Whether you’re just discovering internet marketing for the first time or you have being doing it for a while, the information I will share with you here will hold much value either way.

If you decide to do online marketing you will inevitably be doing affiliate marketing which will involve partnering up with someone else and promoting their product or service, with a set percentage of the sale going to you.

You will find when you are trying to promote products and services online that there are many different components to consider and tackle in order to be successful in internet marketing. However, the biggest hurdle and problem that people face when they start out online is driving traffic to their site.

Finding traffic, in my opinion, is probably one of the easiest parts of internet marketing because if you pause and take the time to look around, you will see it’s everywhere. The reason why people find it so hard to drive traffic to their site or offer is because they over complicate the process but the fact is you pretty much have the opportunity to access it from many different places. Here is a list of just some of the sources you can use to get traffic:

Each of these traffic sources mentioned above can work but it is important to realise that each one of these work with their own “trade-off system”.  So what do I mean by “trade-off system”? Well, let’s say you choose SEO as a way of generating traffic. There is nothing wrong with this, it’s FREE to do and it doesn’t cost money to implement, however, the “trade off” is time – your time!

So yes, this way of generating traffic takes a lot of time and is probably the most lengthy method out of all traffic getting strategies. With this method you will have to set aside some time when it comes to optimizing your page or website and you will also have to wait some time before your website actually starts to get ranked by the search engines.

Search engines such as Google rank sites according the age of a site's domain name or level of authority your site has. There are many other factors that are considered by search engines that determine whether your website ranks on page one of somewhere like Google and that's what makes SEO a time consuming process. It could be many months or even a year before you start getting results from using this free method.

Now let's turn our attention away from this free way of generating traffic to another traffic source that can be used called PPC better known as pay per click. Unlike SEO, or even social networking, PPC is a paid source of traffic and the "trade off" here is different. Instead of trading your time to gain traffic your trading your money. With PPC  your able drive traffic to your website and get results fast, literally right away.

Before you jump for joy about PPC  you must be aware that to be successful at PPC or any paid method, you must be able to master the art of spending less than the amount of money you make back from the product or service your selling. However, this is not as easy you may think.

The reason for this is because Google recently decided to revise it's own policy when it came to PPC and as result, more PPC organizations decided to do the same.

If you want to be successful nowadays with pay per click then it is absolutely necessary that you send people to a site that gives the user an experience that's enjoyable and the way to do that is by continually supplying good, fresh content.

When you're doing internet marketing and promoting other products from other vendors, be sure to check if they have the necessary resources available for you to use  such as pre-written emails and banners to help you better promote the product. The reason you should check for these is because this will save you time and energy putting these together all on your own.

Internet marketing can be one of the best ways to make passive income but remember you will not be the only one trying to make money online with this method. For that reason, internet marketing is a very competitive arena. The way to get around  this however, is to separate yourself by creating your own funnel system, which means having your own site/landing page for obtaining names and email addresses of visitors so you can then build your list and promote to them with affiliate offers by email.

At the end of the day, you have to decide the type of online business that you want to create. Is it just a part-time side hustle that's just there for a bit of side income or a full-time business that is to serve you long into the future and that will give you passive monthly income? These are questions you should be asking yourself before you start exploring online marketing.

Finally, my advice to you would be to explore some of the methods I've mentioned here and aim to build your business for longevity.