Is it better for someone to become a specialist or a generalist when it comes to internet marketing?

There has been a lot of debate in the internet marketing field about whether or not it is better for someone to become a specialist or a generalist.  A specialist is one who has a high amount of skills in a certain area such as SEO, Copywriting, Website Design, etc. On the other hand, a generalist can do all or most of these things, but not to the level of the specialist.

The medical field provides, as an example, a number of areas where specialists are in demand while in the hospitality industry a generalist can do very well. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of this debate in the internet marketing industry,

Benefits of Becoming a Generalist

A generalist can perform most of the functions necessary to become a successful internet marketer. Even if you can do it all, you probably won’t be able to do it all with a great degree of skill, but you will be able to do anything that needs to be done.

As a rule, as a generalist, you will be able view the big picture because you understand the inter-working and interrelationships of every phase of your business.

One drawback is that the process of completing a project can take a lot longer, especially when it comes to website design. Another is the skill in being able to write sales copy. There’s a big difference between being able to write a sales copy that converts at 2% vs. 4%.

Benefits of Becoming a Specialist

If you become a specialist you can become known as an expert and command a good income from utilizing your skill. This is especially true if you are a copywriter or website designer.

On the other hand, you will likely have to outsource a lot of other activities.  For example, if you are a great website designer, then you may end up outsourcing all of your content creation or traffic generation.

How Do You Choose?

If you are new to internet marketing this can be a tough to answer unless you are already specializing in an area such as web design.  There are two ways to approach this problem.

If you have a limited budget with little money to invest you may have no choice but to take the generalist route. It is a slower process but it can definitely be done. There are tools available to help simplify many aspects of developing an internet marketing home business, including the building of a website. One excellent example of this is the Affiliate Power Group.

Personality might even become a factor in making your choice. If time is not a factor and you enjoy learning and developing new skills, then becoming a generalist is logical. In addition, there are numerous forums where you can get free advice and learn from others.

On the other hand, if resources are not a problem and you are only really interested in one area, then specialization could prove to be very beneficial.

So the answer really depends on the individual.  Internet marketing is complex. If you are one of those people who have a specialty such as copywriting you can be very valuable in internet marketing. If not, the fundamentals are simple enough that you can become a generalist as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort.

How important is content on your website? How often have you read or heard that Content is King? It is true that your website will not survive without content. However, you can have the greatest content in the world and it is not worth a dime without traffic to see it.

One of the biggest mistakes that new internet marketers make is that they try to create a lot of content before they ever think about how they plan on driving traffic to their website.  This is especially dangerous if you are using a traffic generation strategy that takes some time to really get going, such as search engine optimization.

Another problem with not putting your traffic generation first is that you can end up wasting a lot of time on a website that is destined to fail.  You may have done  your market research, but there is always a chance that you will choose a niche that isn’t profitable.  By immediately driving traffic to your website, you will be able to make sure the website is a worthwhile venture before spending months into its creation.

Another fact to keep in mind is that different niches have different traffic generation strategies.  If you work on your traffic generation strategy in the beginning, you will have more time to test out the different strategies to determine which work best for your niche.

Why then is so much emphasis is placed on content if traffic generation is the real key to success?  If you hope to make money from your website, there must be a reason for people to use it. The traffic generation will get them there, but if the content on your site does not grab their attention they will quickly leave.

If content and traffic generation are both vital to success, then how do you create a strategy to implement both aspects effectively? If you have little experience, this can be a difficult task.

One solution is to outsource some of the work. This may be a necessity if you have no idea how to build a website or do not want to take the time it takes to learn. Costs vary and you can do a Google search to find the best one to fit your budget.

If you are trying to create and manage a website on your own then it’s a matter of time management and prioritization.  You must make sure that you are putting enough effort into both tasks; however, that doesn’t mean that you need to spend the same amount of time on each of them.

A reasonable solution would be to work on your content first and develop a week’s worth of content. This could entail producing anywhere from a couple of articles or more for the week.

Once you have created content, you can then spend as much time as possible generating traffic without sacrificing content.  Once you have found how this works best you will be able to balance the amount of time you spend on developing content verses generating traffic for your internet marketing home business.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to begin marketing on the Internet especially if you are lacking internet marketing skills. Because some people that do not want to use affiliate marketing as their primary income source, they often overlook its value as a secondary source of income.

Of course not everyone will purchase your product or sign up for your list. There might be many different reasons such as your website design, your sales funnel, or they just might not be interested in your products or services.  Whatever the reason, once they leave, they are likely gone forever.

Since they aren’t going to make a purchase anyway, why not provide them with some affiliate offers in order to try and still profit from their visit.  Let’s look at a couple of ways to add affiliate profits into your business strategy as a form of secondary income.

1. On Your Primary Website

Some internet marketers are reluctant to promote other products on their primary website because it may cause potential customers to visit another website instead of making a purchase.

While this is a valid concern, you can help alleviate it by choosing products that are complimentary and not competitive with your own product. This will provide a couple of benefits. First you will not be offering products that compete so you will not lose potential sales based upon the products themselves.  Second, as compliments, your affiliate offers should actually be able to further improve your sales.

By making it look as if using several products in common will provide buyers with the maximum benefit, they will often purchase your product.  By using affiliate offers this way, you will not only generate income as an affiliate, but it can also boost the sales of your primary products as well.

2. Create a Newsletter

Newsletters are a great way to promote your primary product; however, you should not make product promotion its primary focus. You should concentrate on providing useful content to your readers. This will help build your credibility and you will gain the trust of your readers. It is OK to promote both your primary and affiliate products but I would recommend you only do this in every third or fourth letter.

Using affiliate offers in your newsletter can serve as a method of customer retention.  Once they have purchased your primary product, you need to give them a reason to keep reading your newsletter. If you keep promoting your primary product, even though they have already purchased it, the newsletter serves no purpose for them.

Some internet marketers use affiliate marketing as their primary source of income and make good money while others choose to use it as a secondary source.  If you are marketing you own product perhaps you should consider using affiliate marketing as a secondary source of income.

By ignoring all products except your own, you are not only missing out on an additional source of revenue, but you are also passing on unique ways to build confidence between you and your readers.

In today’s online market place there are a growing number of new internet marketing businesses that are sacrificing consistent, passive long term profits for short term gains. However, in order to be successful, one of the distinctive aspects of internet marketing is that every strategy requires some level of specialization.

Marketing for short term success is not a bad strategy if done correctly, but it should be used in combination with a long term strategy. Otherwise, you will likely always be chasing the next sale instead leveraging power for the long term. Let’s examine some of the potential trade offs that are often made.

Pay Per Click vs. Search Engine Optimization

PPC has, for a long time, been used as a short term tactic, and when used properly can be very successful.  The key to a successful PPC campaign is a combination of bid management, effective ad creation, and conversions. It can become very expensive if not monitored frequently.  All of these skills require some level of specialization and time.

For the long term, SEO has proven to be one of the most effective ways to guarantee that your website has long term visibility.  This method also requires your constant attention especially in the early stages of your marketing. Plus, all of the work that you do builds upon itself, which over time it will provide you with a large number of valuable assets that can be leveraged to promote new websites that you may release in the future.

The primary trade off between PPC and SEO is twofold.  The first is time.  With only a limited amount of time and resources, emphasizing one almost necessitates focusing less on the other.  While PPC marketing can generate short term profits, you will need to be constantly monitoring and tweaking your strategy.  Then because PPC ads continue to cost money and you make the decision to discontinue them your traffic will stop.

On the other hand, you can stop doing SEO tactics, but will still be able to generate traffic based upon your previous efforts.  It is not uncommon for people to have set up small websites and once they have become efficient enough, they were left to generate passive income.  With effective SEO, these websites can continue to generate profits for years after they are left alone.

What are the Solutions?

Although a trade off exists, there are easy ways to include both PPC and SEO into your short and long term marketing strategies.  In regards to PPC, you need to make sure that your landing page is focused on generating opt-ins to your mailing list or e-newsletter rather than trying to sell a product directly. This will allow you to use PPC to feed your long term traffic strategies.

Additionally, if you are currently only using PPC, then take some amount of your net profits and use them to start building your SEO efforts.  This way, you will still be generating short term profits from PPC, but will also be investing time and money into creating and executing a long-term SEO strategy.

If you start making some profit with PPC it can be tempting to give up long term passive income generation for the short term profits. Your business plan should center on the end-goal. That goal should be on long term profits and reducing the amount of work that goes into reaching that goal. It is possible to sustain a high level of short term profits from PPC ads, and at the same time increase your commitment to SEO tactics. This is the key to Internet marketing success.

Whether your goal is to start a home based business as your primary source of income or if you are retired and just looking to supplement your retirement income, a homebased business opportunity on the Internet is a great way  to go. However, trying to find the right one for you can be extremely difficult. There are 5 criteria that any good opportunity will have.

Finding these 5 criteria is essential because if the opportunity doesn’t include them then this is a good indication that you need to move on to another opportunity. The criteria presented here will help you choose a good opportunity so you can be sure that you will make money with it once you start promoting it.

The following are the 5 criteria that you need to be aware of.

1. People definitely want the product or service – When choosing an opportunity it is important to be sure you choose one that has a product or service that people are willing to spend their money on. If the product or service is not needed or wanted by people then your chances of making money are very slim.

2. Support and training – Starting a business can be scary if you don’t have the right support or training needed to help you learn how to be successful. A good legitimate homebased business opportunity will provide all the support you need, as you need it, and it will also provide training to help you get started building your business  successfully.

3. Little to no experience needed – Most people get online not knowing anything about the Internet except how to get around in it. If you are going to start a business online then you have to find an opportunity that requires little or no experience.

This will mean that the business is easily duplicable and anyone can be trained on how to effectively make money with it.

4. High income potential – When you need to make money to help you live life comfortably you need to be sure that the opportunity you choose has a high income potential. If you can only make a few dollars occasionally with it then it will be a waste of your time.

You need to find one that offers as high of an income potential as you need so you can make as much money as you want to.

5. Good company history and reputation – You have to be sure that the company behind the business opportunity has a good company history and reputation if you want the best chance to become successful and make money.

Knowing these 5 criteria for a good homebased business opportunity will make your search much easier for the right one for you to use to get your business started. Just be sure to find these 5 criteria in a business that is one you will enjoy and feel comfortable promoting. This will give you the greatest opportunity to achieve success.

It’s often said that all traffic is good traffic and the best way to generate income from affiliate marketing is simply generating as much traffic for your website or offer as possible. There is some truth in this statement. However, in reality: “all targeted traffic is good traffic and the key to generating income from affiliate marketing”.

Understanding the difference between targeted and untargeted traffic and the relationship of both types of traffic and affiliate profits is important in order to maximize your efforts.

Traffic is considered targeted if they have, in some way, pre-qualified themselves to be at your website.  This could be by clicking on a banner ad, finding you through a search engine, or even through an online newsletter.  Targeted traffic consists of individuals that are not only interested in your niche, but have already taken action to prove this.

An example of untargeted traffic would be a viewer that saw your ad or your website under circumstances in which they have not pre-qualified themselves. If you are using Pay to Click advertising, those who click on your ad do so because they are being paid for doing it.

To further help you understand the difference let’s say you have a website about building bird houses. Would you rather have 100 visitors who were searching on Google for a website about ways to build bird houses, or 1000 visitors that were being paid to visit your website?

The traffic from Google is much higher quality because these visitors have already pre-qualified themselves by taking the first step (which was doing a search with Google).  Higher quality traffic leads to a better conversion rate for your affiliate sales.

If your website has a good content on it, then readers who are genuinely interested in it are much more likely to share it with others using social mediums such as Facebook and Twitter. Targeted traffic has sort of a domino effect in that it will not only increase your conversions, it can also lead to even more traffic which can lead to more backlinks to your site and more direct traffic without you having to do any additional work.

On the other hand, untargeted traffic is not personally invested in your content.  Since they do not really care about your topic or niche, they are much less likely to share it with others, and  will likely not add any additional value to your website.

Understanding the relationship between targeted traffic and generating sales is one of the keys to success as an affiliate marketer. Now that you understand the difference you can direct your marketing toward targeted traffic, instead of being disappointed with a lot of
untargeted traffic.

If you are starting an internet business from home you can choose from a variety of options. Regardless of which option you choose, there is a fairly common process that needs to be followed when you first get started. In order to create a strong foundation it is important that you follow each step of this process. Let’s take a look at these steps.

Prepare Mentally

Mental preparation is extremely important; other wise, you may find yourself among those large numbers of people who attempt to start an online business from home, only to quit within the first few months because it is not as easy or as glamorous as they thought it would be. Far too many people begin this process with preconceptions about how it will be or how little work is involved.

If starting a business offline or online were easy, everyone would do it. Eventhough you do not have a storefront, an online business is just as difficult to run successfully as any other type of business. By mentally preparing yourself, the entire process will be much easier.

Do Your Research

You need to identify several possible styles of businesses in which you have an interest. This could be anything from affiliate marketing and MLM to selling homemade crafts from a website or a service you can offer based on your experience.

The key is identifying the skills that you possess (or are willing to learn) and determining how these skills can make you money.  There are many options to choose from, so don’t worry about narrowing your business down to a single concept right away.  During this part of the process, you just need to create a short-list of potential prospects which we call niches.

Research in Depth

Next is researching more deeply into the niches in order to find a narrower market which we call a micro niche. Then it is time to do a side-by-side comparison to determine exactly what type of business you want to run.

After you make your decision, it is time to create a business plan or business strategy to follow. Then it is time to talk to some professionals which includes a lawyer and a tax professional.  This will help you tie up any loose ends that you may have missed.

You may then find it necessary to modify your business plan to reflect anything applicable that you have learned.  This is also the time to double check everything that you have done so far.  Once you feel that everything is ready to go, it is time to actually start putting your business plan into action.

Starting an online home business can be exciting and fun, but that doesn’t mean that you can skip the planning and hard work that is necessary for success.

If you will follow these steps, you will have created a solid foundation for your internet home based business.