Don't you wish that business was like a paint-by-numbers kit?

When you were a youngster, did your parents ever buy you one of those paint-by-numbers kits that kids love so much? You know, one of those where you had lots of squiggly black lines on a white page with instructions that all areas with a '1' were to be colored blue, all sections that had a '2' were to be red, and so on? I used to love those things.  And if you ever had a kit like this, you probably remember that it didn't matter how artistically challenged you were, you could always produce a picture that looked exactly like it should, simply by following the instructions. Granted, the only requirement for doing so was having the ability to follow these instructions but, hey, that's why painting by numbers is for kids, right?

Here's another thing that I always remember about painting by numbers. It never mattered how hard you tried to see what the picture was when the page was still white, all you could see was a mass of lines before you colored it in.  After that, the full 'picture' would be miraculously revealed... and it always looked great!  But the numbered guidelines on their own meant nothing without the substance provided by the colors. In many ways, this is a perfect analogy for online marketing. You can have all the guidelines you want, but without substance you're unlikely to achieve real and lasting success. On the other hand, substance or (in online marketing terms) content has little use without some guidelines to follow first.

From what I've seen over the years, far too many marketers have either the guidelines or substance but they do not have both.  Unfortunately, there are far too many so-called online success training products that offer only a small sliver of the complete picture while suggesting that they are in fact teaching you everything that you need to know. Would-be online entrepreneurs buy these products and implicitly believe in them.  They were written by experts, after all!

This is why I recommend starting out with an inexpensive proposition and plenty of useful and ongoing training.  If you are involved with Internet Marketing (or are just starting out), you will absolutely, positively need an autoresponder.  For that, I recommend TrafficWave.  It has everything that you will need, including a great affiliate plan and tons and tons of training material to help you 'paint-by-numbers'.  Secondly, I highly recommend Get Referrals Fast as your complete hands-on training resource for getting the most out of your autoresponder and email marketing in general.  With inexpensive tools and plenty of Free advice, you too can create a 'paint-by-numbers' online-business masterpiece!