Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Free Webinar

Today at 12:30 AM Philippine Time (12:30 PM New York Time), I'll be attending a Free Webinar that's going to be held by Jay Berkowitz on 10 Strategies to Stay on the Cutting Edge. It will talk about the technologies that you can use to keep you abreast of issues, news and trends.

Jay Berkowitz is best known as the Chief Executive Officer of TenGoldenRules.com, an Internet Marketing Podcast that aims to help in educating people about Internet Marketing Strategies using various platforms.

Webinar

Topics

• Resources for Cutting-Edge news using Blogs, Industry Publications and Podcasts
• Leading Industry Strategies for Location Based Networking
• Ways to optimize your Twitter presence using Hash Tags, RTs and @Replies 
• Proven methods for Producing Content as you Read, Learn, Research and Watch
• Efficient ways to gain knowledge using tools such as Google Reader and iGoogle 

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Beating the Machine



1. e2e4
go
1. ... e7e5
My move is: e7e5
force
d2d3
2. d2d3
go
2. ... b8c6
My move is: b8c6
force
c1e3
3. c1e3
go
3. ... g8f6
My move is: g8f6
force
f1e2
4. f1e2
go
4. ... d7d5
My move is: d7d5
force
e2f3
5. e2f3
go
5. ... c8e6
My move is: c8e6
force
b1d2
6. b1d2
go
6. ... f8b4
My move is: f8b4
force
c2c3
7. c2c3
go
7. ... d5e4
My move is: d5e4
force
d3e4
8. d3e4
go
8. ... b4e7
My move is: b4e7
force
g1h3
9. g1h3
go
9. ... e8g8
My move is: e8g8
force
h3g5
10. h3g5
go
10. ... a7a5
My move is: a7a5
force
h2h3
11. h2h3
go
11. ... e6d7
My move is: e6d7
force
e1g1
12. e1g1
go
12. ... d8c8
My move is: d8c8
force
d1b3
13. d1b3
go
13. ... a5a4
My move is: a5a4
force
b3c4
14. b3c4
go
14. ... a4a3
My move is: a4a3
force
a1b1
15. a1b1
go
15. ... a3b2
My move is: a3b2
force
b1b2
16. b1b2
go
16. ... e7a3
My move is: e7a3
force
b2b3
17. b2b3
go
17. ... a3e7
My move is: a3e7
force
f3g4
18. f3g4
go
18. ... f6g4
My move is: f6g4
force
h3g4
19. h3g4
go
19. ... d7g4
My move is: d7g4
force
f2f3
20. f2f3
go
20. ... g4d7
My move is: g4d7
force
c4d3
21. c4d3
go
21. ... a8a2
My move is: a8a2
force
b3b5
22. b3b5
go
22. ... f8d8
My move is: f8d8
force
f3f4
23. f3f4
go
23. ... d7f5
My move is: d7f5
force
d3c4
24. d3c4
go
24. ... d8d2
My move is: d8d2
force
c4f7
25. c4f7
go
25. ... g8h8
My move is: g8h8
force
e3d2
26. e3d2
go
26. ... a2d2
My move is: a2d2
force
e4f5
27. e4f5
go
27. ... e5f4
My move is: e5f4
force
f1f4
28. f1f4
go
28. ... e7g5
My move is: e7g5
force
f4e4
29. f4e4
go
29. ... g5f6
My move is: g5f6
force
e4e8
30. e4e8
go
30. ... c8e8
My move is: c8e8
force
f7e8

Sunday, June 27, 2010

10 Richest Pinoy Bloggers 2010

You've seen their blogs, you marveled at their wit, you envied their traffic, now let's try to see who the Richest Richest Pinoy Bloggers are.


*Criteria at the bottom

TeamPilipinas.info

Top 10 Richest Pinoy Blog
Value:

Real Website Worth Value: NA
SiteValue Calculator: $395
CubeStat Value: $42,396.21
WebsiteOutlook: $34,390.3



Daily Ads Revenue:


Real Website Worth Est: NA
Site Value Calculator: NA
CubeStat Est: $58.08
Website Outlook: $47.11

About:
Philippine Sports, General News, World Sports, Boxing, Billiards, Basketball.

Ad network:
Nuffnang. Adsense. Image Space Media.


Who owns this?
Bummer. I can't tell. Domain registration information is privatized. Will get back to you on this.




PinoyBerkz.com

Top 9 Richest Pinoy Bloggers
Value:

Real Website Worth Value: $1,444.29
Site Value Calculator: $429
Cube Stat: $18,485.79
Website Outlook: $14,008.7

Daily Ads Revenue:

Real Website Worth: $3.95
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $25.32
Website Outlook: $19.19

About: 
General, TV Shows, Music, Facebook, Radio, Movies, Streaming Content

Ad Network:
Adsense, Adbrite

Who owns this?


Unknown




Yugatech.com

Top 8 Richest Pinoy Blogger
Value: 

Real Website Worth: $21,337.14
Site Value Calculator: $108,626
Cube Stat: $87,637.23
Website Outlook: $97,068.1


Daily Ads Revenue

Real Website Worth: $49.11
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $120.05
Website Outlook: $132.97

About:
Philippine Tech Reviews, Gadgets, Electronics

Ad Network:
Adsense

Who owns this?
Abe Olandres




Starmometer.com

Top7 Richest Pinoy Blogger
Value:


Real Website Worth: $8,732.14
Site Value Calculator: $29,901
Cube Stat: $39,017.04
Website Outlook: $43,179.5




Daily Ads Revenue:

Real Website Worth: $21.30
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $53.45
Website Outlook: $59.15

About:
Philippine Showbiz

Ad Network:
Adsense, Image Space Media

Who Owns This?
I don't know but you might have a clue here:




http://naruto-spoilers.blogspot.com/


Top 6 Richest Pinoy Bloggers

Value:


Real Website Worth: NA
Site Value Calculator: $3
Cube Stat: $55,273.41
Website Outlook: NA

Daily Ads Revenue:


Real Website Worth: NA
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $75.72
Website Outlook: NA

*The site appraisal software usually don't give good results for subdomains.

About:
Naruto

Ad Network:
Adsense, Info links

Who owns this:
Surprisingly its main contributors are 1, 2, 3, 4. Considering that they submitted their blogs to topblogs.com.ph - they must be Filipinos pretending to be from the UK. Gah, this is getting harder than I thought.




http://getitfromboy.net

Value:


Real Website Worth: $13,554.31
Site Value Calculator: $432
Cube Stat: $19,158.12
Website Outlook: $27,243.6


Daily Ads Revenue:

Real Website Worth: $35.03
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $26.24
Website Outlook: $37.32


About:
Showbiz, Gossip

Ad Network:
Google Adsense, Nuffnang,

Who Owns This:
Beats me.




http://www.techpinas.com

Top4 Richest Pinoy Blogger
Real Website Worth: $6,778.27
Site Value Calculator: $3,136
Cube Stat: $26,350.08
Website Outlook: NA





Daily Ads Revenue

Real Website Worth: $17.26
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $36.10
Website Outlook: NA


About:
Tech News, Gadgets


Ad Network:
Google Adsense

Who Owns This:
Mark Milan Macanas




http://dailycontributor.com

Value:


Real Website Worth: $19,053.61
Site Value Calculator: $ 2,386
Cube Stat: $80,230.65
Website Outlook: $100,455.3



Daily Ads Revenue:


Real Website Worth: $47.55
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $109.91
Website Outlook: $131.61


About:
News and Current Events

Ad Network:
Google Adsense

Who Owns This:
Randy Marasigan







http://chuvachienes.com

Value: 


Real Website Worth: $7,328.59
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $26,967.66
Website Outlook: $29,659.9

Daily Ads Revenue:


Real Website Worth: $18.04
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $36.94
Website Outlook: $40.63

About: 
Showbiz News

Ad Network:
Adsense

Who Owns This?
About







http://www.selaplana.com

Value:

Real Website Worth: $19,370.85
Site Value Calculator: $97,345
Cube Stat: $50,919.69
Website Outlook: $54479.9

Daily Ads Revenue:

Real Website Worth: $31.98
Site Value Calculator: NA
Cube Stat: $69.75
Website Outlook: $74.63

About:
Making Money Online

Ad Network:
Adsense, Chitika, Affiliate Marketing Programs

Who Owns This?
About






Final Results for the Richest Pinoy Bloggers 2010 at the Bottom









Criteria: I am aware that the criteria is not hard and fast. But in the realm of website valuation metrics, almost nothing is. There's one binding factor to the way we chose the blogs here and that is, we got the list solely from http://www.topblogs.com.ph

If you feel that you are the Richest Filipino Blogger and that you belong in this list, please do use the comment form below and I will analyze your site. Thank you!

Computations

There were some instances, when the valuation site rejected the domain either because it was a sub domain or for some other reasons. In such instances the average was computed and the missing entries not counted. 

Formula:

(RWW + SVC + CS + WO)  / No. of Valid Valuations = AVE


According to our computations here are the most profitable sites in terms of

Daily Ads Revenue:

teampilipinas.info 52.595 5
pinoyberkz.com 16.15 9
yugatech.com 100.71 1
starmometer 44.63 6
Naruto 75.72 3
getitfromboy 32.86 8
techpinas.com 26.68 10
dailycontributor 96.36 2
chuvachienes.com 31.87 7
selplana 58.79 4



By Website Value





teampilipinas.info 25,727.17 6
pinoyberkz.com 8,666.95 10
yugatech.com 78,667.12 1
starmometer 30,207.42 4
Naruto 27,638.21 5
getitfromboy 15,097.01 8
techpinas.com 12,088.12 9
dailycontributor 50,531.39 3
chuvachienes.com 21,318.72 7
selplana 55,528.86 2


We have a winner. Sir Abe Olandres of Yugatech.com!

Congrats!

*This is a work in progress and very far from scientific, if anyone wishes to share their statistical and mathematical prowess - the comment form is just below. 




Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Predict the Future with Technology

Predict the Future
Recorded Future: Google's Newest Tech Acquisition. 
 Acquired June 10, 2010
Today I read an interesting article about predicting the future using social media analytics.

The premise: social medium such as twitter and facebook do one particular thing very well - aggregate personal and social information such as moods, emotions, trends and events. The dearth of information could be analyzed and aggregated into a semantic ball of words and phrases and then correlated with the volume of their appearance to a future event.

"Johan Bollen and his colleagues at Indiana University in Bloomington have created an anxiety rating based on an analysis of hundreds of millions of tweets by people in the US. Their paper has not yet been published, but Bollen says they too found that increases in anxiety on their scale correlated with lower than expected stock prices."
"We're astounded",  he says

 "We didn't think it would be a predictive relationship."


Anyone who is practicing search engine optimization knows the value of analyzing trends in social mediums, but may not be aware of its utility as a tool in temporal forecasting as described above. On the other hand, it's likely that there may be those who are already using this to target their optimization strategy to "be there, before the buyer gets there."


My Attempts to Make Sense Out of It


Using a web application called tweetvolume, we can try to show (not predict yet) some prevailing trends in the real estate industry. Let's compare three phrases, notably,

House for Sale, Homes for Sale, House for Rent



Analysis



Using TweetVolume


1. The demographic is limited to people who use twitter
2. The difference in the usage of the terms "house for sale" as opposed to "homes for sale" is negligible. Which simply means that people don't really have a preference whether to use house for sale or homes for sale.
3. Predictably, the volume of the phrase "house for sale" / "homes for sale" far outweighs "house for rent".  This could be further analyzed as showing that more people are intent on disposing of their real estate assets rather than leasing them out.
4. This analysis describes the present and past state of real estate trends in social networks - not the future - yet, we'll get there...

Using Google's Keyword Tool External




1. Notice the difference in numbers when compared with Google's Keyword Tool External. First of all, one must take into account Google's user base which is far greater than twitter's. The image that you see merely reflects the number of searches made on Google for the indicative terms.



What we can predict using this data


Nothing yet. To be able to predict, one must be able to compare it with a trend that uniformly occurs given specific conditions and parameters. I don't know how exactly Bollen and his team were able to correllate the word "nervous" with the rise and fall of the stock market.


Predicting Real Estate Trends Using Google Trends



This is nothing new and a formal study has been made not to claim that you can use Google Trends to predict future economic activity - but rather to predict the present. Read Hyunyoung Choi and Hal Varian's Predicting the Present with Google Trends. Quoting from their study:
"We are not claiming that Google Trends data help predict the future. Rather we are claiming that Google Trends may help in predicting the present."
There is a better position posited on the Internet about predicting the future using Google Trends, however it is not backed by statistical data. It makes for a good read though.


To quote:
"Simply eyeballing the popularity of the search term "American Idol" in Google Trends shows that the keywords were less popular in 2007 than they were in 2006, thus a downward trend was already in the making. Also, the spike in interest in January of 2008 was less than it was in January 2007, further proof that American Idol would not be as avidly watched this year."

Using Google Insights for Search to Predict the Future





What the data shows us is that this "reflect(s) how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. They don't represent absolute search volume numbers, because the data is normalized and presented on a scale from 0-100." (Google)

Note the seasonal rise and falls of the line graph. It is descriptive in that it shows that the peak seasons for the search queries that are made are almost always constant.

The peaks always arise midway from the end of the 2nd quarter to the beginning of the third quarter.

Mid third quarter and the numbers dip to their lowest in December.

The data shows a correlation with rentals as well.

I could go on and on and use a wide variety of web platforms to try to predict web trends. In the example above, what the data indicates aside from the seasonal changes is the annual regular ascension of the usage of the term most often used in real estate. Quite naturally, there would be more houses for sale in the coming years, more advertisements and more search queries because of constant and ever increasing real estate development projects. The US crisis, the bailout and the efforts to mitigate the efforts thereof, fuels the rise of searches for the term "house for sale". Whether this would translate to an actual increase in economic activity in the real estate sector still needs to be quantified.


Can We Really Predict the Future Using Technology?


First, I must divulge my ideological background for I am a big fan of Hari Seldon, the elder protagonist in the Book Series called The Foundation, a novel that portrays a future that is predicted accurately using an arcane yet potent form of statistics.

Predicting the Future Through Technology

Apparently, Google believes that we can use statistics and technology to predict the future, in fact it has acquired a company that can "predict the future". In a way, Google has already stepped closer to being a forecasting engine in that they have already incorporated a "forecast" feature in their Insights for Search. Take a closer look at the rightmost portion of the picture below. The broken lines represent how Google thinks the trend will be for the term "House sold" for the latter months of 2010.

Gray Portion to the rightmost is for the future.

Watch the video about the tech startup Recorded Future that Google acquired in 2010.





Conclusion on Whether We Can Predict the Future



At this juncture predicting the future is using technology is very limited in scope. The best word that should be used is not actually to predict - but to forecast. Economic activity, like the buying and selling of houses using social medium, could still be affected by a huge number of variables on a location by location basis.

What all of the information above, at best, could be described as predicting what people would be searching for given a period of time and location. These forecasts are by no means indicative of an overall accurate portrayal of reality, but rather a portrayal of the representation of reality as embodied in a virtual medium.

Simply stated, the numbers represent only the demographic which is included in the data. ie: people who don't use Google and Twitter are not part of the statistics.

With that said, technology is getting better and better and we may indeed be able to look at prediction technologies in the coming future with the expectation of more and more accurate and specific results.

Ray Kurzweil believes that we can predict the future using quantum computing. I, for one, would subscribe to an enhanced form of statistics aided by technology, perhaps approximating the one used by Hari Seldon.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Origins of Originality

There is no originality. Everything that has been conceived has already been conceived of. But don't treat this from an ontological point of view. Treat it from the lower levels of literature. 

How can I say that? When there are numerous authors who churn out original content and make billions, as in the case of J.K. Rowling and such.

The premise for the Harry Potter series is not at all original. It is about a boy and his friends and of destiny.

We all have ideas of a boy. 
We all have ideas of magic.
We all have ideas of a stick or a wand.
We all have ideas of monsters, wolves, goblins, evil, power. 

In a nutshell that is what Harry Potter is all about. 

Before, distributing ideas even unoriginal ones was very hard. This made information and stories more expensive. From Gutenberg's time to the present, information is now over abundant that we seldom see something that makes the combination of ideas that we would deem as original. 

One could imagine people dreaming of unicorns and far away places in a distant and strange land. But what are unicorns but a combination of a horse, a horn and wings?



 =
Source


Hence, in that manner of speaking, there's no such thing as originality. Everything that we think about or conceive comes from the things that we already know. 

You might argue about scientific discoveries and phasers, and microwave ovens and rocket ships and warp speed,  etc. etc.

The same argument applies. 

Phasers are merely combinations of laser beams, a gun and a stun gun.
Microwave ovens, came from the discovery of electromagnetic waves + oven.

The more complicated the concept the more that it is glorified. How do you make it complicated? Combine more concepts. The most important factor is not the amount of concepts combined - but the believability and the doability.

The same goes with writing but it's harder. Because words are easier to make. It's easier to say:

Horn + Horse + Wings + Flying = Unicorn. 

Right? 

The secret is in creating the image of a unicorn, it's relevance to the viewer, and your ability to make it come out of the monitor that your reader is reading to pierce their hearts in agonizing pain. 

Emotions and mental imagery are the keys to a compelling combination.  


Thursday, June 17, 2010

How Much Money Do Domain Speculators Make?

I've been busy creating my newest baby, http://www.twitterlistings.org a website that features hand tailored search queries to help people buy and sell homes on - of all places twitter.com. One week into the project, I've been approached by someone who wants to sell me the .com domain. I don't know whether to be flattered or annoyed. I haven't even finished editing 47 of the 50 US States.

The email reads
Priority Domain Availability Notice for twitterlistings.com:
In the next few days, twitterlistings.com will be listed for sale.  Since you have a similar domain name, I thought you might be interested in acquiring twitterlistings.com.
You can confirm your interest in the domain twitterlistings.com by filling out the form here: http://theirdomainomitted.
After I receive a confirmation that you are interested in the domain twitterlistings.com, I  will be in touch with you promptly to make arrangements.
I look forward to hearing back from you. 
Sincerely,
InTrust Domains
PO Box 
Colorado Springs, CO  
It's my hope that you love the priority domain notice system.  If you don't, just open the following link and you won't receive anymore
On one side of the coin is the attention. My baby got noticed by someone and they think that it was worth something. Normally, if you buy a domain, you could do so with only $10. I am betting that these guys would be selling twitterlistings.com to me for far more than that.

Well, unfortunately, I don't have more than that! I was actually contemplating on purchasing two more domains this month. But I changed my mind. I mean, my wife changed my mind, because we've had to buy some medicines for the kids who are sick with fever.

Anyway, I already sent the guy an email which simply reads, "Hi, how much?"

When he answers I'll post it on this blog so the people who are interested in entering this domaining business will learn how much money could be made in it.

UPDATE: They answered but they haven't told me how much money they want me to buy it for.

Hello Danny,

Thanks for the follow up regarding twitterlistings.com.  We have noted your interest in the domain. Our sales staff will be in touch with you in the next couple of days with next steps.



Thank you,
Name Deleted
InTrust Domains Customer Service
+Phone number Obscured
Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: ZPZ-188186
Department: PreSales
Priority: High
Status: Closed

The saga continues...

UPDATE: Continuing Drama

Still no price...


Hello, my name is (name omitted) from Flex Media.

twitterlistings.com will be available for purchase in a few days.

Since you own twitterlistings.org, I thought you might be interested in twitterlistings.com.



Your purchase will be a one time fee only that includes one year of complimentary registration.

You also have the option to forward twitterlistings.com to twitterlistings.org at no cost.

After purchasing twitterlistings.com you will never be charged again by Flex Media.



If you do have an interest in buying twitterlistings.com, please visit:



Once twitterlistings.com is available for purchase, one of my account specialists will contact you.



Thank you and have a great day.



Para leer este correo electronico en Español clic aquí: 



Flex Media Inc

7777 Davie Road Ext, Suite 106B, Hollywood, FL 33024

Number omitted

www.flexmediadomains.com



If you do not want to hear from us ever again, please let us know by clicking on:





or writing to Flex Media Inc, 7777 Davie Road Ext, Suite 106B, Hollywood, FL 33024.

It may take up to ten days for this to take effect.


Monday, June 14, 2010

Freelancing, Internet Marketing and Valuable Business Lessons from my Real World Experience

Right now, I am engaged in real estate leasing which is generating enough revenue to feed my family, pay the bills, taxes and enroll my kids in a paid home schooling program. I currently live with my family in an unoperational tropical resort here in the Philippines and have recently engaged in Internet Marketing so that I could have savings for the future of my children. 

I've learned about business the hard way. 2 years ago, I made several investment mistakes that I still regret up to this day. It was the product of a hasty decision that's not backed up by a fallback position. Let's just put it this way, I trusted people too much.

In the world of business, it's a dog eats dog world. Call it harsh, call it unforgiving, and call it unfair. But as Jim Carrey says in the movie Bruce Almighty,


"That's the way the cookie crumbles."

But still I have learned many valuable and positive lessons from my bad experience. Read these and I'll tell you why freelancing will lead you to success in your online endeavor.

Lesson 1: 

Engaging in a business when you barely have a clue almost always leads to failure.

There is no magic formula, there is no short cut and there is no work around. If you have no experience in a particular field - you can be assured that the people who do will take advantage of you. You're coming in the business as a newbie and somebody you trust has convinced you that this is a sure thing. It's backed up by statistics, credible media information and maybe that particular field has been given a positive feedback in Forbes.com.

All those don't amount to anything.

Of course, there will be those exceptions who are blessed with the Midas touch. Trust me, if you're still reading this article - you are not one of them. I'll be harsh and punishing with you, who knows you'll thank me later on when you've become a millionaire.

It's simple. They don't amount to anything because you would not know what to do when you encounter both gains and losses. Without knowledge and solid experience, you'll be groping in the dark in times when you are doing good and specially in times when you are doing bad.

Lesson 2: 

Trial and Error is not a Viable Business Formula


In our very competitive world, there is no room for mistakes when it comes to business. There is no trial period. It's either you make money or you lose money. Even the most complex business arrangements provide for this.

There is a very slim margin if not absolute zero room for error. You may be thinking that there is a bail out for you as in the case of the American Auto Industry. You don't.

You borrow capital from the bank and enter a business (Include Internet Marketing) that you don't understand and you're bound to be doomed into a life of paying debt year after year after year. Nobody wants to be in that position.

In the real world, I do know several people who are close to me who started businesses with very bad credits in the belief that these would pay off in the end because the field is "doing so well". Now they are mired in bad debt and are forced to seek employment in other countries to pay for their debts.

Like I said, business is harsh. It's either you make money or you lose money. The same applies with online businesses and Internet Marketing. If you fail in your online effort and end up with bad credit, there is no saving grace. You will have to pay.

Lesson 3: Failure Will Come: Expect it 


When starting a business with minimal knowledge and experience, there will be a lot of unknown factors that could affect the bottom line. Most of the time, these unknown factors will turn up to have negative impacts on your business. I'll repeat that:

Unknown Factors Will Become Negative Factors

They didn't call Murphy's law a law if it wasn't binding. "What could go wrong will go wrong." 

Let me add to that, "what you don't know most often than not will lead to something that is not good."


You may say that this is an overly pessimistic point of view that dampens the spirit of innovation and enthusiasm - on the contrary you can turn it around.

By expecting failure and preparing for it, you will have generated a gain. The amount of gain that you will make will eventually redound to how much preparation you put into it.

Let me give a shortened example. You are in the agriculture business. You want to plant vegetables. You need to buy saplings or seeds. Now, one problem with agriculture is its dependence on favorable weather conditions. If there's a storm, you could end up losing all your crops. If there's no storm you could make a few gains. The thing is, as advanced as weather prediction technology comes, they still can't predict what will happen in the next 30 days. Their forecasts are limited to a week or two at most.

Expecting failure, you decide to get crop insurance. So if and when a storm comes and your vegetables get ravaged, you would have something to tide you over and maybe even have enough to plant anew.

Most of the time, my countrymen who are engaged in agriculture depend on the good graces of the weather and hope for the best. Which is bad, considering that the Philippines is a country that's prone to several typhoons every year. I surmise that a lot of them don't even know about crop insurance. So they end up with tragedy. First they secure undocumented and informal loans aside from banking institutions. Then they use their homes and the land they're planting on as collateral. They plant. A storm comes and all the crops are wiped away. They're not left with nothing. In fact they're left with something - bad debt, which is far worse than nothing. So to go on with their lives they proceed to take more desperate measures like more loans from informal lending parties which have a high interest rate.

In 2009, almost $20,000,000 USD were lost in agriculture due to one typhoon alone.

It's a phenomenon that could happen to online businesses as well. There are no figures yet on how many people end up losing money after starting an online endeavor that fails because there's simply no way to track these online entrepreneurs. Though commerce is steadily and increasingly happening on the online front, keeping track of the small online business would be hard to achieve given the anonymity that the Internet provides.

Lesson 4: The Next Best Way to Learn is to Watch Other People's Mistakes

The best way is to experience it yourself. But that's not really so good if you're the one who is going to lose money.

Today, affiliate marketers, internet marketers, search engine marketers have to put a positive light to their businesses. Good vibes translate to sales after all. But be wary of marketers who'd claim that they have the secret to making money online that's guaranteed to make you earn 6 figure incomes if you just do it right and pay them.

Most of the time PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE THEIR SECRET TO MAKING MONEY ONLINE.

They will sell you that ebook or that program that contain the "secret sauce" and you will get information that's already out there for free.

If it works, it's good for you and it's good for the person who sold you the ebook.
If it fails, the answer is simple - IT's YOUR FAULT AND NOT THEIRS. You did something wrong.

How many times have you read a story like that in an online forum and see people blaming the hapless newbie because it was his fault. Countless times right?

"You should have listened to guru X."
"You should have joined X because they give better X."
"You should have chosen the right keyword."
"You shouldn't have done X"

But the thing is, it would have been too late. You already spent the money. You already lost it. Now you end up back in square one. Harsh, painful, chalk it up to experience.

And that, my friend, is the reason why you should watch other's make their own mistakes. It may sound harsh and brutal but what have you or him to lose?

Lesson 5: SEO is not simply Search Engine Optimisation

For me, it is also Social Engineering Optimization. Come on, bots do NOT buy anything. People do! When I say social engineering optimization, I don't mean the nefarious tech attempts to trick human beings into doing other people's whims. What I mean to say is, laying down honest, truthful, and favorable conditions so that a sale could be made. You'd have to remember that the person you are trying to sell to is a human being, with emotions, moods, and ultimately - Needs. If you focus on the needs then you'll know what to sell. This is far too complicated for this single post alone so you'll have to remind me to write about it some other time if you want me to.

Mini Lessons:

  • People buy from people or companies that they trust.
  • People buy out of the belief that they will get something positive out of it. Give something that's really valuable in the sense that people's lives will actually improve because of it.
  • People don't buy when they feel that they're being tricked by an article. Have you ever read an article that's written so terribly that you figured that it was written like a third grader - or worse - somebody who is NOT EVEN IN AMERICA? How are these people supposed to know about what they are writing about if they have no clue about the thing being sold as well? 

I still have many mini lessons, but I'll cut it short to focus on the last bullet point. I am one of those people who do freelance writing. I write these articles that are meant to bolster a web page's rankings. Most of the time, I get to write about things that I have entirely no clue about. I get paid the amount of $3 for every 400 words.

Though this may be the case, I try my best to research about a product before I write about them. As a non American, I know that the argument does little to improve my point. But take it this way, I am honest enough to tell you the things that I do even though I know I may lose your trust.

To be fair to the knowledgeable and talented freelance writers out there, there are many qualified writers all over the world who do deserve to write about the things that they're asked to write about.

For the buyers who do research about something before they do buy online, one sure way for you to know whether a product review is genuine or not is by trusting your instincts. Never trust something you read on the Internet including this article. Spinsters abound and are aplenty and absolutely don't care about your decision.

Another way buyers can glean whether a product is good or not is to see the sincerity of the article. Copywriting is simply the art of spinning something that would make something, be it a product, a person, a company or a service in favorable terms.

Unfortunately this is also true in the real world and other traditional forms of media like TV and radio. After all, if such didn't exist, people would not think that they need to buy something and that would be bad for the economy.

HOW FREELANCE WORK CAN SPELL SUCCESS FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS

Lesson 6: The Best Thing to Sell is Good, Quality Service.

A Hong Kong writer named Chip Tsao remarked that the Philippines is a "nation of servants". A lot of my countrymen have been taken aback by this statement because of the negative connotation of servants as people who do menial work very much akin to slaves. My countrymen are both right and wrong in having that point of view.

But if I were to comment, I believe that the statement taken on its own and outside of the context of Chip Tsao's derisive point of view - is actually a compliment.

I am speaking personally here, but I believe that service is even far more noble than being a master or making a sale. To be a servant is to be of service. To be of service is to be of value to others.

Policemen all over the world, have this archetypal motto:  To serve and protect.
There is a distinction between politicians and public servants.
Public service is a sublime sacrifice that remind us that we are people living with other people.
We serve each other daily though most of the time we are not even aware of it.
The religious serve in their own capacity for the benefit of their churches.
Charity is an act of service to those who need it the most.

Everybody serves somebody or something.

Even the highest ruler in the world's only superpower serves a master - the people of the United States of America.

As a writer I write with the intention of being of service to those who read what I write about. Though they are very few - about a hundred or so people everyday, I take pride in knowing that somebody out there in this world of ours finds value in what I do. It feels great to be liberated from the confines of writing for money.

(But of course, it would be good if I did get paid for writing this article :) )

Now going back to the point. Freelancing is a good way to start Internet Marketing - or just about any online business because the money from freelancing is not debt. Whether you are a writer, a developer, a programmer, a designer, an artist or a specialist, freelancing will give you something aside from learning about how commerce works in the online world.

To be honest, I didn't even dare have a Paypal account before I went freelancing. When I did, I was very elated at the prospect that real, honest to goodness, hard earned money could be earned online.

I bought my first domain (dannybuntu.com) through freelancing. I didn't have to loan money or get from my own real world wallet. I just wrote.

Now, I plan on using freelancing as a vehicle to expand my Internet Marketing endeavors. To be honest, I have not yet made a single sale yet. But I do plan on making at least one big one before I kick the bucket. If I do, I'll write about it here.

To conclude, the last lesson is:

Lesson 7: Make Use of What You Already Have

I always liked stories where people get to make something good out of nothing. If you really think about it, it's not really nothing in the physical sense but rather something that they already have but are not yet aware of. For me, it's writing. For you, it may be art, it may be friends, it may be a talent that you could share, it could be service or it may even be the ability to make money grow.

Nobody has nothing. Everybody has something.






EventId's in Nostr - from CGPT4

The mathematical operation used to derive the event.id in your getSignedEvent function is the SHA-256 hash function, applied to a string rep...