If you are new to the internet marketing world, the answer to that question is probably a definite YES. You probably clicked on an ad that said “Make Money Online”, you might have been a bit cautious, not willing to part with any money until you knew a bit more about it, but that’s OK, you can give them your email address and you’ll be able to download a free report for more information.
Or, you might have signed up for a free newsletter, or maybe even a free email course.
The free stuff gets you interested, you start to get a feel for the direction you want to take and eventually, you buy a product that will show you how you can easily generate a huge income with only a few hours of work each week!
I wish!

However you got drawn into the internet jungle, one thing is certain – it won’t be long before you fall prey to what I call “information jumble”.

It’s like this: there’s so many people online peddling little 30 – 40 page ebooks that tell you what to do, but not really how, or that describe the latest marketing trick that might work for a few months (maybe, for someone who knows what they are doing). Soon, you have thousands of bits of information jumbled in your brain like a giant jigsaw puzzle tipped onto the floor and with the picture missing.

I totally know how you feel! That’s how I felt too. There’s so much to learn – affiliate marketing; viral marketing; email campaigns; autoresponders; find a niche; and what the heck is SEO or HTML?
You can’t figure out where to start; it seems you have to know all of those things at once.

Now here’s the truth of it: first, there’s no such thing as a quick way to make overnight riches without any effort. Sure, the guys who have been working online for a long while can show you screenshots of amazing earnings which seem to happen in a short space of time, but they often neglect to describe the months of work and money spent developing a product and preparing the launch campaign.
Second, there is a lot to learn and those guys had to learn it too. Most of us can’t learn all of this stuff overnight.

I was on a tight budget, so I was reluctant to part with a big hunk of money. Instead, I cautiously bought lower-priced books that were supposed to teach me whatever I was struggling with at the time. I found that did not help – there were just too many bits of the puzzle missing.

Here’s the thing: many of us start out online with little or no money. We want to get going quickly, right?
The fact is, there is a lot to learn and you have to learn it step by step in the right order. It’s no good reading up on how to drive traffic if you don’t yet have a website.

My advice is to find yourself a mentor – someone who is already successful at what he/she is doing online, who will teach you how to do the same.
Make sure you will be able to contact that person, or a support person, directly. A home study course is fine as long as there is good support if you need it.
It doesn’t have to be expensive, in fact, the most expensive training (the $$ = four figures) I signed up for turned out to be a scam!

Even if you are on a tight budget, shop around until you find something you can afford – the investment will save you money and time in the long run, and the sooner you can learn enough to get started, the quicker you will start to have money coming in.

In my next post, I’ll talk about how to choose your internet marketing training program.

To a rewarding internet journey,

Sue