Welcome to my internet home where I can talk about anything I want to, because I can! I’m Mark Fletcher, and this is the blog where I’ll be covering everything from fashion to finance to psychology to tech. No topic is off-limits, so I hope you enjoy reading and learning as much as I’ve enjoyed curating this personal space.
Why Online Marketing?
While brick and mortar stores offer many benefits, the biggest and most obvious one is that you can go there and physically buy what you want. With online marketing you can market your products to people all over the world, and you don’t need to be in a physical location to do that. This is why my blog posts might appear in your inbox as soon as you read them, even if you’re in Australia or Ireland or France or Germany or wherever—I’m basically able to write and publish these words from California, and you’re probably on the other side of the world, reading them!
The Rise Of E-commerce
The evolution of retail and the internet played a huge role in the rebirth of e-commerce—literally making it possible for businesses, brands, and even individuals to sell their products online. If you want to learn more, you can read all the in-depth posts on my blog (they are free for subscribers), and even watch my YouTube video tutorials where I break down everything you need to know about e-commerce and online marketing (including affiliate marketing).
The Economics Of Online Marketing
The economics of online marketing and sales are fascinating. According to HubSpot Blogs’ Research Team, customers spend an average of 4.9 hours per day (that’s almost everyone) on their phones shopping, researching, and booking travel and shopping trips. So if you want to learn more, you can read my economics of online marketing blog post or watch my video on the subject.
In short, customers are researching and connecting with businesses online, which gives digital marketers the opportunity to show customers the benefits of doing business with us instead of the competition. If a customer is on the way to making a purchase, we can get them to complete a purchase journey by engaging them with offers that are relevant to their interests.
Making Money With Affiliate Marketing
I’ve talked about affiliate marketing and the economic opportunities it presents on this blog before, but I think it’s important to give an overview of what it is and how it works, simply because so many people are unfamiliar with it. Basically, when you promote a product through a blog post, social media post, or website, you’ll earn a commission when a user purchases the product (or makes an attempt to, at least).
To try and make money with affiliate marketing you’ll need a product to promote, a niche, a blog, and of course, some sort of affiliate program. Once you have all of those in place, you can get to work marketing and promoting products that are relevant to your niche. You’ll also need to make sure that you have a clear idea of what you’ll be selling and how you’ll be referring to it so that you can create the most accurate copy for your blog posts, website content, and social media posts. You can learn more about affiliate marketing on my blog and on my YouTube channel.
How to Start An Online Store
If you’re looking to start an online store, you have a few options, but none of them are easy. You could try creating and selling your own designs on products such as T-shirts or hoodies, but that can be expensive and time-consuming—not to mention that you’ll have to take into consideration the manufacture of those items, as well as the shipping costs, if you decide to go that route. You could also try selling your own designs on products that are already manufactured, such as phone cases and laptop skins, but again that can be expensive and takes a lot of effort to get right. Finally, you could try finding a product that hasn’t been manufactured yet and creating and selling your own versions of it—this is usually done in teams where one person creates the design and another person (known as the brand representative) creates the product, and when the product is done it’s launched and then sold by the team.
If you do decide to go down the path of online selling, you’ll need to bear in mind certain legal aspects. For example, you’ll need to register your domain name and set up your website according to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) guidelines. You should also make sure that you’re not violating any trademark laws by choosing the name of your product, and create content that is relevant to your target audience.
You’ll also need to take care of tax obligations and follow any legal procedures that your country or state requires of online businesses.