Instead of asking “What you are doing?”, TipDrop wants to know “What do you know about that?”

TipDrop users can:

• create their own tip sheets on topics, and/or
• respond to tips left by others

With a voting system to ensure credibility of tips submitted, spammers will not be welcome and will find life hard! And, along with some Adsense revenue sharing, TipDrop users might be able to make this actually “pay” for them… literally!

Find out more about TipDrop here…. and make sure you search for my page (user = saspry) and see how I am trying to contribute to this great new “social-knowledge” site…

And then work out how it will be of use to you:) Just don’t go overboard with any self-promotion or your credibility will suffer!!! Contributing to the community by responding to others tips will be a useful way to learn how to use this site.

As Jonathan says… TipDrop is like Twitter meets Wikipedia meets Digg.

Sounds good to me!

Besides… I really am not that interested in knowing what people had for brekkie! Sorry Twitter.

UPDATE

After the first week, TipDrop is going from strength to strength, and already has an Alexa rank around 100k, which is unbelievable after such a short time! And lots of great improvements that have already been made are going to make this the place to really kick some social ass!

Which is pretty much the case for lots of newbies to the online marketing world I suppose…

And as a result, Five Steps To Getting Started OnLine is probably one of THE most important pieces I’ve ever written!

Strong words Stephen… but I wonder how so many thousands of people can launch an online business without ever looking at these steps???

No wonder the failure rate for new online businesses is so high!

Please don’t make the same mistakes!

Look to these Five Steps To Getting Started OnLine before you take on ANY new Internet based venture!

While I mainly use a Mac myself, I also use a PC from time to time, so I need to make sure it is safe from all sorts of nasties. I’ve installed the following software to do just that…

First up… you need a good anti-virus program, and one of the better ones is AVG, particularly because it does NOT take over your computer like one of the better well known ones will!

You can get a free version of AVG for home and non-commercial use. So when you start making some money, you’ll need to upgrade to the better paid version!

Secondly, SpyBot is absolutely terrific at preventing and removing a LOT of spyware and malware from your computer (things that can slow your computer down to a snail’s pace). The most recent version of SpyBot scans for over 500,000 different problems!

And if you’ve got kids, you’ll need SpyBot to fix your ‘puter after they’ve been on it, for sure! A word of advice though… DURING installation, make sure you do NOT install the Tea-Timer application… It will drive you crazy with its warning messages.

A great alternate web browser to Internet Explorer is Firefox. This is generally a much “safer” web browser to use as it is still not yet the target of the many hackers who want to bring Microsoft down… Check out the Thunderbird email client while you are there… the Mozilla alternative to Outlook Express.

There are also a variety of useful plugins available which can extend the usefulness of FireFox as a research tool, including SEO4FireFox)

If there any other software you’ve found that is useful to help protect your PC? Have you had any interesting experiences that you’d like to share with others here? Please add your comments below!

And that means they:

• might end up with the wrong sort of web hosting company and/or
• waste their money with the wrong plan, and/or
• have the hassle of moving to a new company

… all for not doing just a little bit of thinking right at the start!

Remember, most people who set up online WILL end up with more than one web site!

Chances are you will have many sites - perhaps to cater for different niches, or used to support one another (a mini network).

So the first mistake you can easily avoid is buying hosting which ONLY allows for ONE web site per plan. And then later on buying a new (single) plan for each new site you want to host!

There are many web hosting plans available which allow either:

1. add-on domains - which means you can run several domains/web sites on the same server using your login details for your main site

   OR

2. reseller plans (preferred) - which allow you to set up multiple different web sites with their own separate login details/accounts

The actual cost difference is really fairly minimal, so please investigate hosting plans which allow at least either of the above options.

That said…

I am hoping you do a LOT of research into your chosen niche BEFORE jumping in and purchasing any domain names and/or web hosting!

Open Office is a big download at around 140+MB, and is the “free” equivalent to Microsoft’s more expensive “Office” suite of applications. It includes word processing (with built in PDF maker), presentation and spreadsheet software, available in multiple languages and formats to suit Windows, Mac and Linux.

Adobe Reader is a multi-platform program which allows you to read PDF files (Portable Document Format). This is one of the most common ways in which ebooks are produced and distributed.

Filezilla is a good free multi-platform FTP software used to move files from your computer to your web site/s (FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol).

If you plan to do any work with audio and MP3 files, Audacity is one of the better programs to do it with! It is free, open source, multi-platform software for recording and editing sounds. Look in the “Optional Downloads” section to grab LAME MP3 encoder to export MP3 files.

Many of the files you can download are “zipped” (or compressed) to save space and reduce the size of each download. So, you’ll also need a program to unzip compressed files. There are many contenders… most of which come with a trial period so you can download and test… and then need to be purchased to continue using. Popular programs include Winzip (Windows only) and Winrar (multi-platform) although a Google search will reveal lots of others to pick from, including my pick… Stuffit (free “Expander” software, plus paid “Deluxe” version) for both Windows and Mac.

While it’s not actually “software” you can download to your computer… a Google Account is practically an essential tool for the online marketer! Your Google Account will give you access to gmail, webmaster tools, analytics, feedburner, and a whole suite of online tools which you WILL use in your business.

Another essential is a verified PayPal business account. It will make it easier for you to pay for many things you purchase online, and also allows you to RECEIVE money easily from people who purchase your products and services.

That’s about it for my pick of the software you need to get started.

Sure, there’s lots of other stuff you will end up buying, downloading and using for different purposes… for example, software to help set up membership sites, link management and cloaking software, screen capture software, etc… but your selection there is dependent on the direction your online business takes.

So don’t worry about getting any of that just yet.

If you haven’t yet got the basics (above) organised first, then do it now!

Oh… and finally, not like it’s a P.S. or anything like that…

BUT…

You also MUST have some sort of BACKUP mechanism and regular backup procedure in place - preferably using one of those robust external hard drive units (I use a Maxtor drive for this purpose) to ensure that all your important files are safely and regularly backed up!

There’s nothing worse than a hard disk failure to bring your business to its knees!

What have you found that has been useful in your day to day work online? If you’ve got any suggestions on some more essential software… please let me know in the comments below…

Cheers
Stephen

But before you hand in your pink slip and quit your day job, let’s have a quick look at what characteristics I reckon you need to give yourself the best chance of actually making it work for you.

Probably THE most important thing you need to have is…

An Ability to WRITE Fairly Well.

There are literally so-o-o many things that need to be written when you are in business online. If you have difficulty expressing yourself well in words, then unless you can pay (and trust) someone else to write for you, it’s going to be difficult!

It’s not impossible however, as writing is a skill that can be learned with lots of practice! So avail yourself of opportunities to improve your writing wherever you can - commenting on blogs, forums etc.

You also need to be able to FOCUS on the task at hand.

There are simply so many things that will distract you, so you need to clearly define what your major objectives are at that particular point in time, and stick to them. Don’t let the distractions and time-wasters ruin your progress. Ask yourself often

What’s the best use of my time right now?

So good planning and time management skills will be useful to overcome information overload, but only if you know what you are doing. Setting up a business online is actually quite an involved process… there’s a lot more to it than just whacking up a web site and hoping the orders come flooding in.

Expect a steep learning curve to cope with, especially in the early stages. Stick to just the basics for starters, and worry about all the gimmicks and bells and whistles (all major distractions to be honest) once you’ve got a handle on things!

Remember too that although you might have plans to set up just one web site, the reality is you will most likely set up MORE than just one web site!

Reality also dictates that the vast majority of those sites will just not work (for all sorts of reasons). How many times did Edison fail at producing the light bulb before he got it right?

The same principle applies with going into business online.

You will try lots of things, and set up lots of sites, and each thing you try will have varying degrees of success - or failure

So expect setbacks and don’t give up after your first failed attempt!

Each is a “learning experience” which you should move forward from, and apply what works to the next bright idea you have.

But before you start… try to get a handle on the “basics”.

But what ARE the “basics”? There are so many conflicting answers to that question, you can easily end up suffering from information paralysis and doing nothing.

I would suggest you need to start off by having a good basic understanding of:

• niche research - finding out what the public really want
• keyword research - locating the words they use to find their answers
• the various monetization methods you can use with your web site/s so that you actually make money

And all of that comes BEFORE you even begin to think about choosing domain names, web design, web hosting, search engine optimization, traffic generation, list building, auto-responders, tracking, split testing, and a whole lot more…

There’s a LOT to learn, so please do NOT expect that you will be able to “get rich quick” by taking on an online business. In case you haven’t realised it yet… that just does NOT happen.

Despite the promises of the “Internet Lifestyle” being sold by thousands of snake oil vendors around the globe, they are the only ones who are getting rich quickly… by taking your hard earned dollars in return for thin air!

Setting up an online business is not really much different to setting up a real world one.

There’s lots of homework (research) to do before you start. And once established, there’s lots of ongoing effort needed to grow and expand (or even maintain) your business.

Hopefully I’ll be able to provide you with information that will help you negotiate down the rocky path to online success.

If you haven’t already… best to subscribe to my feed and keep updated with the new posts as they are added to this site… just fill in the form below to keep updated!

No spam will come from this… only an email notification of new posts as they are added to this site. No new posts… no email. Simple.

I look forward to talking with you.

Cheers
Stephen Spry

Throughout my Internet “career”, my primary focus has been to help small business owners succeed on the Internet by providing a wide range of useful and relevant information… without all the B.S. that seems to accompany this industry!

I’ve always wanted a more “obvious” place to bring together a lot of the things I do… A place where you can get a feel for what goes on in the life of a full-time, self employed, Aussie Internet veteran webmaster and Internet publisher.

So welcome to my world… and while this site is brand new (Easter 2009) it will shortly reflect on what I’ve done since 1995 trying to earn a living online, so that you too can benefit from my experience!

Please feel free to start or contribute to the discussions underway on this site. I really look forward to hearing from you!

Cheers
Stephen