How I Made Sense Out Of Internet Marketing

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I get a good bit of emails and messages asking me how I made sense of all this online marketing stuff. What did I read/do/learn/think/eat that made all the stuff that is thrown at us click into place? I know it all can be so over-whelming, but the thing is – there are many things I read and learned that really helped PotPieGirl tie it all together.

Step One

The first thing I read online was a little free ebook from Travis Sago. It is about an online marketing technique called “Bum Marketing“. I have to say that reading this was a big “A-Ha” moment for me. His guide was clear, concise, and stuck to the topic at hand without running me all over the place. In Bum Marketing, you learn how to write articles to promote affiliate products and make commissions. His technique does not require your own website… In fact, it doesn’t require any financial investment at all.

To this day, Bum Marketing is one of the best reads for anyone new to internet marketing. Find problems people search about online, give them part of a solution, then refer them to the main answer. That process translates into keywords>>>content>>>affiliate program (and then, hopefully, a sale ).

Step Two

Next, I needed to understand how search engines, like Google, work. I wanted to know WHY a certain web page ranked higher than another for certain keyword phrases. I wanted to know HOW to make a web page optimized the best it could be to give it every chance to BE the highest ranked page for a certain search query.

I have to say, if you do not understand the bare basics of what is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO for short), and you do not understand the bare basics of how a search engine works, you are going to make internet marketing VERY hard on yourself. I can tell people all day long to make sure they optimize their title tag, but if they don’t know what a title tag is, or how to optimize it , or even WHY it needs to be optimized, they will feel lost in a total fog of confusion. Learning the basics of SEO helps clear the fog and leads to a bit of clarity.

If Google does not love your web page, your work online will increase to a point that it will just plain be exhausting. When Google DOES love your web page, Google works FOR you… and YOU work LESS.

If you need a basic over-view of Search Engine Optimization, watch this 5-minute video from Matt Cutts at Google (found here if the video doesn’t show for you). Other than that, take the time to learn the how’s AND the why’s of SEO. It will benefit your online business more than you can even imagine.

Matt Cutts on Basic SEO

Step Three

Step three of all this ‘tying it all together’ process is actually an on-going process. In the past few months, I have read two fantastic ebooks that both focused on no-cost to low-cost ways to make money online. The best part of these two guides was that it all really can help it ‘click’ for folks. Yes, each guide is specific to a technique, BUT when all these techniques are applied together, magic happens.

For example, Bum Marketing is about article marketing. BUT, you can apply those same techniques and principals to writing the content on your Squidoo lens or on a blog post. My point is that while each system is solid and works on its own, when you take the information and dump it into the blender in your brain, your OWN system is developed.

Ultimately, THAT is your goal. To have your own profitable system that you can rinse and repeat.

One of the guides I read was at NicheSiteInstructions.info. This guide focuses on techniques for niche blogs and sites. It also focuses in on OWNING your own niche sites. BUT, the system and techniques are MIGHTY effective for any no-cost marketing platform.

The other guide I read was Squidoo Cash Machine. Yup, the guide focuses on Squidoo, and I have had great results applying some of the techniques to my lenses, BUT it is also MIGHTY effective when you apply the concepts to your entire online marketing efforts.

Now, I will be honest and say that I already had a fairly profitable and effective system of my own when I read these two guides. However, I was still able to read them from the perspective of someone who is new to all this. What I loved most about each guide was the potential each gave for others to form their own system and gain greater insight into how all this works.

If you toss Bum Marketing, SEO info, Niche Site Instructions, and Squidoo Cash Machine into the blender in your brain… and you DO the techniques you learn … you will make money online. Heck, I don’t know how you CAN’T make money online if your follow these things. And I don’t care if you ever own your own website or not. It won’t be long before I prove that =)

In Closing

While you read and learn and do… you will also be picking up new little tips and techniques. You will also learn that it is ok to test your own techniques – even if you’ve never heard anyone speak of them. After you learn the basics to all this, you will then have the foundation and knowledge needed to succeed online. Then, you will know one very important thing about making money on the internet…

When in doubt, test it for yourself.

If you wonder if it will work, test it for yourself.