1. List Building

If you have been in internet marketing for any length of time you will have heard the saying “the money is in the list”. Why do people say that? List building is vital to internet marketing because it gives you ongoing contact with your prospective customers. The first time people visit your website or your affiliate's website they are not likely to buy the product. It has been said that a person needs to be exposed to something about seven times before they act on it so if you are just letting people drift by your website without getting their contact details then the chances are they will forget about it and you will lose the money. If, however, you have a list building system in place you can expose people to your product or your affiliate's product as many times as you like and sooner or later if they are really interested they will buy something from you.

2. Targeted versus non-targeted traffic

Another important aspect of internet marketing is the quality of traffic you are driving to your website. If all the traffic you are getting to your website is non-targeted (traffic exchanges, safelists, etc.) then you will make relatively few sales because the people are not really interested in what you have to offer. However, if you target your advertising and use marketing techniques such as article marketing, forum marketing or targeted email groups then you are more likely to make sales because you are advertising to people who are already interested in your product.

3. Give the people what they want

If you want to sell to people you need to give them what they want. Different people are looking for different things but one way to ensure that you are reaching a fairly large group of people interested in your subject is to do some keyword research. If you can find an area where many people are looking but where there is relatively little competition then you have hit on a winner. If you are one of few companies meeting a large group of people's needs then you will notice the effect of that in your bank balance. In internet marketing this is known as niche marketing.

4. Develop Multiple Income Streams

By developing multiple income streams you are reaching a variety of different target groups, preparing yourself well to adjust to cycles in the economy and marketplace and “not putting all your eggs in one basket”. This is therefore an important aspect to internet marketing and one you definitely need to consider.

5. Stay Focused

This may sound like a complete opposite of point four but it really is not. Although you want to have multiple income streams you also want to stay focused. You may choose to focus on a specific area or a specific product. You may choose to focus for example on dogs and then diversify by selling dog products as well as books and e-books about dogs. You could also choose to focus on information products and then sell e-books on many different subjects or set up adsense websites on a number of different subjects so focusing on product but diversifying your target market.

These five keys to internet marketing - list building, targeted advertising, niche marketing, multiple income streams and staying focused are vital to your internet marketing success and should be aspects that you consider carefully when establishing your internet business.