If you are new to internet marketing, take a deep breath and pause for a while. May be, right now your mind is cluttered with the thousands of false promises, hype-filled blatant lies and innumerable free reports, audios and videos that you obtained after surrendering your email id only to bombarded with more such things on a regular basis.



May be you are lucky enough to start with this article before you get into anything else. That is a remote chance but I would not overrule that.

I have been receiving questions from people who are absolutely new to internet marketing, who have just learnt to open their emails. Based on my own experience when I was a newbie and based on the questions I receive I have worked out some self disciplining rules.

Here are the five commandments for you:

5. Stop Taking Sales Letters Seriously

When I just started out online I was swept away by every promise made in every sales letter. They all create such a wonderful picture of me flooded with cash without doing an ounce of work. 'No skills needed, nothing complex, come to me and I will make you rich, overnight!'

Many of the sales letters told me what I could do with the money I earned, how I can spend it. Why are they filling up their sales letters in rosy pictures and imaginary utopia? The features of the ebook, software or package they are trying to sell me cannot fill in more than 0.01% of the sales letter.

Stop Falling a Prey to 'Get Rich Quick' Scam Sites

I strongly advice you not to spend money on each and every product or service that is sold online.

I would NEVER want you to waste money on 'get rich quick' scam sites.

If they say 'pay me $10 today and you will earn $1000 tomorrow' - pause and think - why would they sell it to you in the first place? Would they not be making that $1000 themselves?

Ask them if they will allow you to join them on credit and after you earn the first $1000 they take the initial amount you are supposed to pay. Find out if anybody will do that for you.

What such people usually do is to tell you - 'no need for a product, no need for a website, no skills required and you can earn through data entry or survey' or whatever. Once you pay the required amount and join them, they would ask you to send a similar email to others. If anybody is caught you make money and they make more money using you. You have been cheated and to earn it back you have to cheat others.

Instead if you invest that money in your own domain name and webspace you can earn online in a variety of ways.

4. Stop Selling Your Soul For Freebies

I strongly advice that you start learning how to do things using the free tips and resources available online.

But beware! Why are they giving you something free? What do they get in return? Will they give you anything free if they have nothing to gain? NEVER.

So you get a free report, audio or video. The Internet Marketer gets your precious email ID. If it is not like selling your soul, it is atleast like selling your kidney.

It would be better for you to sell a piece of nail, you have cut off and are going to throw away anyway rather than sell your kidney.

Keep a special email for downloading free stuff. You should be able to confirm your email ID to download the free stuff. That is all is needed. Do not give your personal email ID and flood your inbox with sales pitches.

What can you give in return to the internet marketers who gave you some good stuff? Post a comment on their blog, post a review of it on your blog and spread the word if the stuff is really good. But do everything to protect your mental peace. And that is going to be disturbed if you do not have two emails, one for personal use and another for signing up to offers.

3. Learn From Every Experience

Many people, I know, are only earning through viewing ads for $0.01 or $0.0003. Of course, this is not going to pay much. But how can you learn through even this activity? You can note the features of the websites you visit. You can pause and think what appeals to you as a visitor and what irritates you. This can help when you start with your own website.

You receive an email or download a free report and that is trash. You download another report with great content. How do you feel in both circumstances. That can teach you what you should do when you have your own list of subscribers.

If you set your goal and look at everything you do from that point of view, you will find some valuable lessons even in the most unexpected places.

2. Do Not Make 'Teaching Internet Marketing to Others' as Your First Online Business

Many people on my list want to start online by teaching others how to earn online. They have collected some tips from others, may be downloaded some free reports and now they think they know what to do. They know what to do but have not done it themselves yet. It is dangerous for the one who teaches and the one who learns from that person.

Do not try to teach others 'How to Make Money Online' before you have earned money online yourself. Do not try to make money by telling others how to make money, by passing on ideas copied from other internet marketers.

First you earn money online through legitimate means, learn from the experience and then if you think you have the ability to help others make money, go ahead and teach others.

Choose a niche where you can make money. And start your online venture. As you go through the process, note down the problems you faced, the solutions you worked out, etc. You can develop the notes into a full course later, after you have made a lot of money in that chosen niche.

1. Treat Internet Marketing as a Serious Business

Move on from being a freebie loader - Real Business Needs Real Investment. You need to invest first in a domain name and webspace.

You can start with a blogger blog or other free webspace providers such as geocities to start with. But then you cannot hope to earn much just by doing this.

You can learn through free tips and resources online, but they will take you only a little distance.

I am not contradicting myself. I do not think you need to buy each and every product that comes along. Develop evaluative skills, know yourself and your needs, assess the products and services and invest your money wisely.

When you start a shop, offline, you would need to spend money on a number of things such as rent for your shop (add land and building cost if you want to own it), products you want to sell, notice board and other advertisement related costs, staff if you need help, etc.

In the online business you need a domain name and website - it costs much less than the shop rent and is nothing compared to the land and building cost.

You need products and services to sell - You can get resell and affiliate products to sell until you create your own.

You need to spread the word - you can generate traffic through free and paid means.

You may need to outsource part of your work as your business grown - this is like hiring staff in your offline shop.

So if you want to start an online venture take it up as a serious business, play the game safely without falling a prey to others and avoid the temptation to get rich quickly by misleading others. There are more commandments you need to know but these five are crucial.