I started only what seems like a few months ago to see if I could make a living off the internet. I knew nothing about the internet and internet marketing. This is my story captured as a set of guides I learned on my journey to becoming an Internet Marketer. That journey took me through some very rough waters dealing with people who were all too willing to promise me the world but actually delivered little for the thousands of dollars invested. This story can also help guide you through those troubled waters by safely avoiding all get-rich-quick scams. To read my full story, you will need to visit my website mentioned at the end of this article. But for this article I have pulled out some rules that I wish I had understood from day one!

Rule 1: You will never understand all the intricacies of the Internet; you just need to know how to operate within it. Let me give you a simple analogy:

You drive your car! You know how to operate your car; start it, stop it, steer it and accelerate it. You understand the main concepts of your car while driving it. You know that your car needs a battery to start it, you know that it has wheels that turn, an engine that turns the wheels, a steering wheel to steer it, an accelerator to accelerate. However, most of us don’t understand how the engine works, what drives the wheels and how the steering works, we don’t care as it only works to suit our needs, well most of the time!

Use this approach to operate within the Internet; you don’t need to know how the internet works in detail apart from your computer and your modem link, but you do need to know how to operate within it and this is done through software products. I like it because you don’t have to know how the software works, all you need is to understand how and when to use it. In essence, you simply need to know how to use some of the software so that you can ‘drive’ the Internet to suit your needs.

Rule 2: You must understand the basics of the Internet. You need a PC or ‘smart’ device to access the Internet through your browser software or program. You don’t need to understand the “nitty-gritty” thing, but you do need to understand how to operate your browser.

Rule 3: You need to know some basic HTML, but not a lot. I have some idea how these languages ​​work but I’m not a programmer, I don’t have any programming knowledge and I don’t want to be a programmer. But it’s helpful to understand what the programming code looks like, as sometimes you need to ‘copy and paste’ the code to allow you to link to Internet providers (eg Amazon, Clickbank and many others) from your own site.

Rule 4: Understand what a ‘niche market’ means and the need for keywords. These two concepts, ‘niche market’ and ‘keywords’ are critical to the success of your business. People use keywords (either a single word or a phrase) through their Internet browser to search for information on the Internet. It is essential that you as a website owner understand that if you do not have keywords embedded on your site, your information will never be found and therefore your products will never be bought! Therefore, keywords, understanding what they are and how they are used, are critical to the success of your business on the Internet. As you’ll see in my story, I explain how to find profitable keywords that help refine your website concept which, in its own right, helps you find your “niche market.” For those who do not understand the term ‘niche market’ it is simply a market that has a demand that is not being met.

If, for example, you say that your market area is golf, this would not be your ‘niche market’ as the competition in this market is enormous (Google search results for the keyword ‘golf’ are of roughly 500 million!), but if you were to narrow the scope down to the keyword ‘one handed golfers’ the Google search results are only 12,500 results, much less bid compared to golf, hence your ‘niche of market’ could be ‘one-handed golfers’ assuming demand is high, ie people looking for ‘one-handed golfers’ golfer’s information or equipment. When developing your niche, you need to make the connection that you should find a niche in a popular topic, a side drop that hasn’t been fully exploited is preferable. Don’t use a niche that is so unique that no one will be interested in it! When you find it, then it’s time to exploit it to the fullest. The top nine popular information marketplaces are;

o Hobbies and recreation
or Business
o Pets and animals
o Fun and games
or Home and Garden
o Food and cooking
or Sports
o Education and self-improvement
or Arts and crafts

Rule 5: Beware of being paralyzed by the vast amount of information and distractions on the Internet. . As you experience working on the web or on the internet, you will be overwhelmed with information and new techniques, tools, etc. It’s really important that if you want your website or business to run as efficiently as possible that you choose a specific path and stick with it. There is no right way. You’ll be tempted to try other tools and techniques that may seem better and may be better, but my advice is to stick with your chosen path until you’ve mastered working on the internet, then you can start researching other ways. Many internet marketers will tempt you that they have products that will make you an instant profit or promise you a process that will lead you to riches, if you are too good to believe then you probably are, so don’t be tempted by the gurus of getting rich quick.

Stay the course, keep your focus and follow the principle; ‘Winners never quit and quitters never win!

I spent too much time evaluating tools instead of just picking one and using it, resulting in wasted time and income! In my story, I will show you recent tools that I used to get my websites up and running and profitable quickly. So come on over and take a look at my site and see what I’ve built as a newbie in a very short period of time without knowing anything about the internet or internet marketing.