In other words, you must make your customers happy, and yourself happy at the same time. In fact, both parties must share equally in this mutual benefit. If you or your customer are happy when the other is not, the relationship will inevitably break down.

In addition if there is never any kind of personal relationship, as well as an offer of a good quality product or service at a reasonable price, there also may not be a long term relationship.

There is sort of a Law of the Universe at work here, and the Universal Law applies to an Internet business just as well as it does to a typical “brick and mortar” business. The only real difference is that you may never actually meet your customers fac

There seems to be a certain mystique about technology today, especially about the Internet. I remember in the early 90's before I got on-line, I had read dozens of magazine articles on the Internet.

This was way before Google and even before AOL. I was led to believe that the Internet was some vast medium for entertainment, and it sounded similar to TV, except unlike TV, you could choose what to watch.

What I found when I finally got on-line, was that the Internet was not really about entertainment at all. It was more like a vast Electronic Library of information, except that unlike books, the electronic pages were "linked" together. I was fascinated that you could move instantly, (well not exactly, since I had a dial-up modem connection), from one page to another one, with a simple click of the mouse. We all take this for granted now, but as my daughter asks me, “What was the world like before the Internet” ? It is so much a part of many of our lives that it is hard to imagine the world without it.

At the time, I wondered, why no one could tell me that the Internet was like a big electronic library, where web sites were like electronic magazines all linked together. It seemed so simple for me to explain once I experienced it, but everything I had read up until that point had fallen short, and failed to describe it adequately.

The same thing is true, it seems of business on the Internet these days. If someone knows how to market on the Internet, they are treated like a guru. Why is it so hard to find someone who will explain how to do business on the Internet in a clear and straightforward way, that every one can understand ?

Through this simple introductory article, I will try to demystify one essential Internet business strategy called Linking, or as defined by the most popular search engine on the planet, Google Linking.

It is important to remember that the vast majority of businesses in the US are still what I would call brick and mortar businesses. There is a building with a street address, that has overhead, and all that goes with it. If you have a “brick and mortar business”, and you want to stay in business, and become successful, you need to provide a valuable product or service to your customers, and treat your customers well, regardless of the type of business you run.

Think of either businesses you have worked for in the past, (even your own), or places you like to visit to shop, or even companies you know where you would like to work, if you were given the chance.

If you want to just survive, you can do business as usual, without changing anything, (if you are lucky, that is), but if you want to grow your business, you must subscribe to the principle of "Mutual Benefit".

In other words, you must make your customers happy, and yourself happy at the same time. In fact, both parties must share equally in this mutual benefit. If you or your customer are happy when the other is not, the relationship will inevitably break down.

In addition if there is never any kind of personal relationship, as well as an offer of a good quality product or service at a reasonable price, there also may not be a long term relationship.

There is sort of a Law of the Universe at work here, and the Universal Law applies to an Internet business just as well as it does to a typical “brick and mortar” business. The only real difference is that you may never actually meet your customers face

At the time, I wondered, why no one could tell me that the Internet was like a big electronic library, where web sites were like electronic magazines all linked together. It seemed so simple for me to explain once I experienced it, but everything I had read up until that point had fallen short, and failed to describe it adequately.

The same thing is true, it seems of business on the Internet these days. If someone knows how to market on the Internet, they are treated like a guru. Why is it so hard to find someone who will explain how to do business on the Internet in a clear and straightforward way, that every one can understand ?

Through this simple introductory article, I will try to demystify one essential Internet business strategy called Linking, or as defined by the most popular search engine on the planet, Google Linking.

It is important to remember that the vast majority of businesses in the US are still what I would call brick and mortar businesses. There is a building with a street address, that has overhead, and all that goes with it. If you have a “brick and mortar business”, and you want to stay in business, and become successful, you need to provide a valuable product or service to your customers, and treat your customers well, regardless of the type of business you run.

Think of either businesses you have worked for in the past, (even your own), or places you like to visit to shop, or even companies you know where you would like to work, if you were given the chance.

If you want to just survive, you can do business as usual, without changing anything, (if you are lucky, that is), but if you want to grow your business, you must subscribe to the principle of "Mutual Benefit".

In other words, you must make your customers happy, and yourself happy at the same time. In fact, both parties must share equally in this mutual benefit. If you or your customer are happy when the other is not, the relationship will inevitably break down.

In addition if there is never any kind of personal relationship, as well as an offer of a good quality product or service at a reasonable price, there also may not be a long term relationship.

There is sort of a Law of the Universe at work here, and the Universal Law applies to an Internet business just as well as it does to a typical “brick and mortar” business. The only real difference is that you may never actually meet your customers fac

The same thing is true, it seems of business on the Internet these days. If someone knows how to market on the Internet, they are treated like a guru. Why is it so hard to find someone who will explain how to do business on the Internet in a clear and straightforward way, that every one can understand ?

Through this simple introductory article, I will try to demystify one essential Internet business strategy called Linking, or as defined by the most popular search engine on the planet, Google Linking.

It is important to remember that the vast majority of businesses in the US are still what I would call brick and mortar businesses. There is a building with a street address, that has overhead, and all that goes with it. If you have a “brick and mortar business”, and you want to stay in business, and become successful, you need to provide a valuable product or service to your customers, and treat your customers well, regardless of the type of business you run.

Think of either businesses you have worked for in the past, (even your own), or places you like to visit to shop, or even companies you know where you would like to work, if you were given the chance.

If you want to just survive, you can do business as usual, without changing anything, (if you are lucky, that is), but if you want to grow your business, you must subscribe to the principle of "Mutual Benefit".

In other words, you must make your customers happy, and yourself happy at the same time. In fact, both parties must share equally in this mutual benefit. If you or your customer are happy when the other is not, the relationship will inevitably break down.

In addition if there is never any kind of personal relationship, as well as an offer of a good quality product or service at a reasonable price, there also may not be a long term relationship.

There is sort of a Law of the Universe at work here, and the Universal Law applies to an Internet business just as well as it does to a typical “brick and mortar” business. The only real difference is that you may never actually meet your customers fac

Think of either businesses you have worked for in the past, (even your own), or places you like to visit to shop, or even companies you know where you would like to work, if you were given the chance.

If you want to just survive, you can do business as usual, without changing anything, (if you are lucky, that is), but if you want to grow your business, you must subscribe to the principle of "Mutual Benefit".

In other words, you must make your customers happy, and yourself happy at the same time. In fact, both parties must share equally in this mutual benefit. If you or your customer are happy when the other is not, the relationship will inevitably break down.

In addition if there is never any kind of personal relationship, as well as an offer of a good quality product or service at a reasonable price, there also may not be a long term relationship.

There is sort of a Law of the Universe at work here, and the Universal Law applies to an Internet business just as well as it does to a typical “brick and mortar” business. The only real difference is that you may never actually meet your customers fac

In other words, you must make your customers happy, and yourself happy at the same time. In fact, both parties must share equally in this mutual benefit. If you or your customer are happy when the other is not, the relationship will inevitably break down.

In addition if there is never any kind of personal relationship, as well as an offer of a good quality product or service at a reasonable price, there also may not be a long term relationship.

There is sort of a Law of the Universe at work here, and the Universal Law applies to an Internet business just as well as it does to a typical “brick and mortar” business. The only real difference is that you may never actually meet your customers face to face. That is not to say that you can't have a personal relationship with them. They will just have to get to know you, and you will have to get to know them, through the medium of the Internet.

If you overcharge your customers, you will find them searching out your competitors. If you let your customers dictate your prices, or the level of service you provide to them, and let them take advantage of you, than you will not be happy about their return business.

Often, this seems like a delicate balancing act between you and your customers, but those who strike the right balance will have plenty of return customers year after year. If you are trying to get rich quick, just like in mainstream business, you are very likely to be sadly disappointed.

Think back to all the companies you worked for in the past. If you evaluate these business from the perspective of mutual benefit, you will discover something very interesting. First of all, those that merely survived and those that thrived will have either followed this principle closely or ignored it.

Also, those that followed the mutual benefit principle were enjoyable places to visit as a customer, or as an employee. Those that disregarded mutual benefit were likely distasteful places to work, or even worse, what I would call “living nightmares”. What is good for my customer, and good for me in equal proportion, that is what determines long term success.

The same is true on the Internet. Don't ever think that you can cheat someone on the Internet. Sooner, or later, you will likely fall flat on your face, and be sadly disappointed at the outcome.

Think of all of the relationships you made with your customers as "links" to prosperity. The quality and quantity of these relationships are the measure of a healthy business. These relationships did not come easily, they had to be earned.

Internet Business, works the same way. Think of all of the electronic links to your site as friends of your business, even if they have never, and most likely will never purchase your product or service. Treat them all with respect as though they were your customers. The quantity and quality of these links will determine the type of page rank your site will have.

This is not easy, and in fact, involves some plain old hard work, in terms of as time and effort. If you pursue the appropriate keywords for your industry that have a reasonable amount of traffic, and get these keywords from another site “linked” to your site, especially high quality sites with a good page rank, you will find yourself with plenty of quality traffic to your site that you will be able to convert into sales.

I am reminded of a book, by Ray Esquith called "There are no Shortcuts". He is a Disney Teacher of the year, and a well respected elementary school teacher in urban LA, who quite simply works harder at teaching than any