A Beginners' Guide to Internet Marketing

A friend of mine wrote this article and I thought I'd pass it along to you.

A Beginners' Guide to Internet Marketing
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Mike_Finding]Mike Finding

Are YOU New to Internet Marketing?

Many people consider the term Newbie to be bad and a derogatory statement! No - it is a matter of fact; we are all Newbies to Internet Marketing at some time in our careers. I certainly am!

Pitfalls and things to be aware of.

Whatever you hear out on the Internet, making money online is NOT necessarily a quick and easy thing to do! If you are on mailing lists that are always saying things like "Easy to Make Money Online Free", "Make Easy Money Online NOW" - be VERY wary. So many people start out looking at and buying products in the hope of making it quick. This can lead to spending huge amounts of money and getting nowhere! Despondency can set in. This will then put most people off trying to make any kind of life on the 'Net, and they go back to the daily grind with the impression that the Net is a bad and unfriendly place to try to make money! The whole Make Money Fast syndrome has given the Internet a rather bad name in some quarters.

How to start an online business and (hopefully) make money.

So, how can you make it online? There is a Process to making money or just setting up a business online. Sounds strange maybe, but there IS a process along with a few skills to learn and if this is done properly with a focus and determination, success online can be had.

You will need to find a mentor and teacher to guide you through the ways to master the skills of working online. This in itself can entail a lot of research. But once you find someone you can learn from and trust, the process is really a case of having the right mindset to just do it, cutting out months, maybe years of struggle and possible failure.

What is the Right Mindset?

It is very easy for the newcomer to get overwhelmed when starting in the online business area. As mentioned before, there is a lot of misleading and poor information available to the unsuspecting beginner. Very often the beginner tries to follow ALL the advice found and acts on NONE!

Trying to "get everything just right" before we do anything will soon show as a mistake. This leads to an overload of information and complete confusion as to what to get on and do! This can kill ALL original enthusiasm.

The mindset that needs to be taken is one of "just have a go" or "throw it at the wall and see what sticks"! Just get on and start!

Do Not Give Up!

There WILL be days when you really wonder what on earth you are doing. Will it ever work? This is where the resolve to "make it" will come to the fore and keep you going. I make NO bones about it, it's not a get rich quick thing, but once mastered it can pay dividends for years to come.

Skills needed to be able to start an online business.

You will need to find a niche area that you have a knowledge of, a passion for, something that "gets you out of bed" in the morning! You may have a great interest in Health, Cars, Travel, Sport, Music, Nature, Animals....the list is endless but it needs to be something YOU are keen on and liable to keep an interest in. If not you are likely to become bored with it and give up.



You will need to know how to set up a basic website for collecting email addresses to build a list of subscribers. Not difficult, but needs to be done.

You will need to know how to set up a "Thank You" page that will hold a "reward" in exchange for the email address and name. Not difficult, but needs to be done.

You will need to know how to upload web pages to the Internet. Not difficult, but needs to be done.

You will need to know how to set up email accounts. Not difficult, but needs to be done.

You will need to know how to upload an e-Book or other digital products to give away to give value to your subscribers. Not difficult, but needs to be done.

You will need to have an Auto-responder system to keep in touch with and manage all your subscribers. Not difficult, but needs to be done.

You will need to learn to be able to write articles to promote your niche topic. Not difficult, but needs to be done.

You will need to learn how to find other ways to get traffic to your web pages. Not difficult, but needs to be done.
None of these are truly difficult but they are the lifeblood of an online business.You NEED to master them and that will take some time! This goes back to the mindset to be able to work on three things.



Time

Effort

The patience to learn these few skills
Finding the mentor and teacher for these skills is a requirement to have a chance to the quickest route to success.

My name is Mike Finding and I am new to Internet Marketing but I have a passion to make it happen. I have been making websites for some six years now but never considered getting involved in Marketing, until I found my mentor!

Website: [http://www.simple-website-creation.com/]Simple Website Creation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Finding http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Beginners-Guide-to-Internet-Marketing&id=2873420

This saddens me to think that this is true

An aquaintance of mine (EDueck) posted this on a forum I belong to and I thought I'd pass it on - it is so true.

An Obituary printed in the London Times -

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common

Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for
sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost
in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having
cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't
spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults,
not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned
but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a
6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a
classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash
after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly
student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers
for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in
disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get
parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a
student; but could not inform parents when a student became
pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became
businesses; and criminals received better treatment than
their 20 victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend
yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar
could sue you for assault..

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman
failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She
spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge
settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents,
Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter,
Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;

I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized
he was gone If you still remember him, pass this on.
If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life
http://splintersweb.net

3 Ways JV Giveaways Build Your Business

By Marilyn Parmelee http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Parmelee

When you participate in these events, you are able to keep up-to-date with what others are promoting, and you'll find others in your field to create strategic alliance. At these joint ventures, there is sometimes a forum for the promoters. Even those without a forum have a promoter's profile page, where you can learn more about the promoter. Take the time to get to know the other promoters, who while having similar products or services that are directed toward the same target audience, are not in direct competition with you.
These are the ones you want to create relationships with. After you've built a relationship, you can propose an alliance and help promote each others business. This will expand both businesses more rapidly. You can also learn more about your competitors through their profile. Check out the gifts and offers they make. Use this information to discover where you can build more value for your customers. One of my favorite things about these giveaways is that you can download products for your own personal and business use. I have found greeting card software, e-cover creator software, templates and scripts. The list goes on and on. These products have helped me to keep my website and products looking professional.
Another great thing is you can download products and use them to promote your business. You can download Private Label Rights materials, articles, e-books, software, scripts, templates, etc. With these products, you can offer your customers a larger variety of products. This will allow you to spend less time and money developing new products to sell. Because you can also download products that have Resale Rights or Master Resale Rights, you can now offer your existing customers more back-end and up-sell products. This will increase your sales and profits. You'll also be able to solve your customer's problems quicker.
I had a subscriber ask me if I knew where they could get a certain product. I had noticed it in a giveaway, downloaded it and made sure my customer got it. Problem solved! You can build your own very targeted list with giveaways. You do this by the products that you offer. For instance, my business exists to help those who need a website presence, but who also need to get a web business or non profit organization up and running with free or frugal products. So in the giveaways, my target markets are those who are "newbies". Everything I offer keeps that in mind. Joint Venture Giveaways build your business in three ways. They help you find partners to form a strategic alliance, they help you to find products for your own use and for business use and they help you to build your own targeted list which helps to build your brand.
For more information on how to grow your business with free and frugal products, contact me at: http://www.frugalebizproducts.com
Marilyn Parmelee is a published author, pastor and internet marketer. She helps author's, nonprofits, and small businesses develop a web presence. To find out more go to http://www.frugalebizproducts.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Parmelee http://EzineArticles.com/?3-Ways-JV-Giveaways-Build-Your-Business&id=2713018

How JV Giveaways Build Your Name Recognition

By Marilyn Parmelee http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Parmelee

In the last article, I explained the seven reasons why I like and use JV Giveaways. They were as follows. They help to build your name recognition and your brand. They keep you updated on what others are promoting. You can download products for your own personal or business use. You can download products to give away in order to promote your business. You can build your own targeted list and you can make money. In this article we will talk about how these events build your name recognition.
Building recognition can be a difficult task. So how will a giveaway build your name recognition? Every giveaway you enter puts your name out there to be seen, and not just at the giveaway event. But let's take a look at the event first. Whether or not you've upgraded, your product is listed with your name by it. While I think it's best that your product is one you've developed yourself, it isn't necessary. Just make sure you choose a quality product that fits you niche. The more JV events you enter, the more often your name is noticed.
Who notices? I'm glad you asked. Other JV promoters and owners look to see who has entered. The more often you enter these events, the quicker your name becomes recognized. This is important because they may contact you to partner with them in the future. People do notice.
Your name gets recognized because of the product that you enter. You've entered a product. Someone downloaded it, liked it and thought it would benefit the people on their email list. They contact you, you've talked it over and since they have a product to offer that would benefit your list, you each decide to promote the other's products.
Your name also gets recognized as you promote the events. Of course you email your list. But there are many other ways to promote. You can blog about them, tweet about them on twitter and you can let your friends know on social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Ning. I always tell my friends what products in the giveaways I think they would like or may need. You'd be amazed at some of the wonderful products that you can download, and all free. The great thing is, everything you put online ends up in an archive somewhere and shows up in the serach engines. Promoting builds name recognition.
So, as you can see, this is a great way to build name recognition. The more events you enter, the more your name is seen by people who will be interested in working with you in the future, as well as though who may be interested in any offers you may give in the future. The more you promote on social networks and other online sources, the more your name is seen. Giveaways are one way to help build recognition. I hope this gives you some ideas. Take the plunge, promote your business and build your recognition by participating in giveaways! For more information on frugal and free ways to grow your business go to [http://www.frugalebizproducts.com]www.frugalebizproducts.com
Marilyn Parmelee is a published author, pastor and internet marketer. She helps author's, nonprofits, and small businesses develop a web presence. To find out more go to [http://www.frugalebizproducts.com/]http://www.frugalebizproducts.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Parmelee http://EzineArticles.com/?How-JV-Giveaways-Build-Your-Name-Recognition&id=2709055

My First Article on Ezine Articles

7 Reasons Why I Like Giveaways
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Parmelee]Marilyn Parmelee

I've been asked why I like giveaways so much and why encourage others to enter giveaways. So here goes, are you ready?

1. It builds your name recognition.
2. It helps build your brand.
3. It keeps you up to date with what others are promoting.
4. You can download products for your own personal or business use.
5. You can download products to give away and use them to promote your business.
6. You can build your own very targeted list.
7. When you upgrade, you can make money from the One Time Offers you enter. (I wish AOL would come up with a way to say "You've got money!" instead of "You've got mail!" when there's a receipt for payment in your in box. Wouldn't that be fun?)

So, how do you enter a giveaway? Here's what you need:

Create a new folder. Label it "Giveaway Records" I keep this as a main folder and add individual folders for each giveaway to this folder.

In this folder, you will keep all information you need for the giveaway. I use notepad to list all my information.

You will need the following:
For your profile, you will need to enter the email address you're using for the giveaway and the password they've given you or that you have created. You will also need to put your picture in your giveaway folder, because they'll want you to include that in your profile. They'll also need your Clickbank ID, your PayPal nickname and your Twitter username.
Your Giveaway Product:
1. Product Name
2. Product Image
3. Short Description Of Your Product (around 50 characters)
4. Product Description (up to 300 characters)
-Squeeze Page URL
-Direct Download URL (Here is where I put my thank you page with the download link.)
-Support Contact (Email address is what I use.)

You'll also want in this folder:
- your unique link to invite contributors and the one to invite members after the giveaway goes live
- the giveaway rules
- the date the giveaway goes live
- the date the giveaway ends
- copies of the emails to use for the giveaway

For those of you who do not have your own product to give away, go to my website on the 'find products' page. There you'll find three sites where you can access free private label rights products you may give away. Be sure to check out the license you get with the product and follow it to the letter.

Another question I often get is, "How do I promote a giveaway? I don't have a list!" I know what you mean. I had a hard time with that one, too. Here are a few ideas:

Email family and friends. Have them invite their friends. It's for a good cause, building your business. There are always products there they may find interesting.
Twitter about it.
Contact your friends on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Ning, Yahoo and others. You CAN promote without a list. Use your imagination. DO NOT spam.
Blog about it.
Squidoo it.
Twitter it.

I hope this gives you some ideas. Take the plunge, promote your business by participating in giveaways! For more information on frugal and free ways to grow your business, go to http://www.frugalebizproducts.com

Marilyn Parmelee is a published author, pastor and internet marketer. She helps author's, nonprofits, and small businesses develop a web presence. To find out more go to http://www.frugalebizproducts.com/

Twitter Anyone?

There are so many tips and tricks to using Twitter that you'd probably waste countless hours and dollars looking for the RIGHT product that tells you how to get ahead with Twitter and/or to simply make money with social networking.

STOP! Don't waste your time and money on every Twitter product that comes your way, when all you need to know is right here: click here

You see, over 1,000 contributors have donated hundreds and hundreds of products, most of which are dedicated to Twitter and/or Social Networking! Whether it is how to build your follower-base, orhow to use the various 3rd-party tools to make Twitter work right, you can get that information here!

Just register here for free, and look very closely at the offer on the way in, we think you'll be shocked :) THEN go to the two "Downloads" sections, and have a blast!

Marilyn Parmelee

Son Got Married, Here's A Picture

Here is a picture from Steve and Angela's Wedding. Angela, Steve, Me and Phil.