Nelson Tan

Together with Justin Koh as partner, Nelson Tan has set up Internet Mastery Center, Mastermind Eureka and Fresh Resources as his main Internet Marketing business and 14 other niche mini-sites (and still counting). Armed with all the knowledge and experience he gained from electronics and communications, IT, self-development, sales and marketing, business management, religious studies and volunteerism, he can help you seek the answers you have always been looking for. Don’t believe it? Check the quality of his answers below.
How did you get into Internet Marketing? Can you explain your journey into Internet Marketing in detail?
With my partner Justin Koh, I seriously began my journey into Internet Marketing in December 2003. In that year, Jxx Kxxxxx (name amended) was THE big headline name with the release of his 2-volume "30 Days to Internet Marketing Success". It was not hard to identify his e-book as the No. 1 best-selling product of 2003, as it made Jxx US$300,000 over an 8-month period. So that really got me intrigued over just how 'easy' it is for an 18-year-old Singaporean student, with no work experience, to earn greenbacks from all over the world, with veteran and older marketers giving him the best testimonials for his work. What I really had witnessed for myself are many factors that seemed to defy the logic of the conventional working world.
Earnings for the full year of 2004 were too little to be worthy of mention. It was a year of intensive learning, unlearning, relearning and information overload. However, upon personal reflection of the way I and my peers are brought up as part of a generation under much influence from 16-bit video games, 386/486 computer games, technological curiosity and junk mail, I already knew in my heart and mind that Internet marketing is something I can truly succeed in simply with typing fingers.
We spent too much time soul-searching, identifying and clarifying profitable online business ideas and building our first Internet Marketing site: Internet Mastery Center. With all due respect and I'm sure you readers may agree, the education system that we went through must be our Archilles' Heel because it typifies our thinking in every way in accordance to meritocracy and over-achievement. We just want to do it BIG the first time without seriously considering how to start small, and even smaller still. Along the way, we kept getting distracted with other people's Web sites and success and faltered from
focusing on what WE ourselves can really contribute substantially to the Internet Marketing world.
It was much later in the year when I finally came to feel for the fact that everything that is and can be done online is not 'easy' but a very systematic and predictable process. The most significant aspect is that you can test and measure results with affordable metric software instead of leaving your business up to 'fate,’ which is what happens to Mom-&-Pops stores on street corners where no one cares to go.
The good thing about the Internet is that it really has no isolated corners. Every unknown Web site starts off on equal footing and is just one URL away! It's a matter of how many people you can tell in how short a time about your sites. That's what the 'Marketing' part is all about and is as exciting as a computer game. What some folks say about setting up "site after site, and then BAM BAM BAM!" is true. They keep their thinking short, simple and straightforward to bring home the money. That doesn't mean their simple sites have no substantial value in their content.
Anyway, we still have this one big idea—the Internet Mastery Center—to take care of. Our first commercial e-book is The Handy Hyperlink Listbook, which we will give you for free. In December 2004, Mark Hendricks organized a massive giveaway event called "12 Days of Christmas" inviting all marketers to contribute a product that visitors can get by subscribing to your mailing list. The enormous pulling power of such events never fail to help us get at least 1,000 subscribers in a week! It was our first breakthrough in list size and income. With a few more events like this in 2005 and other list-building programs, we never looked back and the rest is history.
What are the various Web sites that are making you money? (Or what type of Web site you make money from? E.g. adsense, eZine, eBook, etc.)
Today, we earn comfortably with a majority of our monthly income from direct recommendations of the latest Internet Marketing products in our newsletter to our subscribers, about 10,000 of them at this time of writing. To subscribe to our newsletter and receive $347 worth of Internet Marketing gifts, click here.
We are also aiming for true residual income via Google Adsense with another 14 niche mini-sites. They all look the same so I'll just let you in at one of them: http://www.bankruptycentral.info.
We recently had an Adsense breakthrough. Find out how you too can have it here.
Our main Internet Marketing business is comprised of Internet Mastery Center, Mastermind Eureka and Fresh Resources. To learn how these 3 entities gel together and how YOU can take advantage of our services as a participant, read our introduction and manifesto.
How did you get started?
It's interesting to note that while some marketers said they came into Internet Marketing by way of learning all about Internet Marketing itself, we came in by way of self-development. We're not alone in saying this, and it's quite true. To begin with, certain Internet Marketing strategies and techniques may be profitable to others, but they were not applicable for us or we didn’t understand them, particularly in the days of initial involvement.
Think of it in another way: all techniques are applicable and do not discriminate between young and old, male or female, short and tall, thin and fat, student or worker. So what is stopping you from using these strategies NOW? Is it because of the following deeper questions:
1) What is my most desirable approach into Internet Marketing?
2) What is my ideal unique selling point?
3) What is the fastest and yet most righteous way to earning $$$?
4) What is the most beautiful idea?
5) What are my priorities?
6) What really is my ego? Have I defined it?
7) What kind of image should I present myself on the Internet? Do I have to?
8) Can I quickly and quietly make money-making sites and leave them there? Well, why can't I?
9) How much investment in time, effort and money am I willing to put in?
I'm sure these are questions that go around and around inside most people's heads every time they go online. While Internet Mastery Center does not answer these questions directly, we are only offering a 3-stage system of putting on the right mindset, using Masterminding techniques for product creation and promoting your products in your Internet Marketing portal, Fresh Resources. Again, read our introduction and manifesto to understand what's going on and how you can take part. I'm sure your destiny depends on this. *wink*.
How do you promote your Web site?
There are countless free and paid ways for web promotion, like:
1) Writing and submitting articles to article directories
2) Creating and distributing viral e-books and special reports
3) Pay-Per-Click marketing
4) Showing yourself as an expert by answering questions in Internet Marketing forums
5) Consistent e-mailing to your subscriber list (too much will become spam)
In every act of promotion, always have a link back to your site.
Of course, massive giveaway events and list-building contests are the ones that give the best results as opt-ins. Keep a lookout for these events especially around November.
Last but not least, you can build 8 types of lists FAST with this single page.
Any tips for newbies in Internet Marketing?
I heard Alex Mandossian once said, "Internet Marketing is meant to train us as lazy workers but high thinkers." With this statement as hindsight, let me review the question as "Any tips for newbies getting into business?" and answer from this angle.
The progress from newbie to expert is fundamentally the same regardless of which business you want to go into, and it starts with these 3 questions:
1) What is your passion?
2) What are your talents and skills?
3) What is the revenue model?
You are off to a great start when you are able to answer these 3 questions, which I don't think 95% of the world's population is able to. Then as you begin building your business, build on these 3 things:
1) Your strength: Each and every person has a set of different capabilities, in which some are greater than others. Do you know what you are already good at? Do you have a revenue model for your capabilities? Start building up those good ones to a commercial level with more practice and research for better revenue generating methods in exchange for your products and services which arise out of your capabilities. The beginning of an unsuccessful business is when you become a jack of all trades and master of none.
2) Your uniqueness: This refers to natural talent. Beethoven composed his first symphony at the age of 4. You call that 'capability' or 'talent'? The question is: what are the few things you can do brilliantly without pushing too hard? While others find it difficult, you find easy. When you find something that gets you excited and passionate about, business becomes play instead of work.
3) Your life purpose: For a great many people, money is a stumbling block. We are constantly trying to ensure that our deserved payoff matches the amount of effort we expend, no less, but yeah, more would be a bonus, thank you very much. If everybody thinks and acts like this, we will all be a step closer to hell. There's no greatness in living a life as suckers. Truth is, living a purpose-driven life is most profitable at its heart when you feel you are really alive doing the things you love to do and knowing that your contribution to the people around you will make you great, without ever thinking so much about payoff.
I'm answering the question in this manner because I'd prefer you enjoy doing something else than to regret doing Internet Marketing if ever you come to such a 'fate.. In all cases, you must learn how to SELL and all the art and science of sales communication.
On the other hand, there are so many ways to make money online that you may get inundated and lose focus. While other people make a successful career out of eBay
auctions, Google Adsense, affiliate marketing, niche marketing etc., you must quickly come to a decision of what you want and have to do as soon as possible. The money's only waiting for those who focus and excel in a chosen (not any) field.
I have reflected on my own Internet Marketing experience in this article.
I strongly recommend Internet Marketing beginners and veterans to continue their learning by subscribing to good e-courses. Ours can be found on this page.
What is the biggest mistake (or some of the mistakes) you have learnt in the past few years as an Internet Marketer?
Firstly, this question is a bit of a misnomer. I strongly encourage you make mistakes as soon as you can, know what these are for yourself, learn from them and move on. Otherwise you can't grow. I also think mistakes are not readily apparent until they all add up to one big undesirable result, don't you agree? So be aware of this.
While I can't speak for your mistakes, here is what I have to say from personal experience.
Marketing mistakes are usually not very costly as they can be remedied by changing your tactics. I would identify the following as serious mistakes:
1) Losing the trust of your customers or subscribers.
2) Wasted time and money in software development.
3) Deteriorating health due to overwork.
4) Opportunity cost: missing out on opportunities which you regret later. Worse: missing out on living life to the fullest.
5) Forgetting the No. 1 reason why you go into Internet Marketing in the first place.
6) Miscommunication.
We almost commit a possible mistake in the process of creating Mastermind Eureka. Justin must have seen the site as one with a single principal function. I see it as a portal which you can add on new features and sections in modules easily.
The idea is this: until you come to a final decision whether your site should be a mini-site or mega-site, always think modular and leave room for possibilities in your web design. You don't want to have a new idea to incorporate into your site only to realize you have to rework all the HTML and programming codes just to include a new web page.
One major tip I would give about avoiding mistakes is focusing all your activities in a niche area or systematic process. If you think you are pretty good at eBay, just stick to buying and selling at eBay. If you are striving for residual Adsense income, then set up one Adsense site after another and repeat the web promotion process. If you want to conquer different niches, build sites with essentially the same standard features and sections and keep cultivating fresh content in them. This article may help.
Again, sharpen your saw.
What are your plans in future?
I'm turning 30 this year and it's about time I pay just as much attention to my family and relationships as I do to work, so family matters will also influence many work-related decisions too. Quite likely I'll not rock the boat for another 10 years, and will continue to be involved in this 'guru' business called Internet Marketing, keep on increasing my Google Adsense income, help set up new sites for friends and profit-share in the process and be a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen.
A Christianity site is under construction so bookmark this and visit it in April 2006. You can reach me by my number 65-90271300 or e-mail me at tankiatwee@yahoo.com.sg
I really appreciate this. You have gained much insight from my experience and I look forward to communicating and collaborating with you in the near future. All the best in your online endeavor!