Hope you’re doing great and enjoying the Christmas holidays!

My friends Edmund Loh & Vince Tan have a hilarious comic to share with you. It certainly did lighten up my mood and I think you should take a look at it too!

It doesn’t just stop at the laughs though; there’s a strong, inspiring message behind it and it has to do with how you can make Year 2008 YOUR YEAR.

Whether you’re young or old.

Whether you juggle a full-time job or you’re unemployed.

Whether you have superior technical skills or just basic computer literacy.

And number of years of experience under your belt is NO longer a requirement to succeed online.

These boys have proven.

Go read this comic for a couple of laughs and be sure to see Part 2 after this!

Click here to see the rest of the comic in full.

Talk real soon and Merry Christmas!

There are a lot of little details that people tend to overlook or undervalue when getting their first businesses up and going online. The name of the game is to make money, but all too often, the energy that goes into making that money is slightly displaced. I haven't been in Internet marketing as long as some of the gurus that offer their advice on such topics, but I have learned a few very important things. Probably the most important is that you need to know exactly who you are selling to and why they want what you are selling.

Old School Methods Don't Work

The other day, I talked about how the Old School marketing methods are no longer valid when it comes to online businesses. They don't take into account all of the great new tools we have access to and for that reason they can actually cost more money than they generate. To be successful as an Internet Marketer, you have to understand the immediate needs of a customer at the exact moment they will find your product. It's much different than slapping a billboard over the New York City sky line and hoping as much people as possible see it on their way to work each morning.

You Must Find the Niche

Unless you are selling a product that quite possibly everyone who uses the Internet would want to buy, you have to know who your market is. You have to narrow down your potential customers as much as possible, target their needs and be willing to do what it takes to show them your product before they can see anyone else's.

When I started working online, this was still an abstract concept. You don't know what product you are gong to sell right away. Nor do you know what product will be most successful and what the people who would most like to buy that product actually want. It takes a little bit of time and research to narrow everything down to the degree needed to actually understand the customer and that is where so many people mess up.

Whittling down a niche from the gigantic, information-laden beast that is the Internet is downright hard. It takes a lot of time and energy and sometimes doesn't translate into success, causing new marketers to give up or try to fast track their newest programs.

Not Every Niche is a Winner

And not every niche will work out. That's why we research them. When you start researching a new niche online, you must ask yourself three questions:

[1] Who are the people in this niche?

[2] What is the one thing they want more than anything else?

[3] Does my product meet those needs?

1.    If you cannot answer one of those questions or the answer is not what you were hoping or expecting, start over and try again. Many times, the biggest problem is that you have not been specific enough in the niche you selected. There are hundreds of micro-niches within each general field of interest online. You would not write an AdWords campaign for "women's clothing" if you were selling shoes or handbags. Sure, they are in the same general category, but are the people clicking on your ads necessarily looking for shoes or handbags? Probably not.

Marketing with a Goal

Every task you undertake when marketing a new product, service, or website should have a very specific goal in mind. If you write and submit articles to a dozen websites, what is your goal in doing so? Do you want those articles to provide direct traffic, new links, or raise your Page Rank – and if so, by how much?

The same can be said of the niche you select. Why did you select the niche and what are your goals by working within it? If you cannot answer these questions, you probably need to do more research, get to know your customers a little better or possibly even think of a new angle for your product.

As far as lessons go, this was probably the most important one that I learned. Having the right mindset will do wonders, not only for your first product, but for every website and product you launch from here on out.

Since entering the Internet marketing arena a few months back I've had a lot of people – both online and off – ask me exactly what I do. I usually respond by saying I'm a marketer, and they usually assume it means I make commercials or write newspaper ads. I can't blame them really; advertising has been the same for a few decades now and only in the past 5 years has the online scene really taken off.

But, it made me think. Why are the things I do now so much different than those of the offline marketers? It's basically the same thing right – sell products to customers through creative avenues. After the "selling things" part though, it becomes something entirely different, a different breed of marketing altogether.

Two Different Worlds

I have no experience and only passing knowledge about the world of old school marketing. I understand the concept of brand marketing and of reaching as many people as possible with as enticing a message as possible. I understand it enough to realize that it doesn't work for the Internet. There are ton of reasons why this is the case, but the simplest is that old school marketing techniques have a bit of freedom. A TV commercial has 30 seconds to play with. A magazine ad will be read repeatedly for years to come. Product placement in a movie gets replayed to millions.

Internet marketing is a whole different animal. Instead of casting a giant net and pulling as many fish that cling to it as possible, Internet marketing spears its customers one at a time. We don't plaster a message and wait. We groom lists of potential customers, place targeted pay per click ads, and write sales letters that tell a specific kind of customer why our product is the best.

Internet Brands Need Internet Marketing Strategies

Just a quick look at the early failure of the Internet companies trying to market in the old school style will show exactly how different the two worlds are. Does anyone remember those super bowl commercials from the late 1990s – the ones for Pets.com and the other mega sites whose stock was worth more than it had any right to be? They blew millions on super bowl spots, marketing to just about every man, woman, and child on the planet and ended up going broke a few months later.

What We Do is Different

The Internet is a medium of the now. You have to know exactly who your customer is, what they want, and why they want it. Then, you need to be there waiting for them when they decide to look for it. Old school marketing does the opposite – it seeks out customers, banging on doors and asking to be let in for a few seconds. It places itself in locations where customers will see it regardless, often ignoring it.

When my family or friends ask me what the difference is between what I am doing and what the ad executives in Los Angeles or New York are doing, I make it simple. I'm talking to the customer while they're talking at the customer.

And that is the main difference really. Online marketing techniques are about the customer and how we can get to know them better, share our product and hopefully affect their day in some way. You can't do that in many other businesses. It wouldn't be cost effective. Thankfully for us, the only way to do business online is to target your customers.

When you can offer targeted ads that interest a potential customer through AdWords or increase your search ranking to match what your perfect customer is searching for, you can place your website and product directly in front of that customer when they decide they are looking for a product. Who else can claim that kind of control over who sees their website and where the advertising money goes in a campaign?

I finally did it! I have officially tendered my resignation and will be doing my 1 month notice period. So, if you're like me and want to quit your job but have been putting it off for a while now, here's a few pointers on how to quit your job, courtesy from Quit Your Job Day.

First, you have to understand that the style of quitting your job depends on various factors, namely the price of your suit, the amount of beer your drank that day and the car you drive. I have listed a few examples:

The No Show

It's Monday morning and your alarm clock is buzzing, ringing, or playing a radio station. Your normal routine might have you slapping the snooze button a few times and tricking yourself out of bed with the promise of coffee. However this morning is Quit Your Job Day. This morning instead of hitting the snooze button, you unplug the clock. And the phone. And depending on how invasive your manager is, your door bell. This is by far the easiest way to quit your job, as it requires the absolute minimum of effort on your part. Sleep well into the afternoon knowing that you've terminated a job well done.

The Proper Termination

On company letterhead, briefly explain your intention to leave your position in a months time. Submit this to your boss with a hearty handshake and express your gratitude for the opportunity to make a difference doing whatever it was you did. If you're lucky you'll be immediately asked to gather your things and shown the door by two large men wearing blue shirts and baseball caps with matching security patches. Don't worry, they aren't cops. If you're unlucky you'll have to leave without your things and they will be shipped to you in a box a week later. This is currently the proper way people leave their employers. Sad really. It could be worse… they could make you work those last two weeks.

In Cube Vacation

This method requires a little bit of timing and a near intimate knowledge of your employer. It should not be attempted by amateurs. Starting one to five weeks before Quit Your Job Day, simply stop doing any meaningful work. Spend your time decorating your cube with pictures of vacation spots, turn your Internet radio to Hawaiian music, and sneak in a sun lamp. Sand on the floor would be a nice touch. When asked about the current state of any give project state that it's "being worked on" or "should be finished late next week." Either your boss will notice your strange behavior and you'll end up having to explain yourself or, if you are very lucky, the bureaucracy in your office is so deep that your shenanigans will go unnoticed. If confronted immediately apologize and say that you had hoped that your problems had not affected your work performance. Ask for the rest of the day off as a mental health day, and explain that you have another appointment with your doctor tomorrow. Never go back to work.

Reverse Firing

In the corporate world you often get reviewed for your performance. The meetings are uncomfortable affairs where your manager goes down a checklist of things that 'could use improvement'. On Quit Your Job Day, you'll be calling a review meeting of your own. Create a list of things the company needs improvement in. Watch your manager squirm as you point out bad health benefits, impenetrable paperwork, inhuman working environments and other OSHA related problems. At the end of your review look your manager straight in the eye and ask 'What would you do if you were me?', pause and then announce 'I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go.'

Unionize.

One to two weeks before Quit Your Job Day covertly post flyers calling for unionization of your office. Demands should be extravagant, on the off chance that management actually gives you the raises, two hour paid lunches, and happy hour Fridays. More than likely your efforts to unionize will fail. At that point you should start posting Quit Your Job Day flyers, leaving your job with the satisfaction that you did your best to change things from the inside.

Dramatic Speech

I've found, through careful research, that ending your speech with the phrase "So who's with me…!" will often elicit the best response.

Lunch Escape (Personal Favourite)


For the timid, the lunch escape may provide the ideal solution. Plan a large lunch with your closest allies and friends from work. The location should be some place casual that serves alcohol. Western restaurants are ideal. During lunch casually mention that it's Quit Your Job Day, and remember that you have some brochures you downloaded from the web site. Joke about not going back to work after lunch while simultaneously buying the next round. If someone suggests heading back, accuse them of trying to avoid buying their round of drinks. Pretty soon you'll all be looking for new jobs.

Telecommute

The most important thing about telecommuting is convincing the company that it will save them money. Do your research, there are hundreds of websites that explain why telecommuting is the wave of the future and ends up saving companies thousands of dollars. Learn the language that HR uses to talk about telecommuting and then submit a formal request. Should you be one of the lucky few, you will awake at the crack of noon, walk your home in your underwear and reluctantly open your computer through the company's VPN. At first you will have to work hard to show improved productivity. With no face to face interaction you can slowly start to slack. Soon the company will forget what you look like or even what you were supposed to be doing. Each month a new paycheck will arrive, and you will laugh having already started your new job.

I finally took the trouble to cancel my domains that has private registration with Godaddy so that I can transfer off in 60 days time. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

 

August 2007 wraps up my sixth month of internet marketing experience. It's been a great month.

Total Income for August 2007: $3951.31

Here is the breakdown:

• Clickbank Sales: $2315.78

• PayDotCom Sales: $1511.50

• Paypal Sales: $37
• Google Adsense: $44.84
• Third Party Affiliate Programs: $42.19

Grand Total: $3951.31

Earnings Last Month: $1781.39
Difference in earnings: Increase in 121.81%

So the big question is: How did I manage to double my profits in a month? In a paragraph, all I can say is that a slight change in your Adwords campaign can result in drastic changes. The most important factor is to split test and monitor results. Remeber, you can only improve what you can measure!

Some Important Events this Month:

1) Affiliate Sales exceeds the sale of my own products - This is attributed to the growth of my list promoting other products and more aggresive Adword campaigns.

2) Not getting the results I would like to see from Google Adsense despite my efforts. Compared to my earnings of $2.34 from Adsense, I suppose the 20x increase is a huge jump, but looking in terms of effort/result ratio, it isn't exactly as what I have initially planned.

3) Finally met up with other Malaysian internet marketers - Matt Ng, Edmund Loh and Khai. Matt to discuss on issues on withdrawing from Paypal in Malaysia, Edmund to pick his brain on how to make money online from PLR, and Khai for a game of Settlers of Catan. Brilliant people!

Action Plan for September:

1) Launch of my first product in the internet marketing niche. - No distractions for this one, more details in a later post.

2) More focus on private label products in niche markets.

and finally…

3) Quitting my full time job so that hopefully I can finally concentrate more on internet marketing. I should be handing in my resignation letter this week and fulfilling my 1 month's notice and then it's finally goodbye 9-5! I'm going to give it a try for about 1-2 months, let's see if I lose focus or have a disciplinary problem (which I do). Going for lunch alone on weekdays when everyone else is at work is going to suck. We'll see how it goes.

Target for September 2007: $4500

Tip #1: Search Engine Friendly URLs

Always use search engine friendly URLs. Be sure to use hyphens and underscores in all your URLs and preferably have the URLs be the keyword that relates to the page. For example if the page is about web hosting, then the URL could be web-hosting or web_hosting.

Tip #2: Keyword Rich Domain Name

This may not be possible in many niche markets for the more popular keywords. Therefore you can focus on creating mini-sites that are keyword based. For example if your site is about web hosting, you can create mini-sites about web hosting but with a lesser known keyword such as "low cost web hosting".

Tip #3: Keyword research

It's important to do thorough research before deciding what keywords you'll focus on when optimizing your website. I've listed below some popular tools you can use

Digital Point Keyword Suggestion Tool

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

Overture Search Suggestion

http://inventory.overture.com/

Nichebot

http://www.nichebot.com

Word Tracker

http://www.wordtracker.com

Keyword Discovery

http://www.keyworddiscovery.com

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Good Keywords (Free keyword research Software application)

Download Li