Your investments for internet marketing?

21 replies
Hey there,

My major exam is about to be completed by the end of November and I can't wait to start going full time on Internet Marketing. I just want to discuss about what internet marketing investments are you making in terms of education, software and gadgets?

I have already made a plan to invest in:

1) Laptop - Essential to carry my work place around as desktop is not portable

2) Camcorder/Camera/Webcam - I am getting any of these for my internet marketing (taking pictures/record videos) and personal purposes but I am not sure what to purchase for great viewing purposes. Any suggestion? How many megapixels should my camera be? Should it be a camcorder? What model? Any suggestions would be good as I am not camera-savy ! I want a tripod stand to come along with it (so that I can record myself when no ones around)!

3) Better internet connection

I just want to ask my fellow warriors to suggest me some good cameras, videos or camcorders that I should use for my IM and personal purposes! I also want you guys to feel free and share your list that you have previously invested so that I can consider on essential things to invest to improve my internet business.

THANKS!
#internet #investments #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author zamzung
    I'm not following you fully on this one... why do you concentrate on "what camera to buy"? But here are some of my thoughts...

    Education in Internet Marketing is never ending thing...

    Software - you actually don't need anything else than HTML editor or Wordpress when starting out, other software will come in when you find something that could be useful for you, depending on what type of IM work you do...

    Gadgets... you already have it there, a pc and internet connection, pretty good and pretty enough... I don't think that camera or anything similar is a must have... you can do pretty well without it...
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  • Profile picture of the author louie6925
    Investment is ongoing in this industry:
    Wp themes
    Autoresponders
    training materials
    ppc
    the list goes on, but without investment you will not have a business!
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    Feel free to chat if you live in the UK I may have something for you!
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  • Profile picture of the author A.Green
    Your list/autoresponder software (like aweber or getresponse) is an important one.

    Before you invest money in educational products or courses, make sure you know what business model you want to follow. For instance, if you want to sell information products, you won't need to be spending money on courses that teach you how to build "made for Adsense" sites. It's easy to get distracted and end up spreading your time and money too thinly.
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    WritingThatPaysYou.com: specializing in health and home improvement.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ikmal Syifai
    You only need time, PC, and internet connection.

    Theme? There are bunch of free wordpress theme.
    Link building software? Buy only if you already make money.
    Autoresponder? Buy only if you want to sell products, if you do AdSense, you don't need one.
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Huang
      Thanks guys I have already considered auto responders and will consider getting wordpress themes and also HTML editors. Btw, I just want a camera, that has optimum viewing experience at considerable prices. I though some of you might know...
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      • Profile picture of the author Melvin San Miguel
        Hi Brandon,

        When I was introduced to the world of Internet Marketing about 3 years ago the first 3 things I invested in was...


        1. Around $10 for a domain name from godaddy. Choose a name ending in .com for example Brandon-Haung.com or BrandonHaung.com or HaungMarketing.com. As .com to me is globally recognised. Using you full name helps brand yourself.

        2. Invest $19 per month for an autoresponder from aweber.com which is a MUST. first month is only $1, its a great email follow up service.

        3. Spend time learning how to generate Traffic to your website.

        If you really want to invest in a camera for video marketing purposes for starting out most fellow Internet Marketers I know use the Flip or the Kodak Zi8 with seperate audio input. As long as people can clearly see you and hear you is all that matters.

        Hope this helps

        Melvin
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        FREE Make Money Every 30 Mins VIDEO Series.... http://turbocashflow.net/

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  • Profile picture of the author Robert H Cwik
    1. Hosting

    2. Domain(s) depending on what you are going to do. For the first domain you buy, I'd suggest your full name .com. Maybe not good for seo but perfect for branding.

    3. Autoresponder service: Aweber - the most popular, $1 for the first month, $19+ ever after, or Getresponse - free up to 1000 contacts

    4. Training - you'll find it all here

    This should be about it for the start.
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesrich1
    I fell in love with optimize press. I like Camtasia. I like Market Samurai. I only see need for Aweber, Hosting, computer and a camera as the basics.
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    • You'll know what you need to buy once you've designed a campaign.

      Some IMers don't use either cameras or camcorders. I don't think either are necessary.

      fLufF
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      Love microjobs? Work when you want and get paid in cash the same day!
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      • Profile picture of the author Dale21
        First I think having a laptop and internet connection are basic, you need that anyway, not sure about the camera and all, really not necessary.

        To me, the biggest investment is time. If you really want to learn IM, it is not something you are just going to pick up over a weekend and start drawing a paycheck. You will have to invest a lot of your time to learn all aspects. My biggest problem when I started was learning one aspect, like how to build a nice website, then spending all my time on dozens of them only to figure out I was going nowhere.

        Money wise, I invest in several things. As someone else said, first you need to have an idea of what market you want to get into, then get yourself some courses from reputable people who can teach you. There are many very useful ones around here relatively cheap.

        Most of my monetary investment would be for tools. Tools just make your work much easier and faster with more positive results. Expensive ones like Market Samurai, Tr. Travis, Niche Finder I do have and you will need at some point but you could start without. There are so many other useful tools, I just picked up a great backlinking tool this morning. No I did not 'have' to have it but it will save hours upon hours of time, which is precious with most folks in this business. Now someone said you don't need to worry about backlinking until you start making money, but I think you must learn backlinking to make any money.

        The best place I can think of to start is actually free. Search the top of the forum where the Mods post and get yourself a free pdf 'Need To Know'. May very well be one of the best courses you will ever see..... and it is free. I really hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author wenzel777
    I'll throw a few out there.

    1) Website and domain
    2) HTML editor (Dreamweaver, FrontPage)
    3) Autoresponder
    4) Photoshop (If you've got the cash and don't want to outsource everything)
    5) Web cam & Camtasia (Camstudio on a budget) (creating/editing videos)
    6) Laptop
    7) Web connection
    8) Analytic/tracking software
    9) Organizational software - Look for ways to stay organized throughout everything that you do. Passwords & log-ins for everything online. No recommendation in particular, but look for anything that will keep you organized. Even if it's just putting information on a spreadsheet.
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    • Profile picture of the author unclepennybags
      I wouldn't worry too much about what camera to buy. As far as internet marketing investments go it really depends on what you want to do.

      It sounds like you are trying to build very good content by shooting videos which is a great idea. But what exactly do you plan on doing? Are you planning on offering your services, affiliate marketing, or maybe offer your own products?

      In general I would suggest not investing too much in learning IM since there are so many free resources out there including the one your on now.

      I guess the best advice I can give is to know exactly what kind of business you want to do. Then invest around that. Like if you were offering a video making service to promote other businesses then obviously a quality camera would be a smart investment.
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      "The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." - Bruce Lee

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  • Profile picture of the author RobHiness
    Like everyone has said, investment is a never ending deal in our industry. If you want really good success, I wouldn't necessarily tell you to stay away from free things, but when it comes to software, just go ahead and make the purchase. I say this only, because there are so few things you can do with free versions of software programs. So with all of that being said....

    Here is a list of the most crucial tools and resources I use, that were the best investments I've made so far, and have stopped me from spending when I don't need to.

    1. Website Domain & Hosting - GoDaddy | HostGator - Great Packages, Prices, and Customer Service! If you are opposed to paying a high price for domain names you can save by using 1&1 Domains! Pretty sure they start off with .99cents per year! They also provide great hosting as well! For Host Gator, I'd go with the Business Plan, but the Baby Plan Is Good 2!

    2. WordPress - Simple and Easy - Great Templates! If you are looking to build your own sites and graphics, I recommend Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, or Dreamweaver!

    3. Camtasia all the way! This tool is perfect! It contributes excellent features when making power point presentations, and screen recording for tutorials. If you have a mac then I suggest a program called ScreenFlow. I used it back when I had my mac but recently switched to Windows, only because I like to try new things!

    4. Autoresponder - A weber through and through! Easy to use. I've built thousands of clients with the help of aweber! I've also used Constant Contact and it's good to. If your looking to build a list on your website I recommend using Pop-Up Domination! It will give you loads of double opt-ins!

    5. Market Research - I Seriously recommend you purchase a license to Market Samurai! If you are trying to save a little bit of time & money you can get almost the same results with Keyword Optimizer Pro and last time I checked It was free!

    6. Link Building, Article Submission, Other Stuff Like That - The Link Juicer (Don't buy people's back link services, it's all just a bunch of rubbish! The Link Juicer has a trial process. These links are unlike any around. Very organic, and they make sure your back links don't get flagged as spam. You can also get hundreds of thousands of links every single month! As far as article submission goes! Don't let anyone tell you their not worth it - I'd use Article Submission, and Traffic Geyser. Those programs together blow competition out of the water and you'll have no trouble ranking, even for competitive keywords :-)

    7. Organization - I recommend Omnistat! It helps me stay clear minded, and extremely organized.

    8. Continuing Training - Warrior Forum! This forum is the number 1 reason for my success. I've learned so much from all of the warriors, it's pretty fascinating. Stay active in the forum! You'll Learn Tons!

    9. Time & Dedication - Most Crucial tools you need! I've had plenty of 18 hour days, but don't let that scare you. The returns were through the roof! The more time and dedication you give into building your online business, the more you get in return. At least it has worked for me anyways ;-)


    I hope I helped out a bunch! If you have any direct questions about anything I've just listed make sure to private message me, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!

    Good Luck With Your Success!
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    “It’s much easier to double your business by doubling your conversion rate than by doubling your traffic.”
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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    First you need to spend some time here choosing a method, there are too many to list. Get some knowledge and an idea of what you want to pursue (i.e. affiliate marketing, article writing, copywriting, web design, services, direct sales, product creation, SEO, etc...)

    Basic Toolkit:

    01. GoDaddy -domains (*NameCheap 2nd choice)
    02. HostGator Hosting Plan
    03. FileZilla - FTP Client - FREE
    04. Kompozer - (*NVU) - wysiwyg web-editor FREE
    05. NotePad++ HTML web-editor FREE
    06. WordPress Theme - FREE (*I use OptimizePre$$/Elegant Theme$)
    07. AWeber - autoresponder service
    08. GIMP/Paint/Sumo - FREE
    09. Photoshop - *pricy (Illustrator's cheap $79) -Master Collection 30 day-trial FREE
    09. Camtasia 7.1 - video creation $299 (*still learning this one myself)
    10. Ezine Articles account -FREE
    11. HubPages account - FREE
    12. Blogger account -FREE
    13. Blog.com account - FREE
    14. Webs.com account - FREE
    15. Statcounter -FREE
    16. Google Analytics - FREE
    17. Product - create or buy PLR, MRR, or resell rights 100% profit
    18. Clickbank - FREE
    19. PayPal -Business account FREE
    20. WarRoom $39 -Saved Best for last

    Oops..forgot keyword research

    21.) Google Keyword Tool External - FREE
    22.) Traffic Travis - FREE version

    I have a bunch of other 'stuff' too, but I would stick with the FREE stuff, and buy only what you need to get started. As far as computer and internet, those are pretty much preference. Though I am still wanting a 15" or 17" MacBook Pro loaded from FullSail dropout (*Craigslist usually around $1,000)

    Lastly... some serious "Mental Endurance!" - The physical aspect is a breeze, the psychological part is another story.

    REALISM... and the will to succeed.

    All the Best,

    Art
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    Atop a tree with Buddha ain't a bad place to take rest!
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  • Profile picture of the author AndreStoelinga
    First find a market you want to participate in. Figure out what you want to do and how you'll be able to "help" that market with a product or service. WHAT before HOW...or you'll be wasting a lot of time.

    Research will take up most of your time when you're starting out. Don't start spending money on stuff you might not need.

    The most necessary besides your pc/laptop and internet connection:
    - Hosting for your domain name and site(s)
    - autoresponder (not even necessary until after you've started your project)

    Andre
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    *** Success Is Intentional ***
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  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    In addition to many of the tools and software listed above, my biggest investment lately is hiring quality writers for a few projects. This will be my biggest investment for 2012 as I ramp up a local affiliate marketing projects.
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    How I hit $10,000+ per month very fast w/ 1 niche blog - Click Here to learn more (no opt-in).
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    my best one is none of these.

    It is first and foremost 1) AWEBER

    one of the most powerful tool you can ever have or need....

    A LIST BABY!!!

    Let us underline that WORD!!! LIST

    It is and always will be the best way to make money online. It is a TOOL too, and belive it is the best one that you will see mentioned in this thread
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    • Profile picture of the author Keith Everett
      Amen to that, boy was I slow in building a list!...




      Originally Posted by celente View Post

      my best one is none of these.

      It is first and foremost 1) AWEBER

      one of the most powerful tool you can ever have or need....

      A LIST BABY!!!

      Let us underline that WORD!!! LIST

      It is and always will be the best way to make money online. It is a TOOL too, and belive it is the best one that you will see mentioned in this thread
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  • Profile picture of the author Brandon Huang
    Alright thanks to art72 for making such a long list of things and those of you who recommend aweber, amen to that. Also to Melvin for recommending a cam for me.

    I was just wondering, since now I am doing a health niche and might switch to Internet marketing niche later, do you think it is a good idea to have one site ideally for my main and profile page (like what Melvin mentioned Brandonhuang.com) where people can follow my blog and my list where I keep them up to date about my next product while offering them other things? I also have a list related to the products I have published so that the customers know about it.

    Is it a good idea in your opinion let me know...
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    • Profile picture of the author art72
      Originally Posted by Brandon Huang View Post

      Alright thanks to art72 for making such a long list of things and those of you who recommend aweber, amen to that. Also to Melvin for recommending a cam for me.

      I was just wondering, since now I am doing a health niche and might switch to Internet marketing niche later, do you think it is a good idea to have one site ideally for my main and profile page (like what Melvin mentioned Brandonhuang.com) where people can follow my blog and my list where I keep them up to date about my next product while offering them other things? I also have a list related to the products I have published so that the customers know about it.

      Is it a good idea in your opinion let me know...
      Absolutely. Many of the health related niches are generally considered a highly competitive
      marketplaces and with proper marketing you can do very well. I would definitely create a blog or WordPress site and concentrate on a few key things like; write or provide informative and quality content.

      Place a heavy concentration on 'building a list' as mentioned above, which requires creating and maintaining that same quality in and throughout your emails as well. First, build an interest, engage a targeted audience, and provide value to them. It could be in any aspect of Health, or several areas such as ; Holistic medicines and alternative all-natural solutions.

      While you can search and research keywords in the health niche, you may find some 'low-hanging fruit, but much of the ripe stuff has already been plucked. As is so in almost any niche, the health niche has some highly competitive keywords, and to cut off a slice of that pie you will need to be creative, and engage readers with informative content. Then sprinkle a few 'offers' that compliment the information your audience can/will benefit from... whether it's weight loss or mesothelioma...

      You may want to look into the article syndication threads here on WF, as they get deep and in-detail of how you can penetrate competitive markets by obtaining targeted prospects and other benefits, if done properly.

      There also, if you expand into multiple niches, you may also want to segregate your niches using a few different 'pen names' as otherwise; if you are seen as the authority in one specific health niche, and decide to sell or target buyers in other related (or non-related) niches, it could protect your ability to be seen as the authority in more than one niche.... without revealing you are simply an internet marketer

      -Art
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      Atop a tree with Buddha ain't a bad place to take rest!
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      • Profile picture of the author Brandon Huang
        Art I like your thinking, I like your pen name idea and I already have a list to go with just so you know. I usually include free tips, quite long ones and in the end is an affiliate link which leads to an affiliate product, where I do a quick review and suggest them to get in the end if they want to dig deeper into more information.
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