I’m not going to name names here but there are some Internet marketing guides on the market that can seriously waste your time and money – as well as some that will literally grow your business as if you had a personal mentor standing right beside you.

There’s a process you have to have for sizing up these tutorials. Some newbie ‘net marketers get so lost with this process and end up buying anything and everything they can because they’re grasping at straws – and they end up with a lot of hurt, anger and frustration because most of what they invested in is worthless.

Here’s what you need to think about whenever your emotions start calling on you to whip out your wallet and spend money on another Internet marketing guide:

• Can you afford it? Please don’t overlook this crucial piece of the formula. If your electric company just sent you a notice that you either pay the $115 you owe or you’ll be without lights and heat next week, then by all means take care of that before you buy a $115 Pay Per Click guide just because you’re willing to gamble that it’ll help you make double your money in 48 hours or less.
• Who’s the author? It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to do a little bit of sleuthing and see what type of reputation this guy (or woman) has online. If you see far more complaint pages than you do kudos to them, it’s a red flag waving at you to slow down and keep on looking.
• Are they desperately pushing bonuses over the product itself? What usually happens when an author haphazardly puts together an Internet marketing guide is he shoves a pile of bonus items into the mix so that even if you’re not happy with what he created, you feel the bonuses made up for it. Keep in mind that the bonuses are supposed to be free – so if you see a list of 50 bonus items, ask yourself why the product owner feels so desperate to overdo it.
• Do you need it? “Well I need everything,” you might reply in your head. No, you don’t. What do you need right now? What tasks are you working on right this second to get your business off the ground? Only buy guides if it’s about something you’re currently doing and having trouble with. You don’t go buy a guide on Squidoo if you’ve never even been to the site or Googled for some free information to see if it’s even anything you’d want to tackle.

And perhaps the most important thing you can remember when you’re deciding whether or not to buy an Internet marketing guide is who recommended it to you. If you trust that person, then you can trust the recommendation. If they promote anything and anyone, then you have to research it yourself before you shell over money you don’t have for something that may (or may not) be of use to you.