I remember when I was just starting to get interested in Internet Marketing (I mean, really just starting…like, a few hours in), I was trying to figure out exactly what it was.  I mean, I understood the technical definition which you can find just about anywhere, but what I was really looking for was the ‘vibe’ of the thing.  I recall thinking ‘why doesn’t some bugger just give me the skinny on what this is all about?’.  I later came to appreciate why it is that there isn’t really a definitive explanation, and I’ll explore this further below, but I decided one of the first things I wanted to do with this blog is provide would be marketers with the down-lo on this thing called Internet marketing.

Ok…the technical answer (try to stay awake, it is afterall, kinda important).  Internet marketing, also known as online marketing, is an umbrella term for utilising the internet to market products and services. As is the case with many generic terms, Internet marketing holds different meaning for different people. Even in the area of Internet marketers themselves, there are vastly different perspectives on what actually comprises internet marketing practices.

Broadly speaking, Internet marketing refers to the techniques employed to market a product or service online.

Internet marketing can be a legitimate business practice employed in the commercial sector by companies who’se primary activity may be both online or offline, and undertaken with a view to converting internet users into clients, customers or purchasers. However, to a large extent Internet marketing pertains to a body of online marketers who employ strategies focused on driving we internet users (referred to as traffic) to their own or an associated web presence, where we are then encouraged to purchase the marketers product or service.  There is an increasing trend towards offering electronic or information products (eBooks) or like material.  To many, Internet marketing looms as an attractive but often elusive opportunity to make money.

End sermon.

For those of us who haven’t swallowed an encyclopedia this morning, information products, eBooks, or online business are frequently the more circuitous route by which people become exposed to the concept of Internet marketing. A search for the more generic terms by which Internet marketing may be referenced, such as “home based business” or “make money online”, reveals a plethora (some 100,000,000) of results inviting us to become part of the online marketing revolution, and take our slice of the preverbial income pie. Catch phrases guarantee we can make money with little or no effort, in no time, and at no cost (apart from, of course, the small cost of the information product being offered).

There are some brilliant products and services out there, but from the perspective of those of us looking to Internet marketing as a genuine source of income, many online ventures are best left alone until we have a good grasp on the mechanics behind the glitz, glam and guarantees with which Internet marketing is so readily associated. The resounding reality is that many of the would be methods on offer won’t quite measure up to the prospect of generating a financial return which is promised.  It’s not necessarily because they don’t work, they just work much better if you know what you’re doing (Which most of us newby marketers don’t.  Be ok with that, embrace it, don’t let it bother you…I guarantee you’ll save yourself a truckload of heart-ache and frustration if you can).    

That being said, it’s not all bad.  There are legitimate and workable means by which we can make money online. The sheer weight of numbers advocating Internet marketing for that very reason is of itself a form of mutated truth, and to that extent the problem speaks to the solution. What we as marketers ought aim to do though, is to arm ourselves with the knowledge necessary to put in place those legitimate means, and provide something of value to our online prospects.

Broadly speaking, the elements and forms of Internet marketing strategies include the following:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Keyword Research
• Google Adwords
• Google Adsense
• Article Marketing
• Social Networking
• Web Design
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Generating Web Traffic
• Blogging
• Niche Marketing
• Product Creation
• Copywriting
• List Building
• Viral Marketing
• Public Label Rights

Without suggesting that the above is an exhaustive list, being able to understand what each element means and how it applies to Internet marketing takes us at least part way down the road to being able to make the internet work for us.

There are some amazing resources online, many of which I aim to have featured in future articles, and these can provide new or would-be marketers with the information they need to obtain a working understanding of Internet marketing. From my own experience to date, I can’t emphasise enough the benefit of using those resources as a starting point as opposed to opting in to anything even remotely resembling a ‘get rich quick’ scheme without understanding how the whole process works.  You don’t have to know it all, but it does help to know the basics.  It’s just too easy for newby marketers to be taken advantage of otherwise.  There is a saying in one of my favourite passtimes, poker, which states “If you don’t know who the fish is at the table…it’s probably you”.  The same can be said for marketing.  Be pro-active, but be smart.   

My biggest tip for anyone looking to start out in Internet marketing is READ…READ…READ.  Once we have, we can then ACT, and act appropriately.  Without the background knowledge, it can be all too easy for your fledgling efforts as an Internet marketer to exact a financial and emotional toll, the likes of which can end your marketing career before it has really started. I’m assured that it makes for a lengthier process, but a more worthwhile one.

As I like to say…Internet marketing won’t make me rich quick…but it might make me rich eventually.