This list is only useful if you want to become an IM Jedi.

To be able to shoot lightning bolts of business leads and cold hard cash through your finger tips whilst rocking a dark purple robe and looking like a complete bad-ass.

Hobbyists, complainers and wannabes need not read on.

In order to make it through the 7 levels of Internet Marketing Inferno to reach mastery and financial independence, prepare yourself to master:

55 Things Every Internet Marketer Should Know

(In No Particular Order – All Titles Are Clickable Links)

Traffic And Lead Generation

#55 – Build A Kick-Ass Sales Funnel

This is where it all begins. A well set up funnel means two things:

Thing A – You can automate your business because the funnel makes the sales for you.

Thing B – You can always make MORE money if you know how to do #54.

#54 – Optimize Your Already Awesome Sales Funnel

99% of IMers set up their funnel and then forget about it. The top 1% – the millionaire marketers – they are constantly fussing over how they might make their funnels more profitable. Whether that is finding out how to get prospects into the funnel cheaper or figuring out exactly how high a ticket offer they can sell, the name of the game is “tweak and test”.

#53 – Build A Content Marketing Strategy

If you want to make a splash online – you gotta have a vision. Just look at the top bloggers/internet marketers in the world and what do you see? Consistency in message and a clear vision. It is worth sitting down for five minutes to create your own content strategy.

#52 – Write Epic Content

Mediocrity breads mediocrity. If you want to pull traffic, if you want results, if you want money – then you have to be epic. Don’t get discouraged, epic-ness can be learned my young padawan.

#51 – Research Keywords – The Right Way

With constant changes to the big G’s algo – keyword research is becoming less and less important when it comes to keyword stuffing articles, but it is still a necessary process when trying to steer your ship. The data you collect from good research can save you loads of time trying to chase down a weak niche.

#50 – Keyword Research The Right Way – But Faster

This is the way that I do keyword research now. I personally don’t look for any more information than this. If the hits are there – then I just get writing.

#49 – Drive Traffic With Facebook

Oh Facebook… a marketers dream. So much data, so freely available to be used for our evil marketing ways!

#48 – Drive Traffic With Twitter

Twitter is crowded, but even in 2013 you can pull down good stats with a well oiled Twitter campaign.

#47 – Drive Traffic With Youtube

Youtube is an absolute goldmine right now. Like the early days of SEO, ranking videos is a snap, users are still in awe of the medium and creating good content is SO easy. If you aren’t on Youtube right now – get on there!

#46 – Drive Traffic With Linkedin

Let’s face it, when you hear stats like “the average user on Linkedin makes over $100,000 blah, blah, blah” what you are really hearing is, “People on Linkedin are rich.” The truth is that the real power of Linkedin traffic comes from the fact that over 40% of it’s users are DECISION MAKERS within their company.

That power is way more valuable to you as an IMer than how deep their wallets might go.

#45 – Drive Traffic With SEO

What can I say? SEO is still working, it is still relevant and it still gets results. If you aren’t doing SEO for yourself – then at least hire someone who will.

#44 – Rank Anything In The Search Engines

There are SEO specialists and then there are SEO wizards. Learning to rank an article for some obscure keyword that means nothing for your bottom line won’t get you anywhere. Learn from the masters and you will be blessed with all the traffic your heart desires.

#43 – Get A Guest Post Published

How do you get instant authority status? Mega traffic? and tons of link juice all at once? Guest blogging baby!

#42 – Attract Affiliates To Your Offers

I get emails ALL THE TIME asking me, “What is the best way to get traffic?”

“The best?” I reply.

“Get affiliates to send emails about how awesome you are. Then, when they do, give them money so they do it again.”

Don’t think you have a product or service worthy of the affiliate horde? Think again.

I myself have promoted everything from SEO services worth hundreds a month to $2 products to a $5,000 coaching program. You can sell anything online.

#41 – How Easy It Is To Set Up A Kindle Book Listing

Kindle is my new favorite little obsession right now.

I use it to get clients, drive traffic AND I get commissions from the sales of the actual books.

If you aren’t already, get on there.

#40 – Market A Kindle Book

Amazon already has a platform using KDP Select to get enough traffic to make a few sales, but who wants a few sales unless you follow that “few” up with “thousand-million-infinity”?

#39 – How To Build An Email List

Email lists are one of the only true assets that you posses as an internet marketer. If you aren’t building assets, you aren’t building a business – plain and simple.

Copywriting

#38 – Write Killer Headlines

If you can hook ’em – you can sink  ’em.

A good headline is worth it’s weight in proverbial online gold.

Learn how to write them.

#37 – Write A Basic Sales Letter

I was so fed up with seeing poorly written sales letters that I wrote a book and gave it away for darn near free.

IMers are killing their business by not learning (or investing in) how to write good copy.

It’s all about the copy.

#36 – Write Persuasive Emails That Sell

I LOVE sending out emails to my list.

Knowing that I have a captive audience of people who will sit through whatever ridiculous bits of ranting that I spit on the screen is a real ego boost. It doesn’t hurt that it helps to bring home the bacon either.

#35 – When To Decide To Go With A Short Form Vs. Long Form Sales Letter

There is a huge debate amongst the copywriting elite about whether you should use a long form vs. a short form email. Best advice I ever heard was, “Make it long enough.” – but for your reading pleasure (and to sound smart at parties) check out the link above.

#34 – How To Tell People At Parties Why Long Form Sales Letters Will Never Die

I don’t know why I keep bringing parties up when I talk about copywriting (shows how many invites I get…) – but in all seriousness, it is critically important that you realize when to use which tool.

#33 – And Why Short Form Letters Are Neat Too

I LOVE writing long form sales letters – but every once in a while I know that a short letter is going to convert higher and you NEVER write what YOU want – you ONLY write what helps to make the sale.

#32 – Write A Press Release

Press releases are the bees knees. If you aren’t releasing them on a regular basis – you should start.

Test first using one of the cheaper packages at PRWeb or elsewhere. Once you get the hang of the process, send out a big package and watch your inbox fill up with reporters wanting to feature your lovely face all over the place.

#31 – Write The Perfect SEO Article Everytime

This is internet marketing 101. Just wanted to make sure we covered our bases.

Entrepreneurship

#30 – Find Your “Why”

If you are going to play in the self-employed game, you better know why, especially when your wife asks, “You mean you WANT to work on a Friday night?”

#29 – Find A Good Mentor (Or Two or Three)

I have been SO lucky in that I have had several really great mentors. Granted, I paid for them all…

And I would do it again in a heartbeat.

#28 – Network Like A Beast

Business is about people, plain and simple.

Networking is about connecting with people.

You do the math.

#27 – Think Differently

Here is the problem with purchasing products or reading books to learn about business:

You are only learning how to think like someone else.

Don’t get me wrong – if I could think like Steve Jobs I would be a happy camper – but the reality of the current economy is that the ONLY path to success is by thinking differently.

#26 – Sell Anything

Selling is a skill, a trade and something that can be learned.

The day you realize that you can sell ANYTHING is the day that you stop worrying about finances FOREVER.

#25 – Sell Your Services

If you master these 55 skills, why not charge someone to provide these skills to their business? There is good money in it.

#24 – Then Make Them Even Easier To Sell

IM blogs always talk about diversifying income streams, and for good reason.

Repackaging has added 4 figures a month to my business (and I consider myself very lazy).

#23 – Know How To Deal With Angry Customers

You can’t make everyone happy.

The sooner you learn that, the better.

The only thing you can do in situations where business has gone south, is to remember that you are dealing with another human being.

#22 – And Know How To Reward The Loyal Ones

Take 5 minutes everyday and be grateful for the people who spend their hard earned money on you. Without your customers you would be as poor as church mice.

Treat them with the respect that they deserve.

#21 – Read More

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” I live by this quote and so should you.

Instead of watching TV, pick up a non-fiction book and watch what happens to your life.

#20 – Write More

You could have all the genius in the world stored up in that noggin of yours, but if you aren’t publishing, nobody will ever know about it.

Write for Kindle.

Write on Forums.

Write on your blog.

Write a newsletter.

Write a note.

#19 – Managing Staff

Staff will make or break you.

The next time I get a chunk of change I am heading off to the nearest “How To Be A Pirate Captain Leadership School” because my scurvy crew could use a good leader.

Lifestyle & Balance

#18 – Relax

No matter how much lifestyle design you incorporate into your career, there are going to be times where you feel like quitting.

The key is to find ways to relax, to get away from the stress and to re-energize.

If an army can’t march on an empty stomach, then an entrepreneur can’t be successful on an empty tank of gas.

#17 – Get A Crazy Amount Of Stuff Done

When you work for yourself you only get paid when the job gets done.

There is no time wasting in this world.

#16 – Keep It All In Focus

“Shiny Object Syndrome” never goes away. The more successful you get and the more options open up for you, the worse it becomes.

Learn now to fend off distractions and stay true to your vision.

You will thank yourself later.

#15 – Stay Motivated

Everyone started on the bottom.

The difference between those who made it and those who didn’t?

Motivation to never quit, no matter what.

#14 – Set Goals That Will Keep You Happy And Motivated

Don’t expect miracles, just make good choices.

If you aren’t very good at waking up at 4 am – don’t require yourself to do something that requires that. You only set yourself up to fail.

#13 – Be Content

You think the rat race is bad? Wait until you become self employed.

When you learn how to make $1 on your own, the next natural question is, “Well, how do I make $2?”

That process never stops.

Learn to be content in your current situation and you can remove massive amounts of unnecessary pressure from your life.

#12 – Get Better Sleep

This goes back to relaxing.

If you aren’t performing at your best – it will show.

#11 – Outsourcing Your Way To An Ideal Lifestyle

Learn to rely on others.

It can be hard.

It can be frustrating.

But once you do it – your life will never be the same.

#10 – How To Deal With Haters

Let me tell it to you straight.

The second you have ANY success, the haters are going to come out of the woodwork.

I guarantee it.

As a matter of fact, I use it as a measure of my success.

Etc.

#9 – Fix Your Own Coding

We live in the digital age.

If you can’t speak the basic language of the age that you live in, you are going to get left behind.

I recommend AT LEAST HTML/CSS.

#8 – What To Do If You Don’t Have Photoshop

We don’t all have money to blow on overpriced Adobe software.

Sometimes we just need a tiny tweak on a header image.

The link above provides a free solution.

#7 – Where To Find The Best Stock Images/Videos/Photos/Plugins/Themes

The internet is multi-media intense now.

Readers don’t just want to read. They want to see, they want to hear and they want to interact.

The link above is where I get all of my stuffs.

#6 – Do Your Own Taxes

If I had to be an accountant for a living – like if my parents had to pay off the IRS mafia by handing over their first born child for a life of servitude amongst the depressing grey cubile-topia called the accounting department – I would probably start a bloody revolution.

I personally have a bookkeeper and CPA that take care of all that stuff for me, and bless their hearts.

You do NOT want to mess with the IRS.

#5 – Google Analytics

Do I sometimes hit refresh on my GAs every few hours “just to see”?

Yes.

Should I?

No.

#4 – Jedi Level Google Analytics

THIS is what I SHOULD be doing when I am hanging out in GA land – and I highly recommend you do the same.

#3 – How To Avoid Internet Addiction

The average user of the internet watches 4 hours of Youtube video PER DAY.

Think about all that time lost watching kitten videos.

Don’t fall into the traps – they are very real.

#2- Who This Guy Is

I LOVE this show, simply because it is a showcase of all the people I want to be.

Know this man. Love his show and listen to pearly drops of wisdom that he and his guests dispense on a regular basis.

#1 – How To Find Out Everything Else

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 Until Next Time

You were once a young learner of the dark side of the force called internet marketing. Now you are a master. Apply these techniques carefully and shall have success.

I would love to hear from you to add to this list. I realize there are plenty of areas I left untouched – what do you think?