You're probably wondering how we justify the somewhat pretentious title, so I'll try to explain. I first started selling stuff online before the World Wide Web existed. When everyone started getting very excited during the dot com boom of the late nineties I built a one page website and vowed not to waste any more time on the new media until I got my first genuine lead from that site.

The site was listed in a few directories. We got lots of emails from people trying to sell us stuff, but none from anyone considering buying. Then in 2003 the first real lead arrived in my inbox. It wasn't from a potential user, but from an intermediary scouring the web for what their customer was interested in (customised software for routing fleets of trucks). Not ideal by any means, but it did at least count as a real lead so I started taking a interest in internet marketing.

Up to now I've only used pay per click, but a series of events which will be related in future posts have led to this current experiment with natural search. Is it possible in this day and age to produce a decent income from internet marketing without spending half your revenue on acquiring clicks, not to mention a large (albeit virtual) pile of ebooks?