"Okay, boss, that's a nice title up there, but it's a little obvious, isn't it? Anyway, I thought this was supposed to be about marketing on the internet and exciting stuff like that. You're already starting to bore me."

Well, that depends on how you look at that title.

If you just assume that I mean that the internet is a great place to shop because of its mutiple access points to just about anything your heart desires, you're right.

However, let's digress just a little so I can make a point.

There were an awful lot of people who looked at things that "everybody knew", saw the same thing everybody else saw, and that was the end of it. Then, there were the ones who looked at what everybody else saw, and they saw possibilities, dreams, and the road to fame and financial success...or perhaps the road to a better world. To name just a few, Thomas Alva Edison, Walt Disney, Thomas Jefferson, Rosa Parks, Simon Peter, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, William the Conqueror...get my point?

Now, we are internet marketers, so when we look at the concept of the internet being a great market place, we need to be looking at "why" it is such a great thing, and "how" we can use this information to our advantage. Here's a few points to consider.

Let's start with convenience.

There is no doubt that finding and purchasing items or services on the internet can be very convenient. Suppose I sell cellphones, for example. MY CUSTOMERS don't have to go out in all sorts of weather, find a parking place (Do you LIKE going to the mall at Christmas?), wait in line, deal with obnoxious fellow customers or clerks, or drive from store to store, repeating the process in order to compare available plans and equipment.

On the contrary. MY CUSTOMERS can sit down at a computer at 2 AM, in their pajamas, or stark naked for that matter, in comfort and ease no matter what the weather is doing outside, and in a few minutes can compare several plans and available equipment on my web site, make their choice, place their order, and go back to sleep.

Then there's price.

We understand that when you shop around brick and mortar stores, you can eventually come up with a great price, maybe even a price better than available on the internet. However, that may take some time, which has value to the shopper. Even though an internet price may be slightly higher than some special available in his or her town, odds are that the savings in time and effort will more than offset the difference in cost. Additionally, the customer can shop around on the internet a whole lot easier than in the scenario outlined in the part about convenience.

How about service?

You and I both know how frustrating it is to talk to a poorly trained or motivated clerk in a store! By the way, I do run into the good ones and the great ones now and then, and I make a special point of finding or contacting the manager and complimenting those wonderful gems. Anyway, wouldn't it be great to be able to deal with the manager for all issues and questions? Aren't you the manager of your business? When you do business on the internet, you can provide customer service above and beyond that given by any employee.

You see, with just a slight change to our perspective, we internet marketers realize that since the internet IS such a great market place, and since we are part of it, we have just figured out part of our next advertising campaign!

Let's start with something like this:

Shop my online store because it is convenient, offers great pricing, and I, the manager, guarantee excellent service.

Of course, that's just a sketchy outline. You fill in the parts of your service or business that seem to fit.

Now, how obvious was that title?

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service. He has worked as an accountant, purchasing agent, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, instructor and long-haul, over-the-road truck driver. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He has been an active internet marketer since 2000, and now makes his living online. To learn more about improving your marketing performance, please visit http://marketingsecrets.xtramoney4me.net. To read more articles by the author, please visit his blog at http://donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com/, or http://xtramoney4me.net/internet_marketing_links/articles/index.html.