New Discoveries on my Internet Business path

Scrolling and clicking through the links on my Practical Internet Marketing class website after class last Thursday, led me to SBI!, Site Build It! It's listed as a great suite of tools for affiliate marketing in the recommendation. OK...what does that mean?...I asked myself.

Well, after spending days reading all their pages and researching Ken Evoy and his internet business, I took the plunge and signed up with their affiliate program and, then, I plunked down the 300 bucks and became an SBI! site business owner.I am currently on day 2 of the tutorials.

The tutorials are a take-you-by-the-hand set of instructions, which I find very comforting since I am usually jumping around new sites like a ping pong ball, usually accomplishing nothing and spending a massive amount of time doing it.

I have no idea exactly where this new venture will lead, but I will let you know. My plan is to get a website up and running within the next week and then start working on spending time in the affiliate tutorials, learning what that is all about.

Hopefully, by the end of this semester in about a month or so, I will be able to say that I have a functional online 'info-preneur' site generating traffic and conversions and also be generating leads for the affiliate program. Even if I don't make money on these activities, I will be glad to know how to do this stuff.

Private Paradise: Hot Springs, Caves, Ancient Petroglyphs... Guadalupe Canyon Awaits You

The indigo blue night sky flashes brilliant points of light, and blankets my view in all directions as far as my eyes can see. Except for the occasional cry of a distant coyote or soft flickering wings of a desert bat, the awesome silence envelopes me. I can actually hear myself breathe. Nestled in the warm, soft, and completely private natural hot springs tub carved into the granite rocks surrounding my campsite, I lay, soaking, without a single worry or thought of my daily life. I feel like I am a thousand miles from home. Guadalupe Canyon is truly paradise, and only a short drive from San Diego, where I live.

Canyon de Guadalupe is a palm covered, natural hot springs oasis in the desert, located 80 miles from the U.S./Mexico border in the Sierra de Juarez Mountains. Founded by Jose Loya Murillo, who first discovered the Canyon on horse back while searching for stray cows, "Don" Jose soon discovered the healing benefits of the mineral water and realized the natural beauty of the palm oasis. At the age of 60, Don Jose gave up ranching and set up a homestead in the canyon. He suffered from arthritis and found that bathing in the hot water cured his pain.

The family built and continues to run two campgrounds containing about two dozen campsites each with its own private hand made hot tub. There is a store and a restaurant powered with solar and car batteries, but it is highly advisable to bring everything you will need for your stay.

Getting there was not too difficult on the first try and definitely part of the fun. I had a little trouble finding the campground, but once I was on the right track it was a no-brainer. I arrived in the Canyon after driving south from San Diego through the Tecate border crossing and followed the signs to Highway 2 leading directly out of town to the East towards Mexicali. There are tollbooths along the way which accept US dollars, as well as checkpoints manned by Mexican armed guards, but passing through was fast and uneventful.

The "No Fear" Highway 2 passes through rugged mountains with spaghetti like turns where car carcasses lay far below. Eventually, the road descends onto the desert valley floor, and stretches out until it loses itself in the distance.

The first road sign warns of Canon De Guadalupe, but I pass it knowing of another way to get there. I proceed about another two miles and turn South onto a ramp leading across a dry lake. This route is much quicker than the first one and saves my car and myself from a slow, washboard, bone crunching, thirty mile, drive. It's important to check weather conditions before using this alternate route since recent rains could leave you stranded in the mud.

The road leads south for 30 miles into the mountains and to the turn off to Guadalupe Canyon campgrounds. The last 7 miles are difficult, slow going and would not be possible without a high clearance vehicle.

Once at the campground (there are two), I check in at the office, order up a wheelbarrow full of firewood, and proceed to my campsite. It's a breeze to get set up since there is already a palapa with built in sink, table, fire-pit, and plenty of room to pitch my tent. This is where it gets good.

Just steps from my new abode I find the granite hot tub. I fill it up with hot, natural spring water from a hose provided. The temperature is a perfect and toasty 90 degrees. I strip down, hop in and crack open an ice cold Corona. It's totally quiet, completely private, and absolutely serene. I am in hog heaven.

After settling in and have time to explore, Guadalupe Canyon has plenty in store. Go off-roading, head up the canyon to gorgeous waterfalls, go hiking in the rocky canyons, or explore caves with ancient Indian petroglyphs... or not. Perhaps you will find that soaking 'til you're shriveled like a prune in your hot tub and enjoying the solitude of your own private oasis is work enough. This is Baja and anything goes.

Be sure to check out the camp website at www.guadalupe-canyon.com for more information before heading South. Also, reservations are recommended, especially if planning to travel on a weekend.

Godin's blog blows! My mind, that is...

I spent some time today on Seth Godin’s blog and perused his impressive collection of writings. This guy has figured out the path of least resistance from his imaginings to the web. Grodin’s ability to frame complex thoughts into few words blows my mind, and obviously by the fame and following he has achieved, also blows the minds of a great many. He writes today about George setting the pace for ‘normal’, but maybe he should have used the name ‘Seth’.

''You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.'' Winston Churchill

Comparing Domain Name Services

I chose to compare and contrast Domain Name Services and I picked: Godaddy.com, Moniker.com, and Dotster.com. Among the three, Moniker was the only one not registered with Internic as a registrar.

I submitted a name that was available, Boogerfish, to see how the sites functioned. All of the sites returned quick results and offered many additional name options including extra extensions. I was searching for .com and .mobi.

In terms of pricing: GoDaddy $9.99.com, 7.99.mobi; Moniker 10.49.com, 8.19.mobi; Dotster 15.45.com, 9.99.mobi. GoDaddy and Dotster listed private registration up front at $6.99 and $4.98, respectively. Moniker did not list private registration without creating an account.

They all offered URL forwarding for free, but that is where it ends for freebies.
GoDaddy offered the most free extras like:
Online Photo Filer
Quick Blogcast
Hosting with Web
site builder
Personalized Email Account
Starter Web Page
"For Sale" Page
Parked Page
Getting Started Guide
Domain Forwarding & Masking
100-Pack Email Forwarding
Total DNS Control
Change of Registration
Status Alerts
Domain Locking

Moniker offered freebies:
URL Forwarding
Email Forwarding
Domain Name and Website Promotion Services
Domain Traffic Monetization
Domain Name Parking Services
Website Hosting and Email Solutions
Domain Name Appraisal Services

Dotster offers:
1 Year Banner Supported URL Forwarding FREE!

They all offered premium services like: Private registration, Transfers, Backorders, Bulk pricing, Domain auctions, hosting.

Clearly, GoDaddy leads the pack with their offer and free extras.

Net Neutrality

Freedom!

YES-ah, I say, Freedom to SURF-ah…
Freedom to BUY-ah…
Freedom, to POST-ah!

Save us from those that want to take this away!

We don’t have to imagine what the telecoms would like to do with the internet, because they are quite happy to tell us exactly what they plan to do.

Hey, Edward Whitacre, CEO of AT&T: Keep your pipes to yourself

Edward Whitacre, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), AT&T Whitacre has been the most candid in stating the telecoms' intentions: "How do you think they're going to get to customers? Through a broadband pipe. Cable companies have them. We have them. Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain't going to let them do that… Why should they be allowed to use my pipes? The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment and for… anybody to expect to use these pipes for free is nuts."

BOO HOO for Yahoo!

Bill Smith, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), BellSouth. Smith "told reporters and analysts that an Internet service provider such as his firm should be able, for example, to charge Yahoo Inc. for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google Inc. Or, Smith said, his company should be allowed to charge a rival voice-over-Internet firm so that its service can operate with the same quality as BellSouth's offering."

From the bowels of Verizon:

John Thorne, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Verizon. Thorne described Verizon's plans to charge websites available on networks provided by the big telecoms, stating that they are "enjoying a free lunch that should, by any rational account, be the lunch of the facilities providers."

According to the ACLU, telecoms have been practicing control over the internet for some time now:
“Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com, an advocacy campaign opposing AOL's pay-to-send e-mail scheme.
BellSouth blocked its customers' access to MySpace.com in Tennessee and Florida.
Cingular Wireless, run by AT&T, bars access to PayPal to make a payment on eBay because it has struck a deal with another online payment service, which pays Cingular for that privileged status.”

Regardless that the vast majority of people want internet freedom, it seems that telecoms and politicians are forging ahead with their plans to do as they please. The numbers are in and driving the fight to win this issue are the hundreds of millions in revenue to make the fat even fatter. As a nation known for our freedoms, we stand idly by while the fox raids the hen house.

Hello World

To all my fellow bloggers,
I am taking fun new class at Grossmont College, called Practical Internet Marketing. The class site is at Practical Internet Marketing .