As you might have been able to guess from some of my recent posts, most specifically A New Beginning and Internet Marketing Muscle 2.0, I'm going “back to the basics.”
I am as guilty—if not guiltier—as anybody in this space about spreading myself too thin, trying to do too much, and as soon as the next shiny object comes along, I'm drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Stupid. Pointless. Unfocused. Totally…
Part of getting back to the basics for me is turning off the noise, putting the blinders on, yet still “hanging out” with a few key internet marketers who know their stuff.
Some day, I want to be that guy for you.
But I'm not there yet.
Soon, soon, soon 🙂
In that light, I'm going to lay down the handful of internet marketers that I really pay attention to. You may want to do the same.
I am not recommending that you follow my guys and my guys only. But get yourself a list of 3-5 people that you know, like, trust, and who are awesome. Being successful counts for a lot, too!
In no particular order (save for this is how my brain thought of them), here are the internet marketing gurus I follow—as in, I follow nearly everything they do.
If you're on my list, I'll share with you a strategy I use to get connected to these people. That will be coming next week in an email.
You can sign up over there on the right.
Paul Myers
A long-time moderator at the Warrior Forum, Paul is an awesome internet marketer and he's a great guy, to boot. Whenever Paul puts something up for sale, I get it. No questions asked. His stuff is really good and it's effective—but only if you put it to use.
I've been a subscriber of his for years now and I always learn something when he puts something up for sale or publishes his newsletter.
Paul's latest masterpiece is Profit Plan, which contains 162 ways (give or take) to get people on your list. Awesome sauce!
Marlon Sanders
I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I've only been a subscriber to Marlin's newsletter for about a year or so. He's one of the biggies in internet marketing. I was turned onto Marlin by a story Jason Fladlien shared with me and a bunch of others—he and Marlon are good friends and they talk on a regular basis.
That says a lot.
Plus, Marlon is just such a colorful character that you can't help but listen and watch what he says, and in the process you will learn a metric TON of marketing information.
I love Marlon's dashboards—his Marketing dashboard is killer! He's got one for traffic and information products, as well.
Jason Fladlien
Speaking of Jason Fladlien—Jason is a young guy (a “kid”) who is simply brilliant. He was a house painter a few years ago and began his internet marketing career as an article writer. Jason's business quickly blossomed and now he consistently earns six figures a month. He and his business partner, Wil Mattos, started Rapid Crush a couple of years ago and it's probably my go-to destination whenever I need a solid premium WordPress plugin.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I have worked with Jason and Wil at Rapid Crush—they currently sell a few products I built for them and I'm currently creating some other products for them as well.
WP Secure Pro is a training series I put together for them that teaches laymen (i.e., “non-techies”) how to lock down and secure WordPress.
I am also a student of Wil and Jason's in their “6 in 6” coaching program. It's really awesome—if you take internet marketing and your online business seriously.
Update: Rapid Crush seems to have diverged off its pure internet marketing focus and instead is now concentrating on selling on Amazon, which is cool. It's just not my thing.
Brian Johnson
Another one of the “good guys of internet marketing,” Brian G. Johnson is a friend of mine. We met about a year ago in Las Vegas at the now-defunct Practical Profits seminar, where guys like Jason Fladlien, Wil Mattos, Tim Castleman, Rachel Rofe, and John Rhodes shared what was currently working for them in their respective businesses (it was a great series—I made the two in LV but missed the one in Florida).
Brian is probably best known for his affiliate marketing expertise and his “Halloween” affiliate marketing system.
He is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth guys you could ever meet and he's always eager to help.
Find out more about Brian here: http://marketingeasystreet.com/
Internet Marketing Gurus
All of the people above are folks I ardently follow and listen to—my goal is to get back to the basics, and each of the people I've briefly profiled above are experts at the fundamentals.
One thing I've learned over the years is that tricks and secrets work—very well in the short run. However, the true masters in any field do a couple things very well:
- They have solid fundamentals because they practice
- They are consistent
I know that Paul, Marlon, Jason, Lynn, and Brian would laugh a little uncomfortably at the idea that they are “internet marketing gurus.” They know that they know their stuff—but they would be quick to point out that they have people they look up to and emulate.
In closing, I'd like to remind you of my upcoming email where I share how I connect with the best in the business and how you can, too. But you have to be a subscriber!
Nice list of great teachers, Bill.
I’m a huge fan of Lynn, Jason, Paul, and Marlon. Whenever I refer to Jason, I say “You know, Jason Fladlien, the guy with the awesome laugh who is freaky smart? Yeah, him!” lol.
I’ll have to admit that I don’t know much about Brian other than meeting him at the Practical Profits event in Orlando and thinking “this guy is smart!”
I love your comment about consistency. That’s one thing that confuses me. The “launch and run” sequence. How am I supposed to trust someone who flashes in and out of the scene depending on their launch plans?
Another thing that I look for is people who practice what they preach. A few people who I had been following started selling products about things they were not doing themselves… which definitely hurt their credibility in my eyes.
I also have to respect the person’s values. Obviously that’s hugely important to me. You know my feelings on that. I don’t care how smart you are, or how well you teach. If you’re an ass (excuse my language) – then I’m not giving you my money. End of story. 😉
It is truly an honor to have you stop by my humble online abode, Nicole. Thank you so much for your kind words! I totally agree with you on the consistency thing and “being real.” Too many marketers are fake—so much so that they give the rest of us a bad name.
I really try to *sell* stuff I believe in. Sell is in ** because I think really good stuff that I personally can vouch for isn’t really selling. It’s more like a heart-felt recommendation from a (hopefully, in my case) trusted source.
Again, thanks for stopping by!
You are most welcome, Bill. I’m so glad you added your blog to my list of sites with Comment Luv so I could discover it.
I’ll be back! Keep up the good work. 🙂
N
I’m glad you added me to your list, too 🙂
Only marketing and promoting products you use yourself and believe in is very important for two reasons. It gives credibility to the product you are selling. Secondly you can only review and understand a product adequately if you have used it yourself. It’s good to see that the above Marketing Gurus do just that.