Tuesday, July 8, 2008

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Business Portal

Getting Started With Internet Marketing

Posted: 07 Jul 2008 04:38 AM CDT


I used to have an e-commerce website where I sold espresso machines, coffee makers, and coffees. It was only mildly successful, despite the current demand for the product in the US. I wasted a ridiculous amount of time and money on CPC advertising, 3rd party SEO optimization, low quality advertising, and etc. Want to know why I wasn’t more successful? Traffic…or the lack thereof. I eventually dropped that website and decided to pursue new paths, namely internet marketing. Let me tell you, I sure wish I knew then what I know now about the internet. I could have easily been ten times more successful simply because I have learned how to get quality traffic to a site. If you are just getting started online (whether it be affiliate marketing or promoting your own product of any type), let me give you some tips on where to start to make sense of things. This article is in no way meant to give you the actual tools you would need, but rather it is to inform you of what your options are for getting a good, solid start.
Before you read this (or anything else, for that matter), let me point something out to you (because I was not aware of this until I got in to affiliate advertising myself). EVERYONE online is trying to sell you something. Keep that in mind through everything you read. Most are trying to sell you something just to make money. Others, like me, are trying to sell you something that works because we have tried everything else. Regardless, not matter what anyone says, you should keep in mind that everyone is trying to sell you something.

The first place you should start is with forums. There are a few good forums out there that are loaded with information and people ready and willing to help you. I especially recommend forums if you are trying to get started with no initial investment. My personal favorite is The Warrior Forum. This site is frequented by some of the big name gurus of online money making and internet advertising. Search through old posts and read what others are doing and what is working for them. The problem with forums is that the information is often spread out and difficult to put together.

The second place I would start is with ebooks. These are good because, unlike forums, the information is all in one place; however, ebooks can be a tricky way to get started because there is so much useless trash out there. An ever increasing number of people have decided that they didn’t want to promote someone else’s product through affiliate marketing, so they decide to go off and write their own 50 page piece of junk. The solution to avoid buying trash is to find reviews on the different books out there from people who know what is junk and what isn’t. There are numerous eBook review sites that specifically focus on reviewing internet marketing books. Work at Home Watchdog is a good one that has ratings for books, but unfortunately does not have written out reviews. This, coupled with reading reviews in forums will give you a fairly comprehensive idea of the quality of the content. I word of advice with ebooks: pick one and stick with it for a bit before you buy another. They are typically expensive and the cost can add up very quickly. When first starting out, focus on the books that cover a broad range of topics. This way you can get a comprehensive view of the options available to you.

The third option is to join a program that includes a get-started training. Seeing that I am fairly ADD, this option works best for me. This way I have a reminder every day to go through training material to stick with it. My personal favorite is Plug-In-Profits Site (PIPS), but there are certainly many other programs out there. Do your research (i.e. forums) and find out what programs people like the most. The nice thing about PIPS is that the 30 days to success training covers just about everything you would need to understand the world of internet marketing. Nearly every one of these programs will have you join with the intent of you promoting that program to make money. If you were more interested in selling, say, coffee makers, you would just take the traffic generating tools and lessons in the program and apply them to your personal website instead. If you join a program like this, my advice is to initially ignore any programs that are not free that they tell you to sign up for in the training, finish all of the steps, then hit the programs that are reviewed as the best working ones on forums. Almost every program will require you at least sign up for a domain name and budget webhosting, but to be successful online you are going to NEED this anyways.

The thing I must stress to you is not to get overwhelmed. When I started, I made the mistake of signing up for three different programs and purchasing five different ebooks at the same time. At the same time I was trying to read every forum post I could find to follow in successful people’s footsteps. I ended up extremely overwhelmed and was so busy with each program that I couldn’t focus any significant effort on one. I urge you to do your research, pick a path, and stick to the program. If it doesn’t work, then move to the next thing. If it does work, use it to the extent you can, and then add more to it through other programs. If you think ANY program is going to make you instant money and/or traffic, you are so wrong. To do it properly, it will take time, even if you do everything just right.
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