First, let me say that the title of this article is intended to be sarcastic, lest anyone should read further thinking they are going to get a surefire method that they can put to practice.  Also, my apologies to Ken Evoy for the takeoff on his product name - but as I said, the title is intended to be sarcastic.

Recently I was scanning through the posts in one of the more respected forums on the web where webmasters share ideas about almost everything.  On any given day you will see posts from "newbies" and veterans alike soliciting help with some problem, or recommendations for a tool that might help them in advertising, or managing their opt-in lists, etc.

While it makes it very clear why people are getting fed up with the notion of the "internet marketing guru", and the fact that every Tom, Dick and Harry out there professes to be one - this following post was really over the top and took me totally by surprise!

Here's the first paragraph, verbatim.  

Don't focus on the typos or grammatical errors.  That's not the point here.  

What you need to understand is that this individual found a place where reasonably successful internet marketers hang out, and might just as well have said, "I want to write an electronic information book, on a subject which I know nothing about.  Can you help me?"  

This post to the forum included a link to the poster's website, so of course I had to have a look.  

Can you guess what I found?  The website was promoting a huge number of web marketing courses in the form of eBooks to be delivered via email.  Yet another guru.  Were all of the web marketing courses available at this site created in this way?  That would be my guess!

Had I not already decided for myself who the real gurus are, and come across the "web marketing courses" site via a search engine (rather than via the posting I shared with you above) - I might have been tempted to order one or more of the courses offered.  

Of course, the source of the information was probably good - if it came from the particular forum where I saw the posting.  But...

• It would have been regurgitated info (and you can imagine what the worm looks like when the mother Robin gives it up to feed her young - it's just not the same afterward)

• The eBook author, by his own admission, did not know his subject matter.  He had not experienced what he was writing about, nor did he understand the topic.  Just how well do you think we can learn from the eBook being promoted?

Don't get me wrong.  

The web is all about information exchange, and one of the greatest learning environments ever conceived.  But don't decide to write an eBook and then go in search of someone else's knowledge to fill your pages.  You will create an inferior product.  And... you will spawn yet another multitude of people who are 

1. at first convinced that it's all magic and all they need is to follow your(?) advice, and

2. later become bitter and disillusioned that it must all be a bunch of lies and nobody can really succeed in cyber-land.

Somewhere in the middle lies the truth.  It's not magic!  It requires learning, experience, and hard work.  The only difference in the internet and the "brick and mortar" marketplace is the size of that market.  

It still has to be captured.  The whole thing is not just sitting there waiting for you to appear at the front door with your Fuller Brush kit in hand.  

If you want a piece of this pie, make sure you get your guidance from truly knowledgeable sources.  

1. Don't try to digest every written word on how to market on the internet.  Be selective, and
2. use your time wisely (it will be your largest expenditure).  

If you have an interest in creating an informational product for the web, but don't know where (or how) to start - the best, most time-tested advise available, is Ken Evoy's, Make Your Knowledge Sell.  Get your guidance from one of the true gurus, find the book that is in you, and learn to make YOUR knowledge sell.

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About the Author: Sid Hale is the founder of ad-CLiX, publisher of the ad-CLiX eZine, and has been satisfying client needs as an Information Technology Consultant for decades.  As a consultant, he constantly experiments with "bleeding edge" technology to maximize value to his clients.  His latest project is the ad-CLiX Network, offering FREE Banner and Exit Page exchange in a personal effort to try to replace spam as the predominant means of advertising on the web.

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