As we look at building our online businesses, many of us
acknowledge, early-on, that we don't know it all.  Those
who don't, are almost certain to fail because they often
attempt to apply techniques that simply don't work online
- to their online businesses. The quickest way to online
success is to model  those who are already successful at
what you want to do. It' s that simple.

Of all of the chores involved in building your business,
marketing is usually the most critical. Poor marketing is
also the reason so many businesses fail. You need to learn
to properly market your business or  hire someone else to
do it for you.  I'll give you a few  recommended resources to
help jumpstart your education in a minute.

A second extremely important skill that goes hand-in-hand
with marketing is generating publicity.  You can have the
greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it,
it may as well not exist.  If no one knows about  you, then
you won't make any sales!

Let's look at generating publicity first...

Publicity can take many forms, and they often overlaps
what many would define as marketing. For today, I want you
to  focus on the most effective, and often cheapest, publicity.
In fact, this great publicity is often free. What we're talking
about here is publicity generated by getting the media and
others talking about you and your business. We're talking
about the publicity typically generated through tools such
as press releases and doing media interviews.

Why is the above type of publicity so powerful? It's so
powerful because people believe what others say about
you MORE than they believe what you say about yourself.
So when you can get magazines, newspapers, television
and radio personalities, and even online ezines talking
about you, those hearing this buzz believe it more and are
therefore more likely to go check you out.

A second reason this type of publicity is so powerful is
because you can literally generate millions of dollars in
free publicity if you know what you are doing. You may
not be able to afford a full-page ad in a major magazine
or newspaper. However, let the right person know about
your story and that same publication will be all to happy
to tell the world about you... and give them your website
url and/or your toll-free phone number.

Learning to get media attention is not hard. To make it even
easier, I've arranged for my friend, Annie Jennings, who runs
a top PR agency, to help you a little.  Her site is at:
http://www.anniejenningspr.com/teleseminars.htm

I gave you the above url because it is the page where she
tells you of upcoming telesemianrs she's hosting on various
promotion and sales-related topics.  These teleseminars are
all free. 

While at Annie's site, sign up for other goodies she offers
including courses in generating press releases, creating
a platform, getting on top radio shows, etc.  She'll give you
all types of freebies like audiotapes and coffee cups. When
I first met her, and she sent me an intro package, it felt
like Christmas :-)

So we'll let Annie turn you into a "media darling."  Then
you can focus on learning marketing. This is where most
online business people should probably spend 80% of
their time - not on all of the busywork that you can get
someone else to do.  The highest and best use of your
time is probably in marketing your business, not making
webpage updates, writing or even creating products. You
can get freelancers to do this for you very inexpensively
at places like Elance.com

Marketing is nothing more than communicating the
benefits of your products or services effectively to your
ideal customer.  It all hinges upon effective communications,
and your communications can be greatly improved if you
understand how and why we interact the way we do with
each other. To get a firm grasp on that topic I recommend
that you read the book, "Influence, The Psychology of
Persuassion," by Dr. Robert Cialdini.

You'll never be the same after you've read and digest this
book. If you're like me you'll find yourself reading it over
and over!  You can find this book at online bookstores.

Another solid book on marketing is Jay Abraham's
"Mr. X" book.  This 376 page book distills several decades
of the marketing know-how of Jay Abraham. The full
title of the book is "Money-Making Secrets of Marketing
Genius Jay Abraham And Other Marketing Wizards - A
No-Nonsense Guide To Great Wealth and a Personal
Fortune."   This book is so good that you could devote
six month just to studying the one book, and you'd
understand more  about marketing than 95% of your
competitors.

This book is marketed by the Abraham Marketing Group,
but Internet marketers working with the group run specials
from time to time. Just watch your email for one of these
specials.

A course that I recommend that isn't just on marketing
but on developing the proper mindset is by Dr. Robert
Anthony. It's called "Know How To Be Rich."  In order
to run a really successful business, you need to properly
train your mind. Many people actually need to give
themselves permission to be successful. Dr. Anthony's
course was a big "A-ha" for me and many of my clients.
You can find it at: http://TheInternetLifestyle.com

You'll notice that none of the resources just recommeded
were specifically Internet-marketing-only  resources.
That's because internet marketing is just an offshoot of
marketing, and most of the principles are the same.  Most
Internet marketers who are struggling, don't have a good
grasp of the over-riding basic marketing principles.  That's
what the above resources will provide.

Two Internet marketing resources I will recommend are a
private membership site I've set up, and a course on how to
generate website traffic.  You can find my site at:
http://TheRealSecrets.com  The webpage does a great job
of explaining why you need to be a member :-)

Without website traffic, your website basically has the same
results as a billboard on a highway that no one travels. It
produces no results because no one sees it. So you do need
to learn how to generate traffic. For that I recommend the very
indepth, crash course offered by John Reese's Traffic Secrets.
I've personally gone through the 13 CD's and DVD ROM's, and
3 manuals - TWICE.

You can check out this course at:
http://TrafficSecretsByJohnReese.com
It's a little expensive, but well worth it if you USE what he
teaches. If you aren't going to use it, then you should save
your money.

If you work your way through the above resources you'll be
well on your way to building a massively successful online
business. None of these resources are something you give a
quick glance and then the magic happens. They all require
effort. Put in the effort now and you'll have a very solid 
foundation upon which to build your Internet marketing business. 
By understand basic marketing, and then how the internet differs,
you'll possess some very powerful, rarely mastered knowledge.