1. Search engine positioning. Many leaders (I prefer this word to the over-used "gurus") of the Internet marketing industry swear by the power of a high ranking in the search engines. The statistics show that a great portion of web site traffic is generated by search engines. What they don't show is that getting a top-ten ranking is roughly equivalent to winning a lottery.

2. Web Site Content. Most seem to agree that content is King. The content of a web site will make it or break it. The basics for what constitutes good or excellent content have not changed in the time I have been on the Internet.

3. Web Site Design. Flash and glitter had a great surge. However, customer preferences put a rapid end to that. We have returned to the basics - a simple site with easy navigation, great content and quick loading.

4. Advertising Copy (Copywriting). Those principles are virtually unchanged. The AIDA (attention, interest, desire and action) concept still rules.

5. Free Advertising in Ezines and Opt-In Lists. As little as a year ago these were profitable venues for advertising. Enough people read your ads that you obtained good responses. Free advertising in ezines and opt-in lists is drawing less results. Many are submitting free ads and few are reading or responding to them.

6. Free Ebooks. Most of the original free ebooks had valuable content and people were willing to pass them on to others. This has reversed to the point there is little of value in a lot of the free ebooks on the Internet and people have become wary of wasting their time downloading them.

7. Viral Marketing. The first outright example I saw of this was when Terry Dean came out with a simple form which allowed you to post your URL/business opportunity at the top of a form which contained links to six others. This has evolved into massive FFAs, link exchanges, direct email exchanges, and others I am unable to recall at the moment. Once again, the effectiveness has been destroyed by the sheer immensity of it.

8. Products/Services. There are less than 50 products/services which have continued to prove their worth. Most of the rest are basically copied from those originals. It would not be too far-fetched to say that over 90% of the original information is as valid today as it was a year ago.

1. Develop your web site and submit it properly to the search engines and directories. You can spend great amounts of time trying to achieve a top ten ranking on the search engines and directories and still not get the desired results. Much of this time can be better used in other methods of promoting your business.

2. Web site design, content and advertising. There are tried and true Internet marketing programs which will provide you with sufficient information to handle these areas. I have several favorite programs which I use, but suggest you do your own investigation of available programs. The proven programs are normally, but not always, those you frequently encounter on the Internet.

3. Free advertising can be effective if you have a great ad that stands out from all the others. A poor or mediocre ad will be buried among all the other ads and draw little response. A great way to get very effective free advertising is to write articles and have them published in ezines. Believe me, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to write a good article.