A Guide for Internet Marketing Newbies

If you’re looking to internet marketing as a way to supplement your income, you will be thankful that you read this.

I believed the ‘gurus’ too…

I bought so many different courses and products, all of them promising to stuff my pockets with cash. I fell for the slick sales pages and videos. I got suckered, just like so many others.

Needless to say I was VERY frustrated! I knew there had to be a way to use the internet to help me bring in some extra money.

I discovered that it CAN be done, just not with some of the junk that is out there. Today I’d like to share a few points of wisdom with you. This is my gift to you, the newbie. (It’s okay to be a newb. We were ALL newbies at some point…)

1. Research BEFORE you buy…!

When you’re thinking of buying a product, STOP! Don’t go to that sales page just yet! Do a search on it and check out some review sites. Actually, check out a LOT of review sites.
You’ll see that a lot of these ‘review’ sites are simply pre-sell pages, trying to get you to buy through their links. You might also notice that some of them have the exact same wording in their articles!

I recently search for a particular product and was shocked at what I saw. Almost EVERY single PAGE had the same script! Actually there were three variations, but almost ALL of them were EXACTLY the same! Only one guy bothered to write any additional content for his site. Everyone else just slapped up a fast page.

They obviously didn’t know anything about the product they were selling. And if a post or review is hard to read and looks ‘weird’, chances are it’s a ‘spun’ article and wasn’t written by a person. It might have been POSTED by a person, but that’s probably about it.

Usually, you’ll find genuine reviews if you keep looking. If you don’t, sometimes it’s worth waiting a week to see what others have to say about a product before you decide to buy it.

2. Look for free services and software as much as you can…

You’re going to need a lot of tools to help you get your internet business started. You’re likely going to need hosting, an auto-responder, keyword tools and the like. You might even need a ‘shopping cart’ service. It all depends on what you want your site to be.

As with any business, you’re going to have to spend a few bucks here and there.
But there are a lot of good, inexpensive resources out there, as well as a lot of free ones. Software tools to help with various tasks, and training resources that can be found in a number of places. Just remember, ‘free’ doesn’t always mean ‘best’, and you’ll still want to research them first to see if they have value for you and your business.

3. Be patient…

We’ve all seen the claims of overnight riches, but it usually doesn’t happen that way. Some of you might find the perfect product for the perfect niche, or even create your own product and make a ton of money right out of the gate. Most times, though, that’s not how it goes.

But if you build a site that makes $30 bucks a day, you can build another one, can’t you? Replication is key. Most folks will not get rich with one website. But if you had hundreds of sites, well, that would be a different story, wouldn’t it?

4. Be organized…

I can’t tell you how important it is to be organized as much as possible. With everything you’ll be doing, before you know it you could have user accounts at 50 different sites with different passwords for each one! Not to mention all of the software tools you’ll be using, as well as article sites to submit to, RSS sites, the list goes on! Add a few more things like tracking your sales and expenses and you can imagine how you might get lost if you’re not organized.

It’s not as hard as it sounds, but you can’t be lazy about it. All that information can get scattered if you’re not careful. Just make sure you keep information organized in a way that makes sense to you. Establish a system for yourself so that you can get to things quickly and easily.

5. Secure your computer and make backups of everything…

I found this out the HARD way. I got hacked and my computer and everything on it was potentially at risk. I spent days going to all of my bank and credit card sites, changing passwords, dumping email accounts and setting up new ones, etc., etc…

After THAT was finished I still had to make my computer more secure so that it couldn’t happen again. Finding the best anti-virus software, endless scans, even learning how to use encryption to secure my computer and my internet connections. I don’t mind telling you that it scared me a bit.

Securing your system and making backups is something that everyone should be doing already, but it’s even more important when you’re ENTIRE business is on your computer.

Don’t take chances. And don’t let a hacker or a hard drive crash destroy your business. It could take a long time to put it all back together.

These are some of the things I learned VERY early in my affiliate marketing ventures. But above all, the number #1 rule for newbies…

Remember the old adage, – “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” –
Those words still ring true, and even more-so on the internet, so it seems. Trust me, I wanted to believe these guys and their claims of rapid riches, too. They play on our emotions to get us to buy their snake oil, and some of them do it quite well.

There ARE a lot of products out there that actually do what they say and CAN help you reach your goals. But don’t take out your wallet until you’ve researched a product FIRST!

You’ll save yourself a lot of frustration, not to mention a lot of money. And you’ll be pleased to know that there is a growing community of internet marketers who have a genuine interest in helping others, like myself.

There’s one more thing that is CRITICAL to understand.

You’ll only be successful if you’re SERIOUS and you TAKE ACTION! While the internet is powerful and there is a huge world-wide market we can tap into, it’s still going to take some effort on your part. The biggest lie of the ‘gurus’ is that you can push some ‘magical’ button and riches will begin flowing to you like leaves on a stream.

Stop looking for the ‘magic’ button. Approach internet marketing as a REAL business, one that you can (and WILL..) grow over time.

So there are a few of my tips for newbies. Feel free to visit my site through this page. It’s new, but there’s going to be a lot more content very soon! Resources and training to help you get started right, as well as REAL product reviews. Maybe even a little inspiration sprinkled in for good measure!

Don’t give up. You CAN do it. There are people out there, myself included, who want to help you as much they can.

And your thought for the day…

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do.”

If this information was useful to you in some way, then I’ve done what I set out to do.

Thank you for reading,