What Writers Can Learn From Internet Marketers

OK, I admit it. I've developed a great fascination with and respect for Internet marketers. The good ones, at least. If you subscribe to any marketing ezines, you become familiar with their names soon enough. Terry Dean, Yanik Silver, John Colanzi, Jim Edwards, Lee Benson, Dave Balch, Marlon Sanders, Jan Tallent- Dandridge and Jim Turner, to name a few. And a there's a whole slew of up-and-comers on the horizon, men and women who have studied the masters and are trying to follow in their footsteps--or create paths of their own. I can see some of you out there, wrinkling your noses as you read this. Internet marketers? Aren't they a bunch of hype-driven shysters whose sole reason for existence is tricking unsuspecting Web surfers into giving them their credit card information? Well, no. Not the good ones, at least. What are they, then? 1. First and foremost, they're writers. Every one of them. They write books, articles and reports by the dozens. They develop e- courses and publish ezines. Internet marketers don't talk about writing, or dream about it, or hope to do it someday. They *write* prolifically, and the best of them are darned good at it. And they're not starving writers either, living in unheated garrets and subsisting on stale bread. These writers make money. Some of them make plenty of it. 2. They're entrepreneurs. You might even call them pioneers. They took one look at the text-based Internet, saw its potential, seized its opportunities and built mini-empires on it. They boldly published ebooks long before the rest of us thought of electronic publishing as a viable outlet for our work. Success didn't happen to them overnight, but they believed in the medium and, more importantly, in themselves and what they had to say. 3. They're motivators and motivational. You'll never meet a more upbeat group of people online than successful Internet marketers. Powerful words and positive phrases make up the bulk of whatever they write. They constantly urge their readers to set lofty goals, be willing to make sacrifices, persevere in the face of adversity and eschew any doubts expressed by people who supposedly have our best interests at heart. Just like any "regular" writer, they know that their loved ones might not understand it when they prefer to be at their keyboards instead of Uncle Harry's birthday party. But hey, they need to finish that chapter first, or work on that Web copy before they take time to socialize. 4. They've mastered the art of self-promotion. Moreover, they enjoy it. Internet marketers happily write articles and freely give them away for publication in ezines and on Web sites, knowing that the exposure to their own newsletters, sites and products is worth its weight in gold. They find ways to get interviewed, both online and in print. They collaborate on joint ventures (known in the biz as JVs), pooling their talents and strengths on projects for their mutual benefit. These people not only "think outside the box" when it comes to promoting their wares--they never believed there was a box to begin with. 5. They are Web-savvy, and more than willing to share their knowledge. They'll lead you to all the free tools and resources online, show you how to attract more visitors to your Web site, divulge their own publicity tactics and respond to both technical and nontechnical questions if they can. Although I have uncovered a number of useful resources online through my own research or in other writers' ezines, many more have come from articles written by the top marketing people. They know their way around the Web, and pass many of the nuggets they find along to their readers. Certainly I am not saying we should all become e-persuaders; readers also want poetry, mystery, romance, information, news, inspiration and all the other types of things we writers produce. They want writers to entertain and/or inform them, help them with their resumes, create stories for their children or document historical events. But can we all learn from the enthusiasm, expertise and resourcefulness of the top Internet marketers. From them, we can discover how to find our own markets, how to get our work noticed, how to promote our services--and have fun doing so. We might also pick up an idea or two we can apply to our own writing efforts. And hey, if we happen to whip out a credit card and purchase one of their products after reading one of their articles, then that proves how well they really write, doesn't it?