Abraham Lincoln was famous for his humorous and pithy remarks. One of them was; “You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

This pretty much sums up the dilemma of the marketer who is just starting out on the Web. Where do you start? Whom can you trust? What should you be doing first? If that is where you happen to be, then I may be able to point you to some options that will save you time and frustration, let alone money.

“You may fool all of the people some of the time”

There are some very savvy people who can fool even well seasoned marketers. Not the really super affiliate types, but just enough of the lower tier professionals. It goes with the territory but can be quickly caught on forums where seasoned online veterans meet. The Warrior Forum comes to mind. Once the word is out that a launch isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, you can always cancel out and get your money back. You may be beaten and chastened but you’re not out.

“You can even fool some of the people all of the time”

This is where you find yourself starting out. And there are enough new entrants on a daily basis to keep some of the operators in business. Mind you, there business is not repeat business, but the steady supply of “newbies” and the openness of the Web allows for this to happen.

If you were like me you started with the simple desire to do data entry. So you pay your entry fee and find out the site isn’t about data entry. It’s an aggregator for all these affiliate sites that will make you a millionaire in three easy clicks…all for another fee of course. Some of these sites have a “system”. So you fork over another fifty bucks and get a sixty page PDF all about Click Bank or Paydotcom or whatever… But no system. OK so you learned a few things you didn’t know but you’re no closer to making a living, not by a long shot. Not until you find the 30 Day Challenge offered by Ed Dale and his team. Or maybe you sign up with ClickNewz by Lynn Terry. These resources are free and full of useful information.

Though you learn fast enough to avoid the pot hole again, the nature of the Web is such, that there are thousands of newcomers right behind you ready to hit that hole just like you did. If they’re lucky they might join a forum and read one of your comments, but more likely than not, they are just going to have to go through the gauntlet just like you did.

The idea here is to find someone who can give the shortcut to decent information. Someone who knows it’s a business and that it takes time to grow a business.

“But you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

This is the stage where you may not be established but you are much more aware of the context in which you are working. Hopefully, you have found some good reading to start with. Rosalind Gardner’s The Super Affiliate Handbook is one resource that comes to mind.

It will take time, money, and determination to hang in there. You’ll have to work the forums and ask a lot of questions, but you’ll soon begin to see things more clearly. The scams with lousy graphics, endless sales pages that don’t tell you what they charge. The so called “free” offers that are never free. It will soon be more obvious to you. You might even find a system that works for you.

If you are into sales, maybe it’s a product marketing system that teaches you to buy resell rights and shows you how to set up your business. Maybe it’s a Web site building system that teaches you to create you own business out of your hobby or passion.

Whatever it is, you have now developed the instincts and ability to see through the smoke. You keep your emotions in check and coolly test and cancel promotions based on your well learned lessons of product quality and market knowledge you now possess. You may not be making a fortune and you may even not be earning anything yet; but you are on your way because you can lay out a realistic plan to develop your business.

In many ways, online business is no different than offline business, except that in the former, you work at your own pace and answer to only one boss…YOU!

So keep up the hard work and may your travels be prosperous.