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More and more people are considering the World Wide Web as a great opportunity to offer their products and services to a new, bigger market or even as a chance to create entirely new businesses online.

Even if the perspective to reach millions of potential customers is surely exciting, the truth is that internet marketing is more difficult than it may seem, and if you don't have sufficient experience you will usually waste a lot of time and resources doing things that don't produce the results you expect.

For this reason, seeking advice from competent internet marketing experts is essential if you want to succeed online.

Hiring a consultant can be very expensive, but fortunately, this is not the only possibility.

In fact, you can utilize one of the many internet marketing informational products (like books, manuals, or ebooks) that are available online.

There are complete courses that deal with every possible aspect of the entire process of building, managing, and promoting your business online.

Other products concern very specific topics like how to write effective advertisements or sales letters, or how to promote your site on search engines.

You can usually choose among a great variety of media formats: printed manuals, downloadable ebooks that allow you to use the product immediately, CD-ROMs, or even videos and audio tapes, if reading a big manual is not something for you.

The only risk is being confused by so many possible choices. So how can you determine the product more suited to your needs?

When I need to decide about the purchase of an informational product, the first thing I do is read each and every page of the author's site.

You may think that the information on a site designed to sell a product is, by definition, not objective.

But you can still find a lot of useful elements that will help you with your decision.

The following are the most important for me.

1) How is the product presented?

Reputable authors will never tell you that you will be able to make a lot of money without work simply by reading their ebook or manual.

They will warn you that personal efforts are always needed to succeed online and every concept you learn must be applied to your particular situation.

Disappointment is the only thing you will earn from an informational product that is presented like a 'magic recipe' to make money fast and without effort.

2) How many details the author gives about him/herself, especially with regard to past business experiences?

You want to be sure that you are about to spend your money to learn proven techniques successfully tested on real businesses, not some vague theory.

3) Does the site contain customer testimonials? Do they sound genuine?

A testimonial should be always followed by a full name, a website, or an email address so that it can be verified.

4) What kind of guarantee is offered should you dislike the product once you have purchased it?

Ideally, every good informational product should be covered by a full money-back guarantee as it's always the best protection for your investment.

If you pay attention you will find many other elements that will tell you a lot about the author and the product he/she sells.

Learning how to market online is an ongoing process. Even if your personal work is always needed, with ebooks, manuals, and courses you can learn from successful marketers' experiences, concentrate your efforts on strategies that worked for them, and consequently avoid mistakes and save time and resources.