INTERNET MARKETING – It’s all over the web…working out of your home at your own online business. You have finally decided to see what it is all about, and find out how to become an internet marketer. Welcome to the marketing world! Let me say here – YOU CAN DO THIS! Even if you only know how to search on the internet, that is enough to begin! Remember when you did your first search online? Most people can’t, but it is now just second nature. But there were steps involved when you first started, which you learned, and then put into action. The same is true for internet marketing: it is steps that are learnable, and once put into action, become second nature, but will also make you an online income at the same time. Remember that every marketer out there was at your same skill level at some point, myself included, and then learned one step at a time, with no special talents involved.

PREPARATION – The All Important First Step For Beginners.

Preparation is key to giving yourself the best possibility of success. If you walk into this unprepared, you almost guarantee yourself giving up because you did not know what to expect. So the first step for beginners is to do some easy preparation. Here are some tips I recommend you go through before starting your online marketing career:

1. Prepare by learning: What is Internet Marketing?

You now need to know exactly what internet marketers do, so you have your first insight to what you will be doing in your new business. A simple description is that we drive internet traffic to a website containing a product we are offering, that a consumer may purchase. That’s it. There are different methods to getting people to go to a website, which we implement online. This is marketing. On the internet. Thus – Internet Marketing. There a several different ways of marketing, but since I am an affiliate marketer, that is the method I am going to be discussing over several articles. To find other ways of marketing online, you can do some research on the internet about things like Ebay, Adsense, etc. But again, I am going to base the information for each of my articles singularly on affiliate marketing as a sustainable online income – which is marketing products in return for a percentage of the sale price. Of course these are very simple descriptions, yet it gives you the basic concept.

2. Prepare Your Thinking. We have all been exposed to ads on the internet claiming to be able to make you huge amounts of money, in a very short time, with little or no effort. If you think you are going to make millions of dollars overnight, that is the first thing you need to work on. Marketing is a business, and as with any business, it takes a while to get up to full speed. Quite honestly, it may take weeks, (even months), before you see any money at all. This is why most people quit, thinking this is quick, easy money, only to find it actually takes time. Don’t let this happen to you! Make a commitment before you begin to be patient for results. They will come! What you need to keep in mind is that as you continue to implement one technique, then another, and so on, each will bring in your first customer…then a second…then more and more. Each time you will basically be posting something to various places on the internet, and once there, they can be there forever. You begin with one, then two, then ten, etc. It is not overnight riches, it is a building process, which grows more and more over time.

3. Prepare to Put in Time and Effort. You will have to be ready to spend some time getting started and be willing to put some effort into practicing and implementing new skills. Building your own website is going to be the major part of the process of getting started, but it is all just simple steps to learn. You can actually get a website up and running in a day, although you should really take it slow and absorb the information. Spend time to learn and practice a new skill before moving through each step and you will be surprised at what you know at the end of each day. After that you will need to put some actual effort into getting people to see your website, by again, putting various things online. Remember that this is YOUR business, and only YOUR efforts are going to get results.

4. Prepare a Space. Internet marketing is a business, and should be approached as such. This will require focus and concentration which cannot be fully accomplished on the living room couch with the phone, kids, dog, and TV distracting you at any moment. Prepare a space. Somewhere functional with a door you can sit behind when you are working. When I learned, we were instructed to make a “Do Not Disturb” sign and hang it on the door. I did it, with a “whatever” grin, but this was actually one of the best ideas that worked very well. I did not have to become completely unavailable, and yet with some patient understanding and explanation to family, it really did keep the distractions down. You will also need to keep track of various things, and it never hurts to write new things down as it reinforces what you learn, so you should have some notebooks and maybe some folders to keep a bit organized. And finally, come to your space prepared to work, and bring things like coffee or water so you do not have to go get them in the middle. It is all about focusing on the task at hand, so try to minimize any distractions by being prepared to work in your prepared space.

5. Prepare your mindset. Each point we have discussed is meant to help you arrive at the right mindset to learn one thing – How to become an internet marketer. This is accomplished one step at a time, through a process of learning some simple new skills. Once you get in the right mindset of “you CAN learn one simple skill”, and another, and so on, you will begin to really WANT to learn each new skill, and before you realize it, you will be set up online and be beginning to gain exposure by driving traffic to your new website.

Now, give this new idea of yours the best chance possible by doing simple preparations as described here, and remember – YOU CAN DO IT! Then get ready for your exciting new adventure into the world of internet marketing!