Internet marketing refers to running advertising campaigns that aim to promote products and services over the Internet. Also known as online marketing, it is often used with traditional advertising methods like newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.
It’s been seven years since I started internet marketing. Initially, it was extremely frustrating, and I almost gave up. The thing about online marketing is that it cannot be taught. You have to be prepared to grind it out; try, test, fail, and repeat the same process until you find success. It is also important to be passionate and innovative.
After about two months of browsing various online marketing forums and trying out a few things, I finally made my first dollar. I still remember that feeling of immense satisfaction. It gave me the motivation to carry on, and there was no looking back since then.
Although I was making decent money and also enjoying my work, I decided to get a job in the same field after I graduated. I worked as a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) for more than two years, but finally gave it up for two reasons. First, the job started to feel boring and repetitive, which means I was not deriving job satisfaction. Second, I was not fully utilizing my potential; it was as if I was using only a minute percentage of the knowledge and skills I’d acquired over the years. But most importantly, the job took away 12 hours of my day, which left me with little or no time to engage in other internet marketing activities.
I have always wanted to get a regular job to gain experience and get acquainted with the workflow. It turned out to be a good experience and I have learned that I can do much better.
Although India is a huge country, internet marketing and the whole concept of working from home is yet to gather momentum. Some non-technical challenges faced by internet marketers in India are listed below.
Hard to earn respect
The Indian mentality is such that most people don’t respect those who work from home; they rather prefer working regular 9-5 jobs.
You could be working ten times harder and making five times more money online, but your work does not get the appreciation it deserves. You will be regarded as a lazy person who is “wasting his/her life by sitting at home.”
Almost impossible to explain your work
No matter how hard you try to explain the concept of internet marketing, making people understand the type of work you do at home is never easy. While a few understand it, large segment of Indian population believe that it is impossible to make a living with income from the internet. They wonder how people could be paid for “wasting time” on Twitter and Facebook.
If you make money online, then you’re assumed to be a scammer or hacker. So the best response that I give them is “I make websites for a living.”
Everybody wants to make money online
This is perhaps the most annoying challenge that internet marketers face, not only in India but also in other parts of the world. People believe making a living through online marketing is a piece of cake. They won’t stop bothering you until you teach them how to make money online, even though they lack basic knowledge about social media and essential programing languages like HTML. To become a successful internet marketer, you need to know your way around the internet. Moreover, staying abreast of emerging tools and platforms is essential. For instance, leveraging the capabilities of an event ticketing platform can provide marketers with new avenues for engaging audiences and driving conversions in innovative ways. Additionally, partnering with an AV hire company can enhance the quality of online events, improving audience engagement and overall marketing effectiveness.
The internet never sleeps
An internet marketer should always be pro-active and must be quick to capitalize on hot trends, before the hype diminishes or it hits saturation. This means that you must always update yourself with the recent trends about your niche in countries where eCommerce is big. These include US, UK, Canada, Australia, and so on. Since there is a huge difference in time zones, your sleep schedule is guaranteed to get messed up.
These factors used to bother me a lot, especially the first one. However, I have finally stopped worrying about what people say, and to be frank, it feels really good now. People who are jealous will always talk behind your back and try to bring you down.
I consider myself a lucky man because my work gives me joy and satisfaction. I am happy doing something I actually love, rather than working a dead end job and spending my days waiting for the weekend. After all, you should always do those things you are passionate about.