Blogging for Dollars-Want to be a Dot Com Mogul like John Chow? How about showing up every day and being consistent for starters, how far would that get you?

Many bloggers and affiliate marketers may not ever find the answer to that question because they won’t do it. Even though I’d never recommend anyone get involved in an mlm business, my 2 ventures into that dark realm were very valuable lessons. We learned that to be in the top 10% of mlmers all you had to do was show up to meetings and events, and then to be in the top 5% all you had to do was show up on time and be prepared to do business. Those seem like brain dead simple things to do, but it was utterly amazing how many people didn’t do them.

Translate that into blogging and online business and you’ll find the secret to making at least some money on the net is no secret at all. The secret is called work. Being in the top 10% of bloggers and affiliate marketers requires that you just do something besides shop on eBay and read the news all day. If you are going to blog, then quit screwing around with it and do it every day, no excuses. Being in the top 5% probably requires little more effort than adding 10 comments and 2 forum posts a day and 1 article to an article directory per week. For More.

In October, Dell sued a group of domain registrars, alleging the companies bought more than 1,100 domain names with trademark-infringing characteristics, such as “dellbatterrogram.com” in order to put advertising links on the pages.
The practice, known as typosquatting, is illegal. It’s intended to draw unwitting Web surfers to pages with URLs (uniform resource locators) that are similar to legitimate sites, and then redirect them to other sites. The owners of these Web sites get revenue from advertising referral programs every time a link is clicked.  more

Hi, my name is Tina. I started a little blog called Think Simple Now on September 27th, 2007 with zero experience in blogging, internet marketing or writing. By the time Christmas came, 3 months later, I had 2135 subscribers.

I’m new to blogging, in fact, I read very few blogs. I also do not follow any blogs on blogging, with the exception of a couple of articles read from doshdosh and problogger very early on.

I often get asked how I did it, and I decided to compile this article as a record of my experience with hope that others might benefit from what I’ve learned. I want to show you that it is possible to achieve your blogging goals starting from scratch, using my case as a live example. I’ve learned that there are no real secrets to blogging success, all it really takes is a deep desire to do so, along with an urge to action.

I have three important reasons why my blog has been successful:
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With all the talk last year about The Marley family threatening to sue over reggae legend Bob Marley’s songs being offered as ringtones on the Verizon Wireless via an agreement with Universal Music Group, we thought we’d find out just how does one make money from the sale of ringtones in the USA.

Here’s the breakdown: The example shows how the sale of 50 Cent “Candy Shop” master tone might break down, based on a retail price of US$2.50:-A carrier like Verizon typically receives about $1.12,or 45 percent.-The parent label receives about $1,or 40 percent of the total,and out of that pays the artist a royalty. At an estimated 18 percent royalty,50 Cent would receive about 29 cents.-The publishers collectively receive about 25 cents,or 10 percent. From that share, the writers are each estimated to receive between 9 cents and 11 cents.-Performance societies like the American Society of Composers,Authors and Publishers,would receive an estimated 3.5 percent of the total,or roughly 9 cents.

The ringtone industry up make up 12% of total music sales by 2008.
The ringtone industry, currently valued at about US$3 billion world-wide, is expected to make up 12% of total music sales by 2008, according to a recent study by Baskerville/Informa Media, reports the WallStreetJournal”However, the value of the market “will start to level out as prices come down and the effects of home copying kick in,” said Steve Mayall, an analyst with the U.K. research group.As the sector grows, the music industry will likely need to expand its fight against online piracy to include Web sites that offer unauthorized ringtones, the study said.”Source: moconews

Richard Powell when he lived in Jamaica was a player and a big fan of football. While living in the US, he saw a huge unmet need in the market and filled it with the site fuxito.com. The site was described and hailed as “the online destination where soccer aficionados gather for the latest news, recruiting information, expert analysis and interaction. Positioned as a key vehicle to experience the total soccer culture, community and lifestyle, Fuxito.com provides soccer enthusiasts of all levels a springboard into the soccer experience.”

SC: Where were you born?
RP: St. Andrew, Jamaica.

SC: What schools did you go to?
RP: St. Andrew Prep, Campion High School, Andover (MA), and Harvard (MA)

SC: How old were you when you started Fuxito?
RP: I was 18 years old

SC: What led you to start Fuxito and describe the naming of that site?
RP: I identified a huge market need. Then created the name and brand for the site by combining Futbol (football in Spanish) and exito (success in Spanish).

SC: Describe your start up environment-where was your office, staff numbers, money status before funding?
RP: Office was a house between Harvard and MIT on Mass Ave. Staff was 7, on a budget of US$150k before raising US$1mm in VC money.

SC: From start up to first round of funding, how long? Describe that process briefly.
RP: It took 9 months. The Process can be described as longer than expected.

SC: Guy Kawasaki, co-owner of Garage Ventures is quoted and saying that Web 2.0 companies have it easy in starting businesses (low entry and operational costs, access to ideas, world talent) and that venture funding is stupid i.e. not even necessary…he started truemors.com as a testament to that theory…what’s your own take on that ?
RP: As with every type of business, experience and contacts define how difficult it will be to get to the next level. Many firms still need funding today, though teams and entrepreneurs who have done it before will have it much
easier.

SC: From start up to sale, how long was it?
RP: It was 2.5 years.

SC: Why did you sell/was that your exit plan from the get go?
RP: The market for internet companies collapsed in early 2000. So that was not the original exit plan.

SC: How was the company valued and how much did you sell it for?
RP: The company was valued at over US$120mm at one point. Because of the Internet Bubble we sold it for much less than that!

SC: Why are you now choosing to be a venture capitalist vs. an entrepreneur?
RP: I’m not a VC. I run a PE firm that doesn’t invest in tech firms. It’s Risk-adjusted, it is a better investment model.

SC: What are the top 3 things Jamaica and the Caribbean need to inspire an American 90s internet economy boom?
RP: (1.) Access to capital. (2) Experienced management teams and (3) Greater study of the successful models and how it can be applied to business started in the Caribbean.

SC: Why do you think we are yet to have any You Tube, Google, Yahoo, and EBay type innovations from the Caribbean and can we expect it at all?
RP: Caribbean doesn’t have the depth of contacts or talent that Silicon Valley does.

SC: Do you think you would have had this success story were you still living in Jamaica? What are the advantages you had in living in the US?
RP: No. Advantages I had were 1. Access to capital (2) Experienced management teams and (3) U studied the successful models and how it can be applied to the business idea that I had.

SC: 16. What are the areas can Caribbean tech entrepreneurs look in order to score their first internet million in USD Dollars that is? What are the top 5 viable internet businesses that are now missing in the Caribbean?
RP: I don’t agree with the notion that they are missing from the Caribbean. The most successful tech businesses cater to global audiences, regardless of where they are located. The 4 you listed in #14 are global plays, not
regional. The best advice is to study social and economic trends and build a business that rides irrefutable waves such as (i) aging baby boomers, (ii) globalization, and (iii) increased need to experience new things.

by David Mullings
I recently received my last issue of Business 2.0 and just had to recommend the following article to the readers of this column. you can find it here: The Kopy Kat Kids In my advisory capacities with mentees, other entrepreneurs and business-owners, I always pass on a vital lesson I learnt during my MBA program - you don’t have to come up with something new to be successful.

This article is a perfect example of how adaption of successful ideas for a different culture can make millions and it is a playbook that many of us should be taking a look at. A few people prefer to only focus on original ideas - that is their prerogative - but there is no doubt that adapting a proven idea is the easier way to success and profit than being original.

The story of the Samwer brothers provides one clear path to success - their first start-up, Alando, a German clone of ebay, was purchased by ebay itself for $50 million 5 months after it launched. They knew that debit cards were the preferred payment method in their culture and built their site around that, unlike ebay’s credit card system.
Granted, the Caribbean faces many different challenges - but who better to overcome them than Caribbean people?

Ultimately, companies with business models focused on advertising as the main revenue source will have to find companies interested in advertising to Caribbean nationals or target a demographic that the advertisers want to get to (like promoting Caribbean content to US African-Americans). A Caribbean Facebook clone will only work if companies targeting such a demographic (which can be divided further like any demographic) are willing to spend real money for online advertising, and very few do at this time - but you always have to start somewhere.

The point of a business is to generate profits and wealth for the stakeholders. If the venture can change the World too, or your part of the World, then even better, but you need profit to be able to do anything. Adaptation is a viable option so don’t overlook it.

Of the these twelve strategies below choose the ones that hold the most relevance to you, then  prioritize them, select a target date and put it on your marketing calendar.

1. Write articles and submit to Google and other free article submission sites. Make them no longer than 500 words, quality, relevant to the content of your website and loaded with keywords you’ve researched.

2. Put your website address as a sticker on the rear of your car.

3. Write an article for a magazine with your website address in addition to an email.

4. Getting your site listed in search engines. Go to google.com and yahoo.com and your local site directories and submit your site.

5. Post comments in discussion and newsgroups associated with your industry, they typically ask for your name, email address and website address.

6. Add a Tell A Friend script to your site, so site visitors can click and on a whim send a page from your website to a couple of friends.

7. Have multiple websites that link to each other. With the advent of the blog as a publishing tool, it’s easier to build out a network of sites.

8. Be a guest on a radio show and send people to your site.

9. Put your domain on all marketing materials-business cards, fliers, tshirts, posters etc.

10. Develop a publicity stunt such as a viral joke or flash movie with your website on it.

11. Use Pay Per Click search engines like Google. Start with a small daily budget and test it for 30 days. It can be the start of online branding and push traffic to your website.

12. Create a signature for the end of all your emails.