Internet Marketing should always be about building a long term sustainable business not short term profits. Following these 7 Rules should help you achieve that long term sustainable business.

Firstly I have to admit that there aren’t just 7 rules of Internet marketing, Internet marketing is relatively new and as such you should discard all the rules and find what works for you. When I say discard the rules obviously stay within the law! So this is 7 guidelines that will help you succeed at Internet marketing but that title sucked!

Many of these guidelines are closely linked, for example building a business and controlling costs could be included in the same guideline but wheres the fun in that, this article would end up being a business manual with more content than an MBA.
If you are bored already and would like the next 450 words condensed into 1 word it is… Commonsense  (or is that actually 2 words?)

Right assuming you are still reading this let’s get started with rule 1.

1. Build a Business

Internet marketing shouldn’t be a hobby or a pastime it should be treated as a business. That means having a business plan and a long term objective. Build income streams, adsense, Amazon and eBay are great but you can’t build a stable business on them.

2. Focus on the task in hand.

Set aside a time for work and stick with it. Turn off all distractions such as e-mail, messaging software and twitter and concentrate on what you are working on. I find I can build a site in about 2 hours with no distractions or 2 days if I don’t focus on it.

3. Control Your Spending

Every cent you spend on new tools and software is a cent more you need to earn before you are in profit. Before you buy the latest product being promoted ask yourself do you really need it and how much extra will you need to earn to cover the cost.

4. Know your topic.

I’ve known internet marketers who bring out products on PPC one week, fish care the next and then a few weeks later launch a new product on selling via eBay. It’s obvious that they can’t be experts in all these areas so why would anyone want to buy the products. Learn everything you can about your niche and become an expert.

5.  Residual Income is the key.

One of the keys to being a successful Internet marketer is to generate residual income. Knowing that you are going to be having a regular income coming in from various sites or affiliate programs each month frees you up to try more speculative and potentially more financially rewarding ventures.

6. Provide Value.

No matter what you do try to provide value to your clients and customers if you produce an eBook don’t release a version 2 after 6 months update the current version and send it to all you existing customers. The more value you provide them the more they’ll be inclined to buy from you later on.

7. Be a Leader not a Follower

Don’t just follow the herd seek out the untapped markets and design your own unique products. Aim to have people copying what you are doing after all imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Keeping only a few of those rules in mind when you are working in the internet marketing field should help you to become more successful.

Enough is enough, when are some internet marketers going to realize that you can’t keep releasing crap products just because you want a new holiday or a car.

Sometimes I get so frustrated with some of the crap products that get released onto the market. First you get your rehashed rubbish that just expounds common myths. This type of product is from marketers who can’t be bothered doing their own research and have probably never made a cent doing what they are supposedly teaching.Then you get the marketer who releases basically the same product under different names or under Version 1 version 2 and version 3. All Products based on an original book should have a lifetime update guarantee.

Whats worst of all is marketers who have always been honest and straight forward who release utter and total rubbish with an outrageous price tag of $995 and with a big discount if you get in early. (hmmmm Mark that sounds very specific!)You might be able to justify it if you spent months writing the product but when it is so obviously outsourced to the lowest bidder and not even proof read then that shows a complete lack of respect for you customers. At least my spelling and grammar mistakes are my own!

As you know I’ve recently done some outsourcing experiments and I am aware that there is a need for a good quality product on the topic that doesn’t hook you into a long term payment system just to get the info. So i’ve been checking out whats on the market and getting feed back from people I know who have the products.

Anyway a certain product by 2 well known exponents of PLR was mentioned but not in a good light. Below is a sample that was sent to me , I am assured that it is the same all the way through the book. I was told that the videos are much better and there is a separate audio taken from the video’s So my main gripe is the appallingly poor pdf’s as seen here…

Low Quality
The cost should set you back about $2-$3. Links is about 400 words. It is best for information site. If you get 50-100 articles written for $2, that’s $200 that you’re testing the market with. If you get a $100 a month back from testing that, then it is worthwhile to test the market and see how to invest that into some higher quality content
Best written by predominantly English speaking Romanians and Philippines. Higher end non-native English speaking countries; based on experience you can get good contents from the Philippines and Romania. You can give $600-$800 a month for a 50-80 articles a week. You can start off hiring them to do 10-20 articles per month, then 100-300 articles per month. Then they can’t take anymore and you find another person. And that’s what you want to do. You want to maximize their time and get to them to work full time for you.

Mid-range
These range from $6-$10 probably 400-550 words give or take, in links. This is sort of like a step up.
I wouldn’t put this on an authority site but it’s also better stuff than what you can get from the Philippines or Romania. Best for information sites and affiliate sites. Best people to write this are primarily English speaking countries: US, UK, Australia. These are people who do not have specific expertise. They are average people (like Mom and Pop) who are doing writing on the side to earn extra cash.

The first thing about this is the amazingly poor English, it’s obvious that it’s never been proof read and has been outsourced. Maybe there was a reason for not writing it themselves and yes outsourcing does make sense if you hire a professional writer. But come on that is just not acceptable especially with such a high price tag..$995 or $295 I wouldn’t pay $2.95 for it.

Secondly the facts are it’s just complete and utter rubbish. You can get great quality articles for a fraction of the amount they are quoting. Anybody who spent time doing any sort of outsourcing would know that. Check out my outsourcing experiment category for examples of what you can get done.

So before anyone says I am talking rubbish and you can’t get good quality content and a great price here is an article I outsourced and that cost me $1. Yes $1 Don’t ask me who my writer is, I won’t tell you, but I save that sort of information for the members of Wordpress Goldmine (see some marketers know how to look after their members)

How To Be An Alpha Male

By [INSERT NAME]
So you want to be an alpha male? YOU want to be the one that all the women look at? Well KEEP READING, I will have all the ladies eating out of your hand by the end of this article.

What is an Alpha Male? HOW do you be an alpha male? Well to define it;

“In social animals, the alpha is the individual in the community whom the others follow.”

So do YOU want the people to follow you? The LADIES to follow you? Then you have to assume the position of power, which is a lot harder than it sounds.

This day and age, being ALPHA is a lot more difficult than it seems, as public perceptions on what is “cool” and/or “attractive” in a man is a lot different than it used to be. Not only do you have to consider a general consensus, but there is the individual desires of every woman you have to consider also. If you follow these general tips, and add your own to it, I am certain that you will be asserting your alpha status in no time, and those ladies WILL be begging to get your number!

How To Be An Alpha Male:

CONFIDENCE: THE #1 Trait the separates successful men from others, and DEFINES Alpha males, is confidence. Confidence is a reflection of your ‘inner-feelings’ and the way you feel about life in general. If a man is GENUINELY confident, then he is usually successful in life. He has money, a good job and no worries. Men, Women and Human beings in general all desire to be successful. If you exude this confidence then women will pick up on this and begin to take notice of you.

ASSERTIVENESS: If you carry that confidence that I introduced to you in the first paragraph, you can then move on and be assertive. Don’t be aggressive about it, but being gently assertive can be VERY EFFECTIVE. For instance;

“Hey guys, this place blows, lets go to bar123 and drink there. The women are better there anyway!”

Versus

“Hey, errr, what do you guys think? Should we go somewhere else?”

I want to ask you a genuinely serious question. What would you most likely respond to? Pay attention to? Which guy would you RESPECT more?

……..I thought you’d pick guy #1

BODY LANGUAGE: Asides from confidence, this would have to be the #1, it is quite hard to pick between the two, and I would say the body language and confidence are essential to each other. If you are confident, your body language will be positive, and that is an excellent combination. That being said, if you are confident, but you sit hunched, never look at anyone or speak softly….how can you convey the message of confidence?? You cannot, and you would surely fail!! For instance;

Guy 1: He is WELL dressed, Neat in appearance, Speaks clearly and loud enough so all can hear him. He sits and stands tall, and smiles always. When making eye contact, he will draw you in to him.

Guy 2: IF you could see his face (he is always looking down) it would be indifferent. Un shaven and wearing dirty-ish clothes, his mumble can barely be heard. Slumped down in his chair, he is barely noticeable in the crowd.

Which guy do YOU want to be? ….Guy #1 again, I thought so.

[Resource Box Below]

If you would like to read more of my tips, or learn about being an effective alpha male head on over to [Resource Link] for Blah Blah

I think what really upsets me is that there is so much crap around that products by the good guys  like Potpiegirl and John Xfactor get over looked.

If you had anyone recommend a certain outsourcing product to you recently ask them if they read it!!

I feel much better for venting sorry if some of the language offended you but you really don’t know how angry this made me… (yeah i know get a life!!!!)

Right I hope you read this article and took a copy of it as I suspect it will be another one that ends up with me getting a lawyers letter demanding that I remove it or a threat from the owner.

Internet marketing is a lot like a jigsaw, you need all the pieces to make sense of it.

Have you ever tried to build a jigsaw without the box lid with the picture, difficult isn’t it. What about trying to build it and finding a few random pieces are missing.

On the surface Internet Marketing looks easy, In fact most marketers make it look very easy.. “buy this great product for only $997 and you’ll make $100,000 a month “… Wake up and smell the coffee it’s not going to happen.

The only person making money from that offer will be the marketer and his selected friends in the “Golden Triangle ” Who promote it. (Thanks to Peter in the WPG forum for that analagy.. Much better than the “Circle jerk” one I used to use!!)

Sure I can tell you to use Clickbank or Adsense but that doesn’t give you the whole picture. You could biuld the perfect site in a great niche, with lots of traffic and get to #1 in google but if the adsense ads only cost 5 cents or the clickbank products has a terrible sales page then you aren’t going to make money no matter how hard you try.

Get Internet marketing right and you can make a really good living mby working a few hours a week get it wrong and you will be the one of the many people in forums who say internet marketing doesn’t work.

Don’t try to make Internet marketing work on your own, there are lots of people out there who are successful even if it’s only making 40 sales from amazon every month or 10 Clickbank sales they have a piece of the jigsaw seek them out and listen to what they have to tell you.

Obviously I think the Wordpress Goldmine forum is the best place for this but even if you don’t join us find another group of like minded people who don’t have an ulterior motive and who are happy to share their pieces of the jigsaw.

Remember this is the last time that you will be able to join Wordpress Goldmine for a one time payment.. from Monday it will be a monthly payment… why? Because the information in the forum is worth it! You won’t find any forum online where the members happily share so much information.

There is nothing worse than spendin g an hour researching a niche only to find that it’s very competitive or that there is not enough good kewords to make a site worthwhile.  I’ve been using Googles wonder wheel to get a feel for a niche before I even start to research it.

If you want to do some very quick niche research you can’t beat it. If any of you tech dudes from google read this why not color code it so we can see the approximate searches per month, we’d all be eternally indebted to you!

All you need is Google chrome and you can initially research a niche in about 30 seconds. Once I have some keyword ideas and related keywords I use Micro Niche Finder or the Google Keyword tool to refine the research.

In case you aren’t aware of what the wonder wheel is I created a very short video to show you how I research a niche.

Have a nice weekend…

I didn’t realize until a few moments ago that I’ve been writing this blog for 3 years now. It’s kind of fitting that this is the 150th post that I’ve made. So I thought it would be worthwhile to reflect on what has changed in the past 3 years or what hasn’t.

The obvious thing thats changed personally is that financially I am much more comfortable than I was 3 years ago. Lifestyle wise I have a much better lifestyle and overall I am happier. I am glad to see that in 3 years I haven’t “sold out” and still like to ruffle a few feathers if I don’t like a product or can see an obvious scam. I am also happy that I managed to keep away from the you promote my product and i’ll promote your product circle jerk that we see the big name gurus’s do on a monthly basis.

In the world of IM things have changed massively, in 2006 we were shocked when a product sold for $97 now $1997 seems to be relatively commonplace. On a more negative side the same old crap is still being spouted in public forums don’t believe half of what you are told and treat the other half with a pinch of salt. There are some excellent marketers out there who are honest and genuinely care about their customers, if you find a good one stick with them!

Finally I thought I’d repost one of the first posts I made back in August 2006. Sadly this still happens. So guys and gals, as a 3rd birthday present to me…just get out there and take action.. I did and I’ve never looked back!!!

This post comes as a result of a total frustration.. There were these 2 adsense publishers lets call them Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Now tweedledum was a cautious type and wanted to analyse everything before he did anything so he read everything he could and then asked questions and when people answered his questions he asked more..and more..and more and after a month he discovered that he hadn’t acutally made any sites so he went out and bought every tool he saw reccomended and built a load of sites comfortable in the knowledege that he knew what he was doing.

Tweedledee on the other hand was very hands on he read a few posts and tried to build a few sites which didn’t really work very well , so he read a bit more asked a few questions and worked out what he did wrong and started again at the end of the month he had build lots of sites but like Tweedledum he hadn’t earned any money . But he too was confident that he had the knowledge he needed.

The very next month all Tweedledees hard work came to fruition and with just a few tweaks his sites started to earn him money and as he knew what he was trying to do he was able to invest in the right tools to help increase his income.

What of Tweedledum well he did build some sites but as he was using the same tools as everyone else he didn’t make any money so he blamed everyone who had answered his questions for not helping him enough and he was last seen trying network marketing…

There is a moral to this story!!

What type of publisher are you!…have a nice weekend…(or whats left of it)