Almost everything you’ve been told about internet marketing online may be wrong.

Don’t believe me? Did you know that the vast majority of people struggling to turn an online profit never make more then $5.00 a month online. Even after months, sometimes years, of struggling and frustration.

Wait, it gets worse… Time and time again I’ve heard the horror stories. True stories of struggling entrepreneurs sacrificing their family, friends and a whole lot of money chasing images of quick online cash, fast cars and beautiful mansions on the beach.

They think that by getting their hands on the latest and greatest products being touted by the biggest guru’s they will suddenly have a better understanding of exactly what they need to be successful.

This dismal fact is probably all the proof you need. After all, doesn’t it seem like the only people really making money from these big product launches are the million dollar gurus selling them?

Many people are so involved following every word being spoken by top internet marketers that they lose focus of what really works. You see with the constant barrage of new product launches, push button solutions and one distraction to the next, it’s near impossible to see through the fog.

I hope this hasn’t happened to you…

I’ve studied the purchasing behaviors of people in the internet marketing niche at length, and there’s no wonder there’s such a vicious cycle.

Here’s what I found…

The vast majority of purchases being made for internet marketing products fall into three categories. Fast, Automatic and Easy.

The problem lies in the fact that real online success, the fast, automatic or easy way, couldn’t be further from the truth. That is without first putting forth the effort, and having the right mindset to achieve an online business that works.

There is no fast, automatic and easy solution. Trust me, I’ve looked…

You see, I believe you already have the answers you need. Sure, there are plenty of things you don’t know when starting out that you will either have to: A. Learn yourself or B. Pay someone to do for you.

That’s not what I’m talking about. Did you know I made twice as much money in my first six months full time online then in the following six months?

When I started out working full time online in 2005, I had been making money online from the very start. I knew right from the beginning that I really needed my own online info-products in order to have complete control over my online business.

With that in mind I began creating my own info-products from scratch. You wouldn’t believe the things I accomplished with absolutely no experience or technical ability. I made my own sales page, ebook and even a book cover. The book cover I somehow managed to piece together on Microsoft paint. I accomplished all of this within one month of starting.

Now for the really interesting part… Within the first two weeks I was making over $50 per day. It was during that time that my girlfriend and I spent a week at the beach in Florida. Then we spent another week driving across the U.S.

Every time I checked my Clickbank account, I realized that my income was continually increasing. Affiliates were signing up and promoting my product. Every time their promotions resulted in a sale the product was delivered to the customer automatically and the money was deposited in my account. It was an amazing feeling.

By the end of the month I had made several thousand dollars. My income continued like this for the next several months. Of course I was working and promoting my business during that time.

After about six months I began studying everything I could about internet marketing. All day long, I’d scour the internet for the latest internet marketing techniques. I would continually read the advice put out by other internet marketers and self-proclaimed experts. I even forked out money for the latest info-products, that many times were not worth a fraction of the purchase price.

The more internet marketing material I read the more I wanted. Then it happened…

It wasn’t really apparent at first, but my income revealed the truth. I was making less and less money then previously. Each day that passed I saw less money coming in.

Internet marketing was my full time job, how could this be happening I thought. It all worked so well at first. I stepped back to analyze the situation and map out exactly what I’d been doing with all of my time.

Here’s how it went.

February, 2006 – the buzz was all about online ezines and how having your own newsletter meant ongoing profits. I immediately began creating a report about starting an online newsletter. Halfway through I dropped the idea when I realized that a lot of people were making money on free classified ad sites like Craigslist.

March, 2006 – I started creating an ebook on advertising in offline and online classifieds. I got about halfway through before I heard about all of the money people were making with Adsense. Dropped everything to research and find out more.

April, 2006 – Began creating a site in the Myspace niche to monetize with Adsense income. Created a complete website and filled it with content. Later discovered that Adsense pays about 1/2 a cent per click for Myspace releated keywords.

I was desperate, I had spent the last three months chasing opportunities only to lose interest and suddenly change course to go into a completely different area. I now desperately needed the money to pay my bills and my online income had dwindled to almost nothing.

How was this possible? All of the internet marketing advise I had taken in, had actually made me lose money.

Then it hit me.

Listening to too many different people and being pulled in way to many different directions was killing my online business. I was caught in the whirlwind of watching what the experts were doing and desperately trying to keep pace, but it was impossible. I realized that if I was to build a sustainable longterm online business  I’d have to stop following the top internet marketers and choose the best opportunity, and see it to completion.

Then and there I decided that I would uncover a profitable new emerging trend on my own. A trend that had the best possibility for success. The trend I choose (Myspace Marketing) ended up being quite lucrative and ended up bringing a substantial amount of money into my business.

My question to you is this… Are you following the leaders and trying to keep up? Or are you working toward building a sustainable long-term online business? I learned a long time ago that the key to a real online income is to create an online business exactly like you would create an offline business.

You need a strong customer demand and a product or service that helps people, lives up to your promises, overdelivers and most of all provides value.