The Best Steps to Learn Internet Marketing

How to Learn Internet Marketing

Internet use is increasing worldwide every day. As of 2018, over 4 billion people around the world use the internet. Internet marketing is an essential part of the maximum number of business models. This is because the internet offers unique benefits that other marketing mediums can’t provide. However, it provides an enormous scope of reach, it is cost-effective, it provides the opportunity to build far-reaching relations, and much more. In this article, we discuss the best steps to learn internet marketing

Internet marketing comprises digital channels which include email, websites, and search engines, to reach your ideal audience. Unlike traditional advertising mediums like print, the internet establishes two-way conversations between your business and your customer. Thus, increasing trust for your brand. 

Internet Marketing and Digital Marketing are Not the Same 

Digital marketing describes a set of marketing processes that sums up all available digital channels to promote a product or service. Internet marketing is just a subset of digital marketing. However, most of the digital marketing activities fall within the boundaries of internet marketing. Moreover, the channel that makes up digital marketing includes email marketing, mobile marketing, SEO, PPC campaigns, etc. 

Major Channels or Internet Marketing are: 

• Website 
• Search Marketing (SEM)
• Social Media Marketing
• Content Marketing 
• Email Marketing 
• Mobile Marketing 
• Banner Advertising

Below are some of best steps which may help you learn Internet Marketing, from beginner to expert:

Pick Your Area of Focus 

There are three phases in this journey: acquisition, retention, and conversion. Try to gain focus and expertise in at least one strategy from each of the three pieces of a funnel. Initially, focus on being a generalist. You may be unaware where your interest will take you, so building up a general internet marketing skill set may help you land in the areas that excite you the most. We can categorize the focuses as mentioned above as: 

Within acquisition, you have:

• Search Engine Optimizing(SEO)
• Search Engine Marketing(SEM)
• Affiliate Marketing 
• Viral Marketing 
• Influencer Marketing
• Publicity
• Communities
• Using Other Platforms

Within retention, you have:

• Social Media Marketing 
• Email Marketing 
• Community Building
• Notifications

And within conversion, you have:

• Copywriting
• Landing Page Design
• Sales

So, start focusing on which strategy you want to begin with. Feel free to move on to the next if one doesn’t fascinate you much. 

Learn by Implementing 

Many people spend all of their time reading articles, blogs, or making notes. However, without implementing or testing what you’ve studied, you won’t learn anything. The best way is practicing over a sandbox; place to apply what you are learning. Moreover, the sandbox should have a few criteria:

1. Low-cost or maybe free 
2. Low-stakes, so you don’t regret failing
3. Public, so you have to orient your work in some manner 

This will help you test strategies freely without worrying about the consequences. After some practice via implementation, you’ll get the following parameters with you: 

1. Grabbed some specific areas to focus on initially
2. Built a sandbox to learn in
3. Started your marketing experiments spreadsheet
4. Practiced a few experiments
5. A rough idea about the market. 

Keep Researching & Learn About New Tools

The aim is to keep expanding your understanding and building a tremendous foundation. However, at this stage you should be:

1. Running a few marketing experiments 
2. If an experiment succeeds, stick to that and keep advancing 
3. If one fails, try the next one 

At this stage, all you need is to furnish your skills. However, try to read case studies, evaluate their mistakes, and implement their strategies on your experiments. Moreover, read blogs on marketing, and search for more ideas to augment your skills. 

Try Freelancing 

This step isn’t mandatory, but freelancing can advance your skills considerably. It will help you explore areas you aren’t familiar with. If you freelance with someone more experienced than you, they may point out areas for you to improve that you may not be aware of. The following cycle with lead you from a learner to expert. However, keep testing, and researching, and practicing with your assumptions. Similarly, keep yourself adaptive to learning new skills and strategies which will help you in the world of internet marketing.