The Internet Marketing Handbook

Here’s the introduction to the First Edition

THERE’S no denying that the world has evolved swiftly. The old rules have changed and it happened without a warning. What seemed to be a perfect business model in the last century no longer holds a healthy cash flow.

Traditional businesses anywhere in the world—from a powerful America to say struggling Philippines—started to panic with some even closing down or filing bankruptcy. Some businesses no longer have a clear direction to take.

Most people who have done their business in the past were caught with one unique question in their mind: What happened?

In recruitment, traditional way of headhunting has changed unbelievably. Door-to-door job application was replaced with an online resume submission eliminating a human interaction during the first level of screening. Most jobseekers don’t have a clue on how an applicant is selected. They, too, are caught with one unique question in mind: What happened?

In education sector, teachers in primary, secondary, and tertiary education no longer get due respect from students who claim to be far better than they are. Information has been made available in the Internet and every assignment can simply be solved with a power “CTRL+C (Copy) and CRTL+V (Paste).” Students, in theory, can now be literally better than their teachers. And so people in the academe are left with a unique question in mind, too: What happened?

Those who’ve been doing traditional marketing and selling face the same difficult challenge. Gone are the days where businesses get an impressive number of responses from people using cold calling and facsimile transmittals.

The days of door-to-door selling was replaced with something else more economical. Businesses can cut personnel and still get the same sales result. Obviously, the rules have changed and so have the tools.

It occurs to me that there are things that no longer work however we try our very best. There are things in the past that simply cannot be an effective tool to help us improve or develop the way we live our lives. Those old school tools become more burdensome rather than it is irrelevant.

People who belong in the older generation continuously struggle to catch up. Most of them developed an irrational fear called Technophobia, the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. On the other hand, the younger generation appears to be more welcoming on technological developments.

The new generation of business people wanted to innovate and adapt the new technology but the old generation seems to still hold on with “what made us successful” in the past.

It seems to me like the young is moving forward while the old is moving backward. Result? Status quo—the most dangerous side you can ever be!

The Myth and the Truth

Let’s have some inventory of the public perception. This is generally a common belief among people in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world. I call them excuses, which are never valid in any way. Unfortunately, unable to accept the truth will not make your self comfortable.

Myth: I can’t do it. It’s complicated.
Truth: I’m lazy to study again.

Myth: It’s dangerous, delicate, and risky to put my information in the Web.
Truth: Somebody else might put information for me. I don’t think they are good information about me much less the truth about me.

Myth: It consumes my time.
Truth: Physical presentation takes longer time and consumes even my personal time.

Myth: I’d rather go out and look for real clients.
Truth: I can attract your market and make them go to me to get my products or service using the Internet.

Myth: It’s not effective way in my industry.
Truth: I’ve never tried it yet. Well, I’ve tried it and failed. In reality, I know it applies to every industry.

Myth: It’s so expensive.
Truth:  I don’t know how much exactly I should pay. I don’t know if it’s overpriced or not.

Those are just some mistakes that hurt you even more. The more you deny it to be true, the lesser your chance to succeed in today’s competitive world. The sooner you correct those perceptions, the better off you will be.

Seeing the Dawn

I was not born with silver spoon—no built-in opportunity to succeed in this life. I never knew what a business was until in 2005 when I found myself establishing my own. I have no business background. I have a public education all my life. Yet, I’m the first in the family—from my great, great grandparents—to have ventured into business. I started when I was 23 years old.

Three years after that, my business grew in a rate I couldn’t imagine.
But I am lucky enough to belong in a very likely time in history—the transition from manual to automatic, the analog to digital—or in other works, “the changing of the guards.”

I was born on May 12, 1982 in a suburb town called Gumaca, Quezon. I didn’t have experience with telephone lines or cable television. How I wish I had my own Playstation!

But humiliating as it is, I never knew how to play those Super Mario games. I never had the luxury to connect with people except when I talk to them in person or I’m writing them a letter using a postal service.

Interestingly, Jeanne Austin, a former proofreader at InnoData, narrated that Internet in the Philippines dawned on March 1994 when the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet), a consortium of private and government institutions, enabled the Filipinos to be connected live via a 64 kbps link to Sprint in the United States. It was then considered to be the country’s only public gateway to the Internet.

Consequently, these systems got connected to international BBS networks, such as Fidonet. This allowed them to receive e-mail and download shareware programs and informational files.

A year after its birth, in March 1995, the Public Telecommunications Act of the Philippines was signed into law. It removed the need for value-added service (VAS) providers to secure a franchise.

This paved the way for many other organizations to establish connections to the Internet, such as to create Web sites and having their own Internet services or providing Internet service and access to other groups and individuals. All these developments now comprise the history of Internet in the Philippines.

The Big Deal

There are two things that I appreciate about my position in world history. One is that I appreciate what I didn’t have in the past. Two is, I appreciate what I have now.

Of course, this is not true for everybody. For example, my grandfather if he’s still alive would likely be unappreciative of Facebook and emails.

On the other hand, if I’d have a five-year-old child, he might not appreciate what he has because the technology is already there and he didn’t have any experience on how life is without such technology.

The thing is I was born in a perfect time of human history where an old calendar is replaced by a new one and the new book of rules in doing business is just off-the-press.

I’m not saying though that only people born in my generation can appreciate the technology that we enjoy today. I’m a big fan of education and education isn’t about the age or social status. Any one can develop a set of skills that can enable him to take advantage of the best technology there is without spending so much!

And so the big deal is in the willingness to adapt to change and be a friend of it.

Internet Marketing

The Internet Marketing Handbook is effective only to people who are ready for it. If you fail to get the message, then the philosophy is lost. Read the pages again and make another try.

Each chapter of this book contains words of wisdom that I’ve gathered in my years of marriage with the Internet. I wrote them using a universal language of passion so you’ll never get lost. But, you have to be passionate about it so we can understand each other.

However, when you understand my message clearly, the Internet Marketing Handbook will reveal its magic along with its promises and rewards. I guarantee you it will work. There’s no way that it will fail.

And one thing more

This book is a compilation of my experiences with my clients, observations of the psychology of people using the Internet, and interviews with people who understand the Internet far better than I do.

In the following chapters, I’m going to unveil everything that I’ve learned—no more, no less—from how I started until how I’m enjoying the high and low of this fascinating thing called the Internet. I’m going to share the lessons I’ve learned in my coaching sessions as well as in my public Internet marketing seminars and workshops.

While I may not promise you that this book will give you the fortune you’ve been dreaming of, I promise to give you what you need so you, too, can get your own dreams done. I hope life change can happen in a click. Unfortunately, it can only start with a click.

Click it and amaze your self with what’s up and beyond. Click it and make your self the steward of your own life success. Click it and be a living testimony of God’s unending grace and love.

Click it.

The Author
August 18, 2009
Makati City, Philippines