by Mark Mason | Dec 31, 2008 | Internet Marketing
Back in 2008, I was deep into building eBay niche stores using a WordPress plugin called phpBay. These were affiliate sites that displayed eBay listings organized around specific product categories. It was a legitimate business model at the time, and one question kept...
by Mark Mason | Dec 29, 2008 | Tech Tips
The default search built into WordPress has always been mediocre. Back in 2008, I integrated Google Custom Search into my blog sidebar to give readers better results and pick up a few AdSense dollars along the way. The AdSense revenue never amounted to much, but the...
by Mark Mason | Dec 26, 2008 | free stuff
When I started my blog back in 2007, one of the first things I noticed was how much jargon I used without thinking about it. Terms like SEO, autoresponder, affiliate link, and conversion rate rolled off my tongue naturally, but the people I was trying to help often...
by Mark Mason | Dec 25, 2008 | Announcements
I originally posted a brief holiday greeting back in December 2008. It was just a few sentences wishing everyone well. Seventeen years later, I want to expand on that sentiment because I think the holiday season carries an important message for anyone building a...
by Mark Mason | Dec 23, 2008 | Internet Marketing
Years ago, I ran a weekly series called the Internet Business Fortune Cookie where I would crack open a fortune cookie and relate the message to online business. One week the cookie said “Honesty is the best policy.” At the time, I used that fortune to...
by Mark Mason | Dec 23, 2008 | Internet Marketing
In 2008, I published a ranked list of link directories and recommended them as a “cheap and easy way to build backlinks.” That advice was accurate at the time. In 2026, it would get your site penalized by Google. The story of how link directories went from...
by Mark Mason | Dec 22, 2008 | Internet Marketing
Every December, I take stock of the year. I have been doing this since 2008, when I wrote my first year-end update just a year into my internet marketing journey. Back then, I was proud simply to still be in the game. Most people who start an online business quit...
by Mark Mason | Dec 19, 2008 | free stuff
Back in 2008, I shared a free report on email marketing basics with my blog readers. The report itself is long gone, but the core message I was pushing at the time, that “the money is in the list,” has proven to be one of the most durable truths in...
by Mark Mason | Dec 17, 2008 | Internet Marketing
Early in my internet marketing journey, I wrote about the importance of finding a guru. I used that word casually back then. Today I would call them mentors, because the word guru has picked up some well-deserved baggage in the online business world. But the...
by Mark Mason | Dec 15, 2008 | Internet Marketing
In 2008, I was deeply excited about a product called Firepow. It was a niche marketing tool that I believed in enough to negotiate special discounts for my readers and even offer to reimburse the cost of a companion product called Blog Inferno if people bought through...