What is the secret of being the best at Internet Marketing? First, and foremost, it's all about basics. What does that mean? Think about the difference between the top earning pro baseball player and one that's making just a normal "salary." Do they actually DO anything that's different from each other. They both hit. They throw. They catch. Occasionally, they run. The same basic things. Yet, one does it better and makes a heck of a lot more money because of it. Mastery of Internet Marketing is about being the best at the basics.

First, what is the point of Internet Marketing? You're trying to generate leads. That's it. Leads. On the Internet today, there really are two basic ways of finding leads or having them find you. Either provide direct advertising, such as with PPC Google Ads, or PPC ads from other providers, or you can provide content on the Internet and let the Search Engines put you in their indexes so people searching for what you have can find you.

So there you go. What are the basics?

o Find or

o Get Found

So let's say you have an Affiliate Internet Marketing Program. You can generate leads by creating ads to announce that you have an "Affiliate Internet Marketing Program." With the PayPer Click (PPC) ad systems out there, you can advertise directly to people looking for what you have to provide and only pay for the people that click on your ad.

Or, you can write articles about affiliate Internet Marketing Programs and let the Search Engines index those pages so people searching for you can find you.

What's the advantage of one over the other? With PPC, you can use money to get top ranking for your ads. With content it's free but you have to be more patient. Many top Internet Marketers will use PPC to start traffic to their site and then turn it off when traffic from search engine results generates enough leads on its own.

Probably the best source of information on Internet Marketing comes from the Traffic Secrets program from John Reese. I received a bunch of DVDs, CD-ROMS, workbooks and a set of "blueprints" that I use for reference on a daily basis. I've watched the DVDs serveral times and used the information to consult others and have watched myself and my clients build a huge business through Internet Marketing. It's not a cheap program, but it was worth every penny and I wouldn't have paid double for it and still been happy.

Maybe you're interested in Internet Marketing for a Real Estate Agent. How do you get started? First you need to create a website. Better yet, have on created for you. Do you know how to do a website yourself? So what? Are you in the business of creating websites or are you a Real Estate Agent? Go to www.elance.com and post a job for someone to create a simple, content-based website for you. Leave off the animations, the movies, the music playing in the background. Create a site with content. Maybe you're a Real Estate Agent in Northern Virgina. Create some pages that tell people what it's like in that area. Help people become an informed consumer. While they're reading your content, they can see that you are a Real Estate Agent and can offer them a service when they're ready.

Now here's the big secret...when you are building websites for Internet Marketing, lots and lots of people are going to visit your site...and not all of them are going to contact you as a lead. Not ever. Got it?

Are you not good at writing content for your website? Hire a writer. There are plenty on elance as well. By the way, you're not going for the Pulitzer. Just create meaningful content for your intended audience and leave the two dollars words at home.

Once you have a website, go to Google, FindWhat, SearchFeed and other PPC Search Engine Internet Marketing services and create classified ads for your site. Read up a bit before you do. There are some great resources on the Intenet for writing great ads. A few of my favorites are listed on my site. Your ad should have a great title. The title is arguably the most important part of an ad. If you're using Google, you're very limited in the number of characters you can use so say what you mean. When you use the other PPC services, they tend to give you more space to write. That's ok. Keep it simple and to the point.

Here's the next big tip. On the Internet, you are doing what is called "direct marketing." Direct to whom? Direct to the person interested in what you have to offer. Speak to them. The Internet is all about direct advertising. Putting a hand puppet on a 30-second TV commercial does not generate the kind of interest that you will generate by speaking directly to the person who is typing phrases realing to YOU in the search engine.

As you start to build traffic through PPC, you should also start to get found through the Search Engines. Watch your logs and see how people are finding you. When your search engine traffic is about equal to your PPC traffic, you may want to consider slowing down your PPC spending. The more you can do for free, the more profit you get to keep. Again the Traffic Secrets program is really amazing in the way it breaks this down into a specific plan you can apply again and again.

Entire articles can be, and have been, written on individual subjects mentioned in this article. My hope is that you have enough to get started thinking in the right frame of mind. The Internet is about content. There is nothing unethical about marketing on the Internet. Provide value for the type of people you want as a lead and let them find you.

Until next time.

About the Author

Dave Saunders is a business consultant and published author.
The original and expanded article can be found here.
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