Have you ever seen an online sales letter for an e-book? Or clicked on a hotlink in a blog post and ended up at amazon.com? That is internet marketing in action.
This kind of business is the process by which you spend time creating some kind of online presence in order to get people to buy your product, or a product of which you are an affiliate (more on affiliate marketing in a moment). In essence, you build a website or a blog, make videos, write articles for online article directories, and/or advertise online in order to make money.
Do people really make money online?
Many people have found financial freedom with their online business. Some internet marketers have been able to go from zero to six figures in just a year or two, then to seven figures in another couple of years. Others make a solid five-figure income, many being mothers who want to add to the family income without having to leave the home to go to work.
And honestly, some would-be internet marketers work their tails off for a year, two, three, maybe even more, and never get more than a few dollars a month. Part of the problem is that new internet marketers face much more fierce competition than their colleagues who began back in 2000. Another difficulty is learning the right marketing strategies; yet another is picking the right niche.
Types of internet marketing
- Creating and selling your own digital product, such as an e-book or software.
- Affiliate marketing. You promote other people’s products, and make a commission every time someone buys from your link. This is one of the best places for beginner’s to start, and the best resource out there teaching people about it is The Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner.
- Internet network marketing. You join a network marketing company, or MLM, whose products and/or services you believe everyone should be using (like this one
). Then you start a website or blog that provides general content related to those products or services.
In any case, you use various techniques to drive traffic to your website, or affiliate link, hoping that a certain amount of them will buy.
That’s internet marketing in a nutshell. But how do you know if it’s for you? Read my article, “The Pros and Cons of Internet Marketing.”
