This is the story of a ham and egger. A close friend of mine uses that term quite often and his definition of a ham and egger is someone who's out in the real world grunting out a living. I wish I could say that I'm rich and famous but I'm not. I'm just like 90% of the population out there grunting out a living with one exception. In 1991 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It's hard to believe it's been 14 years. I love to talk and when you're reading this if it seems like I'm rambling from one topic to another I probably am. That's a part of my MS called disinhibition.

I love to have fun and I've been told I have a great personality. I'm very honest and trustworthy. I would give the shirt off my back to someone that needed it. Next summer will be 15 years since my diagnosis and I'm still out there grunting! At times I get down but I don't stay that way very long. There is so much to do in life. If you can get over the fact that you're going to be doing those things sitting down it helps a person to accept their disease. In my e-book I want to explain MS and some of my MS symptoms. I also want to tell you about my new website that I just started on the internet. My new website has my e-book, articles and my FREE newsletter there that anyone can subscribe to.

I'm 48 now and I can trace my symptoms back to at least 1980. I've had this disease in my body for half of my life. I remember when I was a little boy growing up in Rochester, Minnesota. A public service announcement on TV (this was the 60's) showed people in wheelchairs with the tag line, "MS, the crippler of young adults". I don't think that tag line would work well these days in our politically correct world but back then it was OK. I myself was diagnosed at the age of 33. It's ironic that I now have the disease but I can still remember that commercial 40 years ago.

MS is a very humbling disease. When a man has to buy his first pair of Depends underwear at the age of 47 you are HUMBLED! Believe me your ARE humbled. My friend Eric was going into Fargo one day and I asked him to pick me up a bag of Depends just to see what he would say. He's 39, laughed, and said "no thanks, I can't do that! I gave him some grief and then laughed with him. When your 4-year old can run faster than you you're humbled. People with diseases like MS just have to adjust their lives accordingly.

When I finally went in to see a neurologist in 1991 I was unsure what the heck ...

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SUMMARY: Niche marketing is becoming very popular and many people are becoming successful using this technique. There are many ways to make an income on a computer, but using this technique may be easier than you expected.
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There are many resons that people want to work from home. One main reason that so many people want to work from their homes is that there in no need for a large financial investment to begin an online business. One doesn't need to invest heavily in product development and a brick and mortar building.

Those who have expertise in almost anything can begin by simply writing an e-book and promoting it or obtaining a website and promoting products that are produced by others through resell rights.Think of the people who promote products that are produced by others as the modern version of the old door-to-door salesman except instead of knocking on one door at a time they knock on the doors of millions of people at the same time by way of the Internet.

Another attractive reason that draws people to a work-at-home job or small business is the fact that they don't need to incorporate... a sole-proprietorship does nicely for most people. Although there is some liability in a sole-proprietorship, one person working from one computer these days can accomplish the same things that once required many people working many hours to accomplish. A sole proprietorship business isn't required to file separate tax returns or pay any special taxes on income that is earned in the way that a corporation, an LLC or even a partnership business is required to do. The taxes levied on a sole proprietorship business are just for personal income. If you become highly successful and are concerned about liabilities, I would suggest taking the next step and forming a LLC.

The Internet isn't called "The Information Super Highway" for nothing. A person can make a very good living selling nothing but information on it. You have the ability to sell anything that the enclycopedias had and more back when they sold those door to door years ago. The populations of every industrialized nation in the world have learned that if you want to know anything about anything, you get on a computer and ask the question. They have also learned that you must pay for special information and they are more than willing to do just that. A person who has special ...

Website owners, net wide, all seek the same thing, traffic! Ideally, the traffic most sought after is, of course, highly targeted traffic. Traffic sources derive from numerous places online including, but not limited to, search engines and other people's websites.

Many claim there is free traffic to be had for the taking, but is this really true? Is it fair to call this traffic "free?" I think not. At a minimum, the website owner must pour hours, days, weeks, months and years into doing one primary thing - optimizing his or her website to receive quantities of this "free" resource. Grabbing the attention of the various search engines and surfers looking for your information is a critical component to online success. Time, therefore, becomes a key factor. Is your time really free?

Consider, for the moment, that the one thing no one can buy more of is time. Our time on this planet is predetermined. Time, therefore, has value. The particular amount one places on one's own time is, of course, different. But do not fool yourself. Even if you think, "I've got plenty of free time!" still the clock ticks and what you are doing is allotting that portion of your life to your online endeavor.

So when those "in the know" tell you it is easy as can be to reap the benefits of "free traffic" online, what it is they are really saying? What they are telling you is to optimize your own website so specifically to keywords and keyword phrases that apply to your website, that, over time, you stand the potential for being placed well in search engines and found by others.

What happens next? Well a website or blog fully created and functioning will not do you a bit of good if no one knows its there. When they talk about free traffic, and search engines indexing you, you need to make sure said search engines know you exist. Once developed, your marketing and advertising of said website begins. And, you will be doing yourself and your website a disservice if you believe this can be done totally for free.

Let's face it, the guy in the know recommending pay per click cannot possibly mean "free traffic." Done incorrectly, pay per click can end up costing the website owner a small fortune. Yes, ads can be placed around the internet for free, again with the idea of driving free traffic to your site, but without proper assistance the very placement of these ads will cost you - at a minimum - your time ...

Where is your head, heart, and expectations when it comes to trying your hand at making money online? Are you one of the millions of many willing to believe just about anything - or are you someone who is willing to go the long haul to accomplish your goals?

Granted this may not be the way things go for you online, but more often than not (and if not, hats off to you) the reality is that the overnight sensation the guru online would like you to believe is false.

Take a look at this. It is just a portion of an email I received this morning from a very well known internet marketer (a guy making the really big bucks):

He wrote:

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P.S. It took me a total of 7 years and $91,587.13 to get the same 'ticket' you now hold in your hands.

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And from the sales letter web page, right at the top he states:

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Just 7 years ago, I was right there in your shoes.

I had spent over $25,000 of my college funds on Internet Marketing 'stuff', and I had absolutely nothing to show for it except a $34.95 check.

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This is NOT a plug or endorsement for his product, the purpose is to show you that Rome was not, and still is not, built in a day. Or even a week. Or a month. Or sometimes a single year.

7 years - an investment in time, money, creativity, money, time, money, research, education, networking, time, money.

Now he is in position. Now he will be the one to make the big bucks. Yes, the idea he is selling is that by buying into his, you also can make it big riding on his coat tails.

But will you?

Maybe.

The point to this article isn't that there is a sucker born every minute; instead, it is to reinforce the concept that to make money online, to "make it big," you also must be willing to put in the time and money required to achieve similar success.

Will it come from buying into someone else's something? Maybe. But you should make note that he developed his own thing - and as he shares that with you, he's going to rake in the big bucks.

Do your own thing and then, once that is established with web advertising and search engine recognition, look to other people's products to supplement what your own pulls in for you.

A good friend of mine recently told me that her internet marketing ...

SUMMARY:  Many web site owners, often you may rely on "outside sources" to track the efficiency and effectiveness of your web site's performance. Putting more stock in other people's programs and tracking, often people become discouraged that their web site advertising and/or internet marketing is not "paying off."

A Tricky Tracky Thing - Your Web Site Stats

by Theresa Cahill
Copyright 2007 - All rights reserved

An interesting, and important, bit of research came to my attention today. It is not that I have been totally unaware of this, but today was the first time in a long time that I have had the 'leisure' to truly investigate. Having conducted my albeit quick investigation, and after gathering web site statistics from several sources, I would like to present my findings.

But first, if you are like many web site owners, often you may rely on "outside sources" to track the efficiency and effectiveness of your web site's performance. Putting more stock in other people's programs and tracking, often people become discouraged that their web site advertising and/or internet marketing is not "paying off." They tend to believe that the big name behind a program must mean they are right and you are wrong. That their tracking is better and more accurate than one's own. 

Strangely enough, the truth is often times not the whole truth and nothing but. Take a quick peek at several areas online I use for one of my own domains. Frankly, I use most of them for fun - and I do mean fun - because you are about to discover how very "off" those 'tried and true' sources can be:

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11/14/2007 at 12:49 p.m.

An Analytics Program - 2 visitors
An SEO Program - 51 visitors
A Keyword Tracking Program - 45 visitors

Compared to:
Domain Cpanel Stats - 384
(and the day is only half over)

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All of these programs/services are designed to give the website owner additional insight into their traffic and more.

So which am I most likely to believe? You are right, that is a no brainer question. One's cpanel stats are the most, and frankly only, reliable source of information about one's website. Third party systems help give different perspectives on your web advertising and internet marketing, but obviously have limited capabilities. Only your own domain's cpanel (or whatever yours may be called) ...