As a relative newcomer to Internet Marketing, or Online Business, there is one thing I did learn very quickly. I am not going to become rich in 15 minutes! I learned this almost as quickly as my credit cards reached their maximum limit. You see, I was taken in by all the hype I was being bombarded with. Have you seen some of it?

Start making $1,000s 15 minutes from now!

Get to the top of the Search Engines in 48 hours!

Have your site submitted to over 200 Search Engines for only $10!

Get 20 million laser targeted ready to buy prospects to your website!

Make $1,000 in one week.

Create a massive downline instantly and without even trying!

Now, there may be an element of truth there somewhere, but the fact is to become successful on the internet you will need to have some money to invest, some time to invest, some invaluable guidance from people who already are successful, and maybe some luck.

I have spent a lot of time and money, with little return, finding this out the hard way. I was a sucker for everything that landed in my inbox. I believed the dreams that were being sold to me, I checked my programs every morning only to find I had no referrals, no leads, and no sales. You see, I started with Affiliate Programs and Referral Programs that required me to build a downline. I advertised anywhere I could, free advertising posts, free traffic exchanges, and even Google Adwords. Nothing! What was happening, where was I going wrong? Well, I figure that the traffic exchanges attract sellers - not buyers. Everyone seems to be surfing to earn credits to use to promote their own programs, so they are highly unlikely to pay much attention to mine! On Google Adwords an affiliate link stands out like a sore thumb and people tend to ignore them, except for some unscrupulous rivals who will click on your ad simply to cost you money. If I have an affiliate link to a company that is a household name, people will tend to go directly to that company, wont they.

I was now desperate. I was ready to pack in all in. Then I started to pay attention. I started to listen to all the advice that was coming to me about how to make some money. This was advice coming from sources who did not want my money. Well not just my money. I started to make some progress with Reality Networkers. What I saw made sense. Most networking programs operate a matrix with 5 on your first level, right. This can be achieved quite quickly, but what then? If your downline is not active then nothing else happens. With Reality Networkers, the matrix is forced, so your upline and your downline help to fill positions. When your second level is complete you get a big payout, and when your third level is complete, the whole team moves on to different plans, so residual income is guaranteed. While all this is transpiring it is worth considering having your own web site. There are many cheap Domains and Hosting Packages to get you started. Two of the most important factors in getting your site rated are content and backlinks. There are many sources for free content, though maybe not ideal, free content is better than no content! Regarding backlinks (other web sites linking to yours) this was where I made the best single investment out of the thousands of dollars that I have wasted.

There are excellent software packages that are very easy to use. They will find, and enable you to automatically submit to other sites for link exchanges. If you want to move up the Search Engine Rankings this is a priceless tool, and they have excellent after sales service (highly recommended). So if you are where I was not so long ago, I hope you will see from this article that there can be light at the end of the tunnel. Join a sensible program, buy sensible tools, and ignore the hype!