Back in the mid 1990’s, when personal computers were starting to appear in households across the world, the Internet had a special spirit that could not be found anywhere else. Everyday, at any time, you could get online and send a message to a newsgroup, or post a message at a forum asking for help or advice. Perfect strangers would come forward to offer advice or knowledge, and in many cases, offer to help in other ways if they could.

Competition had new meaning. Competitors commonly talked, exchanged information, and offered to help each other out. Very few people held back information. The Internet marketing community was very new, and still quite small. Everyone knew everyone else. If someone was cheating customers or lying, it was quickly brought to light. Doing business on the Internet was really quite hard back then. There were not nearly the number of people online that there are today, and of the ones who were online, the majority were afraid to purchase goods or services over the Internet. Internet Marketers commonly worked together to make it easier for everyone, and Guru’s were being born.

Ten years later, things have drastically changed. It seems that there are personal computers in almost every home, and people are not afraid to purchase goods and services online. However, this transition totally changed the spirit of the Internet. In fact, the transition has almost killed that spirit.

Competition is fierce. There are liars, scammers, and spammers running amuck. Of course, everyone is so busy trying to operate their own online business that they cannot be bothered to call these scammers to the carpet. The majority of us barely look up when we hear about an ‘Internet Marketer’ who is running a scam. ‘Guru’ is a label that is freely used, and now means little or nothing.

Internet marketers now send out email in fear, hoping they don’t get an unjustified spam complaint that will shut them down. But those same internet marketers use spam filters, and simply delete the spam that gets through, without trying to put a stop to the spam problem.

When you have questions, or you need advice, you can visit one of the marketing forums and ask your question. Unfortunately, most of those forums have gone downhill, or ceased to exist, and only a handful of good ones remain. The same holds true for newgroups - but there are even fewer good newsgroups left.

In the good forums, you will get an answer, but you will often only get about a third of an answer - you need to buy the responders ebook to get the full answer - but by the time you buy and read the ebook, you discover that you now only have half an answer. You have to buy additional ebooks to get the rest of the answer. Now, this isn’t true for all forums. There are a few - very, very few - where you can ask a question and still get a good, full answer. This also isn’t true for all ebooks. There are many great ebooks available today.

While users are more willing to purchase goods and services online, fewer Internet marketers are actually making real money. You may not think it makes sense that fewer people are making less money when more people are spending more money, but it’s all in the way you look at it. When more people are spending more money, more people should be making more money. But, only a handful of Internet marketers are collecting that money, and they fall into two groups - Scammers and True Internet Marketers.

You obviously don’t want to be a scammer, so let’s look at True Internet Marketers. These people are the ones who give complete answers to your questions in the forums. Their products are quality products that overdeliver. A True Internet Marketer calls so-called ‘Guru’s’ and scammers to the carpet often. They share information with their competitors freely, and enter into profitable joint ventures with them.

True Internet Marketers have not forgotten what the Internet is all about. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough True Internet Marketers. That is what it will take to bring life back to the Spirit of the Internet. The willingness to work together, to right wrongs, and to start sharing good information again.

That is why the spirit of the Internet started dying. People stopped helping other people. Do your part to bring the spirit back to life. The next time you see a post requesting information or advice in one of the forums that you are qualified to answer, answer it - completely. Leave your link for your product as well, but answer the question. Even though you’ve given away information that can be found in your ebook, I bet your sales will increase anyway. People will see that you’ve given good advice. They will see that you really know what you are talking about, and you aren’t afraid to share that information - and they will buy your product to see what else you have to say.

Author - Kevin Robb

Kevin Robb - Editor of the “eBF-News” A Free Private Members Newsletter that reveals 25 years of Online and Offline marketing experience. If you are results driven and have a passion to succeed on the Internet then the eBF-News will assist in your development.