I found this post and so I thought I will post it here.You will find that the writing is easier to read because I didn't wrote it ! And I really agree to what this writer says.You know, knowledge is power as someone said.Its no harm learning something new so to become more knowledgable. "If you're an aspiring internet marketer, you really need to learn how to program. If not to easily create your own software and to save money, learning PHP will help you understand the mind of the internet. People are getting into making money online in hordes every day. Most of them found out about it through some alluring "get rich quick" program that told them they can make millions every year online just by sitting on their ass or posting ads. Although making money online is pretty easy once you get going with it, I believe that most people can help themselves out by learning all they can about PHP (or perl, HTML, or javascript for that matter). You see, so many people want to make money online but they don't want to learn how to program because they think it's difficult or something. Programming may be a bit difficult when you start, but when you get going with it, it's rather easy, and it can make your business run much smoother and it helps multiply your revenue by automating rather repetitive normally manually implemented tasks. Even if it's hard to learn at first, I can't understand why people are apprehensive about learning how to program. You must consider that: 1. You run an internet business 2. Therefore, it would make sense to learn all you can about the internet, just as if you were in the business of making cheese, it would make perfect sense to learn about how cheese is made. Think about it -- If you had an offline business like in a real brick and mortar store, you'd probably find it sensible to learn about the building your business is in. How it works, the heating, the air conditioning. You'd probably want to learn how to run the cash register and other technologies inside, even if only your employees were the only ones to use such devices. I'll explain a bit more about why PHP is useful to me in the context of being an internet marketer I never get ripped off on internet marketing related products * If I outsource a programming job - yes even if I don't do the programming myself - I know enough about programming to know if the programmer's bid for a project is too high. Since I know enough about the technology involved in programming projects, and even if I don't know all that it entails, I know enough to know whether or not I am getting a good deal or getting ripped off. * The same holds true with out of the box, turn key, software products like the ones that your favorite gurus are selling to you. I'm able to look at what these products (cloaking scripts, scrapers, trackers, download protection) offer and gauge whether the guru is overcharging for the products. I also know what kind (and how much) of programming is involved in most any product. So by being knowledgeable about programming, I am a knowledgeable consumer when it comes to purchasing such products. Some of these scripts the guru's sell - Clickbank Blaster Extreme, Annilator PPC Tracker, and the like - for most functional purposes can be: 1. Programmed in about an hour and in under 20 lines of code 2. Outsourced (and customized) for about the same price that the guru is asking 3. A free (GPL) script of similar function can be found easily and easily customized You can make your own programs with ease, just the way you like them, for free I touched on this in the previous part. Most of the scripts and programs sold by the gurus to online marketers aren't jack squat when it comes to difficulty to program. I sometimes hear about a program that affiliates are raving about on the forums. If I like it, if it looks useful, then I'll whip up my own custom clone of the program with all of the bells and whistles I want - and without any recurring fees or hassles. A while back, I created an Adwords tracking program that suits my needs perfectly. Shortly after I created mine, I started seeing big name gurus releasing similar (and less capable) software - most notably The Rich Jerk's X-Ray software. The nice part about writing your own software, especially in the case of click tracking software, is that you can modify it as you wish and you can run it on your own server, which is very important if you don't want a faceless third party seeing where all of your adwords clicks come from. But most of the time, I program to do really small jobs that are surely important but not large enough to justify the price, hassle, and time waiting to outsource something. Sometimes, communicating just what you want to a programmer is a large chunk of work in itself. I like doing it myself. Programming has allowed me to create software for any purpose I can imagine. Understand Adwords, Search Engines, Squidoo, and other online services better. The more that you learn about programming, scripting, and web protocols, the more you will understand search engines and how other web services work. In other words, you'll learn how to think like a programmer - you'll understand better the possibilities of companies like Google have - and you'll understand their limitations. For instance, play around with PHP's string matching functions and you'll likely get a better understanding of contextual advertising. You'll understand better why you got google slapped & how to get out of it. When you know how to program, you're not just going to be able to create your own software, you're going to learn the limitations and loopholes of other software - software that you use, like Google Adwords, Squidoo, Ezinearticles.com and the like. In Summary This is your business. Your business is online. It makes as much sense to learn the technological languages of the web as it would for the head of a radio broadcasting company to at least learn the fundamentals of radio broadcasting systems, frequency modulation, or the capacity of a broadcasting tower."
I'm not too sure if I "have to" learn php as if I need anything done that is beyond my basic html capabilities then I can simple outsource the task. While it's another "string in the bow" I don't think it's a necessity but you do make it sound like it's very advantageous to learn. So if someone were to learn, what course/book would you suggest?
terryd, can you make subscription form with db without php ? No ! So - if you really want to earn big money you need to know PHP ! A few simple php scripts can triple your earnings ! So .. it's time to start learning something
It's a plus if you know PHP but it's not necessary to know it, you can make $$$ without PHP. There's a tool for everything, you don't need to bother programming, you can find most of the things you need for free on the net if you know where to look.
PHP is a sweet programming language. Ever since I picked PHP up about a couple of years ago, I have been way more marketable with design skills, not to mention I could possibly engineer dynamic data and autoresponders as well! I have built product "mall" sites such as thisawesomething.com and iliveinsuccess.com in php and mysql. I have gotten a few sales from those sites, so they somewhat paid off. Both sites also have an htaccess cloaker as well! To be successful in IM, you really do not need to know how to build sites at all. With all of the top publishers giving editable landers, all you need is NVU (I use Dreamweaver CS3, which costs $$$ but makes my life easier) and the ability to edit text within HTML. For a great deal of hosting companies, they have one click wordpress, which can be a lifesaver for those who don't know how to upload. Wordpress has ability to add modular plugins and themes to maximize the experience of blogging without hard coding needed. Wordpress uses XMLRPC pinging, which pings to major blog search engines such as technorati, and you will get pingbacks and trackbacks, which sometimes will be worthy links. This is not a total solution to traffic building, but it somewhat helps. Also consider the RSS feeds that are auto-generated and could be submitted to sites such as feedburner and technorati. So, if you want to program? that is your perogative, but in IM, I do not think it is really necessary. My 2 cents Thomas Howell GoForexTrade.com