I wanted to get this short post out quickly as I think it will be VERY helpful to anyone who is interested in Internet Marketing and trying to make money online.   Jeremy Shoemaker from ShoeMoney Blog fame is giving away his 12 (twelve) week Internet Marketing course absolutely free!   I just signed up and I’m very exciting to get a look at it.

Each week Jeremy will be sending out a different pdf report that covers everything from Beginner Internet Marketing stuff all the way to how to manage your products and making money online!

Personally I think no matter what skill level you are, this course will be super helpful.  I’m really interested in using it as a sanity check and to fill in any missing pieces I may have in my business!

Did I mention its FREE?

Here’s the outline of the twelve weeks…

Week 1 – The Beginner’s Guide To Internet Marketing
Week 2 – Affiliate Marketing 101: Everything You Need To Know To Start Promoting Products
Week 3 - Market Research: How To Crush Your Competitors And Discover Hot Niches
Week 4 – Pay Per Click: How To Earn Cash With Each Click
Week 5 – SEO: How To Rank Higher And Increase Traffic
Week 6 – Site Creation: How To Build A Site With Zero Programming Knowledge
Week 7 – Content Creation: How To Create Articles That Attract Users And Increase Sales
Week 8 – Marketing: How To Use Social Media To Spread Your Brand
Week 9 – Make That Cash: 10 Ways To Monetize Your Site And Increase Profitability
Week 10 – Testing & Tracking: How To Optimize Your Site & Make Sense Of The Figures
Week 11 – Building Your Team: How To Network With Others And Find Long Term Partners
Week 12 – Launch Day: How To Kick Start Your Business And Manage Your Projects

Jason says this guide is for everyone and I’m very excited to  be able to learn from him and put into action the methods that have helped him become successful.

AND IT”S FREE –   AMAZING!

Check it out if you have the urge – Let me know what you think of Jeremy “ShoeMoney” Shoemaker and his 12 week free internet marketing course. Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!

There is a lot of hype out there, especially in many Internet Marketing circles.  Lots of people selling magic systems and special formula’s to help you get rich quick or at the very least make money online.  But how can you tell the good products from the bad hyped up products.  Today’s post is about Internet Marketing products that suck and how to separate the  creme from the crap.

Most people who begin to start any kind of business online or try to setup any website will no doubt find themselves receiving emails promising the world.  From free reports to now free training video’s, everyone wants to get to know you and everyone seems to be able to help you.  All you have to do is simply fill in your name and email and salvation can be yours.

The majority of the Internet Marketing products being pandered about on the web are simply crap.  Most are just re-hashed reports transcribed from someone else’s tele-seminar in order to get you on their email list.

Now don’t get me wrong – there isn’t anything wrong with trading an email for some free information.  I do it all the time and it helps me get to know the author of the report and possibly develop a friendship.  What bothers me is when this relationship escalates to a sale of an email course, eBook, video course, access to a membership forum or whatever…  and the product is just junk.

If you find yourself in a situation like this, don’t just take it and loose your money.  Contact the author and GET A REFUND!  If the product sucks, then don’t be afraid to fire up an email and ask for your money back.  98% of the information products available online come with a 30-60 day money back, iron clad, no questions asked, even if its 3:00 am in the morning guarantee.   If that’s the case then exercise your right to get your money back.

One way to make sure you get good useful information is to simply visit the author’s blog, leave comments and start a conversation that way. Many blog owners will end a blog post asking if anyone has questions.  And many blogs will link back to your website just for helping add to the conversation.  This is a great way to get to know more experienced marketers and help your own website ranking at the same time.

Another way is to visit some Internet Marketing forums. There are many great forums with a ton of information and advice from their members.  If you have a question about a particular product simply post a question in one of these forums. There are always friendly people that are more than willing to help.

Here is a list of some really good and free Internet Marketing Forums:

IMD Forum

Warrior Forum

Self Starters Weekly Tips

Do you have some good ways to weed out the bogus Internet Marketing products from the good ones?  Leave us a comment below and tell us what you do keep from buying Internet Marketing Products that Suck.

Not too long ago Josh Spaulding closed the doors for new members of his coaching program at  CoachigwithJosh.com. If you’ve ever had to opportunity to read any of Josh’s eBooks or visit his blog, you know Josh tells it like it is, no bull about it. I personally have been a member of Josh’s Coaching forum for a little over a year and can you first hand that his coaching program is run the same way.

Last Friday I was extremely happy when Josh opened his coaching  forum to the public and is now 100% FREE!  The new site has been polished up and renamed to IMDFORUM.com. IMD which stands for Internet Marketing Discussion Forum is a great place where you can learn just about anything you want to know about any aspect of Internet Marketing.  If your a beginner or a successful marketer working full time, there is much for you to discover, learn and share.  Current membership includes some of the best people in the business, who are there to help you in anyway they can.  Josh Spaulding,  Mark Mason, Milan Kosanovic, Michelle Adams, and many others, including yours truly .  Everyone there is genuinely and honestly having real success with their online business and have some great experiences to share.

The tribe at IMDFORUM.com are all very friendly, active, and honest, and tell it like it is. There is a ton of great information to help you with your business. If there is any question you have, or are curious about some new widget, or perhaps you need an opinion about your website,  you’ll be sure to get quick honest answer. The best thing about IMD Forum is that it’s not a sales fest of everyone under the sun trying to shop their IM products to you, or telling you lies just to get you to buy from them.

Josh started IMDForum.com to be different from other forums like the Warrior Forum, where there is a lot of misinformation going on.

“I realized that although the Warrior forum has a great deal of good information, it also had a BUNCH of bad information!  So while I’m definitely not bashing the Warrior Forum, I do know for a fact it could be improved a great deal!”

And with that simple idea to have a great community where people can share their experiences and ideas without the bull.

IMD Forum officially opened last Friday and for anyone who would like to see for themselves, this forum is surprise you.  Why pay for elite forums and Warrior sales fests when IMDForum.com is free.  Come over and check it out.  Like I said its Free and we would love to see you there!

Have you ever played the game solitaire? Its a card game where you play by yourself (hence the name solitaire). The game involves laying cards out on the table with a goal of sorting them numerically. It can be a frustrating game that you certainly loose most of the time. So, if you know your going to loose, then why play the game at all? Is it the thrill of the chase? Is it the thrill of chance? Or is it simply the fact that you KNOW eventually you WILL win? In my mind this is the exact belief you need to have when you start a business.

Starting a business isn’t an easy task. Even as easy and as cheap as it is starting a online internet based business, it can still be very daunting. The fear of failure alone is enough to paralyze most people from even beginning to start a business. And if you let that fear consume you, you never start.  If that happens you HAVE certainly failed.  The key is to just start and see where it leads you.

Like in Solitaire, you know you may loose but if you never start you will never know if you would have won.

I have started multiple online and offline businesses. So far every single one of them have failed. In the late 90’s I started a free web based email service that was similar to Hotmail or Yahoo mail at the time. I had 45,000 email accounts in my system running out of my bedroom on small server I built from scratch. All of this was running through a Comcast cable modem. Well, eventually Comcast found out and banned me from their system. I literally became a server gypsy toting my email server from one friends house to another. I didn’t’ have the money for hosting which at the time was around $200/mo and Paypal didn’t exist, so there wasn’t any way to monetize the site. Needless to say that business was doomed.

Thinking back to when I was kid, I tried to start a lawn mowing business and that one failed too. There were many others too.  I tried to start a hosting business, an IT consulting business, and a software reseller business. Each one failed.  So why did I keep going? Because I knew eventually I would win.

Its not a matter of can you succeed, it is a matter of when you succeed.

Today, I run a small affiliate marketing business. It doesn’t make much much money, honestly last year it made around $6000. Its not much but the business IS making money and every single cent that comes in gets re-invested back into my business.

And this business may eventually fail too. eBay, Google, or Amazon.com may change and those affiliate checks may stop coming in. But that’s okay, because each step of the way I’m learning, and each time I’m getting better.

In business, just like in Solitaire, if I keep playing, I’m patient, and persistent, I know I will win… and you can too. You’ve just gotta play to win.