Basics of Internet Marketing - Lesson 2 of 2 Lessons

Topics Include:

•    Recommended Internet Marketing program for newbie internet marketers.

•    What affiliate program/product/service to promote

•    Top 10 selling products on the internet

•    Marketing tools and resources

•    Where and how to promote your product

Recommended for Internet Marketing Newbies:

In order for you to understand internet marketing you have to experience it first-hand. So I will be requiring you to register for an online company that offers an affiliate program.

Why an affiliate program?  

Because most affiliate programs already have a marketing system, promotional banners, marketing guides, and other promotional tools to support you.   All you have to do is to learn their system and implement it.

Later on when you have enough marketing experience you can chose your own product and engaged in direct marketing.  If you’re not satisfied with the existing marketing system, then improve, innovate, develop, enhance. (But remember if it’s not broken then don’t fix it.)


Finding the right affiliate program/product/or service to promote:

What affiliate program to join? 

Here are some tips in finding the right affiliate program for you:

1.     As much possible, choose a product that you have some experience in and/or a product that you have interest in.  This way you don’t have to put in long hours of learning the product, and if you have to - at least you’ll enjoy doing it because you have genuine interest in the product.

2.    Choose a company with a good reputation.  A company that has been in the business for at least two years, has proven to be legitimate, and with a good paying record.  (You can easily find information about this on the internet.)

3.    Never (ever!) choose an affiliate program that requires you to pay before you can join and participate in their program.

Many affiliate programs promise to make you rich in such a short time, but unfortunately there’s no such thing.  Online or offline, you have to work hard (and work smart) to really earn with online marketing.

Top-Selling Products on the Internet:

What type of product/s to promote?  

It depends on you but to give you an idea, here’s a list of the top selling products on the internet :

1.    E-Books
2.    Medicines and Health Supplements for weight loss, hair growth, etc.
3.    Services related to finding job opportunities online
4.    Web design and web hosting services
5.    Web promotion services
6.    Computer and game related products
7.    Photos, images, graphics
8.    Parts and accessories of equipment
9.    Beauty products (make-up, anti-aging products, etc.)
10.  Other digital products (ex. Software Applications)



Marketing tools:

The following are just a few  examples  of web tools and resources that can help you with your internet marketing campaigns:

1. Banners - Banners are the online counterparts of posters.  It's an image (static or animated) that is link to a page or website where you intend to bring your prospects.  This is also called "banner marketing". Having banners is a must when if you're promoting a product online.

Here are two great sites to create banners:

    http://mybannermaker.com/ -  User-friendly site where you can create static (i.e. not moving) banners.

    http://www.bannersnack.com/en/ - Another user-friendly site where you can create animated (i.e. moving) banners.

2. Traffic Monitoring widget  on your marketing page or blog - This is to monitor your traffic, to know where your visitors are coming from and what links in your blog did they clicked. And  the best for this purpose is feedjit (another user-friendly site). Visit their site here >>http://feedjit.com/

3. Subscription Widget  on the most visible part of your marketing page or blog - This is very important in growing your prospects/clients.  Collecting quality emails or "list building" is one of the most important task an internet marketer must do and keep on doing.


Where and how to promote:

1. In classified ads sites, top 2 in the Philippines are:

• OLX.com.ph
• Ayosdito.ph

2. In social networking sites, Top 3 are:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

3. Other Online Places and  ways to Promote:

Community Forums - PinoyExchange.com, TipidPC.com, and other specific forums that are related to the product or service that you are promoting.

Thru Email - To your friends/acquaintances, you can directly send them information about your product/service/business, OR you can just edit your email signature and add a marketing tagline under your name with linked to your blog or marketing page.

Learn SEO - So that your marketing blog or website will ranked high in search engines.  This way you'll get traffic from targeted customers even without the need to pay for PPC or pay-per-click advertising.

There are hundreds of sites to choose from when promoting your product, the trick is to pick 2 or 3 sites for each type (classified/social networking sites/forums) and CREATE your own marketing "ad posting" system.

Basics of Internet Marketing - Lesson 1 of 2 Lessons

Topics Include:

•    What is Internet Marketing?
•    3 P’s of Internet Marketing
•    5 Common Types of Internet Marketing
•    2 Common Types of Internet Marketing Programs

What is Internet Marketing?

Internet marketing is also known as (or synonymous with) >> online marketing, web marketing, e-marketing, or digital marketing.  Basically speaking though, if you're marketing a product via the internet then you’re already an internet marketer.

It doesn’t matter if you’re promoting in Facebook, via Twitter, email, thru blogs, or thru online classified ads sites -  as long as you are doing it online then you’re doing internet marketing.


3 P’s of Internet Marketing

1. Promoter - the internet marketer

2. Product - product or service, a brand or company that you are promoting, and

3. Program - your system of doing things, the way you promote your product.


#1 PROMOTER:

The online marketer or the promoter must possess the following qualities:
•    Must be honest and sincere.
•    Must be willing to learn or discover new things.
•    Must recognize that possibilities are everywhere and opportunities are for everyone.
•    Must be a people person and service oriented. (i.e. really like to interact and help others.)
•    Must be familiar with the internet (of course ^_^) , with basic computer skills. and lastly
•    Must love what he/she is doing, it should NOT be all about money.


#2 PRODUCT 

When choosing a product to promote, you, as an online marketer must keep in mind the following:
•    Your product (or service) must give real value or "worth your clients' money".
•    You must truly believe in the product that you are selling. If you believe in your product you will use it yourself and will not hesitate to recommend it to your family and friends.
•    You must take time to know your product inside and out, the pros/cons, advantages & disadvantages. The price, benefit it can give, how it works, its component… Everything. You must master your product in order to explain it clearly to your clients.


#3 PROGRAM

 The "program" or marketing system is all about how you do things involving the promotion of your product. It also includes your online and offline resources, your access to promotion tools, how you manage your time, your workplace, and the reliability of your internet connection and your computer/s.

Remember, it’s important that all 3 Ps are working together. 

A good product in the hands of a bad promoter is useless. Same when a good promoter is dealing with a bad product. And just as disastrous is good promoter with a good product but with a bad program.

So again, in order to be an effective marketer, first thing to do is make sure that all your 3Ps are working together.


5 Most Common Types of Internet Marketing

1. Email Marketing: Promoting your products thru email.  Email marketing has been very effective in growing your clients, making business relationships, and building trust between you and your clients thru constant communication via email.

2. Social Media Marketing: Promoting your products via social networks such as Facebook,  Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, YouTube, online forums, and others. This type of online marketing is mostly preferred by newbies, it's fun, simple and very effective.

3. Ad Marketing: Promoting your products thru paid or free online advertising. This include PPC advertising (pay per click), ads posted on classified ads sites such as Sulit, OLX, Craiglist, etc., traffic exchange sites, ptc (paid to click) sites, and others.

4. Article Marketing: Promoting your products by writing articles and posting them in your own blog/website, and in others' blogs/websites as well (Ex. guest posting and article submission to online directories). and...

5. Banner Marketing: The use of graphics and images (i.e. banners)  to promote your products.
"Different strokes for different folks"  You have to keep that in mind. Every person respond to a marketing campaign differently so no one type of internet marketing is enough - if you want your marketing campaign to be successful.

You have to use at least three types - actively and in harmony (Ex. Attractive banners linked to a newsletter sign-up page, or a "catchy" ad phrase linked to an engaging article posted on your blog).


2 Most Common Types of Internet Marketing Programs

1. Direct Marketing: Promoting your own product/s online. Here you set up your own marketing program based on what you think is best in getting your products notice and eventually making lots of sales.

2. Affiliate Marketing: Promoting other company's product online. Also referred to as "referral marketing, it is defined as "a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's own marketing efforts." (Source: Wikipedia.org)

(",)

Introduction to OJP's Free Internet Marketing Training

The Internet Marketer is the most sought after online worker when a website owner wants to have internet presence.  The success (or failure) of a website, product or any promotion depends mainly on the effectiveness of its online marketer/s.

Also, an online worker with internet marketing skills has more chances of getting hired. In fact, majority of employers prefer virtual assistants, web developers, or content writers with some marketing skills. And that's the reason why OJP came up with this free training - to give more earning opportunities to Filipino online workers. 

To give you an overview of our internet marketing training, here is a list of what you'll learn after the 15-day on the job internet marketing training:

• The 3 key factors that affect internet marketing.
• The different ways to promote online.
• Important skills and tools every online marketer should have.
• How to choose the right product/company to promote.
• Importance of an internet marketers blog or website.
• How to grow your list of clients.
• How to work with your own team.
• Earning opportunities available to internet marketers.
• and a lot more... :)

We truly hope that you'll finish all the lessons, put to good use all the knowledge and skills acquired, and share what you will learn to others. ^_^

Training starts on Monday - July 9, 2012.

Note: The 30-day internet marketing training (as announced before) will be 15-day lessons/OJT and then the next 15 days will be for discussions, additional advices/coaching to trainees.