Where should I start if I want to learn internet marketing?

[Amazin]

Any help or advice would be appreciated. If not, know any good internet marketing forums so I can ask on there?

I know someone who's making a full time living out of his website (about basketballs). I wish I can do the same but of course, it will probably take years.

[TotallySport]

best way is experience, getting started simply build a few web sites and market them, you'll soon find out what works and what doesn't.

when you need info on specifics, ask the question in the forum.

Or offer to do it for other people for free, but go for smaller businesses, you don't want to do damage to someone already successful site.

There is loads of information out there but without the experience, sorting out the good and the bad will be hard.

[david64]

Yes, it will take years.

To do something sustainable from scratch on a shoestring you will need:
- to be able to identify a workable niche
- program
- design, at least to some extent
- know how search engines work
- know how you can get people to the site

In terms of SEO, SEOMoz have some decent guides, but what you have to consider is that a lot of advice is biased based on the budgets the author has experience of. There is also a lot of advice that is parroted.

As a starting point, find something you like and come up with a concept for a site where there is little competition or competition you can handle.

[WeblinkPlus]

Originally Posted by Amazin

Any help or advice would be appreciated. If not, know any good internet marketing forums so I can ask on there?

I know someone who's making a full time living out of his website (about basketballs). I wish I can do the same but of course, it will probably take years.

Not necessarily. Depends on you. If you're a 'can do' person, then it might take weeks...

There are numerous ways to make money online. I'd pick one that suits you and spend a week or a month (insert set time that you think you need), and learn everything you can about it within that timeframe. Then just go out and try it out for size... It'll cost you a domain name, hosting and your time. Not a huge price to pay for financial freedom.

Focus initially on learning marketing - way more important than the techy stuff. You can hire freelancers to do almost anything technical.

Ask specific questions on forums, but don't accept any answers blindly. Test everything.

If you can find a trustworthy mentor, that'll almost certainly shorten the learning curve. But I personally prefer the DIY route where ever possible, as most Gurus are full of sh*t and much of the information out there is, at best, half truths.

I'd suggest you start with some form of ecommerce site as most are done poorly with little attempt to market the goods.

[webgeek]

Try Inbound Marketing University - it's designed to teach step by step, instead of a collection of fresh *cough* (half out of date) SEO advice from Rand's team at Moz.

It'll get your feet wet. From there, you should have good ideas on what you still need to learn more about.

[WebProStars]

A good place to start would be the warrior forum - packed with tips and people wanting you to sell their 'one click' solution to you. There are some real gems of advice on there though but don't rush in and buy everything you see and focus on one thing at a time!

[darren atkinson]

http://www.copyblogger.com/content-marketing/

[trebor8]

Originally Posted by webgeek

Try Inbound Marketing University - it's designed to teach step by step, instead of a collection of fresh *cough* (half out of date) SEO advice from Rand's team at Moz.

It'll get your feet wet. From there, you should have good ideas on what you still need to learn more about.

Is that impartial advice or *cough* affiliate advice?

[webgeek]

Impartial. I don't earn anything if you attend HubSpot's free university.

[MarcusMiller]

Distilled have launched a new SEO University called Distilled U. They are an incredibly knowledgeable company operating at the top of the game so I would imagine the content is top draw.

Still, as mentioned above, there is no substitute for experience and setting up your own site and following a structured program for a year or so would probably be your best bet.

You could always first start by identifying the specific areas you want to focus on - SEO, Content Marketing & Social Media are all hot and have a lot of crossover. Then, sprinkle a bit of Conversion Rate Optimisation, Analytics and even look at a couple of email marketing tools and you would start to get a handle on the basics.

In fact, there is a great guide called the Noobs Guide to Internet Marketing. It is a six month program for the promotion of a new site and covers the main Internet Marketing areas including Social Media, Email Marketing, Lead Gen, Organic Search (SEO), Conversion Rate Optimisation, Content Marketing, Analytics and Pay Per Click.

If you were to set up a new site and follow this guide it would provide the backbone for your studies. It would take some additional learning on each of the subjects to really get the most from this but there is no substitute for experience and this could be a solid approach.

Internet Marketing is a broad topic - you can learn the basics in a short time and focus on a niche or specific area but there is lots to learn and it can be a fast moving area so... best of luck!

Marcus

Couple of Links:

http://www.distilled.net/u/
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-noob-...ographic-11928