A certificate is physical proof to show others, and remind yourself even, that you studied and passed a particular course. This is especially useful for self-help online course. Below are some self-study Internet Marketing education resources. Anyone heard of the story of how Tom Sawyer was made to whitewash the fence as punishment, and how he tricked his friends to give him various items for the "privilege" of painting the fence for him? Well, there are currently several SEO Internet Gurus using similar ideas to push their costly "mini-entrepreneurship MBA" programs, while building their own online assets. These internet marketing gurus in Singapore/Malaysia/Asia sells the sizzle to potential students while charging exorbitant fees upfront and building up a database of cheap part-time workers. The allure of fast, passive income streams online has always attracted clueless and impulsive students to sign up for various Internet courses. Little did these students know that there are MANY free and authoritative online resources, which only demand your own time and determination for self-study. Some of them include: 1) Google Adwords Certification training (FREE) http://support.google.com/adwords/certification/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=12239 http://support.google.com/adwords/certification/?hl=en&rd=2 http://www.google.com/ads/learn/all-topics.html http://door3.com/insights/how-take-pass-google-adwords-certification-exam http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2011/02/10/adwords-certification-tips The training is from Google, and costs nothing. You directly pay U$100 to Google when you are ready to take the Certification test. This is something the internet marketing educator companies will not tell you, because they cannot make any money from you! 2) Ed Dale's famous "30-Days Challenge" (FREE) http://challenge.co/training/ This is NOT an affiliate link. Just get the free training videos, don't even need to sign up. ***Form a small discussion group/Mastermind*** Self-study does require discipline and determination, and one suggestion is to find and form a small group of like-minded friends to motivate each other. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (14-Dec-2012) Gandalf: "I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone." Bilbo: "I should think so