What is Internet Marketing?

June 2nd, 2009 Share your opinion!

In these bad economic times, many people are looking into making money online in an attempt to earn a little extra cash to pay the bills, replace a lost job, or become an instant millionaire (like so many info products claim their system will enable you to do.) Yet, when one finally decides to dive into the Internet marketing arena, many questions arise:

• What are the different ways I can make money online?
• Is it easy to make money online?
• What does real Internet marketing entail?
• Do I have to be adept at making websites?
• Must I make my own product?

And the most important:

• Where do I begin?

If you have been asking yourself any of the above questions, then your prayers have been heard — for, here are answers:

Ways to make money online

There are many profitable facets to Internet marketing, but the key to success is finding which method best matches the way you work, think, and even play (hey, this job requires persistence, so if you don’t like what you are doing you’ll give up soon.) In later posts I’ll cover each of the facets in greater detail. But for now, here is a brief listing of ways to make money online:

• Affiliate marketing (promoting someone else’s product)
• Selling on E-Bay
• Blogging
• Writing articles for yourself or for others
• Writing and selling your own e-book or other information product
• Drop shipping
• Building websites that profit from Google’s AdSense

Is it easy?

I’ve been making a good living online for the past 4 years and if there is one thing that I’ve learned it is this: “Internet marketing is the ‘hardest’ easy money I’ve ever made.” Let me explain that…

I view making money online in this way: people go to college to study their chosen profession. It takes time, energy, and even money (in the form of tuition). Once the knowledge is ingrained in your mind and the degree is in your hand you can get a job (hopefully) and start making money.

Internet marketing is exactly the same. It takes study, time, effort, (and even some money) to master the necessary skills. But once you have learned the ropes, you can make good money online. Persistence is the key.

REAL Internet marketing

To me, “Internet marketing” is the hardcore approach to making money online. It is so much more than just building a website or two and just watching as the “cash pours in.”

Basically, the pros at Internet marketing study every minute detail of ALL of there websites. They track every click their visitors make. They know which web pages get viewed the most. They tweak, update, adjust, and then scrutinize the results in the effort to get the most money out of their efforts. It can be mind-boggling to the newbie. But it is certainly NOT impossible to learn.

Website design and making money online

The good news is that you really don’t have to be an “amazing” or even just a “great” website designer to make money online. I know that last statement sounds like a hyped-up sales letter — but it’s true. Even just knowing the basics of website design (enough to get a simple site online) is plenty. And in some facets of Internet marketing, you don’t even need a website at all (article marketing is a good example.)

Obviously, attractive websites DO sell more of the products they sell or promote. But being able to build a great website is not required at all to make good money online.

Do I need my own product?

Not at all! The number one method to make money online is through “affiliate marketing”. It’s quite easy to do. Affiliate marketing is accomplished by simply finding a product that is already available online, signing up to that website’s affiliate program (where you get a special “affiliate link”), and then placing that special affiliate link on your own website or blog. If a visitor to your site clicks on that special link and then goes on to purchase that product, you earn a commission.

Of course, if you really want to profit the most from your Internet marketing efforts, then you really do need to make your own product to sell online. With that done, a fleet of affiliate marketers can then promote it for you. But don’t read that the wrong way. Many people do make a great living online by promoting a product that isn’t their own.

Getting started

The easiest (and cheapest) way to get started with Internet marketing and making money online is to subscribe to any of the free newsletters that abound across the Internet or read blogs (like this one) written by pros in the field. This is how I first began. Often when you sign up to these free newsletters you can also get free e-books on various topics of Internet marketing. But be forewarned. These people ARE marketers, so resist the urge to whip out your wallet at first.