What Is An Online Marketing Business – Realistic Answers

what is an online marketing business

What is An Online Marketing Business ?

If you have been looking online for new business options, the chances are you have come across the term “online marketing”. You probably want to know what is an Online marketing business and how is it possible to generate and income using this type of model.

 

The most highly recommended online business model to use, according to the top internet gurus, is affiliate marketing.

 

what is an online marketing business

What is Affiliate Marketing About

 

Ok, for starters let’s look at what affiliate marketing is about. What is an online marketing business going to give me ? I know some people get a bit freaked out by anything to do with online marketing. I’m sure you have all had some encounters with some dodgy websites and offers. I know, I have.

 

Affiliate marketing is a totally legitimate form of advertising and marketing products.

 

It is now becoming part of the mainstream business marketing techniques. Most big retail / wholesale businesses now use affiliate marketing in their regular campaigns.

 

Affiliate marketing allows these companies to target customers that they may not have been able to reach before using traditional media type advertising.

 

Affiliate Marketing is a Common and Legit Advertising Process

 

The term affiliate marketing simply refers to the process where a company enters into an agreement with a website owner (or website publisher). This allows the website owner to link, advertise and (passively) sell the company’s products in return for a commission on any sales generated.

 

Hence they have created an affiliate relationship. Affiliate marketing is the name for this process.

 

See that I referred to passive selling above. Basically, this means that you, as an affiliate marketer, don’t actually involve yourself in the sales process. You are technically only passing on a referred / qualified  customer to the company who completes the sale and deals with the customer directly.

 

This is one of the big benefits of affiliate marketing. You are not required to hold stock or even deal with the customer. Your job is to attract the customer to your website and display the deals / links that you have on your site. Once the sale is completed you will receive a commission on the tracked sale.

 

Sounds Easy, Right?

 

Well, I wish I could say it is that easy. We would all be millionaires now.

 

But the reality is that affiliate marketing takes a fair bit of effort, persistence and patience.

 

ways on how to avoid scams online

It is by no means a get rich quick opportunity. In saying this, you would theoretically expect this business to start returning an income to you within 3, 6 to 8 months and growing from there on.

 

There is no pattern to this theory, however. And results vary from one person to another, as it does in a traditional bricks and mortar type business.

 

In any typical business, the success and results achieved can vary significantly between one manager / owner and another. It all depends on their management style and ability to conduct business.

 

Be Wary of the Get Rich Quick Offers.

 

The same can be likened to online business achievements. So be aware of this.

what is an affiliate marketing business

People fall into the trap of believing that online businesses are a right to print money.

 

This is what the scammers want us to believe and then prey on our desire to earn big for little effort.  Buyer beware!

 

What is an Affiliate Marketing Website ?

 

Do I need a website to do affiliate marketing? The simple answer is yes, you do. However, you can also conduct affiliate marketing using social media marketing and youtube.

 

Affiliate marketing training

 

 

But you will need to refer to your affiliate marketing agreement with the company/s you link with. Some of the affiliate programs specify where you can advertise and how.

 

Spamming advertising is a strict no-go area and you WILL be dumped quickly if you employ this type of tactic.

 

So, what is an online marketing business website? The most acceptable option is to create a base website for your niche.  An affiliate marketing business website will typically be a Niche website, or also known as a targeted market website.

 

What Type of Website to Use?

 

These can be in the form of a Blog-style site or an Information website.

 

Generally, the difference is ( this is my opinion ) that a Blog site allows you to post more random articles that relate to a specific topic. Whereas the Information website tends to provide an information service – how to, go to, what is – type of site.

 

An example of a blog site is a travel website. Especially if you are a travelling blogger, you can write something new all the time about a new location, a city, people, sights etc … all that relate to your travel niche.

 

A Niche Information site will have articles that would relate specifically to a targeted group of people.

 

But in general, an affiliate website should aim to assist people, and give them a reason to return to your site for tips and ideas.

 

Make Your Website Helpful and it Will Become a Money Machine

 

Don’t create a website that is totally aimed at making money. This will blow away your readers quicker than that you can post your next Ad. Readers see right through these sites and they are quickly flagged as being of little value.

 

Your aim is to become an authority in your niche through thoughtful, researched and informative content articles. The sales will come naturally as your traffic volume increases.

 

How Do You Get People To Read Your Articles ?

 

what is an affiliate marketing businessThere are around 2.5 billion internet users in the WWW at the moment (growing daily). Surely, someone out there wants to read what you write, right?

 

Well, the truth is that if you don’t market your content, even a little bit, chances are that no-one will read you. Ouch!

 

And again, the same would go for your local bricks and mortar store. If you never told anyone you were in business, you would not get any customers. You might get the odd walk in off the street. But they would probably not be qualified customers and not be buying anyway.

 

So, you need to advertise. You don’t have to spend money to advertise, but this is certainly an option. If you are just starting out, explore the free and cheap options first until you test your website sufficiently to know that people want what you are offering.

 

Below are a few ideas – but not in any order. You need to market research a bit to see what best fits your niche.

 

Social media

 

Facebook, Twitter, Google+. These three are the BASIC must do’s. Then you have others like Linkedin (great for information / business website and article promotions), Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat and the latest that I have been using is Flipboard

 

Email marketing

 

Make sure you provide some form of customer relations management on your website so you can collect subscribers / email addresses. Ask your readers to sign up to receive your latest articles and free stuff. These are qualified leads and a great start to market your post.

Subscribe to my website and be first to get my latest articles. Sign up now and I’ll send you my latest EBOOK. 

– Online Marketing – An Affiliate Marketing how to for Beginners

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Networking

 

Don’t be afraid to do a bit of networking and mixing with your peers. There are some fabulous networks online for you to join and use to market your articles. The main one that I use is IBOToolbox. This is a huge network of Independent Business Owners.

 

It’s free to join up and you advertise your website business and articles using credit that you can earn from participating in the site. An excellent target marketing opportunity. You can even advertise bricks and mortar businesses and affiliate links.

 

Write General Articles

 

Streetarticles.com, IBOToolbox.com and Wealthy Affiliate.com allow you to write articles / blogs/ press releases to their sites and market your talents. This helps to create and promote your brand and gets people looking for your websites and articles.

 

How Much Does It Cost To Set Up An Affiliate Marketing Business?

 

I’m sure you have heard the old adage:

 

“you have to spend money to make money”.

 

Well, this IS pretty much the case in most instances. However, what you can have control over is how much money you spend.

 

The major advantage of Affiliate Marketing over traditional style shop front businesses is the cost of start up.

 

What I want to do is introduce you to the platform that I started my business on.

 

And when I started I paid nothing at all for several months while I tested it, learned how to build websites, trialled the training materials and figured out if this is what I wanted to do.

 

Not every affiliate marketing platform will enable you to do this. In fact, I think Wealthy Affiliate is the only one that allows you to create a FREE starter account without requiring a credit card or any form of hook.

Please see the chart below that will show you what you get for free and what you get for paid membership with WA.

 

This start-up policy employed by Wealthy Affiliate provides a significant psychological relief to you.

 

Knowing that you are not connected to anything by your credit card means that you know you are not going to be charged at any time unless you initiate it.

 

Keep Your Credit Card in Your Pocket

 

Also, you can walk away if you don’t like the options, knowing you are not going to be billed and your card details are secure.

 

This leaves you free to play at the expense of Wealthy Affiliate until you feel you want to progress further.

 

Once you want to upgrade to premium membership and gain access to more website hosting features, heaps more training and support, you can choose a monthly charge option that you can stop at any time or a discounted annual charge.

 

And there are no up-selling or essential upgrades required to gain more knowledge. Just the one subscription fee for all members.

 

Wealthy Affiliate has a significant subscriber base of over 500,000 people and they have been operating for over 11 years now. Kyle and Carson, the founders, started affiliate marketing just like you and I and quickly learned the ins and outs and became very successful marketers.

 

Time to give it a go?

Ah .. the call to action!  So what are you waiting for? Why not give it a go. You don’t have to leave your job or cut back your hours to do this .. and it will cost you NOTHING to start. Just some applied effort and time.  You are seconds away from starting a new career.

The Beginners guide to Affiliate marketing

 

 

4 thoughts on “What Is An Online Marketing Business – Realistic Answers”

  1. Hi,

    Great overview if what an online marketing business is!

    I agree with essentially everything that you’ve said, unfortunately there are quite a few get rich quick schemes out there which people need to look out for!

    I’ve seen you recommend Wealthy Affiliate, it is one of the few places where you are provided everything you need to succeed for free. I suggest everyone looking to get in to the world of online business signs up for a WA account.

    1. Thanks Nate, I want to try to show people the difference between Wealthy Affiliate, as a legitimate online business, compared to the dodgy get rich quick schemes that are out there. Wealthy Affiliate is certainly the best recommendation. cheers James

  2. Great article, I have found Wealthy Affiliate to be genuine in helping people who are looking for an opportunity to become an online marketer and build an online business of success.

    1. Hi Ardian, there are so many people looking for legitimate online business opportunities – and I get asked ‘what is an online marketing business?’ because they often just don’t know where to start. Wealthy Affiliate is such a great opportunity because all the information, tools and training are there for them to use if they really want to succeed. Thanks again for your input Adrian and all the best with ” Wired Up to Succeed”.

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