Tips and Tricks

"Will You Become Wealthy in the
Information Age?"

As you know, we're now well and truly in The Information Age. It began about 10 years ago. In fact, many economists say the Information Age began in 1989, with the Fall of the Berlin Wall (and the start of the World Wide Web).

To understand who will become wealthy in the Information Age, first we need to understand how the Information Age differs from the Industrial Age (born about 1860, died about 1989).

In fact, let's get a complete overview, and go back to the Agrarian Age.

In the Agrarian Age, society was basically divided into two classes; the land owners and the people who worked on the land (the serfs). If you were a serf, there wasn't much you could do about it: land-ownership passed down through families and you were stuck with the status you were born into.

When the Industrial Age arrived, everything changed: it was no longer agriculture that generated most of the wealth, but manufacturing. Suddenly, land was no longer the key to wealth. A factory occupied far less land than a sheep farm or a wheat farm. It was factories (or real estate) that determined wealth.

With the Industrial Age came a new kind of wealthy person: the self-made businessman. Wealth no longer depended on land-ownership and the family you were born into. Business acumen and factories were creating a new class of wealthy people. But it still required enormous capital to build factories and start a business.

Then came the World Wide Web (in about 1989) and globalization. Suddenly, everything changed again.

Factories (or real-estate) were no longer necessary to run a business. Anyone with a website could start a business. The barriers to wealth that existed in the Agrarian Age and the Industrial Age were completely gone. People who could never have dreamed of owning a business were making millions from their kitchen table.

Of course, the Information Revolution didn't begin in 1989.

It began in 1444 when Gutenberg invented the printing press in Mainz, Germany.

But the printing press (newspapers, magazines, paperbacks) belonged to the Industrial Age, not the Information Age.

The printing press is a 'one-to-many' technology. The Internet is a 'many-to-many' technology. And that was what changed in 1989.

The Industrial Age was about centralization and control. The Information Age is about de-centralization and no control. No government and no media magnate controls the Internet. That is the crucial thing to understand about the Information Age.

From the Agrarian Age through the Industrial Age to the Information Age, we've seen a steady collapse of the barriers that kept one section of society wealthy and the other section of society poor.

In the Information Age, literally anyone can become wealthy.

So, now that we see more clearly how the Industrial Age differs from the Information Age, let's ask that question again: 'Who Will Become Wealthy in the Information Age?'

(1) People Who Are Self-Taught.

To explain this, let me go back to the Agrarian Age and the Industrial Age, and the Transmission of Skills.

In the Agrarian Age, skills were passed on from father to son. If you wanted to learn how to be a blacksmith, you had to be the son of a blacksmith. If you wanted to learn to be a stone-mason, you had to be the son of stone-mason.

With the coming of the Industrial Age, all this changed. You could go to University and learn whatever skills you wanted. Knowledge was freely available.

But in the Information Age, the Transmission of Skills is changing once again. The skills necessary to succeed in the Information Age are not being learnt from our parents (as in the Agrarian Age), nor are they being learnt in schools and colleges (as in the Industrial Age). Children are teaching their parents computer skills. And many of the entrepreneurs who start hi-tech Internet companies have never been to college.

The millionaires (and billionaires) of tomorrow probably won't have a college education. They will be high-school drop-outs, self-taught people.

(2) People With New Ideas.

Again, it's the people who are able to think outside of the existing structures who will become wealthy in the Information Age. Often, it's just a Simple Idea that launches people to success in the Information Age.

Take Sabhir Bhatia, for example - the man who invented Hotmail. Bhatia was a computer engineer working in Silicon Valley. He had no previous business experience whatsoever.

But one day, while he was driving back from work, a close friend rang him on his cell phone and said that he had an idea: What about starting a free, web-based email service? Bhatia knew this was the idea he'd been waiting for. He told his friend to hang up immediately and ring him at home on a secure line.

Three years later Bhatia sold Hotmail to Bill Gates for $400 Million.

(3) Writers

The third group who will become wealthy in the Information Age are Writers.

In the Industrial Age, Writers depended on large Publishing Houses to get published (remember that the printing press is an Industrial Age technology - it is centralized and controlled). And the Publishing Houses took the lion's share of the profits.

In the Information Age, Writers are doing their own publishing - and keeping most of the profits themselves. The two main ways that Writers are getting wealthy on the Web are by writing eBooks and by writing Ezine Articles.

But even if you don't write eBooks or Ezine Articles, if you own a website, you are a Writer.

Why?

Because the Internet is basically a written medium. It favors Writers, people who know how to communicate effectively through the written word. Remember, it's not the graphics on your website that sell, it's the words you use.

In the Information Age, we're all Writers!

'Your First Year In Cyber Space'

My first year as a Cyberpreneur was a steep learning-curve. I was an
Anthropologist before starting an online business, so I had a lot to learn.
But even if you were in offline-business before going online, you may still
have to learn some new skills--online business is a whole new ball-game.
Here are some of the things I learnt in my first year in Cyber Space:

(1) Be careful who you register your domain with. Some domain name
registrars make it very difficult to change your web host. I registered my
first two domains with a registrar that caused me more headaches than
I care to think about. When I needed to transfer one of my domain names
to a new web host, my original email address had changed. I was no longer
able to send them an email from that address and so I couldn't authenticate
my request for domain transfer. So I tried to update my personal record with
my new email address. I got a message saying that I could only change my
email address by sending an email from my original email address (which no
longer existed). So, then I tried using my password. Again, I got a message
saying that my request for transfer of domain must come from my original
email address.

This bureaucratic nightmare went on for 4 weeks. To add to my frustration,
I was communicating with a machine, not a human being. By the end of that
time I had no less than 35 computer-generated emails telling me that my
domain could not be transferred.

Finally, I sent my request for domain transfer in a 5-page fax, including
photocopy of my passport. They then sent me an email saying my request
for domain transfer could not be processed because my request was not on
company letterhead. So I designed a letterhead and resubmitted the 5-page
fax. Finally, 6 weeks after my first request, my domain was transferred.

To avoid this kind of experience I recommend you use register.com:
http://www.register.com

Using their online Domain Manager, it took me less than 2 minutes to
transfer my domain!

(2) A slow-loading index page is still one of the main reasons that online
businesses lose customers. Surveys show that the average surfer will wait
no more than 8 seconds for a web page to load before moving on to another
website. So 'load-time' is a vital consideration when you choose a web host.
Below is the URL of a web host directory that allows you to compare the
load-time of different web hosts:
http://www.hostfacts.com/resources/speed.php3

I use this tool whenever I'm looking for a new web host.

(3) Once you've designed your home page and uploaded it to your server space, check to see what it looks like to other people. What you're seeing may not be what other people are seeing.

I once designed a home page I was very proud of - I had added a piece of
JavaScript that gave the day and date. Then one day I checked my home
page at Anybrowser.com. I was horrified to see that my home page was
invisible except for my company logo and the navigation bar. For 2 weeks my home page had been virtually blank to most visitors! So take a minute and
look at your website through the eyes of your visitors:
http://www.anybrowser.com/siteviewer.html

(4) If a customer asks you for a refund, give it to them immediately, even if you think it's unjustified. You'll be out of pocket by a few dollars, but your name and your integrity will be intact. There are so many scams on the Internet that your most precious commodity is your good name. Remember these words from Shakespeare:

"Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his,
and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed."
(Othello, Act III. Scene III.)

(5) Reply to emails quickly. Nothing impresses me more on the Internet than
a rapid response to a business inquiry. Try and respond within 2 hours, or
at least within 24 hours.

(6) Never reply angrily to abusive emails. Remember: your reply could be
passed on to other people and used against you. An abusive email can be
very disturbing (I've had three in the last year-and-a-half), but the best thing
to do is ignore it. Better still delete it -- that way you remove it from your life
and you remove the temptation to reply.

(7) Lastly, never give up. Most successes are due -- more than any other factor--to sheer persistence:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'press on' has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race." (Calvin Coolidge)

'How to turn your Newsletter
into a Web Page...in 45 seconds!'

Do you place back-issues of your Newsletter on
your website?

There are two good reasons why you should:

(1) It shows potential subscribers that you're
serious about your Newsletter.

(2) Newsletters are rich in keywords, so it's
a very good idea to turn back-issues of your
Newsletter into HTML documents and then submit
them to the major Search Engines.

Here's a little trick I discovered for myself
a few weeks ago that will help you format your
Newsletter as an HTML document:

Copy the text of your Newsletter into a text editor
such as NOTEPAD.

Then copy the text from NOTEPAD into Microsoft Word.
You'll notice that in your Word document, each line
ends with a Paragraph Mark.

Now go to EDIT | REPLACE.

Place your cursor in the first field, where it says
'Look For'.

Now click on 'More' and then on 'Special' and
select the first item in the list ('Paragraph Mark').
The symbol for a paragraph mark will now appear in
the first field (a hat followed by a 'p').

Now place your cursor in the field below, where it
says 'Replace With' and type....
. Then click on 'Replace All'. You'll find that every single paragraph mark in your Word document has been replaced.
. Now copy the entire Word document into a new NOTEPAD document and save it, using the file extension html. Close that html document and then open it again and you'll find that your Newsletter is perfectly formatted, with the exact same line breaks that you had in the email version of your Newsletter. Using this technique it takes me about 45 seconds to turn a back-issue of my Newsletter into an HTML document!

'Why Aren't You Writing Ezine Articles?'

I'm amazed!

Everywhere I go on the Web, people are desperately
searching for ways to get more traffic to their
websites. Some will even pay hundreds of dollars for
an Express Listing in Yahoo.

And yet one of the most powerful ways of driving
traffic to your website is completely free and anyone
can do it.

A few savvy webmasters have been using this technique
for years to drive high-volume traffic to their
websites. And they've made a fortune!

I'm talking about Ezine Articles.

There's a huge demand for Ezine Articles right now,
but only a handful of people are using this technique.
That's why you keep seeing the same articles being
published in dozens of different Ezines.

Why are Ezine Articles such a powerful promotion
technique?

When you get your Article published in an Ezine,
you're basically getting an enormous Ezine Ad for
free. But your Article is much more powerful than an
Ezine Ad.

Why?

A normal Ad is there simply because someone paid to
have it placed there. But your Article is there
because the Publisher thinks you have valuable
information that will benefit his or her readers. In
other words, you are an expert.

Who would you be more likely to buy from? Someone who
paid to have an Ad inserted, or someone who is an
expert and has just written an Article full of
valuable information?

I first discovered the power of Ezine Articles in May
of this year when I wrote an Article titled '10 Tips
For Successful Ezine Advertising'. Two weeks later it
was published in 'WebProNews' (WebProNews, May 15,
2000), which has a circulation of 500,000. I could
hardly believe it - my Article being read by half a
million people!

Less than 2 weeks later another of my articles ('How
To Get The Most Out of Your Ezines') was published in
the same Newsletter (WebProNews, May 26, 2000).

By the end of that month, traffic to my website had
more than tripled. Suddenly, I was earning a very
respectable income from my affiliate programs.

To fully understand the power of Ezine Articles, let's
put a monetary value on them. At a rough guess, I
would say that a well-written Ezine Article has at
least twice the pulling-power of a Top Sponsor Ad.

A Top Sponsor Ad in 'WebProNews' costs $4,000 - so
with those two articles of mine, I got $16,000 worth
of free Ezine Advertising!

Let's compare Ezine Articles with two other,
highly-rated promotion techniques: Search Engine
Listings and Ezine Publishing.

A Search Engine listing is essentially a 'passive'
approach to marketing. You still have to wait for
people to search on your keywords. Ezine Articles are
much more 'pro-active'; your articles land right in
the middle of dozens or hundreds of different Ezines.
With Ezine Articles you're not waiting for people to
find you - you're going out there and finding them.

Let's say you publish an Ezine that has 2 or 3
thousand readers. Each week, your website URL and your
name are going to 2,000 to 3,000 people. Even if your
subscriber-base is growing by 5% per month, basically
you're reaching the same audience each issue. But
imagine you write an Article that gets published in 30
Ezines that each have a readership of 2000 people.
You've now reached 60,000 people!

The possibilities with Ezine Articles are enormous.

Many people feel unable to write. You may be one of
them. But the fact is, anyone can write an Ezine
Article. You must have seen those 'Tips' Articles that
look like a shopping list of things to do? They're
very popular amongst Ezine Publishers. Every week I
see half-a-dozen of them. So the fact is, if you can
write a shopping list, you can write an Ezine Article!

At this point you may be saying to yourself: "But I'm
not an expert - who would be interested in my
Articles?".

The answer is: "Lots of people!".

If you've been running an online business for 6
months, or even just for 3 or 4 months, you now know
many things that you didn't when you first started.
Imagine if you could have had the knowledge you now
have when you first began!

So for someone who has just ventured onto the Web,
your experience and knowledge could be extremely
useful. And remember - the Internet is growing so
fast, there are masses of people who know much less
than you do.

More than 5 million Americans joined the online world
in the first three months of 2000, which averages to
roughly 55,000 new users each day, 2,289 new users
each hour, or 38 new users each minute!

So if you learn this technique, there's a huge market
waiting for you.

'Listen To Your Ideas'
Another tip from Michael Southon

The Internet is a highly creative place. Every
day people are launching new business solutions,
writing new software, creating new scripts that
do things we couldn't imagine just a few months
ago. And in the publishing world, a quiet
revolution is taking place. People who never
dreamt of being authors are writing and
publishing their own eBooks.

A key to succeeding on the Internet is your
ability to come up with new ideas. But where do
creative people get their ideas?

One day in the mid-1970's a young man stumbled
into a diner somewhere in the United Sates. Slung
over his shoulder was a kit-bag that contained
everything he owned. He was unshaven and needed a
shower badly. He had very little money, but
enough for a phone call.

He rang his bank and asked how much was in his
account. A woman's voice informed him, to his
amazement, that the balance in his account was
four million, three hundred thousand dollars. His
name was Richard Bach. Six months before, he had
submitted a short story, barely 10,000 words
long, to a New York publisher. For the last three
months he had been living the life of a nomadic
'barnstormer', sleeping in fields under the wing
of his bi-plane. He had been completely unaware
that his manuscript, titled 'Jonathon
Livingstone Seagull', had become a run-away
best-seller.

Years later, Richard Bach talked about how he got
ideas for his writing. He referred to what he
called his 'Idea Fairies', silent intimations
that came to him and whispered in his ear.

To capture those ideas you have to be very alert,
because they're often barely audible. They'll
come to you unexpectedly, early in the morning,
when you're in the shower, or late at night as
you're drifting off to sleep. Or they may come to
you after meditation.

Meditation is an excellent way of tapping into
your creativity. Why? Because in meditation you
go beneath the surface level of thought, where
most of us spend most of our time. In meditation
you dive down into a much deeper current, a
subterranean stream of creativity that runs
through all of us.

As well as being alert and keeping an open mind,
another key way to get new ideas is to read.

Ideas are living things, and like any other
living thing, they meet and fertilize each other.
When you read an article or a book, your ideas
are coming into contact with someone else's, and
something new is born. Indeed, that's the very
reason the Internet is so creative; millions of
minds are coming into direct contact in a way
that has never before been possible in human
history.

This process of cross-fertilization happens
spontaneously and beneath the level of conscious
thought. Suddenly you'll have a new idea and you
won't even know where it came from. So when
you're feeling stuck or feeling that you've run
out of ideas, read, read, and read some more.

'How To Mind Map Your Business'

If you're doing business on the Web, sooner or later
you'll probably begin to feel like a juggler trying to
keep ten balls flying through the air at the same
time. There are just too many elements in your
business plan to keep them all going at once.

The solution?

For many people the solution would be to make a list
of all the key elements in their business plan. But
lists are linear and the Mind doesn't think in a
linear fashion. The Mind thinks in terms of
associations, hierarchy, image, color, form, and
pattern. So to organize your ideas and generate new
ideas, a Map is much more effective than a list. In
fact, at the back of your Mind, you probably already
have a vaguely-defined map of your online business. A
Mind Map is simply a way of putting that structure
down on paper.

Mind Mapping, also known as 'Radiant Thinking', is a
technique that was developed in the 1970's by Tony
Buzan. A Mind Map consists of a central word or
concept, with 5 to 10 main ideas radiating out from
that central concept.

Here's an example of a Mind Map for an Internet
Business.

At the center of a blank page are the words 'My
Internet Business Plan', circled. Radiating out from
those central words are seven key ideas, or Basic
Organizing Ideas (BOIs): Search Engine Listings, Ezine
Ads, Newsletter, Link Exchange, Writing Ezine
Articles, Website, Affiliate Programs. Each of these
BOIs is connected to the central circle by
outward-pointing arrows, like the branches of a tree.
You can see an illustration of this Mind Map at:

http://www.freezineweb.com/mind-map.html

Each Basic Ordering Idea sprouts a further set of
ideas, also connected by outward-pointing arrows, like
twigs at the end of a branch. For example, the Basic
Organizing Idea 'Ezine Ads' gives rise to four more
ideas: 'Paid Ads, 'Ad Swaps', 'Free Ads', and 'Ad
Tracking'. 'Ad Swaps' in turn gives rise to two more
ideas, 'Newsletter' and 'Website' and so on. Each
Basic Organizing Idea can become the center of another
Mind Map.

In one sense, a Mind Map is simply a map of what you
know about a given topic, in this case your online
business. And so it's a very effective way of taking
an 'inventory' of what you know about a particular
subject at a given moment in time.

But a Mind Map also causes your brain to make
associations. Because each Basic Ordering Idea can
become the center of another Mind Map, a Mind Map is
capable of producing endless associations. In fact, if
you use a Mind Map, whether you're writing an Ezine
Article, writing an eBook, designing an entire
website, or writing a sales letter, it's virtually
impossible to get 'Writer's Block'; the very structure
of a Mind Map keeps giving rise to new associations.

Another key benefit of a Mind Map is that it helps you
organize information hierarchically, in a way that is
not possible with lists. The tree-like structure of a
Mind Map is a hierarchy and in the process of
arranging your information along the 'branches' and
'twigs' of a Mind Map, you'll get a much better grasp
of the information you're dealing with.

So, to sum up, here are the basic techniques for
drawing a Mind Map:

- 1. Place a central idea or concept in the middle of a
blank page, and circle it.

- 2. Jot down 5 to 10 Basic Ordering Ideas, radiating out
from the central concept.

- 3. Connect each Basic Ordering Idea to the central
concept with outward-pointing arrows.

- 4. As an aid to creating your Basic Ordering Ideas, ask
yourself: "If the central concept of my Mind Map were a
book, what would be the chapter headings?"

- 5. Each Basic Ordering Idea can become the center of
another Mind Map.

You can find more information about Mind Maps at the
following websites:

http://www.peterussell.com/mindmap1.html

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~caveman/Creative/Mindmap/Radiant.html

http://www.shared-visions.com/explore/literature/mindmap.htm

http://www.tsd.jcu.edu.au/netshare/learn/mindmap/howto.html