Internet forum behavior
A short and funny video about how to behave on an Internet forum.

Create a strong, secure password
Learn the right way to create an extremely hard-to-crack password.

Technology for country folk
A humorous look at some common techno-lingo.

4 Classic navigation positions
Learn about the 4 classic navigation positions as well as how to choose which is best for your website.

WYSIWYG or not to WYSIWYG?
A quick look at why beginners to website design should avoid using visual WYSIWYG editors.

Learning from “Your Logo Makes Me Barf”
Learn what not to do when designing your logo with some “slap-your-forehead” examples.

Make My Logo BIGGER Cream!
A humorous video that pokes fun at bad graphic design plus a few lessons you can pull from it.

Boxes – the building blocks of websites
A visual guide to help you uncover just where the invisible boxes of a website’s design are located.

Cleaning up an all-centered website
Find out how to fix the most common mistake made by beginners to website design.

• What are the different ways I can make money online?
• Is it easy to make money online?
• What does real Internet marketing entail?
• Do I have to be adept at making websites?
• Must I make my own product?

And the most important:

• Where do I begin?

If you have been asking yourself any of the above questions, then your prayers have been heard — for, here are answers:

Ways to make money online

There are many profitable facets to Internet marketing, but the key to success is finding which method best matches the way you work, think, and even play (hey, this job requires persistence, so if you don’t like what you are doing you’ll give up soon.) In later posts I’ll cover each of the facets in greater detail. But for now, here is a brief listing of ways to make money online:

• Affiliate marketing (promoting someone else’s product)
• Selling on E-Bay
• Blogging
• Writing articles for yourself or for others
• Writing and selling your own e-book or other information product
• Drop shipping
• Building websites that profit from Google’s AdSense

Is it easy?

I’ve been making a good living online for the past 4 years and if there is one thing that I’ve learned it is this: “Internet marketing is the ‘hardest’ easy money I’ve ever made.” Let me explain that…

I view making money online in this way: people go to college to study their chosen profession. It takes time, energy, and even money (in the form of tuition). Once the knowledge is ingrained in your mind and the degree is in your hand you can get a job (hopefully) and start making money.

Internet marketing is exactly the same. It takes study, time, effort, (and even some money) to master the necessary skills. But once you have learned the ropes, you can make good money online. Persistence is the key.

REAL Internet marketing

To me, “Internet marketing” is the hardcore approach to making money online. It is so much more than just building a website or two and just watching as the “cash pours in.”

Basically, the pros at Internet marketing study every minute detail of ALL of there websites. They track every click their visitors make. They know which web pages get viewed the most. They tweak, update, adjust, and then scrutinize the results in the effort to get the most money out of their efforts. It can be mind-boggling to the newbie. But it is certainly NOT impossible to learn.

Website design and making money online

The good news is that you really don’t have to be an “amazing” or even just a “great” website designer to make money online. I know that last statement sounds like a hyped-up sales letter — but it’s true. Even just knowing the basics of website design (enough to get a simple site online) is plenty. And in some facets of Internet marketing, you don’t even need a website at all (article marketing is a good example.)

Obviously, attractive websites DO sell more of the products they sell or promote. But being able to build a great website is not required at all to make good money online.

Do I need my own product?

Not at all! The number one method to make money online is through “affiliate marketing”. It’s quite easy to do. Affiliate marketing is accomplished by simply finding a product that is already available online, signing up to that website’s affiliate program (where you get a special “affiliate link”), and then placing that special affiliate link on your own website or blog. If a visitor to your site clicks on that special link and then goes on to purchase that product, you earn a commission.

Of course, if you really want to profit the most from your Internet marketing efforts, then you really do need to make your own product to sell online. With that done, a fleet of affiliate marketers can then promote it for you. But don’t read that the wrong way. Many people do make a great living online by promoting a product that isn’t their own.

Getting started

The easiest (and cheapest) way to get started with Internet marketing and making money online is to subscribe to any of the free newsletters that abound across the Internet or read blogs (like this one) written by pros in the field. This is how I first began. Often when you sign up to these free newsletters you can also get free e-books on various topics of Internet marketing. But be forewarned. These people ARE marketers, so resist the urge to whip out your wallet at first.

But the truth is very different…

Imagine for a moment that your best friend just came back from a one-week trip to Hawaii. You’re anxious to hear about the adventures, see the photos, and hopefully get the authentic souvenir Hawaiian shirt. You rush to the phone and make the call. “Sure” your friend says enthusiastically. “I’ll be right over!” In a few short minutes your doorbell rings. Behind the door your friend stands with a menagerie of photos, odd yet wonderful tiki-trinkets, and the much anticipated multicolored Hawaiian shirt.

This is exactly how surfing the Internet works (minus the Hawaiian shirt.)

What you see on your screen when you “visit” a website is actually stored on your computer. You see, when you click on a link that takes you to a website you’ve never been to before, your browser basically invites the website to “come over to your computer” to play.

Here’s how it all works.

There is a special computer called a server. This special computer has a 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, 365 days-a-year connection to the Internet. The server simply stores all of the images, graphics, text, and a host of other files that make up a website.

When you click on a link that takes you to a website, your browser contacts the server computer where the website is kept. All of the files (images, graphics, text, etc.) of the page you want to see are sent to your computer and stored on your hard drive. As these files are being sent to you, your browser organizes them into a readable website. (Yes, the words you are reading right now and the graphics you see on Newbie Website Design are actually stored your computer!)

Where is it all stored?

All of the files you get from the websites you visit are stored in a place called the cache. The location of the cache depends greatly on which browser you are using (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.) and on the operating system you use (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.) But don’t lose any sleep over it.

All browsers are very smart. Each has a maximum cache size — usually about 50 MB — that prevents your hard disk from overflowing with website files. When the cache reaches its maximum, the browser will automatically erase the oldest files to make room for the new stuff. Nice. Neat. And hands-free simple.

Your cache does more than just store the files that are downloaded from the websites you visit. The very next time you view the same website, your browser first checks the cache to see if those files already exist. If the content of the files remains unchanged since your last visit (images are a perfect example of this) then your browser uses the one already stored in your cache. This greatly speeds up the time it takes for the website to appear on your screen.

That’s why it is VERY IMPORTANT to create very hard-to-crack, strong, and secure passwords.

But how does one go about creating such a password?
Let’s find out how…

Password creation no-nos

I’ve seen many websites say that it’s important to create an easy-to-remember password. Unfortunately, easy-to-remember passwords are also easy-to-crack passwords. So avoid using the following:

• Names of people or anything else that actually looks like a word
• Special dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)

Correct password creation

The best passwords are a MINIMUM of 8 characters in length (10 – 15 is the best) and contain the following:

• Upper-case, lower-case, and numbers mixed together
• Special characters such as: &%'()*+

Step 1:
Think of a sentence.
For example: “My red dog has purple fleas”

Step 2:
Randomly add upper-case letters.
For example: “MY reD dOG has PURple fleaS”

Step 3:
Put some numbers into the spaces.
For example: “MY2reD4dOGhas6PURple5fleaS”

Step 4:
Remove some of the letters (Make sure that no whole word remains.)
For example: “Y2rD4G6PU5eS”

Step 5:
Add a few special characters.
For example: “Y2rD4&G6P+U5e%S”
(Note: Some websites won’t allow special characters in passwords.)

Step 6:
Go to www.PasswordMeter.com and type in your newly created password. Password Meter will show you how strong your password is and, if it’s not very strong, where improvements can be made. (Ignore the stuff on the right side of the web page. Just look at the icons on the left to see where the weak points are.)

Step 7:
WRITE YOUR PASSWORD DOWN!
Keep a notebook in a safe place where you can store all of your passwords.

The Internet can be a fun, exciting, and convenient place where almost anything is possible. Just make sure to protect yourself correctly and your World Wide Web adventure will be truly amazing!

(Click on the images to enlarge)

PS,
If you happen to know the source of these comics please let me know!

• What IS Facebook?
• What IS Stumble Upon?
• What IS Technorati? AND…
• What IS a social bookmarking website?

They are all good questions. Here are the good answers:

A social bookmarking website is a special website where a community of users can recommend to one another cool websites, blogs, articles, and photos that they find while surfing the Internet. They really are a great way to find the really good stuff on the World Wide Web. Much better than search engines because search engines like Google, Yahoo!, MSN and others index EVERYTHING that they find on the Internet. They can’t police and filter them all.

All members of a social bookmarking website can search through the website’s own database to find the good stuff that others have recommended.

One of the beautiful things about this is that members can vote on how good the websites, blogs, articles, and photos actually are. The members can even “veto” or “flag” bad recommendations so they can be checked and possibly removed from the database.

Social bookmarking websites are FREE to join. Often you get your own “home page” where you can post articles and photos just like a blog. All the websites that you recommend are listed on your own personal blog as well.

Here are some top-notch social bookmarking websites:
Stumble Upon
Facebook
Technorati
Digg

Three years later I’m still thanking my lucky stars that I bought her e-book. And to this day I still follow all of her new materials as well. Her e-book, more than almost any other, is responsible for my current online success.

While viewing some of her YouTube videos today I came across one that rang true for me. You see, there are many scam artists out there on the World Wide Web that use Photoshop to fake the “proof of earnings” images you see on their websites. Maybe they actually only earn $100 a month. But with a little bit of editing they can make it look like they earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. (Sneaky little cheaters!)

The video made by Rosalind Gardner is an actual, real-time tour through some of her accounts. You can see her earnings in their complete, unedited glory. What is even more impressive is that this video was made a few years ago… so one can only imagine what she is making now through Internet marketing.

Here’s that video for your enjoyment:

In this next video, you can see a good example of just how easy it is to become an affiliate:

• Link to a social bookmarking website
• Add to your favorite RSS Reader
• E-mail the post to a friend
• Print out the post using your printer