I don’t know if I’m alone in this or not, but sometimes I try to take shortcuts. I bet a lot of people do. Its taken me a while to realize this but in the Internet Business, don’t do it. I’m not saying that you should not try to automate as much as possible and use the tools at your hands to make your tasks more efficient, just don’t take certain shortcuts. [Read more...]

There has been a lot of hype lately on various forums about the Death of Internet marketing and the Death of Crap products and a host of others. I think what we are seeing here is a change in the web that is directly related to the new Web 2.0 and social bookmarking craze. I had a long conversation with my wife today about this topic ( she is a psychologist). We spoke at length and came up with some ideas as to why this may be. People on the web are changing. At one time people used the internet to do research on topics that interested them and they still do that and will continue for a long time, but things are becoming different. People are now wanting to interact more with other people who have similar interests. Social sites such as MySpace and YouTube.com have become hugely popular over the past couple of years. Niche forums are more popular than ever before and you can even see this with the popularity of sites like Digg.com and StumbleUpon. These sites allow people to vote and share articles and stories that are of interest to them. This means that the people of the internet will start to determine what the internet becomes.

Marketers are part of those people, but if they are only selling products and not actually contributing useful information to the rest of the net then they will not be as popular. Things have to change. The era of cookie cutter sales letters determined to separate as many users from their money as soon as possible by selling the dream of easy internet riches are coming to an end. Quality sites have ruled the net since its infancy and that will continue. Its nto enough to just build it and they will come. You must build quality and add value and they will vote for you when they come so others will come.

There have been a host of people talking on various forums and even an eBook written about the impending doom of Internet Marketing. I have read Mike F’s book and I also read a new sales letter today at http://www.thedeathofcrap.com/ which seems to be more along the lines of what I believe. In fact I think we are seeing a massive change in the way things are done from here on out. The Guru’s need to wake up, the days of seducing newbies with promises of instant wealth are coming to an end. Mike did get a few things right in his book and even the unknown author of the last book has some very good ideas and make some good points. The newbies are learning, but are they learning the right things?

I’ve done a lot of soul searching the past few months and I’ve come to a few conclusions. I know in my heart I am right as my conclusions have been proved time and time again on the web. If people intend on earning a living on the Internet, then you need to go back to the basics.

Don’t’ chase the latest fad just because a Guru tells you to. Don’t be seduced by the promises of fast bucks. Don’t buy the dream. Think critically about where you want to be and then devise an ethical plan to get there. Make sure you can live with your decisions. Making a fast buck is not worth your identity, give value to your customers and they will thank you for it.