This is the first post in almost a year since I jumped into the fire of internet marketing. There is so much to learn and so many wonderful and interesting ways to make money online. I had no idea when I started. Since last summer I have attended the Internet Marketing Made Easy Conference in Detroit (modeled after “The Big Seminar” two times to hear some of the best and most successful internet marketers around. I learned many of the basics and also learned how much more there is to learn.

The biggest realization is that internet marketing is far from easy. It’s not a “get rich quick” plan. It takes dedication and persistence just like any other career. The rewards, however, can be staggering. I was inspired by the parade of 20-30 somethings who found there way to making 7 figure incomes from their dorm rooms or their kitchen tables.

Last July was my first big live event on internet marketing. I highly recommend attending one of these events if you are serious about internet marketing. I heard from professionals like Matt Bacak, Eric Graham, Greg Cesar and Anik Sengal on how to get started making money quickly on the internet.

One of the most important topics covered was how to find customers online. Marketing is so different online. Instead of creating or choosing a product and throwing up a web site to sell it, successful marketers find and create markets first by discovering what people already want. The key skill here is to create a “system” to build a list of potential customers, find out what they want and get it to them. Bacak, calls that market creation. How hard is to to sell to someone who is hungry for what you have to offer?

One system that has worked well for many is to offer valuable, quality content (information) around a niche, usually on a very simple web site and invite visitors to “subscribe” to receive more information on a regular basis. This is the way visitors are turned into leads and prospects. This is a time proven method of building a list of people with interest in your product or services. Chances are that you have already found places like this on the web that you wanted to have more of what was offered and gave your email address in return for information.

For internet marketing newbies, the concepts and techniques involved in setting up a system like that is overwhelming! Getting the web site (even a simple one) and the software required to collect email addresses into a list is quite technical and daunting to most. Anyone that wants to succeed in business in the next 5 years is going to need to understand how to use this system.

I’ve spent the last 8 months learning how to apply this system to my various businesses. I’ve learned how to create all types of web sites, use autoresponders and many ways to deliver traffic to those sites. A couple of months ago I was invited by the one of the founders of the “Internet Marketing Made Easy” seminar to teach a class in using autoresponders and generating customer lists. Since then I attended the “Internet Marketing Made Easy 2008″ seminar March 28-30 and was asked by numerous people if I would be teaching that class again soon?

I’ve decided that instead I will be creating a series of video tutorials that will walk people through the material step-by-step. Stay tuned for an announcement on how you can get those tutorials for free. Internet marketing may not ever be exactly easy, but I intend to help make the path to success a little clearer.