The thing about the Internet is that it, she or whatever you call this organism constantly and rapidly morphs into something more evolved and enhanced than its previous, lesser self. She’s alive and she’s hungry. Hungry for change, and as our ever green friend, the Hulk  here suggests, nothing is going to stop her.

This change is truly exponential in nature, but it’s a good change. The challenge is to keep up with it. Maybe even more so is the challenge to make sure what worked yesterday will still work today or even next year. I believe that what you do today will still work for years to come if you remember to consider what it is all about. What it’s all about is of course the driving force behind this constant and rapid evolving, namely us, people. We have to understand that people are why the Internet is there in the first place. People are why the Internet is constantly changing. People are the reason why Web 2.0 is so much more dynamic than its primitive predecessor. And people are the reason we get paid everyday.

“So Elmer, what is Web 2.0 exactly and why should I care?” Well seeing that you asked I am going to try and explain to you by comparison. Even though Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are only one version number apart, I can assure you that the difference and potential difference still to come is absolutely gargantuan. It’s like trying to compare a baby elephant still trying to figure out his trunk to a young bull ready to understand what he is all about. What about an old Nokia 2100 series, the “brick”, to a brand new Apple iPhone? Both are cellular phones, but somehow the iPhone just seems more evolved, not just technically, but also from a point of taking the ‘i’ in iPhone more seriously. The Nokia was a tool which worked well. The iPhone takes into consideration that its owner has a personality and is a social being. 

What about comparing watching the greatest rugby match ever played at home to actually being right there in the middle of it all? Both will give you the exact information you need. One will just be much more exciting, much more interactive, much more energetic. Being there will get you in conversations with other people and they will share their take on it all. Within a 20 meter perimeter around you, you will know exactly who shouts for which team. At home it’s the commentator and your opinion that count. Being there everybody’s opinion count.

So, let me sum it all up. The Internet of the latter nineties and early millennium years were much more about one person interacting with one web page. Typically what would happen is that the average person, that is, a non-Internet marketer will do a search on a search engine, on a specific subject. The search engine will interpret the search query and produce a set of records containing hopefully that which the person was looking for. That person would then hopefully go to one of those web sites, obtain the necessary information, possibly leave the site via another link or go back to the search engine for new searches. And that was mostly how things were done. But not anymore. Not necessarily.

Welcome to being at the rugby game. Web 2.0 works a bit differently. Sure you can do your faithful searches. Still very important on the Internet planet. But there is some other cool stuff happening as well. For example you can watch a tutorial video on Youtube on any subject you are interested in. Should you have an opinion to share you can upload your own video, link it to the first one you saw and wait for a response, either in video or comment format. This can potentially go on and on forever.

You can go to Wikipedia.org and experience how everyone who is everyone is contributing to one of the greatest interactive online encyclopedias online. It’s free and it’s completely acceptable for you to add to or change a specific subject. And the best thing is, somehow it just works. The information is sound and if it’s not you can report it as potentially incorrect. It’s very interactive and organic.

You can go to various “how to” sites and get information from various different people on how to tackle a certain subject. The best thing is your are totally welcome to share your own two cents. How about getting the best answer to a difficult question you might have? Yahoo! Answers let you ask the public a question, and you decide on which answer is the best! You have web sites like Tehnorati, which through public interaction consolidates all the best information of all the web sites on a specific topic. You can save your web site bookmarks online and make it public so that everybody knows what your interested in. This way, once again there is opportunity to socialise around a topic. With micro blogging you can mini post and the entire planet can respond. All you need is a cell phone (even the “brick”:)) and to register on a site like Twitter.

With web 2.0 your opinion counts. And depending on how sociable your opinion is, you could monetise it. Web 2.0, in one sentence, is about socialising around information. Social media and social marketing are terms that you will soon get aquatinted with on this blog. The reason it’s so important to grasp the concept of Web 2.0 is that from a marketer’s perspective you are going to lose out if you ignore it. The days where we run our Internet businesses like Big Brother watching over his potential customers are over. We have to get involved. We have to get social and we have to be good at it.

Cheers

If that’s a question that has been on your mind, hopefully I would be able to set it at ease. First let us determine where the question comes from.

You are cautious because you heard bad things

I don’t like to ponder on the negative, so this is going to be a quick one. The Internet is not some organised conspiracy of super syndicated criminals who can’t wait to rob you of your well-earned money.

There are always a few rotten apples in the basket, regardless of the type of basket they are in. You can go sit in a restaurant which is ultimately managed by someone who purely uses it to launder money for an illegal business. That does not mean that the South African restaurant business is ultimately run by the Godfather. You won’t stop eating out just because you know of this one restaurant right? You might just ignore the one specific restaurant. Or not. That’s your prerogative. The point is, the Internet is a vehicle for making money. How you approach that potential is up to you. I hope however, that it is with integrity and a sense of wanting to do things honestly.

Your entrepreneurial instincts forces you to ask the question

Now that is the type of question I like to answer, and in a nutshell, what this web site is all about. Without getting too bogged down with the difference between Internet marketing and Internet sales, Internet marketing is first of all, the concept or term used for approaching the Internet with the idea of making money.

Secondly, probably more closer to the exact definition, Internet marketing encapsulates all the wonderful ways of making yourself or your product known to any potential buying forces out there. If you are a good marketer then you will be a good marketer on the Internet. If not, we’ll teach you. The point is, the concepts don’t change, the vehicle does.

The bottom line of answering your question is the following. If you are someone:

1. Constantly on the lookout for great opportunities then Internet Marketing could just be the next opportunity for you. You can make serious income. For example, I know of a man, a simple man, a man like you and me (sorry ladies :)), who started an e-commerce business a few years ago. Currently he is earning at least $500 000 a month. 40% of that is absolute nett. His business is open 365/24/7. While he is sleeping, he is making money. Literally. Everything is automated. From making the sale, right through to shipping the actual product.
   Sure $500 000 is a lot and probably not for everyone. Let’s just take 1% of that. That’s $5000 pm. If you multiply that with seven, you have a business generating some nice cash flow. Duplicate that idea 4 times and you are earning some nice moolah.
2. Who is not afraid of steep learning curves because you can see the rewards then you are at the right place. Remember you are here so we can teach you!
3. Who does not live to work but works to live you are at the right place. You have to keep in mind that the concept of Internet Marketing is not bound to any geographical border. Which means… yes… you can potentially sit anywhere on this planet and run your business. You need to understand that the previous statement is not exaggerated and by no means a pipe dream. If there is an Internet connection you can work. Simple.
4. Who is not technically inclined then you have come to the right place. Internet Marketing is not about web programming or laying out web site pages. Yes there are those factors, but first and foremost Internet Marketing is about a concept which anyone can grasp. Outsourcing (and yes very affordable) is something we’ll be teaching you so if you don’t want to do your own web layout you don’t have to. In any case, should you feel you want to make serious money with this vehicle, you will not be spending time designing your own web sites.

What we are going to teach you here

The sole purpouse of this blog is to teach its readers Internet Marketing and ultimately Internet sales. We’ll be covering anything which can possibly help you to get a better understanding of how to make money on the Internet. Some of the more obvious stuff we’ll be covering:

1. The many different ways of making money via Internet Marketing
2. How to get exposure for free!. In other words, how to let everyone out there know that you and your online business venture exists.
3. The wonderful world of Web 2.0. Yeah baby!
4. The whole concept of Social Marketing.
5. How to use all of the many, many wonderful online tools to track your business.
6. How to do market research before wasting your time on a product which is not going to sell.
7. How to use free Web 2.0 platforms to test your market research and which ones to use.
8. How to communicate with your existing and potential customers in an effective way.
9. And so on, and so on…