If you want to make money online, you need to understand the basics of internet marketing. You need to build a strong foundation. There are a lot of different elements involved in internet marketing and if you want to succeed, learn the basics first. To help you see the big picture, here is a brief guide outlining the process of how to make money online.
EDUCATE YOURSELF
You need to learn the fundamentals of internet marketing before you get started. Keep in mind that learning will be an ongoing responsibility as long as you’re involved in internet marketing. It’s no different than any other profession when it comes to learning. If you want to be good at something, you need to stay on top of the latest trends, techniques and methods.
If you learn the fundamentals in the very beginning, you’ll be much more likely to succeed. Of course, you could always learn the hard way, by trial and error, but if you want to make money sooner rather than later, you should build a strong foundation to work from. If you want to try new things and experiment after you’ve built a strong foundation, then you can do that. But, no matter what, you will always be able to fall back on the techniques that you know will work.
One thing you need to be aware of is that you can spend too much time learning in the beginning. There is a lot of information available to learn internet marketing. That flow of information will never end. There is always a new product claiming to be the best product in the world that will solve all of your problems and create instant wealth with no effort. Don’t believe the hype and don’t get stuck in a pattern of constantly learning instead of doing.
Once you have a good understanding of how things work, then take action.
Three learning resources you might want to check out.
ADOPT THE PROPER MINDSET
If you want to make money online, treat it like a business. Too many people treat their online venture like it’s just a hobby. When you treat it like a hobby, it’s much easier to skip the work, or complete your tasks when you want to. There’s no sense of urgency.
Internet marketing requires that you accomplish your tasks on a regular basis. If you don’t take the proper action daily, you won’t get the results that you want. That’s why you need to understand that your online venture is a business, and it is CRUCIAL to your success to do the work every day, whether you feel like it or not. If you do, you can create a steady stream of income for the rest of your life.
GET ORGANIZED
This step can really make or break you. So many people become overwhelmed when they first get into internet marketing because there is a ton of information available, and there are a lot of different opinions on what is the best way to apply that information. That’s why you need to get organized and focus on the things that will start earning you revenue.
Good organization helps you stay focused. You need to create a good system to keep track of all of your information, such as websites, website hosts, affiliate links, email addresses, products, resources, articles, links, passwords, lists, advertisements and much more. In addition, you need to keep track of your keywords and your backlinks. Spreadsheets are a very effective way of tracking this information.
It’s important to keep track of this information so you can analyze the information and improve the effectiveness of your campaigns, and it’s important to measure your results. But, be sure to spend 80% to 90% of your time on tasks that will generate revenue. When you complete those tasks for the day, that’s when you can learn, read, analyze your stats, or tweak your website. Make sure you complete your most important tasks first.
CHOOSE GOOD KEYWORDS
Keywords are words, or phrases, that people type into search engines to find relevant information. Choosing the right keyword can mean the difference between getting on Google’s first page of search results in a month versus a year. There is a big difference between keywords and the amount of work required to get on the first page of Google for competitive keywords and keywords that are not so competitive.
The importance of keywords doesn’t end when you choose the keywords you want to target. Every post you make, every article you write, every link you make should be based on keywords. If you are not using keywords properly, then there is no point in creating any content at all. Everything you do should be based on proper keywords with the ultimate goal of strengthening your websites and bringing in traffic. For finding good keywords, go straight to the source – Google Keyword Tool.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Search engine optimization (SEO) and keywords go hand in hand. SEO is really the strategic use of keywords to improve your website’s chances of appearing on the first page of search results for relevant keywords. When you appear at the top of search results, you get free traffic, and free traffic can generate lots of revenue.
You can break down SEO into “on-page optimization” (what goes on your website) and “off-page optimization” (everything outside of your website). Off-page optimization is much more important and consists of primarily backlinks and other methods for generating traffic. Once you create your website, the majority of your time should be spent on methods for generating traffic and promoting your website using proper SEO techniques.
WEB DEVELOPMENT
After you’ve chosen your keywords and you have a good understanding of SEO, then it’s time to put up your website and start building backlinks. Choose a domain name with your keyword in it, if possible. Use your keyword as the title of your website, if it makes sense to do so. Create high-quality, interesting content for your website and start building backlinks.
If you don’t have any web developer skills, it doesn’t matter. Use WordPress to build your website. WordPress is better for SEO than a static website and it’s so simple to install, customize and maintain, that anyone can do it. If you don’t want a blog format, that’s okay too. You can use a static page as your home page and create a single page or multi-page website. This step should be pretty quick, depending on what type of website your building,
Creating high-quality content will take much more time than installing and setting up the website. Check out this video tutorial, if you want to learn how to install WordPress.
If you need to get a domain name and website host, check out the links below.
GET TRAFFIC
This is the step where most people trying to make money online fail. Getting traffic can be a challenge, especially if you’re targeting very competitive keywords. You have to understand that billions of dollars in sales are generated through the internet every year. When you have that much money at stake, there are companies willing to pay teams of employees to help them rank number one for specific keywords. Choose the keywords that are best suited for achieving your goals, while considering the competition.
There are lots of different methods for building traffic. One of the most common methods is to build backlinks by writing articles and publishing them on article directory websites. This method can generate traffic from people who click on your link at the end of the article, and it can increase your chances of appearing in search results by strengthening the authority of your website, in the eyes of Google.
In addition to article marketing, you can promote your website from email marketing. Email marketing is developing a list of subscribers that are interested in the topic of your website and then emailing them helpful information, offers, or newsletters from time to time. Having an email list is a very important internet marketing tool that can increase your revenue significantly over time. If you want to develop an email marketing campaign, and automate the whole process, check out AWeber. AWeber is one of the top providers of email marketing services.
When it comes to generating traffic, you are limited only by your imagination. Many people use social media, forums, blogs, hubspots. squidoo, ehow, and many other sources for building backlinks and trying to promote their websites. When you reach this stage in the internet marketing process, you need to spend 80% to 90% of your time on creating content and building backlinks. If you don’t have time, then pay someone to do it for you. Just make sure it gets completed every single day.
MONETIZE YOUR WEBSITE
Traffic is only good for an internet business if you can make money from that traffic. That’s where monetization comes in. Depending on your business model, there are numerous ways to make money from your website.
One of the easiest ways to make money online fast is through Google AdSense. Google AdSense is the advertising system developed by Google. You simply sign up, copy some code, and paste it where you want it to appear on your website. The ads are automatically generated to match the content on your website. Every time someone clicks on an ad, you earn money. AdSense is easy to use, but it’s not always the most lucrative way to earn money from your website.
Another way to make money online is to sell affiliate products. Affiliate products are products that you promote, but someone else has created. When a sale is made, through your website or affiliate link, you receive a commission. Affiliate products can be information products, such as eBooks, or physical products from Amazon or eBay.
Of course, the best way to make money online is to create your own product. When you sell a product that you created, you get 100% of the revenue. In addition, you can make your product available to other people (affiliates) and have them promote your product too. Of course, you will have to pay them a commission, but consider it money that you wouldn’t have had in the first place.
SUMMARY
Internet Marketing can be lucrative but not if you don’t understand the basics. That’s why I always stress the importance of learning the fundamentals. You can always try new things to improve your websites and your business, but when you have the fundamentals to fall back on, it makes the process much easier. If you don’t understand the basics, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
1. EDUCATE YOURSELF
2. ADOPT THE PROPER MINDSET
3. GET ORGANIZED
4. CHOOSE GOOD KEYWORDS
5. SEO
6. WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
7. GET TRAFFIC
8. MONETIZE YOUR WEBSITE