Online Marketing - 15 Q&A. Part17

17. Question 11. I want to learn more and keep buying guides, but how do I know who to trust and if their stuff works?

An interesting question, which will occur to most people at the start of their marketing career. Especially as there's not really anyone out there that teaches this stuff outside of the internet. With things being so impersonal, and with such a huge selection of information laying around for you to pick up, I'm going to give you some pointers from which you should be able to establish yourself a solid ground of online marketers that hold good information about the subject you're looking for without having to buy and test, and buy and test, which in the end will only put a big dent in your pocket.

Let’s look at some things that you should be looking for when buying other peoples stuff, and some things that you should avoid at all costs. First up, testimonials. Who's saying what about these people and their products? We're looking for real testimonials here, plain text, audio, video, or all of those put together, the more the better. Look out for marketers that you already know and trust writing testimonials about these people on their sites, but failing that, you can always look at who's promoting it.

But hold on, back up a second. What does this mean for you as a marketer? Like I said before, to get the attention of the big guys, you'll need to be pretty established already, so what if you can't get testimonials by well known people that everyone knows and trusts? Well, you can, in a more indirect way. Remember how I said everything connects to everything else in this system, and they all develop and build each other in so many ways that I'm still discovering them myself? Well, think about your joint ventures.

These are the people who are going to be telling their lists, and the people that have been on them for years, and totally trust them. This is another advantage you have, and another big reason to score these joint ventures. It's not only going to form the basis of your sales and your resource building, but the basis of trust that's going to be passed from the list owner, to their subscribers, to your site. Again, this is another way to succeed without having to fight over pulling big names. Far more effective.

This is one of my favorites. Because I'm subscribed to so many marketers lists now, that exclusively promote affiliate programs after building their resources, that’s the perfect place for me to find out, not only who to trust, but as a bonus, what’s hot and what’s not. This is why
you'll never see me touch the unsubscribe button as long as I'm receiving ads from top marketers, because it's such a powerful tool, they're doing me a service and they get to advertise their stuff and make a whole bundle of cash at the same time, steering me in the right direction based on the research that they've already done. How’s that for a silent joint venture? It’s a win, win situation. I would suggest you do the same, and don't forget to keep yourself a record too, so that if you change e-mail addresses you can edit your subscription so that you're not missing anything.

The other great thing about this is, the more you mingle in your chosen market, the more people you meet and contacts you gain (most of who will come to you after your first few products) the more you hear, the more information you're fed, the wiser you become. As with any part of online marketing, from product creation to understanding and spotting who to trust, it all develops with time and experience. As you can see, using those two methods, there's no need for extensive research or to pull your wallet out for every well written sales letter.

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