Ground Report

Online marketing is hot as ever and everybody wants a piece of it.

Whether you are small business owner or a student wanting to make a buck through consulting, knowing how and where to look for reliable and actionable information is important.

This post will provide you with some idea on where to look for the knowledge on this realm which will eventually lead you to discover other great internet marketers as you go.

Should I go to university for this?

Whatever you do, don’t go to universities to learn online marketing. That’s the last place you should consider going. Most of the things taught are out of date or more based on traditional marketing like TV ads and billboards.

The fundamental principles such as the 4P’s of marketing by Kotler will be taught to you but most books used in colleges are not based on practical in-field knowledge.

Online marketing is ever evolving, so the tools of the trade will always change and get updated.

So where should I go?

The best way to go about this is to learn from:

• Blogs
• Ask others in the space
• Podcasts

1. Blogs

Sites such as Backlinko, Moz, QuickSprout and NeilPatel provide a lot of practicable tips to get you started on online marketing.

There are usually beginner guides on these sites.

As you read along, always ask yourself as you read the headline and skim through the headers if it is actionable and detailed.

There is just too much fluff out there to waste 30 minutes of your time going through a 2500 word post only to realize it wouldn’t help you at all.

Once you have found and the read the actionable post, implement it immediately on your website.

If you don’t have one, register a domain using sites like GoDaddy and find hosting using sites like HostGator.

If you are too lazy and yet too excited to get started, go to WordPress and pay $35.88 for a year’s worth of hosting and registration (it’s the Personal plan and it has it’s limitations.)

If you are strapped for cash, just register a xxxxx.wordpress.com domain.

A simple template will do. You don’t need to code anything. Just choose the theme of your choice and activate. Just get started it.

Remember: Learning isn’t collecting knowledge. Learning is behaviour change.

“The quicker you implement, the faster you get it over with and the faster you see results.”

2. Ask others in this space

Finding a mentor is the most effective way to shorten your learning curve by more than half.

You don’t need an in-person mentor per se. The key here is to have immediate feedback.

If you can’t find one, at least ask for advice here and there.

A simple email would do the trick (but please don’t ask stupid questions.)

If you plan to e-mail the marketing experts who write for the big blogs, you should take the time to digest all the material he or she has written on the subject and only ask the questions they have not addressed.

If they already wrote 10 posts about Facebook Ads, and you e-mail them saying:

“How can I market my product using Facebook?”

You will look like someone who isn’t taking this seriously (and they will probably be annoyed too.)

Remember: Their time is valuable, so respect it.

3. Podcasts

Listen to podcasts such as Marketing School with Neil Patel and Growth Everywhere with Eric Siu.

Listen to it during your commute – walking, driving, waiting for the train or bus (any instance where your eyes are not required to look at the screen.)

Don’t fret so much if you are not absorbing every single word of the podcast as you do this.

You can always listen to it again and again.

Listening to it on repeat primes your brain and makes you get familiar to the concepts subconsciously.

(Be sure to take time out to really listen to it, of course.)

And there you have it, these are just of the 3 things you can do to get your feet wet for online marketing.

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This post was written by Ben Sim from iPrice group.