Remember those ads you could see in just about everywhere there were classifieds, maybe 10 years ago, under “Business Opportunities”?

The usual selling pitch of those ads was something like this:

“Want to make $50 a day, Guaranteed, Doing No Work? Send $10 for the Special Report That Shows You How!”

Of course the numbers changed, and the sales pitch changed, but it was always the same thing. The trick to making money was to do the exact same thing that you had just fallen for.

The “Special Report” that your $10 (or whatever) would buy you would go in great details explaining how to put an ad in the paper, or maybe many papers at once. It would explain where to get the very report you were reading photocopied so you could ship it to whoever sent you money.

Now I don’t know if doing that is illegal — it probably isn’t — but it does not seem very ethical, or sustainable in the long term.

And this is exactly the problem I have with the current breed of Internet Marketing. I don’t know about you, but I am on several mailing lists. Let’s say 10 of them, although 100 are probably closer to the truth.

Every so often, the owner of one of these lists is going to come out with a new product. It is invariably a product that will:

• Teach you how to build your list;
• Teach you how to get more traffic to your website;
• Teach you how to write “killer copy” to take advantage of the traffic;
• Et cetera, et cetera, I’m sure you get my meaning.

In the next couple of days after the launch of the product — sometimes before the launch for the really important and savvy ones — I will receive email pushing the product from all the other list owners.

Since I actually read what they send me, I fully understand that it’s part of the launch strategy that they all have these joint-ventures together and all of them profit greatly whenever one of their number comes out with a new product.

But for the rest of us here at the bottom of the scale, things are not so rosy. We are constantly pushed the same products. It seems to me that the entire world of Internet Marketing revolves around selling the same products to the same kind of people.

And if — IF — you one day manage to build a big enough list, create a buzz-worthy enough product, and talk fast enough to convince all the big boys to do Joint-ventures with you, then you’ll be one of them.

They will come to you with their products, and you will write a review for that product, and you will email it to your list, composed of people — like you now — who want to succeed in Internet Marketing.

But this is nothing more but perpetuating the cycle. There is nothing wrong here, except for the fact that we are all pushing pretty much the same products on the same people.

Of course writing good copy is important! Of course you need a list! We’re all selling the same thing, and whoever can get to the limited pool of buyers first will be the one to rake in the cash, as an affiliate. The product creator always gets his cut, as is only fair.

According to the latest reports, there are now well over ONE BILLION people online. I’m sure a lot of them are interested by Internet Marketing, or how to start a home business and earn a full-time income online.

But I am also certain that even more of this BILLION internet users are people with regular jobs who entertain no idea to realize a full-time income on the Internet. They are simply there because they are looking for solutions to other problems whatever they may be.

I believe the key to Internet Marketing success is in finding what interests these Internet users, outside of the “Internet Marketing Niche”. Success will come in finding areas where people are looking for information to solve real-life problems, or to deal with real-life issues. Using the edge you have acquired by selling income-related products will certainly help, and the skills of list-building are always useful.

It is when you break out of the “earn-money-online” niche that you will realize the full potential of Internet Marketing. It is then that you will be able, in the eyes of your customers, to be the one providing new and refreshing products, as opposed as just selling a variation of a variation on the same theme to the same tired old list.

The gurus always talk about finding a profitable niche (which they always cleverly pronounce “nitch” when it should be “neesh”) and exploiting that niche. But you see, they have found their niche, and that niche is you.

Don’t try to compete in their field, because you will be eaten alive. Go out there and find some other area, some other niche. Preferably focus on something you actually enjoy, or at least something which you could learn to enjoy. It will make your work much more pleasant in the long term.