Skills Every Internet Marketer Should Have

Internet marketing isn’t just one skill, but rather a whole suite of different skills that need to successfully work together. Those skills can vary depending on an IM’s niche or individual job description, but there’s always more than one skill involved in their work. While individual IMs might have different specialties, there are seven skills that every IM should have:

1) Basic HTML

While HTML is a technical skill and could fall into that category, it’s important enough to IMs that it deserves its own section. Good IMs have to know what the back end of a website looks like, and they have to know how different tags impact what’s on the page. If they don’t, they’re not only missing out — they’re behind the curve.

Not every IM has to be fluent in HTML, but it’s essential to know how to fix errors, add small elements, and modify existing pages without going back to the developer or designer for help. Knowing HTML just makes life easier on everyone, even if it’s only enough to make a few tweaks.

2) SEO

SEO plays a huge role in Internet marketing. If they’re going to successfully market a website, they need it to show up organically in search engine results pages. Otherwise, their company can be buried under the millions of other businesses online.

SEO is essential not only because of its potential in Internet marketing, but also because of what IMs can learn as they work. Ranking factors, search engine mechanics, and adapting to the constant stream of industry changes all lay the foundation for other Internet marketing skills — and they keep IMs on their toes, too.

3) Keyword research

Keyword research is a necessity for SEO and many other Internet marketing strategies. Essentially, keyword research tells IMs what popular industry terms are most useful for their companies — and their competitors — in search engines. Using these keywords on relevant site pages is a critical part of an SEO strategy, and it also lets page visitors know they’re in the right place to find a solution that works for them.

There are tons of keyword research platforms available to IMs — it really depends on circumstances to determine which one works the best. Google Adwords keyword planner is the gold standard, but searching for keyword planners provides a huge list of alternatives. IMs just need to create a l ist of keywords that they want to check, add them into the tool of their choice, and strategize based on the results.

4) Copy writing

Copy writing covers a huge portion of what IMs do every day. Whether they’re typing up new blog posts, creating landing pages, or emailing potential customers, they need to know how to write well. Just like any other skill, it takes practice, and IMs can refine their copy writing process over time by just sitting down at their computer and writing out their ideas.

5) Analytics

It is critical to IMs because they need data to better refine their processes. Creating ideas from scratch can work great when IMs are making something new — but turning those ideas into something great takes time, tracking, and analysis. IMs need to know as much about analytics as possible, not just how to work the programs, but also which metrics matter, how data can help set reasonable goals, and more.

Google Analytics provides a training resource for their platform that’s completely free. The seminars, videos, and user submissions round out their resources to provide a comprehensive beginner package that can help IMs grow their knowledge base.

Plus, once they finish, IMs can take the Google Analytics certification test. They just need to sign up to become a partner, fill out the needed information, and take the exam.