This might seem like a daft question to pose, however it is a term that is bandied about among many webmasters and is never actually defined or explained so I’d like to address that right now by providing a concise guide.

When I first started looking into the possibilities of making money through the internet, I frequently read articles that referred to Internet Marketing (IM), however all the articles were on completely unrelated topics so I was left very confused.

The simplest definition I can give is, “Internet Marketing is the promoting and selling of products or services over the internet to generate income.”

That sounds straight forward enough doesn’t it, however it doesn’t really break it down into its various guises so I’ll attempt to now with a list and brief description of what each one involves:-

•    Selling a physical product.

This one explains itself really.  In its simplest form IM could be selling a physical item on eBay or Amazon.

•    Selling eBooks/Information Products

The sale of an electronic book which is delivered to the customer digitally once they have paid the seller.  It is usually a PDF, which can be read on a PC screen and the whole process is automated so that no matter what time the sale is made, the eBook is delivered immediately.

•    Affiliate Marketing

To generate sales, the author of an eBook might offer a commission to affiliates who send traffic to the eBook sales page.  The affiliate does this by getting people to click on their unique affiliate link.  That refers the shopper to the product sales page, but the referral is registered with a company such as Clickbank to ensure the affiliate’s referral is logged.  If the referral then results in a sale, Clickbank will credit the authors account and the affiliates account with the relevant percentage.  The author decides the affiliate commission and this can be anything from 10% right up to 60% or more.
This means the eBook author gets lots of traffic and therefore extra sales without having to do too much, while the affiliate gets rewarded for helping to promote the eBook.  (To see my affiliate page and all the tools you need to promote one of my products, Auction Profits Blueprint, click here)

•    Mailing List

Internet Marketer will often capture their customers or potential customers email addresses so that they can send out newsletters to let them know about product updates, future product launches and special offers.  This obviously gives them the opportunity to sell to those customers over and over again.  If the Internet Marketer operates in an ethical way, they’ll always ask permission to send these email newsletters and will give the opportunity to cancel the subscription at any time.

•    Pay Per Click Advertising

This is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites, such as blogs, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites generally charge a fixed price per click.

•    Viral Marketing/Resale Rights Products

An Internet Marketer may create an eBook that is full of their own affiliate links to other products and services.  They will then sell the eBook very cheaply or give it away for free and grant resale rights to it, so that anyone who buys it, can then duplicate it and sell it on as long as they don’t amend the content.  This means the eBook is very quickly distributed all over the internet.  Every time someone reads it, clicks on a link within the eBook and goes on to buy a product, the original author gets the affiliate commission.

•    Joint Ventures

This is when 2 or more Internet Marketers join forces to promote a product so that it gets the most exposure possible and therefore converts to more sales.
An example of this might be if a new marketer creates a fantastic product but has no mailing list to market it to.  The beginner may approach a well established marketer (who has a huge mailing list) and request they promote the new product via their newsletter, and then agree a commission on sale.  The beginner would usually be expected to take a smaller % of every sale because the established marketer probably has hundreds of Joint Venture requests!

•    Web 2.0 Marketing

This is a means of driving targeted traffic to a product through sites such as such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis and blogs.  It is becoming increasing popular because it works so well!  An example may be that someone has created a step by step guide to selling on eBay successfully.  They then post a video on You Tube showing how to list an item using eBay’s Turbo Lister then at the end of the video, they advertise their product and display the product URL.  If the person watching the video was suitably impressed, they may well visit the marketers sales page and buy their product!

•    Article Writing

Another means of driving traffic to a sales page.  For example, the author may have created a product that details techniques for successful affiliate marketing.  To promote it, they could write a short article which explains how to create an email signature that includes an affiliate link.  At the end of the article, they have the opportunity to write bio about themselves.  Within the bio, they can have a link back to their product sales page.  They then submit the article to a site such as www.ezinearticles.com and within a few days it’s all over the internet driving traffic to the author’s sales page.

•    Posting to Forums

This is a similar technique to submitting articles and again is used to generate traffic to a specific website.  The post obviously needs to be useful and informative to gain the readers trust and respect and it would include a link to a product website.

I think that’s all the main ones, but there are others and indeed Internet Marketing is an ever changing business which is what makes it so exciting!  If there are any other areas you’d like me to cover, just ask!

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Filed under: Internet Marketing

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