There are people spreading inaccurate information and misleading you in Internet marketing. Some of them do it unintentionally - they just repeat things they've heard. Others do it intentionally - they take advantage of your greed, or they produce products full of theory. Either way, you get the same results. You spend years trying to market things without any real success.

I'd like to ask you to do me a favor today! Look at what you're selling, and how you're selling it. Then ask yourself, "Is this working?" If it's not, then you need to do something differently.

Most likely, you need to change your product mix. If you're offering your market a product, and they're not buying it, it's because they don't want it (at least not the way that you've packaged it). No matter how good you think that the product is, you need to drop it and find out what your market WANTS. The real experts will tell you, "Sell them what they want." The real experts won't tell you, "Sell them my products!" Your market may not want my products.

It took me a while to understand that ?market to product match.? When I first built my soul food website at http://Chitterlings.com I tried to sell them a variety of Internet marketing products, and all kinds of affiliate products. They kept telling me that wasn't what they want. When I finally listened, and wrote a cookbook, I created a six-figure residual income stream!

It is possible that you're selling a product suitable for your market, but packaging or presenting it all wrong. Do a little price testing (without reducing your price too much). Also test packaging the product with other related, desirable products. In your copy, test making different parts of that package your lead product. That may make a big difference.

I titled this article, "You Really Should Be Upset." That's because often the cause of your failing to make any progress is simply that you've bought into the hype. You've bought rights to unwanted products, or worthless programs. You bought into the hype because YOU wanted to believe that you could build an online business with no monetary investment and no work. That makes it your fault, but the person serving up the hype bears some of the blame too.

Many shysters never see the results of their misleading the flock. They're like the high altitude bombers that drop bombs through the clouds and never see the resulting death and destruction. All these shysters know, is that when they tell you what you want to hear they make lots of money.

Likewise, many people write copy so good that it does get the unknowing to whip out his wallet and buy a totally useless product. An example might be an outdated package of resale rights. This unknowing person then puts up a website and tries to sell individual products from that package, for the suggested retail price, while others are giving away the same item, or selling it on Ebay for five cents (as a list building tool in both cases).

I recently had one of my subscribers explain to me that, while the scams are easy for people like me to detect, the newbie is defenseless. I think that's partly true, but the old rule of , "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is," serves as an excellent measuring stick.

If you feel like that subscriber above, then you probably need someone to guide you through the minefields. So, you ask, "How do I know who to trust to guide me through the minefields?"

First of all, trust your instincts. Secondly, look for proof that your guide "has a clue." If they're that good, there are signs.

Let me give you a few examples:

1) When I wanted to know more about Google AdSense I looked around at all of the products telling me "how to improve my results as an AdSense publisher." I looked for evidence that the people creating the products actually "practiced what they preached." I kept looking until I came across a guy making $400,000 per year from his AdSense sites. That's who I listened to. That mentor of mine is named Dr. Mike Woo-Ming. You can read about him at: http://WillieCrawford.com/DrMikeWooMing.htm

2) When I was looking for another group to mastermind with, I looked for a group where everybody was bragging about how much they learned, and enjoyed themselves, during the group meetings.

The group that caught my attention was led by a guy named Mark Hendricks. They meet several times a year, and members can't wait to get back together. Mark actually teaches the group and brings in outside experts. You can read about Mark's group at: http://WillieCrawford.com/MarksGroup.htm

3) When I wanted to know how to market affiliate products better, I searched until I found a guy making over $1.4 million a year selling affiliate products. Then I starting studying his methods and reading everything he produced. That guy's name is Ewen Chia, and he's actually teaching a handful of people how to become "super affiliates." Don't you think that he's the right person to teach this? Top Internet marketers like Marlon Sanders and John Reese do... because Ewen sells more of their affiliate products than practically anyone else. You can check out Ewen at http://WillieCrawford.com/EwenChia.htm

I could give you dozens more examples of people who would be excellent guides. All of these people have two things in common. First of all, the evidence of their success is everywhere. Secondly, you could look on any of their websites, find their clients or people giving them testimonials, and then contact those people to confirm how they REALLY feel about the "guru's"expertise.

Another way to confirm you're following the right person, and the right path, is to look at the success of people taught by those people. If their students are struggling, then run in the other direction!

As the title say, "You Really Should Be Upset." However you should be upset with yourself as well as with those who have mislead you. Being upset should fill you with the conviction to not be mislead again, and to run your business based upon common sense, and solid business practices.

Copyright 2006 Willie Crawford