Internet marketing can mean a broad range of things, but broken down it is just a popular forum of advertising, to anyone that is on the internet. Also using the internet to further the marketing of products and businesses in real life.
Here are some of the most common ways internet marketing is used today.
General advertising for large brands – You will see banner ads and other promotions from big corporations, that pay just to have their image and products in front of people, even if it is just a banner advertisement.
Obviously the people reading this are probably not in this category, but all major brands use the internet in some way.
Of course a lot of these major corporations have huge advertising strategies outside of the internet, signup such as Cable TV and radio, so the internet is just another way for them to market, they aren’t even dependent on it.
Medium sized businesses and corporations – Every corporate strategy is different, but at the very least they will have some online presence. For most medium sized businesses, online marketing will be a lot more crucial for their growth. This is because while large corporations still advertise heavily online, it is much easier for a medium sized company to build an online presence.
With search engine rating, social media and paid marketing, most medium sized businesses can run an effective campaign online and most invest time and money into this.
Small Businesses – For a small business owner, having an online presence can greatly increase their reach, even if it is a local product.
Local search optimization, and local targeted marketing done online is very effective for small businesses. It can be harder to compete with larger businesses, but if you are going to do it online is a great place to get an extra advantage.
All of these strategies take education, which will give someone serious about internet marketing an advantage over someone who is not experienced.
The content of this article is mostly aimed at another type of marketer entirely.
Most internet marketers these days are people who want to make a living from home, or start their own business online. You can market your own products if you have any, and e-books are a huge market these days.
Alternatively, a large portion of internet marketers make a living with Affiliate models, which simply means they are getting a commission for promoting other products.
Even if you are new you have probably heard of affiliate marketing, and it has been around for as long as the internet. With the ease with which information travels, it is very easy to promote products for a commission.
One suggestion if you are thinking about getting into marketing, is to consider what areas of life you have experience with that could be used to build a website or promote a product.
For me, I have a couple areas such as health and addiction, so it is easy to create an online presence there.
Here are some ways to earn commissions as an affiliate marketer, these are basic terms that you will see often if you decide to learn the game.
CPA – Cost Per Action – Not certified public accountant, although you might need one if you hit it big. CPA stands for Cost Per Action which means you are paid a commission when your visitors complete an action such as submitting their e-mail, free trial signups, mobile app installs, or anything else you can imagine.
This is where a lot of internet marketers make money, as there are endless different CPA offers over many networks.
CPS – Cost per Sale – Of course plenty of marketing is not CPA, and involves actually promoting real products or online products. This can be called cost-per-sale, and is a big market. For example, being an amazon affiliate and promoting their products and getting commissions off every sale.
CPI – Cost per install – this is a type of CPA Marketing, but it focuses on getting people to install programs or smartphone apps. This is also very popular these days in the mobile gaming niche.
Content Locking – This is also a branch of CPA marketing, which means putting up some content, and locking it with CPA offers where it can’t be accessed until the viewer fills out your offer. Most of the time small offers like installs and e-mail surveys are used.
This can be a good way to make money, as you can pretty much choose what to put behind the blocker.
PPC – Pay Per Click – This simply refers to paid advertising where you pay for each click to your desired landing pages. Most paid advertising offers CPM as well as other options, which means paying for every 1000 views as opposed to clicks.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization – This refers to one of the most fundamental internet marketing tactics. It means using your skills and knowledge to get your websites as high in the search engine rankings as possible, and as a result receive targeted traffic.
This is still one of the main ways to make money, even though there are plenty of other methods out there.
This concludes a basic guide of the terminology and some other building blocks of internet marketing. Internet Marketing can be very easy to learn if you have the right information, and is one of the best ways to make money from home.
It does take a lot of work to actually succeed, and it will take a lot of time for anyone interested in learning it. Despite that, many people are making tons of money with internet marketing, and it can change your life.
If this guide has piqued your interest and you want the best chance of success, my website is the best place to start. How to Not Suck at Internet Marketing