It seems that Google is updating it’s Page Ranks in cycles of roughly 2 – 3 month intervals, so start working on your content now, you may get a nice boost in the next update…

Strangely, my Restaurant Directory lost page rank on the home page (down to PR1 from PR2) but the traffic took a surge upwards as can be seen in the screenshot below. Note that the google PR update was roughly the same time as the surge (plus or minus a few days).

The blog section of the website, http://feedmelah.com/blog also maintained a PR of 3. Which means that potentially, some more of the inner pages of the site managed to get PR increases, perhaps from a 0 to a 1?

Hence forcing them up the search engines a precious place or two and bringing in the extra readers.

Google, oh what a Mystery you are.

-William Lee

The best I can figure is that even though you choose search: ‘The Web’, Google still tries its best to find local sites (as long as they are popular enough) to show as their search results.

Google.com.my Result

Google.com Result

Take for example the last result for ‘how to start an online business in malaysia’ using Google.com and Google.com.my (search: ‘The Web’). They’ll give you slightly different results, which I’m assuming is because Google.com is targeted to America.

PR0 and Alexa 3 Million++

It means that even for a hatchling site like my own, with a PR rank of 0 and an Alexa rank of 3 million++, I am still on page 3 for a ‘pages from Malaysia’ search. But I’ve done a little bit of tweaking to help with my SEO ranking, so hopefully I slowly rise on the search placements.

I’d expect to be on something closer to page 10, which shows that even slight SEO optimization of your site really DOES help alot. Google just likes sites like that.

Still learning,

-William Lee

Below is the email that I sent to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) of Malaysia regarding tax for internet businesses, such as blogs and websites which generate money from foreign companies, such as Google Adsense or its equivalent.

Hi,>>I am about to start an Internet business using blogs. I am trying to>make money from Google's advertising services, Adsense. But if they pay>me, it'll be in US dollars and the cheque will be sent to me in the>mail. Will I need to declare this as earned income? Or are there other>rules and regulations for Internet businesses?>>Thanks,>>-William

Here is their reply.


Dear William,

Your e-mail dated 28/08/2008 refers.

There are no specific income tax rules for internet businesses. The income that you earn has to be converted to Ringgit Malaysia and declared in the Return Form for that year.The conversion rate is available in the Guide Book which can be accessed on our website www.hasil.gov.my by clicking forms > B/BE 2007 Guide Book.

Thank You.

S.PirahaspathyCustomer Service CentreInland Revenue Board of Malaysia.

So it seems that there is still quite a ‘Grey area’ for Internet businesses, as they mentioned that there are still no ‘specific rules’ for internet businesses as of yet. The forms can be downloaded as shown below.

• B Form 2007 (Business, employment and other income)
• BE Form 2007 (Employment and other income, without business income)

My advice however, is to declare everything you earn, as you never know when you might get audited. If you run your blog as a business, perhaps you could find a way to get tax benefits from tax deductible business expenses? I’m still not sure about what these could be, but I’m going to read up and find out for myself.