Internet and affiliate marketing is rife with ebooks, software and coaching programs all designed to make you a better affiliate marketer. It's a shame that few of them actually do. Countless newbies and experienced marketers alike want to increase their earnings by using the latest techniques and buy countless ebooks to help them do so. It doesn't have to be that way.

If you have ever purchased the latest IM ebook to get that edge on you competition you are usually buying nothing more than a rehashed technique. Sometimes though you find a real gem something that really helps, but most times you end up frustrated even further with another $97 down the drain.

However, there is a marketing lesson in all this. Why do marketers continue to sell these ebooks and software? The answer is because people buy them and they buy them in droves. "Gurus" have found a rabid hungry market that demands more and newer information and gladly pays for it. In that simple statement my friend, is the key to your marketing success.

There is an old analogy that says if you put an engine (marketing techniques) on an airplane that will fly (good marketing fundamentals) then you can fly forever. If you put that same engine on a plane that won't fly because of poor design or poor construction, you will just crash even faster. So why not learn how to build a solid plane to start and then add an engine?

Marketing fundaments are simple and old as time. The problem lies in their simplicity. People tend to ignore them and look for something more complicated. It's in our nature to complicate things, but successful marketing boils down to the following:

1. Find a market - There are so many ways to do this from ebay, to amazon, to magazines, to best selling books.
2. Find out what the market wants - Spend a little time where the market hangs out. Forums and discussion groups are a great place online.
3. Give the market what they want - With a little research and effort its not to hard to figure out. What does the market say and do?
4. Get Feedback - If you are making sales, then you are on the right track. If your not, then your not.
5. Tweak and repeat - Take the feedback that the market gives you and adjust. Then go find another market.

It is so easy to dismiss these steps as too basic because they are so simple. Yet your first or next marketing success will come from following those 5 simple steps. Take them, commit them to memory and take action daily and soon your income will begin to grow. It might start at $25, $50, $150 month, but with dedication and consistency it will soon become $2,500, $5,000, or $15,000