July 2007
Most people believe that Internet Marketing is an easy way to make millions of dollars. While you can make an unlimited amount of money with internet marketing, there is very little ‘easy’ in the formula for success. To be a successful Internet Marketer you must learn to be part product visionary, part web designer/programmer, part marketing copywriter, part direct marketer, part advertising executive, part online merchant, part fulfillment manager, part salesperson, and lastly part customer service assistant.
Internet Marketing has many professions all rolled into one, you don’t have to be an expert on everything. Much of what you will learn about Internet Marketing will come from actually doing it. For some it will be tough for some it will become second nature. Those that it becomes a second nature for are the ones that will ultimately succeed.
What I am getting at is that Internet Marketing is hard work at least in the beginning. Once you work out all of the details and start rolling it does over time become somewhat easier. I’ve been in Internet Marketing since the mid 1980’s. What I was doing back them was selling advertising on websites, selling products I created, and several other ‘jobs’. I personally get a lot of satisfaction from what I do, it is not so much a job as it is a new adventure every day.
Some people get a grimace on their face when they hear the words “Internet Marketer”, I don’t really know because Internet marketing applies to basically anyone that has sold something online, whether it is via email, online auction, through an online store application. Internet Marketing is just a very broad term for people selling things online.
To succeed, today’s Internet Marketer has to have drive, desire and a passion for what they do. A good bit of resolve and stubbornness doesn’t hurt either. The problem is that many people give up before they begin to see results. Like any other job or profession you must learn the ins and outs of the work at hand.
Although this is a short article, I will try to touch on some basics of what you need to learn or be aware of. The details can be learned as you go along on your quest to have a home based Internet Marketing business.
The Basic Components of Internet Marketing
To get started as an Internet Marketer you will need a product (or products), a way to sell them, a way to market the product(s), a way to collect money, a way to get the product to the customer and of course a way to support your customers needs. It sounds a bit overwhelming but actually it’s not that difficult and is a process that has a certain order of events that must happen.
Products
To make money you must have products. There are basically three ways to get products. One create a product yourself (self help videos, eBooks, Information reports, How-to guides, etc.), secondly you can license products created by other people (sometimes referred to as PLR – private label rights, of RR – Resale Rights), and thirdly buying physical products from a wholesaler and selling them online.
Some of the best products making money right now are based on the marketer’s passion, something they know a lot about or enjoy doing. You can take nearly any passion and turn it into a product. Knowledge is money, especially in Internet Marketing. People pay for information whether it is a video series on how to do something or even a short 10-20 page report on how to do something effectively. I won’t go into detail about product creation ideas here. You will find a resources section at the end of this article that will point you in the right direction with product ideas.
Getting Your Products to Your Customers
In order to sell your products to customers you must have a means to do so. Most Internet Marketers have one or more websites to sell their products on. I have found that most Internet Marketers prefer Linux Hosting that uses PHP. Generally Linux/PHP hosting is cheaper than other kinds of hosting; you can obtain inexpensive or free scripts to automate things such as handling orders, affiliates, and product management. There are many PHP scripts on the Internet that you can use to build out your product marketing site and make it more manageable. My preference is Microsoft based hosting, however I do own my own hosting company so I have no additional cost whether I have one site or five hundred websites. I guess it is a matter or preference and cost. I won’t go into details regarding web hosting, web design, programming here. You will find resources at the end of this article that will help you get the information you need.
Selling or Marketing Your Products
Once you have a website for your product there are several ways to ‘sell’ it. After setting up your website the next step is sales or marketing copy for your products. This is probably the most important step for an Internet Marketer as copy is what sells products. It is an art unto itself. I will give a few pointers however this is such a broad subject that you probably will find more information via the resources at the end of this article. I have found over the years that talking ‘to’ the customer works much better than talking ‘at’ the customer. What I mean by this is communicating with the customer using words like you and your, rather than I, us or we. To have effective copy you must ask questions of the customer and fill their needs, all the while peppering the copy with how you are going to help the customer, or how your product will fill a need. Humans are complex animals and one of the keys of selling your product is appealing to their needs whether it be physical, mentally, or emotionally. The resources are the end of this article will point you in the right direction for writing effective copy.
Another aspect of selling or marketing your product is to advertise and market your product in various ways to attract potential customers. This is entirely up to you, however I recommend that setup a budget if you are going to pay for leads to your product, advertise on other websites, or use pay-per-click type advertising. There are several inexpensive methods of marketing your product that require time rather than money. Below are several ways to get customers to your product without spending any money.
Free Methods of Directing Customers to Your Products
- Blogging – Build a blog and start blogging, there are several free blogging services that you can use to get started
- Posting on forums related to your products, start by searching for forums pertaining to the products you are selling, use a signature file that contains information on your product or website. Most forums frown on making commercial posts about products and services; however most of them allow a signature file.
- Search Engine Traffic. Implement search engine optimization on your website, this will pull more customers to your site and costs absolutely nothing. Want to know more about SEO? Read my Confidential SEO Secrets book. One of the very BEST ways to get customers.
- Social Networking, utilize sites like sutmbleupon.com, del.icio.us, digg.com, netscape.com and reddit.com to receive traffic quickly to your website. Another great way to get customers quickly and long-term. Social Networking sites also build link to your website and that can help get you listed in the search engines more quickly.
I rarely use ‘pay for’ services to marketing my products as I find the free methods to work well for me. Whether or not to advertise is a judgment call on your part.
Paid Methods for Directing Customers to Your Products
- Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, while not my personal favorite, it does generate customer traffic. If used properly you can get a lot of customers for very little money. The two better known PPC companies are Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture).
- Pay to list product directories
- Banner and textual advertising, find sites that promote products such as yours and advertise your product.
- Affiliate Programs allows others sell your digital products for you. ClickBank is widely used by Internet Marketers as the start-up fee is low and you can get up and running in a day or so. If you plan on selling physical products you may want to look into Commission Junction as a starting point, it costs a good bit more to set up, however you will have the potential for millions of sites to offer your products.
One bit of advice, if you use Google AdWords be sure to limit your ads to only showing on Google search engine and not on other sites (content site advertising), you’ll have better results and spend less money.
I have included several resources pertaining to Pay Per Click and other forms of advertising in the resources at the end of this article.
Now that you have customers visiting your website (and hopefully buying products) you will need a way to handle orders, accept payments, deliver your products, and provide customer support. There are many ways to handle this, If the product is digital (not physical) you could use PayPal for payments and send your products out via email. If you have more than one product I would suggest that your use some sort of store script or store application, most store applications and scripts will help you list products, handle the orders and sometimes even deliver digital products. This is of course up to you and most e-commerce scripts and applications cost money. To begin with PayPal is probably your best be as it will allow you to accept not only PayPal payments but credit cards as well, you don’t even need a merchant account to use PayPal. If you are planning to sell many products you should purchase a store script and obtain a merchant account. See the resources section at the end of this guide for more information.
Once you have your products set up for sale you need to be able to support your customers, whether they are asking for more information, having problems ordering, or heaven forbid wanting a refund. Customer support can make a break anyone. If you fail to provide good customer service you won’t last long as an online marketer. Customers have a habit of telling others if they have had a great experience with a company or a very poor one. Good customers are like having gold bars in your basement. Happy customers tell others; this in turn gives you more customers. The opposite is also true, if a customer has a poor experience with you, they will tell others and the word will start spreading to stay away, if may not affect a lot of sales, but it could.
RESOURCES
This section contains resources I have discovered over the years and have really helped me become a great Internet Marketer. Internet Marketing is a constantly evolving industry, you need to keep up or end up failing.
Internet Marketing forums are one of the best places to get a feel for Internet Marketing and even help you get your feet wet. These forums cover a lot different aspects of Internet Marketing and will give you information on every subject we have discussed in this guide including: websites, scripts, copy writing, product ideas, SEL, advertising and marketing to name a few.
Warrior Forum – This forum is one of the oldest and in my opinion one of the best forums on the Internet to learn many different aspects of Internet Marketing. I highly recommend that you join or at the least visit it often and read the posts. You will find many nuggets of knowledge here.
Digital Point – I don’t use this IM forum as much as I do Warrior Forum, however it is a very good place to get up to speed.
Search Engine Optimization – I recommend my book Confidential SEO Secrets as a guide for the beginner through advanced marketer. It contains 62 pages of easy-to –use search engine optimization techniques that will send you more customers (for free) than you ever thought possible
Web Design and Graphic Design – Designer Today Magazine is a great resource for graphics as well as learning how to use your favorite graphics applications.
Copywriting
Here are some good sources on copy writing. These are good starting points on how to write cood marketing copy.
Copyblogger – One of my favorite Marketing Copy Blogs
Copywriting Basics
When Bad Copy Attacks
Tips and Advice on Copywriting
Good Copywriting
Copy Writers Board
Michel Fortin
The Gary Halbert Letter
The Robert Collier Letter Book
Tested Advertising Methods
How To Write A Good Advertisement
Breakthrough Advertising
About the AuthorAllen Harkleroad has earned money from selling products and services on the internet since 1994. Allen is a huge fan of ‘do it yourself’ marketing and advertising as well as learning how to take advantage of search engines to get customers without spending money to do it. You can visit
Allen’s Blog to learn more about online marketing as well as take a look at his latest search engine optimization book titled ‘
Confidential SEO Secrets’. Allen owns and operates a large network of content including the
Designer Today Magazine. Allen is also the CEO and Owner of
GMP Services, a custom software and Internet services business.
Copyright © 2007, Allen Harkleroad, All Rights Reserved