What Is Internet Marketing?

What is internet marketing? Well that's a question that we've all asked at one point or the other.

Internet marketing, also known as online marketing, is one of the most commonly used terms on the web today. There are, however, a lot of people who are still unfamiliar with it.

First-timers, in particular, are not sure what it is, how it works, or what is needed to start an internet marketing business of their own. You may be one of those people.

So below is a guide to help you understand the key elements of internet marketing. But before we get to that, exactly what is internet marketing? How do you define it?

Well, internet marketing is the practice of marketing products and services over the web. That’s it in a nut shell. All that it involves is marketing products and services online rather than offline.  

How Does It Work?

Essentially, there are 2 routes you can take. You can either sell your own products/services or promote other people’s products/services as an affiliate.

If you plan on selling your own products or services, you need to build a website. That website needs to have a merchant facility like PayPal in order to accept payments.

Among other things, it also needs to give people strong persuasive reasons why they should buy from you by pointing out the benefits they will receive if they buy your products or services.

If you plan on selling other people’s products or services you don’t necessarily need a website. But it will give you several great advantages to have one. For example, you will come across as more professional and you will be able to access lucrative affiliate programs that only website owners can join.

So if you are one of those people asking the question, "what is internet marketing", it will help you to know that it is process that involves marketing products and services using a high quality website.

In order to sell affiliate products or services from your website all you need to do is add affiliate links. When people click on an affiliate link, they will go to the product owner’s (merchant) site and buy the product from there. Of course not everyone will buy, but whenever someone buys from the merchant, you will receive a commission.

Let us now take a look at the process in detail.

The first step in setting up an internet marketing business is building a website.  A professionally designed, high quality website gives your business an identity and exclusivity. It tells people who you are, what sort of products and services you offer, and why people should buy from you.

Now, if you are selling several of your own products or services, the website you build should contain a shopping cart so that people who visit can take a look at your products or services and decide which ones they want. This makes it much easier for your customers because they can see all your products at once and simply select the ones they want.

If you are an affiliate who is selling other people’s products, you do not need a website with a shopping cart. You can simply build an informative website and add links to merchant sites within the content. The actual sales will take place on the merchant sites.

Now, you may find the thought of building your own website a bit daunting if you are new to internet marketing. The good news is that it is really easy to get a high quality website up an running if you use the tools that I recommend on the Internet Marketing Basics page.

Whether you choose to sell your own products or become an affiliate, your website should be optimized for the search engines and easy to navigate. Once you set up such a website, you can then use a wide range of strategies to promote what you have to offer.

What Are the Most Commonly Used Internet Marketing Strategies?

The most commonly used strategies include search engine optimization, article marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, blogging, forum marketing, banner advertising, pay per click advertising and media buying.

Actually, the answer to the question, "what is internet marketing", can also be, the strategies internet marketers use to market products on the internet. Simple.

You can use these strategies to generate highly targeted traffic to your website. The more traffic you get, the higher the chances of people buying your products.

Now that you know the answer to the question, “what is internet marketing” let us take a look at the advantages.

What Are the Advantages of Internet Marketing?

Easy to Start

One of the important reasons why internet marketing is popular with many people is that it is extremely easy to get started. You can build a website and start promoting your products in no time. There is no need to fill out any paperwork and no need to wait for any approval. Very Affordable

You do not need to invest a large sum of money to set up an online marketing business. All you need is a computer with a reliable internet connection and a small amount of money to set up your business website.

Very Effective

You can reach a large number of people without spending large sums of money. Whether you cater to a local customer base or an international customer base, you can easily reach them using tried-and-tested strategies that are completely free or cost next to nothing.

Very Targeted

You can use marketing strategies that target your customer base specifically. Strategies like pay per click advertising and search engine optimization can help you create highly targeted traffic to your website with very little investment.

Very Flexible

You do not need an office setup to run an internet marketing business. You can work from home, from the coffee shop, or any other place where you can access the internet. You can avoid long commutes to work, the stressful work atmosphere, dreaded office meetings, and all the other problems associated with a day job.

At this point, if you are asking the question, "what is internet marketing", you must be starting to see that it is the single best opportunity to present itself in recent years. And the good news is that there is even more to it because...

It's Very Lucrative

Internet marketing is a very lucrative business. You can make as much money as you determine to make. There are simply no limits. There are people who earn a few hundred dollars a month, there are people who earn a few thousands a month, and there are people who earn tens of thousands of dollars a month and more.

It all depends on your level of skill and dedication. Needless to say, it will take more skill and dedication to make thousands of dollars a month than it will to make hundreds.

Getting Started

So you now know what internet marketing is and how it works. However if you are seriously interested in becoming an internet marketer, you still need to learn more about the subject and understand what it takes to become successful.

And this website is a great place to get started because we have broken down internet marketing into bite size chunks so that ANYONE can easily understand it and start profiting from it.

In other words we have dissected it and removed the confusion that surrounds it so that you can progress much quicker towards owning your dream internet marketing business.

So get started right now by reading the “Internet Marketing Basics Page”. You will be glad you did.

If you can still here a voice in your mind saying, "Bruce, I still don't understand internet marketing. Please elaborate", then check out this page:

What is Internet Marketing: Elaboration. Reading the information here together with the Basics page will give you a good foundation to build your online business from. 

To Your Success

Bruce