Internet Marketing Explained In 5 Minutes Or Less

Internet marketing is still a complete mystery to a large

majority of Internet users. For many net users, online

marketing is seen as some foreign area of the web, populated

with silly get-rich-quick schemes and unsavory characters

ready to rip off the innocent and uninformed consumer at

the click of a mouse.

In fact, Internet marketing could not be further removed

from this unfaltering picture. In reality, Internet marketing

is populated mainly with hard working professionals promoting

and selling high quality brand products by many of the world’s

Top 500 companies.

Worldwide there are now over a billion Internet users,

representing one large global consumer base or marketplace.

The total amount of goods sold online has been steadily

increasing each year as the Internet gains in both popularity and

familiarity. Studies have shown people shop online because of

lower prices, a wider selection of products, easier comparison

shopping, and many just prefer not having to travel to stores

to make a purchase.

Handling all this online e-commerce is a whole sector of

companies, hosting providers, web designers, advertising

agencies… and so on. All this online commerce has also

given rise to a relatively new creature — the professional

Internet marketer. Someone who makes a lucrative living

helping facilitate, in one form or another, all this online

activity.

Still Internet marketing has gotten a raw deal.

If you mention to any group of professionals that you’re

an Internet Marketer and that you work full time on the Internet;

you will receive some very skeptical looks and more than one

arched eyebrow of disbelief.

Regardless of this lingering skepticism, Internet marketing

has become a viable alternative for many disgruntled professionals

dissatisfied with their working hours or conditions. It has become

a viable alternative for many people from all walks of life, from

the college student to the bored housewife to the retired doctor…

all are enjoying a part time or full time income from the comfort

of their homes.

And since the Internet is now practically available to everyone,

anywhere in the world — Internet marketing is a level playing field.

Anyone can make a full time or part time income from the web if

they truly desire it.

There are many forms of Internet marketing. There are many online

business models you can follow. There are countless ways to earn

a good honest income from the Internet. Which path you take

will be largely determined by your own work habits, your background

and what marketing style you’re most comfortable with.

Here’s a quick rundown of the most popular forms of Internet

Marketing:

1. The Brick and Mortar Store Online

Most major companies and retail stores have created online

versions of their brick and mortar businesses. Even if

consumers don’t buy online, many use these sites for

gathering product information before buying in the

real world. A factor many savvy businesses are exploiting

in their overall marketing strategies.

2. Online Services

Many service industries have moved online, everything

from travel to banking to dating! Again, the Internet

can be a profitable extension for any service company.

3. Internet Products/Internet Gurus

Internet marketing has a whole history of pioneers who

have forged the methods and techniques of marketing online –

opt-in lists, mini-sites, article marketing, pay-per-click

advertising, joint ventures… a brief history populated with

such names as John Reese, Marlon Sanders, Ralph Wilson,

Yanik Silver, Corey Rudl, Ken Evoy and countless others.

A whole new industry has grown around ‘How-to’ market online,

info products, workshops and web seminars — teaching

people how to market on the Internet. A marketer creating

his own product can prove very productive; as seen

by John Reese’s 2004 launch of Traffic Secrets, which earned

over a million dollars in one day. (Without a penny of paid

advertising!)

4. Online Advertising and Promotion

Pay-Per-Click advertising such as those offered by Google

AdWords and other companies presents another viable marketing

route. Keywords (the exact words typed into a search engine)

fuel a large portion of the web’s activity, keyword marketing

has become a major driving force behind most of the economic

transactions on the web. This is a very lucrative sector for

those Internet marketers who know exactly what they’re doing.

Then there is the whole section of SEO experts and consultants

who command high prices for positioning companies or products

in the top positions on the major search engines. Acquiring

organic Top 10 search results (SERPs) will greatly determine the

profitability of your online product or company.

5. Affiliate Marketing

One of the least understood, yet one of the most profitable

forms of Internet marketing is affiliate marketing. An online

marketer can join any affiliate program and promote its products

or services on the Internet. You market the products, find

customers for the company and receive a cut or commission

for each sale you make from your marketing efforts. These

commissions can run anywhere from 2% to over 50%. One affiliate

click can earn you anywhere from a few cents to several

hundreds of dollars.

Major third party affiliate programs or companies such as

Commission Junction, LinkShare, Amazon, Shareasale…

acts as a brokerage or go-between representing thousands of

Top Brand companies such as Sony, Apple, Dell… to online

affiliate marketers. Marketers can join a program such as

Commission Junction or LinkShare and be able to promote and

market hundred of top quality products or services online. They

can consolidate their affiliate marketing through these

third party programs.

Perhaps the most common business model for the majority

of online marketers is the last example, or a combination

of advertising and affiliate sales. Many work-from-home

professionals have adopted this business model. They have

created site or sites on the topic that interests them and

of which they have or have gained some expert knowledge.

Once these sites become established and gathering a large

amount of targeted web traffic each day, making a nice income

can only be a matter of putting the Google AdSense code on

their pages and placing a few appropriate affiliate

links on their sites.

The more traffic these marketers deliver to their sites,

the more income they earn. The more unique content they create,

the more income they earn. The more web sites they design,

the more income they earn.

What many people outside of the web marketing field fail

to realize, the Internet is a 24/7/365 business. The Internet

is always on and working for you. It is automatically producing

income for you 24 hours of the day, while you’re sleeping, while

you’re enjoying a nice meal with friends, or even while you’re

on vacation.

Internet marketing can provide you with a lifestyle that is totally

liberating — you can live and work anywhere in the world. You can

be your own boss, set your own hours and work from the comfort

of your own home. Plus your whole online Internet business can be

automated so it basically runs itself.

Internet marketing is totally flexible. You can adjust your workload to

suit your own work habits. Internet marketing is scalable, once

you have learned how to make your first dollar, it is only

a simple matter of repeating and scaling up what you did to

earn that dollar. Computers and the Internet makes it just as

easy to handle a thousand sales as it is to handle one sale.

As Internet marketing becomes better known, it will gradually earn

more and more respect. It will become a well recognized profession

that many will aspire to and follow as a life long career. Mainly because

Internet marketing will give you the freedom rarely seen in any other

profession.

It offers you mobility, a high standard of living, and a working

environment that can’t be beat. It gives you the freedom to follow

your own interests and hobbies; all the while turning those interests

into viable revenue streams that supports the lifestyle of your

own choosing. When it is all said and done, earning a living just

doesn’t get any better than this.

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