Is Internet Marketing a Real Online Business?

There is much more to Internet Marketing than meets the eyes. It is a real online business. However, it is not just putting up a web site together and hoping that people will simply buy.Internet Marketing, though virtual, is NOT a get rich quick scheme. It is not some autosurf programs where you invest an initial sum of money and hope that it will turn into a million dollars in a few short months or years. Neither is it some form of money game or investment. It is certainly NOT multi-level marketing though, as far as I know, some affiliate programs compensate their affiliate marketers to 2 or more levels.Internet Marketing is a real business except that it uses the Internet as a medium which is the most powerful LEVERAGE tool known to man so far!One thing to note though: the face of the Internet is ever changing. Be prepared to be always on your learning curve. Whatever you know today will probably be obsolete in a couple of years. Thus, Internet Marketing business requires your ongoing efforts and constant tweaking to keep it going.On the brighter side, Internet Marketing business allows you to reach your markets globally. If you own a noodle shop, your customers will most likely be within a radius of 20 to 30 km with some exceptions. Thus, internet Marketing answers two important questions:1. How far can your business go?2. How fast can your business grow?In fact, with the Internet, we do not need to set up offices in various countries before we can conduct our business. It's simply borderless!Power of the InternetHere are some quick statistics:* Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million people* Television took 12 year* The Internet took only 4 years!It's clear that the global reach of the Internet is indeed astounding. This alone is enough reason for any traditional company to get online or simply implement some online strategies as soon as they can.Internet Marketing Takes Many FormsThere are many forms of marketing on the Internet. Here are some common ones:* *Affiliate marketing* Article marketing* Banner advertising* Blog marketing* E-mail marketing* Pay-per-click advertising* Pop-up advertising* Search engine marketing*Affiliate marketing is a strategy to enlist others to market your products. In that sense, it is not a form of marketing per se. The affiliate marketers themselves need to employ their preferred forms of marketing to promote and sell some else's products and services.Each of these forms captures the target market's attention in different ways, and some may be more relevant than others depending on factors like the type of product and service, demographics, etc.Of these various marketing strategies above, article marketing and email marketing are proven methods and most effective as we can provide contents to the information seekers worldwide. Especially with email marketing, it provides a means to develop a long-term relationship with the customers. Thus, over time, we build our lists of regular and responsive customers. Have you heard that 'The money is in the LIST'?Last but not least, blog marketing, though still new, is taking significant importance in Internet Marketing. In fact, big names like General Motors and Microsoft are harnessing the power of blogs to garner feedback from customers by implementing what is called Conversational Marketing.