That's my first reaction to beginning this, my maiden voyage into article writing for this great site. I fear doing or saying something that violates the rules or -- more selfishly here -- making myself look totally stupid and inept. Now you all know my once-personal shameful secret. There it is. I'm afraid of YOU, the folks who know what they're doing, have already been through that uncomfortable newbie stage and survived, even thrived. Knock knock. Please may I enter this vast grand hall and join the Experts?

Already I've learned some important lessons about internet marketing: there are a lot of spammers, scammers, and also-ran-ers on the web; I think I've received email from 99% of them already. Happily, I found some wonderful mentors, successful and talented writers, marketers, and entrepreneurs who understand and promote the value of sharing knowledge. There really is no such thing as knowing too much about a subject and I see where internet marketing is one of those non-static enterprises that must continually be tweaked, redirected, reined in, spurred, and otherwise interacted with to remain a useful tool for the devotee.

Sorting through the gargantuan mountain of training pages was almost enough to bring my exploration to a dusty, sliding stop; there was too much, and too much turns me off usually. Back the horse up, stand very still and rethink the race. Okay, begin with a sedate walk. Find a concise "starters" article, a nice to the point piece about how and where to start. Okay, I'm almost ready to wiggle a toe and ease into an extended walk, although the temptation is to fly like Pegasus. But jeesh, I hate to fall off, so I'll continue to walk my way through this great expanse of knowledge and innovation, and try to pick up some of the dust along the way...it seems this is not a speed-and-action contest but an endurance ride, a trail ride through exciting terrain and getting there really is part of the fun and reward.