In the last few weeks, a few students have tweeted me asking what they can do to prepare for a career in Internet marketing. While I was happy to reply with a few tips, it’s a topic that is better addressed in a blog post rather than 140 characters. So if you’re someone interested in a career in Social Media, SEM, or any aspect of Internet marketing, here are a few suggestions.

Don’t Read Books

One question I get a lot is, “Which Internet marketing books do you recommend?” My answer is always the same — don’t read any books. The obvious flaw with books on Internet marketing is that they’re almost certainly outdated as soon as they’re published. Google and Facebook change algorithms and add features without notice. An update to Apple’s operating system can change the way people search and use social networks. Likewise, new social networks pop up and gain users literally overnight.

No author can write a book to keep up with the Internet’s fast-paced landscape.

If you want to learn Internet marketing, you need experience. Five hours of experience with a platform such as AdWords, Facebook, or Twitter is better than five books on the same topic. Volunteer for a non-profit or political campaign. Find a small business with a website and ask if you can be an intern.

You could even gain valuable experience simply by experimenting with your own personal blog. Test ways to drive traffic with paid search, organic search, and social media. Start collecting email addresses and send marketing emails. All these activities can be done on a small scale but will bring the experience you need to land a job.

Learn To Write

Amy Rose Brown is a recent Ohio University journalism graduate. After graduation, Amy applied to 140 jobs before landing at Wendy’s as a Social Media Specialist. I asked her what advice she had for students…

“Take a creative writing class if you can. The ability to think and write creatively is something that will make you stand out, and is a valuable skill to develop.”

I couldn’t agree more with Amy. Writing is a necessary skill for all those in Internet marketing. From writing copy for paid search ads to composing tweets and email content, the ability to write is paramount.

Observe Brands

You gain a lot of insight by watching what brands are doing online. Some things to watch:

• Website layout. How are the desktop and mobile versions of the sites designed?
• Purchasing process. On e-commerce sites, how do they try to push customers to purchase and make the process simple?
• Email strategy. How frequently are emails sent? What are the email’s calls to action?
• Social media efforts. Which platforms do they use? What types of content do they post?

Find five or so brands and observe how each one tackles these areas. Find things you like and dislike about each one.

Learn Excel

Internet marketing is full of testing, tweaking, and analyzing. If you can create and interpret spreadsheets, as well as identify trends, you will be a valuable asset to a team. Unlike “traditional” marketing, every impression, click, and sale generated by Internet marketing efforts can be tracked. If the data is properly collected and presented, there is a massive opportunity to improve strategy and pinpoint weaknesses.

Take Advantage Of School Resources

Scott Cowley is a Web marketer with agency and in-house experience. He’s currently a Marketing PhD student. He recommends taking advantage of school resources that relate to Internet marketing. These include:

1. Student groups (tech/marketing/entrepreneurship). You may not learn much, but you’ll make great friends.
2. Free technical courses. A lot of universities offer free Photoshop or other technical classes to students. Learn these things now!
3. Student discounts. Students get some great discounts on career-relevant things like external networking groups, conferences, software, and online learning platforms like Lynda.com. It is ridiculous how many student perks there are and most students either don’t realize it or don’t use them.

Conclusion

The best Internet marketers are self-taught. They have put in the time to gain experience and test out various strategies across different platforms. They are familiar with all aspects of the industry. The best ones don’t just focus on social media, they examine how social media impacts search and how social media and search can help them grow their email list.

If you have a mind that loves creativity and analysis, and you’re willing to learn on your own, you will be a great prospect for any Internet marketing job.

Photo from lowjumpingfrog. Used under Creative Commons license.

Creating a blog on an e-commerce site for the purpose of revenue generation and branding is a complicated idea. For starters, it’s a blog. If you’re going to do it right, you need frequent and quality posts. That takes time and money.

Then, there’s the issue of content. What will you post about? Will your posts focus on your company, its products, and the employees? Do people really want to read that? How can a company’s blog be profitable as well as achieve marketing goals?

Tweets and Facebook posts focused solely on your products and offerings will get old fast. Linking to sites with relevant news about your industry means you’re giving away traffic that could be yours. You worked hard to build a social following, why should you send clicks and shares to someone else?

How We Did It At ZAGG

Taking these questions and concerns into account, we launched the ZAGGblog in January 2011. The idea was that we would create content and drive traffic to ZAGG.com via social media, email, and search. While engaging with the ZAGGblog, hopefully customers would click around ZAGG.com, learn about our products, and make a purchase.

One early hurdle we had to overcome was the fact that none of us on the Internet Marketing Team had time to dedicate to regular blogging and content creation. We solved this problem by creating a journalism/new media/marketing paid internship.

The interns earned a stipend, worked offsite, and committed to write multiple posts each week for three months. We instructed them to write posts on tech-related topics. Obviously, we weren’t going to break news, but the interns could research topics, stay updated on current events, and use their experiences to create original content.

How It Worked

After launch, we found that customers were coming to the blog, engaging with the content, and making purchases. The direct ROI over the three months was 111% and 50% of visits to the blog were new visitors to ZAGG.com. We had found a way to drive revenue and engage potential customers who are less familiar with the brand. Today, after improvements to the blog and intern program, the blog’s direct ROI is 179% and 67% of visits to the blog are new visitors.

The #1 referrer to the blog is our email channel. About twice each month, we compile the best posts in an email and send it to our list. Generally speaking, these content emails get a significantly higher CTR than our traditional emails. After email, Facebook is the #2 referrer, followed by organic search, Reddit, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Below are 5 of our most popular ZAGGblog posts of 2012. Note that none focus on ZAGG or its products. Posts about the unique aspects of gadgets, social networks, and apps tend to perform the best:

• This exists. And it’s disgusting: The iPhone umbilical cord charger
• Here’s why the cost to legally send web URLs in text messages is $750,000
• This is why 12-year-olds aren’t excited about Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram
• Does The new iPad Have Siri? No, But It Has the Best Part
• Top-Secret Texting Apps

Today, more than 10% of all visits to ZAGG.com are a result of the blog. It has been tested, tweaked, and measured in an effort to maximize the content to benefit search, social media, and email channels. A rising tide lifts all ships — espiecially in e-commerce.

In the online marketing world, we seem to be regularly gripped by a passion for the next big thing, the hip new marketing tactic that everyone is trying.

But some of the most effective methods are relatively unsung. They just chug along and deliver results.

Email Marketing

Email is the most underappreciated marketing channel. Everyone likes to talk about the sexiness and adventure of social media, but it’s email that truly has the most money-making potential. If Facebook was the email killer, it’d have killed email by now.

It wasn’t until early 2010 that ZAGG started dedicating time and resources to email marketing. From April 2010 to December 2010, we tripled the size of our email list. In 2011, we increased the size by about another 50%. In 2012 our list size continues to surge.

How has the increase in list size translated to revenue? After only seeing a 12% growth in web sales from 2008-2009, sales increased 66% in 2010 and 71% in 2011. Obviously, building our email list isn’t the only thing we’ve done in that time, but it has been at the center of our internet marketing strategy.

Organizations should focus on email before anything else. Once you have a decent email list built up, leverage that base to build a social media following.

If they subscribe to your emails, they’re literally waiting for you to send them something awesome. If you have a product or service that people are excited about, they will open your emails. If you’re decent at email, people will open their wallets.

YouTube Advertising: TrueView InStream

You know those YouTube videos that force you to watch five seconds of an ad before you get to the video you want? They’re called TrueView InStream ads. While they may be annoying for users, they present a huge opportunity for marketers.

The power of video is undeniable. When a visitor hits ZAGG.com and watches a product video, they’re 70% more likely to add that product to the cart. Video showcases a product or service in ways no display ad, Facebook post, or tweet ever will.

TrueView InStream has additional benefits. This method of advertising guarantees video views and increases the view count. Let’s be honest, a video with a double digit view count isn’t going to impress anyone.

Additionally, you aren’t just guaranteeing yourself views, you’re guaranteeing yourself relevant views. Much like AdWords, you have several ways of targeting potential customers. Target by demographic, interest, and video type.

The efficiency of InStream ads shouldn’t be ignored. In a recent TrueView campaign, our Cost Per View of InStream ads was 66% cheaper than views generated by YouTube search keywords.

YouTube gave TrueView its name for a reason. It means that you’re only paying for true views. Say you run an InStream ad, if the YouTube user clicks ‘Skip’ before he or she has watched at least 30 seconds of your video, you aren’t charged for the view. Additionally, any action the user takes with your video or channel, such as clicking on your links or watching more videos, is free. You’re truly only paying for a “true view.”

So how would TrueView work in a real life scenario? Let’s say your company has an NBA licensed iPhone skin (ZAGG does). You create a killer video around this product, with an epic opening to capture the viewer’s attention in the first five seconds, and upload it to your YouTube channel. Then you go to your AdWords account and build the campaign.

Let’s use the Miami Heat iPhone skin as an example. You’re going to geographically target Miami and the surrounding area. Then you’re going to target the basketball interest group. Now, when a person in Miami who is interested in the NBA watches a YouTube video, your video will play first.

Facebook Ads

It’s no secret that Facebook advertising has taken a lot of heat lately. This baffles me. At ZAGG, we run some fairly aggressive Facebook ad campaigns and we typically see greater than 100% ROI.

The beauty of Facebook ads is unmatched targeting. Have a product that is perfect for an 18-24 year-old male with an iPhone who lives in Denver and ‘Likes’ SportsCenter (by the way, there are just over 3,000 of them)? Facebook will find him and, with a decent ad, you’ll get the clicks from the ultimate potential customer.

The one aspect of Facebook ads to be aware of is ad fatigue. As you’re targeting a very specific group of people, it’s likely that they will see your ad repeatedly. Upload new ads frequently to keep the messaging fresh.

Back to our Miami Heat iPhone skin… With Facebook ads, I know I want to show my ads to iPhone users who ‘Like’ the Heat and its players.

So under the “Broad Categories” setting I’ll select Mobile and iPhone. Then using “Precise Interests,” I’ll build a group of people who ‘Like’ The Heat, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and so on until I have my perfect target market. If I wanted to narrow it down even more, I’d limit the ad so it only shows to people in or around Miami. When I’m done, I know my ad will only be shown to and clicked by people who are most likely to buy.

Facebook ads may be getting terrible press, and email may be super unsexy, but give these underrated marketing techniques a try all the same. If they work for you, it can be our little secret.