One of the basic problems you will have when starting out with internet marketing is learning what to do. On top of that is the need for a support structure to help you along the way. There are a lot of people on the net promoting “how to” and training products to teach you what to do. Some of these are good and some not so good. You also can’t trust the price tag to tell you what is a gem and what is not.

Many of these products also offer a forum or membership site to help you with support and questions. I have tried several of these and cancelled more memberships than I kept. It seems that so often once the sale is made, there is no more attention paid to you by the “guru” who owns the forum or membership site.

I’m here to tell you that there is a membership forum that is head and shoulders above the rest. It’s Lynn Terry’s SSWT Elite Forum. I stumbled upon Lynn Terry’s blog a little over a year ago and joined her Elite Forum last October. While I believe she would not accept the “guru” title, I’m here to tell you that she is a true expert in Internet Marketing. You can see for yourself by checking out the SSWT Public Forum.

There are several things that set the SSWT Elite Forum apart from the others.

• Lynn is active in the forum.
• Lynn hosts a brainstorming hour every Thursday for Elite members.
• The Elite community is outstanding. There are few internet communities like it!
• Many of the Elite members are experts in their own right. There always seems to be someone online who can address your problem.
• You can discuss your business ideas and challenges “behind closed doors.” The members (and Lynn) are there to help.
• It’s a great place to build your Internet Marketing network.
• Special deals (including many free items) for Elite members.
• The community gives you a built-in review committee to help you improve your projects.
• The price is right – only $27 per month!

I’m a big fan of the SSWT Elite Forum and recommend that you join up. You really don’t have anything to loose and success in Internet Marketing to gain!

I have been experimenting with Twitter over the past few weeks. I really like it. It’s quick and easy. You control who you follow, so spam is not a problem. Posts are limited to 140 characters, so it’s quick and easy. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/mikesmind.

Now, about the cowpetition. I had never heard about John Cow prior to getting an email from Jason Katzenback at Comment Kahuna. I decided to opt in to John’s cowpetition, as his method of building contacts was very creative. It involves his RSS feed, Twitter, and YouTube. I can do the first four steps to earn 40 points, but will have to skip the last one. I just don’t have time today to get a video up on YouTube.

Right now, you can jump over to John’s site and check out his cowpetition yourself. There is over $3,000 worth of prizes to the winner!

I have been busy creating a new website. It has been a lot of fun and things are coming along well. with that, I have also been working to learn how to make money on the internet. I have been reading various emails, blogs, websites, and other materials from “internet marketing gurus.” The amount of stuff out there is truly overwhelming!

Truth be told, the “internet marketing guru” portion is not going so well. There is so much advice out there and it is often hard to tell who is a real “internet marketing guru.” Many people are buying and selling content, but I am interested in people who are generating useful content that I can apply to my projects. I could list the folks that I have decided to ignore for now, but perhaps it is more constructive to list who I am going to pay attention to.

In no particular order, those are:

1) Jonathan Leger
2) John Reese
3) Joel Comm

Why did I pick these three? For one, they all give valuable advice for free! Each of their websites offer many things you can do to help your business and it is given in the spirit of giving back. Also, for the most part, there is very little hype for these three. They tend to recommend things they have already tried themselves and they do this with straight talk, including the down-side of product or technique they are recommending. In other words, they are real pros.

Click over to their websites and give them a try. Also, share your recommendations in my comments section.