Is it better that one reads a book on the basics of Internet marketing?

[Lauren]

Hi Christopher,

I would suggest that you go straight to the source- online!

I have been learning internet marketing for the last 5 months or so, and I looked into buying books, and I was disappointed with the selection- the problem is, the field is continuously evolving!

A book can teach you the very basics, but you'll end up paying for information you can find for free.

My advice is to follow the experts, the gurus- Do a search for a specific topic you're interested in, and you'll get tons of specific blog entries and articles to help you out- the nice thing about internet marketing is how active and growing the community is.

If you already have a site, it's great because you can experiment as you go and see what suits your needs best. If you're starting from scratch, consider getting a free blog or other personal site that allows you to manage content personally. Otherwise you may feel lost, and the truth is, you don't need a textbook- the key to the Internet is, it's interactive. Textbooks can never compare.

Plus, you'll often get more actual information per paragraph than most books will offer.

Depending on your goals, there are many ways to market online. You have to start with a site, and you should learn some basics on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (I wrote a blog entry that offers some resources for beginners, I will add it below) - beyond that you have tons of options.

- Write original articles and submit to article sites (they provide good exposure!)
- Create videos and post them to YouTube and other video sites
- Write a blog and get it out there! (plenty of free sites)
- Make friends in the social network space (i.e. sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter) that will help you spread the word
- Record a Podcast and publish to different podcasting sites
- Visit other sites, forums, etc and post comments where you think your product or service could benefit the person
- If you're strictly looking for traffic, don't be afraid of paid advertising or sponsorships

ClickZ offers a number of columns on every topic in Internet Marketing