I was sitting down, having a think.. Sometimes I can do that standing up, about how this whole “making Money Online” thing began. And it’s pretty important to know as it helps give you are good understanding on how things work now.
First Came the Internet.
Well a bit of history never hurt anyone, well at least not quite everyone… So there it was… This new thing that allowed people to Send Emails to each other. Documents and Files of all kinds. Information was able to be spread far and wide, simply and easily with the click of a button. After of course all the precursor clicks were performed to produce the “Stuff” in the first place…
But there it was… And I was there when it began. Which means I’m old… Wiser? Let’s not go there…
And so it was born and everyone was amazed and excited…(a little like we are now with the advent of A.I).
But at that time, it was mainly Universities and Businesses… Big Main frames were involved and the old Serial Terminals and keyboards… I actually worked as a Service Engineer for an Australian Company out on the road fixing broken screens and the old printers… those were fun times… The size and cost of the required equipment kept things hidden away from the average Joe.
Then came the PC.
So this is when things got funky… Things were still a bit expensive, but schools starting getting PC’s (Personal Computers) and I remember getting let into the “Circle” when they got one of those old Apple Desktops back in my 3rd year, which would have been… “come on brain cells don’t give up on me here… ” circa 1978″… (note to self: check the date, but it was around that time, oh and find the news article).
And eventually it was pretty common for a lot of folks to have the ole clunker PC’s we all started out with, sitting on their desks at home, Oh and never forgetting, that ole nugget ( still with us today but improved with age…) the Modem.
So what did I do…
I proudly had taken some photos of the ole Endeavour Replica ship that was doicked in Portland to celebrate / commemorate the Centinial of Australias Federation… So I’d managed to find somewhere to buy a doman name from, and found some hosting, then fired up the ole MS Frontpage and wrote and publised my very first website.
Earliest I can find is April 2003… and here it is… from Wayback Machine – Allthingsgrand.com
And just looking back, I’m going “Oh My Goodness”… What’s going on here? Gee, I was promoting Affiliate Programs way way back… Well it was more of a “look mum I made a website” and also “look I know everything about websites…” When I was a younger lad…
Now Obviously that didn’t make me “one red cent”. I wasn’t promoting it… The Only people who saw it were my friends and family knew about it and none of them wanted Hosting etc… Interesting Note though – NTC ( as in the banner ) are still around AND just look at the storage and pricing back then… The site was actually hosted by Hostyard…
It may have got a few “HITS”…. But the point is… It was there, even back in those days… So yes I’ve been around a little while…
So what did everyone else do?
Well prior to my arrival on the scene, someone had whispered to someone else… “Hey this a potential Gold Mine” and the Dot Com Boom came and went… Which is why it was possible for us common folks to get access to Hosting etc at this time…
Just some Key points:
- The bubble grew from 1995 to 2000 with rapid tech stock valuation increases.
- It was characterized by speculative and overvalued investments in Internet startups.
- The bubble burst in 2000, causing widespread market losses and company failures.
- The dot-com boom laid groundwork for the modern Internet despite the crash.
So as the dust settled, a new world was born on desks all over the place, all connected together by wires… And Access to the World Exploded…
And then, everyone could Access “Search Engines”.
Amazon was around in those days… I’d bought all the Horatio Hornblower books I could get my hands on… As was Ebay… The Saga with the Laser Pointers, where the shipping was astronomical… Ahh the days…
Then I did another few things I’ll write somewhere else as it’s very long and a little embarassing, as I would have been a rich basted by now, but I sat back and watched…
Anyway Search Engines… Yes… You could look for anything really… And People Were Selling “Stuff”.
Sadly at the moment I can’t remember when I actually discovered what we still call “Making Mony Online” but over the years it hasn’t really changed at all… The Things we had back then, are still available today BUT with more things…like Social Media etc. Oh and not forgetting A.I (which is the new rage at the moment)…
Sooooooo websites, YES they are still a very valid tool. Everything accessible on the internet is a Website… Of course with the advent of a lot of clever folks, they now have capabilites way beyond the old days of just being “Informational Pages”. Effectively just online documents with some fancy navigation…
I have to leave it here as I’m being called away… But I hope this gives you are little insight in what was and what still is, on this great quest we call ( in our little world ) Affiliate Marketing.