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What is Internet Marketing?
By Daniel Scyphers (c) 2008

Internet marketing is still a complete mystery to a large
majority of Internet users. For many users, internet
marketing is seen as some foreign area of the web,
populated with silly get-rich-quick schemes and unsavory
characters ready to rip off the innocent and uninformed
consumer at the click of a mouse.

In reality, Internet marketing is populated mainly with
hard working professionals promoting and selling high
quality brand products by many of the world's Top 500
companies.

Worldwide there are now over a billion Internet users,
representing one large global consumer base or marketplace.
The total amount of goods sold online has been steadily
increasing each year as the Internet gains in both
popularity and familiarity. Studies have shown people shop
online because of lower prices, a wider selection of
products, easier comparison shopping, and many just prefer
not having to travel to stores to make a purchase.

Still Internet marketing has gotten a raw deal.

If you mention to any group of professionals that you're an
Internet Marketer and that you work full time on the
Internet... you will receive some very skeptical looks and
more than one arched eyebrow of disbelief.

Regardless of this lingering skepticism, Internet marketing
has become a viable alternative for many disgruntled
professionals dissatisfied with their working hours or
conditions. It has become a viable alternative for many
people from all walks of life. From the college student to
the bored housewife to the retired doctor... all are
enjoying a part time or full time income from the comfort
of their homes.

And since the Internet is now practically available to
everyone, anywhere in the world - Internet marketing is a
level playing field. There are many forms of Internet
marketing. There are many online business models you can
follow. There are countless ways to earn a good honest
income from the Internet. Which path you take will be
largely determined by research, work habits, and the time
you are willing to put forth.

Here's a quick rundown of the most popular forms of
Internet Marketing:

1. The Brick and Mortar Store Online. Most major companies
and retail stores have created online versions of their
brick and mortar businesses. Even if consumers don't buy
online, many use these sites for gathering product
information before buying in the real world. A factor many
savvy businesses are exploiting in their overall marketing
strategies.

2. Online Services. Many service industries have moved
online, everything from travel to banking to dating! Again,
the Internet can be a profitable extension for any service
company.

3.Internet Gurus... Internet marketing has a whole history
of pioneers who have forged the methods and techniques of
marketing online - opt-in lists, mini-sites, article
marketing, pay-per-click advertising, joint ventures... a
brief history populated with such names as John Reese,
Marlon Sanders, Ralph Wilson, Yanik Silver, Corey Rudl, Ken
Evoy and countless others.

A whole new industry has grown around 'How-to' market
online, info products, workshops and web seminars -
teaching people how to market on the Internet. A marketer
creating his own product can prove very productive - as
seen by John Reese's 2004 launch of Traffic Secrets, which
earned over a million dollars in one day. (Without a penny
of paid advertising!)

4. Online Advertising and Pay-Per-Click advertising such as
those offered by Google Adwords and others, presents
another viable marketing route. Keywords (the exact words
typed into a search engine) fuel a large portion of the
web's activity. Keyword marketing has become a major
driving force behind most of the economic transactions on
the web. This is a very lucrative sector for those Internet
marketers who know exactly what they're doing.

Then there is the whole section of SEO experts and
consultants who command high prices for positioning
companies or products in the top positions on the major
search engines. Acquiring organic Top 10 search results
will greatly determine the profitability of your online
product or company.

5. Affiliate Marketing. One of the least understood, yet
one of the most profitable forms of Internet marketing is
affiliate marketing. An online marketer can join any
affiliate program and promote its products or services on
the Internet. You market the products, find customers for
the company and receive a commission for each sale you make
from your marketing efforts. These commissions can run
anywhere from 2% to over 75%. One affiliate click can earn
you anywhere from a few cents to several hundred dollars.

Major third party affiliate programs or companies such as
Commission Junction, Clickbank, LinkShare, Amazon,
Shareasale... act as a brokerage or go-between,
representing thousands of Top Brand companies such as Sony,
Apple, Dell... to online affiliate marketers. Marketers can
join a program such as Commission Junction or LinkShare and
be able to promote and market hundred of top quality
products or services online. They can consolidate their
affiliate marketing through these third party programs.

Perhaps the most common business model for the majority of
online marketers is the last example, or a combination of
advertising and affiliate sales. Many work-from-home
professionals have adopted this business model. They have
created a site or sites on the topic that interests them
and of which they have or have gained some expert knowledge.

Once these sites become established and gather a large
amount of targeted web traffic each day, making a nice
income can only be a matter of putting the Google Adsense
code on their pages and placing a few appropriate affiliate
links on their sites.

The more traffic these marketers deliver to their sites,
the more income they earn. The more unique content they
create, the more income they earn. The more web sites they
design, the more income they earn.

What many people outside of the web marketing field fail to
realize is that the Internet is a 24/7/365 business. The
Internet is always on and working for you. It is automatically
producing income for you 24 hours of the day - while you're
sleeping, while you're enjoying a nice meal with friends,
or even while you're on vacation.

Internet marketing can provide you with a lifestyle that is
totally liberating - you can live and work anywhere in the
world. You can be your own boss, set your own hours and
work from the comfort of your own home. Plus your whole
online Internet business can be automated so it basically
runs itself.

Internet marketing is totally flexible. You can adjust your
workload to suit your own work habits. Internet marketing
is scalable, once you have learned how to make your first
dollar; it is only a simple matter of repeating and scaling
up what you did to earn that dollar. Computers and the
Internet make it just as easy to handle a thousand sales as
it is to handle one sale.

As Internet marketing becomes better known, it will
gradually earn more and more respect. It will become a well
recognized profession that many will aspire to and follow
as a life long career. Mainly because Internet marketing
will give you the freedom rarely seen in any other
profession.

It offers you mobility, a high standard of living, and a
working environment that can't be beat. It gives you the
freedom to follow your own interests and hobbies; all the
while turning those interests into viable revenue streams
that supports the lifestyle of your own choosing.

When it is all said and done, earning a living just
doesn't get any better than this.
===========================================================
Daniel Scyphers, has been working with internet marketing
for six years now, and is steadily making a good income
each month with the Independent Profit Center System.
http://profitforbeginners.com
===========================================================

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