Improving Your Skillset: Your Path to Becoming a Better Internet Marketer

Glen Allsopp / 28 Comments / July 17th, 2008 / Subscribe via RSS

Most people, myself included, tend to have one internet marketing specialty whether it be SEO, Affiliate Marketing, PPC, Landing Page Optimisation or similar. However, it’s never too late to continue to improve your internet marketing skillset and become a better all-round marketer.

I always practice what I preach and have been working hard to improve my talent in other areas, most notably website creation & graphic design. With that in mind, I wanted this post to be a collection of resources to help you improve your skills in a certain area of this niche and share my own growth with it.

I truly believe that you should never stop learning; I’m always trying to better myself in all areas of life. If you think you have nothing to learn then you won’t enjoy the following quote:

Follow those that seek the truth, run from those that claim to have found it

It’s not only experience at a task that can improve our skills but actually learning from others who have information to share. That is why I’ve put together this compilation of different skills that can make you a better all-round internet marketer with the resources you can use to do just that.

Although there are a lot of things that can help you achieve more success in affiliate marketing such as PPC skills or a good understanding of Analytics, I think it deserves a section of its own. Affiliate marketing combines many things you don’t see that often elsewhere such as landing page optimisation, persuasive copy and email marketing.

Blogs

• Affiliate Tip - blog of shawn collins who helps put together the popular Affiliate Summit
• EarnersBlog - I’ve read some great info here over the years, especially on Bum Marketing
• JonathanVolk - a site from someone actually making huge money through affiliates
• Shoemoney - not always 100% relevant but some great content to be found in the archives
• UberAffiliate - another popular affiliate blog from someone actually making money

Forums

• eWealth - very friendly forums, I’ve never participated but browse regularly
• Warrior Forum - one of the first affiliate forums with a very active and helpful community
• WickedFire - leave your ego at the door and enjoy the quality information that is shared

Personal Experience

If you do some e-stalking on me you might see some landing pages or squeeze pages that I have setup in different industries. I’ve vowed to never post another affiliate link (there are only 2 I think) on this blog as I don’t want people to question my motives when recommending something. I’ve made around $500 per month through affiliate marketing for quite a while but really not putting my efforts in this area that much.

Copywriting is at the heart of all online activities from making squeeze pages that build an email list to writing blog posts that catch the attention of the reader. This is a skill I value as a ‘must-have’ for all internet marketers and I have a lot of respect from those that can contextually articulate their thoughts with prowess (I’m trying!).

Blogs

• Copyblogger - the writings of Brian Clark and some excellent guest bloggers
• Michael Fortin - Michael shares his thought-provoking ramblings with the world
• The Writers Manifesto - a blog I’ve started reading recently and learned a lot from

Forums

• Copywriters Board - a creation of Michael Fortin mentioned above
• DigitalPoint Copywriting - the copywriting section of the popular, DP forums
• Writing Forums - very active forums dedicated solely to writing discussion

Personal Experience

Writing is always an area that I’ve struggled in although I can tell I’ve improved from when I first started blogging. The thing that I’ve found to help me the most is to read more books, something I had done very little of until recently. Of course, writing more doesn’t hurt either.

Whether combined with SEO to get nice keyword match domains or used for the purpose of branding, I think there are some benefits to be had from understanding the domain industry and exactly how people are making money.

Blogs

• Domain Name News - popular site with the latest news from the domaining industry
• Domain Tools - possibly the most popular site in the industry also includes a blog
• Seven Mile - blog of Frank Schilling who makes millions from his domain collection

Forums

• DNForum - very active forums for all the domainers out there
• NamePros - hugely popular community with over 100,000 members

Personal Experience

I’ve owned over 100 domains in my 4 years online but currently have around 25 in my portfolio, a $200 purchase being my most expensive. I’m more into branding names rather than needing a great domain to help kick start a website. The .me extension has just been launched today so it might be a good time for some of you to get in on the action.

This is something most people neglect and often hire out to others, it may be just me but I think this is one of the most enjoyable things about sorting out your blog posts or making a website look professional. Graphics can be used anywhere from the ‘buy now’ buttons on your product pages to your website logo, design abilities are a great skill to have.

Blogs

• Abduzeedo - world-class designer and has hoards of inspirational material
• GoMediaZine - real world advice from a successful design agency
• Photoshop Lady - basically this is a round-up of all the best tutorials to be found
• Photoshop Star - great tips for photoshop users out there
• PSDTuts - I spend a lot of time here reading some of the best tutorials available

Resources

• Good-Tutorials - a mass of quality tutorials in a lot of different sectors
• Tutorialized - a collection of well over 1,000 photoshop related tutorials

Personal Experience

I’m hugely interested in graphic design and honestly think that is what I would be doing (skills pending) if I wasn’t so much into the internet marketing industry. Of course, I can combine the two and I’ve been spending a lot of time improving my photoshop skills so it will be interesting to see how far I get with that.

PPC a.k.a Pay per Click is the job of bidding for keywords that will appear in the paid section of search engine results or on relevant sites that display contextual advertising. It’s a great way to get quick traffic to any page you want, but of course, it comes with a price.

Blogs

• Gordon Choi - Gordon shares his expertise and the latest news on his blog
• PPCBlog - the aptly named website covers PPC tests and news
• PPCBlog - this site covers the latest news and reviews various systems for readers

Forums

• Cre8asite PPC - the paid search section of the Cre8asite forums
• DigitalPoint PPC - the PPC section of the DigitalPoint forums
• HighRankings PPC - the paid search section of the HighRankings forums
• SEOChat PPC - the paid search section of the SEOChat forums

Personal Experience

Being completely honest, I’ve rarely dabbled much in the PPC marketing space. I had some bad experiences with Yahoo adCenter and international charges which pretty much put me off the service. If a client ever wants this I simply refer them elsewhere as it’s not my area of expertise. I did actually go through the whole Adwords training but never took the test and that was quite a while ago so I’m not sure how much of that I remember.

SEO a.k.a Search Engine Optimisation is without a doubt one of the most effective internet marketing tactics you can use to drive relevant traffic to a website. Unlike PPC, SEO can take a while to kick in and have an effect but once you are up and running it can be free traffic from there.

Blogs

• SEO 2.0 - possibly the most ‘exciting’ of the group, Tad often has some excellent advice
• SEOmoz - the blog of the popular SEO team, the site also offers some great SEO tools
• SEO Book - known as one of the best SEO’s in the world, Aaron Wall shares all
• SEO Scientist - Neyne doesn’t post regularly but when he does it is world class info
• Wolf-Howl - Michael rarely holds back with tests, rants and concerns

Forums

• SEOChat - the biggest SEO forum and a place where many of today’s ‘A-list’ started
• SEO Guy - I spent about a year here and met who someone who become a colleague
• SEORefugee - forums with character and some very knowledgeable members
• Webworkshop - this is where I started out online almost 3 years ago

Personal Experience

I first started getting into SEO back in January of 2006 and I guess you could say that is my strongest asset. Funnily, I now work with one of the moderators of SEO Guy over here in Cape Town who was the one who asked me to make the move. These days I’m more into using social media to build links but still use the ‘common tactics’ to help hold some of the most competitive keyword rankings in the world for our clients.

Blogs

• 97thFloor - Although they are a self described ‘SEO blog’ they offer awesome viral ideas
• 10e20 - Chris and the gang often have some valuable (and unique) information to share
• Chris Brogan - the other chris has a wealth of information to share on all things social
• DoshDosh - Maki writes some of the most comprehensive posts there are on the topic
• ProBlogger - an excellent resource for anyone who wants  to learn more about blogging
• Skelliewag - always full of in-depth information , skellie shares her expertise
• Traffikd - the blog of Steven Snell who is very active and well known online

Personal Experience

I’ve been involved in social media for over a year now, consistently using it to send millions of visitors to multiple clients on a monthly basis. I’ve shared tips on how to do that in the social media category you may want to read.

I realised the importance of knowing how to code pretty much since the start of getting online, and especially when wanting to create my own websites. Therefore, I think knowing a thing or two about HTML & CSS is a skill everybody should have.

Resources

• HTML Dog - I learned a lot of the stuff I know now from this excellent resource
• HTML Goodies - although dated, this website contains a wealth of information
• OSWD - download and dissect some of the templates to see how they are put together
• WDFS - a site that takes you through all the different steps to design from scratch

Personal Experience

I didn’t include too many resources because I think the best way to get better at website coding is simply through practice. Whether it be your myspace, your forum theme, the links in your blog header or anything else, try things out for yourself before hiring someone to do the work. I’m at a stage now where I can code 90% of my ideas and can usually figure out any issues on my own.

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