The world of internet marketing

You've probably heard or read plenty about the Internet and network marketing. Network marketing often gets a bad "rap" because so many thieves and greedy people have abused this type of business. But for all those who have given network marketing a bad reputation, there are plenty of others who are successful through hard work and perseverance.

If you can forget the negative things you've heard and find a team of network marketers with similar goals, you can realize the same success that thousands of others enjoy every day - and work from home doing what you love.

Learn the Principles of Network Marketing

Before getting started, do research to learn the basic principles of network marketing so you will know what to expect. Network marketing gives you the freedom to become "your own boss" without limiting your potential to create a steady cash stream.

Network Marketing with Others

The first key to success with network marketing is to learn to recruit others. Spend time getting others involved in the business so you can enjoy profits from their efforts as well. Some network marketing companies will recruit people for you. With these types of businesses, you may pay more on your initial investment, but will enjoy the benefit of marketing experts promoting for you.

Receive a Residual Income

Second, set goals that will enable you to receive a residual income. This is an income that you receive on a regular basis, even after the work has been done. You might recruit several individuals to work with you. If they are successful, you'll receive a recurring income from their efforts. So it behooves you to encourage and help them every step of the way.

Grow Your Network

Third, you must learn how to grow your business or network. When you work from home, you can use the Internet and network marketing together to grow your business. The Internet opens doors of opportunity you might never have in your local town. For example, in your hometown you might find 10 to 20 people who are interested in network marketing. On the Internet, however, you can find thousands of others just like you!

You can promote using many avenues online without spending a fortune. Also, email is a free avenue of communication for you and your network marketing team members, and it's a great tool in finding new prospects.

Find a network marketing company that already has a profitable business model in place for their business. The company should be able to provide proof that it is working well for others with no gimmicks and hype - just good business strategies.

A popular type of network marketing today is global resorts networking, in which you can purchase trips to beautiful destinations at wholesale prices. You can do what you love, work from home, and take vacations that most can only dream about.

Start looking online for a work-from-home network marketing opportunity that works for you. You can realize success and meet other great people as you reach your goals.

One of the first problems new online marketers have is getting overwhelmed with the onslaught of information that is available online. The hard part is finding the right advice without being deceived and consequently buying every new product that claims “ instant success.”

Internet marketing is based on doing a few core things really well; getting a good handle on the basics is what will make you successful no matter what the latest fad is.

These things can be learned, namely <b>generating traffic and pre-selling </b>affiliate products.

These two concepts if learned well, will be enough to let you quit your day job, it’s happening everyday. There are over 10,000 products currently available all over the internet that allows affiliates the opportunity to earn commissions. The internet marketer that can generate traffic to an affiliate website, pre-sell the visitor on a product or service (who then clicks through to the merchant website and purchases the product) will ultimately earn handsome commissions.

The key to being a "work from home business" success is finding the right roadmap so you don’t waste all your time with trial and error. Repetition and persistence are the keys. Many new internet marketers simply give up when they don’t see immediate results - massive traffic or sales. You must put value in the process of whichever program you follow and the end result may be profitable.

The internet today comes with promises of wealth and fame. This allows many to dream of riches and notoriety. The opportunity is out there but the fact is that most people don't have a clue how to get there.

So many think that they can achieve this prosperity by just showing up. Unfortunately, that is not the way this ball bounces.

Is there a simple answer? I don't think there is a single simple answer, yet how to be successful on the internet is pretty basic. You have to be willing to work. Work at what you may ask?

First thing is to work hard at learning everything you can about your chosen field. I would suggest to read and study the people who have had success in the past. There is a endless supply of knowledge floating around out there and you want to read as much of it as you can.

When I first started trying to make a living on the net, I thought I was wise enough to do it on my own. It sure didn't take long to figure out that was a joke. When I started paying attention to what some of the successful marketers were doing, I started making money myself.

People pay thousands of dollars to go to college to get the information needed to be successful. Yet most are not willing to pay a hundred dollars for educational information on the net. This is not to say that you should go spend thousands of dollars for an internet education but there is information worth paying for.

Now you have read and you have read some more and you are ready to start working on the internet. It is now time to put in some more of that hard work. Work is the key ingredient to get you where you want to go.

Part of the learning experience is to learn how to work. When I first started on the net, I wasted much valuable time. The problem was that I did not know what kind of work was worth the time. This is part of the education that comes with experience. You will find that managing your time well is very important. May be time to read some more.

The internet is a great place for anyone who wants to work and work is the key word. There is money to be made but it is not going to jump in your lap just because you showed up.

You have decided to start your own business on the internet. The first question is what do I do? What kind of service do I offer or what product do I sell.

What field are you knowledgable in? What do you have to offer others? Am I qualified to help others?

Most everyone has the knowledge and ability to help others. The problem is that most do not have the confidence to share that knowledge. We question ourselves and the abilities that we possess.

Years ago when I was in the United States military, I learned some valuable lessons about people. The majority of people are content to follow. There is nothing wrong with this and the world needs followers as well as leaders.

The world also needs leaders and the confidence that goes with that role. To be a successful leader, you must have the confidence in your own abilities. And to be successful in the marketing world, you must be a leader.

You must have the confidence that you can help others and have the ability to convey that confidence to them. You must possess the knowledge to allow you to portray this confidence to your clients as well.

If you cannot convey this confidence to your potential customers, you will have a very difficult time being successful in any type business. People come to you for help, you must project a sense of confidence or you have little chance of attaining that success.

A few years back when I was in the advertising business, a client told me one day that I seemed so confident that the ad campaign I has just written would be a rousing success. He asked me how I could be so confident when we had yet to even test the campaign?

My answer to him applies to almost any task or any field. I told him that I was confident because I had spent many hours studying the market that we were targeting. I had also spent many hours looking at other ads, both successful and unsuccesful. I had then spent a lot of time putting together the campaign and when I finished, I went back and spent even more time ensuring that everything was just right.

The key here was preparation. I was totally prepared and felt like I had exhausted every possible means to ensure that the ad campaign was the best that it could possibly be. How could I not be confident.

It reminds me of school. When I spent the time studying, I always felt confident when test day arrived. The times that I did not spend the time studying, the confidence was just not there, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself.

Back in those days, confidence seemed to come because you were driving the fanciest car on campus and everyone looked up to you. Or you were the captain of the football team or the head cheerleader. At that point in life, most looked up to you for the wrong reasons. Well, I am here to tell you that those things mean nothing in the today's world.

You have the ability to start your own business and turn it into a successful venture. What does it take? You are going to have to have the confidence to pass along to others. How do you acquire this confidence? Well, it does not come because you are good looking, popular or inherited a million dollars. It comes from work and preparation.

Do you have the ability to make it happen? Of course you do. The question is, are you willing to put forth the time and effort that it takes. Success and Confidence take work and preparation.

With the New Year right around the corner, we often resolve to improve our behavior, health, or personal relationships. Let me tell you, you're wasting your time. I'm OK, you're OK. It's our Web marketing that's a mess.

We've got out-of-shape Web sites, directionless Web marketing, and we're lost at the search engines. It's time to stop worrying about self-improvement and start worrying about Web marketing-improvement!

While every business has different goals and needs, please consider these twelve items in creating your own Web marketing plan for next year. Rearrange the order to fit your own schedule in 2006.

January: Set up a Web marketing budget. I know, this is your favorite part: the budget. However, once you've decided how much money you plan on spending quarterly or monthly, deciding what to spend your marketing dollar on becomes much easier. You'll also want to carve out some time for your Web marketing endeavors. After all, a lot of the following to-do's are more about time than money.

February: Audit your Web site (beginner.) Often we're surprised or dismayed at the material that's on our Web site: bios of ex-employees, links to sites that no longer exist, a 2001 pricelist. Spend some time reviewing the content on your Web site and get rid of anything that's out-of-date or no longer expresses who you are. Nothing turns off prospects faster than a neglected Web site.

March: Audit your Web site (advanced.) Review your traffic reports and decide if your navigation needs to be updated. Maybe certain parts of your site are getting a lot of traffic and should be further promoted on the home page. If other sections or pages are being ignored they may need to be removed...or promoted. Fill out all the Web forms (contact, search, etc.,) and read the "hidden text" that appears on landing pages. Rewrite the copy that seems dated or incorrect.

April: Start reading blogs in your industry. Download a newsreader (I recommend NetNewsWire for Mac users) or set up a free account at Bloglines. To find blogs in your industry you can do searches at Technorati or check out BlogCatalog among others. Make sure you're reading the blogs of your competition and your clients.

May: Start your own blog. You knew that was coming, right? Blogs are becoming an important, perhaps essential, part of business communications. No matter the size of your organization, a blog can be a great way to connect with your clients...and your clients-to-be.

June: Subscribe to your competitors' email newsletters. This is a fantastic (usually) free resource of advice that is targeted towards your clients. Shouldn't you know what your competition is recommending? Maybe they know something you don't!

You probably know many of your competitors already and can visit their Web site to see if they offer an email newsletter. However, you can Google "your industry + email newsletter" to find some ezines that are new to you. (You should also be reading your clients' newsletters as well; you can't know too much about their business.)

July: Start your own email newsletter or jumpstart your subscriber rate. If you're not publishing an email newsletter you're missing out on one of the most cost-effective Web marketing tools at your disposal. Use an Email Service Provider (ESP) to manage your subscriber list and publish an ezine regularly.

If you're already publishing an email newsletter try some new ideas to increase your subscriber base . Offer a free article for new subscribers, raffle off a prize to one subscriber each month, or advertise on a complementary newsletter.

August: Troll discussion boards in your industry. There are discussion boards on every topic under the sun, and certainly a few in your industry (or your target audience's industry.) By reading posts at these discussion boards you can get an understanding of what prospects are looking for and create products or services that meet their needs.

By posting responses you can quickly establish yourself as an expert and create links that drive traffic to your Web site while improving your site's ranking at the search engines!

September: Start listening to podcasts. The New Oxford American Dictionary named "podcast" its 2005 word of the year, so maybe you shouldn't wait until September before you tune in.

Whether podcasting ever becomes a part of your Web marketing, it's important to understand how podcasting works and how other companies (including your competition) use it. Visit the iTunes Music Store or a podcast directory like Podcast Alley and start sampling some podcasts. Not sure where to start? Adam Curry's PodFinder show (available at the iTunes Music Store) highlights new podcasts each episode.

October: Consider starting your own podcast. I can't recommend podcasting for every business, or even most businesses. I still believe there are more effective ways to communicate with prospects and clients. However, some businesses will benefit from offering a podcast. Keep in mind your target audience, and whether they will be downloading audio to their computer or mp3 player.

November: Submit some of your articles to article directories. A great way to increase your "findability" at the search engines is to have a lot of quality incoming links. One proven method to do this is to have articles you've written appear on other Web sites that link to yours. To get your articles posted at other Web sites check out article directories such as The Phantom Writers and iSnare.

December: Add share this page functionality to some or all of your Web site. As people suffer from information overload, they rely more heavily on the recommendations of friends and family. Make this word-of-mouth advertising easier by allowing site visitors to quickly "share this page" with a friend or colleague. You can even include your own marketing message embedded in the email that arrives at the friends' mailbox.