An Introduction to Internet Marketing

  • Who Is Best Suited to Be an Internet Marketer?
  • How Does an Internet Marketer Earn Money
  • Does It Cost a Lot to Start an Internet Marketing Business?
  • Are There Risks and Drawbacks to Internet Marketing?
  • What First Steps Are Needed to Become an Internet Marketer?

(Photo by Nick Morrison/Unsplash)


Most people in the world don’t actually know what Internet marketing means. They may assume it’s the ads they see when using an online site, but they’re unaware of the business creation opportunities they have at their disposal.

Internet marketing encompasses the entire scope of what an online entrepreneur does for their career. The business models, the traffic strategies, networking, and more are all under the umbrella of this phrase.

So getting started in this business can feel very daunting if you’re unprepared for the wealth of information you need to absorb. If you go about it strategically, you’ll find that it’s segmented very well, allowing you to learn at your own pace, implement and master the techniques needed to earn a nice living from the comfort of your own home.

Who Is Best Suited to Be an Internet Marketer?

Just about anyone can pursue Internet marketing – from teens to seniors in their golden years. It’s a great career all ages. In fact, one kid who makes video reviews of products online was the highest paid YouTuber, earning millions per year.

It’s a great career path for both men and women, and works perfect for single or married adults and those who have kids. When the idea of working from home comes to mind, if you have children and a significant other, you might wonder if it’s possible to get much done.

But this business allows you the flexibility to work when you want to – whether that’s after the kids have gone to sleep, before they wake up, while they’re playing or otherwise.

You can even break up your work day around other scheduled events like carpool and outside activities. If you want to work an hour in the morning, two in the afternoon, and one at night, you can!

You’re in complete control of the schedule. You can work any hours, as well as any number of hours you want to work. There are some people who work weekends only, or five hours a week, while others devote a full 40-hour Monday-Friday work week to it.

The main thing about identifying who is a good fit for this career is to see if you feel like a driven individual. Some people just aren’t. They need a boss guiding them – someone to give them instructions on what to do next.

If you have a love of learning and aren’t intimidated to the point of being paralyzed, you have a good shot at thriving as an Internet marketer. But choose this career when you have the ability to work with a clear mind – not when you’re desperate for money because you’re about to lose your car or house. 

How Does an Internet Marketer Earn Money?

There are so many ways to earn money as an Internet marketer, and the great thing is – you don’t have to pick just one! You can start with one and begin adding more on over time.

Service providing is a good way to get started online as a marketer. You can work for others and learn as you go. You can do admin tasks for business clients like answering customer service emails, scheduling their blog posts, ghostwrite for them, make graphics, and recruit affiliates.

However, there are only so many hours in the day, so if you choose this business model, there will be a ceiling on what you can earn. Even if you raise your rates, you’ll eventually max out at what the market is willing to pay.

Affiliate marketing is a business model where you’re acting as the middleman between vendors or companies and the consumers who need their products. Whether it’s for tangible or digital products, you can earn money when people buy through your link.

You can choose a niche topic that has both – such as MREs (meals ready to eat) and survival courses in that niche. Or, pick one or the other, like toys for the tangible niche or marketing for the digital one.

Info product creation is a good business model with endless earning potential. You can create a whole line of products that teach people things they want to know in the form of a downloadable eBook or video course.

One of the great things about this business model is that you can recruit an army of affiliates who go out there and send traffic to your offer, expanding your earning potential significantly.

Ad revenue is also something that many people are going after online these days. If you have a list of subscribers, you could make money sending solo ads from other marketers.

But many people start YouTube channels or use social networking apps like Tik Tok to earn money as an Internet marketer now. Initially, the income might be low, but if you work on it and build some momentum, it can replace an offline income.

Private label rights (PLR) is content that some people create and sell to a number of other people so that they can use it as their own – on their blog, in email autoresponders, on social networks and more.

People create video, text, and image-based PLR. It’s priced much cheaper than ghostwritten content, since it’s not exclusive, but the volume purchased makes up for the price difference.

Site or domain flipping is something that people can do to earn money online. You can purchase domains and flip them without adding anything to them. Or, you can build the site up with content, help it rise in the ranks of Google, and then flip it to interested buyers.

Self-publishing is another business model you can pursue. You can publish non-fiction or fiction online on sites like Amazon and others where people can download the digital file or have a print copy sent from the company to read.

Does It Cost a Lot to Start an Internet Marketing Business?

One of the big concerns many people have about starting an online marketing business is what they may need to spend up front. The costs can vary, and can include everything from the courses you need to learn how to do something to the price of a domain.

Each business model can have its own costs associated with it. Some things can be leveled up over time. Service providers, for example, can get jobs through word of mouth.

But they can also launch their own website offering a variety of services, so you’d need to pay for a domain and hosting, too. Or, you might sign up on a site like Upwork and pay a fee for exposure to projects you can earn from.

Technically, you can launch an info product without any costs. If you write it yourself and create images for it using free tools, you can list it on a site like Warrior Plus for no upfront fee (they make their money by taking a small percentage of the sale).

Affiliate marketing can be done free on social networking sites or, you can purchase a domain and hosting and install a WordPress blog on it. Costs are kept minimal, but if you level up and invest in editing software or a better camera and mic, it can add up.

If you wanted to earn from ad revenue, you might need a blog and the ability to build a list, so an email autoresponder system would be necessary. This won’t be too expensive – especially when you’re just starting out, since they often charge based on tiers of how many subscribers you have.

In general, domain names are about $12 per year ($1 a month) and hosting can be purchased for anywhere from $6-10 a month. WordPress is free, and many tools have freeware versions.

For Camtasia, a top video editing tool, there is a CamStudio version available that won’t cost you a penny. And with other tools, like Canva, you can use it for free unless you want additional features available to you.

Are There Risks and Drawbacks to Internet Marketing?

With any business, there will usually be some drawbacks, depending on the person pursuing it and what choices they make. One of the risks you might encounter is that of spending too much on courses and tools that are hyped up by unethical marketers as something you have to have to succeed.

There have been many people who spent far more than they could afford just because they were lured in by too much hype and bought course after course to the point of adding more financial stress to their lives.

Besides the financial risk, you have to be cautious about who you network with. Sometimes partnerships seem like they’d be a great idea, until you find yourself doing all the work and the other person taking the lion’s share of the revenue earned.

In terms of drawbacks, most of what Internet marketing has to offer is a benefit – such as the flexibility of the hours you can work. But these kinds of perks can also end up being drawbacks if you’re not careful.

Having too much leeway can cause some people to perform poorly. If you don’t have a boss hovering over you or a deadline in place for a project, then you might under-perform and fail to support yourself with financial stability.

Another drawback is that you will lack support to some degree. Most people turn to forums and friends on social networking sites to find help when they need it. But that doesn’t always provide enough help.

You’re basically on your own, even if you’ve purchased a product in the past. That means you have to be the one to figure out how to fix a problem when it arises. Whether it’s a technical WordPress installation that failed or a strategic dilemma, it will be solely your responsibility to find the best solution.

Some people aren’t cut out for this type of pressure. They prefer sharing the duties and shouldering some of the stress of a project, but not all of it. If a customer is angry, they’ll come to you to take out their frustrations.

Sometimes a platform will change their rules and all of your hard work will be useless. You might have a YouTube account canceled or a company like Pinterest will decide they no longer allow ads for weight loss.

You have to learn to be fully adaptable and have the patience and calm to navigate topics you’re unfamiliar with. This happens routinely and is just part of doing business as an Internet marketer.

What First Steps Are Needed to Become an Internet Marketer?

If you like the profit potential and flexibility of the Internet marketing career option and want to pursue it, you will want to make a plan. Networking with others is going to save you a lot of heartache and grief, because you can avoid getting scammed and get the periodic support you need, such as having simple questions answered.

So join some forums and social groups and start watching to see who stands out as the helpful individuals. Start interacting and soaking up the answers to the questions you and others ask.

Make a list of the various niches that you may want to get involved in as a leader or affiliate. See if any of those can be combined into a broad niche site, such as weight loss and exercise or stress and sleep.

Brainstorm to see which business models would be fitting for those niches. For example, people buy a lot of tangibles for weight loss and exercise – but they also buy digital products.

So aside from becoming an affiliate for those topics, you might want to add info-product developer as an option. You can write courses and also make recommendations for the items they’ll buy on Amazon, such as kettlebells or meal prep containers.

You need a starting point. So you might want to create a plan that integrates the money you have to spend on courses and tools with the time you want to invest in working on your business.

If you only want to work a few hours per week, then you need to make sure you don’t choose a business model like service providing and over-commit to more than what you can effectively get done, since the person hiring you will likely have a deadline.

Map out a tentative schedule for yourself, such as Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays from 10 A.M. to noon. You can always scale up with the hours you devote to it as you learn more and don’t feel overwhelmed.

Keep in mind that a career as an Internet marketer is not one where you learn the ropes and fly solo from that point on. You will always need to continue the learning process. Traffic strategies evolve.

Search engine optimization rules change. People announce innovative measures that you may not have considered, and you’ll need to test it out and see if it works well for you. So learn to love the learning process, take it slow and remain consistent with your efforts.


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