Some marketers automatically think of internet marketing as the collective term of:

- Product
- Web copies
- Web traffic

Yes, those are the major and obvious components of an internet business, as well as what you had been taught when you were first exposed to the idea of marketing online. But it's merely a gross "approxiamation" of an actual successful internet business. An internet business is not a simplied version of a typical offline business. The idea of selling information may sound like a high school project, but it's far from that.

You see, Dell may appear to be an online computer store, but there are so many different infrastuctures and "below the surface" business operations that support the obvious buying-selling-computer activities. Similarly, internet marketing is much more than driving traffic to a sales page that sells a product. Here are a list of internet marketing assets you need to build over time to succeed online:

• Web traffic. It's self-explanatory.
• Content. This not only includes the main product, but also your articles, give-aways, blogs ,etc.
• Incoming Links. This is  related to not only web traffic but also SEO and the "value" of your website (especially if you're going to sell it off some day)
• Opt-In email subscribers. These are prospects whom you're trying to convert into customers.
• Customer database. A loyal customer will buy from you again and again. Each of them is worth several times of a prospect and tens of times of a casual visitor.
• Test results. Your first-hand knowledge and the real secrets that can jumpstart your future business operations.
• Affiliates. The more people promoting your offer, the more profits and better brand image.
• Brand. Think "Macdonald's" or "Coca-Cola"… What about your brand?
• Domain names. A good domain name itself can be worth several millions. Chances are you won't have such a domain on your hand, but nevertheless it could add tens of thousands of dollars to your business upon selling it off.
• Software licenses. Self-explanatory.
• Employees and outsourced freelancers. They're sometimes the key to your success. Good people are hard to find and excellent workers are arguably your most valuable internet marketing assets.