The 10 Commandments of Internet Marketing

A lighthearted, yet serious look at the rules and tactics you should be following if you want to succeed with Internet Marketing.

Internet marketing is like everything else, there's a wrong way and a right way to do it. After 10 years of marketing online, I would like to believe I have figured out the right way to do all this foolishness, but I could be wrong.

Mainly because web marketing is a rather complex beast that's constantly changing as the web changes, but there are certain marketing tactics or rules which have always held up, stayed true, no matter what changes have come and gone. I like to pretentiously refer to these as my "10 Commandments of Internet Marketing". Besides, religion is the ultimate marketing tool, we might as well start at the top.

Here they are:

1. Get Your Own Site

Regardless of whether you're an affiliate marketer or promoting your own products, you must have your own site, your own domain. This is your drawing card, your own little piece of the Internet. Your altar.

2. Make Keywords Your Master

Keywords rule the web and they are your master and servant, you must place them at the forefront of all your online marketing. Getting those top rankings in the search engines for lucrative search words will be the "key" to your marketing success. In keywords we trust, make it your mantra.

3. Let Quality Content Rule The Day

You must create quality content if you want to rule the day and the web. Don't forget SEO and link building, but actually if you create superior content others want, those two main components of web marketing will take care of themselves, more or less. Build it right and they will come.

4. Build Your Lists

One of the most important factors of marketing, online and off, you must build your own lists of interested prospects. Past, present and future customers should be on your lists, mainly because these lists are the real engines which drive your business. The autoresponder is the one true god of Internet marketing.

5. Control Your Links

Links on the web are your apostles, just make sure you have complete control over them. Links others create, you can't control, but make sure any links, especially affiliate links, are routed through your domain so that you can change them at any time. All links should lead to your altar.

6. Track Everything That Moves

You simply must track everything that moves, from your traffic sources to your conversion rates to your keyword rankings. Use your traffic logs and stats to keep you informed of what exactly is happening with your site and online marketing.

7. Test, Test, Test

Web marketing is simply a numbers game, but you must make the numbers work in your favor. So testing is a crucial key element of any marketing plan, you must test to see which content scores best, which sales-pitch converts better and which marketing tactics are working or not. Always test before you leap.

8. Automate Everything

The web was born to be automated, so make all your online marketing run on auto-pilot. You must automate all your marketing systems so they can continue to work for you, no matter what you're doing. This includes your revenues streams, they should keep flowing at all times. Make residual income your prime directive.

9. Learn The Art of The Pre-Sell

You must learn the art of selling and pre-selling. In most cases, this is simply pointing out the major benefits for the buyer if they should buy your product. Aim your marketing at solving their major problems and issues. It's a selfish world, use it to turn a profit.

10. Worship Google Like There's No Other

Since search engines are your gods, you must worship them. For now, Google is the supreme god of the Internet, you must bow down to it and focus most of your online marketing on this top search engine. You can't ignore the other minor deities such as MSN, Yahoo, Facebook... but since Google controls the majority of the quality search engine traffic on the web, you must act accordingly. Sorry, but that's just how it is for now, so get used to it. Besides, they already have the first two letters right!

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All views, opinions and conclusions are solely those of the author, who is a full-time online marketer. He runs numerous niche sites, including two highly ranked sites on Internet Marketing Tools. To get valuable marketing tips for free click here: free marketing courses Titus Hoskins Copyright 2010.

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