I think it is important to develop goals when trying to make a living on the internet. For some it may be reaching a certain level of monthly income.
For others, it may be reaching a certain level of unique visitors. I would like to state that my personal goal is to have seven sites (not including this one) which are all ranked
in the top 100,000 sites on the internet. It doesn’t matter how much or how little they earn, and I definitely don’t believe in gaming alexa or any system for that matter. I believe in doing things the hard honest way.
So far, I have two sites in the top 100,00 as below. Just have to develop another 5 sites. I have over 100 projects which I have not had time to get off the ground, so that should not be too hard coming up with ideas. However, developing a site which consistently ranks in the top 100,000 is not an easy task. I would also like to diversify to have sites in other areas, not just tech related.

ComputerForum.com has a current alexa rank of 64,792

WebDesignForum.com has a current alexa rank of 89,493

John Chow posted an interesting video on his visit to the MSN china office. Whilst the offices looked quite plain and rather boring, I was surprised to see the informal dress code, which I think is quite cool, especially when you associate Microsoft with being a stuffy suits and ties type organisation.

I did not make it to Cebit 2008 in Sydney this year, despite being able to walk down there. The only part of the conference that I would like to have seen was the Jason Calanis speech, and today I got to watch it on youtube.

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

He is a fantastic public speaker, and I enjoyed watching his speech. I don’t think I am on the same wavelength in regards to “reward obsessive behaviour”. I see too many people who work very hard and are enthusiastic and have an “obsessive” work ethic but they are not the sharpest tool in the shed. That may be an ok quality for low level menial jobs, but for important jobs, I would take the essentially lazy person who has brilliant ideas, who can read the market and can provide a roadmap for the execution of those plans. I value intellect over a hard working person who works around the clock.
It will also be very interesting to see how mahalo.com works out. To be honest, I dont like the product, I dont like the look of the site, I dont like the layout, I do not like how it is starting to get complicated and deviating from its core focus. What I do admire, is how the site is adapting and constantly changing. And that they do conduct focus groups, so at least they are trying to deliver a product that the customer wants. I would like to see the site become a big success and prove the critics wrong.

This post at Guy Kawasaki’s blog contains some interesting comments by some very successful internet/technology start-ups. The most interesting one is Paul Graham from via web.

On raising money: “The advice I would give is to avoid it. I would say spend as little as you can because every dollar of the investors’ money you get will be taken out of your ass…”

Yes, I know that is a bit crude, but definitely one of the downsides of accepting venture capital. Then again, I think the number of highly successful ventures which ended up being worth outrageous amounts of money, all accepted venture capital, the most famous one that comes to mind is google, they would most probably not be where they are today without venture capital.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2007. My name is Ian and I run computerforum.com as well as a number of other sites. This blog and website as the domain suggests will cover all aspects of building, promoting and profiting from an Internet Business. It will also cover general news and happenings in the webmaster industry to help keep readers abreast of the latest trends and developments. I hope to make at least one post per day, well that is my intention. Tommorrow I hope to install a different wordpress theme.