I first began to dabble with internet marketing about 8 or 9 years ago now. Initially I was just trying to develop some income working from home by writing and selling e-books based on my experience as a musician. At the time my wife and I were acting as full time carers for our disabled daughter so I had no particular ambition to go into the business in any sort of committed way. I was simply looking for a way to boost our household budget.
As my understanding of how an online business works grew I began to see the possibility of doing much more than I was without having to spend too much more time on it. For a while I was frustrated in my ambitions by the demands of our daughter but, as we got her life sorted out, the opportunity to really work on developing an internet marketing business became more realistic.
It was at that point I did what many people do and began to invest in online courses, purchased e-books, sent off for DVDs, etc. etc. and got nowhere fast! When you are exploring new things in life it is so easy to spend lots of time and energy looking for the answer but, sadly, looking in all the wrong places. Rather than finding one particular approach and sticking with it I flitted, butterfly like, from one idea to another with inevitable results; – I achieved nothing. As the need to earn became more pressing I finally took the whole thing seriously and set about learning what I needed to know with some urgency.
To set up any business takes motivation, inspiration, dedication, commitment and lots of hard work. Internet marketing is no different. The rewards can be great but it won’t happen overnight. It is a business with a number of different factors and each one of those factors relies on all the others. If you have one missing link in the chain then it just won’t work. I hasten to state that I am not trying to put anyone off joining the ranks of online marketers, but it needs to be understood that much of the hype that sometimes surrounds the business is just that: – hype!
Internet marketing itself can seem relatively straight-forward. Find a niche of people hungry for information; source a good quality product or service; then create a marketing strategy to lead people to your website where the sales offer is made. That’s it really. Get interested people to visit your website and you will make sales.
So, how do you achieve that? You can use Pay-Per-Click advertising, search engine optimization, opt-in mailing lists, free gifts, rewards, etc., indeed anything that will encourage people to your site. It is a question of taking a good look at your niche and at your own personal and financial circumstances and deciding which one (or ones) is most appropriate for you and your target customers.
It will always be the ideal to find yourself a mentor, someone who has been through the process of developing a business themselves and knows the ropes; someone who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk too. The alternative is to find a high quality online course (of which there are many out there). If one catches your eye check up on the publisher of the course. A quick Google search will give you background information on the course and its creator. If there are question marks about a specific course they will be raised on the internet. Do lots of research on every aspect of the business so you get a comprehensive understanding of how it all works and success will most likely follow.