Merle, A Woman On A Mission
By Kim Thomas

1. Please tell us about yourself.

I have branded myself online over the years as "Merle". No
last name. It was a branding gimmick sort of like Cher and
Madonna. I thought having one name would be more memorable
and stand out online. I am single but have a significant
other that I have been with for about 11 years. I live
right outside of Cleveland, Ohio with my boyfriend Jimmy G,
and my two dogs Dakota and Teddy Bear (the boys).


2. How would you descibe your personality?

People who know me say I'm a bit crazy. I have a great sense
of humor and am very open and honest. Most people either
love me or hate me, there's no in between.


3. How did you become interested in the internet and when
did you first "go online"?

I use to work for a small computer company as an admin
assistant and one day my boss decided he wanted a website
and he threw a book at me and said build one. So I did. I
managed that one for a few years then I got a job with a
small Internet Service Provider designing websites for
small companies. I did that for about 2 years then branched
off on my own with my first site Merle's Cyber Promotions
http://www.MCPromotions.com
I've been "working the Net" for about 5 years now and I'm
hooked. I absolutely love it!


4. What busineeses/websites do you currently operate on the
internet?

EzineAdAuction
http://EzineAdAuction.com

Merle's Cyber Promotions
http://MCPromotions.com

and my personal site which offers freebies for webmasters
Merle's World
http://MerlesWorld.com


5. What inspired you or made you decide to start your
current online business/website?

After learning how to create websites I became obsessed with
directing traffic to them. I read everything I could get my
hands on and became pretty good at generating traffic. Thus
MCPromotions.com was born.

As far as EzineAdAuction.com which launched over 2 years
ago, that idea came to me from one of my customers who had
an ezine and was having trouble selling ad space. I thought
to myself why not take the popularity of something like Ebay
and combine it with selling ezine ads. Online auctions are
very popular online and there was no other site like mine
when I first launched. It's a fun way to buy and sell ezine
advertising, and it works.


6. What percent of your income is made from online sales?

I'd have to say about 60%. I still hold a part time night
job (20 hours) per week at Progressive Insurance Company.
I needed health benefits and Progressive offers full health
care to even part time employees and the pay is pretty good
too.


7. What are your most successful means of advertising?

Besides running ezine ads I'd say I have had the most
success with writing short "how to" articles and
distributing them online to other ezine publishers. My work
has been widely published online and with a good signature
line it does drive traffic.


8. What do you like most about being online?

Being able to help people all over the world. The reach of
the Internet is awesome.


9. What are your goals for 2003?

To finish working on my own websites and some other projects
that have fallen to the wayside and to write and publish an
e-book. I have published 2 ebooks for free but plan on
publishing a pay for book soon.
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