Internet Marketing Basics

Internet marketing basics – Despite there being a enormous amount of information available to people about internet marketing, one of the most common questions people still ask is ‘How do I make money online’? Perhaps because there is so much information available, people find it difficult to know where to start. If you have ever signed up to an internet marketing consultants newsletter, I am sure you can attest to the daily emails promoting the latest and greatest money making systems. My inbox is flooded everyday with promises of huge money making opportunities through exotic sounding methods such ‘CPA Arbitrage’ or ‘secret blackhat seo’.

At times it can be overwhelming and at the beginning I certainly found myself thinking,

Do I want to be an affiliate marketer?

Do I want to start selling info products?

Do I want to start a network of blogs and make money off adsense?

Do I want to be a blogger?

The purpose of this post is to cover the basics of internet marketing and show you some of the main ways to earn money through internet marketing. If you have ever found yourself asking the question ‘How do I make money on the internet’ then this should give you some starting pointers to get started.

Important provision before I cover internet marketing basics

While I am an advocate of generating multiple streams of income, I believe that at the beginning it is best to master one particular internet marketing method. Once you have mastered that and are generating a decent income, then you can start to move onto other methods. Disciplining yourself to master one method can be difficult, as it is very tempting to sign up to or buy the latest system that promises massive returns. If you’re not careful you could find yourself wasting a lot of money and switching from one method to the next without really getting anywhere.

My advice would be if you are going to become an affiliate marketer, learn all there is to know about affiliate marketing. If you are going to make money of adsense then learn all there is to know about generating cash from adsense. Just be very careful at the beginning of jumping from one method to another. Of course still learn all you can about internet marketing in general but really concentrate on finding one system or method that starts to bring you some money.

You need to understand that there is no right or wrong. Some people make a lot of money from their blog, while others make a lot of money from promoting other peoples products. You just need to find the method that works best for you.

Internet Marketing Basics – Methods To Make Money On The Internet

While it may seem like there are thousands of different ways to make money on the internet, the reality is that there are about 20 core models. All the systems and methods you may have come across are just variations or extensions of the core models. For example ‘affiliate marketing’ is a well established business model of making money on the internet. Within affiliate marketing there probably are thousands of different ways to make money out of it. But at the core you have the model of marketing as an affiliate.

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular methods of making money on the internet. Affiliate marketers promote other peoples products and get a % of any sale that they helped generate. It is very easy to get started in affiliate marketing and can cost you nothing. You don’t need a website or even a list. Conversely there are affiliate marketers who have websites that cost millions of dollars. If you have heard of moneysupermarket.com there are perhaps one the world’s biggest affiliate marketers. They simply get customers to sign up for other people products and get paid for it.

2. Info-Products

Selling information is an excellent way to make money online and a method that I would highly recommend. People are always looking for solutions to problems and are willing to pay for information that solves their problem. It is very cheap to get set up to sell information and can be highly lucrative. Eben Pagan, is a personal hero of mine and one of the original and most successful information internet marketers.

3. Physical Products

If you have a physical product that you want to sell then you can always start a website. As long as you know how to drive targeted traffic to that site then you have a good chance of making money.

4. Ebay

Ebay is an excellent way to make money and many people make a full time living off it. For example you could trawl your local car boot sales for bargains and then try to sell them on ebay for a higher price.

5. Work from home or get paid to sites (GPT)

I consider these things like data inputting or paid surveys and reviews. They can earn help to bring in some extra income.

6. Adsense or contextual ads

If you didn’t know this already, you earn money by putting Google adsense onto your website. Many bloggers and webmasters make a decent living out of adsense and I certainly know of some people who make hundreds of thousands of dollars every year out of adsense.

7. Membership Sites

If you have some kind of specialized knowledge or content then you could consider setting up a membership site. There will always be people who are willing to pay a premium for certain information or content. For example if you have made money in the stock market, you could consider setting up a membership site showing other people how to trade stocks.

8. Coaching/Consulting

There is big money in consulting and if you can establish yourself as an expert then you can charge people for your knowledge. For example, currently many people want to learn about SEO and are willing to pay consultants to help them out or improve the rankings of their websites.

9. Web Hosting

People who have websites need hosting (ok you can get it for free but it is better to have your own hosting) and there are many hosting providers that provide ‘white label’ solutions that allow you to become a web host. Can be profitable but it is highly competitive.

10. Social Networks/Web 2.0 sites

Love Facebook? Then why not start your own social network? If it grows big enough then you can always charge other people to advertise on your website.

11. Free Lancer

As the internet gets even more popular people are always going to need a variety of services, from coders to copywriters or graphic designers and video creators. If you have a particular skill or service you think could benefit people, then it is very easy to connect with people who are looking for your services. Visit Rentacoder to see what I mean.

12. Paid Blogger

If you are good at writing then your services may be needed. Bloggers are constantly looking for other people to help them write content, so you could make some good money doing this.

13. Multi-Level Marketing

MLM is a popular on the internet as it is on the outside world. Just be careful what you sign up to as there are some unethical companies operating out there.

14. Domain Names

There are a lot of people who make a lot of money out of buying, selling and even renting domain names.

15. Sports Betting/Gambling

Online gaming is big business and if you know your stuff there is potential to make serious money. I actually know somebody has made in excess of $30 million out of gambling on the internet. A word of warning though, only ever do this with money you can afford to lose. If you can’t afford to do this then don’t.

16. Trading (stocks/Forex)

If you understand how to trade stocks and shares then you can easily set up an account and get started right away. If you don’t understand it, then you can always learn. But please be aware that learning how to trade stocks successfully can take a long time to master. Again if you can’t afford it, then please don’t do it.

17. Blogging

Blogging is a great way to make some money. If you are passionate about something, then why not start a blog. As long as you get sufficient visitors then you can always put some adverts on the blog or even make some money recommending other peoples products.

18. Website Flipping

It is possible to make a full time living out of trading website, you can buy a website help it grow and then sell it at a higher price.

19. Software

People are always looking to make their lives easier and software can often help accomplish this.

20. Unscrupulous Methods – E-Whoring/Online Scams – AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Finally there are some ways to make money online that are extremely unethical and should be avoided at all costs. For example e-whoring is the practise of pretending to be someone you’re not (usually an attractive women) and tricking people either to sign up for your affiliate link or actual give you their money. No matter how desperate you are, please don’t ever do this.

I am sure that many of you can add many more methods but I feel this core list forms the fundamentals of nearly all internet marketing activities. As stated, find a particular method that works for you and master until you can generate some decent income out of it. My particular preference is selling information. In actual fact I am releasing a product soon which shows people the precisely how to set up and sell an information product. I hope you enjoyed this lesson on internet marketing basics.

Until next time,

To your massive success.

Guy