If you're new to Internet marketing and don't know where to start, this article will cover the basics that you need to know. Specifically in this article we will be talking about how to evaluate which products and information are right for your business, the number one most important thing to success in Internet marketing, and finally a basic understanding of how all Internet businesses work. After reading this article you should have sufficient information to start your career in Internet marketing.
If you've read a handful of sales pages or information about making money on the Internet, you've probably had your skepticism alarm kicked in. That's because of either hype, flat out lies or half-truths. Usually what you're reading a sales page is a best case scenario. How often do things go perfectly planned in your life? I thought so. Evaluate all information with an extra layer of skepticism. That doesn't mean you should discount it -- only that you should know that what you are reading is likely to be a best case scenario. Being able to have the proper viewpoint means that once you apply the information you purchase or read about, you won't get frustrated right away and quit.
Secondly, creating a great product and making a very functional website doesn't matter one lick if you can't get people to look at it. Traffic is the most important thing for your success in Internet marketing. If you are going to make money, you need to know how to bring in traffic. You can either pay for traffic, if you have the budget, you can get high rankings in search engines for select terms, or you can utilize other strategies such as article writing and posting on free classified ads to bring traffic to your website. But some how you must familiarize yourself with basic ways of traffic generation, and then determine which ones you will use to get people to come to your website. This is by far the most important thing in Internet marketing.
Lastly, in order to run your business successfully, you must know how to run a business successfully. It would be very smart to take a few books from the library on business plans. Learn about supply chains, and customer service in addition to marketing. If you can't manage your resources and time, than all the inquiries you get about your products and services from your marketing will fall apart as you begin to handle them. I cannot stress this enough -- you should create a business plan to save you time and maximize your potential for profit.
With the proper skeptical attitude toward the products and information you read, a good traffic generation strategy and a sound business plan, you'll be ahead of 95% of people in the Internet marketing arena. The reason most people fail at Internet marketing is because they give up too early. The reason they give out quickly is because they have no long-term vision. By doing all the above, you'll cultivate a long-term vision and you will also use your time and resources much better.

Michael Ullman is President of Analogy Marketing(http://ImproveYourInternetMarketing.com), a leading NY-based Internet Marketing company. Analogy Marketing focuses on Affiliate Marketing, and markets the tools they use in-house to other Internet Marketers.