I've seen companies shoot the moon and then fall back down to earth, never to be heard from again, or maybe just mocked, as is the sock puppet from Pets.com.

Well, WDFM is still here. Below are some insights into why that is and how to stay on top of the "pitch and toss" marketing waves that tend to send many under the surf, dissapearing into what already seems to be a distant past.

1. Be Buoyant: Like news cycles, marketing cycles happen faster than ever. Nothing is written in concrete. Be able to change course quickly and nimbly.

2. Believe Nothing of What You Hear and Half of What You See: This is advice from my late dad. Be skeptical as hell. Ask for proof positive all the time. The more people tell you to trust them, the more you should question them. As Ronald Reagan said, "Trust, but verify." If the other side is true blue, they should have no problem with this equation. If they do, watch out.

3. It's About Relationships, not Technology: These days, you'd better have top drawer technology. That's the cost of entry and it is assumed that you will. The real deal is how straight are the people with whom you deal? Time is the real finite commodity. Use it wisely when forging new relationships.

4. Stay Humble: Arrogance was the watchword during the dot com bubble, Arrogance replaced substance. Stay humble and let the marketplace tell you what reality is. I often ask to be proven wrong, and want that to happen.

5. How Does It Serve Me?: This is the question you and your target market must ultimately ask, either consciously or unconsciously. Apply this to technology, copy, graphics, websites, anything. If it isn't easily answered, walk away.

6. "How Does This Site Make Money?": There should be a law that dictates each site has a clickable link that answers that question. The Net is a suspicious place, with good reason. It's best to tell people what's in it for them so they know where you're coming from in this strange no face-to-face medium.

7. Love It or Get Out: If you don't live it and have a passion for this medium, leave it immediately. Like all new media, it can be frustrating, tedious and troublesome. You'd better embrace the concept of living with "not-knowing," since there's much which has yet to be answered in these beginning days, and yes, these are just the beginning days.

8. Study History: I spend much of my time comparing the parallels between the dawn of this marketing medium and that of radio, TV, magazines and even other new technologies, like the telegraph, railroads and automobiles. It's amazing how often we repeat ourselves.

9. Listen: It is the nature of many publishers and writers to send more messages out than to receive inbound messages. I consciously try to take in more than I transmit. I filter down the inbound and present them in my speeches, newsletter and in consulting. Make order out of chaos. That is a true value. This lesson was articulated to me by legendary Marty Edelston, founder of the Boardroom Reports.

10. The Internet Is a Mirror: You can say the Net is a bunch of wires and computers strung together - and you'd be exactly right. But on a larger scale, it's nothing more than an electronic mirror, reflecting back to us who and what we are. Keep this in mind when you go to your respective marketplaces. There are real heartbeats at the end of each of those wires.

11. Bonus Tip: If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that change is the only constant. Web Digest For Marketers goes through a major change every year. Last year it went HTML. Year before that we started the Special Focus Issues, which are now the most popular editions. Before that we went weekly, and so on. Sometimes the changes are planned, and other times, frankly, they happen spontaneously, as circumstances dictate.

In short, you have to be a "change artist" to thrive in this Internet game. Come to think of it, the exact same thing is true for life itself.