Boy, it’s been a week for ‘net news and big changes on the Internet Marketing scene.  Squidoo and Knol and now Google.  The one that has lots of IMers frustrated and quaking is the announcement by Matt Cutts of Google.  Apparently for a year now Google has virtually ignored no follow pages and thus gives rank to any site linked to yours – even those spammy comments on your blog.

Well, this subject is bigger than I can handle so I am going to point you to an excellent discussion on it here: http://ezseonews.com/internet-marketing-tips/ezseo-newlsetter-245/ by Dr. Andy Williams.  He explains it so thoroughly that I’ll leave it tp the experts to sort this one out.

It’s not the end of the world.  But it appears we will just have to watch those comments that could drain the PR “bank” as it were.  As to how to handle the other pages that are ranked like the Policy pages, well, I will be watching the masters and see how they handle it.

For now, I just want to put out the best and not worry about the whole thing.  Good always triumphs over the bad – even if it appears that the bad gets more than its share.

The Internet is here to stay.  From its small beginning as a medium of communication between government departments and research facilities it has exploded to be a worldwide transcontinental network upon which most business is already using as it’s life’s blood or will soon.  It seems a fact that if you are not on the ‘net you will not “be” at all, in the future.

What is more is that Internet marketing is the way of the advertiser.  Marketers love it as it gives them a huge, no, monstrous crowd to market to and the store never has to close.  This spells nearly unlimited opportunity for those who know how to tap into it.

And that is where marketing to Internet marketers and other businesses plays a big role.  Many may say that the make money online or Internet marketing niche is too saturated – that there is no chance for the new marketer to get a piece of the pie – but it simply isn’t true.  While some have been in the game a bit longer and have an established piece of ground, there is always room for the enterprising entrepreneur who is willing to add his or her slant to it.

The key is to learn how to do some aspect of the process – maybe web design, or make creative headers or other graphics, retell in your own way how to get traffic to your site, or some short cut to article writing… the key is to do it yourself and then tell others how to do it, too.  I call it “selling shovels” and for good reason.  Offer the tools and systems for other marketers and they will pay you for them.

Be helpful.  Go the extra mile. While I understand you are “hungry” and want to make that fabled thousands of dollars online, now is the time to give and give and give.  Be known for giving great info – info others might even charge for.  This will help you establish a reputation and a relationship which is the key to success in this highly competative economy.

In order for you to understand better how to sell shovels, I wrote a report you can get free if you sign up for my blog.  I promise I won’t write junk.  So why not give it a try?

Lee McIntyre raised a question on his blog today that really struck a cord with me. It regards the use of physical products as opposed to digital. I have a decided opinion on that that I left a comment there. See http://www.lee-mcintyre.com/blog/physical-or-digital#comment-11585 for my take on the subject.

If you have been in Internet Marketing or any business for that matter, for long, you realize how important communicating with words is.  Without marketing, our economy as we know it today would come to a standstill.  Whole segments of Business are dedicated to communicating to prospective customers – it’s called Marketing.  Apple, Microsoft, Nike, Ford, Cheerios, Band-aids…all depend on marketing.

Why?  Because marketing is the art and science of making your product or service “wanted”.  It is all about creating desire through curiosity plus benefits (why are Band-aids better than Curad?  Or Ford better than  a Chevy or one politician better than another). Desire is created by showing benefits to the individual and at least grabbing their curiosity.  “Look like so and so if you use X brand shampoo; you look tough in a Ford or whatever.  Anyway,…

I think the history of Marketing is fascinating.  Did you know that Marketing as a profession did not exist till the 1920’s or so?  Marketing became the means to get the word out to folks that you had a product that was great, but word of mouth wasn’t enough to get it shouted far and wide.

The early 20th century saw big changes in industry.  Until then, you had one kind of “something” on the store shelf available for sale.  One type of glue; one kind of peaches; one line of tools.  That was due to local economies.  Stores carried what the locals had to sell plus a limited amount of shipped in items.  It was expensive to bring in store goods.  Advertising was as simple as neighbors telling neighbors about the goods they liked.  Store keepers might put up a sign to advertise some new thing but nothing like it is today.

Then came the industrial age.  Due to the production of steel, cheap coal and oil, combined with entrepreneurial spirit, inexpensive manufacturing processes came on the scene which made it possible for business men to make 1000’s of a widget in a day – not just 10 that his local economy needed.

At the same time another development made distribution possible – trucks and trains.  Mass distribution became possible by rails and roads.  As the world became more accessible, manufacturers figured out they could make more money by mass producing their product or service and sell it far and wide.  So he learned to get the word out through sales and marketing.

But then as one would expect, other entrepreneurs wanted a share of the pie too.  After all, their widget was green, or it was made of lighter materials or it was less expensive.  So, now there were two or three or more somethings to compete with one another.  (Ever looked at the shampoo aisle?  Just what really is the difference between them.  They all clean your hair, right?  That goes for the frozen foods, or pop or chips…you name it there is always more than one brand)

Once there were more than one something, you needed to set your “something” apart – make it seem better some way.  That is what Marketing is all about – making your widget special.

Taking it a little further, within marketing came another specialized field – the copy writer.  Writing copy to sell a widget to make it “better” than the rest, is an art and science.  Men and women who are good at it can practically command any price for their “magic” with words.  Because business owners know that if there is anything their business needs, it’s buyers.  And most folks usually don’t just buy, they need to be sold – especially if it is a new idea.  There are just too many choices out there. Too many voices clamoring for your attention.  The Copy Writer’s job is to get your attention.

Hence, Internet Marketing.  So, now you know where it all began.  And you now know why it is not an easy business to be in.  But with persistence, good product or service and excellent copy, it is only a matter of time before you find your business taking off.

OK, maybe love is too strong but maybe you can understand why in a minute. You see, I have only been in Internet Marketing for maybe two years now. In that time I have come to have a love/hate relationship with it. I love the free enterprise aspect of Internet Marketing, don’t you? It is a place where all it takes is desire and action and anyone – young or old – may succeed and earn a living.

But there is the other side of the coin and that is the ability to “hide” on the ‘net and make a load of money. Sites where you have no way to reach customer service (if they had it). These sites are full of great promises of what their product or service will do and when it doesn’t work that way for you, you try to get a refund. Well, I don’t need to tell how awful that can be. We have all been left holding a white elephant.

Not with Aweber. The other day I was signing back up with them after a short time off and inadvertently added a year to my account rather than the month to month plan. Ooooops! That would spell all kinds of disaster in my bank account. I began to sweat as I looked for the Contact Us info. And you know what? They actually have a real working phone with a live person answering the phone. Nervously I explained my predicament and the gal on the other side calmly handled the credit in a matter of seconds.

Not only that but since it was a re-sign, I got the usual friendly follow-up call (thanks, Jason) asking if I had any questions or problems with my new account. I told him the happy story of the day before and he was genuinely glad, too.

I don’t know about the other auto responder services out there. They may be super, too. They may even be less expensive. But Aweber is going to have this customer for a long time to come.

What is it about is buying every new “deal” that comes along and trying it for a time and then seeing another ‘deal” and buying it and trying it…  jumping from one new money making plan/scheme to another!

Next!  Will this one be the one??

Most of you reading this have been there done that.  We just can’t seem to help buying the next new whatever that comes out, hoping maybe something will do the trick, right.

 I have spent maybe $2500 ?? (what can I say, I am on a budget!!;-) ) on software, ebooks, memberships, in the two years I have been doing this and really have nothing to show for it – yet. And that is minimal compared to some folks who spend many thousands.

This is NOT a gripe!  It is stating cases.  All education costs.  Anything worth doing costs to prepare for.  Instead of going to the university, though, we are buying lessons and courses and software from our Professors (gurus) all toward the end of earning a nice living, whatever that means to me.

It’s like a treasure hunt.  You start out all starry-eyed, pumped up with hope and certain there is a marvelous “chest” at the end of it.  Every treasure hunter will prepare him or herself by aquiring tools, maps, hiring guides, planning the trip, etc.

Some maps lead to a dead end (like a waffled out ebook on list building).  Other maps all but give you the money!

Some guides really know their stuff and share it generously (thanks to mentors like Sara Brown, Terry Dean, Lee McIntyre, Martin Avis, Andy Williams, Tiffany Dow, to name just a few off the top of my head – all solid gold Profs, in my book). And others I won’t mention here that sell – sell – sell and give you a crumb…

Some equipment is designer priced while other equipment is more useful and priced to fit the budget – hey, lots of software is Free!

One thing all treasure hunters have in common – a burning desire to see it to the proverbial pot o’ gold.  Internet Marketing is no different.  You will go through hours of reading ebooks, learning web design, refining SEO, learning to blog or Squidoo, niche hunting,… because you KNOW that there is treasure there waiting for all the work and sweat and tears.

I am in this for the long haul – how about you?  See you in the trenches!

OK.  I am in my second year of Internet marketing.  I decided to stick with this and make it work. My posts have been sporadic at best, but I want to change that.  I want to log my journey for posterity, if you will.

Up till now I have bought gobs of ebooks, software and ecourses, most of which were waffle and tripe.  But the ones that I have printed and stuck in a binder I treat just like a college text – right there on my desk or at hand on the shelf, full of post it notes and highlighting.

(Currently I am using Niche Profit Machines by Paul Simpson and Chris Remple’s Conduit Method.)
 
I have taught myself to do a decent website with Front Page.  I have downloaded ready-made templates and done some modification in the HTML, CSS and PHP!!   

I am learning my way around Aweber, can make working Paypal buttons - hey, I even set up a shopping cart!  I can FTP like a pro!

I have learned how to dig for niches and then write an ebook.  I have written from scratch 3 information products and rewritten a dozen of more PLR, too.  I have done everything but promote (i.e. write articles, make press releases, and such). 

I have three separate completed projects.  All ready to go.  Why aren’t they going?  Near as I can tell, I am afraid of success.  I am not afraid of failure.  I don’t fail.  I do make a lot of mistakes and learn a lot but I don’t fail.

It’s funny.  I can PDF and I can rebrand.  I can format with CSS (sort of).  But I can’t sell a thing!  But I do know that it is just a matter of time.  I have determined to finish all the “started” projects before flying off into a new way to make money.

You’ll be the first to know when I do publish/promote.