If, like me, you have signed up to several mailing lists from a number of different internet marketers then you will be bombarded with information on new products to buy. Whether you are just starting out in internet marketing or are a veteran in the field then it is a good idea to check out what the competition is up to, but there is a potential downside to all this and it is a very big downside indeed.

You see there is no point in signing up to these lists if you are not going to open the emails and check out the offers being made to you. However doing this reveals the potential downside because you will be bombarded with many slick sales pitches for the very latest 'must have' products on the market. It would be the easiest thing in the world to reach for your credit card and order the product on the spot; after all you want the product and don't want to miss out on all the free 'early bird' bonuses which come to those who take action fast.

Be warned though that you take this approach at your peril because you will end up buying a lot of products which you simply do not need and possibly cannot afford. Remember that the whole point of signing up to all the email lists in the first place is to become a better information marketer and not a better consumer of information marketing products. So, with this in mind, here are the two questions you must always ask yourself before you ever buy another information product online.

Firstly ask yourself: "Can I afford this product I am thinking of buying?" ?If the answer is 'no' then don't be tempted to buy it because you don't want to spend funds you do not have. Instead find another way to build your business and wait until some sales come in from your efforts. You can always then decide to plough back some of these profits into your business and use them to buy a new product which may be useful to you.?If the answer is 'yes' then don't go reaching for the credit card just yet as you have a second question to ponder now.

Secondly ask yourself: "Will this product actually help me with the key area of my business I am working on right now?"?This question is of vital importance because once you have identified that you can afford the product then you must decide whether it will be of any use to you. The best way I can think of to determine the usefulness of a product, which will avoid buying things you will never use, is to limit this concept to the thing you are currently working on.

If the product helps you do what you are currently doing faster, better or more efficiently then it may be worth buying. Equally it may be a wise investment if it saves you time or money or helps you make money faster than you would without it.

Another bonus of this approach is that you will no longer buy things which just might come in useful sometime down the line, perhaps in three or six months time. Why is this useful? Well I have found that often when you come to use a product you bought six months ago you are shocked to discover that it has already been replaced by version 2.0 and the first generation product is already out of date.

So by answering these two simple questions before buying another internet marketing product not only will your buying decisions become much easier but you will only buy products that you can actually afford and will put to good use.