Although trends in internet marketing come and go, there's always certain internet marketing techniques that will work. What's key is applying these techniques consistently to your business.

You don't have to be a writing genius, or even an expert internet marketer to make these techniques work. Most of the time, if you're willing to read and follow instructions, you can learn how to do these techniques.

You can use these techniques regardless of what you are marketing whether it's your own products or sevices, MLM, or affiliate programs. If you're a writer, even better because the internet is an ideal place for writers.

1. Search engine optimization

The real secret to search engine optimization is finding the right keywords. Although two word keywords are popular, they may or may not help searchers find what they are looking for. Use less competitive three to four word keyword phrases to optimize.

Use a search engine optimization suite like Web CEO, which is free, to help you optimize your site. It offers a quick start guide that will help you get started in less than an hour. Since most website owners don't bother optimizing their sites, you'll easily get higher rankings simply by optimizing your site.

2. Article Writing

Writing articles brands you as an expert, helps you build valuable backlinks, and uses pull marketing instead of push marketing.

Pull marketing is more effective because you are drawing visitors to you. Visitors are looking for you because you offer something of value up front.

Tease the reader with an offer of additional information. Use a list so you can recycle your traffic.

Since the internet is largely a content driven medium, you can easily find success by writing articles. However, if the thought of writing articles makes you crazy, try writing lists, or a How To. A How To is easy because you show others how to do something. Just write down the steps.

3. Press Release Writing

Write an effective press release, and you can get traffic fast. Press releases are far more effective than ads because they are seen as news.

Although print readers expect advertising mixed in with content, online readers tend to avoid it if possible.

Just make sure that what you're writing about is newsworthy. Include the how, what, when, where, and why, just like a news story. Stress information about your topic instead of your product. Don't forget to include your product though. Press releases need to be focused.

4. Forum Posting

If the thought of writing articles or press releases still makes you nervous, then try posting on forums first.

You can ask, as well as answer questions and build trust and credibility with other forum members. Just remember not to advertise your products or services. Reserve that for your signature file and make sure you follow forum guidelines.

This can be a time consuming process, so I don't recommend making this your primary method of promoting your business.

5. Joint Ventures

Joint ventures work best if you own your own product. You will want to create an irresistable offer for your joint venture partners, and you want to make it easy for your joint venture partners to become involved.

When choosing joint venture partners, you'll want to do some research. Contact each website owner personally with your offer. Stress the benefits of doing business with you. Make your offer. Show the site owner the benefits of doing a joint venture with you and don't forget to give your partner a copy of your product, as well as special commission rate.

Although setting up your first joint venture can be time consuming, once you have a network of partners in place, it can become very lucrative without a lot of work. Also, joint ventures are the fastest way to earn money from your new venture.

6. Affiliate Programs

To some extent, starting your own affiliate program goes hand in hand with joint ventures. If you plan to create joint ventures, you will save yourself a lot of time and expense by setting up your affiliate program first. You can easily do this by using and affiliate program script, readily available for free in script directories.

The secret to a successful affiliate program is to create plenty of resources for your affiliates, as well as offer them generous commissions and support.

7. Free Reports

A free report is longer than an article but shorter than a book or ebook. You can write a short, usually five to 10 page report in a couple of hours.

The secret to a good short report is the same as for articles. Give your readers a taste, and then refer them to the product or service you are marketing.

Although you can find plenty of free ebook compiliers on the internet, it's better if you offer your report in PDF so that anyone can download it and read it. Tools like Open Office will allow you to convert your report to PDF, and you can even make the links clickable.

Once you've written your report, you can use one of the methods above to advertise it, or you can submit it to ebook directories.

If all of these internet marketing techniques seem too complicated, then your best bet is to try linking. Linking works best if you own your own website because many website owners will want a reciprocal link. You can also post comments to blogs, as well as submit to directories. Just remember to avoid me too comments. Make your comments intriguing so that others will want to visit your site.

There are plenty of other ways to market your business effectively. However, it can easily become expensive. These techniques allow you to slash your marketing budget to zero, and they're very effective.