One of the single biggest mistakes most Internet marketers make is trying jump right into a sales pitch without warming up first.

By that I mean, they try to sell a complete stranger who lives maybe 5,000 miles away on a product or service, without any kind of warm up or finesse.

And unless you are the first person in your market, this can spell disaster for you.

Why?

Because selling is mostly about relationships. Your relationship to the person you are asking to spend money on what you have.

And personal relationships and business relationships start off the exact same way.

For example, if you are going to ask a woman on a date, are you going to walk up to her and ask her to marry you?

Or are you going to say something like, "lets go out for a cup of coffee or a movie."

You see, marketing online is just as much about building and maintaining a relationship as offline marketing is.

Thats why on my own sites, I always give people good, solid information they can use up front. They can spend hours on my site getting to know me, who I am, what I have to offer them.

And when it comes time to buying, they already trust me and my opinion. I'm not some criminal out to steal their identity or money.

And if you sell anything on the Internet, you should seriously consider doing the same thing. Give a little information up front before asking for the sale. Whether it's in a sales letter, newsletter or anywhere else.