Pinoy Internet Business Marketing

Its NOT What YOU Earn But What You KEEP!

Stanley Dumanig — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:48:22 +0000

Most so-called internet marketing gurus will boast on how much money they are making. However, the real question is how much they are keeping!

When I started to learn internet marketing I tried to learn from a number of internet marketing gurus. My eyes are bulging when I read some of them claiming to have earn 1 million dollars in just a month. Later, a well-know internet marketer whom I highly respect pointed out to me that he knows that business of the other person. Yes, it was true that his sales is at 1 million but his cost is just near it which what he kept was just a very small portion of his sales. I think there’s nothing wrong with this since he is still earning but the risk is just TOO HIGH. Cost is very big. What if sales aren’t that good? Are you willing to lose big? Not for me. I prefer to have a number of effective smaller sites than one big site.

Cheers and God bless you!

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7 Warnings for Novice Internet Marketers

Stanley Dumanig — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:45:27 +0000

First off, my fans might be probably wondering if I have abandon this site. Not at all! My wife had “two consecutive very difficult” pregnancies – one was born prematurely and is now 7 months old(pictures on my Facebook account). The other was a miscarriage (on the 2nd month) about a month ago. I barely had time to write since I have to take care both of my family and business. Anyway, all is well and I’m back again. I thank the Lord for His grace!

As a side note, I’m comfortable sharing my personal life in this site. I’m trying to share not just my business but my life as well. Life is not all business.

Anyway, here are some warnings for novice internet marketers:

1. Don’t get scammed! There are many scam artists out there. How do you know who? Pretty simple! If people promise you to get rich overnight then its absolutely a scam. Internet business takes a lot of work and time initially. It is a simple business but not an easy business. Many will try to tell you if you will buy their program then you will have a six-figure income in less than a week! Baloney! Absurd! Run away from them!

2. Never promote any product or service that you haven’t tried. Most novice internet marketers will start by joining a lot of affiliate programs since they don’t have their own products yet. This is fine and there are some who are successful doing this. However, doing it the wrong way will hurt you! If you have promoted a product/service and haven’t tested it and it turned out that its a bad one then you are in big trouble. I hope you haven’t promoted a scam artist. Yikes!

3. Maintain your integrity with your list. In connection with #2, don’t try to make money from your list by promoting products/services which you can’t vouch for. It is your duty as an internet marketer to give “good and credible” information to your list. You might make a lot of money – short term! But, it will hurt you long term since people will start to question your business ethics as you recommend bad products/services. If you have promoted a bad product, ask for an apology! People commit mistakes and people forgive who commit mistakes. It is more absurd if you will try to ignore your mistake and get away with it. No! Ask for apology and I’m sure people will forgive you. Are there people who won’t? Of course! But, only a few! Again, apologize and don’t do it again.

(Note: Many people have asks me to promote their product in this site. That’s not how it works. They should have let me review it first. Just make sure the product works or else you’ll get a bad review from this site)

4. Don’t lower your prices to get more customers! Think of value and not price. If your product will result to an additional revenue of $1,000 to your customers then you won’t be shy selling your product at $99! Even if its just a 7-page ebook! If your ebook will help them save $20,000 from their mortgages then you can charge them up to $1,999! Again, think of value and not price. My mentor’s rule of thumb is your product price will be 10% of what the customer will gain or save from buying your product.

5. Don’t give away your inventory! A big part of my inventory is my brain power – knowledge! People pay me to get valuable information. A big portion of my income came from coaching and consultation. One of the main reason from not being able to write for this site is I was busy working with coaching clients. They pay me to help them with their businesses. I give them priority because they are paying me than writing for this site which everybody reads for free.

Now, don’t get wrong. You have to give free information like what I’m doing in this site so people will know if you have the expertise in your field. However, if people need individualized help then let them pay you!

6. Don’t maintain one big site! Don’t spend all your money in one big site. Rather, setup a number of smaller sites. I rather receive $100 for each 7 sites than $700 for just one site. In this way, when one site is not making enough money I still have money flowing in from other sites.

(Note: Try to target a number of niche markets. In business, sales are unstable throughout the year. One niche market might not have sales in a given month but other niche markets have skyrocket sales! Try to vary your markets that you have consistent cash flow the whole year)

7.Consistency is better than speed. Most novice internet marketers are very quick to start but easily lose the fire. Internet marketing is sometimes overwhelming. Don’t try to setup 7 websites in a month. Though you can do that its better to setup one or two websites per month.

If you like what you are reading from this site please tell your friends. You may subscribe to my RSS feed too!

Cheers and God bless you!

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dot.Com vs. dot.ORG

Stanley Dumanig — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:56:22 +0000

Just a quick note….

My brother runs a website where he tries to do a head-to-head comparison on almost anything. Interestingly, he wrote about domain names a few months back. I already told him that I will announce his post to this site since I know it will help you. I should have posted this long ago but I forgot about it.

Here’s the link to his post:
http://versusanything.com/com-versus-org/

To register domain names, go to www.UltraCheapSolutions.com – this is where I register all my domain names (now close to a hundred).
Cheers and God bless you!

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Marketing Your Brain Power! (The 90/10 Rule)

Stanley Dumanig — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:52:22 +0000

Loonnggg silence again…you may check my previous post on the reasons I was also busy writing articles as a guest writer for a client’s newsletter which increased my “exposure” to his client database. Eventually, it equated to a number of projects! Oh! I love internet marketing!!!

Anyway, I went to a Wi-Fi Party sponsored by Apple, Belkin and who else(I don’t know) last night… as a side note, I was shocked in a Wifi party with a VERY slow-to-none internet access! NOT good for presenting new products.

While I was there I talked with old(as well as new) friends about Apple products(I’m an Apple fan by the way). I was not really paying attention to the presenter since I “think” I know more about Apple products than him(humbly speaking). During the Q&A, a dignified person asked on where could he find “someone” to show him how to play with Final Cut, a premier video editing software from Apple. Most of the listeners was very eager to hear the presenter’s answer as well. My friends including one of the sponsors of the event immediately pointed yours truly…(bang!) I love when other people do the marketing for me. *big smile*

Now, here’s the lesson for YOU….

I’m an “expert” at a number of things – audio and video technology, webmastering and search engine optimization – mostly related to computers. (Writing? nahhh…not even close). Why do I say “expert?” Being good at things doesn’t make people listen to you. You need to be an expert! How do I become an expert? (I knew you’ll asked!)

You become an expert by following the 90/10 rule! If you know a topic that 90% of the people doesn’t then you are an expert in that field and people will listen to you. You are in the 10% group. I’m in the 10%! With all my work experiences I now know certain topics that 90% of the people doesn’t know and these 90% group are my potential clients since many of them will be VERY willing to pay me to teach them the topic. People will be willing to pay YOU too for your brain power!

So, start thinking of things that you’re good at and where 90% of the people will be willing to pay YOU to know that topic.

By the way, I now have a Twitter account but I’m not really using it as much as Facebook(FB). FB alone eats my time – in fact, I was fasting on FB.

Cheers and God bless you!

Check these other articles:

Quick Update and a Quick Internet Marketing Tip

Stanley Dumanig — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:58:58 +0000

This is a short and quick update letting you know that I’m still alive and blogging If you wonder why sometimes I blog 3-4 times a week and suddenly a month of silence then please read this post.

I’ve got interesting blog posts on queue and it will be delivered to your inbox very soon. Watch out for those info-packed articles! If you have not subscribed to my list yet then you should do it now. Use the form on the top right portion of this page.

So I’ll not waste your time, here’s an important concept to succeed online:

INTERNET MARKETING JOINT VENTURES
This is a very interesting topic and I can’t discuss this thoroughly now. I promise to discuss this more in the future.

Wikipedia defines joint venture as “an entity formed between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. The parties agree to create a new entity by both contributing equity, and they then share in the revenues, expenses, and control of the enterprise.”

This one concept alone have impacted growth in my business and it is the best thing that happen to my business for the last decade.

Here’s one of many examples of this: when I started my web design business I am “nobody” in the internet and people hardly trust my skills. I don’t blame them because they should take care of their money and business. Also, this means that YOU, as a newbie in internet marketing, would loss hair in thinking ways to convince them to hire you. Bummer.

So, I contacted a top leading expert in one of the niche market I was targeting and told him that I’ll work for free so he can test me out and if he is impressed with the first project then he will pay me for the next projects BUT for a minimal fee only. Why minimal fee? This expert has more than 10,000 people in their mailing list (and who trust him and anything he recommends) so in exchange for the discounted rate I’ll ask them to mention me and my services on their list.

Net result? Increased sales in less time! I was able to tap more than 10,0000 people to check my services and even though my sales copy was VERY weak and I only closed 0.1% of his list I still have 10 NEW “clients.” Furthermore, I was able to convince more than 300 NEW people to join my list on which I can send them a series of email telling them about my services.

Remember that in doing joint venture successfully, BOTH parties should benefit and if you are the one looking for a JV partner then by all means let your partner “feel that you are being taken advantage of by him.” Trust is earned.

Again, a dedicated article for this topic in the future. I hope you’ll start looking for JV partners and give them REAL value. Your sales will surely skyrocket!

Cheers and God bless you!

PS Thanks for those who send their thank-you’s and questions via email and the contact forms. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Some of it will be discussed in the articles so watch out for those.

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What’s HOT in 2009?

Stanley Dumanig — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:00:36 +0000

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I’ll do a quick and short list of which I think will be HOT online businesses this year. Think of this as 2009 trends for internet marketing in the Philippines.

BEFORE call centers and transcription business were the trend in the Philippines I already told some of my coaching clients about it. One of them actually pursued a transcription company and was successful with it.

So, I’m making a foresight again. Here it is …

1. Online schools will explode specifically online English language tutoring.

2. Online registration/reservations/payments on resorts, hotels, events, etc. will be realized. (Take note web developers – this means more jobs for you)

3. Some experts will venture to Information Marketing. This will not grow large this year but you’ll see some of them successful in this area.

4. Online shopping will skyrocket. We’ll see more people shopping for clothes, gears, etc, online. Therefore, try to post your products online this year.

5. Outsourcing will grow more especially on the video post-production area.

This is not just a foresight. You can really see a growing trend on these. For example, do you know why the number of Korean visitors suddenly went up? Most of them are here to learn English. Why should they bother traveling to a far country if they can learn English online? Hmmmm …. sound interesting?

Should I pursue some of these markets? You bet I will. Am I losing my mind sharing it with you? I don’t think so. The market is still big for US AND I have a cutting edge on setting up and promoting online businesses since I’ve been doing it for years and been successful with it. NO worries for me.

Cheers and God bless you!

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Website and Free Publicity

Stanley Dumanig — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:00:05 +0000

People pay hundreds of thousands, if not millions, just to be “advertised” in TV. Since I have started this site/blog about 4 months ago, I was already invited to two big speaking engagements of which sponsored by well-known companies. Also, I had an invitation for a TV interview on one of Philippine’s top TV station to talk about internet marketing. Hmmm… I’ll be in TV for free? That’s a great thing for me and my business! Unfortunately, none of those ever came to past. Why? Geographic location and time were the reason. All of those invitations came from Manila but I’m based in Davao City which means a lot of money and TIME for travel, lodging, etc. It will not be a wise decision for me and the inviting party if we’ll proceed. I’m curious though on who they invited to speak and if their invited guest really delivered good stuff.

Anyway, here are the lessons we can learn from this experience:

1. Websites, if properly utilized, can give you “free” publicity. Publicity means more exposure and credibility, thus, more customers! There are about 14 million internet users in the Philippines and the media has its eyes on the internet for resources. If you are delivering REAL content on your website and have impressed people with your content, all of them will have their eyes on YOU and everything you promote on your website. Therefore, get YOUR website NOW!

2. People are trusting the internet as a source of information.

3. Websites can be used to establish your expertise in the field.

4. Your book is important. If my book were already published people will still perceived me as an expert in the internet marketing field even if I’m not there or if they have somebody else talk about the subject. It should have been a reference to their discussion. The book should have spoken in behalf of me. The book should have done the promotion for my business.

Note: My book is on the works right now and it will be published soon!

Though geographic location was one of the problem, this won’t be a problem in the near future as technology upgrades so fast that you don’t need to travel but a simple video conference will do. Actually, video conference is already possible in the Philippines but internet connectivity is still relatively slow, thus, video quality is not so good.

I got a dilemma on staying in Davao or transferring to Manila. Time will tell but I’ll let the “inner man” decide. As of the moment, I don’t have enough reason yet to migrate to Manila and I love Davao City so much.

Cheers and God bless you!

Is He/She an Expert?

Stanley Dumanig — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:00:04 +0000

First off, Merry Christmas!

I’m posting this one on Christmas day since it will talked about giving – this will be a short post though.

Christmas eve in Davao City are so quiet – that is because fireworks are prohibited in the city. Our world famous mayor, dubbed as “The Punisher” by Time Magazine, noted that let’s all be practical. Its better to save the money for more important things than to waste money for a quick fireworks show. Besides, many people get hurt with fireworks. Quiet indeed but our hearts still rejoice!

Few years back, I have a friend who asked me to buy an ebook for her since she does not have a credit card. The ebook “promised” to teach her how to earn money from the internet. I told her not to buy the product since I don’t know well the author of the ebook and haven’t heard that author delivered real meat yet. My “inner man” also tells me not to trust the author.

Eventually, it turned out that my feelings were true. The author did not deliver as he had promised. What he did in his ebook was he just introduced his higher-priced products. Then, he promised again that you will make more money if you’ll buy his higher-priced product. Why should I buy from him more if he has not delivered his promise on the ebook? It was just a waste of money.

Be CAREFUL.

Ponder this: Is he the one giving or taking away from you? Evaluate carefully. Make sure you are listening to an expert. Experts give away some of their knowledge for free to prove their expertise in the field.

I hope you learn something from this story and would inspire you to give *big smile*

Again, Merry Christmas!

Cheers and God bless you.

Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Buy a Domain Name

Stanley Dumanig — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:00:49 +0000

Besides domain names(e.g. YourName.com) are not expensive, here are top 7 reasons why you should buy one:

1. Professional look and Branding
I registered a domain name after my family name and my business name. I used those domain names on my calling cards and other contact info sheets. I’m esteem more highly when people see the domain name in my business cards. They get the impression that I’m serious with business. Moreover, my email address is consistent with my business name and I don’t have to change it when I switch to a different ISP.

2. Unique Identity
No domain name can be identical – every one is unique. If you don’t have a unique identity you will NOT stand out from the crowd.

3. Establishes Credibility
Here’s my story: I’m a musician and one day I went out to buy a new musical gear. Since its a bit expensive gear I went to TWO music stores to find out which offer a better deal. Both of them offered an equipment on which both price are very close but they carry different brands. So, I went home, grabbed my MacBook Pro and immediately checked both brands on the internet. Shockingly, I did not find a website on one of the product though the salesman was too convincing when he said that it was a better product than the one on the other store. Which do you think I bought? Your guess is right! The one which has a website – its own domain name.

4. Before others(competitors) steal it
Don’t let other people steal the domain name related to your business and put tarnish on your identity. They’ll also steal traffic from you. Here’s an example: a famous wedding shop(call them Company A) in a city has NOT reserve a domain name for themselves. Another company(call them Company B) which is not known YET immediately reserved the domain name but it does not point to Company A but a website of Company B instead. Who then gets “free traffic?”

5. Cloaking affiliate links
If you are recommending other people’s products such as items in Amazon, products from other sites with affiliate programs, etc. you usually set yourself as an affiliate of that product so you can get a portion of the sale. However, chances are you get a long affiliate URL and some people are smart enough to go directly to the site bypassing your affiliate link and eventually stripping off your affiliate commissions. If you have a domain name and redirect it to your affiliate link, you have completely cloak your affiliate URL, thus, giving you a piece of the pie on every sale.

6. Makes your business future-proof
Let’s face it. The future of businesses will be all in the internet – every business will have their own website soon. If you don’t get our own domain name you’ll be left behind!

7. It is a BIG business itself
Selling domain names is a BIG business. Once you own a domain name, its yours “alone” and no one can take that away from you. I have a client who was offered $10,000 in exchange for a domain name he bought for only $10! You can also let other people “rent” your domain name.

Domain names are NOT expensive. They are only $10 a year – less than a $1 per month! If possible get the .COM and .ORG – and include those misspellings.

I exclusively buy domain names at www.UltraCheapSolutions.com - reserve your domain names NOW!

Cheers and God bless you!

Check these other articles:

Internet Marketing – Is this for YOU?

Stanley Dumanig — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:00:13 +0000

One of my readers shot me an email and it sounded like he is hesitant to start his own internet business since his relatives has a lot of “negative” opinions on it. He was also seeking advice on whether his chosen market is a good one or not.

First off, I usually don’t answer these kinds of emails unless they’re my coaching client or they hired me for an hour/s of consulting. However, this time its different because I realized I have not talked about this topic on this blog yet – specifically on how to choose a market.

On the other hand, I have mentioned in my previous articles that I’m writing a book on internet marketing. [My process is too slow but I'm catching up]. One of the chapters in the book discusses about how I started my online business. So, this post includes an excerpt from the book and I hope this will inspire YOU, our valued readers, and may you succeed with your online businesses. This will take away the dark areas of internet marketing.

So, let’s get started.

Let me start by saying that internet marketing is a legit job – many are successful in their online businesses and you can get a piece of the pie too if you’ll just learn a proven system. Internet marketing is possible in the Philippines and this will explode in the near future.

I started doing business online in the early 2004. My parents and relatives especially my mother and sister was VERY skeptical on this new venture. During that time, there were very few to ZERO known individual in our city who is successful in a home-based online business. Consequently, they wanted me to pursue the corporate world instead since it is more “secure” as they say. I was the System Administrator of the biggest internet cafe in Davao City that time and receives a decent salary. Undeniably though, there were many stories of successful online businesses in the US, Canada and Europe. So, I did a LOT of research and was both persuaded and convinced that online business is possible in the Philippines and it will work for me.

So, I was able to setup a system of payment, a project workflow and pursued an online business – web design services. I didn’t left my job though but work on my online business AFTER office hours.

NOTE: I’m a risk taker since I was trained to be an entrepreneur in my childhood years.(more of this story in my book)

Finally, I got my first project. Even after receiving my first hard-earned $500 in just one month my mother was still skeptical and wanted me to pursue the corporate world. Not later than 5 months, I resigned from my work as a System Administrator and my mother was already convinced on the opportunities of internet marketing after I consecutively earned at least $500 monthly. (Cost of living in Davao, Philippines is low so $500 monthly is more than enough even for a married man with kids).

You’ll see TWO things at work in this early years of my business: an entrepreneurial heart and an effective system.

Entrepreneurial Heart
When I get to speak with high school and college students I always ask this question: would you like to work for someone else or would you like to work for yourself? Working for someone else, that is being an employee, is a great career to pursue and many people loved it and are very successful. For me, though, it just doesn’t work. I have an entrepreneurial heart. I’m a good employee but I feel I’m not successful if I’m working for somebody. I need to have my OWN business. Besides, an employee’s salary is fixed and grows very slow. Business provides bigger income but takes time to grow. It is risky but I’m willing to take the risk. If you have the motivation to setup your own business you’ll also have all the “instincts” of an entrepreneur built-in yourself. Don’t worry if you don’t seem to see yourself as an entrepreneur. I didn’t understand it at first but later I realized that it starts with the heart and all those instincts just follow.

So, you need to ask the same question on yourself. If the idea of working for someone does NOT fit with you then I suggest you pursue a business – in this case, an online business. If something inside you telling you to pursue a business then follow what the “inner man” is telling you.

Effective System
Equally important with an entrepreneurial heart is an effective system. Most young entrepreneurs fail because they do not have a system. I did a LOT of research and then build a system that will work for me – there were only few resources that time so it took time before I got everything going. I first chose a market/work that aligns with my passion then setup business systems, e.g., payment system(Paypal was not available in the Philippines yet during that time so I used a different method), mode of payments, work hours, email communications, etc. There were a LOT going that time but that “instincts” helped me. Once you have a system that work for you, be consistent with it and your clients will learn how to work with you – it will then be easy for BOTH you and your clients.

Note: Good news is I’m sharing some of my system in this website so you can use a tested system that works and won’t waste your time. So, keep checking on this site. *big smile*

Now, the question is how to look for a “responsive” market?

The first thing to check is whether your chosen “markets” are your passion or not since you will not last long if you don’t have a heart for it. And here are some questions you need to answer: Is there a demand for your products/services? How many companies are competing? How unique is your product/services among other competing companies?

I use the Google Keyword Tool to evaluate if it’s a good market or not. As a general rule of thumb, don’t pursue a market if it has searches of more than 50,000. Above 50k means that your target market is too broad. Ideally, look for ones between 10,000 to 20,000.

If you already found a good market then look for competitors in Google by typing the same keywords. If you don’t see other products/services for that market then that is NOT a good sign – it means no one is interested to buy. If it has too many competitors, consider if you have a unique offer to compete with them but this is not a good sign too. If you find a few products and especially if they are weak products then that is a very good sign – it means there are paying customers and they are looking for that kind of products/services.

So, that’s it!

I’ll send a copy of MY book for FREE once it is done to all who subscribe to my RSS Feed via email. So, subscribe now and tell others about this site.

Cheers and God bless you!

Pinoy Internet Business Marketing

Its NOT What YOU Earn But What You KEEP!

Check these other articles:

7 Warnings for Novice Internet Marketers

Check these other articles:

dot.Com vs. dot.ORG

Check these other articles:

Marketing Your Brain Power! (The 90/10 Rule)

Check these other articles:

Quick Update and a Quick Internet Marketing Tip

Check these other articles:

What’s HOT in 2009?

Check these other articles:

Website and Free Publicity

Related Posts:

Is He/She an Expert?

Related Posts:

Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Buy a Domain Name

Check these other articles:

Internet Marketing – Is this for YOU?

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