I decided to hike farther up the canyon to a place I’d never been before. There was no trail and it was rather difficult to hike. I came to the base of a cliff of lichen covered rocks and as I glanced farther up the canyon I saw a deer feeding on some grass. I froze in my tracks. Fortunately I was downwind otherwise, I would never have seen them. I then saw another deer, a four-point buck. And then yet another doe feeding nearby. I turned on my camera to take a picture and they twitched at the minor sound it made, but did not run. (The picture below is not one I took-explanation as to why, shortly to come).

Photo of Deer (not my picture though)

I crouched down and crossed the little canyon then climbed the ridge on the other side. I slowly raised my head above the top of the ridge looking down on the deer as I was now above them. I turned on my camera again hoping to get a better shot. I didn’t care this time if I spooked them because it would be fun to get them running on video. As I stepped up over the top of the ridge and kept looking at the deer through my camera, I tripped, dropped the camera, sprained my thumb and spooked the deer!

Seven of them bolted from their feeding area and ran up the hill in the opposite direction of me. I had only seen three, now there were seven! I fumbled around with my camera trying to turn it back on and get a beautiful shot, but only managed to get them when they were quite a distance away.

I had lost a really great opportunity. But if I had been a hunter I would’ve come home with a dandy four-point buck to mount on my wall. (Don’t worry, I have not even tried to hunt a deer in more than 30 years).

Apparently these deer (and their ancestors) had come down this canyon for hundreds of years to reach the year-round natural springs in the valley below for water and food. Native Americans had created places to hunt them and the petroglyphs were created during the long waiting periods of boredom waiting for their kill. If they didn’t hunt, they didn’t eat. All sorts of animals used the springs as a food source and it became a natural hunting ground. Antelope, deer, rabbits, coyote, chukar, quail, etc. were all hunted here and that’s the reason for the petroglyphs.

When I came home I uploaded all the video files and camera shots to my computer and deleted them off the SD cards. A few hours later I returned to my computer expecting to edit and upload the videos but my computer died. This was the third time in seven months that I’ve had a hard drive failure on this computer and am now requesting a replacement from Apple.

I have an automatic backup system but it was not connected that day so all I have to show for this experience is a swollen, sprained thumb!

Internet marketing is very similar to this experience, except with one very major difference. Most of us don’t have to hunt today to provide food for families or pay the bills. We either own and operate a business that produces a product or service, or work for someone that does. The labor that we have to do is to create a product and service to solve another persons problem. Marketing is the means by which other people find out about who you are and what you do and how you can help them.

Traditional forms of advertising have utilized a “broadcast” mentality that throws up messages everywhere we go to entice us to call them or visit their store to make a purchase. While some demographics have been utilized to make proper decisions regarding which television show to advertise on (for example) the results have still somewhat been crude and unrefined. For the most part, all traditional forms of advertising use some method to jolt you out of your trance and make you think about them for a moment.

Internet marketing is completely different. So is Social Media marketing. For the first time in all of history we have a medium where people go to search for a solution to their problems and we can track their results. They type in all kinds of things to help them feel better, look better, get rid of aphids on their roses, choosing the best paint, do research on which car to lease, try to decide on the best new camera to buy…the list is endless. They actually go online and type in keywords and phrases that they understand and the results that pop up are what the search engines have decided are the closest resembling answers for their search query.

In other words, they are hunting for an answer. It’s like hunting in reverse. Instead of a business going out and trying to target specific individuals, Internet marketing allows individuals to hunt for specific solutions provided by businesses. I don’t think anyone in our day would like to be called or referred to as “the hunted,” but that is in essence what’s going on. And I doubt the ones being found are objecting.

Your business, product and service are being hunted and searched for every single day by someone, somewhere on the Internet.

And that trend is continuing to grow in dramatic fashion. It is safe to say that the majority of people finding and choosing a business have gone through some sort of search engine to find them. The next big wave of search traffic will come from the mobile marketing platform and it promises to be the most dramatic shift in advertising to date.

But let’s focus on helping your business to be found on the Internet. Findability, is the most important aspect of any Internet marketing campaign. If they type in a search phrase, and your business does not show up, they will go to the person or business that does. You have to be “findable.”

Sadly, most businesses of today still do not understand this dramatic difference between Internet marketing and traditional forms of advertising. It is still so new to so many people. And one of the biggest reasons for that is that there just too many options available for business today. Internet marketing all by itself, is an enormous subject. It is far more than PPC were SEO (if you know what those terms mean). Which one should they do and how do they start?

Another problem I see is that many people try to use traditional forms of advertising (i.e: broadcasting to the world) on the Internet, and while it works to a degree its usually very expensive and only reserved for the largest of companies to obtain success in this manner (although this is not entirely true). And just as I tripped and fell and lost a good photo-op, every business I know is also missing out on successful sales because they aren’t using the Internet correctly (or at all) and customers are going to those who do.

If you’re having a hard time getting your business found on the Internet, please call me today at 775-722-4949 to schedule a time to analyze your online status and offer you a proposal about how to fix it. I have a Masters Degree in Internet Marketing and I know how to help you. But my company only has the ability to service so many customers, so it’s important that you act quickly because once we’ve reached the limit, we will have to send you somewhere else. I don’t want to do that, but there’s only so much any business can do. So call me today or fill out the form to the right and I will get back with you as soon as I can.

We can make it possible for your business to be found online by those who are hunting for your products and services to solve their problem. Call today at 775-722-4949!

Almost every day week I go to the gym to get some exercise. Since I sit at a computer all day, it’s very important for me to get exercise for my mind, my circulation and back. It hurts like crazy if I don’t exercise very regularly. I can go 3 days without exercise and I am on a stretcher! There are lots of other reasons for me to exercise too.

Everyone knows the value of getting exercise: it’s good for your heart, your brain, your lungs, your circulation, digestion, flexibility, depression, clear thinking, keeping up strength, reduction of disease, better immunity to flus and viruses, etc. etc. The list is almost endless of the benefits of daily exercise. I cannot function well if I don’t get that exercise.

What happens when people don’t get proper exercise? They get fat, lazy, they lose energy, they get sick, they get depressed, and eventually it takes an entire battalion from a fire truck to get them off the couch. It’s not a pretty picture.

But the same is true with marketing, no business survives without some form of marketing and advertising. And marketing done right can reap financial windfalls. We’re talking the Mr. Olympics of marketing when executed correctly.

What always fascinates me though, and has for over 30 years, is that marketing budgets always seem to be the first ones axed when businesses face difficulties. This has never ceased to amaze me because marketing is what brings in new jobs, customers, projects and profits but it’s the first one cut. It’s like they decided to stop exercising and expect everything to stay the same. It doesn’t work.

In the video above I mentioned that one of the things I do every day when I exercise, is to read materials or watch training videos about marketing. It’s very important to keep up with my industry because no industry in the world is changing as fast as Internet marketing. I mentioned elsewhere that I got a Masters degree in Internet marketing yet I’m auditing the same course again to keep up with new things and to re-digest the mountainous amount of information that was heaped upon me during that crazy year.

And what I am finding is more and more exciting every single day. There is just no reason for any company to not find the people who are looking for their products or services. Maybe I should reverse that statement: there’s just no reason for any person looking for particular product or service that cannot find what they’re looking for. The trick is for business to be chosen by those seeking for those products or services.

Internet marketing is like no other marketing medium in the world. I just can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this discussion with people from traditional forms of advertising, they just don’t get it. All sorts of display advertising are being bandied about everywhere you go: you hear radio ads in your car, you see ads in the newspaper in the morning, you see ads on the television during your favorite shows, you see billboards splashed all over town, posters in buildings and bus shelters, you read postcards in the mail, even ads on your grocery receipt and shopping cart all trying to get you to buy their product!

The list is almost endless in the number of ways we are attacked every single day by traditional forms of advertising. But the Internet doesn’t work that way even though everybody’s trying their best to make it work that way.

When someone goes on the Internet and has a particular problem, say, they’re trying to find a relief for gout in their feet. It’s a very painful condition (that fortunately I don’t have), but they are looking for a solution. They will type in a specific word or phrase related to this condition such as this affiliate link of mine: “gout foot pain relief“.

Now mind you, they are searching for an answer. They have come to a place that they hope to find a solution. They are targeted in their mission and they know what they want. They aren’t driving down the street, they aren’t watching TV, they are focused in their desire and want to find an answer.

The websites that show up for the search term “gout foot pain relief” are ones that they click on hoping that they have the answer they are searching for. If a business wants to be the one chosen by this customer, they need to be able to answer that request in the form that it was asked. This is a very powerful secret that for some reason, people still don’t get. That phrase “gout foot pain relief” had better be written in this exact same order somewhere on their website in order for it to be clicked on, otherwise they will go to a site that does have it in that order.

This presents a very interesting problem for the average marketer. There are lots of different search phrases that people use and finding the search phrase that will result in a sale is a talent and art that needs to be cultivated. All kinds of software programs are used and created a daily basis to provide this service.

I just gave you a dramatic secret that most people don’t realize and can save you a lot of money in your marketing and advertising efforts. There are a lot more that I can help you with to help you reach more customers, make more sales, generate more leads and increase your profits. Just give me a call at 775-722-4949. Also feel free to fill out the form to the right and I will send you a free e-book on one of the methods you can use to build your online marketing empire today.

And it doesn’t take much exercise for your fingers to do it either.

Several years ago I was marketing an online business that seemed to be fairly legitimate. I won’t give the name here because it has since been completely dissolved. Although search engine optimization (SEO) is something that people hear now on a regular basis, at the time it was an intriguing novelty. A company called me up and said that they would guarantee me first page listings for several search terms for only $3200 through SEO.

If I would’ve taken that $3200 and thrown it in the trash, at least I would’ve known where it went!

But I knew that the Internet was the future and although it really upset me, it did not deter me. In fact the more I learned about the Internet, the more I became infatuated with it. I bought almost everything I could find and spent my life (and my life savings) on learning what this all meant. There was something so intriguing and interesting about this new medium. I had been involved in digital printing and was a pioneer in the industry since 1992, but was too involved in that at the time to take advantage of the new things on the Internet happening in the late 90s. I wasn’t a pioneer this time.

But this was something different. All the traditional mediums of newspaper, television, radio, billboards, posters, bus wraps, banners, postcards, etc. were means of advertising that were “in your face”. Every one of them tried to jolt you out of your trance to get you to buy their product or see their show. I know, because I printed thousands of them for hundreds of customers.

The Internet is a place for people to go to find things you sell to solve their problem. And, as I soon found out, it had the ability to track just about every single aspect of an online consumers experience. It could track where they came from, what webpage they were on before they visited this one, which search engine they used, what search terms they used, and even the resolution of their monitor (if you wanted to know that).

This ability to track consumer behavior was absolutely fascinating to me because you could find out in an instant what was going on: if a certain search word work better than another; if one color work better than another; if one video worked better than another; if one banner ad pulled in more customers; if one browser worked better than another, etc.

No other medium had this power!

All of them had some “human” way to track what was going on, mostly just by measuring the number of sales created. Television and Radio had its Nielsen ratings and newspapers promised to broadcast your ad to everyone in the Valley if you will just put it in there long enough to get the results you’re looking for. But the Internet had instant feedback like nothing else and accuracy that defied the best traditional prognosticators of marketing available.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I decided that if I was going to spend all this money on all kinds of programs, coaching, seminars, webinars, telephone calls, books, CDs, DVDs, and the like related to this industry, then why not do it the right way, in an organized fashion from experts in the field who could be verified as legitimate in their knowledge? Why not do it in such a way that would make sense? Why not follow a specific and organized plan that could bring about the results I was looking for?

I decided to go get a Masters Degree in Internet marketing and I achieved my goal as of October 1, 2010. Even though it was an extremely difficult 13 month program that required between 20 and 35 hours per week (rarely seeing my family and never having a free Saturday!), it was worth it. I also am proud to announce that I won “Best In Class” from a vote of my peers and the professors. I didn’t even know that was an option until 3 weeks before we graduated!

So what does all this mean to you? It means that you can know that I’m not a fly by night organization or company. You can know that I put forth the time and effort to become an expert in the field. You can know that I’m here for the long haul and want to make things right to produce the results you’re looking for.

What I didn’t really know, was that I was jumping into an industry that is becoming laden with shysters and profiteers alike. I have been talking to a woman who owned a hairdressing salon about doing some marketing with her. She wanted me to come back in a month when he thought she would have some more money. Two weeks later an individual came along promising her all kinds of results if she would just pay $100 per month. Apparently he was quite persuasive because after he got his $10 haircut, she paid him $100 and was looking for some results.

He never called back. She paid him $90 for the privilege of cutting his hair!

I wish this was a singular story but apparently it is happening over and over again. There is great mystery surrounding the Internet and people are being taken advantage of because they don’t really have time to understand all of the details and ins and outs of such a complicated medium. To say that the Internet has changed over the last 10 years would be the understatement of the decade. To try to keep up with that change is about as difficult as building any business could be.

My goal is to do everything I can to get your business found online. Most people know that the yellow pages don’t work anymore (except for just a few industries). Most people have seen diminished results from traditional advertising mediums and they know they need to market online, but they just don’t know where to start or know what to do. They get phone calls every single day from Internet marketing call centers all over the country promising them great results for only a few hundred dollars per month, but the results never seemed to materialize.

I’m here to change that, but I need you to know that there are some ground rules that we have to follow. Here are just a few of them:

• Marketing on the Internet is a “learn as you go” program. We need to find what works best for you. No two businesses or markets react the same way online.
• While every business needs a website (contrary to what some people will tell you) a website is never enough. Without marketing that website, your results will be nowhere near your desired goals.
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Never buy a packaged program that “works for everyone.” They never last.
• The advertising battleground has now been reduced to the size of your monitor for the attention of customers and prospects.
• The competition is going to get worse and worse down the road. Be prepared to keep up with those changes.
• There are more and more laws relating to the Internet that are being written on a daily basis. It is important to keep up to date with what is considered legal online.
• Blackhat techniques (methods that are unethical) are never a viable option for your marketing efforts. They will always produce a negative result over time.
• Your website needs to be a living and breathing thing that requires daily (or at a minimum weekly) attention. Long gone are the days when you could hang out a “shingle” called a website and leave it there for people to find you. They will not.
• We have only seen the teeniest, tiniest tip of the iceberg regarding this industry! I’m here to tell you that you have no idea how much the Internet will affect your business in the coming decade! If you are aware of its potential, invest in its future and keep up with the changes, you will reap rich rewards.
• If you are not online now, that teeny little iceberg will sink your business unless you make drastic changes.
• Internet marketing is more than just a SEO or PPC! It’s far bigger than most people realize and encompasses things such as: video marketing, article marketing, PPC, RSS, game based marketing, branding, social media (Facebook, twitter, etc.), banner advertising, e-mail marketing, mobile marketing, etc.

If you’re ready to get more customers for your business through all the methods under the umbrella of “Internet Marketing” please call me at 775-722-4949 or e-mail me at KellySmithMarketing@Gmail.com. I promise you that I will do my best to help you reach your marketing goals. And you will get a weekly report showing exactly what is happening with your website.

Call me today and you can get a free video analysis of your site to show how well its doing and some things to change to make it rank better. Call me at 775-722-4949 but you must hurry because I can’t do everyone. There is a limit on this offer and first come, first served.

Everything seems to be moving to the Internet and as an industry, it is definitely flourishing. But not everyone who advertises on the Internet is benefiting from this change. In fact it has become an extremely difficult arena for many companies to succeed in.

And that brings me to a story.

Gary Halbert-Copywriter

It’s been said that Gary Halbert, the great copywriter (actually one of the greatest copywriters of all time) was at a seminar teaching people about how to be good copywriters. He gave a scenario where if everyone in the audience owned a hamburger stand and he decided to put one right across the street, what advantages would they like to have in order to compete against him?

Everybody gave all kinds of answers such as:

“I would use the tastiest, freshest hamburger meat!”

“My prices would be the lowest!”

“I’d pick the busiest location!”

“I’d want a world famous recipe!”

“I’d offer customers credit, so they can pay later!”

“I’d have more staff to serve more people faster!”

“I’d sell my burgers wholesale!”

Apparently Gary listened patiently to all of their answers until everyone had finally given their turn. “Okay, he replied, smugly smiling the weathered, all-knowing grin of an old master.

“I’ll give you every single advantage you have asked for… I only want one advantage and, if you give it to me, I’ll whip the pants off all of you when it comes to selling burgers!”

Apparently everyone was listening very intently as he gave his final answer

“The only advantage I want is… a starving crowd!”

The previous quotation was taken from a book called “The Niche Marketing Black Book” from MarketSamurai.com. These guys have an interesting product that delves into how to find niche markets on any subject and use it to your advantage in marketing. It’s a well-written book and I highly recommend it but, I disagree with the previous story.

I hate to be the one to disagree with the great Gary Halbert, one of the most revered marketers of all time, but something doesn’t quite fit. Why doesn’t it fit you ask?

The reason is because I’ve just seen that exact scenario played out last weekend where 2 hamburger stands were right across the street from each other and the story wasn’t as Gary described it.

You see, earlier in the day I had taken my boys sledding in the snow in the nearby mountains. It was a brisk cold day that was perfect for sledding. After a few hours of getting bumped around and having a great time, we had had enough and headed home. Everyone decided they were quite hungry so I called my wife and told her we were going to get something to eat on the way home. I asked the boys where they really wanted to go and a few of the popular fast food joints came to mind. Wendy’s seem to be at the top of the list until one of the other boys saw a sign for In-N-Out Burger and we deided to go there.

IN-N-OUT BURGERS

As soon as we got near it we noticed an enormous line of cars waiting to go through the drive-through. We could tell that inside, many people were standing around with no place to sit. It was going to be hard to find a place to park but we had made up our minds, we really liked their fries and that’s where we determined to go.

We could already taste it.

As we waited for the stoplight to turn into the establishment, I turned my head to the right and saw Burger King sitting right there on the opposite corner. Not a single car was in line at the drive-through. There was only four or five cars in the parking lot and the place looked mostly empty.

I pointed that out to the boys that we had the option to go there, but we had already made our decision. We went through the light, turned the corner and found a parking spot, went in, ordered our meal, waited 10 minutes for a table to open up, scarfed down those delectable fries and headed home completely happy that we made this choice.

But the image of a totally packed restaurant right across the street from an almost totally empty one selling almost the exact same product has haunted me ever since.

Why would one company, In-N-Out Burger, who spends almost nothing on advertising have 10-20 times the customers of Burger King (who spends millions on advertising) on the exact same day under the same conditions? Is their food that much better? Do they have a bigger selection? Do they have a better image, brand, logo, marketing campaign, customer service, etc?

Most people would say that in almost every case, Burger King beats them. Burger King has a far bigger selection of food items. They spend far more money in advertising, their logo was designed and refined through endless focus groups over several years. They have top of the mind awareness on all kinds of television ads as their smart aleck King does all sorts of goofy things to people.

The Burger King Bar?

So why is In-N-Out Burger literally bringing home the bacon while in this case, Burger King was barely serving anyone?

I believe I’m about to reveal to you a secret that is so essential and is so completely and totally relevant to the world of Internet marketing (and marketing in general) that you need to take great heed to this message. This is so simple yet so powerful that I believe it makes all the difference between the two Burger places I’ve just mentioned.

You see, although I really like In-N-Out Burger’s hamburgers and especially their fries (but only when they’re hot) their food is really not THAT much better than Burger Kings. I mean we’re not comparing Burger King to PF Chang’s here, we’re comparing it to another hamburger place. All the major fast food chains offer burgers that are only slightly different in taste (although I know that some people disagree with that over-generaliztion and have sworn allegiances to their favorite brand. I’m just glad that McDonald’s finally recently improved the taste of their burgers. I refused to eat there for years!).

The prices aren’t that much different. The selection is incredibly smaller because they don’t offer a $.99 value meal, chicken strips, salads, and endless assortment of side dishes, kids meals, tofu options, anything vegetarian, etc. They basically only have three sizes of the same hamburgers, one size of fries and the usual brands of drinks and some shakes. Thats it. And it all fits on a small menu just above the order takers head.

They were located right across the street from each other so that can’t be a real big factor, in fact, I got off the freeway on the same side of the street as Burger King and had to cross the street to get to In-N-Out Burger, so that rules that out. They weren’t offering hamburgers at wholesale or on credit, they actually have less room to eat in and people were standing around, the company isn’t new (since 1948) so it’s not one of those phenomenons relating to something brand-new and exciting.

So what is it that makes it so successful and have more people eating there?

You see, Gary Halbert was wrong. Both of these places had the exact same customer base: starving crowds of people. They were all driving by the same street. There were no special signs anywhere advertising a reduction in costs or free fries with their order (there actually may have been some on the Burger King place-those kinds of signs are always there). They were all looking for a quick and tasty meal but 20 times more people chose In-N-Out Burger than Burger King.

Gary Halbert was right if you were thinking about wanting to establish a business and deciding which business to go in. Yes, of course, you would want to find one where people are clamoring for your product. But I believe he is incorrect in this instance when comparing competitive strategies between those in the same industry. They already have the same crowd of starving customers.

And that brings us full circle to the beginning of my discussion-why do some companies who market on the Internet succeed while others don’t? How do some companies manage to spend a fraction of what another does and get tremendously better results?

If you thought trying to find your ad in a newspaper was difficult, it can be far worse on the Internet. One of the things that is so appealing to those who want to advertise or market on the Internet is its low cost. In many cases it’s extremely low. There isn’t the giant expense of television towers, radio waves, huge printing presses, etc. to get the message out. Everyone with computer access can market on the Internet.

But that low-cost alternative can be extremely expensive. For many people, some estimate well over 90%, they don’t succeed in getting their message across. They waste their time and effort and how much does that cost?

Just send me your basic information, and I’ll reply with an answer that has tremendous impact on your Internet marketing decisions, in fact all of your marketing decisions. In fact, some of you may not choose to market on the Internet at all after reading what I am about to reveal, its that powerful.

I promise I won’t spam you, that’s not my goal. My goal is to help companies market themselves on the Internet, not use subversive or illegal tactics to accomplish this task. and if you don’t like information, you can always delete and it’s easy to opt out of getting any more e-mails from me.

I just think it’s essential that people understand this vital principle of marketing can not only save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars, it will help you find more targeted customers, ones that are looking for you.

Once you realize this, it can totally set you free and save you a fortune. I mean think about it, In-N-Out Burger is an old company, with an old-style, a limited product offering that doesn’t hardly advertise anywhere. Yet it creams its competitor right across the street because it understands one principle of marketing and has stuck with that principle. It hasn’t gotten diverted into endless options and programs. It has a brand and sticks with it. It knows where it fits in knows where it doesn’t.

I look forward to hearing your comments about this principle. Just fill out the form to the right and I will get back to you soon.

I asked to see his website and when I went there I learned all kinds of things about this company. First of all I discovered that they are getting a large amount of traffic (over 282,000 views per month or around 10,000 per day) and a great deal of that is from PPC. In other words they are paying for people to visit their site. Some months they pay over $16,000 per day for these visitors.

But the real killer here is that they don’t have their website properly formatted for SEO and therefore not able to take advantage of free traffic. By just applying some basic principles they could have a tremendous amount of free, regular and steady traffic to their site. I am not sure who persuaded them to just do PPC and forget about basic SEO, but they must have some motive to do so.

I recently heard of a company that did about $10 Million per year and spent about $1 Million with Google PPC per year to accomplish this. But something happened (no one knows why for sure) but they were de-listed by big G and went out of business. A few hundred employees out of work because some bureaucrat didn’t like something and pulled the plug. The management swore that they were not doing anything unethical or illegal and they had no idea what happened or why.

Never put all your eggs in one basket with Internet Marketing! Make sure you have a good footing in many areas and not just one. There is too much power in the hands of some of these people and this is ripe for corruption.

If they would pull the plug on $1,000,000 per year in advertising dollars, they will certainly do it for a lot less, and possibly any other reason they can think of.

Unfortunately I also had to sever a relationship because of this same issue. This person even asked me to work for free, not even offering anything in return for my work. The thing they would not listen to me and the advice I gave as to what they needed to do. And after 6 trips to their office, I got a whopping $300 for work on a new project. Obviously it was not an economical relationship, well maybe it was for them!

Anyway, the thing to remember is that everyone suffers when the economy is down. I have seen some mighty big companies go under in the internet marketing world and we all just have to keep our heads held high and have faith in the future.

And PLEASE vote out that bunch of idiots in Washington who are determined to destroy our constitution at all costs! The economy can easily be fixed by following the rules of economics: make it profitable to be in business! Its that simple.

OK, Kelly, back on track. Get back to the business at hand-internet marketing. Please enjoy the post below from a very frustrated and passionate individual. I’m sorry but I don’t even know his name. (I didn’t bother with a link because it won’t be there in a few weeks anyway.)

Yep, I hear you! All these people who can’t develop themselves, apparently, never stop to realize that developers are CAPABLE of building the “next big thing” on their own and earn all the profits. Problem is, we’re too busy trying to find REAL WORK from people who will INVEST in the MONTHS involved in developing a social networking site for them.

If I had a dime for every low-life cheapskate who offered “profit” sharing when their “idea” is developed in the MONTHS it takes, I’d actually be quite financially stable.

I don’t get it. These people don’t care enough about their “ideas” to see the person developing it FOR THEM live and work comfortably. How exactly does one do that when their time is expended, kids are hungry and bills are piling up?

I, too, and sick of these people. They either need to learn how to develop their ideas and reap ALL the “rewards” when it becomes bigger than all the other ideas people had and couldn’t make it work, or PAY for the time of a developer.

These morons see the end result of something like Facebook and have absolutely NO IDEA that developers don’t just wave a magic wand to create something similar, and POOF, in a couple of “weeks”, it’s miraculously done!

Hey, dreamers and “idea-weavers”: If your ideas are so great, write a business plan, get an investor to invest in YOUR IDEA, then INVEST in THE VERY DEVELOPERS who will make your “idea” come to life!

In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

Some “know it all” NON-Developer will contact me privately to tell me how “egotistical” I am because I expect to be paid for my time, put food on table and cover the very electric bill that keeps my PC powered. Happens all the time! These people are slave-drivers who go through life thinking we “OWE” our skills and time to them.

To the person seeking a “non-paid, passionate web designer and marketer”.

Let me get this straight: You want a “designer” to DEVELOP a social networking website for you, plus have knowledge of internet marketing, meaning, you not only want your “designer” to DEVELOP the site for you, but also market it when it’s completed, so that you can grant part ownership in a site that has the “potential” to get millions of members?

Let me ask you, something: What exactly is it that YOU plan to do for YOUR “idea” to ensure its a success? Having someone perform slave labor for you for the next SEVERAL MONTHS to DEVELOP something GREAT on a domain you’ve invested $7.99 into registering, means, among other things, you have no conception of reality. Furthermore, what you’re describing indicates that you need THREE separate professionals to rip off:

1. A WEB DEVELOPER. 2. A WEB DESIGNER. 3. AN SEO and SEM EXPERT.

How’s that for “passionate”?

Can you make money with Internet Marketing? Yes, absolutely you can. Is it easy? No, but with a little education it’s doable. With a little bit of research and a whole lot of effort, a fairly good income can be made.

Can you make money with Multilevel Marketing? You know, selling lotions potions and pills, exotic drinks, healthy chocolate, legal advice, etc? Yes you can. I have several friends that have done fairly well in the industry. I have a lot more that are no longer doing it but that is true with any business, it probably fits the 80/20 rule.

But now here’s the real question-can you mix Internet Marketing with Multilevel Marketing and make any money? I believe that for the vast majority of people the answer is an emphatic No! Now why would I say this? For one very simple reason-the two do not mix very well.

Multilevel marketing succeeds within intimate contact between individuals, relationship marketing and one-on-one communication. If a successful person shares with another his duplicatable process of success and that person follows through and follows his example, success can be had. It’s actually very simple business and I personally know some very wealthy people in multilevel marketing although they are not close friends.

Internet marketing works exactly the opposite fashion. It’s also an extremely large and broad-based business that cannot be so easily narrow down to a simple description. There are pay per click campaigns, ad campaigns, e-mail campaigns, affiliate marketing programs, article marketing, click through programs, etc. etc. But none of these are the personal one-on-one programs in multilevel marketing requires for success.

There are a number of big-time gurus and marketers who develop systems that have tried to combine the two business models together. They have a rather appealing allure in trying to convince someone to join a MLM program and marketed to the world via Internet marketing systems. Just imagine, you may have the entire world to market to! Sounds good doesn’t it?

It doesn’t work.

Let me rephrase that-it works for one type of individual: the hardcharging Type A personality who promises everyone in the world: the moon, personal attention, duplication process systems and training, etc. and then completely drops the person who joined the minute the credit card account went through!

Type-A Wins at Others Expense

I wish I could say that this only happened once or twice but I have to believe that the vast majority of those who have flashed their massive checks and bank account information to entice the unsuspecting masses, are more than people realize.

Everybody is searching for a way to make money online. They know it’s the future. They can see how it affects their own personal lives. Everyone is a witness to the dramatic changes taking place because of the Internet over the last 10 years, probably greater than any changes that it ever occurred in the history of the world, and they want to be a part of it.

Everybody seems to be searching for a way to make extra money and because of the recent global recession, there is a great sense of anxiety and fear in everyone’s minds. This has caused a number of people to be suckered in to joining multilevel marketing programs with the sales pitch that using the Internet will help them avoid having to sell to their family and friends and open up the world to be in their downline.

My advice is obvious in this discussion. Do not combine the two. Pick one or the other and if you choose some sort of Internet marketing program be sure and narrow it down to one highly specific area to pursue.

If you want to make money with multilevel marketing find somebody in your local area, not someone online, and ask them to show you their system. It won’t take long to find someone that proclaims that there is success in the business, but you’ll have to do some homework. Ask them for the names of people in their downline and how they succeeded. If they are telling you anything different than he is, find someone else.

If you want to find an Internet marketing program to join it’ll actually be a little bit harder search. There are so many people proclaiming successful programs with websites of Ferraris on the beach that it’s really hard to find a reputable program to follow.

The following is a link to a program with which I will make a small affiliate commission if you join but it is really the only one I can currently recommend. After spending literally thousands of dollars over the last few years on program after program I’ve thrown them all out except for this one.

My only hope is that less people will be taken in by the numerous scams and shysters that proliferate the Internet. There are so many that it’s sickening and part of the reason I’m writing this article.

Do your homework, have faith in the future and your abilities, work hard and things will work out.

You may even get that Ferrari on the Beach drinking Monavie, swallowing Usana Vitamins eating Healthy Chocolate and protected by Pre-Paid Legal all the while!

This is a funny video of a dog who attacks his own foot, thinking it is trying to steal his bone. I got this link from YouTube from a suggestion offered by my Full Sail course.

But I am including it here because I think there is a valuable lesson here. At first blush it seems rather silly for a Dog to attack his own foot. Doesn’t he know what his own feet are doing?

But if you compare this dog to a company where the parts of the dog are compared to different parts of the company, very interesting parallel arises. I presume that most people would think that the head of the dog is the president or CEO. Maybe the feet are the salespeople and the tail is the accounting department. It really doesn’t matter to me which part of the company is compared to what part of the dog.

What interests me is how many times I have seen companies fight among themselves, internally, even though they’re after the same goal.

There’s all kinds of analogies we could make here including comparing fights between sales and production, accusations of those who want to take all the credit, differences in philosophy between marketing and accounting, etc. and believe me, sometimes those fights are far more vicious than this dog’s teeth.

The goal of any company needs to be to gain and keep profitable customers. Profits alone cannot suffice. A company that only has the narrow goal of profits will cut short much-needed plans and activities to maintain a customer’s return. A company that only produces products just to maintain production will lose profitability.

But every company needs to have a heart and soul associated with it so that reaching the goal of getting “the bone” can be shared by every member of the organization. When everybody understands the marketing plan of the company, proper communication can take place and everyone may know their value in the company and can thus contribute greatly to profits

Universities that teach Internet marketing programs require you to sign a Global Professional Standards (GPS) form. One of the most important items of this professional standards agreement is that you won’t plagiarize what other people have written on the Internet. If you want to sell an affiliate product or do something with Google Adsense you may have purchased an Internet marketing program from some of those big-name gurus. I don’t need to name any names here, there are too many to list.

But almost everyone that I’ve ever seen who claims to be a guru in this industry teaches people to write articles to create back links to your products in an unethical fashion. I can’t tell you how many of them say something like this, “Many people have a hard time trying to find information about what to write. Just go to _ _ _ _articles.com and look up your subject. Just reword each sentence so you aren’t plagiarizing, and there you have it! Voilà an instant article!”

This is clearly against the Global Professional Standards that should be maintained by anyone in this industry. No wonder there’s so much junk out there that you have to wade through when doing a proper search for something you’re interested in!

It’s one thing to do research on a product you are selling but it’s another one just take an article that someone has written and rephrase it, line by line to fit your needs. I know that there are people that have made a lot of money in Internet marketing and there are those who want to make a lot of money in this industry, but this isn’t right.

And here’s something you may want to consider, a standard by which you may judge whether something is right or wrong: anybody who claims that you can make instant cash, and then teaches you an unethical method to get it, should be avoided.

If you have purchased a program from any of these big-name gurus who openly flaunts an unethical method of reaching the goal, I would send it back and demand a refund. Remember the 10 Commandments, at least the one that says “thou shalt not steal?” That’s what plagiarism is-stealing.

Every commandment given has a blessing and a curse associated with it. After 3500 years you would think that we would see the wisdom of following all of the 10 Commandments. But alas, we only think about today and a quick buck would sure make a nice change in our life. “To heck with the Commandments, I need to pay the power company.”

And so our society slips a little bit lower and we wonder why we feel like were being cursed.

Why cut off the source of future growth?

Any company who adopts this mentality is doomed until it realizes what it’s done. I know there are accountants and bean counters and boards to answer to, and at first it may look like a good decision: an instant drop of expenses of anywhere from 2 to 15%. But the question is, how are they going to replace it?

As an illustration let’s say a company spends 10% of its revenue on advertising (remember this is only an example). A $2,000,000 a year company would then spend approximately $200,000 generating new business. So by eliminating this expense how are they going to generate that $2,000,000 per year?

For a time it will seem to work. They have existing customers and top of the mind awareness at the moment. But that moment is short lied. Top of the mind awareness is obviously key to any advertising program. The next company that advertises in their market will achieve that top of the mind awareness and the customer will be gone.

In a very short time the company that eliminated its advertising budget will be far worse off and really scrambling as to what to do now. If there was anything that should be increased during an economic downturn is the advertising and marketing budgets.

Well, enough of this analysis, let’s figure out our next step of action. You need to find leads. You need new customers. You need more sales.

My name is Kelly Smith and I created this website to introduce myself to you and share with you how I can help your company achieve its marketing goals. My story can be accessed on another page but I will just tell you shortly that I have been involved in some sort of marketing all my life.

I now focused almost exclusively on Internet marketing for companies like yours. The Internet provides the most interesting and powerful resource available to anyone seeking to do any kind of marketing: instantaneous accurate feedback.

If someone buys a yellow page ad they will know when someone calls from that ad because it usually mentioned in the conversation. But what they don’t know is how many people saw the ad. The same is true with a billboard, a radio ad, a newspaper ad or a direct mail program, etc.

Yes there are all kinds of statistics generated to try to show if you are within the “norm” of expectations regarding the program. But you don’t know exactly what is happening. That is not true with Internet advertising or marketing.

I know I’m probably preaching to the choir here but I will remind you that with powerful tracking programs you can know exactly how many people saw your advertisement, what country they live in, what state or even zip code they live in, which website they saw it on, what keywords they used to find you and even what was the resolution of their monitor be viewed on (which I’ve never really figured out why they even bother with that one!).

The fact of the matter is that you can know to the penny how much profit you have made from that advertisement and it is at least 99% accurate. There is no other method of marketing they can reach anywhere close to that statistic.

That is why I have devoted the last couple years investing in the education of what Internet marketing can do. Along the way has been an amazing journey, a fluid one with many changes and surprises.

I have found that some of the simplest things can reap millions of dollars. I have also found that many of the things promising great results produced little.

Here’s a simple hard-nosed fact: no one in the world knows exactly how to market your site. Anybody who tells you that they do is lying. Now of course there are some that have devoted quite a bit of time and effort to us particular market and they may know something important about it but I’m here to tell you that they still do not know 100% the best way to market your website, business, products or service.

I suppose there are a number of reasons for that but I would liken it unto going fishing in the ocean. You have a fast almost infinite horizon of possibilities and you’re trying to narrow it down to a single school of fish. It’s impossible to finish the entire ocean it once. Everyone who has tried has gone broke.

The first thing is to determine exactly what type of fish you wish to attract. Are we going after Sardines? Dolphins? Swordfish? Octopus? Clams? Halibut? Tuna? Whales? And what exact type of any of those “fish” are the most desirable or profitable?

I have seen many a company, parenthetically speaking, rent a boat and head out into the Internet ocean loaded with bait, come back empty-handed. But unlike the traditional fishing industry where experienced fishermen can tell you exactly where to go and what type of bait to use, in our Internet ocean analogy, there is hardly anyone who knows the answer.

Why am I telling you this? Why am I who have created a website telling you I can help you in your business by marketing on the Internet but there aren’t any experienced guides to go to?

I may not know exactly where to go to find the fish you are looking for but I know how to find out where to go. Of course we all have some idea where to go and we will explore all of those possibilities but experience has shown that a surprise awaits you. And it’s always a fun experience.

And here’s the really interesting thing: the Internet isn’t just one thing. Yellow Pages are. So are billboards and direct mail pieces. But the Internet is still vastly untapped. There are many many ways to market on the Internet and MILLIONS of places to go! Once we find that “school of fish” that is your target market, we will help you pull in netloads of customers over and over again!

So what is the next step here? What is the next plan of action? Send me your basic information and I will contact you about how I think I can serve you best. Please be assured I’m not here to send you spam or junk mail any kind. I’m not sell your information to anyone, this is for my company’s eyes only.

My team is here and ready to help you increase your profits and improve your business in more ways than one. You will see what I mean as soon as you start working with us. And it also doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to reach people in a single zip code or multiple countries at once, we know how to do what is needed to find those leads and customers you are looking for.

What would your business be like if you could increase the number of new customers you have by 2%? How about 5%? How about 25%? Or even 150%? Anything is possible with the correct marketing campaign. We are here to help you create that campaign and although we certainly have to put in a disclaimer that we can’t promise results like that, we do promise we will do everything we can to help you reach your goals.

Thank you. I look forward to visiting with you and I mostly look forward to seeing a smile on your face knowing that this was an excellent decision in hiring our company.