There are two courses I believe to be particularly relevant to internet marketers are the Bits course and the Intensive Introduction to Computer Science. According to the course description, the course “focuses on information as quantity, resource, and property. We study the application of quantitative methods to understanding how information technologies inform issues of public policy, regulation, and law.” The Bits course also offers an extensive lecture series on web search, doing business on the web, and internet infrastructure. The course is arranged in an a-la-carte lecture format, so if you can just click the lecture you’re interested in and sit back and listen.

The second class, Intensive Introduction to Computer Science, I’d recommend for students who want to obtain a more solid computer science foundation. I think this course is a great starter class for new programmers and search engine optimizers. Intensive Introduction to Computer Science is a 12 week lecture series that discusses algorithms, software development, computer systems, and network security. In Week 8, the course covers TCP/IP, HTTP, XHTML, PHP and SQL. In Week 9 you’ll learn about DOM, CSS, Inheritance, JavaScript events, and Ajax. If you’re an SEO, I’d highly recommend that you go up to at least Week 9 of this course to be exposed to the material most immediately applicable to the SEO discipline. Check out the accompanying website for this course.

With either course, I think if you were to just watch the lectures while taking notes, you’d advanced your technical knowledge noticeably. And remember, both of these courses (plus several others) are free.

I Paid Lee McIntyre $20 and He Gave me back $1000

I first discovered Lee McIntyre when I purchased his Instant Internet Lifestyle video series for a mere $20 in the summer of 2010. At the time I was only making about $1100 per month online and working way too hard to do it. When I finally viewed the videos a few days later, I was stunned by wealth of internet marketing education that they contained. The Instant Internet Lifestyle was a recording of Lee McIntyre’s ‘Upside Down-Inside Out’ Workshop Sessions that took place over the course of 2 days. It contained a little over 6 of info product creation instruction, online marketing techniques, and affiliate program management strategies that I had never heard of despite being active in internet marketing for nearly a decade. Needless to say, Lee’s Instant Internet Lifestyle videos immediately expanded the way I thought about online marketing and internet business building. In short order, I implemented the strategies I had learned from Lee and nearly double my monthly earnings to about $2000 per month, easy. The Instant Internet Lifestyle videos are no hype and no fluff and neither is this review. So, if you are looking to grow you internet based business then I urge you to start by grabbing Lee McIntyre’s Instant Internet Lifestyle or the FREE Momentum Marketing System. It’s a real jewel! Check out these screenshots from inside the Instant Internet Video member’s area:

Lee McIntyre Is Helping Me To Grown By Online Business

Having seen the impressive results from implementing the bundle of online business growth strategies that I learned from Lee’s $20 video, a few months later, I decided to join Lee’s Internet Lifestyle Intensive program. Lee McIntyre’s Internet Lifestyle Intensive is every bit as rigorous as the title sounds. It’s a 12 month, 52 week course that includes weekly coaching calls, 30 hours of workshop videos, hours and hours of coaching call recordings, and weekly modules that teaches you everything from product creation to recruiting Joint Venture (JV). While I had begun making dependable a few months prior, joining this program represented a series investment for me because it comes with a premium price tag. Ultimately, I decided to register for it for the following reasons:

• I want to launch my own series of information products in the near future. Lee McIntyre’s Internet Lifestyle Intensive teaches you step by step about how to build info products and sell them.
• The Internet Lifestyle Intensive teaches you the finer points of building membership program to generate recurring income
• I identified a need to increase my knowledge of setting up and managing my own affiliate program, finding joint venture partners, building a continuity program, and building a targeted list.
• I believe my business would benefit from access Lee’s McIntyre’s resources, including – templates, joint venture partners and coaching. Basically, I think I can expand some portion of my business by leveraging his asset’s and resources.

As of the writing of this post, I am a few months into Internet Lifestyle Intensive and I must say that it’s not just worth every cent I paid but is actually over delivering in value! I’ve increased my monthly income by another $500, traffic to my website is up 500%, and I’m in the process of creating my line of internet marketing information products. In other words, my knowledge and business is growing as a result of Lee McIntyre’s coaching.

In Order to Get To the Next Level You Need a Business Coach

If you’ve been following along, this is the second part of my blog series when I introduce my readers to my business coaches and mentors. It took me years to realize it but the simple truth is that in order to make any real money online and develop a profitable business then you need access to heavy-hitter online business coaches like Lee McIntyre and Rich Schefren. I used to think (and many people still do) that a $29 video tutorial will only get you so far in this game – you learn exactly $29 worth of strategies and that isn’t nearly enough to get you noticed, let alone to compete effectively, online.

If there’s one lesson I’ve learned since endeavoring to build my own internet business is that in order to be successful you need a mentor and by mentor I mean someone who has actually accomplished what you are trying to do. You will not only need their expertise and experience on your side, but you also need access to their resources, partners, and customer lists – else you could spend years trying to acquire them yourself.

Additionally, if you’re looking to get the how-to’s of building and promoting information products you need an expert walking you through the process like Lee McIntyre. While it may sound as simple as producing a screenshot video and generating a dazzling ecover, it takes a bit more sophistication to make a truly professional information product – one that you can sells and delivers value to your members.

I am a proud client of Lee McIntyre’s premium Internet Lifestyle Intensive and I am also a Lee McIntyre affiliate. Yes, there are several affiliate links in this review. But what makes me different than all the other Lee McIntyre affiliates out there is that not only have I actually purchased his products, but they have brought me a great deal of success. I can truthfully testify to the fact that they work.

One last thing – Watch for my one-on-one interview with Lee McIntyre that I will release in August. It’s going to be awesome! If you have any questions you’d like me to ask Lee, please write them in the comment section of this blog post.

View Lee McIntyre’s Instant Internet Lifestyle

I could literally write a book telling you about the years I struggled to create a sustainable online business. If you’re story is like mine, then you know that the years I’m speaking were filled with a greater share of disappointments than achievements in regards to creating an online business. To be blunt: I was failing. Sure I made a few hundred dollars here and there by doing some affiliate marketing or product resales, but in the larger scheme of things I was truly a long way off towards achieving a sustainable internet marketing business. And that was until I saw Rich Schefren’s free webinar training. This webinar open my eyes wide open to the reason why I was only achieving minimal results despite working countless hours and spending several thousands of dollars on software products and affiliate marketing education. In a nutshell, the reason for my shortcomings came down to the fact that I was not running my business strategically. I was thinking like an “opportunity seeker” rather than as a “strategic entrepreneur”. If you don’t know what these terms mean than I implore you to view this free webinar and watch Rich to explain the difference.

Many new Internet entrepreneurs fall into the same exact track as I did. It’s the trap that Rich Schefren talks about in his free training. It’s the difference between trying to capitalize on an opportunity and purposefully creating your own opportunities. It’s the difference between letting others think for you and being a thought leader in your field. It’s the difference between having some vague notion of your desired business outcome and having a crisp and clean picture of what your final business goals are. This is the clarity that becoming a client of Strategic Profits has bought me and my business.

I’ve seldom come across people in my professional life, my academic studies, or in my entrepreneurial internet marketing activities that deliver such clear business growth insights as Rich Schefren. Whether we’re talking about a report such as his famous Internet Business Manifesto, this webinar that I think every internet business owner should attend, three hour long coaching session, or a module from the Business Growth System, each time I’ve encountered Rich Schefren’s teachings I get a new perspective on things and my business grows as a result.

Rich Schefren’s Advice to Me

When I last spoke with Rich Schefren we discussed the importance of me pinpoint precisely what I’m good at. And I must admit, it was something that I had trouble isolating at first. Think about it – in school or at work, and even in our daily lives we are taught to focus on the things that we are not good at and to work to improve them. So here’s counter-intuitive part: in Rich Schefren’s point of view trying to convert weaknesses strengths is a waste of time. Weaknesses should be isolated so that they do not prevent you from achieving your business objectives. Strengths, on the other hand, should be maximized, nourished, developed. The reason is because if you’re good at something, really good at something, it puts you in a league of your own – a level above all those who attempt to compete with you. So when you start to build your online business, because you’re leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, you’ve essentially created your own niche. In other words, you are the best provider of products and services in the marketplace. After speaking with Rich Schefren, it became clear to me that I needed to identify and build a business around my strengths before I even began to think about anything else. Strategic Profits also gives its members access to psychological testing to help them to better identify how they operate so that they can cultivate their strengths. It is this type of straightforward advice and access to resources that has helped me to an advance my online marketing business and to truly glimpse my first taste of success.

Strategic Profits Is A Business Investment

I have no doubt that Rich Schefren and Strategic Profits have put me on the road to achieving my ultimate goal of self-employment through owning my own online business. If you’re serious about building a prosperous online business – I strongly recommend that you view Rich’s free training – it will certainly change your life. But here’s a bit of warning: Rich Schefren is the real deal! He’s not a flake that will charge you $37/mo and teach you the latest Twitter spamming tactics. Rich is a genuinely effective online business consultant who has no real peer as far as I’m concerned. He has a track record of helping the biggest names in internet marketing, affiliate marketing, and make money online game of reaching incredible profits and achieving their business goals. With a clientele like Mike Filsaime, Jim Edwards, Leslie Buterin, you should view your enrollment with Strategic Profits as an investment in your online entrepreneurial education – one of the most important investment’s you may ever make. Check out the free training, and learn just as I did, why you’re business is not reaching its full potential and how you can begin achieving your goals.

I think it’s time for career-minded internet marketers to distinguish themselves by their academic credentials from those who “just do internet marketing".  This is not to say that someone who studied traditional marketing in college isn’t prepared for a career in online marketing.  Let’s be clear – I don’t mean that at all.  However, I do believe establishing online marketing as a rigorous academic program that prepares students for real world conditions is a necessary step toward greater solidification of the legitimacy of our industry. The online marketing industry has matured passed the point where being "self-taught" is acceptable and on-the-job training is sufficient.  Every other business discipline has its own recognized academic major – accountants earn degrees in accounting, human resources professionals study human resource management, operation managers study business logistics.

Of course, some areas in Internet marketing simply aren’t mature enough or don’t warrant a full degree program.  For example, the masters degree in social media marketing offered by Birmingham City University makes me scratch my head… hard.  What this university is calling a degree program could simply be condensed to a semester long course. But if executed correctly,  I think it’s a start in the right direction toward achieving greater independence and recognition for our industry.

Not demanding our own sphere of academia after a certain period of time is dangerous.  It unnecessarily exposes the online marketing field to hacks and frauds which in turn gives us all a bad name.  This is already a huge problem in the field of search engine optimization and one beginning to emerge in social media marketing where anyone can just declare themselves an expert and potential clients can’t distinguish the the good from the bad.  Practicing web marketers should not resist the “schooling of online marketing” – this is what needs to happen and it will be better for us all in the long run.

I’m a big fan of education in all its glorious forms: traditional classroom learning, online education, and on-the-job-training.  Having completed graduate school in 2008, I needed a new set of educational goals.  More specifically, I wanted to learn a web programming language.

For the past three weeks, I have been taking a non-credit Ed2Go course entitled Introduction to PHP and MySQL offered through the University of Maryland Baltimore County Training Centers.  Ed2Go provides six week long online courses that cost between $95 – $120.  I must say, that I am thoroughly impressed with the presentation of the material and the quality of the instruction.  I am especially impressed with the knowledge and responsiveness of the course instructor.  Ed2Go classes have flexibility build into assignment deadlines to accommodate working adults.  Lastly, the intuitive e-learning platform means that you don’t have to “learn the platform”, instead you simply learn PHP.

Why did I sign up for an Ed2Go class?

I briefly considered enrolling in another Masters program (which I still may do in the future), however I couldn’t bear the thought of having to amass another pile of student loans obtaining a second graduate degree.  So, I asked myself what do I really want to get out of going back to school?.  The answer was simple: I want to learn about web programming. This is different than desiring to earn a degree in a subject, or wanting to do firsthand research in an academic environment, or all the other responses my heart could have given.

I had failed in the past at completing self-paced enrichment courses because they lacked deadlines, structure, and were low stakes – meaning I wouldn’t waste tuition money or receive a failing grade for not finishing them.  For me, options like MIT’s Opencourseware, although amazing in many ways, aren’t practical.

I have always had a healthy interest in software programming and application testing and despite not having much formal academic training, I have a “better than expected” knowledge of the methodologies of both.  As an undergraduate, I took a C programming course that provided me with an introduction to the data structures and program flow controls common in every programming language.  Soon afterwards, I began developing simple, yet effective procedural programs using Autoit 3.0 to streamline my tasks as an application integration tester.

Ed2Go and Career Changes

Ed2Go classes are great for professionals seeking to acquire new skills to help advance their careers or for lifetime learners desiring personal enrichment.  Although, they won’t help you transition into a new career like a certificate or degree program can, Ed2Go courses can certainly give you the opportunity to test the waters of a career change before spending thousands of dollars on tuition.

I’m still working my way through Introduction to PHP and MySQL but so far, so good.  I’m even considering signing up for Intermediate PHP and MySQL which starts in a few short weeks.

“We’re leveraging what we’ve got, which is the New York in our first name and the Technology in our last name,” said Edward Guiliano, the institute’s president. “I believe that in the 21st century, there will be a new class of truly global universities. There isn’t one yet, but we’re as close as anybody.”

- Edward Guiliano, President of New York Institute of Technology
U.S. Universities Rush to Set Up Outpost Abroad – New York Times

With campuses in New York, Bahrain, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Canada, China, and Brazil, NYIT is truly a global center or learning. 

By 2005, I was working as a tester in a software company and already had 3 solid years of professional experience earned over the course of 2 jobs.  I was so entrenched in my career that I couldn’t be bothered to attend my undergrad graduation and spent the day at work clearing client deliverables from my to-do list.  Perhaps, I disregarded the graduation ceremony because I knew this wasn’t truly the end of my formal education.  I wanted to earn an advanced degree.

I was in a place dissimilar to many recent graduates my age – I had a few years of full-time professional work experience, a blossoming career outlook, was out of my parent’s house, and was financially independent and stable.  The last two years of my undergrad tenure were as a commuter student and involved putting 100 miles a day on an unreliable 1993 Chevy Blazer.  I had no intentions of repeating these daily voyages on any scale.  These factors, combined with a job commitment of 40-50 hours a week and a part-time eBay sales consulting business, told me that my grad program would have to be extremely flexible.

I began my search by looking into MBA programs at nearby traditional colleges.  My undergraduate grades and GMAT scores were good enough to easily get me into just about all area grad school program, so I wasn’t too worried about meeting admission criteria.  I was more concerned with finding the program that was right for me.  I soon realized that none of the schools in my area adequately addressed my unique interest of online marketing and e-commerce.  And what’s more, only a few of the colleges I visited recognized the unique time constraints of working adults.

Different types of online education

It was about this time, that I began to explore continuing my education online.  To successfully pick the right school, I had to learn what online education really involves.  As it turns out, online education is really best viewed as a continuum that describes the degree to which institutions leverage the Internet as a learning platform.  On the minimalist side of the online education continuum, there is the single course taught at a physical college that deploys the occasional use of online resources.  In the middle of the scale are physical universities that offer degree programs that can be completed entirely online without having to set foot in a classroom.  And at the extreme of the spectrum, there are universities where all learning and coursework take place only over the web.

I also had to learn more about accreditation to be sure that I made the right decision.  Some degree mills attempt to pass themselves off as legitimate accredited universities, a practice which represents a severe threat to the credibility of degrees earned online.  The U.S. Department of Education has created a resource page that helps students spot degree mills and a database of all accredited schools in the United States.  As part of my search for the right distance degree program, I learned about for-profit degree granting institutions.  As nonprofit universities dominate offline education, for-profit universities, for better or worse, are becoming synonymous with online education.

Why I chose Ellis College of New York Institute of Technology

Eventually, I came across Ellis College of New York Institute of Technology.  Ellis College had everything I was looking for in an MBA program.  The university offers an extremely challenging core MBA program with an e-commerce specialization option.  E-commerce MBA tracks are something many physical colleges have overlooked, and with online sales booming year-over-year it’s one of the hottest topics in business.

Moreover, Ellis College’s distance learning program is part of the New York Institute of Technology, a brick-and-mortar university located in Old Westbury, New York which regularly receives good rankings in U.S. News and World Reports.  The affiliation with a traditional school should appease most skeptics of online learning.  The graduate program is geared toward working adults and extends students a measure of flexibility without compromising high education standards.  Additionally, the school has an active community of students and faculty (check out the video below).  I found the professional credentials of the Ellis College faculty especially impressive.  Most professors have PhD’s and/or 20 plus years of business experience at major corporations.  The instructors are always available to answer questions about coursework or to give professional advice.