There is a lot to learn about Internet marketing. At times it can seem overwhelming, especially if you are just starting out.

We hear a about people making obscene amounts of money with Internet marketing. Most of it is true. Some of it is hype.

I have been marketing online since 1993 and I'd like to give you 40 simple, straight-forward tips that will help you become a top affiliate and Internet marketer with the least amount of hassle: 1. Goals -Set your goals and know what you want to accomplish with your marketing efforts.

2. Traffic – Set up an efficient mechanism to generate quality traffic to your site.

3. List Subscribers – Develop a list of loyal, permission-based subscribers to educate and sell to. 4. Niche Markets – Seek markets with little or no competition to sell to.

5. Promotion – Marketing online requires you to promote to the right people.

6. Knowledge – You wouldn’t pilot a jet without training. Learn a new tactic every single day.

7. Plan Of Action – Develop a plan so you have a route towards your Internet success.

8. Consistency - Don’t give up too soon. Be consistent.

9. Positioning – Position yourself as an expert in one or more areas so people will trust you and buy from you.

10. Automation – Both your marketing process and your income should be automated.

11. Tools – Develop an arsenal of marketing tools you must use in order to make your plans work.

12. Exposure – Learn all the tactics to get high placement on the search engines as well as your target markets.

13. Repeat Sales – Find products that prompt the users to order more than once.

14. Multiplicity – Get other people to generate cash for you under 2-tier affiliate programs.

15. Patience – Give your efforts enough time to mature and grow.

16. Time Management – Organize your tasks so you don’t waste time doing things that don't generate money.

17. Avoid "herd" mentality. There is a lot of promotion nudging you to follow others. Don't!Think "leadership" not "followship." You got it in you!

18. Join 2-tier affiliate programs.

19. Join residual-paying programs

20. Avoid hosting your site with shared servers

21. Do not spam!

22. Discouragement comes from doing the wrong things! Fine tune your marketing.

23. Learn how to use Adwords and Adsense together to promote your affiliate programs.

24. Do not send people directly to your vendor's page.

25. Always try to get the email address and name of your visitors to build your opt-in list. This can be good for them and definitely good for you.

26. Don't spend a lot of time chit-chatting online. You're online to make money, hopefully. Time is money. Don't waste with with trivial forum flames or debates that make you zip!

27. If something isn't working, fix it or dump it. Don't waste time trying trying to revive a dead horse.

28. If you sell Clickbank products, learn how to only sell the best ranking or soon to be hot products. There is an easy way to do this.

29. Stay away from Internet marketing themes if you're starting out. This field is saturated with sellers and not buyers.

30. If possible, develop your own unique product(s) to sell via affiliate programs.

31. Do not join MLM programs that use Pay Pal. Your account can get frozen and you can lose your money.

32. Get a list of the best 93 marketing forums available and see what's going on but limit your time to promotions, useful contribution and activities that make money.

33. Do not be jumping all over the Internet signing up with this and that everyday. You will get side-tracked. Make a few things work first until they are producing cash, then move on to the next thing.

34. You will need some sort of advertising budget to promote your programs. Reinvest the money you make into your online business.

35. Develop sites with content. Lots of it. Google will reward you for that.

36. If possible, register your domain names for 2+ years. It's possible that Google is looking at this factor for ranking classifications and to avoid spammy sites.

37. Articles rule right now. Make use of articles on your site.

38. Learn all you can about Adsense and Yahoo's new adsense-like program.

39. Find "niche" markets to sell to.

40. Don't fall for every cleverly drafted sales pitch you hear and wild claims of glory. Most of it is aiming at your wallet.

Most of the people making a lot of money with affiliate programs and online sales use some or all of the rules mentioned above.

I hope this article inspires you to take action today and to make a decision that, by this time next year, you will be one of those successful people who are enjoying financial freedom on the Internet.