What is Internet Marketing?

As this blog is about internet marketing and how to create websites for profit I thought I should start with the basics. It is a question I am often asked.

What exactly is Internet Marketing?

Essentially it is the marketing (promoting, selling) of goods and services online. This can be anything from books, ebooks, courses, radios, software, yoga mats etc. To market online you will use various skills like technical skills (website creation and development), creative (design, ideas generation), advertising and sales. As an internet marketer you will try to provide your customers with a product they need at a particular time.

Why use the Internet?

The internet is an excellent place to market your products and services. More and more people are using the internet to buy what they need. The Internet is always open and you can work on your marketing activities any time you want. On top of that you can choose to sell products on just about any topic. So you can choose something you love to talk about and market and connect with people with the same interest.

Advanatages and disadvantages

Advanatages

Like anything Internet Marketing has its pros and cons. Here is a quick summary:

• A huge advantage of doing business on the internet is that there are no entry barriers. If you have some time on your hands you can start right away. This is of course also a disadvantage as there will be a lot of competition.
• Low start up costs.
• Marketing online is very affordable and it allows you to track what works and what doesn’t. This gives you a lot more control than traditional marketing.
• Internet marketing allows you to communicate very directly with your target customers. You can connect with them through social networking sites, your blog, twitter etc.
• You can choose whenever you want to work and what you wear!
• You can target any market in the world
• You can create systems that once setup and promote kind of take care of themselves.

Disadvantages

• Internet marketing is not necessarily easy. It still requires a lot of work, creativity in finding the right product or niche and determination in promoting this product. But if you can find a way to create good online assets you can literally make money while you sleep.
• You will need to get a website and therefore learn some technical skills. You may want to outsource a lot of the technical stuff later but it’s still better to have a basic understanding.
• Because of the low entry barriers there will be quite a lot of competition so it will be your task to be either smarter or more focussed on your niche

So what does it involve?

In Internet marketing you can expect to get busy with the following tasks:

• Creating a website and writing a Blog: a great way to attract traffic and an audience
• Article Marketing
: writing lots of articles for both your own site and other sites
• E‐mail Marketing
: building a subscriber opt-in list is a great way to keep reminding potential customers about you
• Search Engine Optimation: get listed at page one for your targeted keywords and receive lots of (free) visitors
• Advertising: pay per click ads, banners, pop up ads
• Social Media marketing: Using sites like Twitter, You Tube, Squiddo to attract visitors
• Forum Marketing: helping out in online forums can help you sell your products and services

On this site we will explore all of these topics in greater detail. I will share my endouvours in Internet Marketing and will tell you what works and what doesn’t. I hope you will take this journey with me. You can do so easily by subscribing to this blog.

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