that are in your industry.  Your link strategy must be focused on those who are in the same field that you are.  This helps to increase your Google rank and will increase traffic to your site.  You should think like your customers think.  If you were looking for information related to your product, what are the sites that you would turn to first?   Once you can make a list of these sites, you should begin a strategy to have these sites link to your blog.

The first step that you will need to take is to truly understand your target market base.  You should assess your blog and determine who your potential readers will be.  With that information, you will be better equipped to determine which sites would be best to exchange links with.  You may be surprised to discover that whom you thought you should exchange links with might be different once you take the time to thoroughly observe your potential market. 

Most experts agree that the best way to gain links for your blog is to simply ask other webmasters to link back to you.  If you create a well thought out and carefully written letter or Email and approach other businesses, many of them will agree to create a link partnership with you.  However, you must first be certain that your website is worthy to be linked to.  The best way to accomplish this is to create a great blog that is rich with high quality content.

There is just no substitute for good content on your blog. If your blog doesn’t have quality content, you may find that your link strategies never accomplish what you have intended them to. If your content is riddled with grammatical errors, or if it is irrelevant to your topic, then the sites that you are seeking to exchange links with will not want to partner with you.  You must have quality content to ensure that people will link to your site.

You can submit your blog articles to places such as Technorati and Digg as part of your link strategy.  You should also consider answering some questions at Yahoo Answers, as these create links back to your blog.  By creating a link building strategy you can rest assured that traffic to your blog will increase.

Dating Sites Market Overview

Dating sites are popular and trends show that they increase in popularity each day. It was inevitable that dating sites would make their presence online.  The Internet allowed people to communicate through Email and through Instant Chat services.  It didn’t take long for many entrepreneurs to understand that the potential market for Internet Dating Sites was huge. 

One of the most important aspects to consider however was ensuring that those who used Internet dating sites were of legal age and therefore allowed to use the site. There weren’t many legal terms set in place in the early years of dating sites, but today’s site has evolved with the times.  It is imperative that those who utilize dating site are over 18 and are of legal age.

Issues regarding Internet predators and minors are a vast and widespread one. Dating sites have implemented new methods to ensure that their users are safe.  It’s also important to understand that not all dating sites perform background checks on their users, however this is an area where many dating sites are initiating change.  However, one thing is certain, the potential market for dating sites continues to increase as the divorce rate continually climbs.  In fact, as more couples marriages end in divorce, the potential and available market for dating sites not only continually rises, but is changing as well.  More seniors are entering the dating arena and as baby boomers are quickly becoming the largest demographic, we will continue to see that dating sites will focus their marketing strategies in this direction.

As dating sites have changed over the years, so has their targeted market.  Today, there are dating sites that cater to all types of people and may be based upon ethnic preference, sexual orientation, religion, and more.  Where some dating sites may exclude members based upon these preferences, other dating sites cater to them.  This has helped propel the dating sites industry into more prominence as more untapped groups are now being accessed.  There are dating sites for gays, lesbians, intergenerational relationships, and more. 

Another factor to take into consideration when looking at the way dating sites have changed over the years is the fact of cost.  Dating sites are continually facing the challenge of social networking sites that are available free of charge.  Dating sites require a membership fee, where as social networking sites are free. This may be a contributing fact as to why more dating sites are headed towards providing background checks on their members.  The stories of meeting predators on social networking sites are prevalent and when a person joins a dating site, they expect that the person they will be matched with will have a good reputation with the company.  However, it is simply too dangerous to trust every member of a dating site at his or her word. 

Performing background checks will be an excellent way for dating site members to feel confident and secure with the services provided by the company.  With a growing divorce rate, background searches, and ever growing potential market, dating sites will continue to be on the forefront of Internet trends.

Interview with Webmistress and Elementary school educator Dominique Goh

Dominique Goh, elementary school educator and mom to two active toddlers. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2000 and obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the National Institute of Education, Singapore in 2001. She has been a elementary school teacher ever since. She is currently  on a two-year hiatus from work to take care of  her two boys. She authors the site From Dominique’s Desk , a site where she pens her personal parenting tips, recommendations and reviews on childrens products and mentionable quirky conversations between herself and her elder boy. She also runs My Little Playgroup – a weekly playgroup session for toddlers which incorporates music & movement, arts & crafts based on monthly themes.
 
 WJ: How would you describe your profession?
 
My profession as a teacher is built on my passion for young children. Coming from a family of educators I know that importance of having a solid education. I am dedicated to educating and building up the characters of the youth of our society. I feel that it is important that we start education from birth to give a child the maximum opportunity to grow and mature into well balanced adults.
 
 
 
 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 decided to do online publishing/marketing when my 2nd son was born. I was looking for an alternative source of income to supplement the family as I wish to personally take care of them to be able to give them the best care and guidance. Knowing the importance of nuturing a child from birth I did not want my child to lose out and have the chance to become wayward like some of the students that I had encountered while I was teaching full-time. Writing comes quite easily for me as I have been actively involved in newsletter publications since I was studying in university.
 
 
 
 WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?
 
With the explosion of the internet and now the ease of building up your own website through blogging more and more people are looking towards the interent to market their products/services. More and more online marketers like Ewen Chia, Joel Christopher are making their marks are internet millionaires within a relatively short period of time. This has drawn a widespread interest in this field of online marketing and many, including me, wish to join in on this bandwagon.
 

 WJ:  In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?
 
Viral marketing is the most exciting recent development. This concept has spread like wildfire through the explosion of social bookmarking sites and opt-in lists. Rebrandable books and softwares have made it easier for advertising to take place as people voluntarily advertise your product/service for you with minimal cost.
 

 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?
 
To be a sucessful webmaster one must be able to drive a substantcial amount of qualified traffic to your website. You must also know how the basics of html to be able to tweak your website templates when necessary. Also have a passion for learning and constantly updating yourself on the new features the Web has to offer.
 

 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 is good as you can concentrate on your forte and outsource the other techinical and time consuming bits. Focus on the money making parts and have a team to help you maintain your website. However the tricky part is finding suitable memebers for your team and working together as a group.
 
 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 feel that the industry is regulated enough however it is still quite grey to me on  copyrights and filing claims for being scammed. I feel that there should be more access to essential information on the different ruling governmental bodies and how a netizern can get redress if there is a dispute.
 

 WJ: What are the challenges the industry is facing today?
 
The online marketing community is growing rapidly together with the changes in the latest trends. The overload of information and sieving out the relevant parts is really very time consuming and back breaking. It is hard to cypher between the genuine marketers and scammers.
 
 
 
 WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?
 
I would advice him/her to seriously consider the niche market of choice and to spend some time mapping out his marketing strategy. I am still working on marketing myself and trying to earn an online income. It hasn’t been that smooth saling and I haven’t had any recurrent sales or exploded my mailing list as yet. I am still constantly learning more and more about this industry and happy to help any newbie who is in need of pointers.

Copyright © 2007 Webmaster Journal Domain Trends Web Marketing News Domain Names · · Log in

• 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: