Here is one of the biggest lies being either purposely or accidentally perpetuated within the Internet marketing community: you can and SHOULD be able to make a fortune without spending much or any money to do so.

It’s a lie.

Don’t get me wrong. An Internet based business is certainly one of the cheapest businesses to set up. And, compared with traditional, “bricks and mortar” businesses, Internet businesses can achieve returns on investment (ROIs) that are nothing short of spectacular. Both in terms of the increase in value of the business and in terms of ongoing profits.

But the idea that you don’t have to spend much or anything on your business - and in particular, on marketing - is just not true.

The truth is that the “big boys” in Internet marketing invest in marketing. They don’t rely on approaches that are likely to attract web visitors and subscribers in the handfuls… they invest in approaches that generate visitors and subscribers by the hundreds and thousands.

This includes investing in pay-per-click advertising… newsletter advertising… off-line advertising… paid press release distribution… paying people to write and distribute articles and engage in various back-linking strategies… sharing generous commissions with joint venture partners, and so on.

Again, that doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune. Or even to spend a lot when you’re starting out. But to really grow your business, be prepared to invest a few hundred to a few thousand dollars on marketing per month AT LEAST.

And here’s the good news. If you’ve been beating yourself up over why everyone else seems to be able to generate such amazing volumes of website traffic, build such enormous lists, and make so much money… while you’ve continued to struggle… now you know why: No, everyone else is NOT smarter than you… they’ve probably just spent more money on acquiring visitors, subscribers and ultimately, customers.

Sure, there ARE cases of Internet marketers who have not spent much and have achieved huge success with cheap viral marketing, or have fortuitously hooked up with a joint venture partner who has, or has access to, a huge list.But most of us have to buy our ways in.

And, let’s be honest here, no business that has been around for any length of time gets to survive, let alone thrive, without investing in marketing.

So stop thinking you should be a miracle worker and start working out how much you can invest and what you should invest it on.