Okay, I’m going to blow your mind with some marketing advice that is so simple, it might even insult you when you first hear it. I know the first time I heard the phrase, I recoiled. Surely a statement this crass can’t really be the key to internet marketing.

If you want the monkey to take the banana, you’ve got to show it to him.. I was perusing a forgotten thread in a forum and a person was answering another’s plea for assistance. The questioner was having problems getting conversions, and he wondered what could possibly be the problem. That’s when the wise internet marketer told him the truth.

Yes, people are monkeys, and they will only take the banana if you show it to them. A statement like this makes me think: “I’m not a monkey, dammit! I won’t just take the banana when you show it to me.” But then I cautioned myself against comparing “what I do” against “what the masses do.” I think differently than the average person, so there’s no point comparing what I would do with everyone else. I decided to give the “monkey/banana method of marketing” a try.

I knew that banking visitors for a rainy day is a great idea, so I started placing sign up forms wherever I could. Anything to make sites sticky. I was able to raise total network RSS subscribers from 0-400 from May until now, and each time I made a tweak that made the code that much more visible, it worked. You have to show the monkey the banana, if you want him to take it.

There it is, my friend: the greatest internet marketing advice I ever heard, and I won’t charge you a dime for the information. Go out there today and “Feed the monkeys”. They’re hungry, as always, but they won’t eat unless you show them the banana. Show the hungry monkeys your big yellow banana and you’ll never go hungry again.