If you are just starting out on your Internet marketing journey, you may be finding it more confusing and perplexing than you expected. One of the worst sources of confusion is the terminology! You are swamped with technical jargon that nobody bothers to explain to you. You may be wondering how you will ever learn the way, because it seems as if you have to learn a whole new language before you can even grasp the basic tools of the trade!

But the technical terms are only the beginning. The biggest problem is that every day you are bombarded with schemes, scams and strategies, all claiming to be the ultimate way to get rich quick. And at first you believe them, because you assume these people know better than you do. So you go with every scheme that comes along, hoping that this will be the big one.

But this is not the way. It is no good expecting these people to tell you how to succeed. All they are interested in is getting you to buy their product. You need to figure out for yourself what the factors are that will lead you to success.

First and foremost this will involve having your own web site. This is the only way you can have your personal presence on the Internet. And then you have to learn how to drive traffic to it. You will find that almost everyone who has seriously succeeded has done it this way.

But it is not a formula. You don't just arrive at success. You have to work out your own journey. Here are three of the main guiding "posts" along the way.

PLANNING

It's easy to plunge into your own marketing venture without having a clear idea where you are going. (Especially if you are trying out all the schemes that people try to sell you!) Don't even start until you have decided exactly what you want to do, what product you are going to sell and how you are going to sell it.

If you start out on a journey without a map, you will get sidetracked or lost or both!

PROMOTION

Note: this is about "promoting" not "pushing". Pushing puts people off.

Find ways of letting people know about your product and how good it is, without a blatant sales pitch. If you don't have a lot of money to spend, one of the best ways is to write articles and submit them to directories. Put in plenty of solid information and include your web site link in the last paragraph. This will drive traffic to your site - and traffic equals profit.

PRODUCT

You can have the best plan and the best promotion strategies in the world, but if you don't have the right product, you are wasting your time. The "right" product means one that people want to buy. It doesn't matter how good it a product is - if nobody wants it, you won't sell it.

So how do you find out what people want to buy? One way is to look at the top searched keywords in search engines and on online auction sites. Another way is to go to forums and see what questions people are asking. One of the most effective ways is to visit bookstores and look at magazines and journals. See what ads people are placing and what really sells.

All this takes effort. But there is no magic carpet. Follow the right guiding posts on your journey and you will reach your destination - success!