Anyone who’s making money on the web right now will tell you the toughest bit is getting started.

- Where do you begin?
- Which guru do you follow?
- How much do you spend?
- How do you avoid the cowboys and vultures from spanking you and charging you big dollar for the pleasure?

These obstacles and frustrations were removed for good back in 2005 when Ed Dale created The Challenge (Formally known as The 30 Day Challenge).

Although the first step of making money on the web is a really exciting time it’s also a time when we feel most vulnerable so Ed being Ed decided to create an information masterpiece, combining easy to learn teaching techniques with cutting edge Web Marketing strategies mixed into a pot to form one of the biggest Online Web Marketing Communities in the world.

It’s gone from strength to strength and to make it a complete no brainer for wannabe marketers or veterans (looking for a smart refresher) –  the whole experience is completely free.

The challenge has been so much of a success it’s the first ever internet marketing company to list on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Ed’s partner in crime is the super geek, sex pistols fanatic Dan Raine who likes to teach high level technical stuff which means there’s also plenty in there for the intermediate to advanced users as well.

Ed Dale & Dan Raine

Ed’s a big picture guy who spots trends 2 years before they happen whilst Dan’s one of those annoying people who’s able to code in his sleep, writes beautiful fluid and seductive sales copy whilst sat at the bar drinking with mates, test strategies to the nth degree and probably hacks Superpower Secret Service Agencies when he’s bored. I can’t confirm the last bit but you know the type!

This year the whole Challenge team met just outside Melbourne in February (following the successful Coming Home Conference) to discuss the 2010 Challenge. After presenting at the conference I was lucky enough to be invited to this meeting and see one of the most passionate teams on the internet.
It became clear that Ed would rather not run the challenge unless people succeed and it was decided that 30 days was just not long enough due to market shifts & Google’s algo updates so the team decided to change the whole structure after 5 years of it’s then current form.

And on the 7th day Ed created The Challenge…

This change is very clever and has started off very smooth:

Although a longer process (I’m not complaining), hence the name and brand change it’s split into 7 simple modules, with each module lasting 7 days and a 7 day break between each module.

We’ve just finished week one, end of the first module where Guru Bob and the Market Samurai team introduced the concept of a ‘market’, a ‘niche’ and a ‘micro niche’, how to assess traffic and competition and how to assess the commercial viability using the awesome Market Samurai tool (which again is free through the challenge period).

This week is a 7 day break allowing members to either go over the content again, just let everything sink in until the next module, or get on the forum to compare experiences and strategies.
The 7 day break concept also allows people who start the challenge late to catch up – my sister in law for instance is starting the challenge this week and people starting later in the year can go as fast or as slow as they like as always.

I was lucky enough to stumble upon the Challenge via my ex business partner in it’s early days and I took to it like a duck to water, I mean how can you not? It’s simple, straightforward and elegant.

It was my starting point in internet marketing and has taught me the basics and the fundamentals and has also allowed me to use my skills as a domainer and lead generator to make massive profits online. It has offered me a community to fall back on when times are tough and helped me push through some massive comfort zones.

I can’t recommend it enough so you’ve not started this years challenge get signed up here and join in the fun. Watch out for me in module 2 next week!

One of the most (in)famous domains on the planet: Sex.com is up for grabs again.
Anyone fancy chipping in to buy it? :-)

Sex.com was one of the springboards to lift the domaining industry out of obscurity, due to the crazy journey it’s been on and the amount of money involved in that journey…

…first registered along with other A-list domains like Jobs.com, Housing.com & Autos.com by Gary Kremen in the early nineties, SEX.com was then ‘allegedly acquired by fraudulent means’ by Stephen Michael Cohen about a year after Kremen had registered it.

Cohen had just been released from Jail for other fraudulent activities and swiped the lucrative domain name by forging a letter from Kremen’s company stating Kremen had been fired and the firm no longer needed the domain and was giving it to Cohen. Nice guy!

Network Solutions the registrar accepted the letter and transferred the domain to Cohen who then went on to make a cool $100 million from the domain over the next 5 years. The domain was apparently receiving 25 million visits a day in it’s heyday!

Kremen eventually got the domain back and the courts ordered Cohen to pay Kremen $65 Million for loss of earnings and compensation. The courts were unable to put a figure on other ‘perks’ associated with the business! ;-) Cohen did what most good upstanding citizens would do and fled to Tijuana in Mexico without paying a penny!
He was then arrested in Mexico for immigration violations and has since been released and is still appealing the case.

Sex.com has since been sold to Escom LLC in 2006 for $14 million but earlier this year it was ordered to be sold at a foreclosure auction which never happened due to technical reasons and is now up for public sale on Sedo.com who are the exclusive brokers for the domain.

I wonder where the journey of Sex.com will go next, how will the saga continue?

If you’re interested in purchasing the domain, you better raid your piggy bank coz I hear Sedo are expecting around 8 figures for the domain – you can put in your offers here.

Maybe if we get enough people to chip in we could put in a cheeky offer of $5m and see what happens ;-)