What Do I Need To Know About Internet Marketing?
What Do I Need To Know About Internet Marketing?
Here is a short list of what you will need to know:
- Internet Marketing: definition, terms/jargon, and examples
- Online Marketing Methods
- Advertising: Ad Types, Ad Placement, Ad Costs
- How To Start A Business Online
- How To Choose A Niche
- How To Build A Website
- Social Networks
- Analytics
If you are ready to learn more about each one of these topics, grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we are about to get into the nitty-gritty of Internet Marketing. If you want to learn about just one topic click the quick links above.
A word of warning: There is a LOT to learn, but don’t panic just yet. You can bookmark or pin this guide for future reference. Relax, and take your time.
Note: The original intent of this article was to show a simple list but it grew it to so much more. However, in many cases, we kept a list-type format.
Because of popular videos on social networks, we are regularly asked: “How Do I Learn Internet Marketing?” “Internet Marketing” has almost become a buzzword. Videos that show lavish lifestyles, with fancy cars and vacation homes, only show you the financial potential. They don’t tell you the truth about the work involved in running a business online.
Please, don’t get us wrong or misunderstand what we are about to say. The potential to earn money online is HUGE, yet, it requires hard work and determination to become successful. Before you jump on board, you should take the time to learn what internet marketing is, how it works, and what exactly you need to learn.
Good news! There is free information all over the internet (including on this website). All it requires is using a search engine and a few keywords and phrases.
The problem?
When you don’t know a subject, how in the world do you begin to explore it?
You don’t know what you don’t know!
In this article, we will explain what you do need to know and where you can find that information. We have provided a few resource links to help you locate the information you need to get started with affiliate marketing.
Internet Marketing
We need to start here because it is the very foundation of learning marketing online.
Internet Marketing, known more commonly as digital marketing, has more than a few names. It has also been called web marketing and online marketing. Please keep this in mind as you do your research on Internet Marketing because your results will pull up answers and questions for all 4 names and they all in fact are the same thing.
Since we have already written about this subject in more detail we will leave links to those articles below.
- Overview, Definition, And Examples: What Is Internet Marketing? (Answered)
- How To Learn About Internet Marketing
- What Do I Need To Learn About Internet Marketing (This Article)
Online Marketing Methods. (Types Of Internet Marketing)
Quick Links
- Affiliate Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Email Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Affiliate Marketing
Articles on Affiliate Marketing
- Overview, Definition, Examples:Affiliate Marketing Beginners Guide: What it is, How It Works, Tips, FAQ’s , And More
- How to choose the right affiliate programs for your niche
- Is Affiliate Marketing Dead? 2022 And Beyond
- Affiliate Marketer’s Checklist For Beginners
- Ultimate List Of Questions To Ask Before Becoming An Affiliate Marketer
- The Ultimate Guide Of Affiliate Marketing Tips and Strategies
- Can You Affiliate Market For Free?
Where To Get Affiliate Links:
Typically you join affiliate programs offered by companies and then you will get your own unique link(s) to use. You also can join affiliate marketplaces where you will have access to many companies in one place.
Affiliate Marketplaces
- Commission Junction
- Share A Sale
- Rakuten
- Skimlinks
- Impact Radius
How to promote affiliate links: 7 core ways to promote affiliate links (and actually make profit)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Overview, Definition, Examples: What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) And How Is It Accomplished?
Watch SEO for Beginners: Rank #1 In Google (Youtube Video By Brian Dean)
Email Marketing
Overview, Definition, Examples: What is Email Marketing? Definition, Strategies, & Tools to Get Started
What is Email Marketing?: Youtube Video
Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing
What Is An Autoresponder And Do I Really Need One?
Which Autoresponder Should I Use For My Business?
List Of Autoresponders
(These are just a few of the most popular services, but there are many more. See the article linked below for more options.)
- AWeber
- Convertkit
- Mailer Lite
- GetResponse
- Mailchimp
Article: 25+ Best Email Marketing Software Platforms for 2022
Content Marketing
Definition: Content marketing is when you create engaging articles, posts, blogs, PDFs, videos, and media, etc relevant to your niche. Pretty much any method you can use to attract an audience other than paying directly for ads is called content marketing.
Other Examples: This article is content. How To articles, Lists, Quotes, Infographics, Reviews, Informational Posts, Round Up Posts
How to Create a Roundup Post That Will Skyrocket Your Traffic to High Heavens
Social Media Marketing
Definition: It does what it says on the tin. Marketing, advertising, and promoting products and services through social media platforms (explained in more detail in the last paragraph).
Examples:
Benefits: You can add links back to your content, form groups, curate content, make and share videos, track audience behavior, and pay for direct advertising. Raises brand, product, and service awareness.
Influencer Marketing
Definition: Using an influencer in a given niche or becoming an authority on a given topic where people listen to your ideas and recommendations.
For further clarification, an Influencer is someone who is popular on social platforms on a particular subject and uses that fame to promote products, brands, or services.
Examples: Celebrities doing commercials for products or brands. Podcasts and radio networks use commercials to influence people’s decisions.
Advertising
While we personally think SEO is the only way to go, advertising, if done right, can be VERY lucrative.
Our advice here is do SEO first. Do the work. When you have a post that is successful THEN start advertising because it will catapult your results.
That being said there are other methods and reasons to start advertising as soon as possible but unless you know what you are doing then the above advice is what we stick by.
Either way you need to learn about the different ad types.
Ad types
- Social media ads: Social Media Ads are great because about half the planet uses social media so the potential brand exposure is high. They are also cool because you can leverage a variety of ad formats and laser target your desired audience.
- Paid search ads
- Native advertising
- Display advertising
How To Start A Business Online
Starting a business online is not easy but there are many tools, programs, and resources available to lessen the load. Many of which we write about on this blog.
We have yet to cover how to run a business online and there are many different types of online businesses as well. We will get around to writing our own guide on how to run a business online because there is a lot to cover, but for now we will leave the best links to resources we can find on the subject.
Article By Big Commerce: How to (Realistically) Start an Online Business That (Actually) Grows in 2022
Business Mindset
Article By WA Member Myideas: I am Not Creative.
- Choose An Online Business Model
- Choose A Niche
- Come Up With A Marketing Plan
- Come Up With A Monetization Plan
- Content Plan
- Build A Website
- Create Content
Online Business Models
- Affiliate Marketing
- Blogging
There are many different business models but the two listed above are more in line with this article.
This article by Siteefy will give you some inspiration as to what is possible online and may inspire you: 25 Types of Online Businesses
What Is A Niche?
A niche is basically what your website is about. What is the point of your site? What is the main topic going to be? Defined a niche is a segment of the market. For example, this site is about Internet Marketing and the Tools And Programs that go with it. Hence the domain name and title of the site.
Article: How To Choose A Niche.
Is My Niche Profitable?: 7 Steps To Find Out If Your Niche Ideas Are Profitable
Niche Website Examples
How To Build A Website
To build a website you need a few things.
- Website Builder: The program (or person) you are going to use to actually build the website.
- Hosting: The place (host) that will store all the website data.
- Domain Name: The name of your website plus “.com” (.org, .US, .UK, .net, .co, etc) is called a domain name. It will be the address of your site online. Also called a URL.
We built this website through our membership with Wealthy Affiliate (although we have built sites with code and FTP before). They have a program called “site build it” where it takes about 30 sec to build a WordPress website.
Just to clarify that does not mean an entire site is built with photos, articles, and content, but the site itself is built in that time. You have to build the content. That applies to every website you create.
We also get hosting through WA.
The domain name we purchased at namecheap.com.
You can of course build a site with WordPress, or any other website builder, and host your site anywhere you like.
Hosting is where you will host or park your domain/website. Each hosting company has different data plans for different needs and therefore the cost of hosting varies.
You will also need to purchase a domain name. For those who don’t know a domain name is the website address to your site also called a URL. For example, www.internetmarketingtoolsandprograms.com is our domain name. It is the address or URL to our site.
After you choose your website builder you will need to become familiar with how it works, and functions.
For example, WordPress has its own new categories and subcategories like themes and plugins that will need to be installed for certain things to work on the website.
For the most part, we recommend WordPress as your website builder, but you may want something different depending on your business goals and needs. We have included a list of WordPress Categories that you may want to look up if you decide to go that route.
Website Builders
- WordPress (Recommended Platform)
- Wix
- Weebly
- GoDaddy
- Squarespace
- Jekyll
- Webflow
- Google Sites
- Hugo
- Joomla
- Drupal
- Hubspot CMS
WordPress Website Builder
- Webpage Builders
- Themes
- Kadence
- Generate Press
- Astra
- Divi
- Plugins
- Security Plugins
- SEO Plugins
- All In One SEO
- SEO Framework
- Yoast
- RankMath
- Image Compression Plugins
- Kraken
- Smush
- Forum Plugins
- Form Plugins
For any specific WordPress questions you have, please visit the WordPress Forums
Resource Link To More Website Builders: 18 of the Best Free Website Builders to Check Out in 2022
Hosting
- Wealthy Affiliate (With Membership)
- Siteground
- Dreamhost
- Godaddy
- Hostgator
- Bluehost
- Greengeeks
- Hostinger
- A2 Hosting
- Hostpapa
Link to Best Cheap Web Hosting of 2022
Social Networks
If you choose to use social media marketing as part of your strategy then you will need to learn a little about social networks. While this is not the first step or even the middle step it is important to figure out which networks to utilize for your business.
The potential engagement from followers, “friends”, or subscribers could lead to massive income sometime in the future. You do have to build these networks up to gain readership/views, but once you do, you will have built many sources of traffic and income.
If you know who your audience is and where they hang out online it will make the process of choosing the right social platform that much easier. But you don’t have to limit yourself to just one platform. Just make sure you can keep up with the content requirements to build an audience.
For example, We currently use Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram, and have just recently added Twitter. Any more and we will have to hire a full-time social media assistant.
The Current Top Social Media Platforms
- Keen
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Vimeo
What platform(s) should you use for your business?
Conclusion
There is a lot to learn about Internet Marketing and there is still so much more, but you can do it at your own pace. There is a ton of information available freely on the web and now that you know what you need to learn about internet marketing it should make the journey a little easier.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out and if you think there is anything we should add to this list please leave a reply below.
Wow, there sure is a lot to learn when setting up an internet marketing business. You have given me a few things to think about that I had not considered before.
The links you have provided to various resources will keep me busy for many hours to come.
Thanks for breaking it down into manageable chunks…. because the overall picture can be very overwhelming.
Hi Brie,
Thank you for this extensive article on internet marketing.
I need to admit, this is a very good summary of everything that goes into internet marketing. As a blogger myself, I feel like I know bits and pieces about each element separately but I never realised that they all come together into internet marketing.
There is one element that I am not yet involved in and that is email marketing. Do you find it to be an essential part of running a successful business online?
Thank you,
Tatiana
A lot of great information and tips here in regards to important aspects to focus on when first considering online marketing. A lot of the tools mentioned in this article are trusted online marketing tools I myself personally use on a daily basis. I wish you the very best of success in your online marketing journey.
Hello Brie,
What a comprehensive article about internet marketing. I am into blogging, vlogging (a little), and social media marketing as well (FB, Instagram, Linkedin, Reddit, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, etc. – I tried them all and still growing). I also just delved into email marketing. A lot of the tools you mentioned, I am already familiar with and have been using personally.
The only things that got the least of my interest were PPC and advertisements. I just felt that they might ruin the look of my website by showing irrelevant ads or not being aligned to the theme/design that I am using and might turn off some people.
I am sure this article will help a lot of people who are new to internet marketing. I will share this to my colleagues, families and friends who might be interested.