If you're really reading and paying attention, there is enough information in the "Sticky" threads at the top of each section of this forum to burn up a month or two of your time and provide you with enough of a foundation that you can at least have a serious conversation about marketing without sounding retarded. If you're a self-starter you can probably go ahead and just start with that info and be making some money.
If you've got a realistic goal and already have an income offline -- which you seem to -- then you just need to start experimenting. Don't buy any more ebooks. In fact, here's a short (and probably incomplete) list of all the things on which you either need to stop wasting money or never start:
1) eBooks
2) Almost all software, notable exception being uBot, which is specifically designed to help you save time, which is incredibly important.
3) Premium WordPress themes guaranteed to increase conversions and yaddah fucking blah. Premium Joomla themes ditto. Premium landing page layouts etc.
4) Paid subscriptions to anything that is designed to help you with marketing. If you can't make a few dollars without a $200 a month Compete Pro account, you're fucked fucked fucked fucked fucked fucked fucked fucked fuked and did I mention fucked. Stuff like Compete, TeraPeak, SEOBook, DT's paid service and even a pro WickedFire account can help you improve your earnings -- but the watchword there is improve -- zero improved by 40% is still zero.
5) Domain names that seem like a good idea at the time. Never, ever, ever register a whole load of domain names in a single sweep, on the assumption that you'll find one that works and let the others go because you made so much money on the one that worked (or even more funny, on the assumption that you're going to build a "network" and might as well get "all the good names" while they're still available.) Wait until you need a domain, find a semi-decent one that suits you, and register it.
5)a) "Premium" domain names. Never buy a domain name for anything more than reg fee unless you actually know something about domain names, and/or already have plenty of money to piss away on shit you don't need. Again: When you find that you need a domain name, spend half an hour or less finding the least stupid name you can and register it with a $3 GoDaddy coupon.
Do not spend any/any more money or time on any of this stuff.
Do spend time reading the sticky threads at this forum, and the threads that have traction in the marketing sections. Don't spend all your WF time looking at tits or scrolling through BST. Don't even waste time asking questions -- most have been answered over and over and over again. Ask the search box if you have a question. Spend your core WF time reading sticky threads, and threads in the marketing section that have a sensible title and a high number of responses.
Do this for say half an hour a day for a month. Make notes, because like any other forum a thread with 100 responses probably has 40 that are "Awesome post!" and that kind of thing, and you want to filter it down.
Then try something -- try anything. Fail spectactularly. There's a "truth" that the gurus don't tell you. Fail spectacularly. Don't be afraid to lose. In fact, fuck shit up, lose money then come here and laugh about it. Any person on this forum who is making money has also lost money, often in ways that in retrospect seem completely stupid and obvious. Lose, laugh, learn and move on.
^^^^I feel like I'm talking guruspeake here, except as far as I know gurus don't tell people to lose and be happy about it.
The truth you seem to be seeking isn't going to come out of any of the glitter and sales pitches. Many if not most ebooks that contain even an iota of useful information are copied, either from earlier books, offline stuff, or successful forums like this one. Keep your money and make a better investment of your time by getting your info from the source. And aside from that, the only secret anyone is hiding is nothing ventured - nothing gained. You just have to learn, try, fail, try, profit - note and repeat -- then try something new, fail, try, fail, try, profit -- note and repeat -- etc.
Frank
