8 Secrets To Conquering The Internet

By Marige O'Brie

While some marketers struggle for years to earn enough money to pay the bills, others zoom to the top, their sites exploding with traffic and their in-boxes flooded with order and payment statements. Why? How do these marketers differ from the rest? Are they smarter? Braver? Do they invest more wisely or have more money to invest? Do they know the right people?

No. In fact, there's only one real differencde between them and the rest of the internet marketing community. In a word: Attitude.

They aren't intimidated by the internet -- they eat it for breakfast. Like ancient conquerors, they plunge into the vast sea of the internet, heedless of its tempermental storms, jutting their jaws at the giant terrors that it holds while the rest of us shiver on the shores, barely daring to get our toes wet.

Of course they've been knocked down, beaten back and have the scars to prove it. But with each beating, their determination only strengthens and, as the sting of defeat fades, they learn from their mistakes. Most of all, they never, ever give up and never question their resolve. They will make it or die trying.

Thinking like a conqueror: THIS is the first and most elemental step to becoming one. Because of this, they take swift, decisive action, they reach out and grab what they want and they don't take "no" for an answer.

Okay. Great. But what does this mean to the average person? Can anyone be an internet conqueror or do they have to be born that way?

CONQUERORS ARE MADE, NOT BORN
Attitude is everything. Attitude influences thinking patterns, which decides a course of action which, ultimately, leads to success or failure. Like the old saying goes, "the only true failure is the one who gives up." And the ones who give up don't have the attitude to continue on.

So attitude is the #1 secret to conquering the internet. Below is all 8 secrets, some of which may shock those still cringing at the shoreline. It's not necessary to do all of them, if indeed that's even possible since each can become quite demanding. And these are not all-inclusive, since there are probably new and better ways coming out every day. But each demonstrates the difference in attitude and thinking of a marketer and an internet Conqueror.

1. ATTITUDE
Marketers follow once the way has been cleared. Conquerors forge ahead.

2. CREATE A PRESENCE
Marketers tend to stay in the background, creating pages and adding their links, but never making themselves available to the general public. Conquerors create a specific "presence", a personality that distinguishes them from others. This attracts attention, which also attracts sales. They do this by...

3. START AN ORIGINAL NEWSLETTER
Marketers read newsletters; Conquerors write them. If this seems daunting, begin it as a blog with an RSS Feed. Do NOT use a pre-written system or import other's content. The key is to create something unique that cannot be duplicated.

4. PUBLISH AN EBOOK
Marketers read ebooks; Conquerors write them. It doesn't have to be very long, just original and informative. If this seems like too much, start by publishing articles. Once 10-15 articles have been written, re-write them into one cohesive collection.

5. START AN ARTICLE SUBMISSION SITE
Marketers submit articles; Conquerors run the submission sites. Again, this software is available, in some cases, for free. By doing this, both authors and newsletters come to the Conquerors' site, instead of vise versa.

6. START A FORUM
Marketers go to forums; Conquerors create forums and draw others to them. The key to this is finding a niche that has no forum and starting one. There are programs that offer free forum programs on the internet. But be prepared to set policy and moderate the forum, as well as promote it.

7. CREATE A SEARCH ENGINE
Marketers submit to search engines; Conquerors run them. Again, the software is available online. There are even some that, to some extent are self-automated. The only set up involved is writing a simple letter to the submission services, asking that they include your site in their listings.

8. CREATE A HOMEPAGE
Marketers have a home page; Conquerors provide them. A home page may require a bit more set up, bandwidth and maintenance than other options but, by creating a home page, a conqueror draws regular visitors to themselves and a revenue source for posting ads.

There is a recurring theme in each of these examples. That is, to do something which organically attracts visitors. So the final difference? Marketers run after visitors; Conquerors attract visitors to them.--mon