Anyone who is in, or just starting, internet marketing will have been inundated with the offers to make you a multi-millionaire within a few days. You will have seen the "proof" screen shots of bank statements, admired the new Lamborghini and envied the big luxury home. Some will even show you their holiday photos from all over the world and tell you that this "life style" can be yours for the taking without even working or at most doing a four hour week.

Trouble is, at the start we all think these things are easily obtainable and can get seduced by the hype... after all, that is what we want and why we are trying. We buy the product only to find it either just does not work or is too complimented to understand all the internet lingo, so we learn and study and try again when another new shiny get rich object comes floating into our inbox. We have all been there and we have all been taken in by the vision of self sufficiency, no boss, work when and where we like and live the life we think we deserve.

There are:

• The "secret" systems and formulas that will bring in "floods of begging customers with credit cards in hand waiting to buy"... how is it secret? It has just been broadcast all over the web with dozens of affiliates trying to sell it to you...cool "secret"! Common logic says "This is so secret, everyone else knows but me".

• The "underground", "under the radar", "under cover", "under just about everything"... I am glad these ones are not in the secret service as under cover operatives!! Some of them should be under ground!!

• "Never before seen" usually turns out to be years old blurb rehashed with a few new bits tagged on to make it "new".

• The long, long, long sales letter that almost puts the reader into a coma before the end. Maybe that is the idea? Get them hypnotized so they buy just to get out of the trance?

• The sales video that goes on and on about how great they are with a loving family, new car, everything under the sun but leave you no control over the video so you can't fast forward to get to the price.

• And that price! "Buy my super secret, undercover, never before seen money grabbing formula and you will be rich beyond your dreams... only $2500". Yeah right! If we had that spare cash we wouldn't be here in the first place! They fail to mention that if you spend that cash, your wife (or husband) will go nuclear and you will be on your own as they take the kids to Moms and file for divorce!

Fast forward six months to a year (sometimes even longer), and we have made a few dollars but never hit the big time. We have learnt all the internet terms, studied how to carry out all the necessary tasks and are still hoping to "make it". We have learnt that the most important thing to have is traffic and we religiously use all Mr Google's tools for our tedious keyword research and analysis. ( a neat trick is to use Google Analytics to look up the keywords people are actually using to get to your site and then targeting those) We work at it for hours each day and slowly get better at everything, even getting our site into the top pages of Google. We at last understand that you only make the thousands of dollars a day AFTER you have slogged away endlessly. The four hour work week is only there when you have 'made it'... the rest work hard to get there. The rest spend the money trying while the few take the money telling you you don't need to work hard if you get my new shiny work free, underground, secret, never before seen blah, blah, blah.

But then something comes along and lo and behold, we have an "Aha!" moment, curse because we never saw it before but this time we check it out before buying. At this point in marketing we have learnt to trust certain people... but still...! Checking out with Warrior Forum or similar usually gives us a good idea about the new shiny offering and checking the 'scam' sites enlightens us even further. Not the 'scam?' sites that use the word in the article just to sell, but the sites devoted to revealing scams and bad programs. (Boy am I glad they are out there... saved me a fortune!)

Finding out about keyword research and how to do it easily was a great "Aha!" moment for me. I was taken by two pieces of software that were the new shiny objects at the time and invested my few dollars earnings on them, (need to invest in business), and am I glad that for once they paid off... so... I really can recommend these two things. They do NOT promise to make you rich.. heck they don't promise very much in the way of making you money at all BUT what they do promise is to save you a lot of time and help get those profitable niches.

Am I trying to get you to buy one of these?. Of course I am. That is what it is all about isn't it?. Not a lot of point in being in internet marketing if you don't try to sell something! And that is one good point to remember... don't just read and collect the shiny things. Get of your virtual backside and go out there and do something. Do anything but at least do something. There is no better way to see what works and what doesn't. Anyway, I digress. Back to my recommended shiny things and these are Micro Niche Finder and Market Samurai.

Each has its own good and bad points as nothing is perfect for everyone, but I got these at their conception and for once they do exactly what they claim. They get a lot of work done in a short time and produce results you would otherwise take hours to get. Before you try to market anything you need to do research and these get all your research and analysis done so fast you will wonder why you never tried them before.

Micro Niche Finder does what it says and more. It helps you drill down through the keywords people use to get to a micro niche that sells. It lets you see what the competition is and whether it is worth entering that market.

Market Samurai is similar to Micro Niche Finder but with a few more modules to help you sort out the good, the bad and the ugly. It can gather content and produce your AdSense Adverts. It shows your competition and page ranking as well as giving you the ability to commercialize your site.There is a free trial that is well worth a look.

Which one to try is a matter of choice. I use both as I find one does things better than the other and vice versa. What I also like about these keyword tools is the training you get. Market Samurai has the upper hand on this as it does a lot of videos to run you through the software and explain how each module works... and work it does, bringing you all the research data you will ever need to crack into a niche with confidence.

So it's up to you to decide. Through all the hype, secrets, underground, long sales letters and videos, at least these shine through the rubbish and really, really do work for you. With these the BS stops and at last there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. I hope you get the chance to see the light. If you are interested and want more information, just click a title in my Resource Box.