This might not be a ‘positive’ message, but it has to be said: there are a lot of ‘bottom feeders’ in the Internet marketing arena and you’ll benefit from knowing how to spot – and AVOID – them.

Having built, run and monetized many, many niche websites over the years… having reported on Internet marketing news… and having promoted numerous Internet marketing how-to products, I’ve concluded that the ‘how-to’ Internet marketing industry is rife with three main types of bottom feeder you’ll want to avoid:

Ed Dale’s Melbourne Challenge Conference will take place on February 25, 26 and 27, 2011 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Melbourne, Australia. Aimed at beginning-to-advanced Internet marketers, conference organiser Ed Dale says the event will include presentations from top-notch speakers including SEO expert, Leslie Rohde, super-affiliate Lynn Terry, and copywriting expert and NLP master, Harlan Kilstein. The event is a must-attend for Australian based Internet marketers (normally starved of quality Internet marketing events) and highly recommended for overseas visitors. Just be sure to bring swimwear and sunscreen to get the most out of gorgeous Melbourne in summer! Go here for all the details including how to get tickets.

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This week’s ‘I Love Internet Marketing’ podcast features an exclusive audio interview with The Challenge founder and 30DC, Inc. CEO, Ed Dale.

Ed Dale is one of the true thought leaders of Internet marketing. Five years ago Ed began the free Internet marketing training program The Challenge (then known as the 30 Day Challenge) which has since enlisted over 150,000 participants. Back then, Ed also started buying and selling web businesses… years before it was trendy.

Sadly, various fakes and other dubious characters have tainted the word ‘guru’ in the how-to Internet marketing niche. While there really are some highly qualified Internet marketing gurus (i.e. teachers) around, they can be hard to spot amongst all the fakes.

Funnily enough, though, while the fake gurus certainly hurt a lot of people with their B.S. products… ultimately the joke is on them.

As part of an occasional series of reader profiles, here is a profile of long-time Kikabink News reader, Peter J. Prins, founder of Dynamic Small Business Websites.

Q: What is your background and why did you decide to get into Internet marketing?

A: I originally qualified in water treatment (a career ended by affirmative action in South Africa), then I was a freelance salesman and one man band for many years.

After the music ended due to a bad accident, there was only sales, and at one stage, retail management (fast food franchise). I hated the latter – working like a slave for $500 per month (considering the exchange rate at the time). I started exploring the internet – I KNEW there had to be some money floating around, and I just needed to tap into it.

Eventually I became a ghostwriter – which, even at my pathetic typing speed, paid better than my retail management job…:)

I learned. I experimented. Failed, and tried again. Slowly started making bit of money…

I had finally found a way to break free of all constraints…

All I had to do was to grow it.

Intellimon’s recent Traffic Survey 2010 (affiliate link) reveals some fascinating statistics about the Internet marketing community. The vast majority are male (82 percent) and just under half (49.7 percent) are aged 50 to 64 years old.

Produced in conjunction with the University of Bradford, The Traffic Survey 2010 is based on the responses of a few thousand subscribers to various Internet marketing lists. Since those who participated in the survey were invited to do so by individuals and companies in the how-to Internet marketing niche, the respondents are reasonably representative of the ‘Internet marketing niche’ as a whole.

When you’re starting out in Internet marketing it only makes sense to learn as much as you can from people who’ve ‘been there, done that’.

The good news is that there are lots of Internet marketing teachers around, ready to teach you what they know.

The bad news is that a lot of these self-proclaimed gurus are totally unqualified to teach! What’s more, even among the legitimate teachers, it’s all too easy to get yourself into ‘guru overload’. So here are a few tips for how to avoid both problems…

So you’ve bought a book, invested in a home study course, or purchased some kind of a system for building an online business. It’s a good product, backed by people you can trust, and the system itself is very logical. And yet, after following all the steps… the money is NOT rolling in.

In fact, you’re not making anywhere near the kind of money you were told you could be making if you followed the system. Maybe you’re not making ANY money at all.

So did the people behind the course or system lie to you… are they dodgy after all… or is there some other reason for why the system just isn’t working?

Ed Dale’s 30DC Inc., the company behind the popular Internet marketing training program, The 30 Day Challenge / The Challenge, has become a U.S. publicly traded over-the-counter (OTC) stock, following its reverse merger with business development company, Infinity Capital Group.

Ed Dale assumes the positions of Chairman, President and CEO of the company, while other 30DC executives take over management postions, except for Ted Greenberg, Infinity’s current Chief Financial Officer, who will become 30DC’s CFO.

So you sign up to an Internet marketer’s email list… perhaps on the promise of a free video, report or email course… or maybe because you bought something from them… and lo-and-behold they start emailing you marketing offer after marketing offer. Emails asking you to buy this and buy that. Sent to you every few days. Maybe even once or a few times in ONE day.

So, is sending all these email offers to you perfectly okay… or have they crossed some kind of line?