SIMS Provides More Than a Website

Becoming successful on the Internet presented me with a steep and challenging learning curve. First, I had to solve the technology equation. I did not want to learn HTML, or Dreamweaver or any of the other software "languages" that would make me a so-called "website builder." It was not long before I realized that they money in the Internet came by reaching specifically targeted markets with products and services people needed and wanted, priced reasonably and made easy to obtain.
First, let's consider some statistics that tell us who uses the Internet, why and how?
According to the Internet World Stats that collets its data from Nielson//NetRatings and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as of September 18, 2006 there are 1,086,250,903 people on the Internet world-wide and 229,138,706 people in the United States on the Internet.
Click here to read a related article that tells you a lot about who shops online and why Read the article and return here!
Did you see these facts? The internet has now become the mall of America, where people shop for everything from cameras to caviar to clothes to computers. An overwhelming 76 percent of online users have purchased at least one product or service.
Online shoppers are like a snapshot of a crowded suburban mall on a Saturday afternoon. They are your husband, your wife, your girlfriend, your brother, your children, even your grandparents. They are more or less half men, half women-51 percent to 49 percent.
Sixty-seven percent are married and 43 percent have kids. Their median household income has declined sharply. It is now $59,100, compared to what we had four years when it was $66,000. Forty-three percent of people who shop online have online access at work.
Seventy-two percent have at least one wireless device, and 40 percent have already paid or are willing to pay $39.95 a month for broadband. These are the prime prospects the advertisers spend a fortune to reach. "
Those facts put twinkles in my eyes and inspired me to learn more. Quickly I learned that I needed to demystify "building" websites. I searched a found a business partner who handles all the technology for me, including providing the servers I need to host websites. Next, I realized that I needed the ability to register URLs (Uniform Resource Locator(s)) aka domain names. That needed led me to create another partnership, this one with SRS Plus, a division of Network Solutions, the huge company that pioneered in the management of domain names. Here's an article from Wikipedia that provides you an overview of this company and its history.
Network Solutions started as a technology consulting company in 1979^[1], with approximately 30 employees, and focused its efforts on applications development. Network Solutions was acquired by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in 1995 and listed on NASDAQ in 1997. John Dillon reports in MediaFilter.org, "Initially, the service was subsidized by the government. But, in May 1993, the National Science Foundation privatized the name registry (InterNIC - Internet Network Information Center) and paid NSI $5.9 million to administer it. In September 1995, NSI instituted the fee system. A few months earlier, it had been bought out by Science Applications International Corp (SAIC)." In 2000, Network Solutions was acquired by VeriSign, Inc. for $21 billion.^[1] In 2003, Network Solutions was acquired by Pivotal Equity Group.^[1] The current CEO is Champ Mitchell. On February 6, 2007, Network Solutions announced that General Atlantic, a private equity firm, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Network Solutions from Najafi Companies (formerly Pivotal Private Equity). ^[2] Although terms of the deal were not released, the Wall Street Journal reported in a story on May 30, 2007 that the price tag was "around $800 million." [1 In 2003 nearly 90% of the company's revenue was from domain-name registrations, said Network Solutions Chief Executive Champ Mitchell. Since 2005, the company has added 69 services and products and today these new offerings are fueling Network Solutions' growth. Now only 45% of the company's revenue comes from domain-name registrations.[2] At the end of July, 2007, Network Solutions had 6,659,150 domains under management and was in the top five wholesale domain registrars following Go Daddy with 19,709,215 domains and eNom with 7,646,676 domains. Tucows, the largest publicly traded registrar, has 6,622,982 domains under management with its recent acquisition of ItsYourDomain.com.[3]Melbourne IT, a publicly traded company located in Australia, trailed with 4,664,019 domains under management. [4] shitakemushrooms.com but was unable to. Further aggravating the controversy was the fact that while Network Solutions' automated screens blocked the registration of shitakemushrooms.com, the domain name shit.com had been successfully registered.^[11] Network Solutions argued that it was within its First Amendment rights to block words it found offensive, even though it was operating pursuant to contract with a Federal agency NSF. ^[12][3][13] Network Solutions' $100 charge, which many parties believed was excessive, in addition to its monopoly position in the market, was one of the contributing pressures that resulted in the creation of the International Ad Hoc Committee and its failed attempt to take control of the domain name system, and to the US Department of Commerce, NTIA releasing the White Paper and ultimately contracting with ICANN to administer the DNS. With the formation of ICANN, the domain name industry opened up to partial competition, with NSIF retaining its monopoly on .com, .net and .org but having to recognize a separation of registry and registrar. By the end of 1999 the fee for registration had been reduced to a wholesale rate of $6 per year to registered resellers.

Now I had to learn about Search Engine Optimization, or how to have my websites indexed in the major search engines and come upon the first two pages, in as many ways as possible. In other words, I needed to have some idea of how people searched for information related to the products and services I wanted to provide. My search for viable, usable SEO knowledged ended when I found Aaron Wall's ebook--SEOBook.

At some point during this process, I realized that I was building a team. Well, it seemed reasonable that if I was going to build a team, I should learn teambuilding, so I read John C. Maxwell's book--The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork. Without realizint it at first, I was following Maxwell's first law--the law of significance. One of the early paragraphs in the chapter on this law proved to be worth the price of the book: "As much as we admire solo achievement, the truth is that no long individual has done anything of value. The belief that one person can do something great is a myth. There are no real Rambos who can take on a hostile army by themselves. Even the Lone Ranger wasn't really a loner. Everywhere he went he rode with Tonto. Nothing of significance was ever achieved by an individual acting alone."
Immediately, I began building my knowledge team, wise and understanding individuals who could mentor me both long distance and up close. Therefore, over the years, I have learned from the best. Therefore, last year as I continued my research and study, I realized that I was developing a system for successful internet marketing. I named it a Strategic Internet Marketing System, or SIMS.
SIMS involves much, much more than having a website.
It includes, for example understanding the seven centers of management attention as taught by Michael Gerber; understanding the Cash Flow Quadrant, as taught by Robert Kiyosaki; understanding permission marketing as taught by Seth Godin; understanding the network marketing business model as taught by Tim Sales and Dr. Charles W. King. I also had to learn how to organize my homebased business so it would be compliant with policies and procedures of t he Internal Revenue Service.
SIMS includes all this and more! This concept, for example, includes methods to make your Internet-based business produce revenue automatically, 24/7, without you having to be there all the time.
All this notwithstanding, one of the most challenging questions for me as I constructed SIMS, component by component, was how to email thousands, hundred of thousands, even millions of potential prospects in a legal, comprehensive email marketing program? I will discuss that answer in detail in a later article in this series.
So SIMS as I have constructed it includes the following: a features rich, user friendly, professional designed website, education in how to design, develop and deploy a successful, IRS compliant homebased business; how to develop quality business, marketing and sales plans; how to develop strategic, affordable partnerships; effective SEO education and effective Email Marketing education.
I launched my SIMS early this year, and after 12 months, I declare unequivocably--It works! So I thought I would share this with you. For more information, please click here.