More Fun than a Barrel Full of Monkeys Cutting into Your Incisors

Fun morning – 8:15 at the dentist getting cavities filled on my upper two wisdom teeth. You know, there’s something disconcerting about seeing smoke funneling out of your mouth.

Not on my top 10 list of favorite activities, but it had to be done. I don’t want my teeth falling out. And truth be told, the first pain I felt wasn’t until a couple hours later after the anesthesia wore off. If you have a good dentist like I do, there’s not really much to fear although so many people do.

It got me thinking to my own industry. There’s a lot of fear about the Internet as, even in 2007, it still constitutes the great unknown for many folks. Scary as it may be for many otherwise competent and confident business men and women, just like going to the dentist, online marketing can help.

One of the things I do when I don’t feel anxious, nervous, or scared, is that I try to educate myself about what’s going on. In this morning’s case, I asked the doc about what they use for fillings (a silver-copper-tin alloy), how they stay in (by indented cuts), and if he had any cavities (yes, but not since he was a kid).

In the case of online marketing, I’d probably start by trying to learn the industry’s jargon. But where could I find something like that from a reliable source? Where to look, where to look? Oh, how about Direct Online Marketing’s Internet Marketing Terms glossary?

The next thing I’d do is to talk to any friends to see what they know about it. I always rely on advice from trusted sources. Finally, I’d try talking to a couple companies and see what they think. Some are willing to even give free online marketing consultations to educate you about things like search engines and blogs. Then you can determine whether it’s a good idea for your business to jump in and give it a shot.

The best way is if you can try it out without a large capital investment up front. Ask around. We offer a Performance-Based Pricing model allowing you to put most of your money to results. It’s like putting an ad in the newspaper and only paying for the people that call you up, visit your site, or buy from you instead of paying out money regardless of whether you see any action.

I guess what it all boils down to is that I just compared my livelihood (helping businesses increase leads and sales through online marketing) to getting your teeth cut into with power tools and sharp objects. Way to go me! Surely Momma Seibert raised smarter children.