Internet marketing is a lucrative market that thousands of people have already tried.  A lot of people fail because they simply don’t treat “Internet marketing” like a real business.  In order to make it a worthwhile venture on the internet you are going to need to understand some fundamental facets of the game that will make you a successful internet marketer.

1. Persistence

Believe it or not, persistence is one of the biggest attributes you are going to need as an internet marketer especially in the beginning.  Without this you are going to fall into the trap of what thousands have already fallen into.   They simply buy “too good, to be true” offers, find out they don’t work and call it quit.  This is the mentality of a lot of people when they begin online with internet marketing.  Not to mention this is a dirty tactic for experienced marketers, by preying on the online marketing uneducated and profiting from it (massively).

Simply, put a plan together of what you’re going to do each day, week, and month.  Know that you’re not going to wake up and be an Internet marketing sensation.  Learn from reputable resources, layout your business model, and finally execute it.   It could be as simple as I am going to research buying a domain and web hosting, learn how to customize it, etc.  Taking the time to learn what you plan to do and get more incited on it can take you a long way.

2. Establish A Social Presence

In order to make a profit with Internet marketing you are going to need to have a real social presence.  Google has hinted at this for years and the latest Penguin update has shown us more and more about how people naturally link to your website/blog.  Don’t use any automated bots or anything that could potentially jeopardize your social media accounts.

Simply, setting up a Twitter, Facebook, Google +1, etc account and participating on them is a must to master the arts of internet marketing.  There are a lot of online tools, plugins, social hubs, services, etc that we can use in order to make the process much less time

consuming.  You must engage the people that are in your target niche.  Look for the people that are an authority and actively engage with them first.  You must avoid to make people think your social medial accounts are bot or spam accounts.

3. SEO – Driving Traffic

In order to make money online we have to drive traffic to our site whether it be SEO (search engine optimization) or paid per click advertising (PPC).  Many times successful marketers will run their SEO and PPC campaigns simultaneously.  PPC is a short term ROI while SEO is a longterm ROI.

Watch out for link schemes, dirty tactics (blackhat), and known scams that don’t really drive traffic to your site.  Don’t make impulse decisions for your marketing campaigns; think it over clearly and do your research.  Remember you are building a brand in whatever niche you choose.  The less dirt you have on your name the better.

4. Reevaluating

You’re going to have to reevaluate your spending and earnings to show which method is working and minimize the promotions that are not working.  To do this you can use WordPress plugins that monitor this key data and make use of tracking such as, Google Analytics, or Sitemeter.  Along with tracking data on your sites you need to track your links and what people are clicking on.  If you are using social media you may want to use Bitly for link shortening and tracking.

Keeping close tabs on what works and what doesn’t is vital to your online marketing success.  Over the years I have learned that what seems to be giving me a good ROI for months diminishes overtime. There is no set method that will work for eternity.  Just looking back at online marketing 5 years ago, you could easily notice all the changes that have taken place.  Those who can change and evolve will prevail in internet marketing.

Final Words of Wisdom

In a nutshell, online marketing takes time and does require real amount of work.  Your business model needs to be clearly laid out and you must stay current with what’s effective and what’s a waste of time.  Most importantly, once you get one income stream stable, work on others so you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket.  Online marketing is fun and yes a real job, but you need to take it very seriously if you want to succeed in it.