Most aspiring Internet Marketing Newbies become distracted by the hype of "crafty" sales letters and the lure of picking the low-hanging fruit of the "Money Tree."

But, this is a myopic and shortsighted view of Internet Marketing's potential. This is also the reason that 97 plus percent of the entrepreneurs that embark on a "highway to riches" find themselves in a "rut to ruin," instead.

A better view is to build a solid business based upon traditional business planning and solid research.

Of course, an online business plan contains some unique technical twists, but "Tricks of the Trade" abound in any field…from Ad Man to Zoo Keeper.

The strategies for acquiring the attitudes, knowledge and skills for building this online business are:

• Pay someone to do all the work for you - Super Expensive
• Attend seminars, join "Mastermind Groups" of experts, and Obtain coaching and mentoring - Very Expensive
• Study from the inside by joining the Affiliate Programs of successful Internet Marketers - Low Cost
• Purchase every Internet Guru's latest product that is "guaranteed" to "make you rich while you sleep" - Costly and "Pound Foolish"
• Surge forward "doing your own thing, your own way" (like it ought to be) until you crash and burn in frustration - Most Costly

When you study Internet Marketing as an Affiliate, you find out what the "Guru" is actually doing, not what they claim to be doing in their latest, high-priced, product.

The Gurus just don't reveal everything that they are doing when they sell those products. In fact, they seldom even disclose what you have to know, seldom disclose what you have to do to use that product, or disclose what your real investment in time and money will be if you want to profit from that product in the least bit.

The Gurus often release these products when the revenue from those techniques begins to sag, but before the outcomes of that "secret" dry up completely.

However, what the Guru is doing in their Affiliate program is the real thing because this is where their money is coming from…now...and where the money will come from in the future.

And Affiliate programs are one of those "hidden in plain sight" secrets. No matter what traffic-trumping-technique the Guru claims in the product that he or she is selling, most traffic comes from Affiliate referrals.

So, join a few Affiliate Programs and learn from them. And, cover a range…from the "Big Guns" to "Small Fry" marketers.

But, instead of just taking and pasting the Creatives and Pre-Build Tools that the Affiliate owner provides, study what they are doing.

Look at what works, and look at what doesn't. And, look what they are doing now, compared to what they did six weeks ago.

What did they change? Why did they change it?

Also, follow these Gurus on Twitter. Better yet, see who they follow, and who follows them.

If you study the Internet Marketing arena for awhile, you learn who wrote the sales letter that pulled in some much profit. (Hint: it wasn't the Guru unless the Guru is selling a copywriting course.)

You learn who the Guru turned to to design the Joint Venture Campaign, who developed the product launch for the Guru, who wrote the software the Gury is pitching, who managed the Guru's SEO campaign, etc. (Hint: it wasn't the Guru.)

Here are some recommendations of who to study: (Listed in Alphabetical Order.)

• Matt Bacak - Produces the best (affordable) newsletter content on Internet Marketing
• Russell Brunson - Trains his Affiliates. Develops profit systems
• Willie Crawford - Attends to Clients and Customers needs. => Free training
• Ed Dale - Founded the Thirty Day Challenge and has a program in place to teach you. Not exactly an Affiliate program, but great learning
• John Delavera - Operates the most extensive Affiliate program around. His Affiliate system is of high technical quality
• Jim Edwards - Program is ClickBank related and products are low cost
• Mike Filsaime - You might have trouble getting inside his organization. You have to apply
• Jeff Johnson - A master of SEO and and of generating site visitors
• Eric Louvre - Both a copywriter and a product creator. Applying to each Affiliate program, one-by-one is a drag, though
• Stephen Pierce - Inspires confidence and communicates a desire to help you learn

Some Gurus that you will learn from offer more training from "hard knocks" then from their expertise. But these "hypster" are easy to find. However, a name missing from the above list does not mean that a specific Internet Marketer is mediocre…or worse. This might mean that their system is not available for study, or they might not have an Affiliate program.

Remember, the task here is to study these Affiliate programs, not purchase their affiliate products. However, after you have made money, your next step in unraveling these Internet Marketers' business models is to purchase their products and services, and track exactly what happens through every step of the buying process.

To do this, you might need to use nicknames, post office box addresses, coded suite numbers, fabricated department names, etc.

Use the same process that direct mail experts use to track sales from multiple mail outs.

Using his approach, you may find that the Internet marketer makes money selling your name and address, or makes money selling your name and telephone number. Instead of making money from Internet sales, the Marketer could be selling your contact information to List Brokers or Telemarketers.

Also, examine the code on every page of the Affiliate Website that you are studying.

Also remember that not all Internet Marketing products are sold by Affiliates. Many, especially high ticket products are sold through product launches and Joint Venture Partners (JVs). This makes sense because many of these products are sold during a specific time frame, or until a specific number of sales are made. This allows the product owner to keep the product cost (inflate its value)inordinately high.

Another thing to remember is to study all of the Affiliate business, not just what you see at first glance.

For example, some promotions pay 100% commission and make money. This is because of…

• One Time Offers (OTOs)
• Up Sells, for example selling a premium package or upgrade after the first product is purchased
• Cross Sells or Cross Promotions, adding a complimentary product
• Offline marketing, having telemarketers pester you until you purchase a seminar, coaching service or pay to have work outsourced for your projects

With all these top Internet Marketers to choose from, who should you study?

Why not pick John Delavera because he has the most extensive product list (around 300 products), and the most extensive selection of Affiliate tools.

Or, maybe pick Russell Brunson because he is launching a new Affiliate promotion soon, (Micro-Continuity) and because he has multiple products to promote…and he offers an ongoing Affiliate training program.

And be sure to join the Thirty Day Challenge and follow the step-by-step, zero-cost training that you find there.

Another suggestion, borrowed from Mark Joyner …find some junk around the house, and sell it all on eBay. Keep at it until you figure out what it takes to sell everything, not just the easy-to-sell items. You can do the same thing with Affiliate products, too. Pick a variety of these products, and keep studying and testing until you have sold them all.

Keep at it, and soon you might have a 10,000 person E-mail list that qualifies you to partner with Mike Filsaime.