While ambition is a good thing, the true key to success with Internet marketing is knowledge.  It’s imperative that you know what works, what doesn’t and how to put it all together to make your venture work.

Here is a short list of some of the most commonly made mistakes by new marketers.

Not having your own domain name – No one will believe you’re a legitimate marketer making legitimate money if you’re using a free site.

As with brick and mortar businesses, image is everything.  If you’re striving for success your image will suffer using a free site.

Using free e-mail addresses such as Yahoo, gmail, or Hotmail – As with the free websites, using free e-mail services don’t lend professionalism to your image.

If you have a legitimate web host that you pay for your domain you can create your own e-mail address on that domain.

Unprofessional look on your website – If your website looks like the strip in Las Vegas with flashing banner ads and cheesy graphics people will assume you’re an amateur.

Your site needs to have quality look and quality content.  You’ll also want to take care in the layout of your site making sure that it’s easy to navigate and makes sense.

Poorly written content – Before you jump to conclusions, don’t assume that I’m going to tell you to hire someone to do your content writing for you.

Unless you truly cannot write (many people think they can’t but haven’t really taken the time to try) then you can write.  Whether you do your own writing or have someone else do the writing for you, be sure that it’s quality content.

You want to offer your visitors information they want that’s easy to read and grammatically correct.

As you can see, many of the mistakes made by new marketers are simple, avoidable mistakes.  You can’t assume that you’re going to get something for nothing when it comes to Internet marketing.

Success as a marketer doesn’t have to cost you a fortune, but it will take some investment on your part, in time and money.

Many people who are familiar with Internet Marketing or Internet Business still don’t have a firm grasp on viral marketing and why it is so valuable to those in Internet marketing or Internet business.

Let’s start off by covering the basics of what viral marketing is to better help you understand the hype.  The term viral marketing is used for any marketing strategy that encourages the recipient of a marketing message to pass it along others.

This creates the potential for a great deal of growth in the message’s exposure and impact.  It is called "viral" marketing because of the rapid rate at which the message can be spread.

Viral marketing’s success is dependent on the message containing something that the recipient finds worth passing along to others.

It could be an offer such as buy-one-get-one-free, 15% off your next purchase or a free subscription to a publication.

Whatever the case may be, it must be something people feel the urge to pass on to others.

Viral marketing has proven its usefulness as a marketing tool over the course of many, many years.

Statistics show that over 90% of people say they would recommend a web site, product or service to someone they know if they were given a good deal or quality service or products while only 1% of people reported that they would recommend a website, product or service if they were dissatisfied.

The one fact that is probably more attractive than any other about viral marketing is that it is a relatively inexpensive marketing method.

The greatest cost involved is that of the time spent creating the offer to be sent out.

There are no real advertising costs to be incurred because you’re sending your message out predominantly via e-mail, unlike paying for exposure such as additional web space or advertisements in ezines.

Knowing what you know now it’s easy to see what all the hype is about.