What is Internet Marketing in a nutshell?

The very short version of this is that Internet Marketing is marketing that is done on the Internet. While this is a simple statement, it implies a great number of things.

Internet Marketing is, first of all, a blanket term for different styles and techniques of advertising and promotions used on the Internet. Affiliate Marketing, Direct Marketing, and Pay Per Click are just a few of the different styles you can encounter, and they are often mingled into an overall campaign.

Internet Marketing relies largely on how easy it is to find you. Visibility is key, and there are two main ways to do it. These are Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, and Pay Per Click techniques such as Google’s Adsense.

Search Engine Optimization is geared toward maximum visibility in the search engines’ results page. This is achieved first by designing your web page in such a way that the spiders will favor it, called On Site SEO.

You can also further increase your rankings by getting backlinks from other websites, called Off Site SEO. For this, you can ask other web masters for backlinks, and you can also use Social Media aka Web 2.0 sites to generate your own backlinks.

The other main option for visibility is called Pay Per Click. Google’s Adsense is a prime example of this. The way this works is that after you apply for Adsense, you pick your keywords and make a bid.

The final winning bid is what you will have to pay every time someone clicks on your link. In return for this, you get a special placement on Google’s search results page. The danger you face is that if too many people click on your link without buying your product, you can actually lose money.

SEO and PPC can be used alone or in combination for your Internet Marketing campaign. There are three primary structures to marketing on the Internet, being Affiliate Marketing, Multi Level Marketing and Direct Marketing.

Affiliate Marketing is where you promote someone else’s product and you get a commission for every sale you make. This is often where many people start in Internet Marketing, since it’s a good source of residual income. For just a little work in starting the campaign, you can make money in your sleep.

Multi Level Marketing has an unfair reputation. A particular type of MLM, called a “pyramid scheme” has tainted the whole concept of MLM for many people. The thing to know is that pyramid schemes are MLM, but MLM is not itself pyramid schemes. This also can generate residual income. You can be marketing in a similar way to Affiliate Marketing, but you will also get sub-marketers, who will pay you a part of their income to be part of the hierarchy.

Finally, there is Direct Marketing. Direct Marketing is where you have your own product to sell, and you promote it yourself. You can also include an Affiliate system or MLM structure to this to boost your advertising. With this structure, you can stand to make the most money in Internet Marketing, but you can also bust in a huge way. It also takes a bit more attention and work than Affiliate or MLM structures.

While this didn’t cover everything, it serves as a good place to start in Internet Marketing.